X-box mod for Mame help (Also Best Console Game Ports)

[shmokes]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Distribution_System

WDS has nothing to do with what we are talking about.  It is exactly what I said it is.  WDS cannot be used to connect an Xbox to a wireless network.  It is completely and utterly irrelevant to this conversation.  There is no reason to even be talking about it.

[tightwad]

Before people get offended and on other tangents…I am not sure the nomenclature matters really.  There seem to be two people currently reading this who are interested in doing it, as the rest already have or have no need to.  For myself I don’t care what it is called, as long as I understand how to set it up…not sure there is room in my head for the details, certainly not for non-GUI setups as I am not that smart.

I have an ASUS WL520GC wireless router than I flashed with dd-wrt (tomato cannot be used, whatever that is…).  I do like the new interface, and  I was planning on using this to extend my wireless network to the other ˝ of my house as I have a remote desktop that was getting dropped due to poor reception.  I have been unable to get this pairing to work, although I haven’t tried again recently.  For now I would be happy if I knew how to set it up to work as a wireless access point for the Xbox (whatever it is called, the name is irrelevant really).  Currently I am using it as a switch to connect my wireless desktop machine to the Xbox via a cable.

So much good stuff has come from this thread, including an upcoming “how-to” post, that I would hate to see it derailed by arguments that are mostly irrelevant.

[ark_ader]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Distribution_System

WDS has nothing to do with what we are talking about.  It is exactly what I said it is.  WDS cannot be used to connect an Xbox to a wireless network.  It is completely and utterly irrelevant to this conversation.  There is no reason to even be talking about it.

Now it is clear you are definitely talking crap.  I can connect two Buffalo G54A (have two in storage) that connects not one but TWO Xboxes or whatever I want to the main network through WDS via the Wireless Bridge.  The AP in question is not connecting to the network via a bridge.

You have not even read what I typed Shmokes - which is puzzling. 

My only conclusion 

[tightwad]

If you are connecting to the AP with your Buffalo device, isn't that what a "wireless bridge" is?

Technical

WDS can be used to provide two modes of wireless AP-to-AP connectivity:

    * Wireless Bridging in which WDS APs communicate only with each other and don't allow wireless clients or Stations (STA) to access them
    * Wireless Repeating in which APs communicate with each other and with wireless STAs

[shmokes]

God you're obnoxious ark_ader.

What DJ said is exactly how networking works.  If you have a device that can be set up simultaneously as a repeating bridge (WDS) and a wireless ethernet bridge, that's fine for you, but it doesn't help anyone here.  Simply setting a router up as a client will normally behave exactly as DJ described.  You will create a network within the network and the devices from one will not talk to the devices on the other.

You asked for a reference for my argument.  I provided one.  You have not explained how the information in my reference does not support to a T exactly what I said.  You just respond that I am trolling.

A wireless bridge does not use WDS.  You connect a device to it (an Xbox for example) and then it connects to a wireless access point or router, just like a laptop would.  What does it need WDS for?

tightwad: I know that it may seem nitpicky or senseless to you, but getting the terminology right is VERY important.  Access points, bridges, routers and switches do VERY different things, and mixing them up can lead to an enormous amount of frustration.  Using the terms interchangeably is like using the terms circular saw, jigsaw and router (the woodworking kind) interchangeably.  At the very least, you will not be able to find tutorials for what you want if you are searching for access point rather than bridge.

Speaking of which, here is a tutorial for setting up a wireless ethernet bridge if you're using DD-WRT.

[tightwad]

Using the link provided I was able to Bridge my wireless network and hook the Xbox in, I am currently streaming Weird Al to XBMC

[shmokes]

Heh . . . not bad for a troll. 

[tightwad]

My failures previously were from trying to make it a repeater bridge...

Hardest part was getting the Xbox to use a new IP...what a pain.

[shmokes]

You can alleviate that problem by setting up static IP addresses in the DHCP server on your router.  Then Just always leave the Xbox set to get an IP address automatically from the DHCP server.  That way  any time you want to change the Xbox's IP address you can just go into the DHCP page of your router and tell it to hand the Xbox a different address.  Plus, this way if you take your Xbox to a friend's house or something it will pick up a new address rather than potentially causing an IP conflict on his network. 

You should really set up all your devices this way.  It saves SOOO much headache down the road.  For example, many network devices like printers can only be accessed through a web interface.  If you set a static IP within the printer, and then, say, your router breaks and you replace it with one that uses a default address of 192.168.1.1 and your old one was 192.168.0.1.  If you go along with it and get your network all set up you will find that you cannot print.  But what's worse, there is no way for you to get into the printer's web interface now to change its IP address.  You have to now go into the router and change all the addresses back to 192.168.0.x.

Plus it's just nice to have a single point of administration for all network addressing on the network.

[tightwad]

I wasn't successful getting the Xbox to pick up via DHCP, but then I didn't try too hard.  Originally I needed to get something to work with FTP, but now with the Bridge I needed a new IP.  My main router uses 192.168.200.1 as a starting point, so my Bridge is set to 200.100.  I will burn the bridge of IP conflicts etc when I get there...

