Just joined, here is my current and first project( xbox powered cab)

[Johnathon1978]

Its a work in progress, everything is functioning, hacked all the Happ controls to a Madcatx MC2 racing wheel, may add a shifter, not sure if its worth it. I still have quite a bit of lighting work to do and cleaning. Let me know if you have any ideas to make the cab pop. Id probly get more done if I could stop playing the thing, also still need a larger monitor and bezel. I think my next cab will be a standup Mame...after I get this one done...

[drventure]

Great cab! Looks like nice work too, definitely a good start.

Welcome aboard!

[Firebat138]

Nice work...  I wanted to make this my next venture, but got sucked into pinball..  Great job!! And Welcome...

[IG-88]

Very nice! 

Could you give an old timer some instruction on how you did the whole xbox thing? Never had one but thought about trying to get a used one for a mame cab.

[Johnathon1978]

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you like my work. So far the project has only cost about 150 bucks including the cab, I already had the xbox and power amp for the 4.1 surround in this thing, it has sub in the back of the seat, shakes when things blow up, its pretty cool. For infomatin purposes its running XBMC as a dash, so it makes a really good Juke box as well.

Very nice! 

Could you give an old timer some instruction on how you did the whole xbox thing? Never had one but thought about trying to get a used one for a mame cab.

Well, first and formost, I used to mod the xbox, so I already new alot about it. First thing was to chip it to run homebrew, then put in a larger hdd for the games. Then I just ruffed it in to mount it inside the cab, add fans to keep it cooler. And the xbox controller is very easy to hack. The triggers and the thumb sticks in the xbox controller are 10k pots, and as far as buttons go you just add a button and wire it solder points on the controler then mount the button where you want it. So what I did for the driving cab was to replace the pots in the happ controls( 5k Pots) with 10 k pots and just wired it to the solder points on the Madcatz MC2 controller board. So I have steering, break and gas pedals. Pretty easy if you take your time, and it is time consuming, but a real blast to play. The xbox will also run a version of Mame, but the xbox only has 64mb of ram, so you are restricted as to what games you can play in mame, unless you get a ram upgrade to 128 mb. Very difficult to do. If you have any specific questions about using the xbox 1 as the brain, let me know, I can probly answer it.

[deepblue]

I'd love to hear/see (pics!) more specific details on soldering or hacking the controllers. I've have a long history of modding my xbox/using XBMC but ditched the hardware for a PC that could support HD a while back.

So I've got a couple of these babies lying around and would love to use in my next bar top project.

I have some Xbox USB to PC USB cables like this http://cgi.ebay.ca/Female-XBOX-Controller-PC-USB-Adapter-Cable-NEW-/380253936633?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item5888e69bf9#ht_7127wt_1137 - but I have to guess there aren't drivers to support things like U360's or a GPWiz for keyboard/button support.

So if hacking the controller is all one can do - I'd love more detail on how to do this to allow one to, say, wire in two joysticks and 8 or so buttons.

EDIT - I assume it is something like this (picture borrowed from the BUY/SELL forum, a member provides the hacking as a service there)



I'd love to be directed to a tutorial for how to do this one's self.

[Johnathon1978]

Well, I suppose there would be couple ways to do it. You could use a Joy frag Keyboard adapter for the xbox and then hack the key board, kind of pointless unless you are running linux in my opinion. As far as the xbox controller goes, all the buttons on the controller are N.O. Momentary push buttons, even the d-pad,open the conroller,just trace the contacts back to the button of choice and solder to those points. I've heard that the Madcatz after market controllers are much easier to solder as the contact points are larger. Now, the triggers and the thumb sticks are a different story. They're all 10k pots. so each trigger is a 10k pot, and each thumbstick is 2 x 10k pots with a N.O. momentary button as well. For the Thumbsticks, I suppose you could use an analog joystick with a trigger button, you would just need to replace the 5k pots in it with 10k pots, then wire the contacts to the contacts on the controller. As for the xbox triggers, other than adding adding pedals or another forward backward stick, I'm not sure there would be much use for them, I guess it would depend on what you want to play. If you going to be rockin Halo, then you would need to figure a way to incorporate it in. Id say if you could find an alalog joystick with a push button and an analog( pot controled) trigger, then that would be perfect. I'll look for a tutorial if you feel you need one, but its really as easy as tracing the buttons and soldering a button to it.

