What's new
MAD CATZ MC2 Racing Wheel & Pedals Modding (Original Xbox version)

8vhF2Wh.jpg



Items needed:
- Mad Catz M2 Racing Wheel & Pedals
- DB25 male connector and cover
- Female-to-Male Dupont Rainbow Cable
- Wire strippers
- Soldering iron / Solder / Flux
- Small zip ties
- Wire braid (to cover your wires going to the DB25)
- Dermal tool
- Sharp blade of some kind
- T25 Bit Tip (Bosch)


Build Steps:
1.) Turn the wheel over and remove all the screws from the base.
2.) Once inside the wheel, you'll need to unscrew/unhook the tension springs.
3.) See those screws at the end of the steering wheel holding a Pot in place? Never remove those.
4.) You need to unhook all the white connectors that are plugged into the green PCB that's visible below the wheel. To get them out, you may need to unscrew the top gray oval part that has the memory card slot and dashboard.
5.) Once you have the white connectors unhooked, it's time to make the DB25 connector. Cut off the female end of your Dupont cables, strip and tin the ends, and then solder them to your DB25 male connector.
6.) Follow this wiring diagram to hook everything up.


Wiring Diagram:
7TvxcbO.jpg



Couple of notes about the wiring diagram...
- You can run multiple wires from one DB25 point. You will need to do this to run AUX1 and AUX2 to the buttons and to the Gear Shift.
- There are only two GND points on the DB25 connector, but you will need to run 3 ground wires. One will need to have two ground wires running off it.
- I may have drawn the 8-Pin Connector Pinout upside down. If the buttons don't work, try the reverse order.
- You can wire the A/B/WHITE/X/Y/BLACK buttons up however you like. You don't have to follow my diagram.
- I wired the shoulder buttons (those two green hand clickers) on the wheel to Service and Test buttons. If you accidentally keep going into the service menu, you may want to leave those unhooked up.
- There is a tiny button on the dash board. I didn't hook this up, but it's likely the VB1 spot on the 11-pin connector.






M4cxLfN.jpg




7) At this point, you basically have everything you need to get the the wheel working about 90% of the way. You could even stop right here and your games would be just about fully playable (sans certain buttons for stuff like Boost, Jump, etc. depending on the game). I recommend you test out your wheel build just so you can get an idea of what works and what doesn't. Just go into your system's Service Menu and play around in the JVS Test screens.

8.) To gain access to the buttons on the actual steering wheel, you will need a T25 Bit Tip to remove the three screws on the wheel shaft.
9.) Once those are removed, you need to feed some of the wire in the shaft back towards the steering wheel so you have enough slack to open it.
10.) Remove the screws around the outside rubber grip part and the inside shaft base of the wheel. Once those are removed, you need to pop off the shoulder button levers (push down on one end and it'll pop out).
11.) Carefully open the wheel up and you'll see the PCBs where the buttons are are also screwed down. Grab a marker and color code the white connectors on the center PCB. Take a small screwdriver and pry the connectors out of their holders. You should now have the steering wheel completely removed from the rest of the unit.
12.) Getting all the buttons wired up 100% was a real pain in the butt for me. I had a problem with the buttons on the right side of my wheel where they wouldn't work. I got so frustrated that I basically stripped the PCBs in the wheel down to their bare PCBs and just rewired them myself. It wasn't until I had done this that I discovered just what was wrong with the wheel to not make the buttons work--the right button sub-PCB had some type of overlap in the button/ground tracks! So, long story short... do yourself a favor and unscrew those Left and Right button PCBs and very carefully with a sharp knife, make a clean cut in the middle of where the button plunger would touch on the PCB. (I didn't take a picture of this, so I hope that makes sense.)
13.) Connect the white connectors on the wheel and run another JVS test. See if all the buttons on the wheel work. If they do, then that should be all you need to do and you can reassemble your wheel. If you happen to have any other problems, though, it's likely to be a grounding problem (the wheel seems to have the grounds and 5V for the rumble feature tied together by resistors in a couple of spots). I can help troubleshoot this, if it happens. But hopefully, it won't.

Here's a picture of my totally overboard rewiring job where I went so far as to swap the Left and Right PCBs. Call this a "what not to do." (But it works.)
fH33hrB.jpg



14.) Nothing needs to be done to foot pedals. You can remove the resistors if you want, but it's not necessary at all.
5XlUfug.jpg



15.) You can run the DB25 connector you made out from the case in the same spot the original console plug came out. You'll likely need to use a dermal tool to widen the hole, though..
16.) After that, it's just a matter of getting everything closed up and screwed back together.



eOxvnAH.jpg
 
Last edited:
Cool write-up. You did all of the hard work by identifying all of the buttons for us.

I guess instead of soldering two ground wires to one pin in the DB25 you could just run a daisy-chain wire from two of the spots inside the wheel?
 
Awesome write up! Could you post a few more pics of where you wired things up to the db25?
 
Logitech Driving Force Pro will NOT work with this without MASSIVE work.

Dammit.

Everything BUT the steering is usable, but the steering uses a double-ended FFB motor connected to an optical encoder on the back end to give the rotational position, NOT a potentiometer.
 
Hi guys.

I have a couple of Logitech Wingman Formula GP wheels laying around, since I already have a couple of wheels adapted to SEGA I/O I never pay them so much attention, but now is time to put them to work.

One question, since the JVS helper has a DB15 conector with the same configuration than an ordinary PC, could the wheels work directly or it will need some modifications?

Best regards.
 
They will need at least some slight modification.
 
Thanks for the info Mitsu!

I will take the chance to also modify a motorbike controller for pc, I would love to play Wild Riders and Harley Davidson on Naomi & Lindbergh using a motorcycle handlebar.

