Dual Mod a Mad Catz Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition using Toodles ChImp
Before you begin the modification, it is pretty important that you understand how the ChImp works. This diagram should help you understand exactly what is going on:
The red lines indicate where you will be adding wires. All of the black lines represent the wires already present inside the Fight Stick. Not all wires/cables/connections are represented here, to make it easier to follow.
The USB power comes in to the ChImp which shares it with the Xbox 360 PCB. The data that is transmitted back out through the cable is shared as well. That’s why the arrows point both directions in the diagram. You will move the stock USB cable from the Xbox 360 PCB to the ChImp and then solder 5 new wires from the ChImp to the Xbox 360 PCB to create this connection.
The USB carries the ground signal between the two boards (ChImp and Xbox 360 PCB) already, so the only thing left to do is wire up the signal from each of the buttons and the joystick. You will use a “Solderless trick” to connect the A,B,X,Y,LB,RB,LT,RT,Back and Start buttons. You could also use the trick to piggyback the Joystick harness for the move directions, but in this tutorial I just spliced the wires into each other. The Guide button was the only button I soldered; I connected it to the PCB up near the Turbo/Guide control panel.
So what’s happening here?
Once it’s all connected up, here’s how it basically works:
Xbox 360:
- USB input on the ChImp receives the data input that it’s connected to an Xbox 360.
- The ChImp passes the data handling directly over to the Xbox 360 PCB. Basically ignoring the ChImp altogether as if it were never installed.
PlayStation 3/PC:
- USB input on the ChImp receives the data input that it’s connected to a PlayStation 3 or PC.
- All of the button inputs connected to the ChImp are responsible for triggering button presses on the PS3 or PC. The Xbox 360 PCB is ignored. Turbo functionality does not work since that’s built into the Xbox 360 PCB.
* If you want to use the Xbox 360 PCB on a PC, hold down LK, MP, HK while plugging in the USB cable.
Step 1 – Remove Top Plate
Use a hex key to remove the 6 screws on the top of the joystick and lift open the top.
To make it easier to work on, unhook the cable that hooks up the Sanwa JLF (joystick) and all of the quick disconnects hooked up to the Sanwa OBSF-30 buttons. You should write down which colored wires go to which buttons. If you didn’t, don’t worry, it’s written on the punch down, and here’s what color mine were:
X = red
Y = orange
LB = yellow
LT = blue
A = black
B = brown
RB = green
RT = purple
Keep in mind, that’s for the Marvel vs. Capcom one and the button locations are changed from the standard Tournament Edition sticks.
Step 2 – Remove Xbox 360 PCB
Unhook all of the cables from the Xbox 360 PCB with the exception of the USB cables, which are soldered directly to the board. Remove the 4 screws that hold the board to the case to make it easier to work on. You may want to mark which ribbon cables go where since some are the exact same size.
Step 3 – De-solder the USB Cable
De-solder the 5 wires that make up the USB cable (red, white, green, black, and thick black). Just heat up the soldered connection with your soldering iron until it looks like it’s melting. Then use a solder suck to remove the solder. You’ll have to do it a few times. Also try pulling on the wire from the other side as you heat up the connection.
Here you can see the 5 wires removed from the Xbox 360 PCB.
Step 4 – Solder the USB cable to the ChImp
Solder the 5 wires from the USB cable to the proper locations on the ChImp. Just poke the wires through and solder them carefully on the back side. Make sure that you don’t use too much solder that it overlaps the other holes, that would connect them together.
Step 5 – Add USB wires to the Xbox 360 PCB
The USB connection between the original 360 PCB and the ChImp is shared, so put some wires back on the Xbox 360 PCB that will eventually be properly connected to the ChImp. This process is exactly the same as Step 4, poke the wires through and solder the other side.
I chose to use blue and green for my data lines. Blue for – data and green for + data.
Step 6 – Connect the Xbox 360 PCB USB to ChImp USB
Solder the blue (XD-) and green (XD+) lines to the ChImp and use the screw downs for the black (ground) and red (VCC) wires. The USB is now connected to both PCBs.
Step 7 – Attach Button Wires to ChImp
Use the “Solderless trick” as described in ShinJN’s YouTube video:
Once you have the wire sharing the same connection, connect the other end to the ChImp using the correct screw down.
Marvel vs. Capcom vs. other Tournament Editions
It’s worth nothing that the button configurations on the Marvel vs. Capcom Mad Catz FightStick Tournement Edition are different than the “standard” Tournament Editions. The handling of the triggers and shoulder buttons are slightly different.
Marvel vs. Capcom Xbox 360 Tournament Edition:
X Y LB LT
A B RB RT
Standard Xbox 360 Tournament Edition:
X Y RB LB
A B RT LT
I wanted to use the “standard” PS3 layout, so I connected the wires as follows:
X = 1P
Y = 2P
LB = 3P
LT = 4P
A = 1K
B = 2K
RB = 3K
RT = 4K
Alternatively, if you have a Marvel vs. Capcom edition as well, to maintain labeling you might want switch up the shoulder buttons/triggers:
LB = 4P (L1)
LT = 4K (L2)
RB = 3P (R1)
RT = 3K (R2)
And if you have a standard Xbox 360 Tournament Edition, then you can probably ignore most of that. The point is to be mindful of where you’re connecting the buttons to the corresponding points on the ChImp.
