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Soul Calibur LEDWiz CP Makeover

headkaze

By headkaze
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Adultery GameEx God (Top Rank)

Adultery

Posted
Posted

Damn Kaze...

That looks awesome! :)

JohnnyG Super Member!

JohnnyG

Posted
Posted

Hi HK,

Brilliant job, really neat and tidy. This is the exact kind of thing I'm looking for as regards help building my own cab: I have Slyspy's guide so I have a step-by-step for wiring buttons in the CP, but couldn't find any real detailed way to wire LED buttons. This is perfect!

CHeers!

Johnny

emphatic GameEx God (Top Rank)

emphatic

Posted
Posted

Wow, that is very inspiring, Headkaze! If I ever feel like replacing my X-Arcade controls in my cabinet, I'll do that in a heartbeat.

Emph

ourgrace Super Member!

ourgrace

Posted
Posted

HK

Very nice looking, I am impressed.

I've been rather busy with real life lately and have not had a chance to update my LED's to RGB yet. but I am looking forward to doing it after seeing you web page. (My wife says "THANKS" for the Inspiration, but I don't think she meant it in a nice way. LOL)

Anyway, nice job and looks good.

ourgrace

loadman Super Member!

loadman

Posted
Posted
HK

Very nice looking, I am impressed.

I've been rather busy with real life lately and have not had a chance to update my LED's to RGB yet. but I am looking forward to doing it after seeing you web page. (My wife says "THANKS" for the Inspiration, but I don't think she meant it in a nice way. LOL)

Anyway, nice job and looks good.

ourgrace

I think your wife and mine think along the same lines in regards to our 'Hobby'

Jontox Super Member!

Jontox

Posted
Posted

This is absolutely Gorgeous !!!

It is a pity that device was not yet released when my arcade cab CP was being built :unsure:

I had to go with fixed led colors.

My newly finished cab if anyone is interested Arcadeus BLOG

Marvelous headkaze!!! and great plug-in for anyone interested thanks for them.

Quixote Quest Super Member!

Quixote Quest

Posted
Posted
Thanks for all the kind words guys. It was a really worthwhile project.

Anyways I've added some Video's at the bottom of the webpage so you can see it in action.

Wow! Really impressive, HK. As if all the detail wasn't enough, the videos _really_ sold me. (That plasma action is an especially groovy attract.)

So I have some questions, if you wouldn't mind:

1. It appears that you needed to run 5v external power since you were firing enough LEDs on each board. So you just wired to one of your free molexes inside your PC, yes? Can you run both boards off the same power connection? I currently have a Molex wired off from my PC powering my lighted trackball. Would be cool if I could reorient that one connection to power my LED-Wiz(zes) without having to yank it out of the cab in order to put another one in there. (Then I'd use the LED-wiz to power my trackball.)

2. Each board requires a dedicated, powered USB port, yes? This is why you ordered the boards with dedicated IDs, yes? I only have one free USB port right now on my PC so I'm wondering if I need to get a powered hub if I choose to upgrade to the LED-Wizzes.

3. I see you P1 and P2 clusters always seem to be lighting the same in the attract modes and game modes. From what you know, could you have used a single LED-wiz and ganged up like lighted buttons on the same ports of the LED-wiz?

4. I already have white Cherry microswitches powering my Happs buttons. Therefore, I should be good to go just to reuse those, yes?

5. I have a universal, single motion wire strippers. Do you think the RGB-Drive wires are not so fine that I could still use that? Normally the tool makes stripping wires a breeze, but those RGB-Drive wires sound fiddly, especially stripping them the way you describe.

6. Like you, I'm no wiring expert. All the soldering is out of my experience range and tools on hand. Is that a step you consider VERY important to ensure no shorts, etc?

7. Are all the LEDs diffused well enough by the buttons that you don't get eye strain nor too much reflected glare when playing?

8. Do you think the software is developed well enough now, in terms of attract functions, color controls mapping, and game-by-game lighting that there is no good reason, barring budget, to hold back doing this mod? (Assuming I'm already quite interested and like the bling factor.)