[ark_ader]

God you're obnoxious ark_ader.

What DJ said is exactly how networking works.  If you have a device that can be set up simultaneously as a repeating bridge (WDS) and a wireless ethernet bridge, that's fine for you, but it doesn't help anyone here.  Simply setting a router up as a client will normally behave exactly as DJ described.  You will create a network within the network and the devices from one will not talk to the devices on the other.

You asked for a reference for my argument.  I provided one.  You have not explained how the information in my reference does not support to a T exactly what I said.  You just respond that I am trolling.

A wireless bridge does not use WDS.  You connect a device to it (an Xbox for example) and then it connects to a wireless access point or router, just like a laptop would.  What does it need WDS for?

 
tightwad: I know that it may seem nitpicky or senseless to you, but getting the terminology right is VERY important.  Access points, bridges, routers and switches do VERY different things, and mixing them up can lead to an enormous amount of frustration.  Using the terms interchangeably is like using the terms circular saw, jigsaw and router (the woodworking kind) interchangeably.  At the very least, you will not be able to find tutorials for what you want if you are searching for access point rather than bridge.

Speaking of which, here is a tutorial for setting up a wireless ethernet bridge if you're using DD-WRT.

[DJ_Izumi]

Ark also didn't mention anything about WDS in his post, he said a client.  And you can set routers to do that even DD-WRT routers can link to a wireless network as a client and run their own NAT through DHCP.  But then the wireless is JUST an internet source.  It's the same thing as a laptop connected to a wireless router, then running Internet Connection Sharing on it through the wired ethernet port just in a smaller box.

WDS -can- to bridging like necessary but it's inefficent and poorly supported as Ark said.

His major failing is that he doesn't understand that you can also do straight up ethernet bridging.  That IS what the offical Xbox1 wifi adaptor is and that is ALSO what all the third party Xbox 360 wifi adaptors that link to the ethernet port is.  They are just wireless bridges and will infact work on ANY wired ethernet device.

[ark_ader]

Ark also didn't mention anything about WDS in his post, he said a client.  And you can set routers to do that even DD-WRT routers can link to a wireless network as a client and run their own NAT through DHCP.  But then the wireless is JUST an internet source.  It's the same thing as a laptop connected to a wireless router, then running Internet Connection Sharing on it through the wired ethernet port just in a smaller box.

WDS -can- to bridging like necessary but it's inefficent and poorly supported as Ark said.

His major failing is that he doesn't understand that you can also do straight up ethernet bridging.  That IS what the offical Xbox1 wifi adaptor is and that is ALSO what all the third party Xbox 360 wifi adaptors that link to the ethernet port is.  They are just wireless bridges and will infact work on ANY wired ethernet device.

But this device does not have its own NAT - it is a device that just connects to any available wireless connection.  You supply the address.

If you read the PDF of the device then you and Shmokes would understand. 

Anyway,  it is moot now.

[DJ_Izumi]

But this device does not have its own NAT - it is a device that just connects to any available wireless connection.  You supply the address.

If you read the PDF of the device then you and Shmokes would understand.

Yes and that isn't a 'Client' as you called it, that's just a wireless ethernet bridge.  It's funny how you've abandoned this WDS nonsense suddenly.

[ark_ader]

But this device does not have its own NAT - it is a device that just connects to any available wireless connection.  You supply the address.

If you read the PDF of the device then you and Shmokes would understand.

Yes and that isn't a 'Client' as you called it, that's just a wireless ethernet bridge.  It's funny how you've abandoned this WDS nonsense suddenly.

I haven't you just have a problem reading my posts.

Besides this a good thread for Xbox information - it is a shame you and Smokes come in and try to ruin it. 

[shmokes]

Agreed.  Like by providing tightwad with the information he used to finally get his xbox talking over his wireless network.  Sometimes I hate me so much.

[DJ_Izumi]

I haven't you just have a problem reading my posts.

Besides this a good thread for Xbox information - it is a shame you and Smokes come in and try to ruin it. 

Your self pity doesn't interest me, you provided incorrect information and we corrected you.  It's as simple as that.

Even earlier in this thread you were argueing that you couldn't do softmode a 1.6 Xbox or do VGA output on any soft modded Xbox and lost that one too.  This isn't the first time either.  You routinely post incorrect information and then fight being corrected.  You can't just seem to go 'Oops, my bad'.

[jukingeo]

Hello all,

Wow!  I was gone for one weekend and all of a sudden this board blew up!

Using the link provided I was able to Bridge my wireless network and hook the Xbox in, I am currently streaming Weird Al to XBMC

I am happy to hear that you did manage to get your Xbox on wireless...now you are a step ahead of me again!

At any rate, I will say that before you mentioned you got it going I just became totally confused and now I am wondering if the new wireless Belkin router I bought will even DO what I want.

Shmokes, I did look over the document very quickly, but it looks 'involved' so I will read it in depth later on.  I am happy to hear that the document has worked for Tightwad.