Step 8 – Attach Joystick Directional Wires
Use a wire stripper and an Xacto knife to remove the outer plastic around the 4 directional wires. DO NOT cut the wires, only remove the coating.
You don’t need to strip the ground, since the ChImp is already getting it’s ground signal through the USB wires we already connected.
Solder the 4 directional wires that will attach to the ChImp to the stripped areas of the harness.
Unnecessary, Random Fact: The colors correspond to the stock JLF harness colors.
Right = Green
Left = Yellow
Up = Orange
Down = Red
It goes with out saying, but the JLF harness piggy-back should be covered with electrical tape.
Next, just like the buttons, screw the 4 directional wires into the proper locations on the ChImp.
Step 9 – Solder the Guide/Home Button Wire
Here it is, the only button wire you will solder and the only solder connection you need to make to a stock PCB (besides the USB relocation).
Solder a wire to the XGUID pin on the top middle of the PCB shown above. Then connect the other end to the Home screw down on the ChImp.
Step 10 – Mount ChImp and Clean Up
It’s all connected, but it’s a mess!
I used a zip tie to organize the wires that are connected to the button wires using the “solderless trick”.
I used some tape to gather the directional wires together. Some heat shrink tubing could have made this look nicer.
Use a small screwdriver to mark the ChImp’s hole locations in the plastic. Then use a drill bit to drill through the plastic and a few small screws to hold the ChImp in place. Make sure to move any wires and components out of the way before drilling. Also, clean up the plastic shavings.
Use 2 to 4 spare screws to mount the chimp to the plastic using the holes you just drilled. Make sure you route the wires cleanly and out of the way.
Also, remember to screw the Xbox 360 PCB back down, if you haven’t already.
Step 11 – Reassemble!
Reconnect the buttons and joystick harness. Route the wires carefully so that they are out of the way when you place the top back in position. Screw the 6 hex screws back on and you’re all done!
Congratulations, you now have a dual moded Mad Catz FightStick Tournament Edition using minimal soldering!
Any questions?
Post in the comments and I’ll get you an answer!
Great work on the dual mod! I have a few questions…
I was wondering if you have ran into any button inconsistency, after the dual mod. (i.e. button lag, selective triggering) anything.
Also what brand of wires did you use?
Concerning the multimeter, how do you tell which row is ground? What would the multimeter show you?
Thanks Donovan!
Hey Sin, that’s for the interest. I’ll try and answer as best I can:
1. I haven’t had any issues at all with the buttons. I’ve been playing MvC2 on 360 and SFIV on PS3. No problems. I even have messed around with it on my PC using the control panel for the controller and pressing all the buttons at different times and moving the stick. Everything that’s triggered lights up properly in both PC and 360 mode. Something that can’t be said for my stock Virtua Stick High Grade or my X-Arcade PCB; they both can only register a certain number of inputs at once.
2. I don’t really know what brand of wires I used. I had several JAMMA harnesses left over from when I was messing around with actual arcade boards. I chopped some of them up. I guess the most important thing to note is that they are stranded wire and somewhere between 18 and 22 gauge. I’d guess 18. I hear that anything smaller than 22 (like 30, size numbering goes backwards) won’t work with the ChImp screw downs.
3. What I did was shove the small point of one of the probes into the area on the ribbon cable that attaches to the Xbox 360 PCB for the button I wanted to test and also touch the other probe to either of the quick disconnects on the punch down for that button. With the multimeter on the continuity mode, if it beeps it means the 2 things you are touching are connected. So that ribbon cable is the signal. If I touch it to the quick disconnect on the punch down and it beeps, that means that quick disconnect is the signal, if it doesn’t beep, that means it’s the ground.
If you need photos or video of this to better understand, let me know.
Donovan
Thanks Donovan! I will be using your guide as soon as my Chimp board arrives in the mail. You’ve answered all the questions I had. If I have any other questions I’ll be sure to ask you.
Donovan! You are a genius! The dual mod worked out perfectly! This is my first attempt to solder anything! I couldn’t have done without your guide!
Thank you very much,
Sin
one suggestion. i used the radio shack 22 gauge hook up wires for the install… 18 gauge was too big.
Does the turbo function properly while using chimp chip instead of the xbox chip?
I know the Mad Catz’s PS3 fighting stick is not compatible with nvidia southbridge chip.
Is chimp chip compatible with all pc?
Hey Sonic,
The turbo functionality doesn’t work with the ChImp because it’s part of the Mad Catz Xbox 360 PCB. The ChImp essentially bypasses that.
I don’t use an Nvidia motherboard, so I couldn’t tell you. It works fine with my MacBook Pro (running Windows 7) and my home built PC w/ a MSI Platinum Combo motherboard. For more info, I’d read the FAQ and ask Toodles directly on SRK forums: http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=162026
Donovan
YES, the chimp is compatible with the NVIDIA south bridge. I had originally bough a PS3 TE Joystick and could not use it in my PC because of this issue. So I returned it and bought a 360 TE Joystick, and dual modded it with the CHIMP. Works like a charm in the PC, in the PS3, and also in the 360.
How do I connect the wire if I want to use xbox chip for both pc and xbox? I want to use ps3 chip just for ps3.
No change in what I’ve presented here.
