jukingeo

I have had success with using Auto Installer Deluxe (AID) 4.50. It is an automatic installation disc that you can use to install just about every major application out there. There is also a huge section on backing up. AID will assist in both chip and soft mods. Do you like emulators? Well, AID is chock full of them. There are also some nice tools too such as DVD2Xbox which will copy your DVD movies to the hard drive. From there you can use a media dashboard such as XBMC (also on the AID disc) to make a playlist of movies. AID also has FTP capabilities and since it is a self booting disc it is great for system recovery as well (since most Xbox dashboards default to reading the DVD FIRST). Here check it out: http://www.aideluxe.com/index.php?title=Au...nstaller_Deluxe Geo

Hello Oldone....just dropping a message to let you know that I got your email and I set up CoinOPs with the screen skin changes above. It looks GREAT! I just need to change the typeface to match, so when you get a shot could you let me know what to set them for? Oh! I would like to turn off the feature that puts up those two small dots next to the name whenever you log into a game, is that possible? I can just see it now when my cabinet gets full use that the screen will be riddled with all these little dots. I prefer them OFF. Thanx, Geo

Hacking an original controller (The large "Duke" controller that was originally released for the Xbox) is best, but the S-Controller will do fine. A couple words of advice though when it comes to analog game support within the Xbox. There are two main problems in this area, the first one is that CoinOPS/MameOX doesn't have great analog translations. I have tried some analog (driving) games that use the stick and triggers for throttles, and with some games the control is all over the place. There is a menu to adjust for the analog sensitivity and speed, but if the game has a problem with it from the get go, it just will not work. The second issue is with hacking the controllers. I hacked PS2 controllers before and they are not too much different from the Xbox controllers. In most cases removing the stick controls on the controller will render your controller inoperative unless you really know what you are doing when replacing the analog controls. There are two devices called potentiometers or variable resistors on each stick control, if you replace that with an arcade type control, care must be taken to match the EXACT value AND pot throw with your arcade replacement. Failure to do so will result in erratic operation or even a dead pad. If you are just beginning to hack Xbox controllers, the best thing to do is leave the analog stick controls and the triggers alone and only hack a pad to play digital controlled games. I know that may seem like you are missing out on quite a few games using the Xbox as an emulator for Mame, but unless there is improved analog support for the Xbox in the near future, it probably isn't worth the trouble to try and hack the analog controls. However, you get 12 digital access points on each controller. You could also convert the two analog triggers to make two more digital points for a total of 14 points, but since you have FOUR controller ports AND CoinOPs & MameOX are already set up for multiple controller support it is probably best to set up a controller for each set of player controls on your panel. In that aspect you could easily have a 6 button/ 8way joystick configuration for a "Street Fighter" set up for all of your players. With that many digital points available, the Xbox is a formidable Mame gaming machine...and much smaller than your typical PC Mame setup. But again, the only bad thing is the poor analog support. Hopefully that does change in the future. Geo

Ahhh, I guess it was something simple like that. As for the loading time problem, I should mention that I am using the stock hard drive which is probably not 7200 rpm speed. However, I am not sure if the HD speed has any relevance as when I click on a game I get about a 'standard' 6 or 7 second wait before it goes to black screen. Then it stays quiet for about 15 seconds or so. The last 5 to 10 seconds of the black screen I can hear the hard drive start to chuckle away and then the "Please Wait" screen finally comes up. The wait here varies too, but it isn't as long as the black out screen. Should I try an older version of Coin Ops? I am right now on Reignite R5, which I believe is the latest version, correct? Thanx, Geo

It is as I outlined above, the blank screen for me is the longest...usually clocking in at around 20 to 25 seconds. I guess by what you are saying that isn't normal? Another question, I am trying to change the music for the background music. I am using standard mp3 files, but they don't show up in the play selection list for background music nor do they play in random mode. I saw that the original music files in place are .WMA files, so do I have to use files in that format? Thanx, Geoi

It doesn't have to be fancy...a simple set of white words on the black background that says "Loading". But as of now I don't have any game pictures up, but if that does stay up when the 'blackout' occurs that is a big help. Since I am still setting up CoinOPs, I don't have any screenshots loaded up as of yet. Thanx, Geo

