Ok.. JUST cool… Someone crammed a fully-loaded NES into the body of one it’s own carts..
There’s something just a little mind-bending about a game cartridge that isn’t a cartridge at all, and instead is a console itself. If you think about the concept too hard, it might just cause a rift in the space-time continuum.
[Via Technabob]
[via Ben Heck Forums]
Otronicon Gamers presents:
The Ultimate Rock Band Drum Kit
A look at the process of converting a professional drum kit for use as a Rock Band game controller.
Designed and built by Brett “Buzz” Dawson, Exhibits Developer for the Orlando Science Center
For those that have been living under a rock for the last couple of years Rock Band is a video game that allows you use controllers that are shaped like musical instruments. Using technology from their previous titles like Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution, Harmonix stepped it up and combined all of them into one title called Rock Band. The biggest new addition was the drum pads.
For the regular consumer these are okay but for the nutty power drummer who plays like Bam Bam on a sugar rush they can’t really stand up to the abuse. And besides, when we open the doors to Otronicon V.3 and make this available for anyone to play I want to make sure that it could stand up to the abuse.
So, to create the look and feel of a real stage performance I wanted to modify these drums a bit. Mickey Greer and Tim Brown of Guitar Center of Winter Park here in Florida are good friends of the Orlando Science Center and gave me a sweet deal on a full sized drum kit that I couldn’t pass up.
Like a few people that have modded full sized guitars I did the same with one of my PS2 controllers using an Ibanez guitar. But, since others beat me to the punch I didn’t bother with a build report for it.
However, I haven’t seen anyone mod the drum pads yet so here goes a full build report.
The first thing that I had to do was start assembling the Gibraltar drum rack. I wanted to use a rack specifically because it keeps all of the drums hard mounted to each other which is important since there will be wires linking them all together. It will also make it easier to transport the kit to the stage when Otronicon begins.
Now that the rack is assembled I can get to the business of figuring out how the drum pads work. I started by removing the red pad which is held in place using shaped rubber inserts. The rebound and shock absorption of each pad is just four pieces of foam cut into pie shaped pieces.
The pads that come with the game are on the right and the high tom drum is on the bench to the left.
After opening up one of the pads I found that it uses a simple piezoelectric cell to detect vibration. Pretty ingenious and elegantly simple.
Now that I understand how that works it is time to move on to completing all hardware components before dealing with the electronics.
One of the common points of failure with the Rock Band kit is the kick drum pedal. The plastic foot pedal has a problem with breaking from people stomping on like like they were riverdancing. So, to alleviate that I used the steel foot pedal that came with the drum kit.
The kick drum switch on the game is triggered using a magnetic reed switch in the base of the pedal that is activated by a small NeFeB magnet on the foot controller. I made a s-shaped bracket and mounted a heavy duty SPST NO Momentary switch to replace the magnetic reed one in the foot pedal since all of this metal would interfere with the magnet anyway.
The kick drum clamp acts as a mechanical stop for the pedal to keep it from crushing the button. Also, the game pedal using a compression spring with a constant K value (meaning pressure increases that further you press down) whereas the professional drum kit pedal uses a chain and cam to provide progressive resistance and then release to snap at the bottom of the stroke. This makes the kick drum notes feel much more natural.
The next challenge was to mount the LCD monitor for the drummer. Since each of the guitarist and the lead vocal have their own screen I wanted the drummer to have the same convenience. The monitor is a 21″ Dell with a composite input just like the others. However, I needed to find a way to mount it in the rack.
The kick drum had a mounting point for the high tom which was no longer being used. So, I went into the shop and found a piece of aluminum bar that would fit the mount. next, I had to machine an insert that would fit into the bar so that I could drill and tap it with a 1/2-13 thread. I wanted to use a big bolt because this is the ONLY thing attaching the monitor to the rest of the drums.
Unfortunately, the bolt that I had was too long and the head was too tall and it had a shoulder that had to be turned down. Fifteen minutes on the lathe and I had a bolt that was short enough, had a low profile, and would screw in flush to work to mount the monitor.
Viola! We have a monitor mounted in the rack.
You will notice that the screen seems to be highly reflective. That is because I put a sheet of 1/4″ Lexan polycarbonate over the screen to protect it from errant flailing drumsticks. You can smack the dead center of the screen with the sticks and it doesn’t even phase it.
Next you will notice that the heads of the drums are now black versus the usual white or clear ones. That is because I replaced them with Kydex. This stuff is so strong that I played one song on the drums using two crescent wrenches and didn’t even leave a scratch on them.
Now that the hardware stuff is done it is time to move onto the electronics.