And guys...the information is relevant even though things did get a bit out of sorts.  While I am not taking sides here, I will say though that Ark_Ader has been a tremendous help in assisting me in getting my Xbox going and thus-far has been rock solid and always here.  I have not been steered wrong with the information he has provided.   He pretty much helped out when Crash was busy IRL with his move.   Since this is an area I know nothing about (wireless) I am not one to judge in regards to the comments above.   Also, I don't think anyone is trolling here.  It is just a miss-communication and that is all. I just hope that it has been straightened out now and we can get along and keep moving forward (gee THAT sounds familiar!)  I really don't want to see people getting angry and leave the thread.   As it is this turned out to be one good monster of a thread and everyone has contributed greatly to it.    But I will make a consolidation of it once I get everything all running properly.  I will do that step by step, when I mod the next Xbox since I do want to include the information in regards to changing the hard drive as well.

So don't worry if this got messed up a bit, as I am guilty of that myself when I started to talk about Dragon's Lair, which really isn't relevant here.  (I did it twice really as this thread originally started out as a thread to list good console ports of arcade games.  It was just that once I found out the Xbox could do Mame, I dropped the original course of the thread).  We did go on several tangents here but that is the learning process.  I guess in the end most of it does tie together.   The biggest problem is that Xbox-Scene is horribly out of date and many links are broken, so at least here in BYOAC we NEED something up to date.  Now that I have the Xbox running with CoinOPs I am quickly realizing that this is a tremendous time saver in setting up smaller cabinets with Mame.  (It is also very cheap method with most Xbox's now selling for $50 or less). So I will just consolidate everything down the road.  But I think having a 'rider' that instructs how to set up the Xbox via a wireless router is important AND very much relevant, as the current trend is now pointing towards wireless networking systems.

Ok, now getting back on course.  Within all the confusion and in the meantime, I was wondering if Microsoft made something wireless for the Xbox.  Low and behold, they do:

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Wireless-Network-Adapter-MN740/dp/B00005QBX9/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1268057813&sr=8-3

It does have many positive reviews, but one thing that isn't clear is if it works with a MODDED Xbox.  That would be something that I would like to find out for sure because at $90 that is a considerable expense. (I probably will have to find one on Ebay to get it cheaper).

I will come back when I have the exact model number of the new router.  And if you guys could let me know if it will work or not, because if it doesn't then I have to take it back.

Oh!  Yes, I was educated by a somewhat knowledgeable person at Walmart and he did steer me away from Wireless 'G' which is what the Linksys router was I pointed out here earlier.  He turned me on to Wireless "N" and that is what I picked up.

Thanx,

Geo

[shmokes]

I was wondering if Microsoft made something wireless for the Xbox.  Low and behold, they do:

You probably missed my link to this on the previous page.  It was small.  Anyway, don't buy that Microsoft thing.  This is the same thing that isn't Xbox branded and it costs almost half as much.

[jukingeo]

You probably missed my link to this on the previous page.  It was small.  Anyway, don't buy that Microsoft thing.  This is the same thing that isn't Xbox branded and it costs almost half as much.

Oh, OK.  Just figured I would pass it by here first.

At any rate, I got the information on the router I got at Walmart:

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Wireless-N-4-Port-Router/dp/tech-data/B001CNCQO2/ref=de_a_smtd

Would this allow the Xbox to connect to it?

When I was at Walmart the guy did say to forget about the 'G' routers as they are only good for 'surfing' the net and 'N' was more suited for video streams.  I mainly bought the router because I am looking into a laptop for my wife.  With taking care of the kids being a massive time eater, my wife wanted a computer she could take 'around the house'.   So that was the main reason to go wireless, but while it is there I may as well try to tap the Xbox into it.

Thanx,

Geo

[DJ_Izumi]

Unless you're gonna be streaming Blu-Rays at their full bitrate, Wireless G would be enough.   Wireless G can push about 15mbps or so, you're average SDTV XviD encode is about 1mbps-2mbps. ^^;

[shmokes]

Nah . . . it's good you went with N.  When I was on G I ran into problems sometimes with streaming video, and streaming HD video was out of the question.  Maybe if my Xbox had been closer to the router it would be no problem, but it was a problem.  And file transfers, my god, file transfers are SOOOO much faster now.  Plus, while you may not be streaming Blu-Ray today, you never know what you'll be doing 2 years from now.  I think buying G right now doesn't make a lot of sense considering how inexpensively you can buy N.

With that said, I'm not entirely sure how to answer you question cos I haven't read this whole thread and don't know what you want to use this router for.  If you want to hook this router directly to the Xbox so the Xbox can connect to an existing wireless network, then no, you can't do that (unless the firmware of this router can be replaced with DD-WRT or Tomato).  If you want to use this router to create a wireless network in your home, which the Xbox will then connect to using a wireless bridge such as the one linked to in my previous post or that Xbox branded one you linked to, then yes, it would work perfectly well for that.

