I would like to build an arcade joystick that will eventually go into an arcade cabinet. Does anyone out there know the pin outs or have a tutorial on how i can convert happ controls to an xbox joystick. I know I could but an x-arcade joystick but building one would be beter and I could create a joystick that plays up to 4 people.

The happ controlls are just a normally open connection and a ground connection..... There is no diagram to look at really. You can solder them onto and xbox controller by connecting the ground to a ground connection on the controller, and then connecting the normall open connection to the NO connection on the controller board. I know this explaination isnt clear but it should help some. I did it with a dreamcast controller for mame on the DC.

Josh

Take a look here, should explain quite well

If I were you, I would seriously consider buying a couple of 2p X-Arcades. You can easily connect a couple of joysticks via plexiglass mount, and extend some of the wires if necessary. That way you have the assurance of complete compatibility (Playstation 1, 2, Dreamcast, Gamecube, PC, and even next gen consoles).

Here's what I did with one 2p X-Arcade:

http://www.joshandsara.com/SF2CE/

As you can see, you could never tell it was an X-Arcade. Mainly because of the plexi mount, artwork, and new happs buttons.

I've been thinking about making another arcade; a replica of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles one... Although I need money, and space

Artynerd, Here's the deal. I am in the process of getting an old double dragon arcade machine that still works. What I would like to do is rewire the controls so that I can use it on the xbox. I would replace the monitor with a regular tv. I'm trying to do it as cheaply as possible the double dragon arcade game is being traded for a computer I don't use anymore.

just buy the X-arcade circuit board. It is about $60 and like artynerd said, will insure compatibilty with future systems.

You're getting an original Double Dragon arcade?? Shit man, I would leave that baby intact, haha! But if you must...

dont use the gamester stick, it has no left/right thumbsticks. so you cant use any of xports emulators.

Yeah I wish Xport would release an alternate config for X-Arcade users to navigate better in his emulators.

Every joystick is compatible with the ports I've done and I do not need to release alternate configurations for various joysticks. Read the docs and change all of the UI controller mappings to suit your needs. L/R thumbsticks are not required. The only required buttons are the DPAD, A and B (so that you can navigate the menus).

man that arcade cabinet looks sweet. I was thinking about building one with a pc in it awhile back but never really had the cash. Right now I'm rethinking that whole thing though. With the new mame adding support for so many new games and all of the other stuff on my xbox I'm starting to think it wouldn't be that big of a deal to set up. I have the xbox so I dn't need to purchase another pc. I have a 19in tv which I could use all I need now is the cabinet and the x-arcade and I'll be all set.

Artynerd,

I have heard of a company named ultimarc that make a graphics card for the PC that converts the resolution to work with an arcade monitor. Im not sure about the xbox although there is a vga to xbox converter but thats for a standard monitor. Ultimarc also had some type of device coming out for the xbox Ill have to dig more and see what its all about. I'll proably go with the X arcade though. I think the double dragon deal is not going to go through. He wanted 250 bucks for it but im strapped right now.

250 bucks is a lot of cash. A good deal for a Double Dragon arcade, but a lot of money none the less (especially considering how much more you'll have to spend to get it modded)

Try to find some local arcade collectors/auctions and pick up a cheap cabinet. A friend of mine sold me his Time Killers arcade (without monitor and jamma board) for 25 bucks. That's the cabinet I used for my Street Fighter 2 - Champion Edition arcade.

And keep an eye out on Ebay for arcade cabs too. I picked one up locally via ebay for 18.32 it didn't have a monitor or boards but it was an excellent start. Here it is after some elbow grease and paint:


Sorry, the pic is kinda big......

That's pretty sweet dude. Double Dragon is one of my fav arcades of all time. I have one suggestion: You need art for the bezel and control panel.

Here's a link to someone who fixed up a Double Dragon arcade:

http://www.thejadedgamer.net/arcadeproject...bledragon.shtml

Here's a link to come control panel art:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...6111778489&rd=1

Theotherbob,

Did you mod your double dragon arcade machine with a pc or the xbox and if you used the xbox how did you do it. www.ultimarc.com make an ipac for the PC and they said there coming out with an Ipac for the xbox. However, details are very limited. If the ipace converts arcade controls to xbox controls then it would be worth looking into. I called the guy again about the double dragon but he didn call me back.

Double Dragon went straight to a pc running mame. I ordered ultimarc's j-pac for that project. It works quite well for interfacing a jamma cabinet to a pc.

If that xbox->vga adapter does support 15khz output and you get a jamma arcade cabinet (Double Dragon was jamma), you could go with a usb j-pac from ultimarc. That way you get usb keyboard for mameox and a vga connector on it for your arcade monitor. The j-pac is nice in the fact that it'll protect your 15khz monitor from getting a higher signal than it can handle. Plus it plugs right into the jamma interface in the cabinet. But keep in mind that you'll only be able to play arcade emus that allow keyboard input. This might limit you. But with xport's great work on the memory issue, this might not be as big an issue anymore. Another issue is a lot of the newer games really run with a higher resolution. I've had some difficulties getting my arcade monitor to sync with these. I use advancemame which lets me do a lot of that tweaking. I think you might have some problems getting mameox to do that. Altho, this wouldn't be an issue if you just put a regular tv in the cabinet.

Going back a bit.... I *did* make an arcade cabinet for my xbox:
My xbox arcade
But you can see I went with an x-arcade for ease of connection to the xbox. The screen is just a 27" tv. I was really happy with it.

But I couldn't stop there..... I really wanted mouse support.... and then I really like to play pinball.... so I naturally progressed to a pc inside:
My arcade now
I gutted my x-arcade to mount internally. I still have the xbox adapter I'll probably sell one day.

One thing tho.... the xbox still is a GREAT mame base unit. It has EXCELLENT tv out. I also prefer the interface of mameox over the other frontends out there for mame. And I also prefered daphne running on the xbox too, but I'm not sure that one supports keyboard input.

wow.... my fingers are tired.... sorry for the long-winded post...

Theotherbob,

Thats great thanks for the info. If I don't get the DD I may just build a cabinet and put a PC and XBOX into it and a joystick switch box so I can switch the xarcade joystick between the PC and Xbox. I think Ill stick with a TV so I can still use it to play movies and watch tv. Also the cool part about using the xbox(I know I can use the PC for this to) is XBMC so I have a Jukebox and an arcade machine in one cabinet. I'll probably cut out speakers on the side of the cabinet. Oh well it won't be for a while. This may all change if the DD goes through. Shoot it may even change if the Ipac for the XBOX turns out ok.

i used real HAPP controls in my xbox arcade cab...i just wired 2 xbox controllers straight to the +- ...

http://www.pixagogo.com/4126245911

its simple

Anyone wire up a Trackball or Spinner yet for X-Box use?