Xbox Bartop Stick ( Videos add )

[Superfrog]

After a short break, I wanted to do a small project, just to try to take it slow and easy 

Want to make a arcade stick with a Vision 4 driven Xbox in it 

After some testing with the space and design, I started today with the first step of the building process.
Wanted to use this time 6 mm plywood, but it was bending to much, so I did jump back to 8 mm MDF.

Here are some pictures so far:

[Jigenjuke]

After a short break, I wanted to do a small project, just to try to take it slow and easy 

Want to make a arcade stick with a Vision 4 driven Xbox in it 

After some testing with the space and design, I started today with the first step of the building process.
Wanted to use this time 6 mm plywood, but it was bending to much, so I did jump back to 8 mm MDF.

Here are some pictures so far:

Hey there Superfrog, Is that an original Xbox?  How does it handle the front end?  Thinking about doing something like this myself.  How did you get everything loaded on the XBOX?  Details would be great!  Thanks and will be looking forward to seeing updates on your progress.

Jigenjuke

[Generic Eric]

Null post

[Superfrog]

Hey there Superfrog, Is that an original Xbox?  How does it handle the front end?  Thinking about doing something like this myself.  How did you get everything loaded on the XBOX?  Details would be great!  Thanks and will be looking forward to seeing updates on your progress.

Jigenjuke

Hi there,
Yes it's the old Xbox and with a softmode and replacing a harddrive for a bigger one, you can install the Vision software on it by uploading it with a FTP software.
Here is a tutorial for a softmode and harddrive update:

My Popeye bartop had Vision3 on it and it worked great .. fast and easy 

[Superfrog]

Null post

? I don't get it 

[Generic Eric]

Null post

? I don't get it 

I was going to suggest coinops but then I saw you answered vision 4.  So I nulled my post

[johnrt]

This one I'll be watching! Specially since I do have an old xbox lying in a shelf down in the basement doing nothing. :-)

[pbj]

The categories are so awful on Vision that I threw in the towel and stick with CoinOps, personally.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.  I'd plan on having the players 2 - 4 controller ports accessible if possible.

[Superfrog]

The categories are so awful on Vision that I threw in the towel and stick with CoinOps, personally.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.  I'd plan on having the players 2 - 4 controller ports accessible if possible.

There will be a 2 player port on the left side.
The other one will be internal for the kade.

First I was thinking on a 2player barstick, but I always play on my own 

[rablack97]

Here is another version of softmodding in verbiage.  http://www.techfreaks.org/articles/modxbox.shtml

IMHO, Vision = eye candy and Coinops = I just wanna play the game.  So it's based on preference on what you want to see in the GUI.

I use xboxes for all of my builds, if anything just make the P1 port available for service/configuration with an xbox jstik.

Are you adding any additional fans for cooling?  When you decase you screw up the airflow and normally additional fans are needed.

Also since you are decasing, make sure you solder the 2 metal clips on the left and right side of the A/V port to ground, this will eliminate any line noise on your screen.  If you notice the metal in the case of the xbox touches these two points and grounds it out.  If you remove the case you remove the ground.

Also make sure you have ample space away from you power supply (heat), i always into clearance issues with buttons and the joysticks, when trying to keep the units low profile.

Smaller version on the VISION BOX.......so very interested in your progress.

I have more of these expansion boards for the Kade if you want on, they allow you to utilize the trackball features in vision and and auto-program feature so you can program your kade just by plugging in your pc to a USB pass-thru.

[Superfrog]

Thanks for the tips Rablack,

I'm cutting on all sides air holes with a nice grill to keep it cool I hope.
I did use for my Popeye project a extra fan, because there was not much airflow and the temp was raising sky high without it.

On this one there is already an fan on the cooling strip, and the airflow I hope, with the design I have in mind, will be ok.

This time I did use the original bottom of the xbox with the metal under the board, so I can attach it very easy to the mdf, so I hope the sound issue will not be the case.
  That's whey I had that little noise bug when I build the Popeye   

The heating problem with the power supply is also my concern 
I was thinking about using the original metal from the old casing, but I'm afraid of some contact with parts of the cpu and motherboard ... or I protect the buttons in a way that comes in mind 

Always a challenge to fix problems when it's time to finish things up.

I use Vision with not the eye candy stuff like Hyperpsin. I like the way I did it with the Popeye build more.  why do I always ref to my prev. builds 
It gives you more a console feel than the coinops bulk look 

 

[rablack97]

Yes i fixed my signal issues by grounding those two point and grounding the amp to the main power source from the wall.  I have a super clear picture and no humm in the sound.

