Poll: Mod A D-pad, Use Stock Joystick, Buy New Gp2x If Integrated D-pa

To mod or not to mod?

  • I am happy with the stock joystick

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I want a D-pad but too cautious to mod my GP2x, so have to stay as I am

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I would be looking to mod my GP2x with a D-pad, when someone sells them

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I want a D-pad, but only if someone was prepared to do the mod for me

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I have my own ideas for a D-pad for the GP2x and will experient integrating it

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I intend to make my own D-pad out of old D-pad parts I have, and will use the various guides posted

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I intend to try the mod for the external D-pad (Bacteria's)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don't like the joystick, want a D-pad but not prepared to make one or install one. My GP2x is coll

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • (other)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

bacteria

Modder & Portablizer
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Hampshire, UK.
Website
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There are various options for D-pads emerging. I posted my external D-pad mod guide, others have posted their guides for doing mods using spare D-pad parts, others are offering to make kits; someone might even offer a mod service. All great stuff, and some great ideas and feedback emerging from all projects concerned.

The issues with any mod is the skill required to do the mod, its ease to make and install, its fit for purpose, reliablity and serviceablility, get a D-pad to be suitably responsive, doesn't stick, registers in all directions, case closes, etc, etc.

Even though I have a D-pad working in my GP2x fine, I don't claim it is perfect in all regards. None of the D-pad solutions are perfect, for various reasons. What would be perfect, in my opinion, is if GPH released a MK3 version with a proper integrated D-pad. I don't mind paying a little extra for this, as an option - I would certainly buy a new GP2x if they did this.

I thought it would be good to hear what other users think. You never know, if enough people would buy a new one, perhaps CraigX could let GPH know!
 
I've gone for Other.

Although I would purchase another GP2X if they did implement a D-pad, I'm not a major fan of them and would much prefer a top-quality thumbstick instead.

I can't see it ever happening though. If GPH were to put their financial resources into D-pad sourcing and implementation, case re-moulds for the D-pad, and an alternative centre-click option then they may as well change the look of it, increase the specs etc etc. Basically, make the GP3X. This would obviously destroy the sales of existing shipped units, and also the image of the company.
 
Jesus, it's poll week here on the GP32X forums. :)

I would consider buying a new '2x if they added a D-Pad, but for the time being I am working on installing my own using ideas from a few people and some of my own unique ones for the implementation/installation. As far as a commercial solution goes I probably just wait until GamePark puts out a machine I'm fond of before I put down more money on GP2X hardware ...

It's a great little machine, but there are quite a few issues that just come right down to shitty design and lack of testing, and due to the rather sour reception Craig showed me when I offered him free advice on improving the '2x and making its successor machine the best it could be (I'll never be recommending Craig's shop to anyone ever again) I severely doubt they ever get remedied. As long as Craig appears to be where GPH gets their ideas on what their customers wants, we'll continue to have no end of problems from them. Now, if EvilDragon or someone else equally in tune with the community were to be handling the situation, it might be quite different.

If I may relate just how poor communication through Craig has been, he's maintained from day one that the GP2X MK2 stick is fine, because he can play Battle Squadron on it. Arguments that a massive quantity of games that are, ahem, not Battle Squadron do not play well at all, fell on deaf ears.

