Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: CitznFish on March 02, 2003, 02:31:20 pm
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Phew! I think I know just about everything I need to know. Well, prob. not, but I am much more comfortable going forward with my cabinet. I made this FAQ for me, but I am hoping it will be useful to others. Maybe make this a 'sticky' or incorporate the link somewhere on this site?
Feel free to add/update this FAQ.
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html
Please remember this is based on what I thought I needed as a newbie to this hobbie.
Cheers!
-CF
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Great idea, thanks !!!
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Looks like it might be useful. I'll sticky it for awhile for everyone to see.
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This is VERY cool. Thanks for doing this!
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Nice job.
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Thaks for the kind words guys. :) If you find it useful please post in here.
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wow... good job.... Thanks.... ;) ;D ;D
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Kudos!!!
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Thaks for the kind words guys. :) If you find it useful please post in here.
Awesome. Mind if we link to it from our respective sites?
Thanks,
Odonadon
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link away... i don't plan on removing the document. Hopefully the message board won't be trimmed anytime soon. :)
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Good work! BTW, here's another thing you can do when you find a post useful (and I do this frequently):
Right-click on the link to one of the posts, and select "Open in New Window." Once the thread is in its own window, go to the File menu, select "Save As..." and save the page to disk. Now you have the thread available to read for future use, even if the thread is eventually deleted from the site! I keep a special folder in My Documents where I store BYOAC posts as kind of an online manual to building arcade controls. I also save threads whenever I post a new hack, so I can incorporate the info into my site...
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what the heck ! :o
I just noticed this thread today ;D
Man I gotta quit drinking... :P
Anyway VERY good job with all the work you did CitznFis(http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/YaBBImages/thumbup.gif)
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Good Job! Thanks!
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Great job, this will save a lot of time!
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Very nice! Thanks! :D
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very nice i like it
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The Smash TV Controls link is botched.
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The Smash TV Controls link is botched.
I have fixed that link. Thanks for the notice. :)
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Great stuff, as someone who is knew to MAME ( I downloaded MAME about 4 weeks ago ) it is a great resource, thankyou.
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I think that the link's busted again.
Note: only at the time that I posted originally. It's obviously working now. Thanks!!!
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I think that the link's busted again.
which link? they seem to be working... :)
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just a comment...we're up to 122 pages now on the main forum...hehe
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Wow! Thank you!
Please DO NOT un-sticky this!!! I will be needing it often in the next month or so!
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Thanks a lot! This is a great help.
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Wow -- good job there. :o
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Man this is one usefull idea :)
Thanks alot man this will come in very very handy.
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Thanks as well - the site is quite useful to all of us getting into the scene a bit more.
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:) :) :) This is a damn fine thread! Thanks a whole lot!
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Hi! Thanks for the FAQ, CitznFish. I return to it often and have a slight suggestion.
I'm not sure if this is asked frequently, but I'm under the impression that it's easy to do: Could you put an entry about interfacing arcade controls to console systems? Though, I can't seem to find a topic in the forums about it, so it's probably really easy. Well, it would make this poor, ignorant person's day if I could be told how to hack console controllers. So, could you perhaps create an entry on it?
Now, I will try and prove that I have a brain:
From what I can tell by opening up an SNES controller, each basic button has two conductor pads that are really close--not touching but close enough so that a signal can make the "jump". The purpose of the exterior button is to depress an insulating rubber pad, covering both of the conductor pads, thus terminating the circuit.
Now, I'm told that arcade controls from Happ's and other similar places do the opposite: They make a closed circuit when the button is pressed as opposed to an open one. So, I theorize that if one wanted to hack an SNES controller, one would solder a single wire onto both "conductor pads" which would run to a NOT switch, which would then run to a generic pin interface (I believe you guys call them Molex connectors).
Did I get everything right? Is that the way to do it? Undoubtedly, I screwed up with some of the terminology, as I have no background whatsoever in electronics. If you knew me personally, you might be impressed that I even made it this far! It's worth mentioning that my conception of a NOT switch is simply that: I have never actually seen one or know what one would look like. Is it a little box? Also, I have never soldered.
Oh, and I understand that my question basically amounts to "How do I hack controls?" because virtually all gamepads must work this way, but it seems that lately, everyone is using console emulators with a keyboard encoder... Which I think I could do.
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bump, thanks for the FAQ i will find it very useful in a week when i start building my monster
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I have only personally hacked Nes pads (and seen hacked playstation pads), and they actually work the same way as normal arcade controls (I have also hacked MANY PC gamepads, which are built the same way). Those "really close" traces you are looking at are actually an open circuit, and the rubber pad actually completes the circuit (I don't think it is actually rubber). Most keyboards work pretty much the same way (except they look quite different inside).
If you have a multimeter then you can test this yourself. Set it to check continuity, and you can verify that it is an open circuit, now put one of those rubber pads down, and BAM the circuit closes.
So basically you hack the console controller exactly the way it seems you should, a wire is soldered to each side of the circuit, and your switch goes in the middle. Some use a common ground which reduces the amount of wires to solder.
