thinking about a new project: xbox in arcade cab

pudluther

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had my annual march madness/arcade/poker shindig at the house this past weekend and a few folks were all over the nba hangtime game, which rekindled my love affair with that game/genre.

so i got to thinking.....i have two cabs right now that aren't doing much. one is a four player cab that is completely gutted. one is a dynamo cab that i was using for my multicade until it crapped out last week.

there's a new nba jam game on the 360, which is awesome btw...got me wishing that i could play it in an arcade cab with arcade controls the way it was intended to be played.

so how hard would it be to take a 360 and hook it up to an arcade cab? looking at it, it looks like a 24 inch LCD would fit perfectly and be almost exactly the same size as far as the playable screen area is concerned. if i used that gutted cab, i could just mount the TV, install the 360, and be almost done...just gotta figure out how to get the controls to the arcade stick/buttons. that seems to be the most difficult part, but i'm assuming it's possible.

i did a search on here and didn't see any recent topics on the subject (looked back 5 pages or so). has anybody done anything like that? thoughts on it? also, anybody have any idea about the controls? and can you give me some pointers on that....i have no idea where to start as far as that part is concerned.



thanks.
 
People have done that, although I have no idea why they do it. Can't be too great to play games designed for twin analog sticks and 10 buttons on an 8-way joystick.

Sticking a PC in there would be cheaper and much more functional.
 
People have done that, although I have no idea why they do it. Can't be too great to play games designed for twin analog sticks and 10 buttons on an 8-way joystick.

Sticking a PC in there would be cheaper and much more functional.


nba jam isn't designed for twin analog sticks or 10 buttons. the "game room" arcade games aren't either. those are the only ones i'd be interested in playing.
 
Go over at the BYOAC forum. There are a tons of posts of people building them there. I am building a couple of cabinets like this myself. I can't wait to finish them.
 
I just hacked some 360 3rd party controllers to terminate in a JAMMA header that I plug into my cab. I've got a tri sync monitor so I don't have to worry about resolution.
pad7.jpg
 
This is my Xbox 360 cab. I can use wireless controllers still for the 3rd and 4th players.
If you put a X360 into a cab, you've got to use a 16:9 monitor or it won't look right. After putting this together it by far became my most favorite piece.

PDP makes these SF4 arcade wired controllers that have a common ground.

 
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thanks for the advice, fellas. got the OK from wifey this afternoon (which, as most of us know, is a crucial step).

gonna order the connectors & the TV mounting bracket tonight and when they get here, i'm gonna go ahead and grab the TV and the 360 and get to work.
 
Makes more sense I guess.


yeah. i totally see what you were saying about certain games being an absolute nightmare to try and run on an arcade stick/6-button layout, but the ones i'm interested in should work fine.

the game that sorta gave me the push in this direction, is the new NBA JAM arcade game. i'll have no problem with the arcade layout with that one.....matter of fact, it should feel a helluva lot better than using the 360 controller.

there's also an NFL BLITZ and a MADDEN ARCADE game that should both work fine...also a 3 on 3 NHL ARCADE game (similar to NHL OPEN ICE).

in addition to those sports games, i'll be downloading any classic arcade/console games that require only simple button inputs.....the "game room" series has quite a few games that will work nicely (asteroids, missile command, time pilot, etc).
 
Driving Game X Box

http://www.ultimarc.com/xba.html

i hacked a X-Box driving wheel set, with foot pedals and put it into a Daytona USA cabinet. It's great. It has a 25" color TV. I hooked up a 7 speaker sound system (including seat speaker) to a small Dennon reciever in the enclosure under the seat. My favorite is playing Midway Treasures driving games which includes Hydro Thunder and Rush the Rock.
 
I did this with a MK 4 cab. there is a guy on the build your own arcade controls forum who will hack controllers you send him. I mainly did it for the new MK and i have it running on a 4:3 VGA arcade crt and MK looks fine to me in that aspect. the characters are just a little smaller and the viewpoint is further back, plays the same. i assume nba jam would be the same way. I watched a bit of video of the new nba jam and although cool to me something is missing. when I play nba jam I want to hear the announcer and the sound effects of the original game. I also think the original game (and TE) just hold up really well. People can never get enough at my parties. Maybe I'm just nostalgic but I don't feel the need to run a new version.

I also have a SF layout panel I can slap into the MK so I might have to try that with blitz though.
 
I watched a bit of video of the new nba jam and although cool to me something is missing. when I play nba jam I want to hear the announcer and the sound effects of the original game. I also think the original game (and TE) just hold up really well. People can never get enough at my parties. Maybe I'm just nostalgic but I don't feel the need to run a new version.


i have a 4-player cab with NBA JAM, NBA JAM T.E., NBA MAX HANGTIME, and NHL OPEN ICE boards installed....so i have the originals covered. ;)


the new one is really, really cool and (IMO) captures the feel of the original quite nicely.....once you get used to it. it plays ever so slightly different and to be perfectly honest, that threw me off a bit at first....but once i gave it a chance, i could feel the influence of the original in the new game.

oh, and it has the original announcer (tim kitzrow). it also has several throwback players from the original NBA JAM as unlockables, which is another big, big plus. they even have their little tight nut-hugger shorts on as opposed to the modern players with the longer shorts. kinda funny. :)
 
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http://www.ultimarc.com/xba.html

i hacked a X-Box driving wheel set, with foot pedals and put it into a Daytona USA cabinet. It's great. It has a 25" color TV. I hooked up a 7 speaker sound system (including seat speaker) to a small Dennon reciever in the enclosure under the seat. My favorite is playing Midway Treasures driving games which includes Hydro Thunder and Rush the Rock.

this is for the wrong Xbox. 360 has a lockout chip where you have to get it from them. There are only liscensed controllers this way.