Similarly, criticisms of Vektar's control scheme went in this manner on #gp2xdev:
13:37 < torpor> i would like a thrust button, like asteroid.
13:37 < nickspoon> and down to another one?
13:37 < nickspoon> so you have thrust and brake.
13:38 < Erant> Oh, yeah, games with left right, thrust and brake in one control surface suck.
13:38 -!- soisoisoi [~gp2xstyle@183.pool85-48-97.dynamic.uni2.es] has joined #gp2xdev
13:38 < torpor> the problem is, the context of "up" as a physical action changes depending on the position of your primary character.
13:38 < craigix> maybe you could just spend 5 mins getting used to the controls instead
13:38 < torpor> no.
13:38 < craigix> then fuck you.
13:38 < craigix> :)
Oh, but there's more!
13:39 < nickspoon> or maybe you could make your game better, otherwise I won't buy it ;)
13:39 < craigix> i don't care mate.
13:39 < torpor> maybe you could try listening to one of your fucking customers for a change.
13:39 * nickspoon ducks
13:39 < craigix> lalalala
13:39 <@donskeeto> indeed, that's not what a customer wants to hear.
13:39 < torpor> honest, what an ass you can be at times craigix. if you can't at least maintain a diplomatic stance, then screw you dude, no more http://gbax.com/ referrals from me.
13:39 < craigix> if you can't be arsed to learn to play it it's not my problem
13:40 < nickspoon> it is, actually.
13:40 < torpor> if you can't be humble enough to realize you're a dick, then it is your problem.
13:40 < craigix> ooohhh ladeda
As long as things like this go on and those persons responsible for customer relations continue to lack any degree of professionalism, the entire affair will continue to leave a bad taste in my mouth. I won't even go INTO the incident of being 'hung up on' multiple times in conversation, told he refused to ever speak to me again, and approaching me about writing a commercial game for GPH only to later have my face spat in. I was also told lies about the status and development of the port of Quake to the '2x, and its capabilities for 3D development which later turned out to be completely false when I actually sat down to work on such a project.

We likely have no good reason to expect any of our suggestions will result in improvements to the GP2X in the future-- after speaking with Craig about what parts the next machine would use, he was dead-set on a terrible selection of parts, believing Software-3D was the wave of the future, the existing stick was fine and all that was needed was a high MHz rating to impress the kind of people who are easily affected by marketing.

This rant went on longer than intended, so I will cut it short here ... if I need a d-pad I'll probably be doing it myself, or getting an XGP unit down the road, because odds are we won't be seeing anything of the sort from GPH.
 
13:37 < torpor> i would like a thrust button, like asteroid.
13:37 < nickspoon> and down to another one?
13:37 < nickspoon> so you have thrust and brake.
13:38 < Erant> Oh, yeah, games with left right, thrust and brake in one control surface suck.
13:38 -!- soisoisoi [~gp2xstyle@183.pool85-48-97.dynamic.uni2.es] has joined #gp2xdev
13:38 < torpor> the problem is, the context of "up" as a physical action changes depending on the position of your primary character.
13:38 < craigix> maybe you could just spend 5 mins getting used to the controls instead
13:38 < torpor> no.
13:38 < craigix> then fuck you.
13:38 < craigix> :)

wow. I wont be buying from craig then lol. goddamn thats the gatekeeper? we are screwed man! I am definately looking forward to the xgp! I will be getting a gp2x cuase I bet the xgp wont be out for a while but man what an asshole.
 
Blimey...I think CraigX needs to reply to the above. It is serious - if these accusations are true, he has some explanations/good apologies to give. He is the "gatekeeper" and Guru - not a normal forum poster after all. If he doesn't reply in a manner in keeping with his reputation, this would damage the scene; and certainly his business and credibility.

I will PM him and suggests he replies to these accusations, if he doesn't, it will be taken as an admission of guilt, and he can't claim he didn't see the posting when he is PM'ed about it.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that this resolves itself amicably.
 
Rei Yano posted on Sep 8 2006 at 10:33 AM said:
<-snip--->
13:38 < craigix> then fuck you.
13:38 < craigix> :)
wow. I wont be buying from craig then lol. goddamn thats the gatekeeper? we are screwed man! I am definately looking forward to the xgp! I will be getting a gp2x cuase I bet the xgp wont be out for a while but man what an asshole.
Since I don't have this level of contact with Craig, I'm reluctant to take sides...
I have had great service from GBAX but I have also noticed that craig can be over-zealous defending the GP2X - I guess since GBAX became the official distributor for GP2X his livelihood is at stake from sales... I think that the above conversation is completeley, professionaly unnaceptable, however, *espescially* since (as I always rant about) this is meant to be a community.

@ Epicentre: your game is the only one I look forward to buying anyway :D

Erk,

Anyway, since this issue is probably going to derail the thread, I would like to say that: The stick is fine, but I can't seem to get it to work for 'Hadoken' kind of moves in fighting games, which I would prefer a DPad for, I would like to see an option for one, in kit form, which used a manufactured dpad, like the one out of a gba etc. because buying a whole new unit just for that would be ridiculous.
 
