Xbox 360 emulators
| |
| Developer | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Type | Home video game console |
| Generation | Seventh generation |
| Release date | 2005 |
| Discontinued | 2016 |
| Predecessor | Xbox |
| Successor | Xbox One |
| Emulated | ~ |
- For other emulators that run on Xbox 360 hardware, see Emulators on Xbox 360.
The Xbox 360 is a seventh-generation console released by Microsoft on November 22, 2005, and retailed for $399. It had a triple-core PowerPC Xenon CPU that ran at 3.2 GHz with 512 MBs of RAM and an ATI Xenos GPU. The console's life saw the option of a motion-sensing camera called the Kinect.
The Xbox 360 had a relatively strong modding scene (although compared to the Xbox it was hindered by the need to physically modify the console) and homebrew documentation of the console's GPU, file format, and various other APIs was performed early. Due to the complexity of the system and PCs of the time lacking the needed performance, emulation was slow to develop for this console compared to previous generations, with Xenia being the only serious option since 2013 and developing steadily since then.
Contents
Emulators
| Name | Platform(s) | Latest Version | Hardware features and peripherals |
Enhancements | Compatibility | FLOSS | Active | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC / x86 | ||||||||
| Xenia | 
|
v1.0.2808 canary |
~ | ~ | 18% 303 out of 1625 tested titles[1] |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile / ARM | ||||||||
| Xenia | 
|
N/A | ? | ? | N/A | ? | ~* | ✗ |
| Consoles | ||||||||
| Fission |  
|
Patch based | ~ | ~ | 29% 633 out of 2155 titles |
✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Xenia |
|
1.1.2 | ~ | ~ | 18% 303 out of 1625 tested titles[1] |
✓ | ✓ | ~ |
Comparisons
- Xenia (compatibility) (canary-compatibility)
- The emulator that's made it the furthest. There is no "Xbox Live Indie Game & XBLIG" support at the moment but Xbox Live Arcade Games & XBLA games supported. For emulation on Linux and Android; you need to use proton experimental compatibility layer and Vulkan backend; though it's heavily incomplete at the moment[2]. But you can use vkd3d wrapper instead of using Vulkan backend for xenia with your SteamOS; recently vkd3d had some improvements for xenia that can allow you to play with D3D12 backend and some working titles on linux-based operating systems. Keep in mind that if you are using proton experimental compatibility layer; vkd3d-proton wrapper already comes with it.
- Fission (compatibility)
- The official emulator on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles. There is no "Xbox Live Indie Game & XBLIG" support. Load times are faster, but emulation suffers from input lag due to forced v-sync. Beyond this, Fission supports some of the hardware features.
- Xbox One X and Xbox Series X further improve on the emulation with enhancements like better framerate, texture filtering, higher resolution and auto HDR in some games. Note that an Internet connection is required to download each game on its first run.
- However with November 2021 update Microsoft ends the program and said: "This latest and final addition of 70+ titles to the backwards compatibility program was only possible through the passion and feedback from the community," Microsoft said. "Your constant requests for specific titles and enhancements encouraged the Backwards Compatibility team to partner with the original creators to preserve thousands of games from over four generations of Xbox. While we continue to stay focused on preserving and enhancing the art form of games, we have reached the limit of our ability to bring new games to the catalog from the past due to licensing, legal and technical constraints. Thank you for being part of this journey with us."[3]
Hardware features and peripherals
| Name | xenia | Fission |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | ✗* | ~[N2 1] |
| Achievements | ~* | ✓ |
| Xbox Live | ~ | ✓ |
| System Link | ✗* | ✓[N2 2] |
| Kinect | ✗ | ✗[N2 3] |
| DVD and HD DVD Player | ✗ | ~ |
| Skylanders Portal | ✗ | TBD |
| Rock Band 3 MIDI Pro Adapter | ✗ | TBD |
| LEGO Dimensions Toy Pad | ✗ | TBD |
| Disney Infinity Base | ✗ | TBD |
| Microphone | ✗ | ✗[N2 3] |
| Drums and Guitars | ✗ | ✗[N2 3] |
| Big Button Pad | ✗ | TBD |
| uDraw GameTablet | ✗* | ✗* |
| Xbox Emulation (Fusion) | ✗* | ~* |
| Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) | ✓ | ✓* |
| Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) | ✗* | ✗* |
- ↑ Supports only Xbox 360's Xbox Guide dash menu, Friends/Party and Notifications.
- ↑ Xbox 360 System Link compatible games for Xbox One
Xbox 360 System Link compatible games for Xbox Series S/X - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Games like the original Guitar Hero and Rock Band series won't work as they require proprietary accessories that aren't compatible, nor do any that require the original Kinect motion camera. Even if you have an Xbox One Kinect still, it is not compatible with previous Xbox 360 Kinect games using Fission.
Achievements
Xenia-canary supports Xbox 360 achievements partially; because no support for achievement progress/save at the moment only notification system and unlock system works. Demonstration
Also there is feature request for RetroAchievement support.
Xbox Live
There is no Xbox Live emulation for Xbox 360 or Xbox 360 emulators at the moment but there are xenia forks for online multiplayer support.
