Dreamcast Agetec Arcade Stick mod (lots o' pics)

Thread in 'Hardware' started by DumbledorsArmy, 29 Sep 2008.

  1. As some of you know, I have recently modded a Sega Dreamcast Arcade Stick made by Agetec. This was a fairly easy process (it would have been a HELL of a lot easier if my Dremmel didn't die), so I decided to post a little how to for anybody who finds it. Unfortunately I lost all of the pics that I took during the process, all I have is 'after' pics, but I just cleaned up the installation (it still looks really shitty and cuttered, IMO) but while I had it apart I took pics. Enjoy!!

    This is what I started with. Xbox 360 Arcade GameStick (thanks Blink)
    [​IMG]

    That became this, minus everything I circled. I removed both analog boxes, both L and R triggers (on the opposite side of the board), the rotating control for left and right, two small PCB's that were for the LB and RB buttons, both rumble motors, the large circular piece of plastic around the left analog box and the cord. Since I removed the analog boxes that were for the sticks and the two trigger buttons, I had to install some 10k 1/4w resistors to make them think that they were still installed. If not, it can make the controller act in a funky way if you are playing a game that allows input from the analog's. The other benefit to this is that I can now use the two analog trigger buttons as normal buttons with the resistors installed. There is a pic further down with the PCB completed, but installed. Didn't think to take a pic of it by itself. I found all the information on how to hook everything up on the internet but this site was most helpfull for the info regarding removing the analogs.

    [​IMG]


    I pulled out the original stick and buttons (except for the 'start' button) and replaced them with Sanwa parts. A Sanwa JLF TP-8T, OBSF-30 click-in pushbuttons, 2 SDM-18 Pushbutton (18mm), and one Seimitsu PS-14-KN 30mm Pushbutton (screw-type, for the X-Guide button).

    The top with the metal plate removed, everything stock stripped and the Sanwa mounted with zip screws:
    [​IMG]


    The bottom with everything stock removed and the Sanwa mounted with zip screws:
    [​IMG]


    To get the Sanwa mounted in I had the choice of cutting off the wings from the Sanwa, or cutting some of the
    plastic of the shell. I opted for cutting the Sanwa up. It went well, the main problem I had was the screws for the mounting plate were so tight, I stripped one of them! I had a hell of a time getting it out and wound up maring up the surface of the stick.

    [​IMG]

    On the left hand side you can see where I screwed it up (cirlcled red). I wound up having to pry up the mounting plate to finally remove it. The location of the two wings that I cut off are circled yellow.

    I also had to remove 4 screw mounts for the old stock stick (circled yellow) to get the Sanwa to sit flush. I then marked and drilled the holes to mount the Sanwa (circled red). I originaly mounted the stick with zip screws (self tapping screws). When I went back to clean up the installlation, I used 5/16" bolts and locknuts.

    Joystick mounting area:
    [​IMG]


    Final joystick mounting:
    [​IMG]

    On the left the Sanwa mounted with zip screws. On the right, mounted with nuts and bolts.

    For the metal top-plate, this is where the Dremmel would come in handy. The top-plate is mounted with 7 T10 screws. The hole cut-outs in the top-plate for the original buttons are slightly smaller than the new buttons. I used a hand file to enlarge them. Unfortunatley, I scratched up the top-plate a bit doing this and it took a little bit of time. If I had my Dremmel it would have taken about 10 minutes. By hand it took about 45 minutes and I have scratches unfortunately. The plastic shell's holes are already large enough, so I left them alone. I was toying with the idea to hack them out as well, but that's more work that I didn't need to do.
    [​IMG]


    Then I made two holes for the two 18mm buttons to mount on the back. One is for the 'back' button on the 360 controller, the other is for the RT button. I also shaved off some of the plastic to allow me to mount the clear Seimitsu button in the hole that was originally for the VMU of the Dreamcast. At some point I plan on running LED's into it to mimic the functionality of the X-Guide button when used on the 360.
    [​IMG]


    I re-assemble the top-plate and we are almost there...
    [​IMG]


    So here is a pic of the innards before I install the PCB of the 360 controller and all the wires.
    [​IMG]


    And here is the glorious mess that I call my arcade stick!! Isn't it sad that this is 'cleaned up'??? The items I
    have circled are the resistors that I had to install for the analog mounts.
    [​IMG]


    Complete!!!
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    And the kick-a** bubble-top for the Sanwa even though it's made by Seimitsu! At a later date, I might order the hollowed out shaft and put a LED in it to light it up.
    [​IMG]



    Couple of notes. I installed the resistors on the RT/LT buttons to make them read 'zero' and make them function as normal buttons. This works on the computer, but not on the 360. I swear I have pics of the PCB of the 360 controller with the solder points marked out and if I ever find them I will update this. This controller also works great for Xbox Live Arcade classic side-scroll fighers.....
     
    Last edited: 18 Oct 2009
  2. Muf

    Muf

    They sell hollowed ones now? From what I read on BYOAC you have to drill them yourself.
     
