Durango RF Unit I2C Tooling (Sonus for Xbox One)

Tools for Xbox One RF Unit flash dumping, writing, and firmware editing with custom audio.

Warning

Use at your own risk!

Important

Download the latest release from the Releases page

Technical documentation: Xbox One RF Unit Hardware

Features

• RFUnit Tool: Play sounds, dump flash, write flash
• VPE Tool: Play sounds from firmware, inject custom audio

Requirements

Hardware:

• Xbox One PHAT or One S RF Unit board

I2C Interface Device (choose one):

• GreatFET One board
• Raspberry Pi (non-Pico)
• Micropython device (ESP8266, ESP32, Pi Pico, etc.)

Software: (for development)

• uv (Python package manager) - Install uv
• Python 3.x

Quick Start

For Other Devices:

1. Wire I2C connections (see Hardware Connections section)
2. Use GUI or CLI tool (see Usage section)

Hardware Connections

RF Unit Pin Mapping:

Xbox / Pin	3V3	GND	SDA (DATA)	SCL (CLOCK)	Notes
RF Unit (PHAT)	12	9	6	5	Solder bridge on R24; remove after use
RF Unit (One S)	7	11	16	15	—
FACET (Universal)	NC	2	26	25	Connector on motherboard; see note below

Interface Device Pin Mapping:

Board / Pin	3V3	GND	SDA (DATA)	SCL (CLOCK)
GreatFET One	3V3	Any	39	40
Raspberry Pi	3V3	Any	3 (GPIO2 / I2C1)	5 (GPIO3 / I2C1)
Pi Pico	3V3	Any	1 (GP0)	2 (GP1)
ESP8266	3V3	Any	GPIO 4	GPIO 5

Direct Xbox Motherboard (FACET) Connections

See FACET Hardware Documentation

Important:

• DO NOT connect 3V3 power
• DO NOT press the power button
• Solder 300 Ohm resistor between SMC_RST (Pin 1) and GND
• Xbox requires standby power (PSU connected, not powered on)
• Desolder all connections after dumping/flashing

Reference Diagrams

Pi Pico Connection - Xbox One PHAT:

Pi Pico Connection - Xbox One S:

Usage

Installation

Option 1: Using Pre-built Binaries

1. Download the latest release
2. Extract and run the appropriate executable for your platform

Option 2: Manual Setup (Development)

1. Install uv: https://docs.astral.sh/uv
2. Clone repository: git clone https://github.com/xboxoneresearch/DuRFUnitI2C.git
3. Install dependencies: uv sync

RFUnit Tool - GUI

Interactive tool for RF Unit control:

rfunit-gui

Or manually with uv:

uv run rfunit-gui

Device Selection:

• GreatFET on Windows: Select "greatfet"
• Pi Pico (MicroPython): Select "pico" (leave port blank, click Detect)
• Raspberry Pi (Linux): Select "rpi"

Screenshots:

RFUnit Tool - Command Line

For GreatFET or Raspberry Pi:

rfunit-cli

Or manually:

uv run rfunit-cli

RFUnit Tool - MicroPython

For devices running MicroPython (Pi Pico, ESP8266, ESP32):

Using Pre-built Binary:

rfunit-micropython

Manual Method:

1. Identify serial port: dmesg | grep ttyACM (e.g., /dev/ttyACM0)
2. Copy flash.bin to device:

   uv run pyboard --device /dev/ttyACM0 -f cp flash.bin :flash.bin

3. Execute flash/dump:

   uv run pyboard --device /dev/ttyACM0 ./src/rfunit.py

4. Copy dump back to PC:

   uv run pyboard --device /dev/ttyACM0 -f cp :dump.bin .

See Pyboard Tool Documentation

VPE Editor - Audio Tool

Edit audio in ISD9160 firmware files and create custom VPE blobs for Xbox One/S/X button sounds.

Requirements: Original firmware file as base

GUI:

vpe-gui

Or manually:

uv run vpe-gui

Command Line:

vpe-cli

Or manually:

uv run vpe-cli

Contributors

Special thanks to:

• flynnyfoo for audio format decoding and GUI development
• craftbenmine for initial hardware experiments, testing, and suggestions