Gameport Options

[zgamer]

I am going to attempt and be the first female(i think) on this forum to construct my own arcade controller. I want to query a few things?
I want to accomadate games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat etc. Those are games that use max 6 buttons. I want a 4-way joystick and 6 buttons, is this possible on gameport option. Should I also then use USB port. I will mostly be using mame emulator.

Please Assist !

[SNAAAKE]

i dont know about others but i tried several gameport pads(2 of them and psx to gameport converter) and no matter how much you try you only get 4 inputs and directions.

Besides why would you even go gameport to begin with .
EB games sells USB pads with 14 inputs for like $10 and i saw several different brand all went for $10.
$10 sounds pretty cheap to me .

[u_rebelscum]

I want to accomadate games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat etc. Those are games that use max 6 buttons. I want a 4-way joystick and 6 buttons, is this possible on gameport option. Should I also then use USB port. I will mostly be using mame emulator.

It is possible on the gameport.  MS sidewinder is one example, but there are many others that work too (w/ at least a digital joystick + 6 buttons).  These use "special" (non-standard gameport) drivers to get around the 4 button limit.  The drivers come with windows or with the joystick, but if you want to use dmame (dos mame) make sure the joystick has a dos driver.

Look for joystick with discripitions that include: "digital joystick", "6 buttons" (or more), or "daisy chain with other [same brand] joysticks".  However, if the joystick is analog on the gameport, it probably cannot do more than 4 buttons.

But as snaaake said, USB doesn't have the gameport problems, so as long as your motherboard and OS can handle USB, it's probably a better option than trying to find gameport joystick that do what you want.

[rampy]

I am going to attempt and be the first female(i think) on this forum to construct my own arcade controller. I want to query a few things?
I want to accomadate games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat etc. Those are games that use max 6 buttons. I want a 4-way joystick and 6 buttons, is this possible on gameport option. Should I also then use USB port. I will mostly be using mame emulator.

Please Assist !

We're breaking all sorts of ground here then!

It would help to have some additional info... is it a control panel for 1 person or 2 people (playing StreetFighter II for example) simultaneously...  

How fast is your machine that you plan on hooking this up to and what OS, oh and mame version?

What's your budget?  =P

I'm guessing if you want to play SFII etc you'll want an 8 way arcade joystick... a 4 way arcade joystick is generally used for the older classic games that didn't register diagonals and play better with the 4 way (or quasi 4 way sticks)

The sidewinder game port game pad has some plusses for some situations... it's cheap, it's easy to hack with well labled abd accessible soldered points, it's daisy chainable., it works in DOS and dmame without extra drivers/natively which is good for older machines.

Having said that: if you're doing a 1 person control panel on a recent machine, hacking a cheapo usb pad is a good option...

if you're going for 2players consider ponying up the money for an ipac from ultimarc.com (it's worth every penny)

good luck,

rampy

[Dave_K.]

I am going to attempt and be the first female(i think) on this forum to construct my own arcade controller. I want to query a few things?

Sorry, but there used to be a female in BYOAC called "Pink"  but we scared her off almost 2 years ago.  

My suggestion is to go with a PSX hack.  The old PSX has 10 buttons and an 8 way.  Get the cheap psx->usb converter for PC/Mame.  This also leaves options open for you to implement a console (Dreamcast/Xbox/PS2) in your cab for the future.

[zgamer]

I am catering for one player only : 4 or 8 way and 6 buttons. I'm using windows 98 and Mame 3.2.1
My budget is about R500 = $75. I have a pentium 2 , 500 mhz pc.

I will be going either for USB or gameport. I currently have a dexxa gamepad with gameport cable. All in all this gamepad has 10 buttons and controls. I have already taken it apart.

BUT where do I actually connect the resistors to???

 

[rampy]

I am catering for one player only : 4 or 8 way and 6 buttons. I'm using windows 98 and Mame 3.2.1
My budget is about R500 = $75. I have a pentium 2 , 500 mhz pc.