But if you want the ChImp to pass the handling of the controls to the Xbox 360 PCB when plugging into a PC, hold down Low Kick, Medium Punch, and Hard Kick as you plug it in (depending on how you have your buttons wired).
That tidbit is included on the instructions that come with the ChImp and I believe it’s also mentioned in the FAQ/thread on SRK I linked as well.
Hey, awesome guide, i just have a question
Is it possible to take care of the directionals and the guide button through the solderless method?
I see that you piggybacked the directional wires, but couldn’t you have connected those 4 wires from the 360 pcb to the chimp using the solderless trick w/ the connector plugs?
Also, same question about the home button.
I notice that with your method, every connection goes directly to the PCB that is being used, so is there any loss in “routing” the directionals (the way I described)
thanks
Thanks!
You should be able to do the other solderless trick shown in the embedded video that applies to the ribbon cable connectors for the directional switches. Either where the cable connects to the PCB or to the JLF switch PCB.
I’m not sure about the guide button. If I remember correctly, the Turbo PCB area connects to the main Xbox 360 PCB which then sends and receives data w/ the USB connector. I don’t remember if the ribbon cable just sends the button information or ‘bulk’ data. If it’s not 1:1 of button data going to the Xbox 360 PCB, I think you’ll have to solder. See if you can follow the traces from the button to any pin/ribbon combo.
Good luck, if you figure out a solderless method for the Guide button, be sure to report back.
Donovan
Edit: A thought on the Guide button. I went back and looked at another wiring guide and saw where they soldered the Guide button wire on the Xbox 360 PCB. Try these pins with the solderless method to see if they trigger the XMB: http://screencast.com/t/ODg5OTVmZjc. I think the top one in that photo would be the right one. Possibly the second. If not, you could always just use Start + Select to bring up the XMB rather than using the Guide button.
Hey man thanks a lot i’ll try it out and report back in about a week
I have a feeling of the pins you showed, the first one is the correct one.
Check out the thick gold wire in this pic http://img214.yfrog.com/img214/7899/chimpmadcatz.png
looks like it does send in 1:1
woops, that’s the second one, not the first
Hi is this just for an xbox 360 mad catz stick or would this tutorial work for the ps3 mad catz stick aswell.
It would be pointless to put a ChImp into a PS3 stick because the ChImp adds PS3 compatibility, not Xbox 360.
If you had a PC that wouldn’t work with the PS3 stick, you might want to put a ChImp in it.
If you’re looking to add Xbox 360 compatibility, you’d want to just get Toodles’ Imp (a circuit based ‘automatic’ switch) and wire that between your stock PS3 PCB and hack an Xbox 360 common ground controller. You could leave out the Imp and just use a toggle switch that you mount outside your case as well (for a less clean solution).
Alternatively, you could do something similar to this guide and use Toodles’ MC Cthulhu board to add multi-console compatibility (Gamecube, PS2, (original) Xbox, etc.). Then you could use one of the many adapters to go from the PS2 connector to Xbox 360.
Link about adding hacked Xbox 360 PCB to a PS3 stick: http://virtuafighter.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/175874/HOWTO_Mod_VSHG_single_switch_P
Link to Toodles’ thread on SRK: http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=162026
Unfortunately, because Microsoft is particular about who they license the 360 controller stuff too, it’s always much easier to start with a 360 common ground controller and add other console support to it.
Good luck,
Donovan
thanks Donovan much appreciated
Awesome tutorial man. I haven’t tried it myself yet as I just got my MVCTE stick for my 360, but i did a mod on my hori ex2 a while back and thank god the madcatz sticks are a lot more mod-friendly on the inside, lol. I’ve never heard of the ChImp though. My friends had told me about the cthulu board, I was wondering if you knew about any pros/cons between the two? and also where I could find this board.
Thanks.
p.s. I’m also from MI!
Hey Eugene,
Thanks for the comment.
A ChImp is also made by the same guy who makes the Cthulhu board. It’s the combination of a Cthulhu and an Imp (ChImp). The normal Cthulhu is the exact same thing as a ChImp, except that it has an Imp board combined in on it. The Imp does the automatic console switching, so if it detects it’s plugged into the 360, then it just sends all the data handling to the stock 360 PCB, and if it detects it’s plugged into a PC or PS3, then it handles the inputs itself.
With a normal Cthulhu board, you would have to rig up your own mechanical switch or wire a separate Imp PCB to it. There’s also the Multi-Cthulhu which allows you to wire up many other cables and supports other consoles like PS2, GameCube (Wii), and original Xbox. Toodles is working on others and I’ve seen Turbo Graphics 16 and Saturn support being worked on.
If you only care about PS3/360 then get a ChImp, cause it’s all in one. If you want multi-console, then get a Multi-Cthulhu board and a stand-alone Imp or toggle switch.
You can learn more at the Toodles’ thread I already linked above in the comments or on the Lizard Lick product(s) page: http://www.lizardlick.com/pages/boards.shtml
Great to hear from a fellow MI-er,
Donovan
Hey there. Great guide.
I had to cut back the USB cable (dont ask) ad just presumed all 5 cables (Red/White/Green/black and Thick Black) ran throughout the cable.
However when I cut back only the 4 thinner wires are available throughout the cable.
