Not really interesting. Same as cheating, but a bit more work.

Posted at 12:13 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by Auke

no not cheating. like he said, there’s existing controllers with rapid fire buttons, ppl have been doing this all along. i think it’s smart.

Posted at 12:59 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by andrew

Anybody remember Turbografx? All the controllers had built-in 3-speed selectable rapid fire, even on the portable version (TurboExpress), I’m not sure why something like this is an afterthought on systems today.

Posted at 1:25 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by Pocketbrain

With most games it doesn’t really help too much – halo included. All weapons have a minimum wait time between firing – in fact, if you trigger too fast, it usually slows down the rate as the extra triggers are sort of like misfires. A much more useable hack for halo 2 and a lot of FPS games is to add two buttons to your controller for A/B so that you can jump/melee without moving your thumb off the right thumbstick.

Tom

Posted at 1:28 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by th0mas

Re th0mas:

Instead of making your controller more mouselike, why not just get a mouse?

You’ve got 10 fingers for a reason. I have no idea why console makers assume you shouldn’t use most of them.

Posted at 2:19 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by ivan256

the best use of rapid fire is for thoaw games where you have to press one button really fast.. i hate those games.. u know.. like to raise power or sumthin.. yaa.. u know.

Posted at 4:26 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by g0d

Re ivan256:

“Instead of making your controller more mouselike, why not just get a mouse?”
-Because the Xbox doesn’t have mouse support and fakers like the SmartJoy Frag don’t have anywhere near the same feel as a mouse.

“You’ve got 10 fingers for a reason. I have no idea why console makers assume you shouldn’t use most of them.”
-You need something to hold the controller with… Honestly IMO the PS2 controllers that require the use of your middle finger is already too many fingers because I don’t have enough left to comfortably hold the controller and I get cramped too quickly. It’s not often you need to use more then one button at a time. Besides I think any more complexity in the controllers would only further alienate non-gamers.

As for this hack… it’s kind of an old hack… I mean the linked thread up above was created in December of ‘04. Also why not just use a 555 timer?

Posted at 4:28 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by Twistedsymphony

The only thing different between this and the 555 timer is that you can adjust the speed of the shooting rate.

If you want to add a second button to your controller, you can easily do that but this tutorial http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=301912

Posted at 4:47 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by Xboxplaya978

A 555 = a few less parts and lower power consumption. Plus it would probably be easier for soldering noobas (and yes you can adjust their speed as well) :)

Posted at 5:57 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by Paul

you can change the speed using a 555 based astable multivibrator, less total parts involved too

f = 1.44/((R1+2R2) * C)

i always liked the programmable controllers you could get for SNES, awesome for mortal kombat where you could program in the fatalities etc..

Posted at 5:57 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by adaminc

good instructions – rough pictures – i like how the buttons are mounted under the controller for a nice stealth mod – maybe find enough room inside the controller if the pcb could be flattened some more and maybe even seperated – nice hack for saving you mashing the buttons – it also helps you play longer I imagine both timewise within the game and physically reducing the stress on your trigger fingers :D

Posted at 6:00 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by insomniac

In the link to the topic about it, therte are some schematics for the 55 timer. It is smaller but I couldnt find one when I was looking for my parts so I couldnt use it. I know someone had a pic of how small it was and he had it in his controller. Maybe I will try it too.

Posted at 6:56 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by xboxplaya978

Nice writeup. Perhaps some stuff got lost in translation:

Capacitors *_CAN_* be damaged by heat. Electrolytic have a polarity so they *_CAN’T_* be put in backwards.

LED

Posted at 9:02 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by hack_me_amadeus

Actually i’ve looked at the tutorial for the 555 timer idea and they’ve done it using a 556, just reapeated the astable multivibrator on both sides

Posted at 9:10 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by omega x

a 555 would definately be the faster/clearner/easier way to go. I’d probably put a three-way toggle switch to change the astable speed from single shot (off), slow and fast. Maybe use a 556 chip so you can create a burst-mode where you get off three shots for every trigger pull.