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You should think yourself lucky, Epicenter. Last time, I complained about the Vektar controls, craigix came round and wrote "Bender Bum-stick" on my head.


With a pen.
 
That is shockingly edited. The tone of that conversation was sarcastic and playful from my side as i worked on vektar.

Try posting what happened much later on when i revealed that as we were talking i was putting his suggested control method into the game.

Epicenter what is your problem with me? This isn't the first time you have tried to get little digs in on me.

-Craig
 
craigix posted on Sep 8 2006 at 11:28 AM said:
That is shockingly edited. The tone of that conversation was sarcastic and playful from my side as i worked on vektar.

Try posting what happened much later on when i revealed that as we were talking i was putting his suggested control method into the game.

Epicenter what is your problem with me? This isn't the first time you have tried to get little digs in on me.

-Craig

I was going to point out that we don't know the full context of the conversation, plus 'English humour' sometimes doesn't work when not said in person.
 
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On the subject of the Dpad... there isn't enough money to put one on the gp2x at the moment @ gph.

The GP2X isn't even in profit yet, it needs to sell around 32,000 units first.

You can't just throw away all the gp2x shells and make up new ones overnight, i have been on at gph about the stick from the beginning, but unless someone is willing to give 10k for the mouldings etc. it can't happen at the moment.

I was talking to ed about the dpad/stick situation only last night.

The best solution is someone offering the service to mod gp2x's if people don't like the current stick. I think its ok, i've played through several of the classics with it.

If someone does offer the service and is willing to do a lot of consoles i'm sure me and ed would send lots of business your way.
 
I voted before people started replying...

I would pay someone to do a Dpad mod on my GP2X...
I would consider buying a DPad GP2X model (either official or premodded)
I would prefer buying a DPad model GP2X to modding my 1st Edition GP2X...

Also I think the stick is not so bad, it just takes a little gettig used to. I've managed to complete games on it.. and I can play Beat2X proficiently enough with it.
 
Epicenter posted on Sep 8 2006 at 10:17 AM said:
It's a great little machine, but there are quite a few issues that just come right down to shitty design and lack of testing, and due to the rather sour reception Craig showed me when I offered him free advice on improving the '2x and making its successor machine the best it could be (I'll never be recommending Craig's shop to anyone ever again) I severely doubt they ever get remedied. As long as Craig appears to be where GPH gets their ideas on what their customers wants, we'll continue to have no end of problems from them. Now, if EvilDragon or someone else equally in tune with the community were to be handling the situation, it might be quite different.

I'm just guessing (based on very little info) but I expect Craig was upset about you openly talking about next gen hardware as it will hit sales of the existing unit. Especially given the response on these boards when there was talk of the Mk 2 let alone a new unit.

I would be happy with a mod - either as a service or a kit. Service is better in a way (I'd no doubt f*ck it up) but there are problems with sending off a unit in the post... and not knowing quite when you'd get it back - so suspect a kit is more viable.

Of course... if Ed or Craig started selling pre-modded units, then I could be persuaded possibly to buy a new one.
 
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I'm happy with the existing joystick.

I don't see why GPH should have to spend money fiddling about with the design at the whim of their customers, you wouldn't expect Nintendo, Sony etc to do it.
 
craigix posted on Sep 8 2006 at 05:28 AM said:
That is shockingly edited. The tone of that conversation was sarcastic and playful from my side as i worked on vektar.

Try posting what happened much later on when i revealed that as we were talking i was putting his suggested control method into the game.

Epicenter what is your problem with me? This isn't the first time you have tried to get little digs in on me.

-Craig

If it was a misunderstanding, I am willing to accept that, but I can't say my interactions with you have left me with any impression of professionalism on your part. I honestly feel I've been misled and downright insulted, and disrespected to an extreme in our previous discussions. This isn't appropriate behavior. Allow me to relate the reasons in the most objective fashion I can.

