PS2 ARCADE Machine

[david656]

ok i would like to put a PS2 in my arcade machine.

here's what i got and know.

i have a network adaptor on my PS2 with a hard drive and software to make the games i have put on the hard drive run.

what i need to know is:

1. what is the best way to ring the PS2 upto the PC monitor in my machine, i have seen these black upright box things with tv input RCA and VGA so you can plug your pc PS2 and say SEGA Master System in all at the same time.

2. whats the best way of hacking or getting a like ipac for the PS2??

[NickG]

For VGA monitors you may get a better picture using a Component (Y'PbPr) cable and a Component to VGA transcoder, than if you use a composite/s-video tvbox.  An upscan converter may provide even better colors but may cost a bit more.   

[david656]

well my PS2 is on my LCD tv with the Red green blue cable but as i want to use some older equipment to i thought get the box thing

enyone know the website for it i have found it before

[polaris]

found this

[david656]

humm that looks the business BUT not what i was after

i really need a tv input as well

[david656]

http://www.merconnet.com/product_info.php?loc_id=14&products_id=533&meRrid=bb334f1b9f0757ce034f9cca9dbd3e86

this is basicly what im after

[NiteWalker]

For hacking you're best off hacking some cheap control pads. No matter the pad used, you won't be able to use the analog function, so keep that in mind when playing games on it (presumable for fighters mainly, right?). I use the street fighter pads as they are very easy to solder to and don't contain the unnecessary analog sticks. I also use Sony digital pads (I like the beefy cord) and various others.

That's probably your cheapest and if you do it right, best option.

Another option that will work very well but is expensive is to get an Ipac and the PS2 adapter. The total there would be $70+ though.

If you need some pads hacked PM me, I have a bunch. 

[rlemmon]

You could get an x arcade board and ps 2 adapter thats what I did and it worked fine.

[NiteWalker]

I wouldn't recommend the x-arcade unless they changed their PCB lately. The couple I had crapped out after about a year of use.

[MonMotha]

For hacking you're best off hacking some cheap control pads. No matter the pad used, you won't be able to use the analog function, so keep that in mind when playing games on it (presumable for fighters mainly, right?). I use the street fighter pads as they are very easy to solder to and don't contain the unnecessary analog sticks. I also use Sony digital pads (I like the beefy cord) and various others.

That's probably your cheapest and if you do it right, best option.

Another option that will work very well but is expensive is to get an Ipac and the PS2 adapter. The total there would be $70+ though.

If you need some pads hacked PM me, I have a bunch. 

I have an encoder board design laying around (not manufactured yet) that supports a playstation in either analog or digital mode, including analog inputs (you can hook either pots or 0-5V analog inputs up).  No way I can beat the price on picking up a couple cheap digital pads at Gamestop and prying the top off, but I can make the analog inputs work (or I can map an 8-way to the analog stick), and it'll certainly look much cleaner.  If you cared, I could make the inputs arbitrarily mappable, too.  I should be able to get it well below $70, especially if I can get more than one person interested.

If you don't need the analog inputs, it's certainly cheaper (though very, very ugly) to just solder some wires down to a cheap-o digital controller.

[NiteWalker]

That definitely sound interesting. I'd like to see that when it gets fabricated. Did you design it yourself?

[MonMotha]

That definitely sound interesting. I'd like to see that when it gets fabricated. Did you design it yourself?

I design all my hardware myself   It's something of a hobby, but occasionally something turns out to be actually useful for others.

I'll chuck a prototype on my next panel to the board fabrication house and work out any bugs that show up.

[david656]

oooo WOW nice comments there

well put it this way i did have a PSX i could of put in it but sold it to a mate who turns out doesn't want it so could probably buy it back! but yeh i would like to put my PS2 in it.

next im looking around and have found out the PC vga box thingy is the old version of the logic 3 vga box    so gunna get one of those.

next

im in Bristol UK soo......

yeh ummm on the games i would like to play the great fighters of the concel and  yes i would like to hack the analogs to some joksticks


thanks for all your thoughts

[Crowquill]

Despite not being specifically for PS2, my MAME cabinet is actually wired up with a couple of Spiffyshoes' solderless PS1 DualShock hacks. I did it that way so that I could use the converters I have to play the MAME PC, PS, Dreamcast, Xbox, and Gamecube.