What is the thick black cable and, more importantly, how do I rescue my TE?
Hey Paul,
That shouldn’t be a problem. I’m assuming, but not 100% positive that the thick black cable is the shielding that probably runs along the outside of the wires. It was probably rolled to become, or connected to, that thick black wire at the end there. It’s actually just a second ground wire. You should be able to just hook up the 4 thinner wires and have it work just fine. If you’re worried about it, try and see if I’m right and check for some metal wrapping around the outside area of the cable and try to connect that to the large ground point on the ChImp.
Best of luck,
Donovan
Looks like you were spot on. I have made a real mess of this mod but have re-wired the plain TE and u were right. Also it works without that thick black wire.
Thanks for the response and guide. I will re-try with a different Chimp board
Hi Donovan,
I really want to attempt this project, but I’m leery of the soldering required to the PCBs. Having never soldered before, would I need to practice heavily before I could manage to solder the USB cable to the chimp? The pinouts look awfully small. From doing my research, piggybacking to the joystick harness doesn’t seem that hard… I’m just worried about ruining a $50 chimp board and $120 joystick because I can’t solder.
Can you recommend a specific size of solder iron tip and gauge of wire?
Thanks,
J
Hey Donovan,
Sorry for the second comment, but I can’t seem to edit my original to include this:
I see that you can order the ChImp board with a USB Jack on it from LizardLick. Would this be worth the extra couple bucks for soldering newbies? From what I’ve looked into, it seems that potentially soldering a plug on the end of the stock USB cable would be less error prone than soldering the USB connections to the seemingly tiny solder points on the ChImp board… what do you think?
Hey Jay,
No problem on the comments. After reading both, here’s what I’d suggest:
Get the ChImp with the USB port. And instead of splicing into the joystick harness, use the other ‘soderless trick’ from the video for the ribbon cable on the joystick. Make all of the button connections the same way I show, except for the Guide button. There’s a comment above where we discuss making a ‘soderless’ connection to it.
Now, you could either just use 2 USB cables: 1 for the ChImp and one for the 360 PCB, or you could cut open your stock usb cable and connect them to the screw terminals on the ChImp for the black and red cables, but you’d have to solder the white and green (data) cables to the ChImp board.
If you have the proper tools, soldering isn’t that tough, especially on stuff like this. You want a station that gets really hot (700º or so) so you can get in and out quickly. Otherwise you end up heating up too much of the board and pulling off connections, etc. I personally use the ($47) ZD 929C Solder Station from MPJA and some small to medium sized solder from Radio Shack.
Good luck, let me know how it goes. I’m thinking we are getting close to a completely solder-less solution.
Donovan
Thanks for the answers Donovan — I actually found a friend who is good with a soldering iron who is willing to help, so now it’s a matter of procuring the actual components — do you know what size screws and what drill bit you used for mounting the chImp board?
Good news on the soldering iron-toting friend.
I don’t know the screws off hand, I just have a junk box full of screws and pulled some out. The drill bit will depend on your screw size too. you want to find something that’s just smaller than the body part of the screw w/ the threads on it. If it’s too big, the threads wont bite and the screw will come right out.
Sorry I can’t help more,
Donovan
ChImp Unassembled Kit: $35 (does not include USB jack or Screw Terminals)
Is that all I need? Do I need the screw terminals?
You’ll need wires, solder, and screws as well as a drill and a soldering iron.
You don’t need screw terminals if you don’t mind soldering the wires to the ChImp rather than using the screw terminals. If you’re not clear on what those are, they’re the green rows that you see on each side of the ChImp in my photos.
Hey there,
First off, thank you for this tutorial. It’s incredibly helpful.
I have two questions though…
1) do you need to solder a ground wire for all of the buttons to the chimp?
2) if i would rather solder than use the “solderless trick”, is there any reason why i can’t just solder my button wires to the existing button wires in the same piggyback fashion that you did the directional wires?
Hey Matt, no problem!
1) Not exactly sure what you’re asking. You only need to solder the ground wire from the TE’s USB cable to the ChImp and solder a ground wire on the 360 PCB where the USB’s ground was. Then you can either solder or use a screw down to attach that wire (from the 360 PCB) to the ChImp. That’s all the grounding that’s necessary. Hurray for common ground electronics!
2) I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. It’s essentially the same premise (connecting the wires).
Good luck on your mod,
Donovan
Hey great tutorial! I pretty much followed everything to the “T” except the part of using electrical tape…instead I used a glue gun to cover the CHIMP wires that patch into the JLF harness. The glue is clear…will this shield off interference (is it wise to use it?). I have a problem playing SSF4 in Xbox 360 mode, because I would often get false directional inputs that are not under my control. It is like it has a mind of its own, that when I would input either UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT respectively…it will stay stuck/held down on its own until I manually register another input via joystick or pressing a button, and then it stops/returns to neutral position. This doesn’t seem to happen in PS3 mode. Any ideas? Please help this is bugging me to no end, haha. Thanks for the tutorial you saved me a lot of time!!!
Hey Jeff,
The glue should work fine as an insulator. That was going to be my first suggestion as to the source of your problem, but you say that it works fine w/ your PS3, so…
Did you use the screw downs for the ChImp? It’ll be a pain in the butt, but I’d suggest unhooking all the wires from the ChImp so nothing is connected to it and see if you’re still having problems. If you are, it must be the stock 360 PCB then.
