MS working to restore Xbox 1 DLC

By Tom Bramwell Published 11 February, 2010

Still killing it off in mid-April though.

Microsoft has said that it's attempting to restore downloadable content access for people still playing Xbox 1 games.

"We are aware that Xbox v1 users are currently unable to access downloadable content via Xbox Live, both for the original console and Xbox Originals on Xbox 360," the company told Joystiq.

"The team is actively working on resolving this issue so that the Xbox v1 community can continue downloading content until April 15."

Earlier this month the company announced that it was terminating Xbox 1 support through Xbox Live on that date, but DLC and multiplay were still supposed to work until then.

In an open letter to gamers Microsoft's Marc Whitten said the change was being made to help "evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360", potentially including support for more than 100 friends.

Bungie has said it plans to give Halo 2 "one last hoorah" on 14th April, and is cooperating with Microsoft to try and solve the DLC issue, which affects the game a fair bit.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • KDR_11k #1 2 years ago

    Wouldn't want people being unable to give you money, eh?

  • Sunyavadin #2 2 years ago

    This is going to be so annoying if I lose patches for some of my XBox games (The 360 doesn't permanently store them) and my saves become unusable...

  • FalseAlibi #3 2 years ago

    I guess I'm gonna have to re-download any xbox 1 stuff onto the 360 on the off chance I play any of those games again then. Assuming I can still use the downloaded stuff offline after the cut-off date that is.

  • Sunyavadin #4 2 years ago

    Well, I found that I have to install the map pack disc every time I play Halo 2, because it seems the patches/DLC for original XBox games all go in the 360's cache, same as all 360 title updates. Meaning if you want to install your original XBox DLC and keep it, you have to never play any other games ever again.

    I hope MS fix this. I really do. There should be an option to permanently store ALL game updates to your HD.

  • dingo75 #5 2 years ago

    Sucks to have your games on a closed system and be at the mercy of Microsoft!

    PC gaming 4 life.

  • Retroid #6 2 years ago

    @KDR_11k: "Wouldn't want people being unable to give you money, eh?"

    The vast majority of Xbox DLC was free. Only a few games like PGR2 had paid-for content.

  • Retroid #7 2 years ago

    Myself, I'll be getting my Xbox Crystal back online and I'll be downloading all the (free) DLC I can get for all the Xbox games in my collection.

    Then looking up how to use Xlink Kai :)

  • alasdairm #8 2 years ago

    Are you sure about the DLC being stored in the cache ?

    Mine is stored on the Harddrive - have a look in the memory tab and check the Halo 2 save file - the DLC should be stored there; there will also be a savefile called XBox Originals (?) which i THINK may be where the title update for the game is stored

    I am not 100% about the title updates for XBox 1 games, but am well aware that only a few 360 updates are stored in the cache at any one time, which I reckon will cause no end of problems in, say 10 years time when/if Microsoft were to stop supporting XBox 360 games

    The game updates required to recognise the DLC would not be available & any DLC would be rendered worthless & inoperable, even though you have it on the harddrive

    As far as I know there is a precedent for this as you cannot get the game update for FEAR. All DLC both free & premuim is now useless as the game cannot recognise the DLC that is on the harddrive

    Really annoyed about this as is shows what may well happen.....Rock Band libraries rendered worthless overnight....

    I think the reasoning behind the FEAR issue is that the publisher went bust, although Microsoft are vague to say the least on the matter...
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 12:15

  • barnard666 #9 2 years ago

    I really dont get it....is it really that expensive for them to keep a few hard drives running in a PC somewhere...I imagine the technical issues are almost non existent these days....

  • telboy007 #10 2 years ago

    Xlink kai is pretty good tbh, used it to get my psp online with PSO a few times.

  • Dead_Man_Typing #11 2 years ago

    I still think they should make the PGR2 DLC free for the last 2 months and any other paid DLC too.

