original xbox for bartop cabinet.

[mkmk4]

I am planning on building a bartop cabinet and I am torn between getting an xbox and using coinops or setting up a pc with a frontend. I plan on using a small CRT tv (15") for its display as I really hate the way old games look on LCD... I already have a full size cabinet with a pc running maximus arcade.

reasons for xbox:
1. easy to configure and set up with the tv
2. no need for mouse and keyboard EVER. Oh how I loath having to use the mouse and keyboard and having them around the cabinet... ruins the arcade feel. and I am planning on selling to a friend who is not so computer savy and would not know what to do if something crashes or other problems with a PC setup)
3. Xbox will be more space effective I think once I gut it and mount into the cab.
4. easily set up four controllers- two on the control pannel and the other for console gaming (something that in windows seems to give me problems with p1 switching to p2 or third controller not rendering etc. and I have to go in and mess around with things.)


If I go this route I would take apart two xbox controllers and solder leads for a custom controller (no x-arcade) and the other two leave for console gaming.

PC benefits:
1. increased comparability, ability to play newer games/emulators
2. more reliable emulation and less glitches
3. overall better performance.

What do you guy's think? have any of you built an xbox powered arcade cab? What problems/limitations can I expect? Would you recommend a PC over an XBOX? Why? What advantages does an xbox have over a PC?

[Generic Eric]

Having helped set up 2 xbox powered cabs, I can give you the following advice.

Its important that you have already prepared the xbox to play the games and that you have experienced launching the frontend, the emulator and the games, before you purchase anything else.  Its a cool idea, it is good experience.

Having done it twice, I wouldn't do it a third time.

[bfauska]

Pretty cheap and reportedly much better/easier than a controller hack would be this...
http://kadevice.com/
I'm planning on a couple xbox bartops myself and will be using those I think. I've already got the xboxes hacked and running coinops so the rest will be just like all the other arcade stuff we do.

[mkmk4]

Having helped set up 2 xbox powered cabs, I can give you the following advice.

Its important that you have already prepared the xbox to play the games and that you have experienced launching the frontend, the emulator and the games, before you purchase anything else.  Its a cool idea, it is good experience.

Having done it twice, I wouldn't do it a third time.

I have never modded an xbox or used one since I had one when I was a kid. I was actually planning on buying the xbox with 5 controllers for $50 from a friend. Can you tell me what complications I can expect? Why wouldn't you do it again?

Pretty cheap and reportedly much better/easier than a controller hack would be this...
http://kadevice.com/
I'm planning on a couple xbox bartops myself and will be using those I think. I've already got the xboxes hacked and running coinops so the rest will be just like all the other arcade stuff we do.

I was getting a deal from a friend for an xbox+ 5 controllers for $50 so I would rather just go the modification route, seems pretty simple as I've done similar controller mods in the past . Also I don't really understand what that link is showing me...

[Generic Eric]

Having helped set up 2 xbox powered cabs, I can give you the following advice.

Its important that you have already prepared the xbox to play the games and that you have experienced launching the frontend, the emulator and the games, before you purchase anything else.  Its a cool idea, it is good experience.

Having done it twice, I wouldn't do it a third time.

I have never modded an xbox or used one since I had one when I was a kid. I was actually planning on buying the xbox with 5 controllers for $50 from a friend. Can you tell me what complications I can expect? Why wouldn't you do it again?

Pretty cheap and reportedly much better/easier than a controller hack would be this...
http://kadevice.com/
I'm planning on a couple xbox bartops myself and will be using those I think. I've already got the xboxes hacked and running coinops so the rest will be just like all the other arcade stuff we do.

I was getting a deal from a friend for an xbox+ 5 controllers for $50 so I would rather just go the modification route, seems pretty simple as I've done similar controller mods in the past . Also I don't really understand what that link is showing me...

It's a bit of a pain.  You'll have to Google it. 

[Generic Eric]

I have never modded an xbox or used one since I had one when I was a kid. I was actually planning on buying the xbox with 5 controllers for $50 from a friend. Can you tell me what complications I can expect? Why wouldn't you do it again?

Pretty cheap and reportedly much better/easier than a controller hack would be this...
http://kadevice.com/
I'm planning on a couple xbox bartops myself and will be using those I think. I've already got the xboxes hacked and running coinops so the rest will be just like all the other arcade stuff we do.

I was getting a deal from a friend for an xbox+ 5 controllers for $50 so I would rather just go the modification route, seems pretty simple as I've done similar controller mods in the past . Also I don't really understand what that link is showing me...

Here is a more specific link.  What is cool about the kade is you can use it for your xbox or PS3 or PC etc.  Also it considerably less complicated than hacking a pad.

[mkmk4]

Having helped set up 2 xbox powered cabs, I can give you the following advice.

Its important that you have already prepared the xbox to play the games and that you have experienced launching the frontend, the emulator and the games, before you purchase anything else.  Its a cool idea, it is good experience.

Having done it twice, I wouldn't do it a third time.

I have never modded an xbox or used one since I had one when I was a kid. I was actually planning on buying the xbox with 5 controllers for $50 from a friend. Can you tell me what complications I can expect? Why wouldn't you do it again?

Pretty cheap and reportedly much better/easier than a controller hack would be this...
http://kadevice.com/
I'm planning on a couple xbox bartops myself and will be using those I think. I've already got the xboxes hacked and running coinops so the rest will be just like all the other arcade stuff we do.

