Ultimarc's Controls?

[Jean-Henri Duteau]

Has anyone purchased the joysticks/buttons that are offered at the IPac site?  The buttons look fairly similar to others I've seen, but I haven't seen any reviews of the joysticks.  I'm getting ready to order my controls and since I'll be using an IPac, I thought I might order the controls from there as well.

Jean Duteau

[cdbrown]

I've got two of the t-sticks.  Some pics (crappy) are on my site.  The shafts are shorter than the common Happs supers so they don't move very far before actuating the microswitch.  I haven't installed them yet but I imaging they would be good for games that require rapid change of direction.  They also have a switch on the side which changes from 8-way to 4-way and "feels" like it would work.  I say "feels" because I haven't been able to try it yet.

Andy at Ultimarc is very helpful and the gear is top notch.  Delivery is quite quick also.

Good luck
-cdbrown

[Jakobud]

I really like the T-Stick on there. I'm thinking about getting one. I have all Happs Competition joysticks on my cabinet.  Does anyone know how they compare to the T-Stick?  How about the hole placement for screws?  Is it similar/same as Happs Competition?

[cdbrown]

Jakobud,

The t-stick mounting plate is clearly rectangular while the Happs supers (at least) are more square.  I think the mounting of the supers is the same as the competition.

Here's a pic where you can tell the difference
http://home.iprimus.com.au/craigrb/images/joys.JPG

Cheers
-cdbrown

[jerryjanis]

I really liked the tstick, too, so I got one and used it for a little while, but eventually decided that it was crap.

On the Happs joysticks, the handle is held on with an awesome little c-clip.  It's perfect, as far as I can tell.

The tstick handle is like a big bolt and it's held on with a nut.  It's a pain to tighten because the harder you tighten it, the more difficult it is to steer the joystick.  The end result is that you can't make it really tight so that it's held on very well.  Of course, as you're playing, the joystick spins around a bit and loosens the nut until it falls off.  When I played on it, I would always be thinking about it so that I could twist the joystick to tighten it again.  Other people were not so careful, and every once in a while you'd hear the sound of the nut falling to the floor.  A couple of times someone would be playing and they'd yank the handle right out of the joystick (when the bolt was off).

So from my experience, the tstick is a piece of junk.  I'm sure that somebody has a good way to keep that from happening, but I didn't bother with it.  I just scrapped it and got a 4-way joystick separate from the 8-ways.

The problem with the switching mechanism is that common users of the cabinet don't understand the 8-way vs. 4-way dilema, so they don't know about the switch or when to use it.  They'll sit there playing Street Fighter in 4-way mode and wondering why the controls don't work.

Finally, the last weird thing about it is that it's incredibly stiff.  It takes a decent amount of muscle to move it in the direction that you want.  That could be a good thing, but I think it's better without that much resistance.

It sucks because it seems really sweet, except for that nut thing.

[jerryjanis]

Here's a  picture of the underside of the tstick (the crappy nut and bolt...  please note that the joystick is not really assembled - I don't use it anymore):



Here's a picture of a joystick with the radical c-clip:

http://www26.brinkster.com/jstookey/pix/eclip.jpg

[jerryjanis]

(Frig)

HERE's a picture of the sweet eclip:

[jerryjanis]

(Frigfrig - sorry guys)

http://www26.brinkster.com/jstookey/pix/tstick.html

[wee beastie]

I am beyond happy with my J-stick (the ball top 4way/8way joystick).  The little "restrictor plate" on the bottom of it works flawlessly.  If it's in 4way mode, you will never hit a diagonal.  Plus you can slide flawlessly from one cardinal direction to the other without feeling any kinks.  

Also, the J-Stick is long enough to mount in 3/4 MDF and look about the height of a real Ms Pacman stick!  I thinnk this is a perfect Ms Pac joystick replacement for thos with 3/4 MDF that do not feel like routing out their CP.

Only drawback about the J-stick is that the spring is very loose, so there isn't much tension when you push a direction.  I like this aspect, though, as it allows you to execute fast movements fairly easily.

[Minwah]

I am beyond happy with my J-stick (the ball top 4way/8way joystick).  The little "restrictor plate" on the bottom of it works flawlessly.  If it's in 4way mode, you will never hit a diagonal.  Plus you can slide flawlessly from one cardinal direction to the other without feeling any kinks.  

