Various bits and bobs related to the Microsoft Xbox consoles that may be useful.
Service Status
Xbox Service Status: https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live-status
Buying Xbox Games
Xbox consoles have partial backwards compatability with games from previous generations. True Achievments have a list of Xbox 360 Games That Are Not Playable On Xbox One (or the Series) and converesely a Xbox One Backwards Compatibility List as well as a few other lists (incl. local multiplayer).
In addition to the official list of Game Pass games, a multi-user spreadsheet is manually maintained via Google Drive that considers Xbox games on Games Pass (leaving, coming soon, likely leaving etc.)
Some Xbox games are ‘play anywhere‘ so they can be bought on console and played on PC – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/xbox-play-anywhere
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Conversion Rates (while subscribed)
| Code type | What you also get |
|---|---|
| 1 month of Game Pass Core | 20 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Game Pass Core | 50 days of Ultimate (1+ month) |
| 6 months of Game Pass Core | 81 days of Ultimate (2+ months) |
| 12 months of Game Pass Core | 4 months of Ultimate |
| 24 months of Game Pass Core | 6 months of Ultimate |
| 1 month of Gold | 20 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Gold | 50 days of Ultimate (1+ month) |
| 6 months of Gold | 81 days of Ultimate (2+ months) |
| 12 months of Gold | 4 months of Ultimate |
| 24 months of Gold | 6 months of Ultimate |
| 1 month of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 22 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 68 days of Ultimate (2+ months) |
| 6 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 135 days of Ultimate (4+ months) |
| 12 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 9 months of Ultimate |
| 24 months of Xbox Game Pass for Console | 18 months of Ultimate |
| 1 month of PC Game Pass | 20 days of Ultimate |
| 3 months of PC Game Pass | 60 days of Ultimate (1+ month) |
| 1 month of EA Play | 10 days of Ultimate |
| 6 months of EA Play | 40 days of Ultimate |
| 12 months of EA Play | 2 months of Ultimate |
SEE FAQ: “With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, can I still redeem codes for Xbox Live Gold, other Xbox Game Pass plans, and EA Play?”
Xbox Series X Storage
Find duplicates across hard drives:
Go to settings > devices > media remote > open app to launch list and scroll down. Duplicates will appear in the list with a number, for example “metro exodus (1)”. Just make a note of them and remove duplicates (There are two different Prey games that will show).
Finding out which Series S|X games can still play from external hard drive
TLDR: Open the File Info of a game and look at the ConsoleType. XboxOneGen9Aware can be run from an external HDD; XboxGen9 can’t.
Just because a game has the Series X|S badge, doesn’t mean it’s a Series X|S compiled package and may actually be run off of an external HDD (rather than just the internal/official expandable storage). Look at the File Info for an installed game (press View button to open the Manage Game screen or press Menu > Manage Game ), select File Info in the bottom left and a window will open with information.
The main piece of info you want is the ConsoleType, located near the bottom. For Series X|S games, this will say one of two things:
XboxGen9: this is a game that is compiled to run, and take full advantage of, the hardware of the Series X|S. These games cannot be run on an external HDD, as they are using Microsoft’s Velocity Architecture that requires them to be run from the internal SSD. These games have the X|S badge on the game tile, as one would expect.
Some examples of this include Destiny 2, No Man’s Sky, and Outriders.
XboxOneGen9Aware: this is a game that is compiled to run on an Xbox One, but takes advantage of the majority of the Series X|S hardware. These games can be run from an external HDD, as they do not use Microsoft’s Velocity Architecture, and are actually Xbox One games running in backward compatibility mode. These games usually have the X|S badge on the game tile (though on my Series X, For Honor doesn’t have the badge, despite being XboxOneGen9Aware).
Some examples of this include Halo: MCC, Sea of Thieves, and The Division 2.
So when you’re looking for games to send to the HDD, check the File Info first. I transfer games that will run on the HDD anyway, and save the internal SSD for games that absolutely need to run off of it.
Some other fun bits:
- There are of course other console types, such as XboxOne and Xbox360. Some 360 games actually show as an Xbox One compiled game (Mass Effect 3, for example).
- In the same row as ConsoleType, if you see X1XE, that means the game is Xbox One X Enhanced.
- Higher up on the list, AppModel shows what version of the SDK the game was compiled with: XDK is what was used for the Xbox One generation, and GDK is used for the Xbox Series
- Beside AppModel, Gen shows the codename for the family of consoles the game was compiled for: Durango for Xbox One, and Scarlett for Xbox Series
X360 Connecting to Windows Media Center
The following table lists the specific information about Media Center Extender programs that you must know to configure some non-Microsoft firewalls. Used to be on MS KB911728 but they’ve taken that down.
| Application | Protocol/port | Direction | Network |
| svchost.exe | UDP 1900 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| svchost.exe | TCP 3390 | Inbound | Local Subnet |
| svchost.exe | TCP 2177 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| svchost.exe | UDP 2177 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| system | TCP 10244 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| ehshell.exe | TCP 554 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| ehshell.exe | UDP 5004, 5005 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| ehshell.exe | TCP 8554-8558 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| ehshell.exe | UDP 50004-50013 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| ehshell.exe | UDP 7777-7781 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| mcrmgr.exe | random | Outbound | Internet |
| mcx2prov.exe | random | Outbound | Internet |
| svchost.exe | random | Outbound | Local Subnet |
| ehrecvr.exe | random | Outbound | Internet |
| ehrec.exe | random | Outbound | Internet |
| ehexthost.exe | random | Outbound, Inbound | Internet |
| mcupdate.exe | random | Outbound | Internet |
| ehprivjob.exe | UDP 5001-5006 | Inbound | Local Subnet |
| system | TCP 2869 | Outbound, Inbound | Local Subnet |
| ehprivjob.exe | UDP 5757-5772 | Outbound | Local Subnet |
X360 Backwards Compatibility with Original Games
X360 Hard Drive Storage
Upgrading hard drive:
https://xbox-360.wonderhowto.com/how-to/upgrade-hard-drive-your-xbox-360-381269/
Using non-MS-certified drives: https://www.360-hq.com/xbox360-homebrew-14-HDDHackr.html
Access content of hard drives (Xplorer360): https://www.afterdawn.com/software/system_tools/manage_external_devices/xplorer360.cfm