9. Does the software take into account any control for lighting an RGB trackball? If you were me and had a Happs LED lighted translucent ball--with a custom LED lighting mount--would you switch out to GGG's RGB ball?

10. Are you happy with the feel and tolerances of the ICE buttons compared with the Happs buttons you replaced?

Cheers!

Quixote Quest Super Member!

Quixote Quest

Posted
Posted

And just to rub it in the faces of you guys with skeptical wives. . .

Mine saw HK's page and said she wants me to add those to our arcade. She thoought that is SO COOL. Am I lucky or what? 'Course she knows I won't undertake the project if I'm not absolutely certain it will do what I want it to do, and that I can deliver on doing the work myself. I'm more conservative with the spending in this regard than her. What's wrong with this picture? :rolleyes:

headkaze GameEx God (Top Rank)

headkaze

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Wow! Really impressive, HK. As if all the detail wasn't enough, the videos _really_ sold me. (That plasma action is an especially groovy attract.)

So I have some questions, if you wouldn't mind:

1. It appears that you needed to run 5v external power since you were firing enough LEDs on each board. So you just wired to one of your free molexes inside your PC, yes? Can you run both boards off the same power connection? I currently have a Molex wired off from my PC powering my lighted trackball. Would be cool if I could reorient that one connection to power my LED-Wiz(zes) without having to yank it out of the cab in order to put another one in there. (Then I'd use the LED-wiz to power my trackball.)

Yes thats exactly what I did. I got an old pc power cable with molex plug, cut off one of the ends and ran the 5v/ground to a cable then split it off into two more cables that supplied each LEDWiz.

2. Each board requires a dedicated, powered USB port, yes? This is why you ordered the boards with dedicated IDs, yes? I only have one free USB port right now on my PC so I'm wondering if I need to get a powered hub if I choose to upgrade to the LED-Wizzes.

Yes, you will need two USB ports. I'm not sure if they have to be powered though if your running the power off the PC PSU. Either way, you will need to extra USB ports. Check the front of your PC, I just found two free USB ports on mine the other day.

3. I see you P1 and P2 clusters always seem to be lighting the same in the attract modes and game modes. From what you know, could you have used a single LED-wiz and ganged up like lighted buttons on the same ports of the LED-wiz?

I'm not sure if you could do that. They will not always be running exactly the same when there is proper animation software written you can jump back and forth between the two sides. I have no idea if you could use one LEDWiz to power both sides though.

4. I already have white Cherry microswitches powering my Happs buttons. Therefore, I should be good to go just to reuse those, yes?

Yeah, don't bother ordering microswitches if you plan to just swap over your buttons. Don't forget the button wrench too, it will save you a whole lot of time and trouble.

5. I have a universal, single motion wire strippers. Do you think the RGB-Drive wires are not so fine that I could still use that? Normally the tool makes stripping wires a breeze, but those RGB-Drive wires sound fiddly, especially stripping them the way you describe.

I'm not exactly sure, as loadman reakons the insulation plastic was so thin he could use his fingernails to pull it off. Maybe it's easier than we first thought and ended up doing things the long way. I guess you can try and see, the cables are long enough to make mistakes.

6. Like you, I'm no wiring expert. All the soldering is out of my experience range and tools on hand. Is that a step you consider VERY important to ensure no shorts, etc?

I think it's pretty important. I'm pretty useless when it comes to soldering too, but I did have to solder the Common Anodes together and it's not too difficult. Adding a bit of solder makes the connections more solid so I would give it a go. You could always try folding them over if you don't want to attempt the soldering though.

7. Are all the LEDs diffused well enough by the buttons that you don't get eye strain nor too much reflected glare when playing?

I don't think they are too bright, no. I don't find them distracting and I've played in the dark. You can always set the option in the plugin to turn off the lights when you start a game.

