Hi,
bacteria posted on Mar 25 2006 at 03:48 PM said:
Yes, on DrMD, MAME, Nintendo emulators, etc. 4 way gives 8 way in games (ie diagonals) - shouldn't do, but it does!
It makes sense, because all of these games are designed to generate the diagonals in code, i.e. the controls they were designed for were 4-way controls.
The only drawback with the way you have implemented it is that on GP2X-specific programs, which 'know' that the only way to get a diagonal is to get the diagonal signal from the 8-way stick, they might not respond to a 4-way diagonal code.
Some GP2X software might work, some might not, it depends on how the programmer implemented the control code.
I think Radek's point regarding all of this is that the onus should not be on the programmer to cater for esoteric, third-party additions, which is why your modification could benefit from the addition of the circuit he has proposed, for only a few euros extra. I don't think he's said your d-pad is not as good as his, it's that
your pad could be given added value and universality by allowing it to provide the diagonal signals to the newer programs which are hard-coded to expect
only these signals.
When the GP2X first came out, it would make sense to program your movement code and not take into account the possibility of pressing (for example) up plus right, as this is impossible with the stock controller. So, I would expect that most people converted their old diagonal code to the new, rather than adding in the new code as an addition.
In the last few months it seems that the GP2X has picked up enough new users that the number of people pissed off about GPH's decision on the controller has reached the critical mass needed to make alternative input methods desirable.
The reason it works in the emulators is that while the games running in the emulator are expecting things to work the old way, the emulator has interpreted the GP2X diagonal inputs, and passed the relevant two separate directions on to the code under emulation. So, in MAME, for example, when you press UP and LEFT, the GP2X joystick generates a single UP-LEFT signal, MAME sees this UP-LEFT signal, separates that into UP and LEFT signals, and tells the game that these are the directions that have been pressed. The game itself then recombines those two directions in its code to realise the diagonal intent.
For what it's worth, I'm glad you've come out with your version, as the more options there are to choose from, the better chance there is that people will find a solution that suits their personal preference.
I think it's unfortunate that you had so much negativity thrown your way at the start, and I'm glad to see you're forging ahead. It always does seem to be the case that people are a lot quicker to tell others that they're doing something wrong, and say nothing when they do something right.
I myself am working on a version using ultra-miniature microswitches or tactile key switches to achieve similar ends. Whether it turns out better or worse is anybody's guess, but my own personal preference is to have a 'clicky' feedback from the controller. I will mostly likely try Radek's pad with the n-gage QD controller on my stock GP2X, and work ahead on my own version on my development GP2X.
Eventually, we will end up with a better console, and everybody will benefit.