I'd love to hear/see (pics!) more specific details on soldering or hacking the controllers. I've have a long history of modding my xbox/using XBMC but ditched the hardware for a PC that could support HD a while back.

So I've got a couple of these babies lying around and would love to use in my next bar top project.

I have some Xbox USB to PC USB cables like this http://cgi.ebay.ca/Female-XBOX-Controller-PC-USB-Adapter-Cable-NEW-/380253936633?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item5888e69bf9#ht_7127wt_1137 - but I have to guess there aren't drivers to support things like U360's or a GPWiz for keyboard/button support.

So if hacking the controller is all one can do - I'd love more detail on how to do this to allow one to, say, wire in two joysticks and 8 or so buttons.

EDIT - I assume it is something like this (picture borrowed from the BUY/SELL forum, a member provides the hacking as a service there)



I'd love to be directed to a tutorial for how to do this one's self.

[deepblue]

Hi Johnathan - you lost me when you started talking about Pots.

For my purposes I think I'd just want to have a 2P control panel that had an 4/8-way joystick and 3 buttons per player. Tack on 1P & 2P Start and a couple of utility buttons, and my math says I need 12 or so leads to attach to microswitches. If I didn't bother screwing around with triggers and analog sticks, I think I can pull 8 leads from each controller right? (select, start, black, white, red, blue, green, yellow)?

I'm not necessarily interested in running xbox games - I'd prefer classic arcade and emulators. I've setup every emulator known to man in XBMC already when I ran it on the Xbox hardware EXCEPT MAME. The app didn't seem to work, but perhaps I didn't have the latest and greatest port.

Additional questions for you and the group then:

- Is there a stable MAME for Xbox available that will play most "classic" games (think Pac-man, DK, etc.)
- Alternatively, has anyone loaded a MAME or Arcade Linux distro on the Xbox?

Thanks.

[Johnathon1978]

You could get that many leads off of it. Pot= potentiometer. By far the most common potentiometer used in arcade analog joysticks is 5k. In order to interface the joystick to an xbox controller, you would need to change the values of the potentiometers in the joystick before it would interface properly with the controller. It may work with the 5k, but I don't think you would get full left to right and forward backward motion if you see what I mean. As far as the Xboxmame compatibility with games, I'm sure you would just have to do your research on the subject, I have it on my xbox, but I only played one game, It was a overhead flying game, I think it was like 1942 or somethin like that. However, if you are only looking for classic games, like frogger, DK and such, there are excellent ports of the Atari that would do the trick if nothing else. I'll look into the compatibility and let you know what I come up with, as far as a Linux detro mame, haven't heard of anyone doing it, I never really messed around to much in xbox Linux because I never saw the point as I have a computer.

You could actually get 2 more buttons out of it, don't forget the 2 under the thumbsticks.

!!!Update!!! Seems the mame ports you can get for the xbox are quite stable. Not sure if I can link to another site from here. Need read the rules.

[Funnel]

Very nice! 

Could you give an old timer some instruction on how you did the whole xbox thing? Never had one but thought about trying to get a used one for a mame cab.

   
Hacking an xbox... easy stuff! I usually stay away from modchips and go with the softmods which are real easy to do. IG-88 if u want to softmod an xbox just follow this: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/218495 I found a used copy of 007: Agent Under Fire for 5$. And the Action Replay 10$. That was like 3 years ago. Or if you want I can lend the game and the memory card with the save file to you. Cause I owe u one for sending me the coin mechs remember?
@deepblue I really don't know how to find the ground on xbox controllers... I usually solder a wire in each contact(easy for me) that's really the "easy" way for me.