  3. Nice job. Looks good. =)

    But why did you put the buttons in that layout? If you have wired the green=A, red=B, blue=X and yellow=Y on an Xbox system, wouldn't this layout be better (if one of those blacks are L/R)?

    ABX
    LYR

    (ABC
    DEF)

    That way A would be CCW, B CW, and D hold (like it is on TGM arcades, except C should be CCW too [​IMG]); in Tetris games for Xbox 360 (Tetris Splash, Tetris Evolution). Oh and speaking of that, I got an Xbox 360 now, so add me if you want (gamertag: Meroigo). ^^
     
  4. (Edit: The following may or may not be relevant, depending on how the xbox analog sticks work. Another method may be needed)

    You can turn the analog into 2 digital inputs with a bit of added circuitry. There are a number of ways to do it, but my prefered method uses a 4066 "quad bilateral switch", which has 4 "when A is high, connect B and C" units, which is enough for both axes of a stick. You also need a couple of not gates (2 gates should be enough for one stick uness I've forgotten something stupid, or you choose to implement the fix mentioned at the bottom, so 1 chip should be enough for 2 sticks).

    [​IMG]

    You may want to check the analog stick of a real controller to get the resistances correct for your console. One of the directions will be a higher resistance than the other; use that for the middle resistor. Then choose the resistor that's shown on the left to obtain the resistance when the stick is released (remember the rule of resistors in parallel), and the resistor on the right should be set to match the resistance when the stock is pushed in the opposite direction. However, this resistor should probbly not be lower than 1k. The values in the image are correct for the old 15 pin PC joystick port (50k neutral, 100k high, close to 0k low). The voltage coming in should be whatever the controller expects it, although if it's below 3 volts, then you may need to use a seperate voltage line for logic. You won't need this if it's 5 or 3.3 volts, though. The position of the not gate depends on how your buttons will work. The inputs should be set so that the left switch receives high (connecting the second 100k resistor) and the right switch receives low (leaving the 1k resistor unconnected). When "up" is pressed, the second 100k disconnects, increasing the resistance; when "down" is pressed, the 1k drops the resistance down to just below 1k (but not noticably so as it will still be within 1% of the value of the 1k resistor).

    The only problem with this circuit is what happens when both are connected. The low resistance direction wil take over, as 100k + 100k + 1k in parallel isn't noticably different than 100k + 1k in parallel (although if your low resistance is higher, then it will be noticably lower). The ideal solution is to make both buttons being pressed act like neither are pressed. The logic circuit required to do this is an exercise left to thew reader...
     
  5. From Lizard Lick Amusements:
    [​IMG]

    The other cool thing that I might do: My friend works with glass and he said he could make me a custom top. The only issue might be weight. I get enough bounce-back as it is and I don't know how much heavier a glass top would be and what it's effects would be on performance.


    Yeah, everyting is color co-ordinated with the 360 controller. The 2 black butons are the L1/L2 buttons. It does not matter too much though. Most games nowadays you can remap the buttons anyway. Evolution is the exception but I barely ever play it anymore...

    I'd add you to my friends, but as of right now I'm having a issue with Xbox Live. My yearly subscription ran out in July, forgot about it and they just finally cut my service. No big deal. Go out and buy a 12 month + 1 free month card but can't use it. Contact Xbox, they can't let me use the card to restart my account. We had outr bank card tied to the account, had some unauthorized purchases of Mocrosoft Points and cancelled the bank card. Now microsoft want's payment for the year. They won't let us use the card. I'm getting really annoyed with them. So when I get the money together to reinstate my account apparently I'll be good for 2 years. It would be great to play some peeps from TC on Splash instead of the randoms!! [​IMG]
     
  6. Nice Lardarse. If I am reading this right, you saying that for the two analog triggers you could actually get 2 digital buttons out of each one instead of one? That would be an intense arcade stick. That now brings up the total available buttons to 15! One each for A, B, X, Y, L1, R1, Start, Back and the X-Guide button. 2 for both of the analog trigger buttons. Plus one each for both analog sticks when you click them down.

    If what you are saying would work could you also do that for the analog sticks? 2 for each axis, so four per stick? Bringing up the total available buttons to 23? That would be one INTENSE stick!!

    One thing I have noticed is if I have it hooked to the computer and I'm in the 'Joystick properties' the X-Guide button does not register. It works fine on the Xbox though...
     
  7. tepples

    tepples Lockjaw developer

    There are two APIs for input on modern Windows since XP SP1: DirectInput (for standard USB HID game controllers) and XInput (for Xbox 360 controllers only). There are a couple buttons that don't show up in DirectInput, such as RT (when it is pressed at the same time as LT). Generic libraries such as SDL and Allegro probably support only DirectInput.
     
  8. Considering the glass would probably look near enough the same, and would just have the added weight and (small) risk of breaking, I'd stick with plastic.
     
  9. True. Although if he made one cool enough it could at least be for looks. Say if he put some idividual tetriminos in it. That would be frickin awesome, especialy if it was lit up.
     
  10. K

    K

    digged
     

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