After removing the pads you can see the piezoelectric cell in the center of the pad. It is held in place with a spring and a retainer to make sure that the cell is pressed flat against the pad.
The next few pictures came out a little blurry but they are basically the cell removed from it’s cradle (showing both sides).
The second group of pictures is of a piece of foam being placed over the cell on the back of the Kydex to act like the spring in the original mount.
You will noticed also that I had to splice longer lengths of wire to make sure that they would reach the control panel when it is finished.
Okay, now the cell is mounted so let’s see if it works…
Yep, after plugging it into the open spot where the red pad used to be it seems to work very well. So well in fact that just tapping on the side of the drum is enough vibration to trigger it.
So, the next few hours was spent putting the cells in the other three drums. After finishing the install I tried all drums and they worked very well. The only drawback was that the drums still sounded like drums even with the Kydex heads on them.
In an effort to help quiet the drums I fill each one with foam. It did work to an extent. There is still a rather loud tapping sound from striking the plastic heads but it isn’t quite a pronounced as before. Another side effect is that the piezoelectric cells aren’t as sensitive since all vibrations are damped almost immediately.
Once I have the stage set up I am planning to remove the foam to improve sensitivity.
Now comes the fun part; dealing with all of the interconnects from the pads to the controller.
After removing all of the electronics I take the plastic shell over to the band saw and cut out just the control box. This is the first thing that I have done to the pads that is irreversible.
The picture to the left shows the control box mounted under the monitor but I haven’t wrapped the wires in split loom yet.
the picture to the right has all of the wires covered in split loom to match the color of the drum kit. The odd silver wire is a shielded two-conductor wire that leads to the kick drum pedal.
Finally! Drum kit is done! Now it is time for some banging on the drums (yes, that is me :-p)
Overall I am very pleased with the outcome and I think that it will withstand a lot of abuse.
This drum kit will be available for public play at the next Otronicon, January 18-21, 2008 at Orlando Science Center in Orlando, Florida. We will also be holding Rock Band and Guitar Hero competitions and the first place winners will get to perform live at Hard Rock Live in Orlando as the opening act for Video Games Live!
I will post pictures of the completed stage within a week as well as posting videos of the drums and the rest of the Rock Band stage in action so be sure to check back here!
Also, check out the rest of otronicon.org to see all that’s going on at this year’s Otronicon V.3!
An upcoming firmware update for Memor32 – the PS2 modchip on a memory card – promises to allow your non-chipped PS2 to play your entire collection of games from the comforts of a roomy, capacious USB hard drive. A group of Russian hackers named Memento are responsible for the firmware handiwork, allowing hard drive-based playback of your entire collection of PS2 discs for easy access, TiVo-style. Sure, the unscrupulous amongst you may use your Memor32′s new found powers for evil, but we just want to fire up Shadow of the Colossus without leaving the couch.[Via Engadget]
A hack of Wii Guitar Hero Guitar so it can actually be played like an instrument, with up to 45 different pitches. Finishes up (with one or two minor mistakes) the verse, chorus and solo to “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, by Nirvana, to demonstrate this.
Have you ever downloaded a ps3 theme, .p3t file, that you would like to customize? Some have icons you love but would like to use them with a different background. Well Anoop has saved the day. He has released P3T Unpacker v0.3
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t). By default, it will extract the contents of the theme file to the directory ‘extracted’ in the current directory.
IMPORTANT: You need to have the binary ‘p3tcompiler.exe’ in the same directory as this program, even when it is being run from Linux. This requirement will probably be removed soon.
This program is still in alpha stage and probably has dozens of bugs. If you find any, please let me know!
Here’s a quick tutorial:
C:\p3textractor>p3textractor Pixels.p3t
Writing file: ‘extracted/preview.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_user_1124.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_setting_1200.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_photo_1276.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_music_1352.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_video_1428.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_game_1504.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_network_1580.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_friend_1656.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_tv_1732.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_newuser_1808.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_update_1884.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_game_setting_1960.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_bdvd_setting_2036.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_music_setting_2112.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_chat_setting_2188.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_system_setting_2264.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_theme_setting_2340.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_datetime_setting_2416.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_accessory_2492.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_printer_setting_2568.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_display_setting_2644.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_sound_setting_2720.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_security_setting_2796.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_remoteplay_setting_2872.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_network_setting_2948.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_setting_item_3024.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_mediaserver_search_3100.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_ms_3176.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_sd_3252.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_cf_3328.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_usb_3404.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_pspms_3480.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_usbcamera_3556.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_usbaad_3632.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_gamedata_3708.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_savedata_3784.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_vmc_3860.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_newvmc_3936.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_onlinemanual_4012.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_remoteplay_4088.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_browser_4164.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_download_4240.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_accountmanage_4316.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_blocklist_4392.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_addfriend_4468.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_playermet_4544.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_chat_4620.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_chatroom_4696.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_mbox_4772.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_mbox_received_4848.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_mbox_sent_4924.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/icon_mbox_create_5000.gim’
Writing file: ‘extracted/hd.jpg’
Writing file: ‘extracted/sd.jpg’magic: “P3TF”
version: 272
tree_offset: 64
tree_size: 5252
idtable_offset: 5328
idtable_size: 1090
stringtable_offset: 6432
stringtable_size: 292
intarray_offset: 6736
intarray_size: 0
floatarray_offset: 6736
floatarray_size: 0
filetable_offset: 6736
filetable_size: 658208
A new update is now available on the Latest Release page. Note that this one has some significant OS-specific changes (hopefully for the better), so if you’re not in the mood for a bit of risk-taking, you should probably stay away from this one!
