I’ve done like 4-5 sticks at this point - PC, PS, DC. I’m looking to resurrect an old project of mine, but my big issue at the moment is the XBox 360. I am just starting my research on this, but are their any complex issues for wiring this for fighting games? I’m expecting to dump the two analog sticks- just keeping the buttons and the d-pad, however my understanding is that they are actually analog. I haven’t seen any mods yet on 360 trollers, does anyone have any or know where to point me for this? thanx for any and all help.
Unreal: you can make a stick for x360 the same way you would a non-analog pad, with the only exception being the right and left analog trigger buttons. There hasn’t been a definitive post yet about how to make these work easily, but everything else can just be soldered on each side and work just like a digital button.
so I don’t need to worry about resistors or anything along thosel ines - a typical Dreamcast style wiring is fine?
Next to that I was curious on something. for usage purposes and lack of seeing one I was tempted to install two PCBs - XBox 360 and PS2 since it has adapaters. I was concerned about common connections, so I was thinking of simply putting all the grounds on a switch, so that the controlelr isn’t grounded unless its switched for it. thoughts?
-:bluu:
I have a question about dual shock pads. on the ones that dreaded fist does, He disconnects the Analog sticks completely from the main part of the PCB. can I just cut those wires from my dual shock 1 PCB and still have my PCB work? I don’t really know how he does it.
Unreal: Yeah just a typical soldering job works just fine. I’ve also found that you don’t need to run a seperate ground wire for every single button when hacking a x360 pad (most people show a ground/signal pair on every single button).
I’ve also had the same idea that you’ve had about connecting a ps2 and x360 pads simultaneously to one joystick. I’m waiting on some arcade parts to arrive before I can hook it all up to test it. Seeing how a cheap ps2 board is as cheap as a converter, I’d prefer to just have 2 wires coming out of my joystick so I can plug into either system.
Well I’ve been working on the stick, the cabinet it the dead sexiest to date I’ve made, just having some issues getting the lexan to sand down to the size and shape I want, but I’ll get it there. HOWEVER I hit a big stop point with the dual controller setup. I took a multimeter to both the PSX controller I got mmm 99 cent goodness with no analog and the XBox360 pad I bought - I didn’t buy the M$ one - I bought the Madcatz one, figuring it would be true to the PSX and not have any o the old school black guck on it, simpler PCB, and instead of the wiggly lines for buttons - just half circles. Well it had he half circles, but everything else is extremely tight. That fine I can work in small environments taking my time, but I tested the grounds and they weren’t all connected. The top two shoulder buttons, “UP” on the D-pad, and the four color buttons are grounded together. I didn’t test the rearr shoulder buttons. Start/select/X were grounded together, and the other directions were not grounded together but separetly. I think they are really using a common ground just by glancing at the exit wiring, but I’m concernced about the on-board micro-chips - with what I learned gettin my degree - those grounds can be logic driven, and grounding them all together - while it won’t short out the micro-processor - the shit won’t work properly, so I’m a bit shaky on daisy chaining the ground for the XBox360.
This translates to me realizing that since the PSX board is all GNDed together - no matter how I wire it - I will end up grounding every point from the XBox360 controller - on the PSX pad. The onyl way around this would be to introduce a switch for every ground that you turn off when using the XBox360 part - and this would look like ass. My other option is to buy a microprocessor, mount it to a board, and translate all the XBox360 commands into PSX talk, but I don’t have the time for that as this is a gift for someone.
Wire it up and test it; I doubt that the pads will be damaged in the process, as I have tested (read: started randomly shorting wires) a Pelican x360 controller while it was plugged into the system and all that happenned was the controller stopped functioning until I unplugged it and plugged it back in.
You’re trying to do almost exactly the same thing I am planning on doing, so I’m really interested in hearing how it all works out.
You sound like a smart guy working on this; respect.
How about using 74HC4066N chips? These are the same chips the guy who made the Saturn -> 360 jobber used. The HC ones can operate at anywhere from 2-6 volts, so would be fine whether the PSX was supplying the power or the 360 or the 360 plugged into a PC. You have the two output gates of the 4066 at the two button points on the 360 pcb, and the input could be tied to the PSX line; the PSX will tie it to high for you, and pressing the button drops it low for you. This way you can keep the power and ground for both controllers together like you planned so both pcb’s are powered, and pressing a button only connects the specific two points on the 360’s matrix.
The 4066 looks like an input of high will enable the switch; you may want to hunt to see if there is an active on low version of this chip, or put an inverter just before the 4066’s input.
Ok sorry for being LAZY and not wanting to read through 8-pages of this, but quick question:
Is it true only Psx/PSOne PCBs are used in stick building? Why is this exactly, shouldn’t a PS2 dual-shock be pretty much the SAME on the inside D-pad wiring?
I just took a quick glance at the spec sheet for the chip…this option I like - its basiclly a cleaner version of what I was describing for the switches at least that what it seems like to me on the surface. I’m going to do some reading up on this and see what I can come up with. As for PSX vs PS2 pads, well one there is cost I can get a PSX troller for 99 cents MUAHAHA, and on top of that its all digital switches - there is absolty nothing analog about it meaning I shouldn’t have to worry about resistors etc - and everything is prolly running along the same ground.
As for testing - I actually don’t own a X360. No game for it yet worth me investing money into outside of SF HF I don’t do FPS or sport games. So I’m going to hae to do it via the computer I guess. Got some friends with a 360 and I’m going to test on theirs when I’m done, but I’d like to sorta already know it works before I get o that step as a fuck up would … well set me back 400+ bux…
You’re probably already doing this, but most of the x360 controller are plug-n-play, so you can do a lot of testing on your PC. Of course it’s not safe to assume that something working correctly on your PC will work on the 360, but it’s better than nothing.
Doing some reading and came across this - its the traces for the normal XBox360 controller - of interesting point, the guy mentions that only the start button and "X"XBox button share real grounds. This verfies my grounding fears, so I’m looking at getting around the PSX single point grounding issues I’m going to have as previously discussed - this is just verification of the issues at hand.
-:bluu:
Haven’t heard of anyone hacking a ps3 controller directly yet. I have very high hopes that we can make our own with a USB enabled PIC as soon as any whatever->PS3 USB converters come out.
Just got a quick question…Are the rumble motors off a ps1 dual shock(ver. a if it’s important)necessary for hacking??? I’m pretty sure I could cut them off, but I wanna be sure before I do anything. Otherwise, I turned a great, cheap find into a $5 waste.