If you are doing a setup for an older console, then look for an aftermarket "arcade" style joystick to hack rather than a gamepad. They are infinitely easier to deal with, as they often tend to have wires inside that you can splice on, and tend to have more or better points to solder to.
Hi! Thanks for the FAQ, CitznFish. I return to it often and have a slight suggestion.
I'm not sure if this is asked frequently, but I'm under the impression that it's easy to do: Could you put an entry about interfacing arcade controls to console systems? Though, I can't seem to find a topic in the forums about it, so it's probably really easy. Well, it would make this poor, ignorant person's day if I could be told how to hack console controllers. So, could you perhaps create an entry on it?
Now, I will try and prove that I have a brain:
From what I can tell by opening up an SNES controller, each basic button has two conductor pads that are really close--not touching but close enough so that a signal can make the "jump". The purpose of the exterior button is to depress an insulating rubber pad, covering both of the conductor pads, thus terminating the circuit.
Now, I'm told that arcade controls from Happ's and other similar places do the opposite: They make a closed circuit when the button is pressed as opposed to an open one. So, I theorize that if one wanted to hack an SNES controller, one would solder a single wire onto both "conductor pads" which would run to a NOT switch, which would then run to a generic pin interface (I believe you guys call them Molex connectors).
Did I get everything right? Is that the way to do it? Undoubtedly, I screwed up with some of the terminology, as I have no background whatsoever in electronics. If you knew me personally, you might be impressed that I even made it this far! It's worth mentioning that my conception of a NOT switch is simply that: I have never actually seen one or know what one would look like. Is it a little box? Also, I have never soldered.
Oh, and I understand that my question basically amounts to "How do I hack controls?" because virtually all gamepads must work this way, but it seems that lately, everyone is using console emulators with a keyboard encoder... Which I think I could do.
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Thank you very much. As you can see (http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=15885), I've been pretty confused about the subject! So, it's good to have a knowledgdable person teach me.
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Feel free to add/update this FAQ.
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html (http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html)
Please remember this is based on what I thought I needed as a newbie to this hobbie.
Hi,
New guy here looking at sticky pages and links, and the above link doesn't appear to work any longer? Is there a newer option?
Thanks!
Randall
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Being almost 7 years old, it's certainly all outdated, even if it were available.
If you really want to see what it said, here is a google cache copy:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html)
it just all links back to old forum threads.
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It's too bad the OP didn't put it into a PDF file. I'm sure there is still a lot of good information in it for a noob.
Encryptor
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http://www.xmarks.com/site/www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html (http://www.xmarks.com/site/www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html)
...Darn... fini... done... gone.... dead.
Who is the moderator on this site???? ???
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http://www.xmarks.com/site/www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html (http://www.xmarks.com/site/www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~darrelld/newbie.html)
...Darn... fini... done... gone.... dead.
Who is the moderator on this site???? ???
Here's a link to the Internet Wayback Machine archive of the FAQ (http://web.archive.org/web/20081006130304/http://www.arcade-at-home.com/mame_faq.html).
This should be good for a long time, but we really should consider updating and hosting the FAQ on-site -- once the wiki logins are fixed. ::) [/broken record mode]
Scott
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hmmm... still dead ??? Thanks anyway.
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hmmm... still dead ??? Thanks anyway.
::) The Wayback Machine link just above your post is still good -- badly outdated, but still available. ::)
For anyone who missed it, use this link to the FAQ (http://web.archive.org/web/20081006130304/http://www.arcade-at-home.com/mame_faq.html), and ignore the dead ones.
Scott
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Now that the new Wiki is up and running, there's a new FAQ entry (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=FAQ) for anyone who wants to contribute fresh topics and/or info. ;D
Scott
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Now that the new Wiki is up and running, there's a new FAQ entry (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=FAQ) for anyone who wants to contribute fresh topics and/or info. ;D
Scott
Did you make the new Wiki?
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So far Saint has done most of the work setting it up and importing pages from the old wiki.
Felsir and I are helping out as mods.
Anyone even remotely thinking about contributing, please go ahead and set up your account now.
Pretty soon we'll have to shut down automated account creation to stop spambots.
Manual account creation will take more time and effort, but it should stop the spambots cold.
Scott
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So far Saint has done most of the work setting it up and importing pages from the old wiki.
Felsir and I are helping out as mods.
Anyone even remotely thinking about contributing, please go ahead and set up your account now.
Pretty soon we'll have to shut down automated account creation to stop spambots.
Manual account creation will take more time and effort, but it should stop the spambots cold.
Scott
I was just wondering because I was going to say thanks, as it's fantastic to have that resource available.
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Were the images not able to be ported over?
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Thanks for signing up on the new wiki. :cheers:
Were the images not able to be ported over?
Saint bulk-imported the pages fairly easily, but the images aren't transferring as quickly.
As you can see here (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&limit=500&days=30), he imported around 75 images yesterday -- not sure if he has to manually port them over or not.
I uploaded the ones for Wiring and Yoke Rebuild from my HDD.
Scott
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Oh, I see. If there's anything I can do to help....
I'm not sure if I should upload my own files (originally there) to avoid stomping on his progress or..?
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Assistance is always appreciated. :applaud:
Scott