First Fightstick mod: MC Cthulhu - QUESTIONS on Installation

[Dochartaigh]

I’m attempting my first mod of an arcade fightstick. I'm using a Toodles MC Cthulhu control board so I can use it on a bunch of consoles. I’ve been doing research, watching a bunch of videos, and just need confirmation on a few things. - Maybe this will help others out as well. I'm going to be a dork and number the questions since there's quite a few (only 8!)



The fightstick I’m modding is a PS3 Hori Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 fightstick. Has a USB connection for the PS3, but I’ve been using it on my Raspberry Pi 3 (RetroPie) setup, along with my GroovyMAME (Windows PC) setup for my CRT’s.




Has Sanwa buttons and joystick





I’m pairing the Toodles MC Cthulhu control board with opt2not's RJ45 cables for PS1/PS2, Sega Saturn, and Sega Dreamcast (he makes cables for other systems as well).




Totally stole your photo opt2not - hope that's OK




I want the option to put the stick back to stock (just in case I mess the installation up, or turn out to never use this with PS1-2/Saturn/Dreamcast as planned) so I disconnected all the stock wires and zip tied them off to the side. Also labeled everything, and have the proposed location of the MC Cthulhu shown top center. I'll need to get quick-detach wires for the two different connection types shown below:








(1) The prongs for the buttons measure 0.1135" wide, so these "Orange 16pc 22 AWG Wire with .110 Quick Disconnect" I'm guessing are the closest to that size and should fit, correct? And do people daisy chain ALL the grounds of the buttons to one single wire, or is it better to do it separately (I've seen videos both ways and the MC Cthulhu does have 4 grounds)? If people do daisy-chain (and there's nothing negative about it), I can use this 10 Connection 22 AWG .110" Ground Daisy Chain Wire for the common ground, right? Which pin is used for ground doesn't matter I read.

(2) For the joystick and it's 5-pin connector, this should be the correct wire harness to get? Mine measures 0.43" across all 5 pins, and individual pins are 0.04" wide/each.




That takes care of the 8x buttons, the joystick, and start. There's a couple other buttons/switches I have questions about which are on the top of the fight stick, hooked up to a small PCB:




(3) I haven't taken the PCB off yet but I'm sure it's easy enough to find which wires from those ribbon cables is for the two buttons there (select and PS? button) - same as above it doesn't matter which one I use for ground, correct? Is it alright that I solder directly onto where the ribbon cable goes into the PCB? Is the "HOME" button marked on the Cthulhu board what I hook the Playstation button up to? I don't think that matters for the PS1-2/Saturn/DC consoles (wouldn't think they use that at all), but I can always use another button for MAME (and if I use this on a PS3 I'll want that as well).

(4) There's no way to keep the ability to use those turbo switches anymore once I hook everything up to the Cthulhu, correct?
(5) There's also a switch to switch from DP, LS, RS (d-pad, left stick, right stick I believe). I usually keep that in DP and don't think I've ever had to switch it before (but I've only used this for MAME to date). Is that going to be needed at anytime for regular play?




After the buttons and joystick are hooked up I need to figure out how to get a RJ45 connector onto the case of the fightstick. I'm looking at buying a Neutrik NE8FDP RJ45 Feed-Through port. It looks like all I do is drill a 24mm diameter hole, and the two smaller holes for the screws and I should be set. The back seems to be a regular female RJ45 port again.

(6) What I need clarification on here is different CAT types of Ethernet cable seem to have different color codes on the wires. So my ethernet cable I have laying around says "AWM E329905 STYLE 2835 VW-1" on it which I can't find a color code for. Am I better off just buying a cheap cable so I know the exact cable type and can then lookup the correct code? The only other way to get the wires soldered in the correct order would be to peel back the insulation all the way and cut into the ethernet connector so I can see which wire is 1st, 2nd, etc. – so there must be an easier way or I'm missing something. After I figure that out, I know it's wired to the first row of the Cthulhu like this:




(7) I also wanted to confirm that I only need ONE single external port on my fightstick – which I want to be RJ45. I can then use a 13 Foot USB to RJ45 Cable, and plug that USB directly into my Raspberry Pi 3, my MAME Windows PC, or my PS3. That will be exactly the same as if I plugged in a regular Male A-B USB 2.0 Cable from the stock USB-B port of the Cthulhu into those systems, right? ...just need this confirmed so I don't have to figure out how to install TWO external ports on my fightstick instead of one which would be pretty annoying.


After that, all that's left is a way to mount the Chulthu into the case via some sort of attachment system (if I don't want it flopping around of course). Don't have that worked out quite yet, but I'll figure something out. Inside the case proper, there doesn't seem to be any good place to screw screws into, and not many flat areas to use the adhesive pads on either). Maybe in the area where the original USB cord got wrapped up and stored in would be good, but it'll be tight there with all the wires coming out the sides of the Cthulhu – open to suggestions.


(8) Last, besides these older PS1-2/Saturn/DC consoles, the Cthulhu works with PS3 it says at the top of the instruction PDF. But NOT Xbox 360? That confuses me as the wiring example they give you on the very bottom of the PDF is for a "MadCatz360" fightstick, yet it doesn't work on a Xbox 360? (just wanted to confirm that as that's really weird)


Thank you, and I hope none of this is too simplistic. Never done this before so want to make sure it's done right. Please let me know if I missed anything.

