Gp2x's Joystick

What are your thoughts on the 2X's joystick?

  • Perfect in every way

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Few minor problems

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Descent, needs some reworking

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Has major problems

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Horrendous

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Wish it was a D-pad

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

g4m3r

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2005
Messages
435
I'm just curious of what the community's opinion of the joystick is.

Thanks,
g4m3r
 
I love it for all the arcade games I've played so far on gp2xengine :D

It's really a unique feel to have a joystick for those games instead of a D-Pad! However, they have to tweak the microswitch recognition for the next firmware, there is just no excuse for going up when actually pointing to the right!(voted for few minor problems)
 
Mr. Anderson posted on Dec 23 2005 at 10:11 PM said:
I love it for all the arcade games I've played so far on gp2xengine :D

It's really a unique feel to have a joystick for those games instead of a D-Pad! However, they have to tweak the microswitch recognition for the next firmware, there is just no excuse for going up when actually pointing to the right!(voted for few minor problems)
I never had that Up problem. Hm...
 
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PSyMastR posted on Dec 24 2005 at 04:57 AM said:
Mr. Anderson posted on Dec 23 2005 at 10:11 PM said:
I love it for all the arcade games I've played so far on gp2xengine :D

It's really a unique feel to have a joystick for those games instead of a D-Pad! However, they have to tweak the microswitch recognition for the next firmware, there is just no excuse for going up when actually pointing to the right!(voted for few minor problems)
I never had that Up problem. Hm...

You never played some vertical or horizontal shooters then I guess.
 
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Mr. Anderson posted on Dec 24 2005 at 04:14 AM said:
PSyMastR posted on Dec 24 2005 at 04:57 AM said:
Mr. Anderson posted on Dec 23 2005 at 10:11 PM said:
I love it for all the arcade games I've played so far on gp2xengine :D

It's really a unique feel to have a joystick for those games instead of a D-Pad! However, they have to tweak the microswitch recognition for the next firmware, there is just no excuse for going up when actually pointing to the right!(voted for few minor problems)
I never had that Up problem. Hm...

You never played some vertical or horizontal shooters then I guess.

I'm pretty sure this problem is one of the (very) few which will not be able to be fixed by software. It is likely to be a physical design flaw with not enough spacing between switches.

I hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not then the joystick is absolutely spasticated!
 
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There is no need for more than 4 dir Dpad for 2d games. For 3D, it's not a true analog. So, it's got the worst of the both worlds. Yes, joystick is my biggest complain of GP2x.
 
/e just hopes it is easier/better than a keyboard for input, if thats the case i probably wont mind it. We've got to see if theres a way to better handle the microswitch management though.
 
There are ways to code for it to make the stick behave better. I have made the chart (my sig) to explain. There is also a possibility of a hardware mod to the stick itself.

I have ordered the stick assembly itself from electronics supply to experiment on it. It is taking FOREVER to get it as everyone seems to be out of stock. I will post results when I get it.

The good news is that it is digital. It is a bunch of switches. Many things can be done to tweak it hardware wise.
 
I would like to qauntify my choice of perfect in every way by saying 3 (or so) things.

1. I mean the stick (not the cap), the physical metal and plastic and switches soldered to the mainboard).

2. I notice *some* people with a shifted motherboard, this appears in the form of the cap actually touching the face around the hole. PUT YOUR CIRCUIT BOARD CENTERED, DON'T GO HACKING AND GLUEING AND CUTTING!! (to fix that, on the topic of hacking, glueing and cutting in a worthy cause see below:))

3. I would like to see some *cap* options on the stick, it is useful to cut into the face of the stick like DaveC did in the "Yet another joystick mod" thread.

4. Software is an issue, try a good game of montezuma's revenge (or lode runner, it comes with the atari emu, and is a darn sight easier to get running) and notice the crisp response, then switch to a game like BubbleX and you can swear the stick physically changed into a 2-year old N64 controller from your 8-year olds room. It didn't, but the software carries the blame.

I just don't want people blaming the stick when mostly it is the crappy cap, and to a large (maybe, I am not sure) extent the shifted circuit board that cause the problem.

DaveC still firmly holds the opinion that the deadzone is high (he could be right; I don't like playing PacMan, so I couldn't say), 24 degrees at ~1cm height (I don't like math, so you figure out how much) is a *dead* zone. It may be possible to mod the zone smaller if you wanted to get the *maximum(tm)* amount of finesse to your control.

I am so far perfectly satisfied with the physical switch assembly (although not the cap, a seperate entity).
 
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It tends to hit diagonals more than discreet directions, but the only game I've seen it cause problems on is Dizzy on the C64 (he keeps jumping accidentally)

I've not had any other problems, so no real complaints from me.
 
My only problem with this stick is that my thumb can slip from it. It would better if the the stick's end would be concave. The 8 way directions (actually even 16 are possible) are very nice and for my taste much better than typical pad. Yep - there should be global config for stick's behavior as so many directions can confuse and be not precise.
 
It's nice but need some work either hardware wise or software. I love fighting games so I need to be able to pull off moves and combos.
 
One minor problem you can sort out yourself - the top colliding with the case.
nubie posted on Dec 24 2005 at 08:37 AM said:
2. I notice *some* people with a shifted motherboard, this appears in the form of the cap actually touching the face around the hole. PUT YOUR CIRCUIT BOARD CENTERED, DON'T GO HACKING AND GLUEING AND CUTTING!! (to fix that, on the topic of hacking, glueing and cutting in a worthy cause see below:))
I have seen you mention this several times, but the circuit board has pegs moulded from the casing passing through holes in it. It fits snugly on them and cannot be shifted. There must be some other explanation.
 
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One on the biggest annoyances to me is the toughness to get and actual direction instead of diagonals, It makes arcade came so much harder, and doing simple stuff like down+right+punch unnessisarily hard.
 
The Diagnal bias is a serious problem - hopefully it can be fixed in software.
The dead zone a minor problem problem that I think I'll get over in time or with a replacement stick.

I just wish it had a playstation style pad instead..
 
DijiTao posted on Dec 24 2005 at 06:11 PM said:
I just wish it had a playstation style pad instead..


you mean playstation analog stick or pad ?


when i first tried the stick before using it really, i thought it was like an analog stick, i played some emus on XBOX with it or etc, i wasn't thinking that you had to bring the stick ALLLLLLL THE WAY to the end to get a contact , that's the peoblem i think :p

there are some arcade sticks etc not analog, but without the deadzone , that would be ok , but the way it is, i hope to get real mod :p

or an analog one would have been great because every parameter would be ONLY software related, with the same feeling, that joystick is GPH's failure to me ! :ph34r:
 
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