    This issue with taking down the DLC prematurely really screwed over a lot of people who want to play Halo 2 one last time, because without the maps (which are all free now) you can't get into matchmaking. Luckily I did download all the Halo 2 updates and DLC back in December. I like playing Xbox 1 games on Live and would have played a lot more on my 360 is the lousy title update and content downloader ran in 60hz. The VGA cable doesn't support 50hz so I have to dig out my old component cables any time I wanted to download a title update or DLC for a game that does run in 60hz.

    Sorry, just a left over gripe with the Xbox Backwards compatibility on 360. Truly a shame that it's turned out like this.

  • Pickster #12 2 years ago

    @alasdairm

    "but am well aware that only a few 360 updates are stored in the cache at any one time, which I reckon will cause no end of problems in, say 10 years time when/if Microsoft were to stop supporting XBox 360 games"

    This is quite simply a myth (when talking about an xbox 360 with a HDD anyway).

    It is also a myth that the title updates are tucked away in the space that is reserved by the system. They are hidden from the user so you cant delete them individually (hence the need for the old code - and now the option semi hidden away in the device options) but they are stored in the free space area of the drive.

    I have seen this myself, after clearing the cache for what ever reason my avaliable disk space jumped up by a good noticable amount. I'd like to say it was 500mb +, but since i cant remember the the actual amount I wont. What I can say though was that it was noticable and I remember being suprised at how much it was.
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 20:32

  • XBoxDragon #13 2 years ago

    It is not a myth, the 360 does not permanently save title updates to HDD for 360 games, it does only keep about 10-12, I don't think it keeps them in the cache partition as such, rather a seperate system section of file system. I've got enough games that I've had to re-update old ones when I've put them back in, despite there being no new update out.
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 23:05

  • Pickster #14 2 years ago

    If you have a look around the net you will find that some people have already tested and found it has held 20+ title updates.

    I have in the past, after doing a cache clear, stuck in all of my games to get the title updates because I was going to be without live for about a month. At the time it was about 25 games and it kept all of the updates.

    I'd be interested to know XboxDragon how many games you have. I'll test my lot to see if I hit a limit (I dont think I will) because it will bug the shit out of me if I dont.

  • alasdairm #15 2 years ago

    I'm approaching the 400 mark and early on when i first got a 360 i went through the XBLA titles I had - around about 30 at the time - getting all the title updates as i was moving home & didn't know how long i'd be with out an internet connection

    By the time I got throught updating them all, the early ones that were updated required the update again; most noticeable to me was the fact that before i moved house Marvel Ultimate Alliance had an update to allow the extra character DLC, and I had played it with the extra characters; after moving house the characters were not showing up even though the DLC was on the hard drive - I was not able to use them again until I got the game update again

    This has bugged me for ages now as surely putting it on the harddrive is the most sensible option to future-proof the DLC

    As I noted, the update for FEAR is no longer available and all DLC -premium & free- is not working & unlikely ever to again....
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/10 @ 00:27

  • glottis0 #16 2 years ago

    Could be a set capacity in terms of bytes, rather than number of games. Just depends on the patch size maybe?

  • Sunyavadin #17 2 years ago

    Are you sure about the DLC being stored in the cache ?

    Mine is stored on the Harddrive - have a look in the memory tab and check the Halo 2 save file - the DLC should be stored there; there will also be a savefile called XBox Originals (?) which i THINK may be where the title update for the game is stored

    This, I suspect, may be the problem. When I install the map pack disc, it installs the title update with them.
    The title update is most likely what is eventually overwritten in the same way all 360 title updates are (If I ever take my 360 anywhere with me for an extended period I make sure to pick half a dozen games I want to be able to use my saves on)
    So as a result, as far as I can tell, the game cannot recognise the maps even if they are on the drive.


    However this wouldn't explain why I ALWAYS have to reinstall the map pack to play, as the title update alone would be all that was necessary if this were the case.