[PureDynamo]

1. I believe that size should be fine. The daisy chaining is because each button needs to be connected to ground, so by daisy chaining there's only one wire going to the board so it is a little bit neater., otherwise you have 8 wires going to the pcb when you could just have one. Yes that wire is fine with the quick disconnected. One thing though its really easy to get lost with the wiring if all the wires are the same color. You should get some wire at your local electronics store and just crimp your own quick disconnects. It's not hard at all as long as you can put a wire into a hole and squeeze it with pliers..

2. I believe this will work, but you need to figure out if the stick is sanwa or semitsu. Because I believe the wring is different. You should be able to figure this out pretty easily with some google or just searching shoryuken.

3. Those ribbon cables go directly to that PCB for the home and all the turbo buttons. If you want to keep the controller easily switchable to stock, I think you should leave these alone. If I recall correctly, you can mimic the home button by hitting start and select after shorting the disable home.

4. I don't believe so. This is because that PCB is the one doing the turbo. I could be completely incorrect.

5. It shouldn't because the cthulu will handle it.

About the neutrik. Yes you want to do this, but you want to be strategic about where you put the hole. For example, in mine:

https://imgur.com/yW4V5h0

My stick is super dusty, but you can see that I drilled into the space where you store the wire. Also, on your rj45 end adding these to the cables lock them into the neutrik so it won't disconnect until you want them to. They give a satisfying click.

https://www.focusattack.com/neutrik-ne8 ... tte-black/

6. Its been a while since I did this so my memory is a little fuzzy. You can figure it out based on the wire you have. First flip it into the orientation that your image is then look at pin 1 on the RJ-45. Then there is a wire right below it, lets say this wire is blue. You want to connect this blue wire in the jacket to the G of the cthulu. You repeat this process. I don't believe the colors in an RJ45 are standard. But what's happening is the use a wire touch it to the pin then on the other end of the wire touch it to the same pin.

7. Yes, as you can see on the image I linked you only need 1 port. When you want to use the stick on dreamcast, plug your dreamcast cable into the neutrik and then you're all set.

8. This is because Microsoft specifically licenses their controller tech. This isn't a licensed product so they didn't get whatever was needed to be used on a 360. However, I remember back in the day there were some dual mods where you can toggle between boards, it might be something to look into.

There are a lot of tutorials on this. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH9ebW4nZew. It should give you enough of an idea of what to do. I think the one I linked you need to solder the button cables to the board, but I think the mccthulu always comes with screw down terminals now. Just pop the wire in and screw the terminal down.

[Dochartaigh]

Thanks man, much appreciated!

I'll get different color wires to keep everything organized and use a common ground on them all.

For the ribbon cable on the PCB for Select and Home (PS? button) I can't short the disable home jumper because RetroPie (Raspberry Pi 3) uses the Select+Start shortcut to exit out of every game (so whenever I pressed that button combo the Cthulhu would send a signal for the "home" button which the RP3 wouldn't know what to do with and i wouldn't be able to exit out of any game). You think it's a bad idea to solder to the wires on the PCB pad for Select and Home (which "Home" is the same thing as the "PS button", correct)? If I ever switched back to the original/stock Fightstick controller those wires I added would be connected to nothing so I think that should be ok.

Thanks for the tip about the Neutrik. I had no clue that transformed the RJ45/ethernet port into a more robust port type. I can still use the regular Ethernet cable connector with that as well though, correct? I just don't know if I want what looks like a 2-3" long, and double-the-diameter connector hanging off the back of my Fightstick (that Neutrik connector just seems to be like 10 times the physical volume of the regular little tiny plastic RJ45 connector).

For figuring out which wire is what on my Ethernet cable, are you saying to look into the (partially) clear plastic RJ45 connector I have and try to discern which color is what from that? Unfortunately mine has like 3 pure white wires - I don't know if the color stripe/band is further down, or only on the back side of the single wire (both of which are hidden from view), but I think I might be better off just buying one which I can lookup the wiring diagram for so I'm not making any guesses.



For only having one port - I just wanted to triple check since you gave a specific example about plugging in a Dreamcast cable...and my question was specifically about being able to keep the USB ability THROUGH the RJ45 cable - so I just don't want there so be any confusion. So these two below scenarios are exactly the same? (hope I'm not being dense

–– Plugging in a USB B to USB A cable from the Cthulhu's stock/built-in USB port: going to the USB port on my PS3, Windows PC, or Raspberry Pi 3 and:

–– Plugging in a RJ45 to USB A cable from the RJ45 port I soldered/added onto the Cthulhu: going to the USB port on my PS3, Windows PC, or Raspberry Pi 3?



Thanks again!

[Syntax]

I can't understand why these PCBs never had a turbo fire option.
It cant be that hard to implement.

**EDIT**
Looks like Brooks did it for there Brook PC PS3 PS4 board.

[Dochartaigh]

I can't understand why these PCBs never had a turbo fire option.
It cant be that hard to implement.

**EDIT**
Looks like Brooks did it for there Brook PC PS3 PS4 board.

Brooks doesn't work on these older consoles which is the entire point of using the Cthulhu! I agree though - on prolonged playing sessions my hand literally get sore when I don't have turbo - it will REALLY be missed.

[NuAgeHeat]

Dochartaigh,

I recently did this mod and can say the USB connection will work fine. It shows up as a dinput device, which Pi handles quite well.
There's a slight difference with the name of the device when it comes to Usb vs rj45 but the buttons map the same. Make sure you update the pcbs firmware before installing

Speaking of buttons you can hold 2k + 3k when powering on / pluggig in to make start+select=home for ps3. Works great. I'm planning to solder onto the pcb myself, just haven't gotten to it.

Oh and Neutrik connectors are the way to go. Much more secure connection (had disconnects issues with just cat5 end) and also it's badass. Only like 1.5" in actuality