Ahhhh, it is a combination then...just like with the back button and start. Ok, I will try that out. Yep, that did the trick. How do you 'blank out' a setting (erase a spot)? Oh...I have found quite a few games that could use some help in the controls department. For example when I import a game on it's down (outside of the Mame 0.84 set made up for the Xbox), I DO have to make some adjustments with the controls. Furthermore, there is the issue with analog controls. When I build a cabinet I am pretty much going to use only the digital controls. So for many games I have to set the controls to use the D-pad instead of the analog sticks. My settings are turned on, but how do you turn them on/off anyway, as you make a good point about people messing with the settings. Once I do get everything set, I most certainly would want to 'lock it down'. My Xbox is way off that mark. For an older game such as "Rip Off", this is what I get: 1) Main screen: 6 2) Black Out: 12 3) Loading screen: 8 For something newer such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1) Main screen: 6 2) Black Out: 25 3) Loading: 6 I tried out Tri-Sports, another newer game and it has similar results to TMNT. Then I tried out Wheel of Fortune 1) Main Screen: 7 2) Black Out: 22 4) Loading: 4 seconds In all my tests, the blackout screen is the longest. That would be OK if it was under 5 seconds or so, but the blackout screen is easily over 20 seconds and it would appear to be that the system is hanging. I guess if there isn't an option to put a splash screen up during this time, I just have to make a notice that the screen will go blank for about 20 to 30 seconds before the loading screen comes up. It really isn't anything major, but a minor inconvenience it is. Thanx, Geo

Hello All, I have a couple questions in regards to how to make certain settings within CoinOps Reignite R5: 1) When a game that is already loaded up on screen, how do you pull up the menu that allows you change the settings such as the button configuration, number of coins a game takes, etc? I think with regular PC mame you would push the TAB key for that. I don't know how to get to that in CoinOPS. 2) I have noticed that when you click on a game the game doesn't highlight and sometimes it takes a while for the "please wait-loading" screen to come up. The time lag is enough for one to think that the system is hanging. For example: When I go through the game list on CoinOPs and then push the button to 'select' the game, the game doesn't highlight at all. There is generally a few seconds pause before the screen goes blank. Now when the screen goes blank there is a good 10 to 15 second wait before the "Loading--Please Wait" message comes up. All of this could have a typical user think that the system is hanging. So what I would like to know is: a) Would you know of a way to have the game "highlight" when you make a selection? Could I have some kind of splash screen come up when the game selection goes from the selection screen to the "Please Wait" screen? Thank You. Geo

PM Received and answered . I still have many of these old boards laying around from when I was playing around with arcade games in the past. Sadly, most do not work anymore. At first I wasn't sure about the speed up issue, but with games like Pac Man and Galaga the speed is kind of 'burned in' to my mind. So I will know if something is off. With Pac Man it is obvious both the video and audio are off. The thing is that it is either the Xbox or the MameOX in CoinOPs because I played the SAME rom on my PC and the speed is correct. I had noticed that too...even on my PC that happens. Many of the late 90's games do it when the screen moves fast. But early games such as RallyX (also moves fast) doesn't do it. It is a minor annoyance, I do admit that. I am hoping it COULD be corrected for, but the reason I mentioned it because I don't know if it can. This is the first time I ran into the issue. As I said above the rom itself plays fine on my PC. My PC's CPU is over 3 times as fast at the Xbox too. So it did get me concerned that it is happening to ALL the games. You say, "no", but I have not checked out Galaga yet. I will probably do that tonight and I will see if there is a speed difference as well. However, I did play Moon Cresta the other night and that seemed to be a bit fast too. Phoenix too is noticeably faster. Could my CPU clock speed be off in the Xbox? CoinOPs Combustion, what is your take on this? Thanx, Geo

I was looking under Amazon and some of the larger computer supply houses and they didn't have them. But it was around that time that someone said NOT to get a regular adapter but a converter. The converter cost me only $25, so it wasn't a big deal to go that route. How do you flash a video Bios? I only know how to do the 'regular' bios as I had to do that to mod the Xbox in the first place. Oh! OK...I just pulled up "Paint" within Windows and by clicking "Advanced" for the color selection I get a color table and it DOES show the numbers. Great! Now the next issue is what order do you have the values on the lines? In other words which 0-255 is for Red, which is for Blue, etc, etc. Thanx, Geo