If you can take some pictures of your setup and post them on the SRK thread you started, that would help too.
Donovan
Ok will do. If you could, just follow my SRK thread. Thanks
Hey omg you are the man i have a mvc stick and looked EVERYWHERE on SRK i googled it and found you i only have two questions. 1) When you plug wires that use solderless trick from the ground to the chimp (step 7) do u have to solder wire into chimp (screw in slot or is it plug and play) question 2 what type of wire and how much it cost for button connection and the “usb” cord that go into 360 pcb after having actual usb wire desoldered and place into chimp thank you [very much] you are the man ( I had 360 and it broke so until i can replace it stuck using horrible tekken 6stick for ps3 and really needed this for super street fighter 4 THANK YOU SOO MUCH DUDE YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michael,
1) There is no soldering of the button wires (except for Home/Guide). You just need to take a length of wire, strip both ends back about 1/4″, then put 1 end through the hole of the prong on the button punch down (and put the quick disconnect back over top of it) and screw down the other in the proper location on the ChImp’s screw down.
2) I answered sin (1st comment) about the wire (answer #2). I don’t exactly know what I used since I pulled it from some old harnesses. But he says to go with Radio Shack 22 Gauge Hook Up wires.
3) The USB cable that hooks up to the ChImp is the same stock one that was on the 360 PCB. Then you share that connection back to the 360 PCB using 4 wires – the exact same kind you use for the buttons (22 gauge hook up wires according to sin).
Good Luck!
Donovan
Thanks again Donovan I appreciate your contribution the community.
ok i have question im not sure if it was answered yet but ..can u take a pcb from a normal 360 controller and dual mod it and use it in the custom vewlix cab that the buttons are internal
Sure, anything’s possible. I’m assuming you would build a custom control panel or repurpose a Vewlix panel (like this).
Though, I’m not sure what this has to do with a ChImp or what you mean by “buttons are internal.” But, you could use a 360 pad PCB and connect it to a ChImp as part of your dual mod, yes. You could also use an Imp and a Multi-console Cthulhu if you plan on using your cab with other consoles besides PS3/360 and PC.
sorry for my lack of knowledge in word usage lol yes i meant creating a xl worklog but with 2 players..and which method is easier taking the 360 controller pcb and chimp or the Imp and a Multi-console Cthulhu? because i planned on using it for my 360 to play live but also have my spare computer to run mame
i was reading on lizardlick.com (the place to get the imp and Multi-console Cthulhu) and it said the multi console one will not work with the 360…. so does that force me to use the 360 controller pcb?
What that means is that the MC Cthulhu does not provide Xbox 360 compatibility (nothing does). Microsoft has a lock down on the tech to connect a controller to the 360 and won’t license it to just anyone. You have to bring your own 360 PCB (either from a 360 TE, Mad Catz common ground controller, or some other means).
sorry for the 3rd reply lol but really all i want is to use it for my 360 and pc so really i dont need any of that stuff cuz all i need to do is install the driver and the pcb from the 360 controller and the pc should recognize the all the buttons right
If you only care about 360 and PC, then don’t worry about a Cthulhu or ChImp. Just hack a Mad Catz common ground controller for your setup and it’ll work on both. Windows has a driver for the 360 controller since it’s part of Microsoft’s Games For Windows “standard.”
I really like this guide, but I’m a little confused on doing the solderless trick. So do I only have to connect wires from under each ribbon connector, and then screw them into the chimp? Also, on the six prong ribbon cable for the buttons, it shows RB LT RT GND BACK START. Will the solderless trick not require a wire for the GND pin, since I already set up a groundwire?
Yes, you only need the button inputs from the “punch down.” The ground connection is made through the USB pass through between the 360 PCB and ChImp PCB.
thanx for help … I used this guide to mod my stick but I have only one problem which is ..
…. what should I do to make it work on both ?
somehow the guide button doesn’t work when I soldered the XGUID down to the home screw terminal on the chimp , but when I disconnect it from there it works fine only in my xbox but not on PS3
It sounds like there’s a short with the Guide/Home button (always on). You say disconnecting it from the ChImp allows it to still function on the 360. Do you have a photo of your soldering job on the XGUID pin?
Try this:
Hook the stick up to your PS3 with the top off (so you can access that XGUID pin). Take a separate wire and screw that into the Home point on the ChImp. Touch the other end of that wire to the XGUID pin and press the Guide button. Does that trigger home on your PS3?
If you have a multimeter, you can test for a short by putting it in continuity (beeping) mode and touch one end to the XGUID pin and the other to any ground point. If you get a beep, there’s a short. It should only beep when you press the Guide button.
the chimp doesn’t work on my PS3 … it is only passing the job to the xbox pcb when I plugged it to my xbox and it works fine , where is the problem now?
I am losing hope =(
Don’t lose hope!
Check out Toodles’ thread on SRK, and post in there. He’ll straighten you out: http://shoryuken.com/f177/official-cthulhu-chimp-board-thread-mc-firmware-2-0-released-162026/
the chimp works on both systems now , but somehow when I connected the stick to my pc ,there were some buttons being held ( pressed ) for unknown reason
what do u think Donovan?
thanx the problem has been solved , I just altered the wire location and it just works fine by now
Hi, I’m late to the party. I just have a quick question. Am I reading the wiring diagram right in taking that the ground wires are on the top row and the signal wires are at the bottom?