[Johnathon1978]

True, softmods are easy. However, with a soft mod you must run the xbox with the HDD locked. Meaning if the xbox dies, you must transfer the eeprom from the dead mother board to a new one in order to use the HDD,  this could be done by flashing the eeprom of the new box or desoldering the chip from the old to the new. And a soft mod also makes putting a larger HDD in a big hasle.. but if you cant solder, softmod is the way to go. Both ways work and both ways are good... so really doesn't matter what way you go I guess.

[Johnathon1978]

Been messing around in MameOx... works very well indeed. 1492 works, Pacman works, Pacmania works.. oh and Battle toads... all work 100% I'll be testing more games over the next few days and let you know.. but so far so good... I'm not really 2 interested in running mame on this cab.. but maybe I'll try to get a few running with the wheel and pedals.. why not...

As far as working on the cab goes, I wired the coin door up to the start button and lit it up...It will never get used, but it makes my friends laugh when I put quarter in and it starts the game...

I'm trying to descide if I should leave the graphics on this thing or get new ones and a new Marquee..what do you all think?

Thanks

[trevski]

How does it do at Outrun?

I've got an old Xbox that I'll keep hold of for a future project if it can run it well.

[Johnathon1978]

How does it do at Outrun?

I've got an old Xbox that I'll keep hold of for a future project if it can run it well.

I'll give it a try and let you know... I beleive Outrun was also released as an xbox title... Acually, I think I have Outrun 2 for xbox...

UPDATE: Outrun works great... I just Changed the inputs to my wheel and pedals and it worked like a charm...

[Flip The Switch]

Cool, nice to see someone using a console!

[trevski]

How does it do at Outrun?

I've got an old Xbox that I'll keep hold of for a future project if it can run it well.

I'll give it a try and let you know... I beleive Outrun was also released as an xbox title... Acually, I think I have Outrun 2 for xbox...

UPDATE: Outrun works great... I just Changed the inputs to my wheel and pedals and it worked like a charm...

Score! - I have a system for project no2: Dedicated upright outrun cab. The fact I can play outrun 2 on it too is a big bonus!

[Johnathon1978]

Glad to here it, the xbox is a very cost effective way to power any cab I think, very cheap. Anyway, for now I'm at a stand still till I find a larger monitor/tv. I was thinking in the future of replacing all the buttons on the wheel with ones that light up and adding som underglow. i was thinking that if I do new artwork and marquee that I might go with an xbox media center theme... greys, blues and greens. XBMC Logos on the side and Marquee, but I like the artwork that is on it... so I can't decide.. what does everyone think...

How does it do at Outrun?

I've got an old Xbox that I'll keep hold of for a future project if it can run it well.

I'll give it a try and let you know... I beleive Outrun was also released as an xbox title... Acually, I think I have Outrun 2 for xbox...

UPDATE: Outrun works great... I just Changed the inputs to my wheel and pedals and it worked like a charm...

Score! - I have a system for project no2: Dedicated upright outrun cab. The fact I can play outrun 2 on it too is a big bonus!

[Johnathon1978]

Question, I need help with this, do I?

A: Get a return to center Gear shifter to add to the machine( it would only be used on a few games I would think, may have to add switches to change what buttons the shifter uses, you know... X =up A=down.. different in different games, or I could hard wire it to be for only one or 2 games and play everything else with the buttons on the wheel or in automatic mode.

Or....

Ditch the shifter and install a cup holder in its place to hold a frosty beverage while kicking Need for speed...

Thoughts? All input requested.

It would be cool to have a shifter with a turbo button that says" Go Baby Go"(Shamless Gone in 60 Seconds plug.. Love that movie..)

[Erik]

just wanted to say your project is fantastic!  please keep the updates coming 

i have a Sega Turbo control panel with wheel and shifter I think.  If you think it would work for your needs you can have it for the cost of shipping, whatever that would be

[Johnathon1978]

Thanks tons... I'm glad you think so.. I like it....I don't think I need a whole control panal.. I would really only need a return to center gear shifter. you should take that panal an build a driving cab.. way fun.. trust me...But, thank you so much for the offer.

I've come to the realization that XBMC is a great dash for an arcade cab.. it does everything... I like it.. and it available for PC, Mac and Linux as well....