Source: MAME 0.111u3
Originally published on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:49:25 GMT
[Welcome to all our visitors arriving from the blogosphere. It's mentioned below, but it really should be step 0, so let me save a bunch of you some time and frustration: This process requires a modded PS2 capable of playing burned DVDs. This is NOT something we will assist you with here. If that's you, then feel free to continue reading. If not, thanks for stopping by, and if you enjoy Guitar Hero, do take a look around the rest of our site. 
--The Management]
It should be idiot proof, because i can do it 
I decided to do this because there is some incredible work going on and peoples creations deserve to be played, so i thought a simple one stop guide would encourage more people to try it out.
I’m going to attempt to write this guide so that the level of prior knowledge required is zero. So forgive me if you read this and think a lot of stuff is obvious.
Firstly let me state this guide will only help you with getting other peoples created songs into your Guitar Hero 2 game
It Contains no information on creating custom notecharts.
Tools Needed (All programs are freeware) Use “paddy” without the quotes if the .rar asks for a password.
Guitar Hero Explorer: http://scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2549
GHero Utils: http://scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2132
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
MFAudio: http://www.zophar.net/utilities/ps2util.html
Anvil Studio: http://www.anvilstudio.com/
CD-DVD Generator: http://utilities.psxforum.com/cddvdgen.zip
Apache: http://www.ps3news.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=9
DVD Decrypter/Nero/Alcohol/Any other ISO burning software.
Swap Magic/Mod Chip/Method of booting burns on your PS2 (If you don’t have one, don’t ask, you wont be getting any help)
A DVD Burner
Good quality media to burn to. This is REALLY REALLY REALLY important. If your eventual burn does not work, this is the number one reason why. I recommend Taiyo Yuden, Sony and Verbatim or Check: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm for a full list
The Actual Process
Step 1. Download the provided .mid file
Step 2. Check to see if the .mid is for GH2 and not GH1, if this is not made clear by the person who posted it, check the video link if there’s one provided, or ask them
Step 3. If the .mid is for GH1, or you are unsure, open Anvil Studio, load up your .mid. Look at the yellow box near the top, if it says “PART GUITAR” leave it, if not, right click it and make it so. Now go to View –> Event List, select “Events” from the drop down menu and scroll down to the bottom. Look for the entry with “Comments: [end]“. If there are brackets around the word end you’re good to go, if there aren’t, double click the entry and put them in.
Step 4. Get an .mp3 of the song in question. If one is freely available, it may have been provided by the song creator, if not you will need to rip it from the CD or buy it from Itunes.
Step 5. Insert your GH2 disc into your DVD drive, copy the contents of the disc to a folder on your hard drive.
Step 6. Open Guitar Hero Explorer (Ghex), Go to file —> add archive and locate your MAIN.HDR file which is in the “GEN” folder you copied from the GH2 disc
Step 7. In Ghex expand “Songs” and then the song you wish to replace, right click on the .mid file for that song and hit replace, now locate the .mid of your custom song and hit replace.
Step 8. Right click the .vgs file of the same song and click import, now right click the new box and select Add. Find your mp3 from step 4 and just fill in the bottom with the default settings. After it has finished you can preview your vgs by hitting play to check it’s worked.
Step 9. Click on the folder for the song you replaced, you should see a preview of your note chart, click play, slow the playback down to 50% and check your audio file does not start too late or too early, if it does, go back to step 8 but after adding your mp3, right click it and select properties. Now fiddle around with the offset (+ if the song starts too early, – if it starts too late) and import it again. Repeat until you get it right.
