Now that the motors are in place and function properly, we need a way to control them. After watching the controller lights during replays, I noticed that the communication buttons lit up every time my VT took a hit- And, especially when my VT fell over. I don't use the BoomBox in Steel Battalion. Therefore, I never press the 4th and 5th communication buttons. I decided to use the 5th LED to control the motors via a simple comparator like circuit.

It wouldn't be difficult to construct a simple logic circuit to trigger the motors only when two or more of the communication buttons are lit simultaneously. Therefore, normal communication control would not cause any rumbling. In addition, you would still be able to test the motors by holding down two or more communication buttons. Since I never use the BoomBox, I decided that wasn't necessary.

I clipped away part of the LED's V+ lead, and interfaced a 1k resistor. The image shows a resistor I tack soldered in place while testing. I later trimmed it down to size. I also soldered a wire to the base of the resistor (the end closest to the PC board). Well call this the LED V+ line. Again, I stripped and tinned the other end of the wire. At this point I had four loose wires. The Xbox 5VDC output, the Xbox ground, the motor 5VDC input and the LED V+.

Following the schematic I drew up, I constructed the mod circuit. This should take care of all of the loose wires.

As stated earlier, I did not mount this circuit to a PC board, for it was so small. I put a dab of hot glue on an open area of the main PC board and stuck the IC to it. Practicality isn't always pretty.

Hopefully, you are reading ahead. For, this image will be helpful throughout the modding process.

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