- See this page for the compatible games list with these netplay forks.
- See ongoing development for these forks on xenia-netplay discord channel.
- See Preservation projects page for more information about revive projects.
Kinect
The Kinect was Microsoft's version of the EyeToy, a camera that also doubled as a motion tracker and microphone capable of detecting gestures and voices in order to play games without a controller. This was in contrast to the Wii with its Wiimote and the PS3 with its PlayStation Move. Despite getting native support on Windows, users have made open-source drivers for it.
Xenia does not currently have any support for the Kinect [4], with development on the feature unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future. [5] [6]
DVD and HD-DVD Player
- Xenia has no DVD or HD DVD movie support at the moment.
- Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles has only support for DVD movies. There is no support for HD DVD movies.
- See this dedicated page for more information about home media playback support for emulation softwares.
Enhancements
| Name | xenia | Fission | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RetroAchievements | ✗* | ✗ | |
| Resizable Internal Resolution | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Ultrawide hack Widescreen already supported on Xbox 360 system. But there is no support by system for render games in other ratios such as ultrawide 21:9 and 32:9. |
✓ | ✗[N2 1] | |
| Internal Framerate Hack | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Overclock | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Texture Replacement | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Built-in Graphics mod editor/manager | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Built-in Cheat Manager | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Built-in Custom resolution/CRTSwitchRes For using this on Windows OS you need CRT Emudriver. Another option is using EDID editor tool such as "Custom Resolution Utility". |
✗ | ✗ | |
| Post-Processing | Filters | ✗ | ✗ |
| Shader Chain | ✗ | ✗ | |
| TAS features | Macros/Scripts/Lua | ✗ | ✗ |
| Rewind | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Fast-Forward/Turbo Speed | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Savestates/Snapshots | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Mouse Injector Compatible | ✓* | ✗ | |
| Input lag-mitigating technique | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Streamable compression format | ✓ | ✗ | |
| Debug features | ~[N2 2] | ✗ | |
- ↑ Only supports official 16:9 widescreen supported titles, no support for 21:9 or 32:9 ultrawide enhancements.
- ↑ Xenia has debugger but there is no documentation, and it is very difficult to understand how it works. However there is a work-in-progress quick guide section for debugging.
Emulation issues
[Xenos] was a playground for experiments — it was developed near the end of the Direct3D 9 era, but still before Direct3D 10, and contained many features not standardized or even available at all on the PC, but when they ended up on the PC, the actual implementation could be significantly different; it also included completely unique features. [...] Contrary to a common misconception, the Xbox 360 [isn't] just a “DirectX 9 box”. It essentially contains a [tile-inspired] mobile-like GPU with much more raw power than a comparable mobile GPU. If you compare the registers of the Xenos and the Qualcomm Adreno 200, you can see that most of them are the same, as they are almost the same GPUs — the Adreno 200 was called the AMD Z430 before having been acquired by Qualcomm and was even referred to as the "mini-Xenos"!"
-Triang3l[7]
Due to requiring a large number of resources (see Dolphin and PCSX2 for specifications for their respective consoles), as well as the hardware not being properly documented yet[8], Xbox 360 emulation currently isn't at a point where people can reliably emulate most of the game library. However, Xenia is making slowly but surely progress on that front. That, plus the fact that Microsoft has implemented their own official emulation (Fission) of the system through the Xbox One and Series S/X, however with November 2021 update Microsoft ends the program.
Xenon GPU discussion with AI; (These are Google Bard AI responses, so do not expect perfect results)
For more information about Xbox 360 system and reverse engineering;
- Rodrigo Copetti: Xbox 360 Architecture Analysis
- Xenon Wiki
- Xenia Discord server (For general and development discussions on Xbox 360 emulation, especially for xenia and xenia-canary)
- MVG: Xbox 360 Emulation on the PC with Xenia takes a huge step forward, Why Microsoft switched from Intel to Power PC for the Xbox 360, The Story of Xbox 360 PartnerNet Game Leaks, How a Mini drill tool defeated security on the Xbox 360, How the Xbox 360 Hypervisor Security was Defeated, Why YOU need a Modded Xbox 360 in 2018, The Xbox 360 is still awesome in 2019
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Xenia GitHub repository issue page filtered by "state-playable", "state-gameplay", broken games, require XBOX Live Account Sign-in, "state-nothing".
- ↑ Feature tracker: Vulkan-based GPU emulation implementation. Also see this discord conversation if you're interested Vulkan backend for Xenia.
- ↑ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-backwards-compatibility-adds-70-more-games-today-as-microsoft-ends-the-program/1100-6498021/
- ↑ Margen67 (August 20, 2021) FAQ. Xenia.
- ↑ Triang3l (November 30, 2021) Roadmap. Xenia.
- ↑ Github (October 20, 2018) Kinect Support (Issue Discussion). Xenia.
- ↑ Triang3l (April 27, 2021). Leaving No Pixel Behind: New Render Target Cache, 3x3 Resolution Scaling & Three Years in Xenia’s GPU Emulation. Xenia.
- ↑ Building an Xbox 360 Emulator