I may be getting the TV for the monitor tomorrow.. 27 inch's of 12 inch away go blind goodness.... can you believe people are still trying to get like 100 bucks for an old CRT TV.... I could get a flat screen for a little more than that.... but I found one for 15 bucks... sounds like winner....

oh, don't know if I mentioned.. but the blank spots on the boxes on the wheel that house the buttons... that's where the motors are for the vibration... the wheel shakes when the vibration kicks in... Its all good,... but I'm goin to take it a step farther... I'm going to install a  motor from a box fan with a off center weight on it under the seat.. and I'm going to trigger it with a 5 vdc/120vac relay. So when you go over a bump.. your butt shakes... why not go over board you know... I may not have forced feed back.. but mu butt shakes when I go over bumps.. so there!.... should be cool..may set my house on fire.. I don't know till I try...HA,,,,

just wanted to say your project is fantastic!  please keep the updates coming  

i have a Sega Turbo control panel with wheel and shifter I think.  If you think it would work for your needs you can have it for the cost of shipping, whatever that would be

[Johnathon1978]

Got a 27 inch Sony TV today...Ill take pics of that as I'm installing it. I should mention that I'll be taking it out of its case to mount it. I don't suggest doing this unless you know how to discharge it or know what not to touch to keep from fryin yourself. If you've never been lit up before, its not fun. I don't suggest anyone getting shocked by the amount of kick one of these things pack. Its like getting smacked in the chest with a sledge hammer, so don't do it.

Its gonna be sweet when I get it in there, it will make the cab I think.

I also ordered a happ gear shifter for it, got it used on ebay for 10 bucks... I hope it fits close enough to modify it in there. Nothing a bit of metal work won't fix if it doesn't I suppose. Speaking of metal, the metal plate that is on the dash that houses the calibration light bar, I cut that by hand with a dremil... I think it turned out well.  Just needs some paint and some plexi.

After all this I'll need to make the bezel and it will pretty much be done. I'll need to paint the coin door and the metal rails as the are chipped up a bit, so some sanding and some paint will do the trick. Elbow grease to get the rest cleaned up and some Polish to make her shine...Then I'll push it to its place and start on a stand up PC based fighter Mame Cab... from scratch I think.

[Funnel]

I recently dug up my old xbox(softmodded) and tried to run Street Fighter Alpha 3. To my surprise it did run! And it runned very well. Used CPX3 to run it and I read somewhere that CoinOps Reignite X supports it too. I'm goin' to prep my xbox soon for my cabinet let's see if I finish it in a few months. (That'll show some people!)

[deepblue]

At some stage can some of you xbox guys share the actual apps/versions you are using to run some of these things? I'm very well versed in the emulator side of things, but not apps to run Mame ROMS. What is CPX3?

Thanks!

[DaOld Man]

Welcome Jonathan! And a very nice first project.

[deepblue]

Interesting Video of an Xbox cab:

(guy speaks in French but has some English subtitles)

Looks like he managed to get some pretty demanding games running which is impressive.

Johnathon - sorry to hijack your thread which is clearly focused on your project, but thought this might be some food for thought if you want to play some non driving games.

Why isn't the Xbox cab approach more popular on BYOAC? It seems like a slam dunk in many respects, but perhaps doesn't allow the fine tuning and customization of the FE that people want?

If I use my Xbox for my bartop I might create an tutorial thread with useful links, etc. unless such a think already exists?

[emphatic]

If I use my Xbox for my bartop I might create an tutorial thread with useful links, etc. unless such a think already exists?

I for one would be interested in such a thread. Even more if the XBox could be set to output 240p and hooked up to a JAMMA fingerboard.

[Johnathon1978]

I've tried several versions of Street Fighter In mameox, and they all work without a hitch. It seems all the Cartoony based fighters I've tried work just fine, pretty much any game I tried that was made before 96 or so runs just fine, once you go bast that you run into memory issues. It also would not be a good base for Mortal Combat of any kind, they will run, but there are issues with the sound, turn the sound off it runs fine, turn it on it stutters.

