Emus on Xbox

[slycrel]

Thanks for the advice... I opened up the BAED ISO and it looks as though I might be able to change the emus that are there.  It appears on the surface to have a call structure that would make that possible if I don't change the dir tree names.  If not, it also appears that some of the source code is there, and if I can locate a copy of the XDK (yeah, right) then I can make it work the harder way.

I'm not sure I see the functional difference with having the emulators on HD and the ROMs on DVD.  Either way it's going to load the entire executable into memory.  The emulators do appear to have defaults for paths to spots on the HD for config files, saves, etc.  They appear to be configurable, too, so they can get moved around some.  I'll try your recommendation and see if it makes a substantial difference.  N64 is one of the systems I don't really need emulation for as we still have one in the living room that gets regular use (and about 5 more in the basement).

I was a console collector for years, so for me, emulation is really just a bit of convenience.  I still own multiples of almost all consoles and many of them own half or more of the domestic libraries.

Apologies for being absent for so long.  I am a WoW addict, so virtually all my free time is spent there lately.  =)

Other than possibly MAME where the roms change, the emus are easily swapped out and changed if they are on the HDD, but you don't have to worry about re-burning CDs/DVDs for your roms.  I find that if I hear about a new emulator for one of the systems I like to try it out and see how it works out.  You may just want to get the current best and not tuch it again, so that's fine as well, just wanted to clarify where that recommendation comes from.

Or you can just cave like I did and buy a big HDD to put it all on. 

As far as the N64 stuff...  yeah, I understand.  It's all about convenience for me as well, though it sounds like my library isn't as extensive as yours.  I no longer own a (working) N64, so that's my draw there.

Oh, and for what it's worth...  I messed around with some of the netplay functionality once in (I think) FCEUltra and it was compatible with the PC version's netplay settings.  It was a fun proof of concept, and if I ever have multiple cabs with an xbox in it I might set it up so you can play them against each other.  Could be fun.

I've not tried the SMB sharing stuff, but I hear it can be very nice if setup properly.  SMB and I don't like each other, I've ended up with ccxstream for videos on my PC -> XBMC which works well.

Let us know how it works out.

[ChadTower]

Cool.  Tried mednafenx_nes... works great.  I haven't played with many of the settings yet but I spent some time this weekend playing Baseball Stars and Zelda.  The emulator works well.  I need to find a better controller, though, as the D pad on the Xbox controllers just doesn't cut it.

[shmokes]

Seeing as the Xbox uses funky USB ports for its controllers, and a simple, extremely inexpensive adapter (hell, I'll send you one if you want, I think I've got a bunch if I haven't thrown them away) will convert it for regular USB, I wonder if you can't just use a regular NES controller with one of those NES/USB converters you can get.  I suppose it would depend somewhat on the software, but I'm guessing that every Xbox emulator lets you map buttons, so I'd think that would work.  Then you'd be able to use a standard NES gamepad and decide for sure (by fighting Tyson) if the emulator is getting the timing just right.

[ChadTower]

I was thinking about that earlier today.  It would entirely depend on whether or not there was the right drivers for it to happen.  Plus you'd be using two daisy chained adapters which could get a bit ugly.   

[DrumAnBass]

I Wonder what a modded xbox would think of GroovyGameGear GPWiz USB....?

[NOP]

Seeing as the Xbox uses funky USB ports for its controllers, and a simple, extremely inexpensive adapter (hell, I'll send you one if you want, I think I've got a bunch if I haven't thrown them away) will convert it for regular USB, I wonder if you can't just use a regular NES controller with one of those NES/USB converters you can get.

Alas, they do not work that way.  The NES/USB controller will report a different HID USB class back to the software, and the software will have no clue what to do with it.  We are currently discussing this on xbox-scene at the moment. (with an SNES controller)  The best route is to gut an xbox controller and rewire it inside an NES controller, or at least that's what is currently proposed.

-jeff!

[ChadTower]

Hrm.  There has to be some third party "arcade controller" out there that is closer than a whole custom solution.

[Grasshopper]

From what I've been reading, Linux running on an Xbox treats the controller ports just like standard USB ports (although of course you have to make up your own converter leads). So theoretically any emulators running on Linux should be able to work with standard USB HID devices. Has anyone here tried this? Come to think of it, do any Xbox emulators run on Linux?

Even if it works, the downside is that Linux is relatively complicated, takes up a significant amount of memory, and a relatively long time to load. So it's not an ideal solution for a games console.

it would of course be awesome if someone could work out how to patch the Xbox BIOS to give full USB support.

[ChadTower]

Did he just say that Linux takes up too much resource to run on a Microsoft box?

I think hell just froze over.