[jukingeo]

Unless you're gonna be streaming Blu-Rays at their full bitrate, Wireless G would be enough.   Wireless G can push about 15mbps or so, you're average SDTV XviD encode is about 1mbps-2mbps. ^^;

Yeah, I wasn't thinking of Blu-Ray, but I don't have that anyway.  Basically the guy showed me all sorts of booklets and charts showing how much "N" is better than G.  There was even mention of N+, but he told me that those systems are very expensive right now and for what I want to do, "N" will have me covered.  So I went with the "N".  I figured Belkin is a top brand in communications and I was happy with products I bought from them in the past.

Nah . . . it's good you went with N.  When I was on G I ran into problems sometimes with streaming video, and streaming HD video was out of the question.  Maybe if my Xbox had been closer to the router it would be no problem, but it was a problem.  And file transfers, my god, file transfers are SOOOO much faster now.  Plus, while you may not be streaming Blu-Ray today, you never know what you'll be doing 2 years from now.  I think buying G right now doesn't make a lot of sense considering how inexpensively you can buy N.

Well, I did go one step up on the N.  I have standard "N" and not the cheaper "N-150".  Also the laptop I am considering for my wife also has an "N" wireless connection.  So it did make sense to keep it all "N". 

With that said, I'm not entirely sure how to answer you question cos I haven't read this whole thread and don't know what you want to use this router for.

Well you don't have to, in terms of wireless you came in at the right time.   Prior to now what was mostly discussed was modifying an Xbox so that it could do Mame and also XBMC (which supports emulators).   Since that goal has been achieved, the discussion has shifted to a wireless connection.  I still consider it relevant to modding an Xbox, because if an Xbox is installed into an arcade cabinet, the cabinet may be located where connection to a computer isn't convenient via a wired route.  With the Xbox, the best way to get data in/out of it is through the ethernet connection.

  If you want to hook this router directly to the Xbox so the Xbox can connect to an existing wireless network, then no, you can't do that (unless the firmware of this router can be replaced with DD-WRT or Tomato).  If you want to use this router to create a wireless network in your home, which the Xbox will then connect to using a wireless bridge such as the one linked to in my previous post or that Xbox branded one you linked to, then yes, it would work perfectly well for that.

As of now I only have a hardwired network.  I have two computers that connect to a WIRED Linksys router, which in turn connects to a cable modem.  So as it stands everything is wired with ethernet connections.  What I would like to do is remove the Linksys wired router and install the Belkin WIRELESS router in it's place.   Now the Belkin router, in addition to wireless,  also has four ethernet ports.  My two wired computers will connect to those ports just as they have done with the Linksys router.   So nothing changes in terms of the connections those two computers make. They still will be wired connections.

Wireless comes into play because I plan a future purchase of an Acer laptop computer which has built in Wifi capability and that will connect to the network via wireless (this is really the main reason I am setting up wireless on my home network).  Lastly I want the Xbox to communicate wireless as well (once I have it, why not connect to it without wires!)

Hopefully that will explain more clearly as to what I have now and what I would like to do.

Thanx,
Geo

[shmokes]

Yeah, then the router you have is exactly what you want.  Whenever it comes time to hook the Xbox to the wireless network just pick up a wireless ethernet bridge like the one linked to in my earlier post.

[jukingeo]

Yeah, then the router you have is exactly what you want.  Whenever it comes time to hook the Xbox to the wireless network just pick up a wireless ethernet bridge like the one linked to in my earlier post.

Ok, that sounds cool.   

Now for the ethernet bridge, is there anything 'special' I have to do to get it going on the end of the Xbox?  Does it need any kind of special software?  A driver perhaps?


Thanx,

Geo

[DJ_Izumi]

Asside from configuring it with your wireless info, no, they're pretty 'stupid' as far as setup is.

[crashwg]

Now for the ethernet bridge, is there anything 'special' I have to do to get it going on the end of the Xbox?  Does it need any kind of special software?  A driver perhaps?


Thanx,

Geo

Asside from configuring it with your wireless info, no, they're pretty 'stupid' as far as setup is.

More specifically...  You'll attach the wireless ethernet bridge to your wired network, log into the bridge's interface (via a web browser no doubt) and enter the configuration to match your wireless network.  Once you've done that it will be configured so you'll attach it to the XBOX.  The XBOX will have no knowledge of the wireless bridge and will believe it is connected to your network with a wire.

[jukingeo]

Deleted, double post by mistake.

[jukingeo]

Asside from configuring it with your wireless info, no, they're pretty 'stupid' as far as setup is.

More specifically...  You'll attach the wireless ethernet bridge to your wired network, log into the bridge's interface (via a web browser no doubt) and enter the configuration to match your wireless network.  Once you've done that it will be configured so you'll attach it to the XBOX.  The XBOX will have no knowledge of the wireless bridge and will believe it is connected to your network with a wire.

Crashhhhhh!  Welcome back!  Ok, sounds pretty straight forward, which is a welcome sigh of relief after the long task prior (Bios Flashing, setting up, etc).  So it looks like I will be getting that TRENDnet unit down the road for the second Xbox I am working on.