8. Do you think the software is developed well enough now, in terms of attract functions, color controls mapping, and game-by-game lighting that there is no good reason, barring budget, to hold back doing this mod? (Assuming I'm already quite interested and like the bling factor.)

No the software has recently come out of beta and has been fully tested by me and is in good working order. Everything works great as far as I can tell. A new feature I am working on at the moment is reading in custom key mappings from Mame so buttons are always lit right even if you configure your buttons differently for a game. For example, the bottom row of buttons on my CP are like that for NeoGeo games. So I have all the NeoGeo games have their own cfg's in Mame\cfg that map the first 4 buttons to the bottom row. My plugin now lights them correctly.

9. Does the software take into account any control for lighting an RGB trackball? If you were me and had a Happs LED lighted translucent ball--with a custom LED lighting mount--would you switch out to GGG's RGB ball?

Yes the plugin does support lighting for RGB trackballs. I think it would definately be cool to have one lit up. I recently added a feature to have certain controls perminately lit. The guy who suggested it wanted his trackball always lit. I have my ESC and Pause keys perminately lit now too.

10. Are you happy with the feel and tolerances of the ICE buttons compared with the Happs buttons you replaced?

Cheers!

On some of the buttons the springs can rattle a bit when you hammer them. I guess that sort of thing might wear in. I didn't mention this in the article because I didn't want to review the gear just show how I set it up. The only difference I would say would be the spring rattles on more buttons than I had with the Happs. You will be using the same microswitches so they're won't be much difference apart from that.

emphatic GameEx God (Top Rank)

emphatic

Posted
Posted

Headkaze: How does the plugin work with RGB leads regarding colours? Say I was putting all white buttons in my cabinet, is it possible for the plugin to set the "neo geo colours" (green blue yellow red) for the four buttons used for neo geo gaming?

Emph

headkaze GameEx God (Top Rank)

headkaze

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Headkaze: How does the plugin work with RGB leads regarding colours? Say I was putting all white buttons in my cabinet, is it possible for the plugin to set the "neo geo colours" (green blue yellow red) for the four buttons used for neo geo gaming?

Emph

Yes, thats exactly what it does. If you take a look at the attached image (the colours don't come up very well, but you get the idea) I have four buttons running along the bottom mapped in Mame for NeoGeo games. The plugin will read these custom mappings and light them up. This version hasn't been released yet, but it will be soon.

You can see by the screenshot of the LCDPlugin that you can now assign keys to your buttons. Now if you create custom key assignments in Mame, it creates a cfg file. These are the files I use to remap the colors to the correct buttons on your CP.

Eg. 3countb.cfg

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- This file is autogenerated; comments and unknown tags will be stripped -->
<mameconfig version="10">
	<system name="3countb">
		<input>
			<port type="P1_BUTTON1" mask="16" index="5" defvalue="16">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_C
				</newseq>
			</port>
			<port type="P1_BUTTON2" mask="32" index="6" defvalue="32">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_LSHIFT
				</newseq>
			</port>
			<port type="P1_BUTTON3" mask="64" index="7" defvalue="64">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_Z
				</newseq>
			</port>
			<port type="P1_BUTTON4" mask="128" index="8" defvalue="128">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_X
				</newseq>
			</port>
			<port type="P2_BUTTON1" mask="16" index="14" defvalue="16">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_J
				</newseq>
			</port>
			<port type="P2_BUTTON2" mask="32" index="15" defvalue="32">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_W
				</newseq>
			</port>
			<port type="P2_BUTTON3" mask="64" index="16" defvalue="64">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_I
				</newseq>
			</port>
			<port type="P2_BUTTON4" mask="128" index="17" defvalue="128">
				<newseq type="standard">
					KEYCODE_K
				</newseq>
			</port>
		</input>
	</system>
</mameconfig>

post-367-1172670507_thumb.jpg

post-367-1172670961_thumb.png

Quixote Quest Super Member!