#1, My initial contact with you was regarding development of a 3D game based on Quake. You PM'ed me about producing a commercial game which we were planning on bringing over from the PC. You spun an interesting story about the then-young GP2X hardware, how the two ARM9s could work in tandem, an SLI-like interface, to draw an interlaced Quake frame achieving very high framerates compared to what we previously had (~10-12 FPS). A picture was painted of a developer or more being paid to work on the Quake port and make it a feasible platform for a 3D game. The Gp2x.co.uk site reflected, and still reflects, the Quake engine as being a terrific means to develop original 3D content for the GP2X.

When I got my unit and began working with it, it became abundantly clear the Quake port was playable, but nowhere near snappy enough to build a game so advanced upon. In fact, it seems to this day that to achieve decent framerates, a majority of sprites must be used, not actual 3D models! Achieving 20 FPS is 'good' and I managed this only with an overclock to 280 MHz; the 'standard' 30 FPS was not achievable even at 312 MHz.

I dug deeper, and learned that the rendering method you suggested using both CPUs was not possible due to multiple issues involving how the 940T is implemented in the MMSP2- most notably lack of an MMU, memory contention between the two cores and cache limitations all made it poorly suited to this task. On top of this, I learned there was one person working on Quake, and it was just a personal project done separate from GBAX, and was only casually maintained. There was no one dedicated to it from GBAX, and it was a much more informal project than I was informed of. There was also no one working on this 'SLI' concept.

Now, we seem to differ on the front of what 'good playable framerate' is, e.g. your opinion of Payback's framerate was 'good' when my view of it, and my associates' view of it, was 'intolerable'. I do feel, however, the vast majority of people trying to play a port of Armor of Acheron to the GP2X would not find 10-20 FPS 'good'. I wrote the project off as 'for another time, if we can be bothered to try and shoehorn it onto the GP2X hardware, or maybe another platform'. This whole experience, however, gave me a very bad impression of the whole concept of producing a commercial game by way of GBAX/GPH.

I suggested instead a 2D game which we are working on to this day, Stargazer, be published by GPH/GBAX. I was met with a 'we'll see', essentially. But later on, despite the success of the 2D game Vektar, I was met with a great deal of sentiment from you about how no one wanted to play old-fashioned 2D games and you'd never sell any copies. It was just a notch down from an argument to get you to entertain the concept, even-- I quickly lost all enthusiasm for the idea when I saw the first 'boxed' copy of Vektar; on a generic SD card, bouncing around freely inside what appeared to be a remodeled TV-Out cable package, stapled shut. That's not exactly what I imagined when you described neat, boxed packages with manuals, much like a Japanese Famicom (or was it GBA?) game comes packaged. Much like how when you mentioned the games would be protected by DRM on encrypted SD cards, I didn't imagine you telling me we had to write our own DRM scheme because you didn't feel like sharing yours.

#2, our discussion of the GP2X stick. I've had my GP2X for some time now, not much under a year-- and I'm enjoying it. It has capable hardware inside, though I remained highly irritated by the stick. While many on this forum are perfectly alright with it, most newcomers to the console who expect something more similar to a traditional console, say, a GBA or PSP-- are not. Those outside of the GP32/GP2X community have a tendency to look at the GP2X as being a shoddily-made toy, and nothing can create that impression quite like a stick that feels broken.

You seemed wholly indifferent to the issue, not concerned as you propose to be now. I brought to your attention threads that populated the first page of the General GP2X Talk forum constantly, discussing D-Pad installation, why the stick was used, how to circument problems with the stick, if GPH would ever offer a machine with a D-pad, so forth. Threads that were over 20 pages long in some cases, had been read thousands of times and posted to hundreds of times! You shrugged off the issue, telling me that if you could play Battle Squadron for the MD, that the MK2 stick was fine. The simple facts of the matter are that not every game requires the same control movements. A platformer is much harder to play than a shooter on this stick due to the time it takes to swing from one direction or another. It feels like playing with a multiple-direction lightswitch, very loose, imprecise and sloppy. Something that is 'just tolerable' is not something to shoot for ... I made this clear.

