Main > Main Forum
Best Keyboard Hack tutorial?
Demon-Seed:
Hey
The 360s do not need encoder or anything? just usb plug in? wow that is kool.. I have been away from the scene a number of years.... used to have to use encoder. The 360 can it be switched between 8 and 4 way ontop of the panel??? with no need to remove the panel?
However the buttons you still need an encoder anyways.
thanks
Jim
saint:
--- Quote from: Demon-Seed on May 30, 2010, 12:47:04 pm ---Hey
The 360s do not need encoder or anything? just usb plug in? wow that is kool.. I have been away from the scene a number of years.... used to have to use encoder. The 360 can it be switched between 8 and 4 way ontop of the panel??? with no need to remove the panel?
However the buttons you still need an encoder anyways.
thanks
Jim
--- End quote ---
There's no physical switching needed on the 360's to go from 4 way to 8 way. You have to download a software map (which can be automated to hide it from the game play) to tell the joystick what directions to allow. Note that this is a software based solution, and not a physical restriction. I.E. You can still move the joystick to the top-right diagonal in 4-way mode, it just won't do anything. There are physical restrictors available for the 360 if you want, but they require getting to the bottom of the joystick to manipulate.
The built-in USB interface on the 360's each support 8 buttons, so with two of them you can have 16 buttons without needing an additional interface. Depends on how many buttons you think you'll need for your project.
If you want top-access 4-way / 8-way switching, the Ultimarc Mag-Stik Plus and the Groovy Game Gear OmniStik Prodigy are the only two I'm aware of.
However, the 360's are very nice sticks and I haven't done them justice in describing them here. Take a look at the web pages, http://www.ultimarc.com/ultrastik_info.html, particularly the bit about mapping http://www.ultimarc.com/ultrastik_prog.html
spystyle:
--- Quote from: Demon-Seed on May 27, 2010, 02:39:04 pm ---HI
I am on a tight budget and I am considering a keyboard hack instead of IPAC...
--- End quote ---
I am fond of keyboard hacks myself :) But for almost the same price you can get a KeyWiz ECO, it's more accurate and saves tons of time.
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=200
I recently tried the new one, it's super good :)
If you live outside of the US and can't get one mailed to you PM me, I'll send you one at actual cost (did I hear that GGG doesn't ship international? Did I bother reading through this whole thread? Is there any pizza left?)
KeyWiz Eco 40, it's what's for dinner :)
RandyT:
Thanks for the plug, Spystyle. Glad you like the new boards (you managed to get a photo out there before I did :D). But we do ship internationally, and that quite often.
The thing for folks to understand is that there is more to the avoidance of keyboard hacks (and gamepad hacks to some extent as well) than just the time involved. There can be, and often are, performance issues associated with them. All keyboards and gamepads are not (let me stress that ....not) created equal. The main processor used in specialized interfaces such as the KeyWiz or GP-Wiz costs more than what an entire gamepad costs me to buy from my suppliers. Where do you think the money was saved? I'll tell you....on the parts you can't see. So the internals of a lot of these devices are poorly built, with the lowest quality components and the cheapest processor they can get away with.
A long, long time ago, my cabinet started out with a keyboard hack and a gamepad hack. I thought it was fine, for the most part. It wasn't until I built my first dedicated, performance oriented interface, and replaced those items with it, that I realized how big a difference there actually was. Yes, if you are on an extremely tight budget, the hacks will get the job done. But, if you can afford the difference in cost, why spend all of that time, only to end up with a result that will likely have mediocre performance, when it's so important and one of the lower cost items you will be buying for your machine? I can see where some won't have a choice as whether to hack or not, especially in this economy, and I'm certainly not knocking them for the decision to take that path. But, for most, it just doesn't make good sense to hack anymore.
For those needing to, and looking for a reasonable gamepad to hack, our blue USB pads are easy and perform better than some. I even made a nice diagram and posted it in one of the other threads (email me if you need it). Just don't expect the same kind of performance from it that you would get from a dedicated interface. It just won't be there.
RandyT
Demon-Seed:
Hey
That makes sense about the hacks however I am wondering exactly what is the performance issues? I mean when you play with a real gamepad you hit the button and it works.. so why does it not do that with a hack?
I agree that it is time consuming to hack....
If you have that link to the diagram I would love to see it! In regards to shipping, what is approx shipping rates to Canada?
thx
Jim
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version