Help me to understand what to buy for making a XBOX arcade joystick.

[Occasus]

Hello,
it's the first time that I'm going to build an arcade stick (I neither have got any arcade stick).

I've read several guides, but I'm not very sure about what to buy.
I live in Italy, and when I see the postage costs, I notice that shipping costs aren't cheap, so I'd try to order from as less sellers as possible.

I'm quite young (16 years old), so I've played on arcade cabinets only a few times. Because of that, I'm not used to any sticks/buttons types.

My intention is to use the arcade controller for playing at least fighting and shooting games (especially Soul Calibur 2 and Metal Slug series).
If someone asked me which arcade controller would be the best on XBOX, I'd answer: "two analogue sticks+1 digital 8-way stick+6 digital buttons (I've not understood what are the analogue XBOX pad buttons for)+2 pedals+2 analogue buttons, triggers or pedals".

I don't think that a 49-way joystick would be a good choice, so I could buy an Happ Perfect 360 stick (is it manufactured by Industrias Lorenzo, isn't it?), a Japanese stick (Sanwa JLF-TP or a Seimitsu).
The best choice would be a Ultrastik 360, but it seems that no one has got it to work in true analogue mode on consoles.

For the buttons, I've no idea. I need 6 (or 8) arcade quality and responsive pushbuttons.

For the two XBOX triggers, I think that if I don't use analogue sticks, there won't be any needs to have an analogue solution.
Then I'd use two digital buttons. Or do you have better ideas?

Finally, there's the connection to the XBOX.
I have a original Controller S, which hasn't the left stick well centred (it's some degrees to the right).
Could I sacrifice it, or there's an equivalent inexpensive solution?
And last but not least, I've found no XBOX pad schematics to give to my uncle, who could help me if I decide to make my own arcade controller.

Thank you for having read this infinite post and for any eventual reply :)

P.S. I see that Akihabara Shop has an "extras" section.
Need I shaft protections, mountingplates, restrictors or additional leads, too?

[SithMaster]

not sure about everything else but if you want triggers you could use the ones from the controller.  if you make a box have the triggers positioned so they are easy to get to.  otherwise id consider going with a pushbutton for the triggers.

pushbuttons can be bought from divemaster on this forum for thinks 1.50 ish.  or someone might offer them up for less for used.

[severdhed]

i know you are trying to recreate every control on the xbox controller, but most of the games you would want to play with an arcade stick, dont require the use of analog joysticks.  i mean, who wants to play halo or anything like that with an arcade stick?  Same thing with analog triggers..really not needed.  for your soul calibur and metal slug needs, an 8way joystick, and 10 buttons.  that would replicate everything but the two analog sticks, and the buttons that activate when you push in on them.

[Occasus]

Yes, I think that I'll keep on playing Halo and similar games with the traditional joypad.

Anyway, is the P360 the best 8-way stick for playing games like Soul Calibur 2 and Metal Slug (but also MAME games with an emulator)?

And what about the schematics? Are they really useful, or is it easy to understand where to solder the cables?
I know nothing about electronics. My uncle has been an electronics hobbyist for many years, but he's soldered nothing related to XBOX.

[severdhed]

i havent used any sticks other than teh x-arcade sticks, so i cant really help you with a preference...but if i recall correctly, the p360s require an extra 5v that most joysticks dont.  this could be a problem trying to interface it with an xbox pad.

as for xbox soldering...is your xbox already modded?  if not, you will need some soldering skills, the solder points for the mod chip are quite small.  (unless you are soft modding, then it isnt an issue)
Mame works pretty well on the xbox, but due to lack of processing power and ram, it struggles to play some games that would run fine on a decent PC.

[Occasus]

i havent used any sticks other than teh x-arcade sticks, so i cant really help you with a preference...but if i recall correctly, the p360s require an extra 5v that most joysticks dont.  this could be a problem trying to interface it with an xbox pad.

Thank you. I'll tell my uncle that there would be this "problem".

as for xbox soldering...is your xbox already modded?  if not, you will need some soldering skills, the solder points for the mod chip are quite small.  (unless you are soft modding, then it isnt an issue)
Mame works pretty well on the xbox, but due to lack of processing power and ram, it struggles to play some games that would run fine on a decent PC.

My XBOX has been modded for many months with an Xecuter3, so that isn't the problem.

Anyway, now I'm starting to think that I may build a controller for both XBOX and PC (which runs GNU/Linux).

[severdhed]

if you are going to use it with a pc also, you have some more options.  you could still do a gamepad hack and use an xbox to usb adaptor for use with the PC, or you could go with an i-pac and use their xbox adaptor. 

the x-arcade diy kit also has adaptors for xbox, ps2, dreamcast, and gamecube

glad to hear you have an xecuter 3...i have one in one of my modded xboxes and i love it. (the other one has an xecuter 2)

[Occasus]

Ok
So I think I'll buy Japanese sticks+buttons.

Anyway, I've read that it shouldn't be very difficult to understand where to solder on the XBOX joypad.