I was getting a deal from a friend for an xbox+ 5 controllers for $50 so I would rather just go the modification route, seems pretty simple as I've done similar controller mods in the past . Also I don't really understand what that link is showing me...

It's a bit of a pain.  You'll have to Google it. 

Thanks for the replies, I just want to say I have looked up the process of softmodding the xbox and have modded my ps2 and it looks surprising similar. That being said I don't know if google has the reasons why YOU would not do it again/ complications YOU had. This is why I made this topic. Not saying you have to give me this information, just saying I would like to know .  Thanks for the link! I might actually use that and will consider it when designing the cab.

[Generic Eric]

Having helped set up 2 xbox powered cabs, I can give you the following advice.

Its important that you have already prepared the xbox to play the games and that you have experienced launching the frontend, the emulator and the games, before you purchase anything else.  Its a cool idea, it is good experience.

Having done it twice, I wouldn't do it a third time.

I have never modded an xbox or used one since I had one when I was a kid. I was actually planning on buying the xbox with 5 controllers for $50 from a friend. Can you tell me what complications I can expect? Why wouldn't you do it again?

Pretty cheap and reportedly much better/easier than a controller hack would be this...
http://kadevice.com/
I'm planning on a couple xbox bartops myself and will be using those I think. I've already got the xboxes hacked and running coinops so the rest will be just like all the other arcade stuff we do.

I was getting a deal from a friend for an xbox+ 5 controllers for $50 so I would rather just go the modification route, seems pretty simple as I've done similar controller mods in the past . Also I don't really understand what that link is showing me...

It's a bit of a pain.  You'll have to Google it. 

Thanks for the replies, I just want to say I have looked up the process of softmodding the xbox and have modded my ps2 and it looks surprising similar. That being said I don't know if google has the reasons why YOU would not do it again/ complications YOU had. This is why I made this topic. Not saying you have to give me this information, just saying I would like to know .  Thanks for the link! I might actually use that and will consider it when designing the cab.

I had to watch the video for the walk through twice on loading the exploit.
From there, I was stuck with the same 8gig hard drive.

The walk through I used to load the coinops didn't detail the option for faster indexing or whatever it was called.  Despite using the version for the 8gig drive, I still had to delete stuff and that didn't make sense.

Its slow.

It was fun to do it once; but I don't think I'll do it again.  All things considered, I think this is lipstick on a pig.  But others think its just dandy.  People are strange. 
I'd like you to take this away:
Get the games running on the xbox first, play it with the controller, if you like the experience, continue with the build.

[mkmk4]

Thank you for that response. That's my biggest concern is how the games will run and I guess the best way to figure that out is to just go out and try I'll get the xbox anyway as I think it would be fun to have one and I'll take your advice.

[Generic Eric]

Thank you for that response. That's my biggest concern is how the games will run and I guess the best way to figure that out is to just go out and try I'll get the xbox anyway as I think it would be fun to have one and I'll take your advice.

Word

Allow me to elaborate.  Once they launch, I didn't have any issues with slowness.  But jeez it took awhile to launch them.  And its random which will be slower.  I did recognize that it was even slower when it had to switch to a C64 emulator.

I can only refer to coinops 4, 5 and maybe 6.  Which ever game out when Vision 3 came out.  Perhaps its better now.

In regards to a layout, consider this
Florinske's Evo XR Cade a 2013 UCA nominee.  His build will give you perspective on laying out the emulator.

[VECTRON]

Hope I'm not hijacking your thread,

I'm also looking to build an Xbox based bar top arcade and came across Degenatrons Xbox  build
He has about 10 videos on YouTube and a Google website with a lot of info.

I've soft modded my Xbox and plan on cutting the cabinet this weekend,

[eds1275]

I think that hacking an xbox 10 years ago was a great idea. Now, with today's low pc costs, high dependability, and small size... it sort of amazes me people still talk about it.

[pbj]

You can blame the Kades for all the renewed interest, I think.  No issues with USB assignments, plays just about everything fine, boots in under 20 seconds, and you can flip it off with a toggle switch and not hurt anything.

 

[butanebob]

Would you recommend a PC over an XBOX? Why? What advantages does an xbox have over a PC?

XBOX can't do 240p, that's a deal breaker for me, especially if you're going to be using a CRT. You end up with flickery interlaced graphics output when it's supposed to be nice and stable. Get a PC and set up groovy mame and you won't have any of those problems. Also it'll be much faster and able to run more games at fullspeed. With a PC you'll also have the option of running games that XBOX simply cannot via other emulators, like the catalogue's of SEGA Model 2, 3 and NAOMI games, Taito Type X etc.

Then there's the issue of controls, the xbox controller is absolutely awful, particularly the D pad which you will be using almost exclusively for arcade games.

[bfauska]

Then there's the issue of controls, the xbox controller is absolutely awful, particularly the D pad which you will be using almost exclusively for arcade games.

You know this thread is about using an Xbox in a cabinet right? Presumably with arcade controls... on the cabinet.

[mkmk4]

wow so I bought an xbox today. It's a debug kit :O $50 5 controllers all seals intact, I did not have a AV cable to test the display but I went on a whim and assumed it works fine (not a damn scratch on the thing and seems to run well when powered on). Now should I just sell this one and buy a regular xbox or does the extra RAM in the debug kit make a difference? how does one soft mod a debug kit anyway?