Is this Dreamcast pad hackable? [edit: not completely]

[dennis808]

I got a hold of three cheap Dreamcast joypads (Nyko DC Commander):



And having some trouble figuring out where to solder them.
Here is a picture I took with yellow spots on it where i think I should solder the button-wires, I have no idea if this is correct though.



Can anybody enlighten me?

[TalkingOctopus]

Those are the correct solder points.  The only trouble you may encounter is multiple grounds.  You can't really tell if there are multiple grounds by looking at a picture.  So you can either test for multiple grounds, do the hack and give it a try or find some one who has tried hacking these before.

Good luck!

[dennis808]

...you can either test for multiple grounds

How would I do that? Just by multi-metering all the grounds and check if they meet?

And if i Would happen to have multiple grounds, is it then still possible to connect the dreamcast buttens to my control panel, which only has one (common) ground? 

[TalkingOctopus]

...you can either test for multiple grounds

How would I do that? Just by multi-metering all the grounds and check if they meet?

And if i Would happen to have multiple grounds, is it then still possible to connect the dreamcast buttens to my control panel, which only has one (common) ground?

[HaRuMaN]

Yeah, I'd like to know the results of that as well.     As it stands now, the only DC pads I use for hacking are Sega officials or the MadKatz.

[dennis808]

    

too bad fella's...

I measured 4 diffferent grounds...
Is it really impossible to hack?

[skid_68]

No, just means more soldering. Daisy chain all the grounds together.

[pmc]

Now how exactly would daisy-chaining all the grounds together be helpuful? I did that once with a two-ground board and the results were spectacular. It's like someone else is playing the game for you!

Dennis, I think that if you keep each of the 4 grounds isolated just like they are on the PCB, you can wire up a dedicated control panel. It'll work fine. But you won't likely be able to use the control panel with another controller or keyboard scanner without recombining the grounds back together to a single common ground.

-pmc

[TalkingOctopus]

Now how exactly would daisy-chaining all the grounds together be helpuful? I did that once with a two-ground board and the results were spectacular. It's like someone else is playing the game for you!

Dennis, I think that if you keep each of the 4 grounds isolated just like they are on the PCB, you can wire up a dedicated control panel. It'll work fine. But you won't likely be able to use the control panel with another controller or keyboard scanner without recombining the grounds back together to a single common ground.

-pmc

Yeah...I agree with what PMC said.  The controller is nearly useless for hacking .  Thanks for letting us know the results!

[dennis808]

I made a small mistake while measuring, it has 3 grounds.
But I can probalbly still make someone happy with a stand alone Dreamcast controller like the ones on this page:
http://www.darkravenwind.com/cdvision/images.htm
It's not impossible to wire...

Well, I guess I'll just have to sacrifice the original pads then, if I want my switching control panel to work.

Here's a really quick sketch of what I intend to do:

[Dave_K.]

Nice illustration.  Yep a db25 switchbox will do the trick for you.  Don't forget you will need another switchbox to switch the video/sound between the PC and DC, and then you'd be all set.

[dennis808]

I have one of these connected to the SCART input on the back of the TV:



The machine that's on will be displayed on the TV, so it's a matter of turning the PC and DC on or off.