Just a brief tutorial on how to work with XBConnect to play some of your favorite games with friends all around the world, or then again just complete randoms.

For the following Consoles you will need the following for this to work:
Either a Xbox 360 or a Original Xbox.
One or two Ethernet cables.
Broadband connection.
Router, if needed a hub.
System Link enabled game.
And a couple other obvious things like a computer... What you are using to read this will be fine and a TV... like duh?

Anyways, lets get started.
First of we will need to download XBConnect from here.
You can either choose from Skinned or Skinless. Either way they have the same servers and connect to your xbox the same way. Once you have downloaded it, do the smart or obvious thing and install it. Using all default ticked boxes, etc. Ie just keep clicking next.



Secondly, If you haven't already you will need to Forward your ports for XBConnect to be able to connect to any of the servers. To do this you will might need help from PortForward.com (click here to access xbconnect forwarding help)

With that done we obviously have the third step. That would be to Connect your Xbox to your Home Network. There are multiple ways to connect your Xbox to the home Network. The most simple way if you only have a router with one USB cable and one ethernet is to plug in your USB to your computer and the ethernet cable running directly from your router to the Xbox.

Step 4. Start up XBC and at the first menu it will show a few links, etc. Assuming you are new to XBC you will need to make a Account with XBC. Click it and type in the necessary spots.



5. Once your signed up you will have to find your Xbox or 360 console. On the file menu up the top you will have to click Tools>Options>General Options. From there you will get a pop up, on the right side of the pop up box it will say "XBC is aware of these consoles:". If nothing is showing there you will have to click "Find". With this another small pop up will appear. I reccomend that you do not untick any boxes to make sure that you find the console.



6. Ok with all this done your Xbox should be ready to connect and play online via system link. With this I will use Halo 2 for an example, You will have to start up your Xbox with Halo 2 loaded. From the Menu select "System Link" then load up your characters and if wanted up to 4 people are able to play from one console. Then after selecting character accept them and continue to the waiting screen where the only selection will say "Create new game", you will have to wait here.


(image from westaby.net)

7. From here its quite simple. Just select a server in which you wish to play on and either double click it or click "Join" towards the bottom of the program window.

A common problem is when all the readings in the ping column for a server is "FW". This means FireWalled, this means you will have to disable your current running FireWall.
If you have any other problems please try The Help Centre or The Forums.

Thank you for reading my brief Tutorial.
Written completely by me.

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Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M. Processor: AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.81GHz performance rated at 3GHz OC'ed to 1.9GHz. Memory: 1GB. Graphics Card: nVIDIA GeForce 7300GT Monitor: Benq FP71G+S. OS: Windows XP SP3 HDD: 830GB Total
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Approved and moved, nice guide Stig!

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Thanks!
I went to show my friend at school.
It wasnt there and im like. :| OMG! WTF!
Where is it.. then I went to the Xbox Tutorials and saw it, i was like

Thanks for sticking it here, LS.

__________________
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M. Processor: AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.81GHz performance rated at 3GHz OC'ed to 1.9GHz. Memory: 1GB. Graphics Card: nVIDIA GeForce 7300GT Monitor: Benq FP71G+S. OS: Windows XP SP3 HDD: 830GB Total
Please visit my site. If not interested please click my google ads