I decided to make a guide for those wanting to know how to do this. 

Before you start saying "This is impossible, it would break the encryption.." etc, etc..  I want you to know they have cracked the encryption.  Well, at least for this game.

The basics of Guitar Hero 2 consist of song files which are multi-channel .ogg files and the note files which are simple .mid files.  Each song file has each instrument mapped to a different channel.  So say, when you miss a note on a song, the game simply mutes that channel until you hit another note.

Of course, the .ogg format is a free open source sound format that alot of different sound editing software programs support.  For this guide, I will be using the free open source program Audacity 1.3 beta.

For more information on this, I suggest visiting www.scorehero.com.  They have a wealth of information on this subject, as well as a database of custom chart files for registered users.

Things you will need:

1.  Audacity 3.1 beta http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I7TYSLHL
2.  GH360  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BGGSHTW0
3.  Feedback http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8ZQ4QZCR
4.  Chart2mid2chart  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SUJSWDTE
5.  Xbox Backup Creator ((I assume everyone already has it..))

First you need to get an ISO of the GH2 game.  A downloaded ISO will work fine, but for legality's sake I'd prefer if you bought the game legally and used XBC.

Ok, once you have your ISO, go to image tools on Xbox Backup Creator and select Image Browser.  You should see this:



Click file, then Open ISO File, and find your GH2 iso file.



Click the "gen" folder



Right click on main.hdr and click extract



Now save the file wherever you need to



Ok, once you have that done, you can start putting in your own music.  You can make your own, or you can download a chart off scorehero.com

First you need to use Chart2mid to convert your .chart files to .mid.  The interface is pretty straight forwards and self explanatory.

Now to convert your sound files.  Open up Audacity and select Edit, Preferences, Import/Export, and make sure you have "Use Custom Mix" Selected at the very bottom



Go to FIle, Import, Audio, and select your audio file



Once imported, go to File, Export, and Export your audio file as ogg.  I always append them with gh2 after the name.  Once you click save, click ok, and you should see this window:



Choose whichever ammount of channels you need.  The ammount of channels you need depends on the song you are replacing.  Gh360 will display the number of required channels when you highlight a song.  A song will have no more than 6 channels.  Make sure you have sound mapped to channels anywhere between 1 and 4 on each song, and be sure to leave some channels blank.  Gh360 will refuse to inject any song file that is bigger than the original song, to protect partition sizes.

Open up Gh360 and load in your ark and hdr files.  Once you do that, you should see something similar to this, just with the original songs instead of the customs I've put in already.



Click "Select mid" and locate your .mid file



Do the same for your ogg file



Click verify .mid and .ogg files



Once the files have been verified, select inject .mid and .ogg files



Rename your songs accordingly, and once you are done, use XBC to re inject your newly modded game files back into your ISO and burn it like any regular game.  However, MAKE SURE YOUR 360 IS DISCONNECTED FROM YOUR NETWORK OR YOU WILL BE BANNED OFF XBL!!!

WHen you get this done, you will be able to play songs such as this one:

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers by Buckethead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvYItLHWKdg

Or this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0E5NMAdj74

You can now put any song you want in Guitar Hero.  Hell, you could even put in opera music if you wanted.  The possibilities are endless.

BIG EDIT:

I just now thought of this. You will also need feedback to test out any chart files you didn't make yourself, to make sure the charts aren't out of sync with your song file. You may find a guide on syncing charts, as well as other feedback and audacity related guides here:

http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68938

Also, if you are running iXtreme 1.6+ you may need to use the one shot boot disc before you load a custom Gh2 disc.

Last edited by psphackr (0911.17 19:41:12)