Also look into ground loop isolators, they work well also.

I used these plates to for AV ports and just painted black worked out well.

I'm sure you will figure something snazzy, your other builds are very nice....

Let me know if i can help out on any snags that come up....will be watching.

[Superfrog]

Thanks,

That was my first plan for the AV, but because I want it small as possible, I don't have the space to hide the original AV cable in the casing, so I gonna extend that cable and the power cable as well, to got a nice long distance at my big screen to play some games 

[johnrt]

What about placing a fan on each side, one blowing in (closest to the PSU), and the opposite fan blowing out:

[Superfrog]

This is a quick sketch I made.
I will have to see if the front will be strong enough to hold the long version that I liked more.
Otherwise I have to make it a 2 section part to make the center more stronger.

And for the beginning, there will be no extra fans, because I want it quite as possible, but if the heat goes up, then I can add some extra fans on it.

All trail and error I think 

[johnrt]

Well, I've been using fans from Noctua lately. Actually there is one in my Outrun bartop. You can barely hear it. Allthough that's a 120mm fan I see 80mm fans from Noctua with the same noise levels. I'm not sure if I would trust passive cooling on this project. You mentioned cooling issues even on your Popeye bartop which is quite large compared to this. Even I have two fans on my Felix-cab.

[Superfrog]

On this Xbox there is a gpu fan on it and I use the original 8cm fan on the back.
On my Popeye Xbox there was no extra fan in the first place, I did add it later when the temp where rising.

So I think withe the small gpu fan and the 8 cm back fan, it will do the job, otherwise I have to look out for some smaller fans to put on the sides 

[Superfrog]

After working on a house project    I got some little time left to work on the Stick   

Some raw cutting and bending and add the first buttons in place.

We will see when I can do some more on it   

[SpaceHedgehog]

Tres cool Superfrog 

[emphatic]

That looks snazzy.

[carlosboccadoro]

Hi Rodney.
Can you have a couple of ICE² for K.A.D.E. Endcoders - Expansion boards to sell me?
I see you Vision Box proyect and the Xbox Bartop Stick and I'm interest on these.
Thanks.
Regards,
Carlos.-

[Superfrog]

Finished woodworking and drilling.
Next time router the stick in place and start with the filler and sandpaper job

Greetings 

[menace]

Its so sleek and svelte!  I like it!

[Superfrog]

Just add the first layer of black... 2 layers to go for a nice and shiny finish 

[Superfrog]

It's ready my Xbox arcade stick.
Just had to make some pictures, it's very late now, so a few quick snaps

I only have 1 problem, anyone know what it is would be great to hear the solution.
When I'm starting the Xbox up, it runs quickly into the dashboard, but when I select the Emulation folder to search for the Vision 4, it takes very long to find the folder, and when I start Vision  it takes also a lot of time to see the main menu.
Selecting and starting games is fast, but when I end the game to return to the main menu, it takes again a lot of time.

Anyone know what's wrong here with my xbox?

Thanks and greetings.

[yamatetsu]

I'm just guessing here. Could it be that you have thousands of ROMs installed ? This sounds like the XBOX is checking the files, if it has to do that for thousands of files, it would take some time.

[Superfrog]

I'm just guessing here. Could it be that you have thousands of ROMs installed ? This sounds like the XBOX is checking the files, if it has to do that for thousands of files, it would take some time.

No, that's not the case. Before I put it into his new home it worked fast and great.
Maybe it's the IDE cable I will try it tonight.

Here some shots with daylight.


It was nice to do a small project... 

[Superfrog]

YESSSSS it's working great now.
Even the console games are starting just fine now

I'm a happy man / boy now

The big deal was to disable all the network settings.
When I was starting up the xbox with a networkcable, it worked great and when I started up without the cable It hangs on loading and checking.

So I disabled IP - ftp server and Peers

Installed CoinOps 5 with tonsss of games and consoles ....
I'm of for a while 

[Superfrog]

Here are the videos of this little   

It plays great and very comfortable on my lap..... or table 

Showcase:


Playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjdf4G4PzlQ&feature=youtu.be

 

[pbj]

Nice work.  Very clean.

A couple of minor suggestions - kill the boot screen, or at least customize the logo.  UnleashX was always a more stable front end for me, but it looks horrid.  I'd have it start up XBMC and a nicer skin, personally.

[Superfrog]

Nice work.  Very clean.

A couple of minor suggestions - kill the boot screen, or at least customize the logo.  UnleashX was always a more stable front end for me, but it looks horrid.  I'd have it start up XBMC and a nicer skin, personally.

