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eoinzy

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Hi,

I have a 2 player sit down Battle Gear 3 cab, which I'm currently trying to restore. I have a friend who is helping me, but he can't come to my house until after the quarantine.

I always wanted a multi-cab so I want to bring forward the multicab part of the plan, and do a quarantine project!
I can't afford to buy 2 PCs yet, but I do have 2 original XBOXs. I have one already softmodded, and the other one I can softmod easy enough.

I'm hoping to play games like Need for Speed Underground and a few other driving games. Maybe even install MAME on the XBOX as well.

So my plan is to try get the original arcade controls (steering wheel, pedals, shifter, handbrake and control panel buttons) and wire them up so I can use them on an XBOX. I'd be happy with just the wheel, accelerator and brake working.

Has anyone interfaced an arcade steering wheel and pedals with an XBOX before? I know with a PC you can use a U-HID but not sure if it would work for the gamepad. Although the gamepads are basically USB.

Could I get a U-HID, as if I was wiring up a PC, and then butcher a USB cable and add an XBOX controller port on the end? Would this work with the wheel?
The wheel, I believe, is a "270 degree" wheel. It can turn about 1.5 times (540 degrees?) each way, and then stops.

Thanks.
 
Battle Gear is ridiculously rare outside of Japan. I'm going to assume the previous owner removed the game pcbs.

I'd stick to using PCs because you can do a lot lot more (like Teknoparrot). You could even install Battle Gear 4 using two computers and possibly link them together.

Edit: Confirmed: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,140457.0.html
 
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Hi,
It's a complete cab. I still have the game boards. My plan is to get them working over the next year or so.
I've actually got 3, including 1xSystem246a, and 2xSystem246c. Only 2 dongles though.
The 246c's aren't working but the 246a is kinda working. I had it boot once but haven't been able to boot it since. I think I need to create a whole other support thread for that!!

As I said, I've a friend who can help me but not until after the COVID-19 restrictions.
I can't afford 2 PCs at the moment either (thats my future plans, teknoparrot etc), so I'm hoping to use the equipment I have, ie 2 XBOX's (I've got 2 PS3s as well if thats easier!), and get some use out the cabinet over the summer.

So, I've been researching interface boards and found this one Aliexpress that allows me to interface JAMMA with the Xbox controllers so I'm thinking this is my best option, if I flip the DIP switches for freeplay.

The hardest part is finding information on existing projects but i don't think anyone has ever converted a driving cab into an XBOX driving console!
 
It's been done before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7I-vtKMRME

Because Battle Gear is ridiculously rare outside of Japan, I would advise against converting the cabinet. It could be worth a lot more as time goes on.

Also check/clean/reseat EVERYTHING electrical related in the cab and pcbs; wiring, dirt, fans, power supplies, voltages, etc. I got good money you can at least get two fully working pcbs for Battle Gear 3. This was the first step I did in restoring my Motocross Go machines and got both pcbs to boot without any errors.
 
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My experence with the type x2 pcb was that the video cards commonly burned up. Other then that the cpu heatsink usually just needed to be cleaned. To test just remove old video card drop in any 7900gs or 7950gs if you get the bios screen your computer is good and you just have small issues to get through

hydreigon is right you have a solid gem there. There are also a few type x2 driving games you could run like wacky racers
 
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My experence with the type x2 pcb was that the video cards commonly burned up. Other then that the cpu heatsink usually just needed to be cleaned. To test just remove old video card drop in any 7900gs or 7950gs if you get the bios screen your computer is good and you just have small issues to get through

hydreigon is right you have a solid gem there. There are also a few type x2 driving games you could run like wacky racers
Battle Gear 3 runs on Namco System 246 (ps2 based). Battle Gear 4 runs on pc based X2 (or so). Game conversions for Namco System 2X6 are possible but idk if it's even worth it for Battle Gear 3.
 
Yeah, I'm on Team Don't Convert. It's an awesome game that you can play for a really long time.
 
My experence with the type x2 pcb was that the video cards commonly burned up. Other then that the cpu heatsink usually just needed to be cleaned. To test just remove old video card drop in any 7900gs or 7950gs if you get the bios screen your computer is good and you just have small issues to get through

hydreigon is right you have a solid gem there. There are also a few type x2 driving games you could run like wacky racers
Battle Gear 3 runs on Namco System 246 (ps2 based). Battle Gear 4 runs on pc based X2 (or so). Game conversions for Namco System 2X6 are possible but idk if it's even worth it for Battle Gear 3.
ya i got 3 mixed up with 4. Did they use namco ffb system for bg3 or taitos?
 
My experence with the type x2 pcb was that the video cards commonly burned up. Other then that the cpu heatsink usually just needed to be cleaned. To test just remove old video card drop in any 7900gs or 7950gs if you get the bios screen your computer is good and you just have small issues to get through

hydreigon is right you have a solid gem there. There are also a few type x2 driving games you could run like wacky racers
Battle Gear 3 runs on Namco System 246 (ps2 based). Battle Gear 4 runs on pc based X2 (or so). Game conversions for Namco System 2X6 are possible but idk if it's even worth it for Battle Gear 3.
ya i got 3 mixed up with 4. Did they use namco ffb system for bg3 or taitos?
They did not. The JVS I/O board is a Taito J9100556A using a Toshiba TMP95C063 MCU (TLCS-900 based) with two DIP program roms. The force feedback board is a Matsushita/Panasonic servo motor board with a Mitsubuishi MCU. Sega games also used similar servo motor boards in their Model 3, Naomi and Chihiro games.
 
Well I don't want to destroy any original parts and ideally I'd like to keep it as stock as possible.
From looking about the cab, I just need to figure out what wiring standard the wheel/controls use and find a way to convert it to USB.

Assuming the controls are JAMMA based, is it possible to split the output into 2 boards so if I want to play the original game, I can just flick a switch, rather than having to change the wiring?
 
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