Publishers Activision and RedOctane released the RedOctane X-Plorer Controller bundled with Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360, some bundles of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, or available separately. This same controller was also bundled with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the personal computer (PC) and Macintosh. The Xbox 360 controller works with the PC using a driver with Windows (XP SP2 or Vista only). The case for the game disc and manual of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the PC called the controller the Guitar Hero 3 Official PC Guitar Controller.
The RedOctane X-Plorer Controller for these games is based on the Gibson Explorer, a type of electric guitar. It is also the only guitar controller officially supported by Aspyr Media (developer of the PC and Macintosh releases).[1] The guitar controller plugs into the Xbox 360 via the USB ports. The PC and Macintosh releases have the same software limitation of two local players at a time. The guitar's cord uses the break away cord connection,[2] like controllers of the original Xbox console.
Open the “Xbox 360 Controller for Windows” and click on the “Drivers” tab. Click “Update Driver” and allow Windows “Search Automatically”. The Gibson SG Controller was packaged with the PS2 version of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II The SG is much smaller than its counterpart, the X-plorer. The Gibson SG Controller was packaged with the PS2 version of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II The SG is much smaller than its counterpart, the X-plorer Controller used in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. The SG is one of the Guitars available to use in game for Guitar Hero III (PS2 version), and Guitar hero: Aerosmith (also on the PS2). Your character can play it as if it was a real. How you connect your wired Guitar Hero controller to your PC depends on whether you have the PS2 or Xbox version of the controller. For the PS2 version, purchase a PS2 to USB adapter from an online retailer such as eBay or Amazon and attach this to your controller's cable. Guitar Hero Live controller on PC This is a short tutorial explaining how you can connect a Guitar Hero Live controller to your PC and use it with Clone Hero (or any other software). Important notice: this only works if you have a Xbox 360 dongle for your guitar.
The controller includes two input connections:
- Xbox 360 accessories, like on the Xbox 360 controller[3]
- RJ14 connector, to be used for an Effects pedal add-on that was never released[4]
The insides of the guitar show a few interesting things:
- The RJ14 connector only uses two of the possible four wires (seen on Model number: 95065)
- There are two jumpers (JP1 and JP2) that are labeled on the circuit board, but are unused (seen on Model number: 95065)
- The strum bar is a rocker switch using three wired for connectivity (seen on Model number: 95065)
When the controller is connected to a Windows Vista or Windows XP PC, it shows up as a game controller.[5] This allows you to see button presses and the tilt sensors. Currently, only one tilt sensor is used by the Guitar Hero games.
References[edit]
- ^Bergfeld, Carlos (2007-11-07). 'Wireless 360 Guitar Hero III Controller Compatible with PC Version'. Shacknews. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^'The 'X' Difference'. GameFAQs. 2001-11-27. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
- ^McLain, Alex. 'Xbox 360 Accessories - Controller Evolved'. Xbox.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-16. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
- ^Kollar, Philip (2007-04-02). 'Guitar Hero 2 Manual Confirms Effects Pedal'. 1up.com. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
- ^'Guitar Hero 3 for PC'. 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
This is a short tutorial explaining how you can connect a Guitar Hero Live controller to your PC and use it with Clone Hero (or any other software).
Important notice: this only works if you have a Xbox 360 dongle for your guitar. If you don’t have such a dongle, you can try requesting a Xbox 360 dongle by opening a ticket on Activision support.
Step 1: connect the dongle to an USB port of your PC and wait for the automatic recognition/installation process to be completed.
Step2: open the device manager. To open the device manager you can press the Windows key + R, then type “devmgmt.msc” and click OK.
Step3: find the entry called “Guitar Hero”.
Step4: right-click on the entry “Guitar Hero” and select “Update driver”.
Step 5: select the second option “chose manually”.
Step 6: select again the second option “chose from list”.
Step 7: in the list select “Xbox 360 devices” and press next.
Step 8: in the following list select “Xbox 360 controller for Windows” and press next.
Step 9: confirm by clicking Yes.
Step 10: click Close. Done!
Sync the guitar with the receiver dongle: you also have to connect the guitar to the dongle. To do so, press the green sync-button on the dongle and the sync-button of the guitar until they are both blinking and searching for eachother. Wait a few seconds and they will connect.
Note about connection problems: we heard repeatedly about cases where a certain Windows update (version 2004) breaks the driver and the receiver doesn’t work anymore. You can follow the steps of this video to fix it. Follow every step but when you need to copy the hardware ID, copy the whole expression starting from USBvid… and replace the entire USB-expression in the driver files. After having completed the steps in the video, the dongle should be working. However it might happen that the guitar still doesn’t sync. In that case you need to update the driver again (step 2 and onward). Choose again to browse your computer for drivers, uncheck “show compatible hardware” and re-install the original xbox 360 driver as shown above.
Xbox 360 Guitar Hero Bundles
Don’t hesitate to contact me if something is unclear. I’d be more than happy to answer you and subsequently improve my tutorial.
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