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PS2 ARCADE Machine
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Kaytrim:

--- Quote from: MonMotha on April 19, 2007, 04:32:05 pm ---Alright, sounds like there's some real interest in this.  I'll try to get a prototype out for fabrication of the PCB early next week.

I'll look into XBox (electically a fairly known problem, software wise I have no information) and GameCube (I investigated this a while back - should be doable) support, as well.

--- End quote ---

The Playstation is one of the controllers that is hacked the most I think.  At least that is what I can tell on the Shoryuken forums.  While I was doing some research into possible doing this myself I ran across some interesting information about the PS2 controllers.  They are used quite a bit in robotics as controllers.  I also found the protocol posted in a few places.

TTFN :cheers:
Kaytrim
MonMotha:
The protocol itself is quite simple.  It's a byte based, multi-slave, single-master, full duplex SPI system with some seemingly randomly chosen magic numbers.  However, the various playstations are REMARKABLY picky about protocol violations at times, and the original playstation, PSOne, PS2, and slim PS2 all seem to have slightly different things they will either tolerate or outright reject.  If you want to talk to a controller, rather than the playstation, there's a whole different set of subtle protocol violations (which are surprisingly easy to make without realizing it) which will be tolerated or cause strange failure modes.

It took me a couple months playing around with various units and an oscilloscope to get my firmware working between all the major devices.
NoOne=NBA=:
Something to keep in mind is that the newer PS2 controllers are all analog.
All of the buttons are pressure sensitive.

I've got a slim PS2, and I've run into several games that won't start up when a PS1 dualshock controller is connected.
It says something like "Playstation 2 controller not detected. Please plug in a Playstation 2 controller".
The PS1 controller will work for pretty much all the PS1 games, and the PS2 controllers will work for pretty much all games (PS1 and PS2).
I don't know how hackable the PS2 controllers are though.
MonMotha:
I was unaware that there were games which required the DS2 functionality of analog buttons and would refuse to work without it.  Heck, I'm not aware of many games which even utilize the functionality at all.  I actually hate the feel of those buttons (they're too mushy), and since none of the games I play use them anyway, I tend to play with an old original Dualshock controller.  Heck, many games work with just a digital controller, unless they really depend on the analog sticks for something (Katamari Damacy comes to mind as a great example).  Even if they're unusable with a digital controller, most seem to at least let you try to play rather than throwing an error screen.

I know I've played PS2 specific games with an original Dualshock with no trouble.

Have you tried putting the PS1 Dualshock into analog mode manually?

I know how to emulate most of the functionality of a DS2 and should be able to handle that, if somebody really needs it.  The only games I'm aware of that actually use the functionality (rather than arbitrarily requiring it) are driving games, and they're more suited to steering wheel controls, anyway.
NoOne=NBA=:

--- Quote from: MonMotha on April 20, 2007, 07:41:38 am ---The only games I'm aware of that actually use the functionality (rather than arbitrarily requiring it) are driving games, and they're more suited to steering wheel controls, anyway.

--- End quote ---

I can't remember which specific titles had problems; but it could well have been driving games, or offshoots like platform racers.
My two favorite genres are driving and shooting.
Steering wheel compatibility is another subject entirely.
That's the main reason I don't have a PS3 yet.
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