[Grasshopper]

Did he just say that Linux takes up too much resource to run on a Microsoft box?

I think hell just froze over.

That's not actually what I said. From what I've been reading Linux runs pretty well. Actually it's surprising it even runs at all when you consider how much memory an Xbox has. But if you want to play a game you want to be able to boot up as quickly as possible, and have as much memory available as possible for the actual game. The same applies to emulators. Unfortunately MAME has become a bit of a resource hog.

For the same reason (except even more so) I think Windows is an awful platform for gaming. Way too much bloat. But unfortunately, if you want to run modern games on a PC it's currently the only game in town.

Now a customised cut-down Linux distro designed specifically for gaming could work, but I haven't come across such a thing yet.

[ChadTower]

Even if it works, the downside is that Linux is relatively complicated, takes up a significant amount of memory, and a relatively long time to load.

It actually is what you said, but I do get what you're trying to say.  It would have to be a small distro but given how many other small distros are out there it wouldn't be hard for someone who had the skill and motivation to create one for the Xbox.

[slycrel]

There is a linux distro for the xbox that boots from a CD and is built to run MAME, (knoppixmame?  I forget) I believe this was ported from the PC version which does the same.

I can confirm that linux treats the controller USB as a standard USB port.

I can also confirm that an iPac (with the xbox adapter) works just fine inside my arcade machine for this as well, though that's a more expensive route to go.  Probably the ideal is to build your own controller or get one of those xbox -> NES adapters that are out there.  (I think I've seen a straigt port, but I know for sure you can do xbox -> ps2 and ps2 -> NES)

[ChadTower]

I'm trying to run some searches over at Xbox Scene for discussions on controllers for use with NES emulation but their stupid search engine keeps coming back with errors instead of any useful results.   

[DrumAnBass]

I guess the reason the GroovyGameGear GPWiz interests me is that my arcade control panel is built around it. So it would be cool to be able to some day add an Xbox to my arcade cab and use my existing GPWiz control panel. I have a modded xbox, but it is in a different room of the house; someday I will have to plug my control panel in and see what happens. But I am lucky these days to get 5 mins to play a game or 2...!

[Grasshopper]

With regards to the Xbox to USB adapters, I've seen two types. The cheapest are simply leads with an Xbox controller socket on one end and a USB plug on the other. They require a Windows driver because the Xbox controllers don't conform to the USB HID standard.

However, I've seen another type of adapter that appears to be a modified USB hub. Can someone here tell me whether this type of adapter requires a driver?

[ChadTower]

Intuitively I can't see why it would not... the OS still has to recognize it as something.

[Grasshopper]

Intuitively I can't see why it would not... the OS still has to recognize it as something.

I was just thinking (or perhaps hoping) that the hub might have converted the Xbox controller's data format into the standard HID format.

Ideally, I'd rather have a driverless solution because then the converter is guaranteed to work on any non-Windows OS that provides USB HID support.

[ChadTower]

I'm more concerned about the Xbox's ability to recognize the hub.  The hub is a USB device itself.

[Grasshopper]

I'm more concerned about the Xbox's ability to recognize the hub.  The hub is a USB device itself.

I was actually talking about the ability to use Xbox controllers on a PC.

But since you mention it, aren't the memory slots on Xbox controllers actually thinly disguised USB hubs?

[Howard_Casto]

Yes they are.... the xbox uses straight usb and the "memory cards" are actually usb thumb-drives. 

The xbox does NOT offer HID support afaik, so a snes to usb adaptor, or what have you probably isn't going to work on an xbox.  It will on the pc though (of course).

[Grasshopper]

I wonder what would happen if someone wired up a standard Xbox controller to the memory slot of another controller connected to an Xbox. Would the Xbox recognise both devices? I think it's unlikely. But if it worked then you could potentially connect more than four controllers to the Xbox at the same time.

[Howard_Casto]

Actually that will work!  The problem is that there aren't any games that support more than 4 controllers though and homebrewers have never looked into it, because, well why would you need more than 4 controllers?

[northerngames]

I have my dongle's modded where it unplugs at the break-off point and I soldered a usb end to a spare dongle so I can play the xbox controller on the xbox and then unplug the stock dongle and plug in the usb dongle I solderd and then plug it into the pc and it is probably one of the best pc handheld controllers to use becuase of both the analog stick's and extra buttons that most pc controller do not have.

I will try to find the link with tutorial and pin-out's but there was a guy on X-S that had pin-out's on how to hook all the older console controllers to the xbox I think he had a vga port modded into the xbox controller dongle and then all the controllers plugged into the modded dongle port


for the controller mods on a xbox see if this helps

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php/t510168.html