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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: aardvark on July 15, 2009, 09:53:11 am

Title: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: aardvark on July 15, 2009, 09:53:11 am
ok, i may be being a bit thick here but bear with me ;). i have a joystick i made ages ago for my dreamcast that was just a hacked controller pcb connected to some arcade parts. Am i to understand that if i swap the dreamcast board for a cthulhu pcb i can then connect it to the PC and it will be recognised as a usb joystick?? i.e. that the cthulhu board is all i need?

sounds to easy to be true - is it?
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: HaRuMaN on July 15, 2009, 09:58:58 am
ok, i may be being a bit thick here but bear with me ;). i have a joystick i made ages ago for my dreamcast that was just a hacked controller pcb connected to some arcade parts. Am i to understand that if i swap the dreamcast board for a cthulhu pcb i can then connect it to the PC and it will be recognised as a usb joystick?? i.e. that the cthulhu board is all i need?

sounds to easy to be true - is it?

Or you can leave it as a Dreamcast joystick, get a DC to PC adapter (like a Trio Linker Plus), and then you have a dual system joystick.
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: aardvark on July 15, 2009, 11:01:20 am
i had no idea such things existed! thats even better. You sir, are a star.
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: Jack Burton on July 15, 2009, 11:17:03 am
The Cthulhu board will also let you play on PS3 though, so you might want to take that into consideration.
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: HaRuMaN on July 15, 2009, 11:17:47 am
The Cthulhu board will also let you play on PS3 though, so you might want to take that into consideration.

So will a Trio Linker Plus, according to their website.
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: aardvark on July 15, 2009, 01:09:16 pm
well, i've ordered one of the adapters.

i didn't look for a DC adapter because i assumed that it was a bit too specific to have a PC adapter as it wasn't a major console, but i'm glad i was wrong

cheers HarumaN
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: HaRuMaN on July 15, 2009, 01:28:59 pm
well, i've ordered one of the adapters.

i didn't look for a DC adapter because i assumed that it was a bit too specific to have a PC adapter as it wasn't a major console, but i'm glad i was wrong

cheers HarumaN


 :cheers:

I have 2 of them.  They've been quite useful.
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: Jack Burton on July 15, 2009, 02:05:01 pm
The Cthulhu board will also let you play on PS3 though, so you might want to take that into consideration.

So will a Trio Linker Plus, according to their website.

The issue is lag though.  A lot of adapters have lag when connected to a PS3 that don't on a PC.  Additionally it won't have home button.
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: ViciousXUSMC on July 17, 2009, 12:35:24 am
The original Cthulhu is PS3/PC

The Cthulhu MC is multi console (PC, PS3, Xbox, PS2, PS3, Wii, Gamecube), but of  the many systems it supports dreamcast is not one of them.  If you look at my arcade setup this is why I have hacked dreamcast pads as a part of the setup.

http://picasaweb.google.com/masakakoi/CustomArcadeControlPanel?feat=directlink

What your saying is true, your board will show up as a windows gamepad if you swap out your hacked DC PCB for the Cthulhu, and if you do it right you can wire them into a dual pcb setup and have both of them work for the same control panel.

If you get the Cthulhu MC you may want to do what I did and a few others and just use one of the outputs and wire it to a RJ45 jack and then hack the console cables into RJ45 so you can use any console you want and just plug/unplug the cord you need rather than having all the console cables soldered onto the board like some kind of freakish cat o' nine tails.

Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: Falkentyne on July 19, 2009, 04:27:53 pm
Yeah that multi-console adapter is nice.  Sadly, the only way you're going to get Xbox 360 support for a DIY cabinet is to hack an existing 360 pad/PCB into it.
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: aardvark on July 21, 2009, 04:21:56 pm
well, i just got the trio linker but it doesn't seem to work.
my joystick isn't recognised when plugged in using the trio linker control panel (controllers). (my joystick is a hacked madcatz controller)

using an official dc pad is a bit better - it is 'sometimes' recognized by the trio linker drivers, but most of the time it isn't.

are these things temperamental at all?

i got it brand new from ebay (the US) so its a hassle to send back and it may not even be faulty (i'm in the UK).

pretty annoying.

Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: HaRuMaN on July 22, 2009, 09:16:06 am
well, i just got the trio linker but it doesn't seem to work.
my joystick isn't recognised when plugged in using the trio linker control panel (controllers). (my joystick is a hacked madcatz controller)

using an official dc pad is a bit better - it is 'sometimes' recognized by the trio linker drivers, but most of the time it isn't.

are these things temperamental at all?

i got it brand new from ebay (the US) so its a hassle to send back and it may not even be faulty (i'm in the UK).

pretty annoying.

Maybe you got a bad one.  Mine works every time.  Did you get the latest drivers from the manufacturer?
Title: Re: cthulhu board for PC joystock simple question
Post by: aardvark on July 22, 2009, 09:40:41 am
well, i just got the trio linker but it doesn't seem to work.
my joystick isn't recognised when plugged in using the trio linker control panel (controllers). (my joystick is a hacked madcatz controller)

using an official dc pad is a bit better - it is 'sometimes' recognized by the trio linker drivers, but most of the time it isn't.

are these things temperamental at all?

i got it brand new from ebay (the US) so its a hassle to send back and it may not even be faulty (i'm in the UK).

pretty annoying.

Maybe you got a bad one.  Mine works every time.  Did you get the latest drivers from the manufacturer?

yep. just tried it on a pc at work and its the same. - v1.1 drivers.
this was with the official pad - i plug it in and go to controller properties and it works. close that and go to properties again and it doesn't work. unplug it and plug it back in again, doesn't work.
with the joystick i made, selecting the trio link properties only hangs and does nothing.

have i got a dud?