Easiest Dreamcast Gamepad Hack?

[ViciousXUSMC]

I just got 2x 6ft DC extension cables for Dreamcast, sort of a way to commit myself to turning my not even started MAME CP into a Mame & DC CP.

So I have 2 controllers I think but dont want to tear them up, going to have to buy some to mod.  Looking on ebay I see quite a few off brand pads, and I imagine there has got to be some that are easier to mod than the stock one.  So just looking for advice on the easiest dreamcast pad to mod and the best guide on how to do it.

Then lets hope I can find my games & system... I think somebody stole my MVC2 game and thats the main reason I want to do this.

[Malenko]

get haruman to do it :p
as for the game, meh, if you bought it and cant find it...download it?

[HaRuMaN]

I can do it... yes I can...

If you are going to do it yourself, you either need to use the Sega official controller, or, you can use the Madcatz fighter controller (has 6 buttons on the face).  The astro (performance) pads are terrible for hacking.

[ViciousXUSMC]

This one looks easy: http://webpages.charter.net/rbecker5/images/dc.gif

I think thats the offical pad, but you need to pick a ground point too right?

Is the pad entirely common ground?

[ViciousXUSMC]

get haruman to do it :p
as for the game, meh, if you bought it and cant find it...download it?

Yeah I bought it long ago, I have a ROM of it but you need a hacked DC to play it I think.

[HaRuMaN]

get haruman to do it :p
as for the game, meh, if you bought it and cant find it...download it?

Yeah I bought it long ago, I have a ROM of it but you need a hacked DC to play it I think.

Nope.  DC can play backups unmodded.

[HaRuMaN]

This one looks easy: http://webpages.charter.net/rbecker5/images/dc.gif

I think thats the offical pad, but you need to pick a ground point too right?

Is the pad entirely common ground?

That webpage won't load for me for some reason, can you post the image here?

Both the Sega official and the Madcatz have a common ground.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Its the official one I can tell, it looks pretty easy to do.

Ebay had lots of official ones, and tons of the Quantum Fighter Pads,  Any experience with those?

So just burn my rom to a DVD and it plays on my DC?? hmm but its not an .ISO so it may take some work.

[Malenko]

Its the official one I can tell, it looks pretty easy to do.

Ebay had lots of official ones, and tons of the Quantum Fighter Pads,  Any experience with those?

So just burn my rom to a DVD and it plays on my DC?? hmm but its not an .ISO so it may take some work.

bin/cues need converted (or a boot disc), cdi's burn to a bootable disc

[HaRuMaN]

What he said ^.

Also, there is a way you can edit the music on MVC2, and get rid of the annoying "Take you for a ride" crap, too... lol.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Alright, I'll look into it more and PM if I need help since usually this kind of talk is not forum friendly.

I found some of the new madcatz controllers for $10 shipped, or I found a lot of 4 regular dreamcast pads for $20.

I bid on the DC pads before I found the easier madcatz ones... So I will sit and see if I win the bid, if not I will probably get 2 of the madcatz ones.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Ok I think I will get the offical pads, it may not have wire holes like the madcatz but its just some scaping and its done.  Looks very easy.

So the big question how to wire it along side the I-PAC so that I can use both.

I think this is how you would do it:



Just split the wires to each right?   But I want to say somwhere in a diagram on another thread that they showed the +5v and +3.3v from one device connecting to the other and also the ground connecting from one device to the other.

I do not know if this applies to my setup, also would anything bad happen if both systems were on at the same time (PC and DC)

The I-PAC uses USB, and I can wire the DC up into a project box with some kind of connector (I know DB9 is preferred but maybe easier for me to use a ATX extender) so if I had too it should not bee to hard to unplug the IPAC and plug in the DC adapter.

so looking for words of wisdom here, on how to run both at the same time or if its just smarter/easier to only run one of them at a time and unplug the other if its not in use.

May as well shoot for the DB25 connector and put both controller PCB's in a single adapter box.

[ark_ader]

Get a X Arcade with an DC adapter.

Failing that a Madcatz controller and you get to burn your fingers....

[Jack Burton]

The official pads have lag on the shoulder buttons.  Use the madcatz controllers.

[ViciousXUSMC]

I won the bid on the lot of 4 DC controllers already, never heard there is lag in the shoulder buttons.

Anways it ws $10 with $10 S&H so for $20 I get some gamepad hack practice and some soldering practice. 

Im still trying to learn what  need to do to simultaneously wire both the dreamcast pads & the ipac to the buttons at the same time.

[Jack Burton]

They were proven to have lag at the shoryuken.com forums:

http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=4658793&postcount=24

[ViciousXUSMC]

They were proven to have lag at the shoryuken.com forums:

http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=4658793&postcount=24

He kept the sensors attached, the new method is to short them out.  I think thats the difference.  One way or another I will found out first hand and can get back with my results.

My picture I drew is not showing up for the wiring question so I think I need to go host it somewhere else.

So this is what I was thinking off the top of my head:


But I think I saw somewhere that you need to wire the power & ground of the controller & ipac together too?

Also curious of the effect of haivng just one or both units powered at the same time.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Update: Yes I found the source you need to wire the power source of the two PCB's together, the ground is already tied together in the block so thats ok.

