Obscure Aliens Positional Gun project - Reduce the deadzone hardware wise?

[m64mrk]

Hey guys,

I'm pretty novice when it comes to electrical, so please excuse my lack of knowledge in this area.

I've got a generic AliExpress Aliens style positional gun and I'd like to try to break out the controls for use on original hardware Playstation 2 for some games that would be more suited to that style controller (also have it for PC but that's no problem).

I've taken the PCB of a donor PS2 controller and got the button presses working with the gun (Fire, zoom in, etc).

For the X + Y axis I've tapped into the left thumbstick POTS to control the crosshairs and general analog movement, working, but not as responsive as it needs to be.

Since there is no calibration feature on the PS2, you get what you get from the hardware inputs.

I've got a fair bit of deadzone when moving the positions and I was wondering what type of electrical intervention I could do try to reduce this, if any. 

I've tried a few online suggestions like: Adding a resistor to the ground sides of the circuit of the pots, adding a capacitor between the wiper/output and ground pins, but don't feel that they've made a difference.

I don't know if replacement POTS of this style are available with a shorter wipe distance to reduce the total travel needed to reach min/max values.
Would trying something like a 2K Ohm instead of a 5K stock potentiometer make a difference (though this can just be tested with a resistor?).

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Howard_Casto]

From what you are describing this isn't a hardware issue, rather, it's a software issue.   Since the games expect a thumbstick, which is "noisy," a fair amount of deadzone is programmed into the average ps2 game.   There really isn't much you can do on the hardware end.   In theory a lower value pot would have less resolution and move more, but you'd lose that resolution for aiming.   Before you do anything else, ensure the value of pot on the guns is the same as that of a ps2 controller.   

[m64mrk]

Thanks Howard, I'll get the meter out and compare the results.