Keep you posted.


Best regards.
 
Last edited:
Thnx aoiddr for the guide :)

I wonder if more people have modded driving controls for JVS. I've just finished a little project with a steering wheel like the above, the pinout ended up to be completely different (probably different revision?), but the general idea is the same. I made a loom instead of using Dupont cables (they are very handy for testing purposes though). This is the loom which sits inside the case, the DB25 connector is sitting flush against the case so you'd connect a DB25 extension cable to the wheel like you do with the DB9 for the pedals (the luster terminals aren't very neat, but work well and they are sitting inside the case anyways).

wUBbZgL.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice work - can you share the exact model of wheel that you used? Would you consider selling one of these looms to work with the steering wheel specified and S-JIHP so the pinouts work and is "plug and play"? I have had difficulties getting it to work and I like the loom idea that is concealed in the case.
Thanks.
 
Thank you. It is the exact same wheel as the one up here, only it seems to be different internally, that's why I had to make a schematic of my own, which I am happy to share with you (see below) should you be able to get the exact same one. I'm afraid selling one of these looms won't get you far as you're not guaranteed to get the same one as I have here. Best thing to do is just check the pinout yourself with some dupont cables soldered up to a DB25 connector.

Here's some more pictures of the wheel and the schematic I've used. The cables are a bit longish, but I decided in the middle of the process to have the cable inside the steering wheel. There are no moving parts except for the foam which is wrapped around the springs for the steering wheel, so it sits perfectly fine there.




gTwF13q
gTwF13q
 
Last edited:
Hi.

Next weeks I will converting a motorcycle handbard to work with Naomi (Wild Riders) and Lingberh (HD King of the Road):

415CY1Y6GFL.jpg

Also, I have a couple of analog guns ready to ve converted.

Keep you posted.
 
Wiring Diagram:
7TvxcbO.jpg
Thanks for that diagram!

Between your post, and S-JIHP: Sega JVS I/O Helper PCB - Live at Retro Barcelona. I was able to get a cheap aircraft joystick working with MonkeyBall. It also worked as a means to quickly prepare for the driving wheel I have on the way. I was able to drive Crazy Taxi with my joystick albeit awkwardly.

I went to my local Microcenter and picked up a Thrustmaster USB Joystick today with the hope of getting a proof of concept working ahead of my wheel arrival.
For $20 this seems to work fine for my purposes. http://www.microcenter.com/product/404812/usb_joystick
Dg0lhbHU0AAxr4_.jpg

I wanted a poormans banana!
Dg1T4EmUcAA79pb.jpg

I simply cut out the control board, took note of the PCB markings and wired it up accordingly. The only ones I had to guess at were the buttons on the top of the stick for firing, and other options. They were not labeled in anyway. It is worth noting they shared the same common ground that was labeled with a "-" on the PCB.

Dg0lha8VAAEoijA.jpg

When trying to grok the concept I found this photo useful to help understand how the signals work.
S-JIHP: Sega JVS I/O Helper PCB - Live at Retro Barcelona.
image.jpg

Notes on AD0 and AD1 connections are left on the post Resource on Naomi Analog controls?
Monkey ball for example uses AD0 for X-axis and AD1 for Y-axis.
Crazy Taxi uses AD0 for X-axis, AD1 for accelerate, AD2 for brake.
 

Attachments

  • Dg0lha7UwAIjtDo.jpg
    Dg0lha7UwAIjtDo.jpg
    163.1 KB · Views: 410
  • Dg0lha7UwAES-2z.jpg
    Dg0lha7UwAES-2z.jpg
    126.9 KB · Views: 390
Last edited:
Logitech Driving Force Pro will NOT work with this without MASSIVE work.

Dammit.

Everything BUT the steering is usable, but the steering uses a double-ended FFB motor connected to an optical encoder on the back end to give the rotational position, NOT a potentiometer.
So you're saying it can work, but since there is no potentiometer, it's unlikely?
 
You would have to rig the steering wheel to a pot. Probably more trouble than it's worth.
 
The Dreamcast Racing Controller HKT-7400. Not the greatest racing controller, but if you're on budget and like to keep things compact then its perfect.

4.jpg


Perhaps the easiest controller mod i've ever done. Just remove the bottom panel, all the wires for all buttons and pots are accessible.
1.jpg


Just cut the two wire harnesses from its pcb. The 3-pin is the Steering wheel while the 9-pin has the left & right paddles and buttons. After tying the grounds together and +5V together, you'll have 10 wires going to your DB25 connector. I hacked off a cable from a broken Sony PS1 controller because it has exactly 10 wires. I posted a pinout down below.

The other necessary modification was to swap the Red and Black wires on the steering wheel pot, or else you'll be stuck with inverted steering.

2.jpg

Every racing game has a different button layout, so I decided to wire the 4 digital inputs (+),(-), A, B from the dreamcast controller to Sw4 thru Sw7 on the I/O Helper pcb. Afaik these switches are never used by any racing game that i know of on the Naomi, Chihiro, or Lindbergh. So for every game i have to jumper pins around on the I/O helper pcb. Here's the pinout i used from the Dreamcast controller to the DB25.

3.jpg
 
Does a normal Sega JVS allow these steering to be supported with games like Initial D on Naomi? I would like to finally hack a potentiometer based steering for Naomi / Chihiro racing games.
 
Does a normal Sega JVS allow these steering to be supported with games like Initial D on Naomi? I would like to finally hack a potentiometer based steering for Naomi / Chihiro racing games.
Yep, the Sega JVS I/O Type 1 and Type 3 has inputs to connect analog devices for Initial D. Using a S-JIHP is optional but it certainly makes thing a whole lot easier to reconfigure your controls.
 
Back
Top