Posted at 9:36 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by terry

13# a resister *cannot* be put in backwards, as it has no directionality. a diode or an electrolytic *can but shouldn’t* because it has polarity. It has the propensity for backwardness, though backwardness is undesirable.

Posted at 10:53 pm on Jun 12th, 2006 by Ben

does someone have schematics for a 555 version of this mod that would work? if so, would it be small enough to fit inside the controller case?

Posted at 12:50 am on Jun 13th, 2006 by Stephen

#16 Don’t forget to put in a hall effect sensor so the rapid fire will only be active when you are wearing a special magnetic ring lets say. Now that would be stealth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_effect_sensor

Posted at 3:01 am on Jun 13th, 2006 by Jawpaul

If you wanted to get really tricky you could cut the traces going to the pot on the trigger and put in a mode switch, in one position the trigger would work normally in the other position the trigger would be fed through the 555 and it’s position would be used to adjust the burst speed.

#16 (stephen) pretty much any 555 timer in an Astable configuration would work. Here is some good beginners info on building 555 circuits: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/555timer.htm

Posted at 9:22 am on Jun 13th, 2006 by Twistedsymphony

Begginger question:

Could someone tell me where these four wires go to?

1) +5v
2) Gnd
3) Right Trigger
4) Left Trigger

I want to use this device on a 360 controller. Do I buy a 5v battery and hook up 1 & 2 to it?
The triggers on a 360 controller have two leads going to them. As I would think all switches do. Which right trigger lead do I put 3) on? Similarly, which left trigger lead do I put 4) on?

It doesn’t make sense to me that there are four wires that come out of the schematic and go to the triggers. Two wires for each trigger.

Posted at 2:58 pm on Jun 13th, 2006 by Kevin

I meant to say:

It doesn’t make sense to me that there **aren’t** four wires that come out of the schematic **that** go to the triggers. Two wires for each trigger.

Posted at 3:08 pm on Jun 13th, 2006 by Kevin

Kevin.

The circuit in the controller can only see voltages, and the pins on the circuit are pulled high by a resister attached to 5VDC, which comes from the xbox, no battery required. What this circuit does is use that five volts to make a circuit that fluctuates between 5 and gnd(also from the xbox). this signal is not sent to the controller. Rather, the fluctuating signal is sent to the two transistors at the bottom of the schematic. These basically work as electrically controlled switches, turning on and off. one side of the button is attached via a mess of circuit board and wires back to ground, so it works the same way, and you don’t have to solder anything to the button contacts themselves.

if you have any questions, email me at benjamin.baker@gmail.com

Posted at 4:39 pm on Jun 13th, 2006 by Ben

An update has been added to the site telling you my future plans and experiments.

Posted at 8:04 pm on Jun 15th, 2006 by Xboxplaya978

Nice photo, lol you’re a good photographer

Posted at 12:45 pm on Jul 24th, 2006 by Phil

on the topic about rapid fire for original xbox, how much would you want if i mailed you a controller to do that to it tell me a price and ill probably go with it as long as its reasonable

Posted at 10:31 pm on Aug 14th, 2007 by nick

what would you have to do to make it work for a mouse? i am interested in doing it for pc gaming but dont know what ould be different? i just want it for my left button… (i am a noob)

Posted at 10:55 pm on Oct 4th, 2007 by sammyg

does this work on the xbox 360 controller as well?

Posted at 11:17 pm on Feb 2nd, 2008 by damir

I bought a controller ready modded, I tried to do it myself but burned out ne of the fuses

Posted at 6:10 pm on Aug 5th, 2008 by pete

they just say say u cant cant shoot because you need it to shoot for ;)

Posted at 2:44 pm on Dec 12th, 2008 by danny

hartmooremods.net for rapid fire xbox 360 controllers.

Posted at 10:04 am on May 26th, 2009 by Hart Moore Mods