However this setup has one very big problem, you can only have one pluged in at a time, failure to do so means frying something.


So I have labored over what I am going to do all night, I am going to spend more than I wanted and this is going to take a lot of work (hopefully I can solder good enough to do it and find the parts I need.

Im going to go for a fully modular setup.


Here is my battle plan
_______________________________
Phase 1 Input

1.) Starting with the input source my arcade controls they will be wired like normal to a terminal block.

2.) From the terminal block I have 2 options find something like this: http://www.provantage.com/apc-0720~7ABLE14Q.htm and install it on a project box and wire the output from the termial block to that via soldering, or I see no flaw in just getting a pre-made cord like this: http://www.provantage.com/cables-go-06100~7CBTC006.htm cutting off one of the ends and wiring it to the terminal (I think this will be easier and save me one thing to solder)

3.) That input source will be going into this: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10103&cs_id=1010305&p_id=1354&seq=1&format=2


Phase 2 PC Output

1.) First the PC connection get another project box and have one of those female DB25 gender adapters mounted to the outside of the box.

2.) Install the I-PAC and a terminal block in the project box, wire & solder the connections as needed.


Phase 3 Dreamcast Output

1.) I need to padhack some dreamcast controllers, I have 4 of the originals on the way from ebay, same as the PC output just need a project box, some terminal strips and a DB25 connector and try to get it all together.

When all is said and done I have a fully modular system that I can toggle on the fly with a switch box and have room left to grow.

My problem is that I have no idea how hard it will be to hack the DC Pads (that looks pretty easy) and how hard it will be to solder the DB25 connectors (this looks rather hard and I am looking for recomendations on easy to solder DB25 connections)

I am also concerned with finding the right size project boxes and all the parts nice and easy.  Who knows what the total cost will be.


Here i something that I would really like:

http://www.rs-485.com/daqaddonw.asp?record=18

A terminal block connected to a DB25 already so no soldering and easy wire swap if needed but its soooo expensive.  Anybody know where to find something like that that is sanely priced?

Edit: $18 - http://www.rs-485.com/daqaddonw.asp?record=16#

Thats something I may have to think about.... Save the cost of soldering stuff and less hassle.

[dreamakuma]

I use an X-arcade dual with a 1 in, 2 out switchbox. One goes to  dc, other goes to pc. I use a spare controller to hold an offical 4x in port c ,slot 1. Just about every game can load from any port/slot. It's lazy, but works for my needs, and is completelt idiot-proof 

[ViciousXUSMC]

I went parts hunting today.

I came back with half of what I need.

I needed those 3/16ths (.187) female quick connects and radio shack had them but only in combo kits with male/female with 6 of each for like $2.50 so thats a lot of money to waist to get what I needed.

They have a little soldring stand I need to go get though unless somebody can point me to one online cheaper it has the magnifying glass and 2 aligator clamps to hold stuff.

I found that the DB25 stuff is not hard to solder they make connections just for it with hollow metal tubes to solder the wire into, the ones I had seen before and was referring to in previous post were just metal pins.


So Shopping List Today:
Radio Shack
1.) Hook Up Wire (22ga 90ft 3 colors)
2.) 1x DB25 Female Connector with solder points (they only had 1 )

Lowes
1.)A flush trim router bit incase I decide to put plexi over my CP
2.) Crimp Tool
3.) A few bags of screws and some threaded inserts so I can bottom mount the joysticks and not have screws coming out of the top of the CP not sure if they fit yet or if I want to route the CP for a higher up joystick yet.

Monoprice.com
1.) 1 6ft DB25 Male to Male Cable
2.) 2x 3ft DB25 Male to Femail Cable (out of the 3ft Male 2 Male cables)
3.) 2x double male DB25 gender changer adapter (to make the above 2 cables male to male)
4.) 1 4 way DB25 Switch

So what is left...

> Need another female DB25 connector, plan to get it from Digikey but I need to know the part #
> Need Project boxes to build my adapters inside of
> Need the female quick release connectors (lizard lick has them for cheap plan to get those tonight)
> Need the Female DB25 connector w/ Terminal Block for my main source connection
> Need A few terminal blocks
> Need Misc Screws and things

Its costing me way more than a pre-fab X-Arcade but I get some tools out of it, its custom, and it should be a higher quality.

I have enough material done now since I got my drilling done today to start a build thread.

[srarcade]

Madcatz are great hack controllers! Prove great on any system I used them for so far. No need for wire holes on the DC they already have all the solder points ready to tack on to on the center of the pcb, don't even need to touch the contacts. I grabbed a pair of these and had them up and working in no time.

Just wondering what the advantage to the IPACV is? I'm sorry don't know much about it I have some homework to do on it. Why not mount the DC on a piece of wood and use a jamma edge connector and call it a day? Then it would be plug and play like any other pcb.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I'm also wondering why you have not considered the option of the Dreamcast emulator?  Then all you have to go is get the i-Pac working with your PC and you can forget about the hack.  It runs MVC2 perfectly.

Simply use a program like Disc Juggler to convert your DC Cd's to the .GDI format.  Then use the emulator to point to the images.

Have you considered this option?

~ D