[TUTORIAL] Forza 3 photo extraction

quicksilver · 28 Oct 2009 at 16:54

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DISCLAIMER
Firstly all information here relates purely to Forza 3, although you can use the similar method for Forza 2 or other games where you can take photos.

Secondly, I do not claim complete credit for finding this method out but I did find out how to do it for Forza 3.
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Ok, so maybe I am the only one without Xbox Live, but so what? lol.

I have Forza 3, which is just simply awesome, and wanted to show off some of my rides.

However I had a problem. Conventional methods of sharing photos of your cars in Forza 3 (and Forza 2 as well on the Xbox 360) mean you have to have Xbox Live. I thought 'Nuts to this, I want to do it without Live'. Running around Google didn't bring much luck until I stumbled upon someone extracting Photos from PGR4.

Using this information, I finally sussed how to do the same with Forza 2 and 3.

Firstly, let me tell you that doing this may invalidate the warrenty (although it is the HDD caddy we are interested in opening here not the console itself) and I will not be held responsible for loss of data performing this tutorial.

Things You Require

Xbox 360 and HDD caddy (duh!)
Torx T5 screwdriver (I got mine when I bought an aftermarket Xbox 360 case)
PC with SATA connection or a USB SATA adapter
Xport360 (available here)
wxPIRS (available here)

Ok, so now you have everything. Remove the HDD caddy from the console and turn it over.

There are a few screws to undo and will then open the caddy to show the HDD inside (can't show a pic of this cos I actually damaged the caddy itself being hamfisted).

The HDD itself is a standard 2.5" Laptop SATA drive and comes in either 20Gb (for the old Pro system), 60Gb (for the new Pro System - this is the version I have), or 120Gb (for the Elite), and soon 250Gb (for the Super Elite - but I don't know if current tools available support this drive yet).

Plug in the HDD to either a SATA connection on your PC (after first powering it down!!) or into your USB adapter, and switch on either your PC or USB adapter.

Once powered on, run Xport 360.

This will auto detect the Xbox HDD - you just need to click OK

Next, browse to Partition 3 to the following folder as shown in the picture (you will find a further folder inside for Forza Motorsport 3 which is the folder you need)

Drag and drop the file marked Photo to somewhere safe - I used my desktop - this will copy the file NOT move it.

Next, open wxPIRS and open the photo file.

Listed in that file will be the photos you have taken in Forza 3 - the folder names being whatever you called the photo ingame.

Once you get to this stage, you simply click on the left column on whichever folder you want, which will bring up some info on the right.

The file you want is called Thumb - you need to right click on this file and select Export. Select a location, but before clicking ok, add .bmp to the end.

Finally, open this file within a Photo Editor of your choice, save as the format you want and upload and show off your rides.

Simples.

Please note that pictures extracted from Forza 3 using this method are 416x234 resolution which is perfect for posting to Forums, whereas pictures extracted from Forza 2 are 1280x720..

Strife212 · 28 Oct 2009 at 17:20

Or you could pay 5 pounds and not do this

Hunders · 28 Oct 2009 at 17:34

Strife212 said:
Or you could pay 5 pounds and not do this

....or you could do this and pay NOTHING. Some of us use Live so little/never that even 5 quid is to much.

NightSt@lk3r · 28 Oct 2009 at 17:37

Hunders said:
....or you could do this and pay NOTHING. Some of us use Live so little/never that even 5 quid is to much.

quicksilver said:
Xbox 360 and HDD caddy (duh!)
Torx T5 screwdriver (I got mine when I bought an aftermarket Xbox 360 case)

These 2 things cost more than 5 quid.

Janesy B · 28 Oct 2009 at 17:48

I have a Live Subscription. Thanks.

EDDS · 28 Oct 2009 at 17:56

cant you upload photo's on a silver subb?

you can always just use a 48hour trial if you cant do it with silver.

all this seems like a complete waste of time imo when you can do it with live.

keogh · 28 Oct 2009 at 18:17

quicksilver said:
Ok, so maybe I am the only one without Xbox Live, but so what? lol.

No you're not!

Substance · 28 Oct 2009 at 18:25

A lot of hassle to be able to do something that is dirt cheap to do anyway

And there is a chance you could bugger up your HDD in the process

quicksilver · 28 Oct 2009 at 22:44

I would get Live but I am in the middle of problems with BT who are trying to charge me for two accounts on one line - one of the accounts doesn't actually exist.

Consequence being no phone line so unable to get Live.

Doing this method is the next best thing - and yea the only thing I could bugger up is the HDD really.....which is why I do regular backups before I poke around....

Shamikebab · 28 Oct 2009 at 23:02

That is quite insanely over the top :/

Mobius 1 · 28 Oct 2009 at 23:06

thanks for the tutorial. i dont have the internet, or live. so i would use it if i had forza 3, as i have all the requirements

aceface57 · 28 Oct 2009 at 23:10

I'm lazy and just take a picture of my tv using my phone, not the best quality but good enough,fast and easy.

quicksilver · 28 Oct 2009 at 23:12

only problem is I can't find bigger versions of the photos - might have to do some more digging around in one of my backup bin files of my xbox hdd........

Tetsujin · 29 Oct 2009 at 08:39

If you could use this to get at the videos, to save having to upload and download and upload again, that would be awesome. I'm in the process of putting a few compilation videos together and that ability would make it soooo much easier. Really don't see why there's no 'stitch videos' ability within the game

Rzeractor · 9 Mar 2010 at 08:34

Hey mate, how did you go with looking into the larger photo extraction? Any luck?