I believe I'm using MameOx ver. .84 or something like that. I'll look next time I'm down there. Its an Xbox Port of Mame. It is an emulator. I think I understand your question. If I answered wrong, sorry.

Ahhhh... no body is hijacking, I'm glad people are gaining some interest in putting those old xbox's to work. I mean after all, it really is just a pc, which is why it was so easy to hack in the first place, and why there are so many emulators and homebrew available for it.

I recently dug up my old xbox(softmodded) and tried to run Street Fighter Alpha 3. To my surprise it did run! And it runned very well. Used CPX3 to run it and I read somewhere that CoinOps Reignite X supports it too. I'm goin' to prep my xbox soon for my cabinet let's see if I finish it in a few months. (That'll show some people!)

At some stage can some of you xbox guys share the actual apps/versions you are using to run some of these things? I'm very well versed in the emulator side of things, but not apps to run Mame ROMS. What is CPX3?

Thanks!

Interesting Video of an Xbox cab:

(guy speaks in French but has some English subtitles)

Looks like he managed to get some pretty demanding games running which is impressive.

Johnathon - sorry to hijack your thread which is clearly focused on your project, but thought this might be some food for thought if you want to play some non driving games.

Why isn't the Xbox cab approach more popular on BYOAC? It seems like a slam dunk in many respects, but perhaps doesn't allow the fine tuning and customization of the FE that people want?

If I use my Xbox for my bartop I might create an tutorial thread with useful links, etc. unless such a think already exists?

[Johnathon1978]

I got the Tv installed today, and it looks much better, still needs a bezel, and I'm waiting for the gear shifter to get here. As you can see, I had to remove the seat and lay the Green part on its face, there where just to many connections I didn't feel like disconnecting, It was a true pain in the but to get the Tv in by myself, but, its in...
Here are some photos.

[Funnel]

At some stage can some of you xbox guys share the actual apps/versions you are using to run some of these things? I'm very well versed in the emulator side of things, but not apps to run Mame ROMS. What is CPX3?

Thanks!

 
The CPX3 emulator is just an xbox port of the CPS3(CP System III) emulator. It plays Capcom games and it does one heck of a job at it. I had many apps on my xbox about 2 or 3 years ago. Apps like XDSL( Xbox Damn Small Linux with mozilla firefox integrated), XBMC (xbox media center) which is an awesome app it even allows you to play dvd movies without the remote, emulators like MameOx, Fceu V3(nes), SNES9X they all run great! I'm slowly preparing my xbox with CoinOps. That thing does everything man! Check it out: http://i36.tinypic.com/2qjytzb.jpg

[Johnathon1978]

Couldn't agree more, I too have XDSL, MAME, NES, SNES, N64, NeoGeo, Atari, etc etc. I also am running Xbox Media Center as a dash, makes a fantastic front end. Plays DVDs, Cd's, has a Juke Box like look to the dash when you are in the music folders, if you rip music to it and you have it hooked to the net it will look for art work, it can stream online tv, etc etc, and it acts as the launcher dash for all games, emus, and pretty much anything, I have mine networked to the PC next to it for maintenance and such.

Which brings up another point, a friend says I should build a second one and network them so we can race.. Hadn't really thought about it cause I don't have the room for more than 2 cabs and I want a stand up, so won't happen, but I just wanted to bring it up that xbox's can network to each other to give each player they're own screen.( Pretty well known, but you never know, someone might not know.)

At some stage can some of you xbox guys share the actual apps/versions you are using to run some of these things? I'm very well versed in the emulator side of things, but not apps to run Mame ROMS. What is CPX3?

Thanks!

 
The CPX3 emulator is just an xbox port of the CPS3(CP System III) emulator. It plays Capcom games and it does one heck of a job at it. I had many apps on my xbox about 2 or 3 years ago. Apps like XDSL( Xbox Damn Small Linux with mozilla firefox integrated), XBMC (xbox media center) which is an awesome app it even allows you to play dvd movies without the remote, emulators like MameOx, Fceu V3(nes), SNES9X they all run great! I'm slowly preparing my xbox with CoinOps. That thing does everything man! Check it out: http://i36.tinypic.com/2qjytzb.jpg

[Funnel]

Yeah, most people don't realize that the old xbox is a pretty powerful machine. You just need some little tweaking here and there and you're good to go. Good thing I studied electronics for three years in high school, it really paid off! I'll see if I can start a thread soon for my xbox mame cab. Keep us updated dude.