As of now I am STILL going through my roms (going alphabetical I am up to the "T"'s).  Basically I am removing anything that is too large that I know my guests and myself will not play that much.  But mainly since Ark_Ader mentions that analog controls are 'sketchy' in CoinOPs, I am going to move those games to another folder to effectively keep them out of the main list. I am really hoping that this does get fixed at least offer trackball and spinner support.  Certain games you just can't play without their correct controls...(however, I DO admit that I CAN play most spinner games with a trackball instead of a spinner (lately I actually prefer playing Tempest with a trackball)).

I am finding though that some driving games that have simple left/right movements (ie. Super Sprint) can actually be played via the keyboard (digitally).  It isn't elegant, but it can be done.   But games like Outrun and Spy Hunter are out of the question...they NEED the analog controls.  Certain games such as Lunar Lander actually have two ways to configure it so you CAN play it with analog  or digital controls.

Sidebar: If you guys want it, I can make a list of what "analog" games are playable and what is not with all the controls mapped digitally.  Naturally it will not be a complete list, but I have most of the 'classic' game roms anyway.  I don't have too much of the new stuff because when it comes to arcade games, I am (for the most part) "retro".  I started to loose interest in the arcade games in the early 90's.  I have noticed that game creativity and ingenuity have declined rapidly after the "Golden Age" of the video game (Early to mid 80's).   Most of the later games seem to all fall into these categories:  Vertical Shooter, Side Scrolling Shooter, "Street Fighter" style games, driving games.  Naturally I don't have many of these games, as I tire of them quickly.   Another benefit to being a 'retro' gamer is that the games can be played on slower systems AND they take up less room as some games were extremely small.  (I think Space Invaders is only 7k!!!).

So basically this is what I am going through now.  Once I have a set rom list I will dump into the Xbox along with the associated art work.

In the midst of all that, I am going to prep the second Xbox for the XBMC modification.  (Ark_Ader, I have decided to put DaphneX on this box since it would take up WAY too much space on the small hard drive that is in the CoinOPs Mame box).

So being the busy beaver I am, I probably will be on hiatus from this forum for a while.  I will poke my head in every now and then as I am sure I will have more questions on getting the hard drive ready for the second Xbox.  Once that second box is completed, I will be back with a procedure that I can hope to get stickied here.  But I have quite a bit of information to go on now and I can start work on that second Xbox.

Mucho Gracias for all the help thusfar.  I seriously couldn't have come this far without the BYOAC forums.

Geo

[jukingeo]

Hello All,

Just a quick update in regards to XBMC and the playlist function.  For the most part it works flawlessly going from clip to clip.  The best part was testing a stream.   I set up a playlist with about 4 or 5 local video files I moved to Xbox hard drive, and then I streamed to a movie ("E.T. The Extra Terrestrial") on my PC (playing as I am writing this).  The video quality is great!  If I can get this quality when I set up the Xbox for wireless, I would be extremely happy.

The only caveat is that I had noticed that when you FF, Pause, etc a small display come up with progress bar in the top right corner of the screen.  I also noticed that this bar shows for a split second when the streamed movie cued up in the playlist.  Now the weird thing is that for the local files, I don't get the display when the videos change from clip to clip.

I would like to know now to disable this feature so that there is NOTHING that shows up on the display.   Would anyone know how to turn this off?  BTW you can pull up the display manually pushing the 'start' button while the playlist is playing.

But overall the playlist test was successful, I know I can stream to a NAS drive and I could store everything for my movie events on that.

Geo

[tightwad]

Sounds like other than the wireless, Jukingeo is ahead of me...

What kind of Cable Modem do you have?  Some of them have built in wireless and you might not even know it.

I am still having problems with the Xbox booting up with a an error 21 or error 13....it sometimes takes a few reboots for it to work.  I did check out the XBMC photo slideshow, using photos from another computer, and it works.  Same for Audio playback.  If I had any videos I would try them, but I don't.

On a related note, I picked up a "Smart Joy Frag" keyboard/mouse adapter.  I was then able to play Arkanoid with my homebuilt spinner!  Much adjustment (and a better spinner) is needed, but this would allow me to use a keyboard encoder to wire in joysticks and trackball...I just need to figure out how I want to do it for player two as keyboard encoders are expensive and would defeat the purpose of using the Xbox for more than 1 player.

How are others using a trackball with the Xbox?

[jukingeo]

Sounds like other than the wireless, Jukingeo is ahead of me...

Hmmm, I don't recall this being a race...BUT!      (only kidding).   But you are also ahead of me in regards to soft modding.  I gave up on that really quick because I decided that the cost of the materials to pull off a soft-mod outweighed the costs of a mod-chip.   For the most part I think I am going to chip any Xbox I come across, but that will only work if I have 'control' of the situation of purchasing, which I have with Play N Trade.  I CAN reject all version 1.6 boxes as those seem to be the most difficult to chip.  I am thinking perhaps a soft mod would be better on a 1.6.

What kind of Cable Modem do you have?  Some of them have built in wireless and you might not even know it.