Chris,
I hooked up my signal wires to the bottom row. I mention in the article about how to test for which is which, but I’m pretty sure they’re all the same across the different TE models. So, yeah, use the bottom row to hook up your signal wires for the ChImp, the worst that can happen is it doesn’t work and you switch to top row.
Donovan
I followed your guide, and I hooked up my TE stick to my pc and tested all the buttons (worked yay but I haven’t tested it yet on a ps3) I haven’t soldered the guide button yet, but I have lost the use of my guide button on my xbox, am I have a connection problem somewhere else, I can’t seem to figure it out. Or will this resolve when I solder and hook it up to the chimp board?
Hey Crosell,
Sorry to hear that. Did you lose the use of the Guide button while doing this mod or before? You actually tested the Guide button on the Xbox 360? Do the lights light up around the Guide button? Everything else works?
I don’t believe hooking up the Guide button to the ChImp will have any affect on it functioning on the Xbox 360, since you’re only connecting the signal and not a signal/ground combo.
There’s a ribbon cable that connects the Turbo PCB to the main Xbox 360 PCB. Is that connected properly?
I’d connect the stick to the 360 w/ the top panel off (but everything still connected) and wiggle around some wires and see if you can’t track down what’s causing the Guide button not to work.
Best of luck, if you need more technical help, you’re probably better off in the thread on SRK.
Donovan
Well I went ahead with the soldering, the guide button works on ps3 aspect of when tested on a pc. But now my 360 won’t function (haha) I may have used too much solder . So it as you said I think it may just be a loose connection. But first things first I gotta get my 360 part functioning again. The turbo buttons light up, and the 360 guide button lights up then shuts up. I think I bridge a connection up top but I can’t really tell it all looks clean.
ok got it, thanks for the pro tip to check wires …..*Sigh* I guess we all fall victim to the check wires at some point.
Hey donovan,
I’m in the process of modding my TE-S for use on Xbox360/PS3/PS2/GC/etc with RJ45 detachable cables.
So far, so good, and thanks for reminding me about the solderless trick by shinjn, it will keep the number of solders down. However, when you say the Guide button has to be soldered on the mini pcb containing the turbo/lock buttons, that’s not true, check on the TE PCB, you wil find a Xguide signal that is brought by a ribbon cable.
Excellent tip!
This was very helpful. I used the chimp SMD so no soldering required to the chimp board. Basically 5 soldering points max (4 wires from the 360 pcb and 1 wire to the guide) if you don’t want to solder the buttons.
One probelm I did run into was the button diagram for the reg TE stick provided was incorrect for 3p, 4p, 3k, 4k so when I tried to boot into 360 mode on the computer it wouldn’t let me. This gave me a scare until I traced the wire to the buttons and adjusted.
Thanks for the tutorial.
I think your tutorial is great however, I have recently purchased a newer model of a Toodles ChimpSMD and it is really different from what you have.
Having issues getting the guide/home button to work. Tried testing it out using an unsoldered wire but no luck. In your tutorial, it doesnt make use of its ground. So its hard for me to determine if I should or shouldn’t, since I got the newer model of the ChimpSMD.
Help me out?
You do use ground.
The ground on the USB coming in goes into the ChimpSMD, which is then shared with the MadCatz Xbox 360 PCB. That MadCatz Xbox 360 PCB shares its ground connection with that little board I show where you solder the wire for the guide button via a ribbon cable.
If you screw a wire into the Guide/Home button spot on the ChimpSMD, you should be able to touch it to that solder point on the Guide/Turbo PCB, press the button and have it work – assuming all the other buttons and joystick are working properly too. If not, something else is going on.
I didn’t create a blog post for it yet, but I recently put a ChimpSMD into a Hori Real Arcade Pro. EX Premium VLX. Check out my Flickr photoset, and it might help.
Good luck, let me know how it works out for you.
Donovan
Hey. I got a round 2 sfiv stick te edition. I want to have my stick modded with duel mod and custom art with led and plexiglass. Do you know anyone that can help me with this? I got a tourny in 3 and a half weeks. Thanks
There’s a specific thread on the Shoryuken Forums dedicated to helping you find a modder: Need a Modder in Your Area? Check This Post.
Unless you live in Michigan somewhere, in which case, I’d help you.
Donovan
Hi Donovan, thanks for ur guide, i followed everything and all buttons are working. However when i push the stick to Right + UP, it freezes and disconnect, it happens to PC and XBox (havent tested on ps3). if i push only up or only right, the freeze doesnt happen. Do you know what the problem might be?
when it disconnects from xbox it reconnects again, like how we replug the controllers
It sounds like you have a short somewhere that’s freaking out the stock Xbox 360 PCB.
The ChImp board is only used when it’s in PS3 mode. Otherwise the ChImp passes the signal directly to the stock Xbox 360 PCB.
By default, the ChImp works on PC in PS3 mode. Does it show up as an Xbox 360 controller or something else on your PC?
Here are some things to try:
It might not actually be the up and right switches, it might just be the vibration or movement of that particular action that’s causing a short somewhere else. I know it sucks, but the last thing to try is unscrew everything (even the buttons) from the ChImp and start adding things back and testing as you go. The Xbox mode should still work correctly w/ nothing but USB connected to the ChImp.