What you want to hook up the video to a computer monitor is probably an upscan converter. I'll warn you now...cheap ones are usually a big disappointment (mine was). If you want to use it solely for PS2, why not use a TV?

HDLoader and HDAdvance rock. It can easily be controlled by digital inputs.

[david656]

yup HD Advance is what i will be using and no it will mainly be mame and for that reason its gunna be a PC monitor

humm will have a think on all this after the machine is built!

[Kaytrim]

I have an encoder board design laying around (not manufactured yet) that supports a playstation in either analog or digital mode, including analog inputs (you can hook either pots or 0-5V analog inputs up).  No way I can beat the price on picking up a couple cheap digital pads at Gamestop and prying the top off, but I can make the analog inputs work (or I can map an 8-way to the analog stick), and it'll certainly look much cleaner.  If you cared, I could make the inputs arbitrarily mappable, too.  I should be able to get it well below $70, especially if I can get more than one person interested.

If you don't need the analog inputs, it's certainly cheaper (though very, very ugly) to just solder some wires down to a cheap-o digital controller.

I was looking into doing this for the custom controller builders for both X-Box and Playstation.  I was asking over at another forum and the sweet spot seems to be in the $20-$30 range for these.  About the same price as keyboard encoders.  There does seem to be a market for them.    I know that I would look into purchasing them for any customs that I would build.  I don't like the idea of hacking a game pad.

Kaytrim

[NiteWalker]

I was looking into doing this for the custom controller builders for both X-Box and Playstation.  I was asking over at another forum and the sweet spot seems to be in the $20-$30 range for these.  About the same price as keyboard encoders.  There does seem to be a market for them.    I know that I would look into purchasing them for any customs that I would build.  I don't like the idea of hacking a game pad.

Kaytrim

If there were xbox and PS2 encoders similar to the ipac and keywiz I'd be their best customer...

[Kaytrim]

I was looking into doing this for the custom controller builders for both X-Box and Playstation.  I was asking over at another forum and the sweet spot seems to be in the $20-$30 range for these.  About the same price as keyboard encoders.  There does seem to be a market for them.    I know that I would look into purchasing them for any customs that I would build.  I don't like the idea of hacking a game pad.

Kaytrim

If there were xbox and PS2 encoders similar to the ipac and keywiz I'd be their best customer...

You do make a few of the custom control panels don't you NiteWalker.

[MonMotha]

Alright, sounds like there's some real interest in this.  I'll try to get a prototype out for fabrication of the PCB early next week.

I'll look into XBox (electically a fairly known problem, software wise I have no information) and GameCube (I investigated this a while back - should be doable) support, as well.

[NiteWalker]

Some PS2 encoders would be great. Less so for xbox and GC.

[Kaytrim]

Alright, sounds like there's some real interest in this.  I'll try to get a prototype out for fabrication of the PCB early next week.

I'll look into XBox (electically a fairly known problem, software wise I have no information) and GameCube (I investigated this a while back - should be doable) support, as well.

The Playstation is one of the controllers that is hacked the most I think.  At least that is what I can tell on the Shoryuken forums.  While I was doing some research into possible doing this myself I ran across some interesting information about the PS2 controllers.  They are used quite a bit in robotics as controllers.  I also found the protocol posted in a few places.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[MonMotha]

The protocol itself is quite simple.  It's a byte based, multi-slave, single-master, full duplex SPI system with some seemingly randomly chosen magic numbers.  However, the various playstations are REMARKABLY picky about protocol violations at times, and the original playstation, PSOne, PS2, and slim PS2 all seem to have slightly different things they will either tolerate or outright reject.  If you want to talk to a controller, rather than the playstation, there's a whole different set of subtle protocol violations (which are surprisingly easy to make without realizing it) which will be tolerated or cause strange failure modes.

