Dreamcast Q

[crashdmj]

So is it impossible to emulate the Dreamcast thumb thingy...so all games that need that are out of the question for the cab??
Derek

[rampy]

So is it impossible to emulate the Dreamcast thumb thingy...so all games that need that are out of the question for the cab??
Derek

emulate? you mean interface?  I'm guessing one *could* hook them up to an analog stick(s)... depending on the source hacked pad (i believe some use hall effect sensors and others used pots or am I just talking out my arse here?)

is that along the lines of what you meant?
Rampy

[crashdmj]

Yeah thats what I meant rampy, if they use Hall effect sensors they can be interfaced???

[SNAAAKE]

So is it impossible to emulate the Dreamcast thumb thingy...so all games that need that are out of the question for the cab??
Derek

You mean interface an analog stick with the dc analog thumb
You dont have to...most games work with digital directions.
I have all the games for my cab and everything is cool.

[crashdmj]

Ok good, for some reason I had got the impression that something wasnt usable when interfacing a dreamcast pad...i dunno...
Derek

[HeadRusch]

I think there are a few DC games that wont let you use the D-bad instead of the mini-stick, but I can't remember what those are now...

the only one I'd be concerned with are the many driving games, and frankly, I'd just pony up the cash and buy a DC wheel for those...or get a cheap PS wheel and a PS to DC converter and try that way....

[crashdmj]

So the mini-stick can't be assigned to say a joystick? So it's un-usable unless you physically mount it to the CP?

[Dave_K.]

You can interface a digital 8-way joystick to the DC's analog stick.  How to do this depends on the pad.  The original pad uses hall effect sensors.  All you do is connect the joystick direction to the correct sensor leg.  3rd party pads which which use potentiometers can also be hacked, but its more difficult (you either ground out one side, or tie it to the input voltage).  I'm not exactly sure how you'd wire this configuration up (both gnd, and + on the same joystick).

Obviously interfacing a digital joystick to an analog control means you don't have the same level of finese with games which require analog (it means every direction is 100% in the direction).  But at least it would mean all games would work.

More info can be found in the Game Consoles section:
http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade_consoles.shtml