Converted Jaguar Controller to the 5200??

[Kong]

Has this ever been done? I think that the Jaguar controller is by far one of the best controllers ever built. It feels great in your hand. Very comfortable. I just purchased the adapter sold by Best Electronics that allows you to use the Jaguar controller on the 2600 and 7800, and it works great.

 

Is this doable? It seems like a great fit with the number pad and all. Seems like a great solution for the troublesome 5200 controller.

 

Kong

 

[ 03-05-2002: Message edited by: Kong ]

[Gunstar]

Yes, it's possible. It's a matter of rewiring it. The most logical approach on a standard Jag controller would be to have the B&A buttons as the two firing buttons and the Pause, start&C button for Pause, start&reset, then the rest of the keypad would be compatible. We're talking major work, because the 5200 controller's keypad's circuit logic and wiring is probably different since the plugs are different with a different amount of pins; it's not like rewiring a Genesis pad to work on a 2600/7800 or even like the adapter for the Jagpad on the 2600/8-bit like you have. There's no keypad involved so it's a much simpler job. Plus you have the problem of the analog 5200 sticks and the digital Jag pad. I'm not sure if it will make a difference on some games or not, but since it's been done with 2600 controllers, I don't see why not. It would be logical, and I've pondered it before myself, but haven't wanted the undertaking.

[Harry_Dodgson]

Hi,

First - don't flame me for saying this, but... I like the feel of the Xbox

controllers. They fit an adult hand real well and have a foamy feel to them. If

you were to convert one of those to a 5200 then you could pick which analog stick to

use and assign the rest of the buttons however you felt like.

 

Harry

 

P.S. I don't own an Xbox, just played with a

demo unit at K-Mart.

[Kong]

"and the Pause, start&C button for Pause, start&reset, "

 

Yes, that would be the most logicial way to map the buttons, but could you imagine bumpin' that C button right in the middle of an intense game? That would probably piss me off a little......

[Gunstar]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kong:

"and the Pause, start&C button for Pause, start&reset, "

 

Yes, that would be the most logicial way to map the buttons, but could you imagine bumpin' that C button right in the middle of an intense game? That would probably piss me off a little......

---

 

Yeah, I can see what you mean. I was just trying to keep start&pause, start&pause. That leaves only one of the abc buttons available for reset. I suppose you could just do without reset and just use the power button on the 5200 as a reset, the way Sony has done with the PS1, getting rid of the reset button on the console... I do like the XBOX controller idea as well, or any of the modern analogs except maybe the N64 controller. But while some of these do have just about enough buttons to take over keypad positions, including the digital pad (like the Xbox), some don't. Plus, it would be extremely hard to keep track of what is what, and the keypad is essential to a lot of games. Once gotton use too, some games like Star Raiders would actually benefit from controlling everything on the buttons instead of the keypad. But then, I think you'd be talking about an even bigger job with and XBOX or other controller as keypad to keypad is one thing, but keypad to a lot of different buttons is another. Now, a combination would be the key if your going to do all this work anyway; use the Jagpad, but rip out an analog control from another controller (10 dollar after market DC controller would work) and mount it in place of the digital pad on the Jag controller. I was thinking of doing this for the Jaguar anyway, because Battlesphere supports analog controls! But I love the control scheme of the procontroller best with Battlesphere and I haven't wanted to permanently mod one when they are so expensive. A standard Jag pad is a different story, but also different control scheme with BS...

[NoahsMyBro]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gunstar:

..... I was thinking of doing this for the Jaguar anyway, because Battlesphere supports analog controls! But I love the control scheme of the procontroller best with Battlesphere and I haven't wanted to permanently mod one when they are so expensive. A standard Jag pad is a different story, but also different control scheme with BS...

---

 

HUH??!!?!?

 

How would that work?

 

I've been away from JI2 for a while now, and the *.atari newsgroups have been pretty dead for a long time; I haven't heard anything about that.

 

Of course, I haven't spent much time with Battlesphere either. When it arrived I enthusiastically began to play it.

