New Controller Coupler for the GameStation Pro controllers

[8bitwidgets.com]

Hi everyone,

For anyone looking for a coupler for the GameStation Pro to play various games like the hacked battlezone rom that supports two joysticks, Robotron, Riddle of the Sphinx, Temple of Doom, and many others that take advantage of two joysticks, this will provide a solid solution.  Plus any 5200 and 7800 games you like such as Space Dungeon will also work great with this.  It's $23 direct via paypal or if you prefer going through an online site, I have it on Etsy.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/1637045841/gamestation-pro-controller-coupler

 

Sincerely,

Caleb

www.8bitwidgets.com 

Edited December 16, 2023 by 8bitwidgets.com

[Domeshtan]

.cfg files for Robotron, Total Carnage, Smash TV, Black Widow, Battle Zone, Vindicators Part II and Wacko for the arcade Roms that map the 2 joysticks "Robotron" style. 

DualGSPSticks.zip

[8bitwidgets.com]

@Domeshtan that is amazing!  Thank you for knocking that out.  I actually made these for another guy (he entrusted me to ship his controllers to me) but I'm waiting for my GSP to arrive so I can demonstrate the coupler working with all of these great games.  The $55 ones on Amazon are just too good to pass up.  

 

So if I were to make a homebrew game that uses both joysticks natively (something in working on to do more of in 2024) is there anything special needed to use two joysticks?  Or will it "just work" in my case if the game is made to use both joysticks from the ground up?  

[Domeshtan]

29 minutes ago, 8bitwidgets.com said:

So if I were to make a homebrew game that uses both joysticks natively (something in working on to do more of in 2024) is there anything special needed to use two joysticks?  Or will it "just work" in my case if the game is made to use both joysticks from the ground up?  

I've just been playing around with the .cfg files that are used on the Micro SD card when old MAME Roms are added to it. I have been using Mame078b on my laptop to generate a "normal" .cfg file. I noticed what the Gamestation Pro makes for a .cfg file when running a MAME game the first time is identical to the .cfg files I was getting from Mame078b. I tried remapping controls thru the menus in MAME but the Gamestation Pro didn't like them. It never worked no mater which controler I had that I had on hand. Even the Gamestation Pro joysticks didn't work. You could get the GSP sticks to work on MAME on my laptop but the .cfgs never worked on the GSP. I started tinkering around with a hex editor looking at the .cfg codes. Well anyway I tried comparing the default.cfg from both Mame on my laptop and the default.cfg generated on the Gamestation Pro (Which were different lengths this time and things didn't match up for locations.) I tried to cross reference the two files and tried to take some guesses at some values that the GSP was using in its default .cfg for buttons and stuff. I found the value of two buttons that worked when I changed things in a hex editor. From there with experimentation I made changes in the Mame menu for controls for specific games and compared the original .cfg file with the modified one to see which byte locations changed. I see 80 02 show up a lot in the original .cfg files. I think it means "use a default control mapping" when it sees it. I think it deals with default joystick and button stuff. Keyboard stuff has 00 for the first byte if it's mapped to a key. So I track down the changed bytes (If it was 80 02 before it becomes 00 and something else depending which keyboard key I press.) I just go down the list... If I mapped the A key it turns out 00, B=01, C=02, D=03, etc. I track down the changed values an put in the value of the control I "want" mapped in instead. Ultra Tank had a slightly different layout for the A, B, C button order, but in general this is what I have found for values to plug in for mapping stuff...

Controller #1

69=Left

6A=Right

6B=Up

6C=Down

6D=A (X on PlayStation controller)

6E=B (O on PS)

6F=C (Triangle on PS)

71=L2 on PS

72=R2 on PS

 

Joystick #2 is the same but starts at...

79=Left

7A=Right

7B=Up ... Etc.

Save the new .cfg, delete the old one off of the Micro SD card and copy the new one into the CFG directory.

It has work "almost" every time. Ultra Tank swaps some buttons around. I tried to remap Cloak & Dagger but it keeps putting the old screwed up .cfg back in for some reason.

[8bitwidgets.com]

4 minutes ago, Domeshtan said:

I tried to remap Cloak & Dagger but it keeps putting the old screwed up .cfg back in for some reason.

yea that's really weird that it rewrites the file.  is that a supported game in built in games, like some variation of it?  Just trying to figure out how it would "know" to alter this one and not the others.  