[Johnathon1978]

Blast it.. I'm getting a random pause from time to time.. I believe I've pulled something when I pulled the front down... nothing a multi meter and ten minutes won't fix.. but just thought I'd share....

[danny_galaga]

Question, I need help with this, do I?

A: Get a return to center Gear shifter to add to the machine( it would only be used on a few games I would think, may have to add switches to change what buttons the shifter uses, you know... X =up A=down.. different in different games, or I could hard wire it to be for only one or 2 games and play everything else with the buttons on the wheel or in automatic mode.

Or....

Ditch the shifter and install a cup holder in its place to hold a frosty beverage while kicking Need for speed...

Thoughts? All input requested.

It would be cool to have a shifter with a turbo button that says" Go Baby Go"(Shamless Gone in 60 Seconds plug.. Love that movie..)

Aren't the buttons mappable in MAME?

Nice hacking by the way (",)

[Johnathon1978]

Thanks. Yes, the buttons are mappable in mame, and all the emularors for that matter. But I was speaking mainly of the xbox games themselves.

Question, I need help with this, do I?

A: Get a return to center Gear shifter to add to the machine( it would only be used on a few games I would think, may have to add switches to change what buttons the shifter uses, you know... X =up A=down.. different in different games, or I could hard wire it to be for only one or 2 games and play everything else with the buttons on the wheel or in automatic mode.

Or....

Ditch the shifter and install a cup holder in its place to hold a frosty beverage while kicking Need for speed...

Thoughts? All input requested.

It would be cool to have a shifter with a turbo button that says" Go Baby Go"(Shamless Gone in 60 Seconds plug.. Love that movie..)

Aren't the buttons mappable in MAME?

Nice hacking by the way (",)

[Johnathon1978]

Got the Shifter Yesterday... should have it wired up this week.. Can't wait...

Got the start button fixed... but lost the vibration motors...

Its a project... lots and lots of wires...

[Johnathon1978]

Okay, got the motors fixed... and got the Shifter in... all controls are now completed. I ended up just wiring the shifter to the a button and the x button. That's what the original Madcats shifter was.. so that's what I did. It makes Outrun and Outrun 2 a lot more fun to play. And Forza Motor Sports is a blast as well with a shifter. Glad I put it in.

Does anybody have some opinions on some good Mame games that utilize a shifter.. the only one Ive found so far that I have is Outrun... Aside from a handfull of xbox games(most are automatic) there isn't much I use it on..

Here is a photo of the shifter. There is a button on it that used to be a reverse button.. I'm not sure what to do with it now. Any suggestions?



Here is a couple photos of unused buttons on the dash... the 3 view buttons and the Abort button... not sure what to do with those either. The small red buttons and the large Music button control the sound system. From right to left its volume down, volume up, Music button is power, next is a button that switches between surround and stereo, and the last button chooses source( I added this one because thought about adding an input jack for an Ipod, useless but.. why not).





All thats left is a bezel, cleaning and a motor under the seat if I get around to it.

All input welcome.

Thanks

[trevski]

Does anybody have some opinions on some good Mame games that utilize a shifter.. the only one Ive found so far that I have is Outrun... Aside from a handfull of xbox games(most are automatic) there isn't much I use it on..

Here is a photo of the shifter. There is a button on it that used to be a reverse button.. I'm not sure what to do with it now. Any suggestions?

Chase HQ? Turbo Outrun? You could swap the button out for a red one and make it Turbo/Nitro.

[ark_ader]

I think you are doing a great job! 

[IG-88]

Try Laguna Racer for some real old school fun!

[Paladin]

Does the XBox have a 'pause' feature?  You could wire that up to the 'abort' button so if you're in the middle of a race and need a pit stop you could pause your game.