 

Sadly, the 12 yr. old JVC 20" attached to my Jag just wasn't up to the task. I really sucked, and eventually learned that hidden invisibly in the large black regions of the screen were various indicators that are actually colored navy-blue. On my TV, they aren't bright enough to be seen.

 

So, I haven't played the game in a while. Are analog controls available in a menu?

 

 

And how would that work? Have the Scatalogic guys ever indicated what kind of input the game expects?

 

Steve

 

...as an aside, I built a couple of little-blue-boxes a few years ago that convert Genesis pads into 7800 controllers with 2 distinct fire buttons. They work well. Of course, I spent longer fabricating the devices than actually using them. I never really liked the 7800 that much, but making the adapters was a fun way to kill a Saturday afternoon.

[Hank]

I have an XBox and think the controllers are great. I started scheming a couple weeks ago with the idea of using Xbox controllers on the 5200. Think how cool Robotron would be using the two analog sticks on the Xbox controller. With a little luck and time I'm going to get it done.....

[Kong]

So I cracked open a analog PlayStation controller today when I got home to see how the whole analog setup works. It has a big board in there with *both* analog joysticks attached to it. But I only need one. I am a rookie at this, but if I trace down all the connections on the board, I should be able to split one off and use it independently. Yes?? No??

 

Well..... I don't know. Maybe I should crack open my Dreamcast controller instead......

[Gunstar]

I have to see what you mean about the Sony controllers being on one board. But all you need is just the analog device itself, no circuit board. The Analog thumb pad could then be mounted in some way to the Jag controller, after removing the digital pad. Then basically, the four wires that originally connected to the traces on the circuit board that led to the pad would be hooked up to the analog control box. You could use the original traces and solder some short wires at the end to connect to the analog box or skip the circuit board entirely, leading wires directly to the analog box (this is assuming that 4play used the same pins on the controller port for analog compatibility as is used for the standard digital pad). The rest of it is built into the software to make it work. Batllesphere has a secret code that can be entered to enable the analog control scheme. It should be a fairly simple procedere for anyone with basic electronic knowledge and is handy with a soldering iron. Of course I have to actually do a bit of research by tearing apart a couple of controllers. This is all theory right now. I don't know of anyone else who has thought of doing this in the Jaguar community, I know of someone who converted a Saturn Pilot stick, but Battlesphere has only been out for two years in extremely limited quantities, plus it is a code to enable it in one Jag game, so the need probably hasn't arisen yet. But the same process could also be done for a 5200 controller with the Jagpad to give it the analog and the keypad.

[jsoper]

The 5200 analog controller is a pair of vertical and horizontal pots going from about 10k to 500kohms.

A dreamcast analog controller (probably PSX also) seems to be a hall effect sensor. Not sure if the controller is reading voltage or current from the circuit. Anyway, converting it to 5200 analog would be tough.

 

Someday, I'd like to turn a psx dual shock into a 2600 dual joystick. This would work great with a masterplay type circuit on the 5200 (Space dungeon and robotron only use 8 directions anyway, not true analog)

John

[ToddUGA]

Modifying a Jag controller by replacing the d-pad with an analog stick...interesting....

 

Anybody taken apart an N64 controller to see what kind of assembly its analog stick uses?

[VidGameKing]

Humm. I have an idea but i'm gonna see if it would work before i post it.

[Kong]

Well, I still haven't given up on this. I am currently working on just making a digital controller with Jay Tilton's mod's inside a Jaguar controller. But then I noticed in the FAQ that there are schematics for an adapter for a analog PC controller. This really intrigues me. Are there any old gamepads that were analog? Or were all the analog PC controllers just big flight joysticks? I know that there are a lot of gamepads made now that have the dual analog joysticks like the Playstation, but I think that they would be just as complicated as the actual Playstation controller that I have torn apart here on my desk. Does anyone have a schematic that shows how a Playstation controllers works? N64? Dreamcast? I can't find any information on the net currently.

 

Anyways......is sleep really a necessity??