UD-CPS2: Fully Consolized Capcom Play System 2

Tech Talk
1

Introduction -

Alright, folks, here it is, a fully consolized CPS2. And when I say fully consolized I don’t mean with some monstrous external power supply and DB 15 connectors that require custom joysticks or adapters. I’m talking about a setup where everything is “off the shelf.”

The core elements of this project are: Power, Video, and Controls:

Power - Internal DC/DC converter. An off the shelf laptop charger supplies this board with power which is then converted to proper voltages necessary to run everything inside.

Video - [NTSC] Composite, S-Video, and low resolution RGB+S (no Component). Uses a standard off the shelf Playstation A/V port cable.

Controls - 2 Player XBOX 360 and PS3 controller support. Yes, you just plug and play.

Photos of one of my prototypes:

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC07928.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC07925.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC07923.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC08337.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC08335.jpg

Location Tests -

Devastation 2011 - Phoenix, AZ (early prototype, hard-wired controls)
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC07913.jpg

EVO 2012 - Las Vegas, NV (prototype, XBOX 360 support)
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC08205.jpg

AIAB This is It! 2012 - Tucson, AZ (prototype, PS3 & XBOX 360 support)
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSC08316.jpg

ST Games @ EVO 2013 - Las Vegas, NV (production, PS3 & XBOX 360 support)
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee311/undamned_photobucket/UD-CPS2/th_DSCF0417_zpsb1535561.jpg

F.A.Q. -

Ordering:

[details=Spoiler]Q: What am I getting exactly?
A: You will receive a modified system (CPS2 A Board), power adapter (100-240V AC), video cable (Composite & S-Video), and USB cable for future firmware updates to the controller interface. You will still need a game (CPS2 B Board), TV (CRT with S-Video recommended), and controller (X360 or PS3).

Q: Can I pre-order one of these now?
A: Yes! I have not opened an official sales thread, but for the time being you can send me a PM or e-mail me: udgametech [AT] gmail.com

Q: So, how does ordering work, exactly?
A: Just let me know that you want to order a system and I will respond with an order number and an estimated time to complete it. When your order is being built, I will send you a payment request, after which you will have 2 weeks to make payment or forfeit your order position.

Q: How much does shipping cost?
A: It depends on which country you live in. USA is $20. Other countries vary.

Q: What forms of payment do you take?
A: This also depends on which country you live in. USA: PayPal (shipping only to verified address), money order, bank transfer, or personal check. Other countries: bank transfer or money order.

Q: I already have an A Board. Can I save money on my order and just send you mine?
A: Yes. You can receive $30 off of your order for each A-board sent (you can send multiple). However, you are not guaranteed to receive the exact board you sent (it is difficult to keep track of who sent what when they are disassembled in batches). Two other reasons to send me an A Board would be 1.) you would like an ASIA/Grey or SA/Orange compatible system, or 2.) you want an absolutely mint condition A Board and you happen to have one.

Q: I already have a laptop power supply. Can I save money on my order and just use mine?
A: No. I’d rather you start with a setup that has already been guaranteed to work than spend any time trying to figure out why power supply x isn’t working properly.[/details]

General:

[details=Spoiler]Q: What region/color B Board (Game Cartridge) will run on the UD-CPS2?
A: The standard compatibility for the UD-CPS2 is US/Blue and JP/Green (and RENTAL/Yellow, as far as I know). If one desires to play ASIA/Grey or SA/Orange games, a custom order can be placed for a unit which is compatible with (only!) one of those.

Q: Will this still work on an arcade cabinet?
A: No. Even if the JAMMA connector were exposed, there are still technical reasons for it not being able to run both ways.[/details]

Video Related:

[details=Spoiler]Q: I’m tired of lugging around a heavy CRT TV to gatherings/tournaments. Being able to hook this up to a monitor would be a huge convenience. Is there any way to have Component Video available for this?
A: Not natively. You could run the UD-CPS2’s RGBS output through an RGB to Component transcoder (like this) to output 240p Component Video, but any HD monitor (that actually supports 240p) must upscale that resolution in order to display it. Upscaling inevitably adds lag to your setup, therefore (non-HD) CRTs are the lag free display of choice for this system.

Q: I would like to stream/capture video from this unit. Do you have a recommended setup?
A: In the realm of standard resolution, the highest video quality for the least amount of hardware headache is certainly S-Video. By simply running S-Video and Stereo Audio to a distribution amplifier (like this or CE Labs AV 400SV) you can run both the player setup and stream/capture setup at excellent quality with fairly little extra hardware/cabling.

Q: Will this output PAL video?
A: No. There are no immediate plans to add PAL support.[/details]

Controller Related:

[details=Spoiler]Q: Will all PS3 and XBOX 360 controllers work with UD-CPS2?
A: This cannot be guaranteed, but based on location testing, it certainly works with the majority. Also, the controller interface firmware can be updated via USB, so future firmware updates may expand controller support as more data is gathered.