No, I know the cable modem I have isn't wireless.  My modem is provided by the local cable company and thusfar I have not seen anything like that from them.  However, the trouble with JUST the modem on wireless is that I cannot have the wireless device talk to the rest of the network.  I think it is better to have the wireless as part of the router so this way I can use the computers to all communicate with each other.  For me that will be very much necessary when I get a NAS unit.  After last night's streaming experiment, I am very likely to move forward with an NAS system, because I can edit all of my movies on my PC and I don't even have to bother moving them to the Xbox.   BUT I had thought of doing a combination playlist, like in my test.  I think I will leave the smaller files, such as intros, coming attractions and some short cartoons on the Xbox hard drive.  But for larger movies, I would drop them into the NAS and stream them.  In this manner I can pick what I normally use for a show and keep that file local.  But for the movie event itself I can keep that on the much larger NAS unit.  Then I can just mix and match my playlist together in the order of how the events proceed for the evening.  It should set up MUCH MUCH faster than what I am doing now with a PC.   The good thing is that even if I do an off site show with only the Xbox and it's HDD, it will be the 300gig monster I am planning to put in it...so then (should I choose) it would be all local.

Needless to say, if you haven't figured it out already, I AM having a blast with all of this.

I am still having problems with the Xbox booting up with a an error 21 or error 13....it sometimes takes a few reboots for it to work.  I did check out the XBMC photo slideshow, using photos from another computer, and it works.  Same for Audio playback.  If I had any videos I would try them, but I don't.

You can get videos buy ripping DVD's using a program called DVD Shrink.  You can directly rip the main movie file without bringing along all those horrible menus and previews that come on your DVD.   But I do have to warn you that movies take up a TON of room.  However, I prefer the best quality and I leave the videos in their native .VOB state.  But you did one thing I have not done yet, and that is a slide show.  I need to learn to do that as well because I would like to incorporate a trivia slideshow as part of a movie pre-show (much like you see in theatres today).  Many times I also put together slideshows of my boys too.  I mostly use Windows Movie Maker for that purpose, but I will the first to say that Windows Movie Maker sux.

But, man oh man, the stuff you can do with XBMC is great.  And I know I am just scratching the tip of the iceberg here.

On a related note, I picked up a "Smart Joy Frag" keyboard/mouse adapter.  I was then able to play Arkanoid with my homebuilt spinner!  Much adjustment (and a better spinner) is needed, but this would allow me to use a keyboard encoder to wire in joysticks and trackball...I just need to figure out how I want to do it for player two as keyboard encoders are expensive and would defeat the purpose of using the Xbox for more than 1 player.

Wow!  That is news!  How is it?  Is the operation smooth?  It is funny as you mention this because right now I am going through all the analog games that are not on the Xbox list of Mame 0.84 games.  I wanted to see if I could set them to use digital controls or if they could be controlled nicely via an analog controller.  Thusfar my findings are not good.  The analog controls are VERY touchy and jumpy as Ark_Ader pointed out.  I am really not happy with the analog control at all.  Worse is that some Mame games map out to the left and right trigger buttons to control the left/right movement of your player (i.e. Evolution).   So that I have to fix.   The trouble is, I can't find out how you get into the Mame settings menu.  On the PC this would be the Tab key, but I don't know what you have to do on the Xbox.

How are others using a trackball with the Xbox?

Yeah, like I said above, Ark_ader is.  But I believe he is having the same troubles I am having.

As it stands right now, what I would like to do is map the game to digital controls to see if it is playable, if it isn't then I am just going to file the game in a separate folder until it is (hopefully) supported via analog controls at a later date.

It is a bummer too because while I CAN play games such as Arkanoid and Tempest with a trackball, because the trackball is also analog, it makes playing a bunch of games useless.  I tried Tempest with digital controls and it is awful.  Sad to say, I am going to have to file Tempest    Worse...I have not yet got to Star Wars.  THAT is one of my mainstays and I have it on EVERY Mame system I have.  I would be really bummed out if I couldn't play that game.  But again, I been using a trackball.

But any digital game, like Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Defender...they all play well on the Xbox.   However, though this project was never meant to be a full complement "play all" Mame cabinet.  If it were, I probably would stick to a PC.  The point is to try to cram as much hardware as possible into a small tabletop cabinet and I think that is where the Xbox will shine.

Geo

[ark_ader]

I have a Smart Joy Frag too (missing the manual) but I cannot get it to work with CoinOPS.  It works ok with Linux but I have a USB keyboard and mouse for that.  I initially wanted it for Halo as I am a die hard mouse and keyboard FPS player.

The settings for CoinOPS is Back+White, but don't bother as it doesn't save the config.  My only suggestion to remedy this is to check the files in CoinOPS.  Sometimes these files come off a CDR and they are read-only.  Before you FTP, copy them to the hard drive and check to see if the attributes are read only.  That might fix it.  I'm sure it will be fixed in the next revision, but it wouldn't hurt to ask the developer if there was another way for the spinner/trackball to be mapped.  I would check this myself but the Arcade-xbox is without network..

I'm looking at replacing the case for an open mount cabinet build, and swap the PSU for a newer model.  If you put in a newer drive don't forget to put in a case fan to cool the whole unit down.   

