Installing an MC Cthulhu and Imp in an Xbox 360 SF4 SE stick

Thanks for helping me out, mate! :slight_smile:
And one more thing; Would I be better off getting a board with the USB jack assembled or without it? (According to Lizardlick, they recommend the one without USB, but I don’t see why)?

You can only get it fully assembled now I think. The reason is because if it was not there you can put the wires in the usb holes, but now Toodles has added another point on the board you can solder the usb wires to compensate for the usb jack holes being already filled with the jack.

I think they only sell the fully assembled boards now because too many problems with people putting there own together, and because they could not be tested before sending them out.

Ok, great! I guess I’ll get one of those then.

So, I’ve decided to go for the assembled Cthulhu w USB-jack (without the imp), and then just run two cables from the box. Still, I’m not sure what points I need to solder.
Since the buttons are connected through the terminal strip, can I hook up another set of cables from there and connect them to the cthulhu?
As for the stick, I’m guessing I need to do some soldering work to make it work on both consoles?

Yes, just connect another set and make go to Cthulhu.
And for the Joystick, yes; just splice to original wires.

Remember to also connect the VCC (+5V on Mad Catz PCB) to Cthulhu, and also the Ground.

Thanks! Just ordered it. :slight_smile:

If I am running a PS3 SE Fightstick and I am going to Mod with MC Cthulhu/Imp/360 MadCatz should I just gut the existing PCB in the stick? I would still like the guide button and stuff up there to work.

Any suggestions.

Well you won’t have Turbo, but you can still have Home.
Well you won’t have LS-DP-RS, but you can still have Home.
Well you won’t have Start/Back Lock, but you can still have Home.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5044/tehometrace.png

Solder two wires to there.
Route them to Cthulhu for Home function.

There’s also a corresponding pad for “home” on the back of that PCB, which may make it easier for wire routing in an SE. On the back, it’s also an easy spot to solder to the RS/LS/DP switch if you want to use that for switching as well.

Ok so I have the pre-assembled cthulu [with usb jack] and a 360 SE stick.
I’m going to do a two cable set up [no imp].

Do I have to solder the ground and the +5 to the se 360 pcb?

If I’m just doubling up the connections on the buttons and the stick and have a separate usb cable why do I need to solder the +5 and gnd to a separate board?

Yes.

Hey. I was trying to do the Imp-less MC Cuthulu mod with my TE and I’m getting a strange problem with the directional pad. The button functions are working just fine and I updated the MC to it’s latest firmware version.

The problem is that the Up function stays on and will not allow me to input any command that doesn’t include Up in it. Meaning Neutral becomes Up, any diagonals or Left/Right become their respective Up counterparts (left and down/left both become up/left for example). Basically all directions head Up when I have the Up function wired to the MC. Meaning the Up function is always receiving power.

I tried a few guess troubleshooting ideas such as checking the d-pad wiring from the joystick’s end which was not the issue. I also tried re-soldering a small area that looked disconnected unlike the other areas on the pcb. Here’s a picture of the area I’m talking about, along with the rest of the pcb.

Thanks for any help. Ive been working on this for 2 weeks on and off now and it’ll be good to finally get it done.

Man, that is a lot of exposed wire.
And I see strands popping out everywhere.

Got my TE dual mod done today. Took me 5 hours from start to end (including setup & clean up)

The mod was successful but I did make a few mistakes. As sad as it may sound the only stuff I messed up on was the EASY stuff. I was in a rush and working in a office so no proper work area. When drilling the 24mm hole for the button on the far side I only eyed it and my forstner bit must have moved some so my final hole is about 1cm lower than the other 2 stock holes. Thinking back I should have drilled a pilot hole first.

The next big mistake is also the hole, it was taking forever with the forstner bit so I hit the throttle and went to super speed with my drill and melted the plastic, the big pile of plastic shavings that came out of the top was hot enough to merge with the outside bezel, so when I was done drilling I had this excess plastic that I had to sand away, so I got some scratches on the case from that. It really melted on there good, normally you can just break away plastic that has been cut but this was bonded.

Last mistake was messing up the artwork on one of my buttons, I took the buttons off to add some double sided tape so it would not spin anymore. I took my time on all the buttons until the last one, rather than pry it up with a screw driver and my finger I tried to use two screw drivers and it slipped so I bent the artwork for that button and now if I look for it I see the crease.

Other than those 3 things the mod came out pretty pro. I put the Cthulhu behind the terminal block for the buttons, that 1ft RJ45 cable probably would not have reached had it been on the other side of the TE PCB plus it actually worked better there.,

My unit was just COVERED in the red locktight stuff and glue on the connections, it took a very long time to get all that stuff out but luckily it does come out if you get it just right.

When I was finished at the 5 hour mark since I was at work I had no Wii/Gamecube to test the only cable I had made so far, so I went ahead and used up one of my generic white USB A-B cables to make a USB cable to test. I plugged it in for the moment of truth and it did not work… was kinda bummed out, but figured everything was ok and it probably was the cable. I tested it with my meter and sure enough one of the wires was not far enough up in the housing, so cut that one off and attached another one (this time without stripping the wire first, I assume I had the blade type connectors that will cut into the wire making it a lot easier to stick up in there) and 2nd time was the charm, lots of beeps as stuff was installing, a failed install warning (kinda was worried) but when I looked at my devices list the MC Cthulhu was on there and every button works fine.

Pretty sure none of my buttons are mixed up but hard to tell.

The 30Ga wire was a pleasure to work with, glad I got it, when turning the PCB over to mount it would have been a lot harder with ticker wire. My soldering iron was broken the tip as loose and moved about 3cm side to side so this effected accuracy and heat to the iron but I used it anyways as I was not willing to wait another day to do the mod when I finally had a chance.