I will be going either for USB or gameport. I currently have a dexxa gamepad with gameport cable. All in all this gamepad has 10 buttons and controls. I have already taken it apart.

BUT where do I actually connect the resistors to???

We might have a terminology issue or some other confusion here...

can you post a pic of the gamepad's guts?

what most people do with a gamepad hack is either solder wires directly to the existing button contacts, or find the trace or a test point where there's conveniently a solder pad (if avail )...

it helps if your specific game pad does a "common" ground type thingie... as that relates easiest to the way arcade controls are wired... not tht you have to use a sidewinder gamepad, but as an example to base your project of take a look at a sidewinder hack howto site... http://www.mameworld.net/emuadvice/shack.html

(there's another one out there that's good as well but I can't find it ATM)



also helpful is the faqs on the arcade ontrol mainpage

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade_wiring.shtml#General_Theory


good luck!

rmapy

[SNAAAKE]

I am catering for one player only : 4 or 8 way and 6 buttons. I'm using windows 98 and Mame 3.2.1
My budget is about R500 = $75.

Would you like mine?

click on pic to see even more pics .
Its collecting dust lately because i have a cabinet ready and i never use this small one anymore...interested?
$75 and its yours.
This one is one of the BEST i have ever built and as Dave_k mentioned.you should go with a psx hack(that said the joystick is wired for psx and ps2) and get a chepo $9 radio shack USB converter and you have opitions for dreamcast and x-box.
the top is lexan and sides are laminate(total cost to me was about $75 anyways but whatever...

[eightbit]

Heres another excellent sidewinder hack page- http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade_staticx.shtml

I paid $3 each from http://shop.store.yahoo.com/mussalli/micsidgampad.html 3 of them with shipping was $15. I haven't gotten them yet so I don't know how hard the hack will be but it looks pretty straight forward.

[SirPoonga]

First, you are not the first girl.  StarGoddess comes to the chat once and awhile.

second, what OS you plan on using?  If windows use a USB gamepad.  the gameport is very limited unless you use something like the microsoft sidewinders which use a weird work around to get more than 4 buttons per joystick.

[Codger]

I am going to attempt and be the first female(i think) on this forum to construct my own arcade controller. I want to query a few things?
I want to accomadate games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat etc. Those are games that use max 6 buttons. I want a 4-way joystick and 6 buttons, is this possible on gameport option. Should I also then use USB port. I will mostly be using mame emulator.
Please Assist !

I assume this is for a 1 player stick?

6-button gamepads are very common and very easy to get hold of.

Although you would probably want a 8 button gamepad so you can have a coin and start button.

Add another button if you want the SNK layout.

Even at 9 buttons, it's pretty easy to find gamepads that will support it.

Me, I'm using what IMO is one of the best gamepads for hacking. The Gravis Xterminator.

It has 11 digital buttons:
1-7   7 button SNK/Capcom layout
8 Coin
9 Start
10 Pinball left
11 pinball right

Perfect!

Also, it can daisy chain so you can connect more than 1 pad to the gameport.

And perhaps best of all, it has keyboard emulation in windows, for emulators that only support keyboards.

I am catering for one player only : 4 or 8 way and 6 buttons. I'm using windows 98 and Mame 3.2.1
My budget is about R500 = $75. I have a pentium 2 , 500 mhz pc.

I will be going either for USB or gameport. I currently have a dexxa gamepad with gameport cable. All in all this gamepad has 10 buttons and controls. I have already taken it apart.

BUT where do I actually connect the resistors to???

 

No resistors, just simple wires. It's hard to understand the electrical stuff initially, but once you do, you'll realise it's very easy. All I can say is: research lots. Try http://www.darkravenwind.com/cdvision/madcatz.htm

[zgamer]

If everything else fails and then I would probably go for the USB option.
The specs are : Microsoft Sidewinder 1.0 USB Joystick
• 8 Action Buttons
• Precision Throttle
• Easy plug and play with USB Connectivity

Is this hack similiar to any other sidewinder hack?

I will keep everyone posted on my progress!