Why Does Everyone Hate The Gp2x Joystick?

[cador]

I never found the GP2x joystick to be much of a problem. In fact, I kind of like it, it's 16 directions are very useful for games like Sinistar. These are the _real_ problems of the GP2x:

-Volume controlled by software through buttons instead of a manual knob or slider. Don't you find it annoying when you change games on the GP2x only to find the game blasting sound at a very high volume? A manual knob or slider would have gotten rid of this problem AND it would have saved on battery life.

-Backlight can't be shut off. Sure, 80% of the time, we need a backlight, but how about when you're out in the hot summer sun and you can't see the screen because of the glare? Having a way to adjust or turn off the backlight would have also been another great option to save battery life.

-The Firmware is very iffy (screen glitches, software crashes, etc).

-And, of course, the short battery life.

 

[Shikaku]

-The Firmware is very iffy (screen glitches, software crashes, etc).

Screen glitches=it over/underclocking.

Software crashes=upgrade, I haven't crashed on 2.1.1 yet.

The joystick bothers me in exactly one way:

Try doing any of these motions on the joystick: qcf, hcb; hcb, f; db, hcb, df; charge d, u or f,b.

I can't do them and I am scared to do them at the speed I want to for fear of breaking the stick.

I also get 4 hours, which is plenty enough for me (check the battery test thread).

 

[Samba Pa Ti]

i just want a nice dpad, id happily buy a 2x casing with one fitted if it was easy to fit onto the mainboard, apart from that the 2x is fine.
i dont mind the joystick but for the sort of games i play a dpad would be a godsend

 

[Blah]

it IS possible to shut off the backlight (as shown by the music player) but nobody has made a handy way of doing this.

 

[(naw)mcx]

-The Firmware is very iffy (screen glitches, software crashes, etc).

Screen glitches=it over/underclocking.

Software crashes=upgrade, I haven't crashed on 2.1.1 yet.

The joystick bothers me in exactly one way:

Try doing any of these motions on the joystick: qcf, hcb; hcb, f; db, hcb, df; charge d, u or f,b.

I can't do them and I am scared to do them at the speed I want to for fear of breaking the stick.

I also get 4 hours, which is plenty enough for me (check the battery test thread).

I did a fire ball. I killed my stick

 

[AcidiC]

Because it isn't a dpad.

 

[mison]

the music player shuts off the screen, not only the backlight. has to be possible to shut it off, though.

 

[Eolair]

I hate the stick on my gp2x (mk1) because it acts like this:

Yellow: Diagonal input |Green: Horizontal/Vertical input

Even the slightest upward tilting of the stick when I try to move to the right or the left will result in a diagonal input.

For example if I try to play a platformer game then the character I'm controlling will jump by mistake at least 20% of the time I'm trying to move him horizontally. It doesnt matter how careful I am. Because the "hit zone" on the stick for right and left is insanely small compared to that of the diagonals.

It's so bad that I sometimes think I have faulty stick. It's just no good for playing any games that demand fine precision movement.

But at least they partially fixed the stick on the mk2 version by rotating it 45 degrees. I sometimes consider selling my mk1 and getting a mk2....but I'd feel really sorry for the poor bastard who would end up with the awful stick on my mk1. I just have to be content with only playing puzzle games <_<

 

[PokeParadox]

I understand that. Get a cap. control is much improved over the stock stick.
I use the GP2X cap that comes with Vektar...

EDIT:
Also relating to the volume problems. We(GP2X Standards) are wondering about way to fix this. One thing which might fix things in application updates is if a value for volume is stored in tempfs.If we decide on a specific way of storing the volume level, this value could be loaded by applications on startup and saved on shutdown. It could also be modified by your menu, like GMenu2X. I think it's the most sensible solution unless GPH decide to do something FW related to address the problem.

 

[Orkie]

the music player shuts off the screen, not only the backlight. has to be possible to shut it off, though.

Why does it have to be possible (in software)?

 

[Ranma13]

My stick is unresponsive now. It will register left only sporadically. Not to mention the huge deadzone that it has, a killer for shoot em ups. For now, it's sitting in the case awaiting someone to launch a d-pad mod.

 

[trooper]

I was an early adopter, So had a First Edition GP2x, And could not get on with the stick. It was very unresponsive and had a cheap and tacky feel to it. Some F*cker nicked it a while after that (Mister workman, You are a dead man if i find out who you are). Because of my experience with the first edition GP2x (the stick), I will not be buying another GP2x in the future (pity really). My GP32 :wub: does everything i need and the stick is great too.

Trooper

 

[Alex.]

I wish the GP2X had a hardware volume adjuster too, the current solution simply doesn't provide the whole functionality a little wheel or a slider would have.

- Alex

 

[cador]

Software crashes=upgrade, I haven't crashed on 2.1.1 yet.

I just tried FW 2.1.1 -- ARRRGHHHH, now Gmenu2x doesn't work WEll, back to 2.0 for me. (Gmenu2x is the coolest thing to ever happen to the '2x, it's about a million times better than the stock FW menu--no more clicking on "game" and then going through a million folders to just play a game)

The joystick bothers me in exactly one way:
Try doing any of these motions on the joystick: qcf, hcb; hcb, f; db, hcb, df; charge d, u or f,b.
I can't do them and I am scared to do them at the speed I want to for fear of breaking the stick.
I also get 4 hours, which is plenty enough for me (check the battery test thread).

The only game I play that requires complex joystick maneuvers is STreet Figher 1 on MAME, and I have less trouble shooting fireballs than on an actual arcade machine.

 

[PokeParadox]

I just tried FW 2.1.1 -- ARRRGHHHH, now Gmenu2x doesn't work WEll, back to 2.0 for me. (Gmenu2x is the coolest thing to ever happen to the '2x, it's about a million times better than the stock FW menu--no more clicking on "game" and then going through a million folders to just play a game)

GMenu2X DOES work on this firmware... since that's what I use right now.

 

[Amon_Re]

GMenu2X DOES work on this firmware... since that's what I use right now.

Autorunning from the SD at power-on? Never gotten it to autorun here

 

[cador]

GMenu2X DOES work on this firmware... since that's what I use right now.

Autorunning from the SD at power-on? Never gotten it to autorun here

I thought about this as I was downgrading back to version 2.0 -- what if I put the autorun.gpu on the root of the NAND memory? Is that what you did Amon_Re?

 

[PokeParadox]

I would advise to NOT put the autorun.gpu on the NAND. (because if you do that you are removing a failsafe of getting back to the original menu.)

You put all the GMenu2X files on the NAND
You edit the autorun.gpu to point to /mnt/NAND instead of /mnt/sd/

Then it works as long as you have the SD with that autorun.gpu

 

[Amon_Re]

I would advise to NOT put the autorun.gpu on the NAND. (because if you do that you are removing a failsafe of getting back to the original menu.)

You put all the GMenu2X files on the NAND
You edit the autorun.gpu to point to /mnt/NAND instead of /mnt/sd/

Then it works as long as you have the SD with that autorun.gpu

Well, my unit isnt executing the autorun on the SD card for some odd reason, i does run it from the NAND tho, i wonder why

 

[Blah]

the music player shuts off the screen, not only the backlight. has to be possible to shut it off, though.

If you leave the Payback demo idleing for a while it will switch the backlight to half brightness and then off but you can still see the screen if you look closely.