[Domeshtan]

I've done about 4 videos with different .cfg files but the first one shows the basic principal of how to do it. 

https://youtu.be/tGpCjHidd6k?si=rDzBheDwiVepUuD3

[Domeshtan]

1 minute ago, 8bitwidgets.com said:

yea that's really weird that it rewrites the file.  is that a supported game in built in games, like some variation of it?  Just trying to figure out how it would "know" to alter this one and not the others.  

If it's on a Micro SD card (games you add yourself) the .cfgs take effect. For the built in games nothing changes. I've already fixed some "broken" games on the GSP. Super Breakout was missing 2 game options, Monte Carlo was missing Track Select, Basketball was WAY too sensitive on the Y-axis, etc. Other things are mostly controller mapping improvements or mapping in extra buttons on alternate controllers.

[8bitwidgets.com]

awesome thanks for that video.  i'll check it out deeper when my GSP shows up.  

 

Thanks!

Caleb

[Domeshtan]

Two more .cfg files for a dual GSP joystick style set up. 

 

Toobin- (For single player game) P1 joystick Up/Down for left side paddling, P2 joystick Up/Down for right side paddling. Player 2 B button to throw cans.

 

Ultra Tank- (For single player using the left tank)

Player 1 Joystick Up/Down for Left Tread, Player 2 Joystick Up/Down for Right Tread. Player 2 B button to fire. Player 1 A button for Visible/Invisible tanks. (Does not change anything. It wasn't emulated yet but it's mapped).

Player 1 B button for Bouncing Shells/Steerable Shells. Player 1 C trigger for Open Field/Walls and Mines.

 

 

MoreDualGSPStick.zip

Edited December 21, 2023 by Domeshtan

[8bitwidgets.com]

omg that's awesome..  toobin!     I wonder about how "Discs of Tron" might be able to be played with GSP..  dual controller..  using the dial of the second joystick..  tricky part would be the "dial up" "dial down" of that one though.. 

 

This would also go for "tron" even more so... but IIRC the pong dial isn't 360 degree right?  it is a pot from 0-1?     I guess that kinda kills the potential of that.  

[Domeshtan]

I don't know of anyone that has figured out how to use the paddle knob on the GSP stick outside of Atari 2600 games. Tron and Discs of Tron use 360 degree spinners anyway so it wouldn't work that way. They could still be mapped to the second stick somewhat. Could set left and right movement for the spinner. Would just need to adjust the sensitivity of how fast it would spin with digital controls. Up and Down could be mapped for Discs of Tron for the later levels on the second GSP stick. Unfortunately I don't own Tron or Discs of Tron so I won't emulate it. (Own it anymore anyway. I owned them as digital downloads on the Xbox 360 years back but the system red-ringed and was thrown out). I won't run it so I can't map controls.

[8bitwidgets.com]

1 hour ago, Domeshtan said:

They could still be mapped to the second stick somewhat

could it be possible that each direction is assigned to a specific degree?  sure it wouldn't be as precise as full motion but to quickly be able to point in 45 degree intervals on the fly would still go a long way..  same with ikari warriors and similar rotating joystick games.  

 

but yea understood about not doing roms you don't own.  more of a hypothetical inquiry.  

[Domeshtan]

15 hours ago, 8bitwidgets.com said:

same with ikari warriors and similar rotating joystick games.

Should be possible but I don't own any of the Ikari Warrior games. 

It turns out Front Line and Wild Western were possible to map with the second joystick to play "Dual Joystick" style.

Player 1 stick to move, Player 2 stick to aim. Player 2 C trigger to fire. Player 2 B button to throw grenades. I don't know

if it does anything in Wild Western but it's mapped.

FrontLineWildWesternGSPSticks.zip

[8bitwidgets.com]

wow thats an awesome addition.  my GSP and PS1 usb joystick arrived today..   though I'm getting ready for my first real convention table that I'm probably not going to have any head space to really tinker with it much until that is over..  making LED signs.. I also need to procure a usb - usb c adapter. 

[Domeshtan]

Here is a file of everything thrown together with a text file showing how I mapped the controls for each game. Some new ones have been added. Otherwise the full list of dual GSP joystick configured games are... 