Q: Can USB controllers other than XBOX 360 & PS3 be used?
A: No. I’d like to add support for other controller types in the future, though.

Q: Can buttons be re-mapped?
A: Yes, all buttons except for START and SELECT are able to be mapped to any one of the 6 Punch/Kick buttons.

Q: Can directions be re-mapped?
A: No.[/details]

Spinoff Products -

For those of you looking to add XBOX 360 and PS3 controller support to your own superguns, I will be making discrete USB Decoders, soon. There’s a dedicated thread for those here:

I will also be making available the internal DC/DC converter used in the UD-CPS2 so people can use those in their own consolization/supergun projects! When those are available, I will update this post with a link to a separate thread.

The rest of this thread is a work log from early in the project up to the present…

2

Sounds pretty sexy. CAN’T WAIT.

3

you got my attention.

4

Sweet, good shit.

5

INteresting

6

From what I understand, you need the CPS 2 “A” board as the system and the a “B” board that is the actual game that clamps on top.
So will it plug into the front of the Unit?
Regardless, I am looking forward to what you make.

7

i want one.

8

It IS the unit :slight_smile:
-ud

9

I am excited! This is exciting!

10

So it’s like a CPS-Changer for the CPS2 boards?

11

Nice id be interested in purchasing something like this. Cant wait to see it

12

Nope. The term “consolized” (which i believe originated with the Neo Geo community and their consolized MVS systems) refers to something that was once not a console and now is. My project is not an adapter/supergun, it is a retrofit of the CPS2 “A” board to turn it into a home console. My goal is to provide TO’s with a very accessible avenue to keep classics like ST and VS at their events without the headache of finding cabs or a bunch of supergun gear. Also, I’m sure some folks would like to play against their friends @ home on the real deal :slight_smile:
-ud

13

I’m very interested in this project. It would totally help with running arcade board based tournies. If you could get it to support both ps3 and 360, that would be amazing. Assuming it’s available, would love to acquire one before the upcoming Socal Regionals ST tournament =D

14

But that’s exactly what the CPS-Changer was. It even had it’s own “cartridges” (which were modified B boards) and games specially ported to it (Street Fighter Zero).

15

Let me know if you need any info to make sure my stuff works with your USB-> stuff. Otherwise Im sure we’ll talk shop at Devastation. If you need additional hardware at Devastation, CPS2 or otherwise, let me know.

16

Haha, d3v needs to go back to arcade school :razzy:

With the whole A / B board scheme, which is used both in CPS1 & 2 (though you will seldom see CPS1 B boards sold separate from the A board), A is the “system” board which processes the game data, and B is a ROM board with the game information. CPS-Changer “carts” contain both those “A” & “B” boards inside one case. The CPS-Changer is an additional device which merely provides power, video encoding, and controls. It is very much an off the shelf supergun. My project is not a supergun. Power, video and controls have been integrated into the CPS2 A board in my scheme. They are not removable. It is a “consolized” CPS2.

Sure thing, man!
-ud

17

put me inline for 1 when it happens, this will make alot of events easier to organize.

18

Ok, good news and bad news:

The good news - my power supply board is now working as designed (awesome).

The bad news - I found out the board house that is making my USB Host PCBs went on vacation starting the day my order was supposed to ship :eek: That means no showing off my spiffy USB interface at Devastation. I suppose for the sake of people still wanting to play ST, I can kludge together some DB-15 sticks, but it kinda goes against my whole everything off the shelf theme. Oh, well. I’ll still at least be able to show off the consolidated Power/Video setup.

So, a presentable Rev 1 (Power, Video, vanilla USB) will probably be a few more weeks out yet.

That sounds like a reasonable target date for me to have PS3 support :slight_smile: I’d like to have as much work done on this project as possible before Thanksgiving, as I’m expecting things are going to get busy for me through the end of the year.
-ud

19

As a longtime Neo-Geo.com resident, I’m glad to see someone from SRK doing this to a Capcom board :slight_smile:
How’s the latency on reading in the USB stream and outputting it as discrete inputs?

20

Haha, thanks. It’s been done before, but not with universal connections and definitely not mass produced. MKL made a thread on the neo geo forum years ago. you should check it out if you have never seen it.

Excellent question. I’ll be able to provide this data when my non-prototype boards are built and my code is cleaned up. Right now I’m still using a development platform and have a bunch of debug stuff running which eats up processor time. I’ve got an oscope @ work so I’ll take a capture of USB controller button press vs discrete output pin of USB host.

Oh, man: In other news I just got shipping notification on my USB host boards. That means I will get them the day before Devastation. :eek: Chances of soldering all the parts on, getting my code situated on the new platform, and having the system all together in one night is pretty slim…
-ud