However, what truly agitated me was that when I stated that the problem was not fixed in the MK2 units, by merely rotating the existing stick 45 degrees, you logged out and refused to speak to me becaue I hadn't personally used the MK2 stick. I was well aware of the reason it was rotated, the UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT directions were biased less than the diagnols were, which the MK2's re-orientation of the stick corrected. But this does nothing to fix the long swing time going from one direction to its opposite or the complete lack of precision, and sloppy feel of the control overall.

That kind of an argument is much like a person entering a car dealership, complaining that his brakes on his new car are shot. He returns, and finds they've had a mechanic replace his steering wheel and put a prettier pedal onto his brakes. He knows his problem wasn't fixed, but no one will listen to him because he didn't go test-drive his obviously still-broken brakes? You've got just as many people still complaining despite that they are all getting rotated sticks in their new MK2 units. The problem was obviously still there, whether it persoanlly bothered you or not. Such logic should never be the basis of a product design anyway-- it should be what the customers want. Not what a distributor wants.

Now, if it's impossible to fix the problem for monetary reasons, that's a whole different issue from entirely disregarding the problem, and pretending that it does not exist.

#3, The final straw came when we were speaking and the topic of discussion came to a successor of the GP2X that was planned sometime in the future. Now, I am always enthusiastic about a new development platform, especially one that would build on the strengths of the GP2X, could add some more, and remove some of its weaknesses. I suggested, a 2D accelerator, or more ideally for those more interested in 3D, a 2D/3D acclerator like the PowerVR "MBX Lite" RS, and a moderately higher-clocked ARM9, amid some other suggestions like, of course, a D-Pad.

I suggested an SoC that would be great for GPH's next machine, and was met with many illogical arguments, most of which centered on that you'd rather include a higher-clocked ARM9, to the tune of 600 MHz, despite that such a chip does not exist, because those easily affected by big numbers in marketing would want to buy one. You made the analogy of a big engine in a truck, if I recall correctly, and how it sells trucks better than more useful features. You made a lot of inaccurate statements about the usability of OpenGL-ES. You wanted to know that such features as a 2D/3D accelerator would really benefit things like PS1 emulation in particular-- so I went to Zodttd and asked him about the exact SoC I suggested. His response was nothing but positive-- he stated if such hardware came out, he'd be right on it to port PSX4ALL and use the 3D, Floating point and Vector processing capabilities to their fullest. I assured you PS1 games would be at or near full speed in the majority of cases, a statement that is fully grounded in reality based on technical knowledge, talks with Zodttd and research of the hardware.

You asked me to make a GP32X post asking which the community would prefer. You laid no guidelines or rules for such a post. Knowing prior threads were just 'what would you want in a GP3X?'-styled and were rapidly filled with ridiculous ideas like Athlon 64 2GHz+ processors and 7800GTX 3D Accelerators, full PCs in a tiny pocket-sized handheld that would cost $4,000 .. I told it straight and said that it was to be input for an intended future successor to the GP2X. Posts on GP32X overwhelmingly favored the SoC I had suggested to you, despite your resistance and constant illogical arguments.

Then, you saw my thread, said my claims were crazy, and that I said too much, that I had no right to say anything about a future GP2X unit, and that you'd never speak to me again. Then, you replied to the thread stating everything was purely hypothetical, and there was no future unit planed, quite presumably to minimize impact on existing GP2X sales.

Would not a little warning have been appropriate? A bit of information on what you did and did not want revealed? If something is a secret to you, it is in your best interests to be careful that persons to which you speak of it know there are rules to what is and is not secret information. I didn't consider myself privy to any secrets of GPH or GBAX, as I had no reason to be. If you had some kind of faith in me not to reveal such information as that, it would have been expected for you to say so-- and at the very least, not to hold one in contempt for violating guidelines that were never set.

I don't wish to call you out sheerly out of spite, but none of your behavior towards me has been professional or respectful, despite my attempts to show both of those attributes to you in our prior discussions and dealings. Courtesy is a two-way street, and when one recieves treatment such as this, he cannot be expected to sing your praises. I want you to undestand this, and not feel as if I am being blindly hateful, but wish to make my feelings on this matter known, as is fully within my rights.

