Modded Arcade Twin Sticks for Xbox 360 - complete!!!

[MentholMoose]

I'll start with the money shot:

xbox360_twinsticks.jpg

The VER.5.2 arcade panel and wiring harness is original and unmodified, installed in a gutted Saturn HSS-0130 "Versus City Stick Pro". The control pad wiring is the same as in my Dreamcast Twin Sticks thread, except I used AMP connectors for use with the arcade harness instead of the JST connectors used in DC Twin Sticks. The AMP connectors are way easier to use and so this is mod simpler than doing DC Twin Sticks.

I left the sacrificed Mad Catz pad external since 1) the PCB won't fit in the HSS-0130, and 2) so I can use the Guide and Start buttons on it.

Here are some additional photos.

IMGP2569.jpg

IMGP2574.jpg

IMGP2575.jpg

IMGP2576.jpg

[Dreamcazman]

Cool! Can't wait till I get mine finished.

[Henshin1]

That looks awesome. Well done mentholmoose

[Davo87]

Looks promising. How does it feel ingame so far?

Hey MM,if 360 doesnt release any sticks, would u be in for stick modding business?

[Knoxximus]

You are a God among men, Menthol.

[ranmafan]

I'd pay for that. OO <3

[MentholMoose]

I finally got this thing working... it's working perfectly, and is better than what most arcade VOOT machines ever had. The feeling is butter smooth, and the precision is just fantastic! I've played over 100 rank matches on these, and would have played many, many more if I wasn't having problems with my DSL. I took three steps to resolve the problems.

First, I disassembled everything, thoroughly cleaned every part individually, reapplied lubricant, and reassembled it. These are not your DC or Saturn Twin Sticks -- they are true commercial grade components -- so this actually took over 2 hours! It's no wonder that almost no arcades ever bothered taking care of them to this degree. This was overdue since the last time I did this was years ago.

Second, I reworked the harness I built (the one on the modded controller side... the Twin Stick side is an actual Sega brand harness). I extracted the pins from the AMP housings and soldered the pins that were previously only crimped, to ensure a perfect connection. This didn't take too long once I figured out how to extract the pins. All that was necessary was to extract each pin from the housing, wipe on some flux where I wanted to solder using a flux pen, then solder, and finally reinsert the pin. I think this step was probably unnecessary, but it removed any doubt I had about the harness.

Third, I replaced the button PCBs in both sticks. For some reason, both of them apparently went bad! The surface mount switch on each one (used for the trigger/weapon) only function intermittently. I have no idea why -- it is bizarre and confusing! The spares I used were actually much older and appeared in worse condition, but they are working perfectly. This is troubling because these PCBs are discontinued, and I never really considered that they may go bad, so I don't have many spares. I guess in a worse case scenario I could pull these PCBs from some DC or SAT Twin Sticks, but that's not ideal. Perhaps it's possible to source a compatible surface mount switch to replace the (apparently) bad ones.

It's possible the button PCBs didn't really go bad and the problem is some compatibility issue with the Xbox 360 controller... I really don't get it, though, since the PCB in the DC Twin Sticks is the same, and I didn't have any problems at all with those (200+ rank matches played). Also, why would the two older spare PCBs work perfectly if there was compatibility issues with the two "bad" ones? I used both the "click" buttons as well as the "trigger" buttons on the Xbox 360 controller for the weapon input, and had the same problem. There are multiple revisions of these PCBs, so perhaps some of them had bad switches. The arcade sticks were wrapped in plastic, stored in the HSS-0130 box, and in my house, so I don't think some environmental issue caused any degradation.

[NeoTechni]

I just bought that madcatz controller, I dont suppose you could post pics of where I should solder what, tell me what connector that is, what resistors i need for the triggers, etc?

[MentholMoose]

I just bought that madcatz controller, I dont suppose you could post pics of where I should solder what, tell me what connector that is, what resistors i need for the triggers, etc?

Pics and button mapping are all here:
Re: Modded Dreamcast Twin Sticks for Xbox 360 - complete!!!

The resistor value is 10k ohm, though it's only necessary if you want to remove the trigger buttons (or use them). If you don't mind remapping two buttons in the game settings, use the left and right click buttons (e.g. equivalent of L3 & R3 on a dual shock) instead of the triggers, which is what I did in the pics linked above.

The connectors on the wiring harness are AMP connectors. The only source I know of is River Service ("A Type" in this link):
http://www.rs2006.co.jp/e/parts/index.html

EDIT: I believe this is the necessary connector:
176287-1 Product Details
This appears to be the other end:
176276-1 Product Details

Try requesting samples and see what happens.


If you need any more help, reply here or make a new thread.

[NeoTechni]

You're amazing

[MentholMoose]

You're amazing

thx! But I'm mostly just crazy... for VOOT!

[Fredo]

Cool job, I'd like to try these sticks ^^'

I'm waiting to see you build an Xbox 360 VOOT Twin Arcade Cabinet

Or maybe you could try to put some kind of overlay on that Madcatz controller, just for hidding the holes and making something even cooler.

[Temjin]

Nice work !

What PINOUT two AMP's 5.2?

[MentholMoose]

What PINOUT two AMP's 5.2?

Here is the pinout, from the perspective of the connector coming from the panel. My panel has one orange connector and one white, which is reflected on my graphic. Keep in mind, this is only for the VER.5.2 Versus City panel, and it may be different for other panels. I know for a fact that SOME VER.5.66 panels are different. I suggest using a multimeter or otherwise tracing the wires to verify the pinout on the panel you use.


And here's a legend in case the acronyms aren't clear.

Code: Select all

DIAGRAM  TWIN STICKS
----------------------------
LU       Left Stick Up
LL       Left Stick Left
LD       Left Stick Down
LR       Left Stick Right
RD       Right Stick Down
RR       Right Stick Right
RL       Right Stick Left
RU       Right Stick Up
ST       START
LT       Left Turbo
LW       Left Weapon
RT       Right Turbo
RW       Right Weapon
G        Ground
X        Unused
?        Unknown

[Temjin]

oki, Thanks...

[Fredo]

Hey Menthol this may interest you: a french guy named "Flow" photoshopped a cool VOOT Instructions that would fit your arcade panel pretty weel.

Here it is:
http://flowstation.fr/arcade/Instructio ... 20Flow.jpg
It is readdy to print in 300dpi

Ho and he also did a VOOT header (or Marquee):
http://flowstation.fr/arcade/MarqueeVir ... 20Flow.jpg

He really did an awesome job, it may be useful to anyone here.

[MentholMoose]

Wow, very cool! Thanks for the links.

[fuko]

Links are broken. I has sad face

[Fredo]

Yup, looks like the author changed the URL

You will find everthing he made here !

http://www.neo-arcadia.com/forum/viewto ... 14&t=29556

[fuko]

Wow great stuff, thanks!