Quixote Quest

Posted
Posted

HK--

Thanks for the reply to my questions. On going to GGG and reading the LED-Wiz documentation it looks like each board running of 5v external power can have 500ma per output. So ganging up like button LEDs on output should work fine. Of course this would eliminate being able to individually adjust, but I'd give up a little attract mode flexibility to be able to ensure my CP is running off of as few boards as possible. I have several buttons like the mouse buttons, the Asteroids buttons and admin buttons that, while needn't be illuminated I'm afraid will look stupid if some are lighted and some aren't. If I gang up a few like admin buttons or Asteroids buttons I could make sure two boards will do it all.

Anyway, wish I could find someone who ran multiple LEDs per output and make sure they have no issues.

Also, I see the instructions recommends an inline fuse on the 5v power line. Did you add one of these to your power line?

headkaze GameEx God (Top Rank)

headkaze

Posted
  • Author
Posted
HK--

Thanks for the reply to my questions. On going to GGG and reading the LED-Wiz documentation it looks like each board running of 5v external power can have 500ma per output. So ganging up like button LEDs on output should work fine. Of course this would eliminate being able to individually adjust, but I'd give up a little attract mode flexibility to be able to ensure my CP is running off of as few boards as possible. I have several buttons like the mouse buttons, the Asteroids buttons and admin buttons that, while needn't be illuminated I'm afraid will look stupid if some are lighted and some aren't. If I gang up a few like admin buttons or Asteroids buttons I could make sure two boards will do it all.

Anyway, wish I could find someone who ran multiple LEDs per output and make sure they have no issues.

Also, I see the instructions recommends an inline fuse on the 5v power line. Did you add one of these to your power line?

Oh I see, your still going to use 2 LEDWiz, but will be running some off the same outputs. I think that should be okay.

I did read about the fuse, but I didn't use one.

For larger 5v DC loads, like small incandescent lamps and relays, a connection to the PC Power supply (Figure 2) through a cable with an in-line fuse is strongly recommended!

Where just running the standard RGB drives so I don't think this applies. Though you may need to check with running two LED's on a single output.

headkaze GameEx God (Top Rank)

headkaze

Posted
  • Author
Posted
HK-- You're powering both of your boards off the same connection to your PC, yes? You still feel that's pretty safe way to go w/o a fuse?

I think so, but your probably best to e-mail Randy from GGG to find out for sure.

iano GameEx God (Top Rank)

iano

Posted
Posted
HK-- You're powering both of your boards off the same connection to your PC, yes? You still feel that's pretty safe way to go w/o a fuse?

Hi. I think you should be ok doing this. The RGB leds use a max of 60mA each (Red 20mA, Green 20mA, Blue 20mA). So if you're using say 10 RGB leds per LedWiz

device thats going to be 600mA in total at full intensity. If you have 2 LedWiz (with 10 RGB leds per device) it's going to draw 1.2A max (which is about the same your DVD ROM drive). Adding a couple of extra leds to a few of the outputs won't hurt http://www.retroblast.com/reviews/GGG_LED-...2122006-01.html

As for the in-line... i wouldn't say it is necessary if you're confident of your wiring.

iano.

:)

Quixote Quest Super Member!

Quixote Quest

Posted
Posted
Hi. I think you should be ok doing this. The RGB leds use a max of 60mA each (Red 20mA, Green 20mA, Blue 20mA). So if you're using say 10 RGB leds per LedWiz

device thats going to be 600mA in total at full intensity. If you have 2 LedWiz (with 10 RGB leds per device) it's going to draw 1.2A max (which is about the same your DVD ROM drive). Adding a couple of extra leds to a few of the outputs won't hurt http://www.retroblast.com/reviews/GGG_LED-...2122006-01.html

As for the in-line... i wouldn't say it is necessary if you're confident of your wiring.

iano.

:)

Thanks iano. That makes a lot of sense. Would you say there is a Amperage max I shouldn't exceed? I don't know what draw the trackball RGB is, but I have 29 buttons to light with RGBs, so that 1.7A+the trackball. I want to do that with only two LED-WIZzes if I can.

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