If you wish to rebut what I've said, I welcome it, and I do vow not to abandon reason and maintain a rational dialogue-- a flamewar isn't what anyone welcomes, but I would like to hear your thoughts on this matter here or in private, whichever you prefer.

I believe I've said all I need to. I'm sorry for cluttering up this thread, but I did need to get that off of my chest.
 
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i was going to post

use the PM function to continue,

but im not sure now, so i'll be on my way and keep my snout out.

Group Hug?
 
Epicenter posted on Sep 8 2006 at 03:17 AM said:
Similarly, criticisms of Vektar's control scheme went in this manner on #gp2xdev:
Note that the freeware Vektar has completely configurable controls for those who cannot get used to the defaults, and I assume the commercial version does as well (though I don't have the commercial version yet).
 
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Epicenter posted on Sep 8 2006 at 07:35 AM said:
craigix posted on Sep 8 2006 at 05:28 AM said:
That is shockingly edited. The tone of that conversation was sarcastic and playful from my side as i worked on vektar.

Try posting what happened much later on when i revealed that as we were talking i was putting his suggested control method into the game.

Epicenter what is your problem with me? This isn't the first time you have tried to get little digs in on me.

-Craig

#3, The final straw came when we were speaking and the topic of discussion came to a successor of the GP2X that was planned sometime in the future. Now, I am always enthusiastic about a new development platform, especially one that would build on the strengths of the GP2X, could add some more, and remove some of its weaknesses. I suggested, a 2D accelerator, or more ideally for those more interested in 3D, a 2D/3D acclerator like the PowerVR "MBX Lite" RS, and a moderately higher-clocked ARM9, amid some other suggestions like, of course, a D-Pad.

wow, the gp2x is still really young. i know that doesn't stop people from dreaming about what's next--it's a common trait that keeps people from enjoying the moment at hand and doing what they can with the materials in front of them.

i commend everyone trying out dpad mods. that's the beauty of something like the gp2x ... it is what it is, and it's up to the community to do what they want with it. i respect gamepark holdings for running with such a contemporary business model and i don't think it's insane ... another company is trying something similar with chumby ... besides encouraging people to write software for the device, they're encouraging people to hack the hardware and case as well.

i thank craig for the work he's put into making the gp2x happen. the gp2x isn't perfect and craig isn't perfect but that doesn't negate the fact that many of us are enjoying our gp2x or craig's roll in getting the damn things in our hands.

when the dust settles and people are selling solid kits or offering to do mod jobs i'll probably bite. however, there's no urgency over here ... for the most part, i don't mind the joystick and i've got a diagonal-biased first edition. primarily i use my gp2x for making music and reading eBooks, but it also sees a bit of emulation and spout is always fun to boot up.

people are still making sick c64 demos (check artefacts 4k intro from breakpoint 2006 ... 30 meg video capture). you don't see those people bitching in forums, they're taking what they have and doing something with it. if you're not happy with current 3d engines, write your own. if you keep a level head about what the hardware and what it can do (rather than being stuck that one promised method is whak) i bet you'll have some insites, cut some corners, and create something with fps that live up to your standards.

ps. yay, group hug!!! much love from minneapolis :) :) :)
 
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Here's my thoughts on the joystick situation.

The current stick is, as said, tolerable. I love my 2x, but the current stick is a glaring weakness in an otherwise solid machine. I've dislocated my stick twice, and it gets a little worse each time it happens. This is unacceptable, to me.

The current stick was a very poor choice for a gaming platform, period. It would be ok on a device that saw less prolonged use or required a lesser degree of control. If there wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a d-pad mod, done by myself or someone else, I would be feeling very hostile.

As for the survey, I would be willing to buy a d-pad kit, pay someone to install it, or salvage an old controller and do the mod myself, as many here have done or are doing. I haven't made a final decision between those options, other than the decision to do "something".

If there was a gp2x with a d-pad made available, I would buy it. It would be nice if such a unit featured a few other improvements, too, such as a better viewing angle than the mk2 screen has or a built in usb host port.

In conclusion, I love my 2x, warts and all. GPH is a company I plan on buying from in the future, although I deeply hope that they hear the constructive critisism from places like this, as it will only improve their products and thusly their bottom line.
 
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