Re: USB Joystick hack, wire lengths, false triggers...

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: Hey, : I'm emailing this to you as well as posting it on the message board. I also hacked a usb gravis gamepad and had the same problem. I found that if you ground the directional pads separate from the four diamond buttons then you won't get that cross over. It's something about the circuitry. I emailed them and they actually got me in contact with engineer who designed it. He basically said that in order to save space/$ they set up four of the switches to read whether or not the button was pushed with a "directional" ground, or a "button" ground. : BUT... even after I grounded them separately, when I went into windows gaming options and properties I found that multiple key presses at the same time would make it go hay wire, or if I pressed any diagonals, it would also press a key. I emailed Gravis again, and they had no idea why it was getting crossing signals. I tried it on two other gamepads, and triple checked my wiring, and still the same problem everytime. So, I did two things. : 1. I hacked my console neogeo controllers to the gravis gamepad (only 4 buttons, so no problem), and used that for neogeo games. : 2. I ordered a CH gamepad and hacked that for 10 buttons and found that every button works independently, and no "ghosting." The only problem here is that they cost about $30 afterh S&H. Also, they have somekind of coating over their button sensors that I had to scrape off to get the solder to stick. (I almost ruined one of the CH gamepads.) : I had another Idea, but since I decided on using the CH gamepads I never tried it. I was going to make one 10 button joystick by using 2 gravis gamepads. (so one joystick would plug up with 2 usb ports). Like I said, I never tried it because I really wanted the convenience of one usb plug. : So, my final advice. I'd either go with another option all together, or go with the CH gamepads, because there about the only other gamepad I could find with 10 buttons, and I know they won't give you the weird button problems. : Hope this helps, Jay D. : : Maybe I should have made it clear, that I would like to use 8 buttons...all of column x1 and x2. : : But the problems I am experiencing with just row prevent me from detecting whether it was button #1 or #5 that was pushed. : : With only 4 buttons wired (5,6,7,8) then I only check for presses on 5,6,7,8 and can safely ignore 1,2,3,4. : : -rjf : : ---- : : : This is not a MAME question, but hopefully someone can help... : : : I have an USB Gravis Gamepad that I have torn apart and wired up my own buttons. I use these buttons for a quiz-show style game. Each contestant has a button who chimes in when they know the answer. (Addtl info: it's a Visual Basic PC app that checks for the button press). : : : Because of the problems am I having, I am only able to use buttons 5,6,7, and 8. : : : I have a (Radio Shack) button on 5 feet of 20 gauge speaker wire connected to the Gamepad circuit board. With this set up, a button push on button #5 also triggers #1; button #6, triggers #2; button #7, triggers #3; button #8, triggers #4. : : : If two buttons (any two of 5,6,7, or 8) are pushed--then ONLY those two buttons are triggered (the corresponding 1,2,3,4 button cancels). : : : The buttons are arranged on the encoder chip in a 4x3 matrix: : : : <pre> : : : x1 x2 x3 : : : y1 1 5 9 : : : y2 2 6 10 : : : y3 3 7 na : : : y4 4 8 na : : : </pre> : : : Again, I only have column x2 wired, but a single button press on that row triggers a button in col x1 (unless two or more buttons from x2 are pressed). : : : Any ideas?

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