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Author Topic: Dreamcast / Atari Paddle Hack  (Read 1475 times)

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Slope

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Dreamcast / Atari Paddle Hack
« on: November 25, 2006, 05:31:32 pm »
Okay, I searched and couldn't find an answer to this...

I have Stella running on my Dreamcast and have a blast playing games from my youth.  The problem, not really a problem but an annoyance, is trying to play a paddle game (like pong) with the analog joystick.  It works, it's just not as fun.  My question was, has anyone hacked Atari paddle controls to the joystick on the dreamcast controller?  I know they use hall effect sensors, but couldn't you run a pot in parallel with the hall effect sensor so you could use either one?

My intention would be to have a hacked controller that would have the cables to connect the Atari paddles, a NES controller, or just use it as a dreamcast controller.  So, my goal is to modify, not destroy, the orignal functionality?  Does that make sense?

If nobody has done it, does anyone have an idea what size pot one would need?  I'm okay with soldering , but don't know enough to check the values of the hall effect sensors to match the correct size pot.

Thanks for your help/advise in advance.

-Slope

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Re: Dreamcast / Atari Paddle Hack
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2006, 05:57:28 pm »
Having two resistive components in parallel wouldn't work right, you'd need a switch to change between the two. The Hall-Effect might be hooked up as part of a voltage divider, in which case if you bypassed it you could use a pot of just about any size, within a reasonable limit. Its been a while since my electronics courses, but I think a 10k ought to be suitable.

Slope

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Re: Dreamcast / Atari Paddle Hack
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2006, 11:25:41 am »
I took the dreamcast controller apart last night and now I'm not sure if this will work or not...  :dunno

On the analog joystick, there are 4 Hall-Effect sensors.  One for each direction I'm assuming.  Now, the Atari paddle had one pot to register left and right.  If each Hall-Effect sensor only works for one direction, wouldn't hold that if I put a POT in the left Hall-Effect sensor's place, I will only be able to move my "guy" from center to left?

Am I missing anything or how would I get full left to right movement across the screen?

I really wanted to make this work because playing Pong with a joystick isn't the easiest thing! I want my paddle  :hissy:   hehehehe....thanks again in advance for your help on this.

lloydcom

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Re: Dreamcast / Atari Paddle Hack
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2006, 04:58:50 pm »
Can you not just use the mouse and make a spinner?

Just did that for the PS1 and Atari Anniversary.  Works sweet!