[tightwad]

My Smart Frag worked out of the box.  Here is a quick rundown of the directions in case you need them:

Left Stick: WASD
A: Space
B: B
X: X
Y: Y
Left Trigger: L
Right Trigger: R
Left Thumb: Q
Right Thumb: E
White: Caps Lock
Back: Backspace
Start: Enter
D-Pad: Arrow Keys

Programming:
Hold "ESC" key
Press the button to program (ie to change L press L for this step)
Press the destination Key or mouse button
Release the "ESC" key

Saving Changes: "ESC" + F1 to F8

Mouse Controls:
Deadzone:
Esc + 0 - 9 [0=0, 9=9]
Fine Tune with Esc + the + or - button

Invert Mouse Y axis(up/down)
"ESC"+"Page Up"
or
"ESC" + "Pagedown"

Swap move and look: "ESC + "Insert" or "ESC"+"DEL"
Factory Default: "ESC+"CTRL"+"ALT+"DEL"

Game Presets (press Function Key to activate)
F1 = Halo 2
F2 = Medal of Honor
F3 = Chronicles of Riddick
F4 = Counter Strike
F5 = James Bond
F6 = Rainbow Six 3
F7 = Return to Castle Wolfenstein
F8 = Unreal Championship
F11 = Blank Preset (programming from scratch)
F12 = Standard Preset (matches control table)


F12 is the preset list to use for navigation etc

[ark_ader]

Thanks man! 

[jukingeo]

I have a Smart Joy Frag too (missing the manual) but I cannot get it to work with CoinOPS.  It works ok with Linux but I have a USB keyboard and mouse for that.  I initially wanted it for Halo as I am a die hard mouse and keyboard FPS player.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/SmartJoy/

Hmmmm, that is interesting. At first I didn't know what you guys were talking about, but doing a quick search brought that link up above.  Nice!  So with that device you can use a keyboard and mouse with the XBox.  I mostly would be interested in the mouse support and since both you and Tightwad have this piece I am curious as to how smooth it operates.

I am pretty much coming to the end of the Xbox setup for Mame.  I had someone over at 1Emulation.com make me up a new skin which has the traditional Williams Red/Yellow colors and he made me up a new logo to replace the CoinOPS logo with GEO-Mame...also in the traditional Williams colors.  We still have to work on the skin colors for the game titles and such, but it is nicely coming around overall.

I have selected all the games I am going to use and I am just weeding out some of the larger ones that I know I am not going to use that often.  I also am trying to fix the numerous analog problems I have been running into on games that supported analog functions.  Obviously since CoinOPs really wasn't designed for a cabinet, but for use with the Xbox controllers on a 'console' level, just about everything is mapped to the analog sticks.   When I hack an Xbox controller for my panel, I would like to avoid dealing with those.  So I have been mapping those kinds of games to the D-pad.  For the most part digital games map over perfectly and many are already set to both the D-Pad and the left stick. But for analog games, that is where things get sticky.  This is where you (Ark_Ader) mentioned you had trouble.  With some games no matter how you setup the analog controls, it just doesn't work right.  For those games I had no choice but to delete them from the console now.  I am going to set those games aside in the event some solution presents itself in the future.   So that is why now interested in the SJF as well.

The settings for CoinOPS is Back+White, but don't bother as it doesn't save the config.

Really?  It saves the reconfiguration on my Xbox.  What version of CoinOPs.  I know you mention the Showcase, and I believe that should be on CoinOPS Reignite R5, which is the same version I am using...except I am not using the Showcase with all the videos because I already made the decision to only go with screen shots.

My only suggestion to remedy this is to check the files in CoinOPS.  Sometimes these files come off a CDR and they are read-only.  Before you FTP, copy them to the hard drive and check to see if the attributes are read only.  That might fix it.  I'm sure it will be fixed in the next revision, but it wouldn't hurt to ask the developer if there was another way for the spinner/trackball to be mapped.  I would check this myself but the Arcade-xbox is without network..

I did read that they are working on another version of CoinOPs called Combustion.  It supposed to have many updates including a rotatable display for the interface in the event you want to set up a vertical only cabinet (or use a rotating display).   As of now CoinOPs does support game rotation, but not the interface.

I'm looking at replacing the case for an open mount cabinet build, and swap the PSU for a newer model.  If you put in a newer drive don't forget to put in a case fan to cool the whole unit down.   

I have the Version 1 Xbox and it already has two fans in it.  I have noticed that when running for a long time, it barely gets warm, so I don't think it should heat up that much more with a larger drive.  BUT I for a cabinet install, I was thinking about that and I know I would certainly put extra fans in the cabinet and/or leave the cover of the Xbox off.

(Sidebar: BTW, I fixed my problem with my Linux partition and I have Daphne installed there.  I am just waiting for my Dragon's Lair disk to come in the mail to validate the installation).

My Smart Frag worked out of the box.
[/quot

How smooth do the analog controls work with the Smart Frag?  As it is I am not too happy the way most of the analog games are handled, but there are some games I did manage to get the settings to work properly.   Luckily most of the older games that I am interested ARE working out. I haven't tested everything though.