Actually the only reason I ended up with a converter is because they stopped making VGA to Xbox adapters. I was told the converter was 'better' as well. Since that was what was available, I went with that. No, I wasn't aware of a bios patch for video. It might come in handy for a permanent cabinet install this way I could use as direct of a connection as possible. What? I could have sworn I put my email address in there. That is weird. Question: My guess is that there has to be some kind of tool out there that lets you select the color you want and then it would spit out the number you need...correct? Thanx, Geo

Close, I am going to use a Dell 15" (or 17") SVGA display. My goal is to make a bar top cabinet that is meant to be moved around. I don't have the space right now to build a large cabinet. So I need something I could sit on a counter/bar top or put on a shelf on the wall. Thus it has to be lightweight and small. So no CRT for this project. That would have to wait until I have room for a full size cabinet. The reason I mentioned hi-def is because I have to use a converter box for my Xbox to use a SVGA monitor and if you use any mode other than 720i, it just looks horrible. (I am using component output on the Xbox). The monitor I intend to use will be standard 4:3 NOT widescreen. Yes, in that case I would agree, it just wouldn't look right. Sidebar: This does point out a growing concern though about the future of 4:3 monitors. The other day I was in CostCo (a Shopping Club warehouse) and they only had ONE monitor that was 4:3. All others were in 16:9 format. The TV's were all 16:9. There was nary a CRT in site. I had noticed this for a couple years now that you CANNOT get a CRT TV in the stores anymore. You want a CRT professional arcade monitor? Be prepared to pay through the nose for it. I am guessing that was aimed at me. Well, I DON'T expect to be handed everything on a silver platter, BUT running a business, raising twin boys and trying to make ends meet in this trying economy takes up quite a bit of my time. As it is I am lucky if I see about 5 hours sleep a week. I have even less time to work on my projects. However, I DO still want to work on my personal projects. Also, I JUST come from a long arduous task of modding my XBox and in that regard, much of the information at X-Box Scene is outdated and they have many broken links. After a couple months of looking (and asking) for info, I FINALLY managed to get it going. When found and loaded up CoinOPs I was surprised that there was NO documentation, no links, no nothing in regards to setting anything up with the program. However, a fellow in another forum pointed out this forum and I signed myself up for it. In regards to changing the skin, I was hoping that changing a skin or some skin options would be a few settings here and there to change (as in XBMC). I didn't know I would need an entire course to do so. So that is why I am asking. And I would appreciate it if you could give a time/sleep deprived guy a break here. Thank You, Geo

YES!! YES!! That is it...perfect! How did you do that? BTW, I am using Hi-Def 720i. Geo

Ok, I tried changing the colors last night as I have found the skin.ini file in CoinOPs and I saw the set of four color numbers you were talking about above. However, without knowing what the value represents in terms of color, I am 'hunting blind'. But just for the record I did change some values but I didn't see any affect. Naturally I made note of the original values and put them back. Since it seems like a difficult proposition to fully change the skin, I would like to know if I could at least replace this skin with the one used on the earlier versions of CoinOPS. I prefer the orange lettering because my planned cabinet will be of a traditional Williams cabinet which the primary colors used are black, red, and yellow. BTW, I have noticed your posts in regards to the vertical skin project thread. How is that coming along? While my first project is planned for a horizontal screen, I KNOW I will want to do a vertical project in the future. Thanx, Geo

Hello all, I am new to this site as well as CoinOPS. I have CoinOPS Reignite R5 currently running on my Xbox and I initially made a post here in regards to changing skins (which I found out is not such an easy task to do). For the most part I am fine with the CoinOPS skin, BUT the question did come into my mind, what if I wanted to do a vertical only cabinet? So some quick searches lead me to this thread. My question is this: Is the Vertical version of CoinOPS Showcase available for download? I am prepping a second Xbox mod as we speak and I want to temporarily try out a vertical version of CoinOPs. Once I know it works, it will save it for a future Xbox project. Sidebar: I wanted to setup a vertical PacMan/ Ms Pacman cabinet for my mom as she loves Pac Man. However, I would like to know something else that is not really on topic. Can you slow down the game play? I have noticed that (for some reason) the Xbox seems to speed up the ROMs a bit. I can hear the effects on the music as well. Pac Man for instance sounds and plays faster than the true arcade version. So is there a way to slow this down within CoinOPS? Thanx, Geo