Leave the USB wires connected and plug the USB cable into your PC. Open up the controller properties. Now, screw in a direction and see if it works properly. Then screw in another direction and test (and so on and so on). That should either fix it or help you isolate specifically what the problem is.
Best of luck,
Donovan
Checking the Xbox board, a small part from CAI2 seems to be lost somewhere, can that be the reason for the short? doesn it mean i need a brand new board or can i get that from somewhere, whats the name of that part?
http://i52.tinypic.com/2460sbm.jpg
thats for the Up button
I’ve tried re-soldering the yellow part of the ChImp and now its working fine, thanks very much for the help
Glad to hear! I was searching all over the Internet for a picture I remembered seeing of the bottom of the board.
I really didn’t want to open up my case and pull mine out to check.
Hey Donovan. I’ve been researching for days through shoryuken and other sites, and then i stumbled onto your site. This is by far the easiest guide to dual modding. I just ordered the ChimpSMD to mod my Madcatz TE (360).I will be following this guide. Thanks so much for this, and I’ll let you know how it goes!
Jigen,
Thanks for the kind words.
If you don’t want to do any (de)soldering, check out Fdbrice’s comment about cutting the USB cable back further to leave a tail on your stock Xbox 360 PCB that you can easily screw to the ChImp.
Best of luck with the mod,
Donovan
Thanks for the great tutorial, Donovan. I am attempting my first dual mod and I was wondering if I could simply cut the stock 360 usb and separate the internal wires. Would the ChImp then act as a bridge if I connect the two sets of usb wires to the corresponding input and output screw terminals?
I’m using a ChImpSMD.
I have a ChImpSMD in my Hori VLX. A very nice upgrade to the ChImp. If I remember correctly it has screw downs for the USB coming in as well as to pass the USB to the stock Xbox 360 PCB.
So, I think what you’re asking is if you could cut the USB cable 3-4″ (maybe longer depending on where you mount your ChImp) back from the stock PCB so you now have the stock PCB with 4″ of USB wires coming off of it and a USB cable that’s 4″ shorter than normal.
If you could then take those wires from the stock PCB, strip & screw them to the ChImp and then strip the USB cable’s wires and screw them to the ChImp SMD as well.
Your answer is yes. You basically just need to get a signal from the USB into the ChImp then into the Xbox 360 PCB, and I believe that would accomplish that – and it’s a solder free solution as well. Excellent idea!
Donovan
I recently dual modded my chun stick with a Chimpsmd it worked fine for a couple days but now when i play heavily my stick disconnects but the chimp is fine on the ps3. I opened it up and when i moved the TE board it randomly disconnects. Can i get some advise to troubleshoot please!
Redo the wiring? By ‘heavily’ do you mean over a long period of time, or fiercely with lots of force on the buttons and stick?
If it’s disconnecting, it’s got to be something with the USB, otherwise you’d just be seeing random button presses instead. Are you able to narrow it down to a certain button combination or is it just movement that makes it disconnect?
Double check that all of the wiring is tight, and doesn’t have any exposed area that could be touching anything else. Also double check that the ChImp is not touching anything metal.
Good luck!
Donovan, I had left you a msg earlier about following this guide for the mod i was about to do. I had also researched a crap load just to make sure i knew what iw as doing. Well, you can now add “COMPLETELY SOLDER-LESS” to the title of this article because with all the information here, i was able to dual Mod my Madcatz TE, without ANY soldering and with EVERYTHING working fine!
The ribbon trick works on the home/guide button. I don’t know if the original chimp has it, but the chimp smd i used, labels which wire on the ribbon is connected to the guide. Use the solder-less trick on it, connect to the chimp, and it works. it took me 2 hours with no experience at all.
A few suggestions/pointers,
the quick disconnects will stretch out if you keep pulling them out. I had to do some rewiring because i accidentally connected the wire to the ground cable on some of the buttons.
22 gauge was a little big. worked fine, but i would recommend 24 gauge.
For the usb, yes the technique to make it solder-less works perfectly, only thing is i didnt cut it long enough so my chimp is positioned weird.
All in all, everything works flawlessly. Thank you Donovan for making my first mod experience fantastic.
Hi Donovan,
Great tutorial. I made a small mistake when installing a ps360 into my PS3 TE stick. When I tried to solder the wire onto the home button of the PS3 circuit board the little circle that you solder too came off. Is there another solder point on the circuit board for the home button? Or is their anyway to fix it. I can’t find the circle either after it came off. Thanks.
Justin,
All is not lost. Take an X-Acto knife and scratch off some of the coating over the trace (the thin straight line) coming off of the circle. Then try to solder to that.
Donovan
Thanks Donovan. I will give that a shot tomorrow. It seems like that circle came off pretty easily. I’m a bit of a noob at soldering so that could explain it. Thanks again.
One thing I forgot to mention. If you’re planning on doing much soldering in the future, get yourself a decent iron. One that gets up to about 700-900 degrees. That way you can get in there, get your solder melted, and get out. I found that when I was trying to use an old Radio Shack stick soldering iron that it would take for ever to get hot enough for the solder to melt and would end up pulling off the circles that you’re talking about. I’m assuming that it’s melting the glue or whatever holds all that stuff together.