It took me a couple months playing around with various units and an oscilloscope to get my firmware working between all the major devices.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Something to keep in mind is that the newer PS2 controllers are all analog.
All of the buttons are pressure sensitive.

I've got a slim PS2, and I've run into several games that won't start up when a PS1 dualshock controller is connected.
It says something like "Playstation 2 controller not detected. Please plug in a Playstation 2 controller".
The PS1 controller will work for pretty much all the PS1 games, and the PS2 controllers will work for pretty much all games (PS1 and PS2).
I don't know how hackable the PS2 controllers are though.

[MonMotha]

I was unaware that there were games which required the DS2 functionality of analog buttons and would refuse to work without it.  Heck, I'm not aware of many games which even utilize the functionality at all.  I actually hate the feel of those buttons (they're too mushy), and since none of the games I play use them anyway, I tend to play with an old original Dualshock controller.  Heck, many games work with just a digital controller, unless they really depend on the analog sticks for something (Katamari Damacy comes to mind as a great example).  Even if they're unusable with a digital controller, most seem to at least let you try to play rather than throwing an error screen.

I know I've played PS2 specific games with an original Dualshock with no trouble.

Have you tried putting the PS1 Dualshock into analog mode manually?

I know how to emulate most of the functionality of a DS2 and should be able to handle that, if somebody really needs it.  The only games I'm aware of that actually use the functionality (rather than arbitrarily requiring it) are driving games, and they're more suited to steering wheel controls, anyway.

[NoOne=NBA=]

The only games I'm aware of that actually use the functionality (rather than arbitrarily requiring it) are driving games, and they're more suited to steering wheel controls, anyway.

I can't remember which specific titles had problems; but it could well have been driving games, or offshoots like platform racers.
My two favorite genres are driving and shooting.
Steering wheel compatibility is another subject entirely.
That's the main reason I don't have a PS3 yet.

[MonMotha]

Well, as far as steering wheel compatibility, I can emulate a NegCon controller (which is what almost all of the Playstation driving games used, either directly or through a wheel that emulated it), but that's about it.  Most of the newer PS2 driving controllers are USB as far as I'm aware.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Most of the newer PS2 driving controllers are USB as far as I'm aware.

Logitech has the Driving Force EX, which has both USB and PS2 connectors.
It will do force feedback when connected via USB, and will do analog or digital when connected via the controller port.
That lets it work with PS1 games, older PS2 games, PS2 games that don't support USB input, and games that DO support USB input.
The only thing the EX doesn't offer is the quality of the Driving Force Pro or the G25 system.

[realtea]

The protocol itself is quite simple.  It's a byte based, multi-slave, single-master, full duplex SPI system with some seemingly randomly chosen magic numbers.  However, the various playstations are REMARKABLY picky about protocol violations at times, and the original playstation, PSOne, PS2, and slim PS2 all seem to have slightly different things they will either tolerate or outright reject.  If you want to talk to a controller, rather than the playstation, there's a whole different set of subtle protocol violations (which are surprisingly easy to make without realizing it) which will be tolerated or cause strange failure modes.

It took me a couple months playing around with various units and an oscilloscope to get my firmware working between all the major devices.

I'm just started the process of deciphering the strange hand-shaking process that occurs when a PS2 controller is connected to a PS2 console.  But seem to be getting into a deeper hole each time I try.... I'm building a new type of controller for the PS2 console and using the SPI module of my dsPIC30 chip to spit out the appropriate bit patterns (found most of these protocol doc after scouring the net).  However, I'm really stumped in persuading the PS2 console to recognise a PS2 analog red controller and switching its clocking freq from its initial 250kHz to a 500kHz.  Does this sound familiar?  From your post, you seem to have been here before!  Could you throw some light on these magic handshaking process or the subtle timing violation that is the bane of my life at the moment?  Any advice would be much appreciated....