 

Black Widow

Battle Zone

Chack & Pop

Forgotten Worlds

Front Line

Heavy Barrel

Kozmik Kroozr

Monte Carlo

Night Driver

Robotron

Smash T.V.

Sprint 2 (sprint2a)

Super Bug

Timber

Toobin'

Total Carnage

Ultra Tank

Vindicators Part II

Wacko

Wild Western

Xybots

 

The 4-way gear shift games take a bit to get used to.

GSP2Stick.zip

[8bitwidgets.com]

Man that is fantastic!   Since the system can play NES games, then this also means that Smash TV is a fantastic addition to the GSP dual games.   There are also a handful of other NES games that can use two controllers and this could still apply too! 

 

 

[Domeshtan]

These .cfgs are only for MAME game roms added with the Micro SD card. Not NES. The only game I think that even did dual joystick on NES (Famicom) was Crazy Climber. Even then I think you had to hold the controlers sideways to work playing that way.

[Domeshtan]

 

[samwars95]

Do you have the file to print it ?

[fluxit]

On 12/24/2023 at 9:14 AM, 8bitwidgets.com said:

Man that is fantastic!   Since the system can play NES games, then this also means that Smash TV is a fantastic addition to the GSP dual games.   There are also a handful of other NES games that can use two controllers and this could still apply too! 

 

 

I would expect a dual stick NES game to just work on the GsP without needing configurations altered.  I checked the controller settings, they seem correct.

Edited December 25, 2023 by fluxit
clarification

[8bitwidgets.com]

3 hours ago, fluxit said:

I would expect a dual stick NES game to just work on the GsP without needing configurations altered. 

well for smash TV, no..  because you rotate the joystick 90 degrees..  the coupler isn't designed to accept any direction..  i might see if i can engineer that, but yea because things are 90 degrees pushing up for move would be right..  left would be up..  etc..    now the other games like silent service and gyromite would work fine though.  

 

On 12/24/2023 at 5:34 PM, Domeshtan said:

These .cfgs are only for MAME game roms added with the Micro SD card. Not NES.

right that's understood.  though can the NES games have some kind of cfg file to adjust..  example..  smash tv..   would need to be adjusted for the 90 degree clockwise rotation you'd need..  like this other coupler I make

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1453114549/nintendo-nes-controller-coupler-smash-tv 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by 8bitwidgets.com

[fluxit]

7 minutes ago, 8bitwidgets.com said:

well for smash TV, no..  because you rotate the joystick 90 degrees..  the coupler isn't designed to accept any direction..  i might see if i can engineer that, but yea because things are 90 degrees pushing up for move would be right..  left would be up..  etc..    now the other games like silent service and gyromite would work fine though.  

 

right that's understood.  though can the NES games have some kind of cfg file to adjust..  example..  smash tv..   would need to be adjusted for the 90 degree clockwise rotation you'd need..  like this other coupler I make

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1453114549/nintendo-nes-controller-coupler-smash-tv 

 

I see.  Well, the answer is that you can create modified configs for the NES emulator, but it requires a modified firmware. Unlike the MAME games which can use different configs on the stock GsP.

[8bitwidgets.com]

8 hours ago, fluxit said:

but it requires a modified firmware.

OK so that's not really practical for most folks, but that's good to know how it works.  I think I'll make a revision that allows for 90 degree rotation/insertion.  currently the coupler doesn't have clearance for the buttons to go in sideways.  Also making some other changes as well for V2.  

[Domeshtan]

3 hours ago, 8bitwidgets.com said:

I think I'll make a revision that allows for 90 degree rotation/insertion.

Well, if you do that you can't play with the controler wired. For me I play wired to get rid of any lag the best I can. I don't own that one but just throwing that out there.

[8bitwidgets.com]

41 minutes ago, Domeshtan said:

if you do that you can't play with the controller wired.

Hmmm yea that's a great point.  I'm focusing on wireless, but truth be told I could make a variation for wired that would just be a bit wider..  This could allow enough gap for the usb cable to slide in.  The left one would be a sinch, but the right one would be the trickeir setup.  I'll have to look into that.  I'm waiting on some famicom controllers to come in so I can make a specific coupler for those as well.