I have a MPJA Solder Station ZD-929C that sells for $50 and it’s never let me down.
Hi Donovan,
Thank you very much for this amazing resource. Just completed a dual mod with a ChimpSMD. I used the strip (with Stanley Knife), piggyback and solder technique for all 10 button and 4 joystick connections. The soldering for the guide button was a little tricky, but everything works 100%.
*MASSIVE SIGH OF RELIEF*
My only concern is that the Chimp board itself is screwed directly onto the plastic base of the fightstick. i.e. the bottom pin heads I think are in direct contact with the plastic. Having read some comments regarding intermittent button response, would having the board directly mounted instead of slightly raised contribute at all to this, in terms of heat build-up?
Please note if this at all sounds like a noob question, it is.
Thanks again
Nyameko (South Africa)
I wouldn’t think that the metal touching plastic would cause any intermittent button response because the plastic shouldn’t be conducting anything. In terms of heat buildup, I don’t think it’s a very complicated piece of electronics. I never thought about heat building up on the underside. You could look for some “stand offs” to mount the PCB to if you’re having that issue. Or, do like I’ve done in some other mods and use some double sided tape to keep it elevated.
Glad to hear everything went well for you,
Donovan
Hi Donovan,
One strange quirk, when connecting to a PC, how does one pass control over to the XBOX 360 PCB, instead of control going to the ChimpSMD PCB.
Platform games like Braid/Super Meat Boy, worked like a charm pre-mod, but now either don’t work or don’t properly recognize button inputs.
Can confirm it’s not a wiring issue as, Control Panel -> Game Controllers -> Properties (for Chimp PC/PS3 Controller) detects all button/directional inputs flawlessly, but it’s just that those games are expecting an Xbox 360 controller.
So is there a way on ChimpSMD to force XBO360/Native PC mode?
Thanks
I hope you found it already, but the information was already in my post:
* If you want to use the Xbox 360 PCB on a PC, hold down LK, MP, HK while plugging in the USB cable.
Donovan
Domo arigatogozaimasu Donovan-san!
Sorry for forcing a double post.
Nyameko
Dear Donovan,
after having succesfully dual-modded my TE-stick, I had no problems using the stick on XBOX, PS3 and PC. But, just recently, it seems that the stick doesn’t response on XBOX anymore ( the buttons work though ), but it still work properly on PS3.
I have checked out the connections to see if there’s some wires got loosen, but they are still ok. Do you know what may happened here ?
Hey, this tutorial is great, I just had a question: Do you need an Xbox 360 controller to start with for this mod to work, or could you use a PS3 controller as well? The other question I had was, do you know if the guide buttons work properly for both consoles when dual-modded?
Yes, you need an Xbox 360 controller to use a ChImp or Cthulhu board. If you have a PS3 stick, you can find a common ground Xbox 360 controller and use that instead, but it’s quite a bit of soldering work. Alternatively you could just replace the electronics completely and use something like an Akishop PS360 PCB or Paewang Revolution that has both PS3 and Xbox 360 compatibility on one board.
And yes, the Guide button works as the Home button on PS3 with the ChImp. The only functionality you don’t get with the ChImp is turbo and controller # lights (on PS3).
hey i was wondering if you could help me with this problem i have, the turbo function on my street fighter TE Round 2 arcade stick(PS3) activates by itself, i just removed the button & it still does this i want 2 disable the turbo function permanently since i don’t like 2 use it, can u help me?
You could try to desolder or simply cut the 1 STRAND/WIRE of the ribbon cable coming from the Turbo/Home PCB that goes to the Xbox PCB. I have a photo of it on the post above, under GUIDE is TURBO: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4356371055_1b5bd71916.jpg
It sounds like you may have a short with the Turbo. Did you mod the stick in any way? I’m guessing that wire may be touching something else, or there may be something crossed on the Turbo/Home PCB.
If you have any pictures of what you’ve done, feel free to tweet them or email them to me: donovan [at] donovanmyers [dot] com.
i haven’t modded it in anyway, i bought of this guy TBH i only paid 60 dollars and aside from the turbo problem, it wirks like a charm, i did spend the whole night trying to figure out what was what so i opened it cleane it out & tried it last night, & it didn’t cause any more problems, i hate that i’m so dumb at this LOL, still wanna get rid of the turbo, so i’m guessing i’m gonna have to open it up again tonight lol, also quick question, if i want i can change the buttons around right? as long as i remember to put the wires were they were all should be fine, correct?
Yes. You can mess with the buttons. You don’t even have to be careful with the wires because the punch down in the bottom right (shown in the first drawing of this post) actually has labels for which connection/wires go to which buttons.
Good luck!
Awesome tutorial Donovan.
Quick question:
Will this work on a Hrap VX SA?
thx for your time!
Thanks!
I’m 99% sure the same basic process will work for a Hori Real Arcade Pro VX SA. It is also a common ground stick, which is the base requirement for installing a ChImp.
I have a Flickr photo set of installing a ChImp SMD in a Hori Real Arcade Pro VLX that might have similar electronics to the VX: http://www.flickr.com/photos/donovanmyers/sets/72157624741208884/
Good luck,
Donovan
Thankyou very much kind sir!