It looks like an I-PAC from ultimarc.com will work with the 360. It looks very doable to me.

Nah the ipac itself doesn't work but only works through adaptors. Latency is often introduced. I would do it how I did it with just wired controllers. I used $30 wired controllers for each side and it works flawlessly.

I can build a controller harness from hacking the same pads for anyone that wants to pay for the labor and parts.
 
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http://www.ultimarc.com/xba.html

i hacked a X-Box driving wheel set, with foot pedals and put it into a Daytona USA cabinet. It's great. It has a 25" color TV. I hooked up a 7 speaker sound system (including seat speaker) to a small Dennon reciever in the enclosure under the seat. My favorite is playing Midway Treasures driving games which includes Hydro Thunder and Rush the Rock.

I've been thinking about doing the same thing with an original xbox. You have midway treasures and all the NFS and Outrun etc.... plus with a hacked xbox you can through that all on the drive itself with no discs to mess with.

With that being said....Do you have any video or instructions on what you did? What wheel you used or hacked to make the existing wheel work? Or did you use a XBOX compatible wheel and replace all of it and make it fit into the dash? or did you just use the circuit board and use the existing arcade wheel and pedal? How did you tie it into the pedal? I ask these questions as I just have a normal 277 degree wheel no rumble and uses Pots.

Anyways, if you got any info on your method to madness. I would be interested!!

;
 
Note to OP:
I would only use a TV if the cab doesn't have a monitor. You can get the xbox to output RGB.
I actually have a Jamma rig (complete with 3,4,6 button controls) that I would consider selling. No latency either.




As for the driving controls:
No need to buy expensive driving controls.
You can just use wire the analog control to the xbox controller. You might need to take the pot out of the wheel/pedal and replace it with one that matches the value of the xbox controller.
 
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Note to OP:
I would only use a TV if the cab doesn't have a monitor. You can get the xbox to output RGB.
I actually have a Jamma rig (complete with 3,4,6 button controls) that I would consider selling. No latency either.


the cab i plan to use is a full jamma setup...i just hate effing with monitors. a TV isn't going to need a cap kit anytime soon. my luck with monitors isn't that great.



i guess my only question on that is, am i going to be able to plug 'n play? or am i going to need some type of converter since the cab is jamma? i was hoping just to be able to rip the monitor out, but now that i think about it, that might not be the case...
 
EDIT: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO ORIGINAL XBOX


If the monitor works, keep it.

Putting a TV in a cab isn't easy. You have size/mounting constraints. And then sometimes, the magnetic field gets fucked up once inside.

I wouldn't say that a TV won't need a cap kit any time soon. A tv is just as needy as a monitor. And when the caps do go, good luck finding a cap kit.
The other potential issues to consider with a TV are a lack of geometry and size controls, less than RGB signals and a lack of compatibility with arcade PCB's.
But it is up to you.

You always have to convert the controls. All of the buttons can be wired without removing the solder pads, allowing you to use the controller in parallel. This is important because many emulators also use analog controls for navigation/settings.

EDIT: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO ORIGINAL XBOX
 
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If the monitor works, keep it.

Putting a TV in a cab isn't easy. You have size/mounting constraints. And then sometimes, the magnetic field gets fucked up once inside.

I wouldn't say that a TV won't need a cap kit any time soon. A tv is just as needy as a monitor. And when the caps do go, good luck finding a cap kit.
The other potential issues to consider with a TV are a lack of geometry and size controls, less than RGB signals and a lack of compatibility with arcade PCB's.
But it is up to you.

You always have to convert the controls. I recommend using the Type S controllers. All of the buttons can be wired without removing the solder pads, allowing you to use the controller in parallel. This is important because many emulators also use analog controls for navigation/settings.



i know i have to convert the controls...i'm cool with that.

but do i need to do anything special with the TV or just mount it (however difficult that may be), run the HDMI from the 360 to the back of it, and fire it up? or is there something else i need to do, being that it's in a jamma cab?

is the monitor part gonna be plug & play, in other words?



as for emulators, that's not what i'm going to be running. i'm putting an xbox 360 in there, not an original xbox. i will be downloading games from the xbox LIVE arcade and playing only those.
 
Ohh, 360 then.... I was thinking original xbox with an old 25"ish CRT.
-That changes things.

With a 360, you probably want a widescreen display.

So it would be easier to go with the biggest 16:9 LCD that fits. Use HDMI since it won't be corrupted by electrical interference.

You will have to cut a different bezel. I like to use the Elmer's foam-board.

For the controls, go with the previously mentioned Street Fighter 6 button controllers. All analog controls, all easy soldering.

If you want to make your rig legacy compatible with arcade boards, go with a RGB->VGA converter and make sure your TV supports RGB.
 
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