Sorry no pictures of the work in progress I was rushing and too busy focusing to take them, but will get some final product pics up at some time.

Just a quick question…

in Bomberman’s tutorial, he says to connect the 1D pair on the Imp to the Cthulhu, and the 2D set to the 360 PCB if you’re using an MC Cthulhu. His wording makes it sound as if doing them the opposite way, so the 360 is the default, is a bad idea… is that really the case, or am I reading too much into it? I’d prefer my stick to default to 360, since that is what I use it for the most by a large margin, and being able to just plug and play without fiddling with the stick switch would be great.

edit: And while I’m thinking about it, are there any other notes for modding in a TE that are pertinent? I saw Bomberman’s image showing where to easily mount the Cthulhu and Imp in the TE, and the post about installing the RJ-45 port into the cord compartment. Is there anything else I should know that would make my life easier either during the process of putting this together, or afterward, like the cord compartment idea?

I don’t mind Private Messages.
I am always willing to help people with questions.

I thought it was weird that you sent me Private Message thirteen minutes after the Post though.
Also I do not read and reply to a Private Messages which has a Read Receipt.
I think it is stupid; do not understand it.

But since you post in this Thread also, I answer.

So, you can make Xbox 360 be Primary if you want, no problem.
If you do as said.

So I got my stick modded and working for all the consoles I own (360, PS2, GC, Wii, PC), but I have to say, one bit in the instructions in this tutorial is somewhat misleading.

In the wiring diagrams and the directions, it shows to remove the USB cable from the stick’s PCB, and attach it to the Imp… However, the instructions also include attaching a RJ-45 jack… I don’t understand why you’d put the RJ-45 jack in and then leave the USB cable permanently attached; that seems to defeat the purpose of adding the RJ-45 jack in the first place. I ended up using a couple of the diagrams from this tutorial instead, specifically where it shows to attach the green and white/blue ethernet cables to the Imp instead of to the Cthulhu, as this guide suggests, so that the USB cable can be made detachable like any other console cables.

The other thing that stuck out to me was that the “V” column on the Cthulhu isn’t consistent on all 3 rows. I’m not sure what the proper terminology is, but the second and third rows don’t seem to be connected to anything. It may make no difference at all, but it was just something that I noticed.

Other than that, the guide was a great help. Thanks!

I just finished this mod this morning (at about 1:00), and I wanted to thank you for such an awesome guide. One thing to note: I got a preassembled MC Cthulhu, and I ended up using the wire terminals. I did this by stripping the wires by a little less than half an inch, and then folding the exposed part double before inserting it into the terminal. It seems pretty solid.

The only problem I had was that I mixed up the up and down connections, but since I was using the terminals this was fixed in under a minute.

I do wish that they would leave out the red glue when constructing these sticks. Trying to dig it out of the screw holes was a huge pain.

I just did the mod and I’m having some issues. A quick search yielded no helps so I’ll post this, sorry if it’s been covered.

So, I have an MC Cthulhu and Imp wired into a TE stick. I used the diagram (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h201/eastx/arcade%20sticks/mccthulhuandimptotestickdiagram.jpg) as shown on the front pages 2nd post. Got everything all nicely soldered and completed the mod. I plug it into a computer and it recognizes both MC Cthulhu and Madcatz pcbs and all buttons are responsive in both modes. I plug it into the 360 and it works fine.

When I plug it into my PS3 however I get no response from the controller, period. It doesn’t even say that the device is not recognized like it normally does when you plug in something the PS3 doesn’t work with. I tried powering down and back up, tried plugging it in before hand then turning it on, tried toggling the RS/DP/LS switch before and after plugging it in. When I use the 360 setting I get the “device is not recognized” message. Other controllers work fine. I have not tried another dual-modded controller but I have used them on my PS3 before without a problem (with PS3 only and MC Cthulhu dual modded sticks). My next step is to try another PS3 and see if it works or not but I haven’t been able to do that yet.

So here’s a rundown of my problem:
-modded 360 TE stick with MC cthulhu
-Tested on PC, both pcbs responsive in control panel/game controllers, with all buttons and joystick working fine for both pcbs
-works fine on 360
-no response from PS3, which has worked previously with PS3 and MC Cthulhu modded sticks
-verified that MC Cthulhu is still recognized on PC and all buttons and joystick are still responsive

Have not tried:
-Another PS3
-Another modded stick (although it has worked with them previously)

Anybody have any ideas of what might be wrong? Just want to make sure I’m not skipping anything. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Just to be clear, moving the RS/LS/DP slider will not have any affect on the Imp or Cthulhu after its been plugged in. The Madcatz will do its normal thing about reporting the stick, but the after plugged in, my stuff doesn’t care.
#1 because this should always be the first thing for any problems, update the MC firmware. Grab it from the first post in the Cthulhu thread. Move the slider to whatever the MC setting is (should be DP in that diagram) and plug it in with Start and Sel pressed and follow the readme in the zip file.
#2 After the firmware is updated, doublecheck the setting of the slide switch and plugging it into your PC so make sure you know which spot to put the slider to select Cthulhu mode. Should be DP, please doublecheck to be sure, since for testing on the PS3 it should be left there and never touched.
#3 Try it a couple of times by plugging it into the PS3 when the PS3 is on and at the normal system menu. Move the stick around to see if you can navigate the menu. Try this a few times; it is very possible for it to work occasionally.
#4 Assuming it never works and never manuevers around the menu, open the stick up, grab an A-to-B USB cable and directly plug it into the Cthulhu and the PS3. Make sure the normal cable is not plugged into anything! Try to move around the menu again.

Post up what you find out during these steps.