That was the plan, but this Xbox had a strange network error.
When I don't reboot again after the dashboard is loaded, it will hang in searching or loading, or I have to put the network cable back in and everything will work fine.
So I don't wanna try that out, because when I can't go back into the dashboard ( because it will hang / crash ) I'm lost, so this will be the only thing I don't like about this project.

[rablack97]

What your missing is having it boot directly into coinops...

Follow my tutorial here. Boot directly to coinops

Also, if you are handy with relays, there is a way to use the delay on the kade to trigger 5v relays to shut the video and sound off for 15 sec then have then reconnect.

This method shows a black screen no xbox intro sound and direct boot to coinops.

[pbj]

I've got a BIOS kicking around that completely kills the boot up.  I believe it's a variant of Evox M8?  Relays and such work but there's really no need for them.

[Superfrog]

What your missing is having it boot directly into coinops...

Follow my tutorial here. Boot directly to coinops

Also, if you are handy with relays, there is a way to use the delay on the kade to trigger 5v relays to shut the video and sound off for 15 sec then have then reconnect.

This method shows a black screen no xbox intro sound and direct boot to coinops.

Thanks,

I know about that, and I did that with my popeye build to and was working very fine.
But like I did mention before, I can use this xbox only with a extra reboot after the first start up... ( it's strange and a few have this same error )
When the network cable is attach to the xbox, he will directly see and found CoinOps  and I can run it as normal, but when I take the network cable out, it will hang on the dashboard screen to find CoinOps in the Emulator folder.... when I do a reset and I insert the cabel back to the xbox, it will find Coinops again.

I did find out that when the cable is out and the xbox did start up without the network cable, I HAVE to do a reboot and after that it will work just fine and CoinOps start up as normal.

So with this error, I don't dare to change the auto boot into CoinOps because I don't know If the network error will be back and I can't go back to the dashboard, because of no network connection and having no DVD player anymore 

It's my only - on this one, and love to have it boot up into CoinOps, but I can live with that 

[jackiabu]

Great job as usual

just from curiosity, why you dont put in an XBOX 360 RGH? i mean its give you more option...

[rablack97]

I've got a BIOS kicking around that completely kills the boot up.  I believe it's a variant of Evox M8?  Relays and such work but there's really no need for them.

I didnt think a modified bios worked unless you were chipped, does that work with softmods as well?

[pbj]

just from curiosity, why you dont put in an XBOX 360 RGH? i mean its give you more option...

You know, homebrew never really took off too much on the 360.  The variant of MAME I've seen on it has a very clinical interface and while CoinOps seems a little old fashioned, it's nice.

I have an RGH that's only used to play mp4s and it'll be a full time dust collector once the PS4 gets a decent media compatibility update.

I didnt think a modified bios worked unless you were chipped, does that work with softmods as well?

I TSOP flash them and do not bother with chips or softmods.  I cannot imagine a hacked bios working on a softmod.

[Superfrog]

I was thinking of doing the Tsop, but I have a 1.6 xbox, so there was no option for doing that.

On my Popeye I had Vision, and it looked more of this time, CoinOps is just fine for more then 2000 games for fast searching and big video preview.
They did a great job of using the Xbox to the max... never understood why it didn't take of for the 360 

[rablack97]

just from curiosity, why you dont put in an XBOX 360 RGH? i mean its give you more option...

You know, homebrew never really took off too much on the 360.  The variant of MAME I've seen on it has a very clinical interface and while CoinOps seems a little old fashioned, it's nice.

I have an RGH that's only used to play mp4s and it'll be a full time dust collector once the PS4 gets a decent media compatibility update.

I didnt think a modified bios worked unless you were chipped, does that work with softmods as well?

I TSOP flash them and do not bother with chips or softmods.  I cannot imagine a hacked bios working on a softmod.

Ok then, i thought i was missing something it only works on hardmods only....I only do softmods which is why i use the relay route.

I was thinking of doing the Tsop, but I have a 1.6 xbox, so there was no option for doing that.

On my Popeye I had Vision, and it looked more of this time, CoinOps is just fine for more then 2000 games for fast searching and big video preview.
They did a great job of using the Xbox to the max... never understood why it didn't take of for the 360 

If you follow the coinops forums, theres is talks of a 360 port plus other platforms, developer is taking polls on which one to make happen first. 

[Superfrog]

If you follow the coinops forums, theres is talks of a 360 port plus other platforms, developer is taking polls on which one to make happen first. 

Yeah I know, I did follow that one very close
Hope that it will be a same setup as Vision / CoinOps port to the PC, so it will be a very big contender of Hyperspin.
Vision, so much easier to use then Hyperspin. No install or whatever