Also, the J-Stick is long enough to mount in 3/4 MDF and look about the height of a real Ms Pacman stick!  I thinnk this is a perfect Ms Pac joystick replacement for thos with 3/4 MDF that do not feel like routing out their CP.

Only drawback about the J-stick is that the spring is very loose, so there isn't much tension when you push a direction.  I like this aspect, though, as it allows you to execute fast movements fairly easily.

Sounds good, I'm planning to use a J-Stick in 4-way mode in my cab - I really suck at Pacman with a Happ Super!

[AndyWarne]

This nut should never come off! It is a nylok lock nut and it should be tightened enough to allow the shaft to rotate freely. There should be no friction on the nut to make it work loose. If it is coming off then either it is not assembled correctly or it is faulty in which case we would have replaced it if notified.
The nut never has to be removed except maybe once, if the joystick shaft needs to be passed through a small panel hole when mounting.
I have never heard any reports of the nut coming off before, but if anyone has had this happen please let me know and we will sort out the problem.

I really liked the tstick, too, so I got one and used it for a little while, but eventually decided that it was crap.

On the Happs joysticks, the handle is held on with an awesome little c-clip.  It's perfect, as far as I can tell.

The tstick handle is like a big bolt and it's held on with a nut.  It's a pain to tighten because the harder you tighten it, the more difficult it is to steer the joystick.  The end result is that you can't make it really tight so that it's held on very well.  Of course, as you're playing, the joystick spins around a bit and loosens the nut until it falls off.  When I played on it, I would always be thinking about it so that I could twist the joystick to tighten it again.  Other people were not so careful, and every once in a while you'd hear the sound of the nut falling to the floor.  A couple of times someone would be playing and they'd yank the handle right out of the joystick (when the bolt was off).

So from my experience, the tstick is a piece of junk.  I'm sure that somebody has a good way to keep that from happening, but I didn't bother with it.  I just scrapped it and got a 4-way joystick separate from the 8-ways.

The problem with the switching mechanism is that common users of the cabinet don't understand the 8-way vs. 4-way dilema, so they don't know about the switch or when to use it.  They'll sit there playing Street Fighter in 4-way mode and wondering why the controls don't work.

Finally, the last weird thing about it is that it's incredibly stiff.  It takes a decent amount of muscle to move it in the direction that you want.  That could be a good thing, but I think it's better without that much resistance.

It sucks because it seems really sweet, except for that nut thing.

[WFH]

I have a J-Stick and like the easy changeover between 4-way and 8-way.  The screw-on ball top needs to be tightened well or else it will fall off.

Aside from using it on 4-way games, I use it in the light cycle level in Tron because my Happs trigger stick is 8-way, which makes the light cycle hard to control.  I use the Happs trigger stick in all of the other levels.

[wee beastie]

I am beyond happy with my J-stick (the ball top 4way/8way joystick).  The little "restrictor plate" on the bottom of it works flawlessly.  If it's in 4way mode, you will never hit a diagonal.  Plus you can slide flawlessly from one cardinal direction to the other without feeling any kinks.  

Also, the J-Stick is long enough to mount in 3/4 MDF and look about the height of a real Ms Pacman stick!  I thinnk this is a perfect Ms Pac joystick replacement for thos with 3/4 MDF that do not feel like routing out their CP.

Only drawback about the J-stick is that the spring is very loose, so there isn't much tension when you push a direction.  I like this aspect, though, as it allows you to execute fast movements fairly easily.

Sounds good, I'm planning to use a J-Stick in 4-way mode in my cab - I really suck at Pacman with a Happ Super!

The difference is huge.  My scores skyrocketed once I stopped being 8 wayed (as we call it in my house) using the Happ Supers!

[canardo]

Im going to be ordering some j Sticks in the coming weeks will let people know

This will eb my first cabinet and everything i have heard about the ipac suggest this really is the way forward

[jerryjanis]

After reading Andy's post and looking back at my tstick, I realize what was wrong.  I had replaced the chrome colored joystick handle shaft spacer/slider thing with a black one from a Happs Ultimate joystick to match the color on my other joysticks.  The Ultimate slider was taller than the tstick one.  The result was that the nut would barely screw on to the very end of the joystick shaft, not enough for the Nylock to take any effect.

The problem was totally the result of me mucking with it, and not the fault of the TStick.  So that means when I say, "It sucks because it seems really sweet, except for that nut thing" I'm saying the nut thing isn't a problem and the TStick IS really sweet (and already I have plans for it on my next control panel).