Where I stand right now is that I was testing roms outside of the version 0.84 to see if they work.  The version 0.84 set I have is really incomplete.  Happily most of the games outside the set ARE working fine.  I am just going to go through the 0.84 set one more time to see if I can remove some more of the larger games as I know once I start dropping in the screenshots I AM going to run close to the max on my hard drive.

Well, back to working on that right now.

Geo

[jukingeo]

Hello All,

Just letting everyone know that Xbox Geo Mame is DONE!  Well, at least the Xbox side of it is done, I still have to build a control panel and cabinet, but the Xbox for a Mame cabinet is done and I am finished with the first Xbox.

See the attached photo of what one fellow in the 1Emulation.com forum did for me.  He made up a new skin that changed the color and also replace the CoinOPs logo with "Geo Mame".  Pretty cool huh?

Anyway, over the weekend I painstakingly readjusted all of the "analog" games so that it is very much possible to play driving games and other analog games using a joystick.  I know that is blasphemous in all sense of arcade realism, but keep in mind, this is going to be a bar/counter cabinet.  If this were a full size cabinet, I would go through the extra effort to create interchangeable control panels.

What I am doing for a control panel is I am going to use a Multi-Williams type setup.  Going that route kind of dictated a Mini-Defender looking cabinet with using artwork and the red/yellow colors from the Williams cabinets of that era...hence the reason why my skin is also Red/Yellow.

I am really getting excited about this because the Xbox is working out so well for this project.

As for the second Xbox, I have it with me today at work and I am going to "chip it" on my lunch break.  I need to chip it first in order to get the eeprom off of the existing hard drive so I can set up the new larger hard drive.

I am very ecstatic about my preliminary testing in regards to streaming video across my home network.   While I certainly have the capacity to do everything local with a 300 gig drive, the thing is that I only want to have local clips that I put regularly together on the hard drive and for my feature films I am going to stream those to my PC (and eventually later on a NAS).

Well, once again, I will be gone for a while as I am going to set up the XBMC Xbox now.  However, I am going to document every step and make a write up that I will post here for those that want to chip their boxes.

Once that is completed I AM thinking about getting a third Xbox and that one I will try to soft mod and I will document that as well.  But that is WAY down the road.

After I mod the second Xbox with XBMC, I am working on a Dragon's Lair / Daphne project for a friend.  We are not going to use an Xbox though.  Since his project will eventually go in a cabinet, I made the decision to use a stripped down Ubuntu Linux computer for that.

Just for s---- and giggles when I bought the 2nd Xbox, I also bought Dragon's Lair 3D for the Xbox (for only $5!!!!) and I started it up last night (to test the Xbox too).   I must say WOW!  You have FULL control over Dirk this time around.  Granted the visuals are not arcade perfect, but they sure are close.   I am very much tempted to hook this up as is to my big screen TV and play it as is!!

So anyway, that is the scoop and I am happy to say that the first Xbox mod is completed.  Enjoy the pix!

Edit: For those keeping tabs, we made this go to 9 pages long and 357 posts...the most (up to now) for the Consoles board.   

Geo

[northerngames]

As for the second Xbox, I have it with me today at work and I am going to "chip it" on my lunch break.  I need to chip it first in order to get the eeprom off of the existing hard drive so I can set up the new larger hard drive.


or you can make a homemade eeprom reader wich is actually easier to make and use then installing a soldered chip but it's your call.

that is how people were selling eeprom contents and how to unban a console you just use your homemade eeprom reader/writer to read and write the info and you dont even need to remove the eeprom off the motherboard for those that did not know.

it's also possile to read right off the mobo itself withut no power running to it but you need to add a battery to your reader/writer if your going to do the motherboards only straight up with no psu case dvd drive or anything else connected to them.

most did not know but when xbox was in it's prime & console's were getting banned all the time that the people with stack's of dead motherboards were getting bought up not to actually repair the motherboards themselve's but instead just leech the eeprom info wich contains the hdd key and the live key wich could be read and then written to a working but banned console to unban the console or unlock the hdd.

[ark_ader]

As for the second Xbox, I have it with me today at work and I am going to "chip it" on my lunch break.  I need to chip it first in order to get the eeprom off of the existing hard drive so I can set up the new larger hard drive.


or you can make a homemade eeprom reader wich is actually easier to make and use then installing a soldered chip but it's your call.

that is how people were selling eeprom contents and how to unban a console you just use your homemade eeprom reader/writer to read and write the info and you dont even need to remove the eeprom off the motherboard for those that did not know.

it's also possile to read right off the mobo itself withut no power running to it but you need to add a battery to your reader/writer if your going to do the motherboards only straight up with no psu case dvd drive or anything else connected to them.

most did not know but when xbox was in it's prime & console's were getting banned all the time that the people with stack's of dead motherboards were getting bought up not to actually repair the motherboards themselve's but instead just leech the eeprom info wich contains the hdd key and the live key wich could be read and then written to a working but banned console to unban the console or unlock the hdd.

Got a link to that reader?  It would come in handy for modding as the mod-chips are becoming harder to find.

Thanks

[werejag]

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/357863