Alternatively, if you have problems with GHEX (as the VGS feature is still in its early life) you can use the original method
Code:
Open your .mp3 with audacity and go to File —> Export as WAV
Open MFAudio, select your new WAV as the input file and select .vag as your output format. Now hit process
Unzip the contents of the GhUtils archive to a folder called “GHUtils” in your Program Files folder. Open command prompt (Start Menu —> Run —> cmd) locate the folder to which you unzipped GHutils (type cd \Program Files\GHUtils) and type java FileExpandGuitarHero
This will launch the vgs converter. Find your .vag from step 6 and hit New Audio. When it’s done it will ask you to enter a hex value, just ignore it and hit cancel. You now have everything you need to play your song, now to get them in the game
Step 10. That’s all the file swapping done, now to rebuild the game. Open CD/DVD Generator, select new project and then New DVD Master disc, drag and drop the folders and files from the GH2 game disc into the main window in the following order.
GEN
IOP
VIDEOS
SLUS_214.47 (If you are not using the US version of the game this file will be different)
System
Now click on the “Volume” tab and enter SLUS 21447 (or whatever your file said if it was different) into the “Disc Name” field. Put PLAYSTATION in the “Producer Name” field and change the license area to the appropriate region. Ignore the rest. Now click on File —> Export .iml file
Step 11: Open Apache, Go to File —> Create —> ISO from IML file, select the IML you made in the previous step and let it do it’s thing.
Step 12: Open up DVD Decrypter/Nero/Alcohol/Your burning program of choice and burn your ISO at 4x to GOOD QUALITY MEDIA (see above)
That’s it, you’re done. That may look like a long process, but once you have the procedure down it doesn’t take much longer than 10-15 minutes including wait times to get the ISO.
Let me know if i’ve missed anything or if anything is wrong. (I’m not sure about the changing GH1 midi to GH2, can someone confirm that what i said in step 3 is all that’s needed as i haven’t tried it myself yet.)[/code]
Source: ScoreHero.com :: View topic - Idiot Proof Guide to playing custom made songs in GH2.
Filed under: Homebrew
Homebrewers will want to be on the look-out once again. If fake downgraders that bricked your PSP weren’t enough, apparently another piece of malicious code has hit the web: a supposed plugin for the PSP will allow your system to play AVI, DivX and Xvid files. The program, created by a programmer named “Sc00p,” is in fact, littered with trojans that will attempt to infect your PC. Uncool. While it won’t brick the PSP, it may be able to harm your computer.
[Via DCEmu]
Source: DivX & Xvid support too good to be true
Originally published on Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:00:00 GMT
Cheaters, cheat with ease, thanks to weltall and the latest revision of CWCheat. It’s available in two builds, one of which allows you to load the database from a different location (cwcheat-gamecompatibility.prx); this will hopefully prevent games like Socom from crashing. Otherwise, below is the full 0.1.6 Revision G changelog:
* fixed the code type D1 there was a little bug [POPS]
* brightness reworked a bit now it should be more responsive [ALL]
* brightness is now saved and loaded from file 0 = disabled 1 = 25% 2 = 50% 3 = 75% 4 = 100% [ALL]
* fixed a little glitch in the id reading function which made cwcheat show om or rom when the executable was named PSX.EXE. Now PSXEXE is showed [POPS]
* added xploder code types 90, 70 and 00 [POPS]
* now it’s possible to read gme memorycard (no save support ATM) press R to exchange gme< ->mcr [POPS]
* added a build which loads codes from the kernel partition you can use that as a temporary fix for games which have problems with the volatile partition (like socom and nfs)[GAME]
* added back support for 302OE emulator memory cards now it’s automatically detected if it’s the 303OE emulator or the 302OE one
* prx for psp games is updated to latest functions [GAME]
* added 32bit search support for builds with GS/AR support: the output code will be a two line code [POPS]
* All was moved to ms0:/seplugins/cwcheat/ so the dh folder isn’t needed anymore [ALL]
* battery temperature is now showed [ALL]
* other things [ALL]
0.1.6 Rev. G is compatible with 3.03 OE GAME (cwcheat.prx) and POPS (cwcheatpops.prx), meaning you’re able to cheat just about every PSP and PSX game with this release.
Download and Give Feedback Via Comments
via weltallAttached Files
CWCHEAT_016_REVG_FOR_303OE-POPS-GAME.RAR (1.16 MB)
Source: CWCheat 0.1.6 Rev. G for 3.03 OE GAME & POPS
Originally published on Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:47:26 GMT
Hackers never stop, always thinking of new ways to bring functionality to old products. The original NES controller seems to be a never ending source of ideas for the hack/mod crowd. Now we have an NES controller that houses…NES games. Check out the link to see how it’s done!
Source: The NES in an NES controller
Originally published on Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:18:58 GMT
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