Joystick Builder updated with TONS of info.

Guys,
if you haven't see the commemoration Wallpaper from our friends at AM2, I pretty much just added the logos and changed the BG to B&W to accentuate Kage. The BG is originally red. All the commemoration Wallpaper make excellent underlays, and its your imagination that makes it great for an underlay.

This particular wallaper was at the Arcadia Magazine site (www.arcadiamagazine.com) website. Notice that with proper image editing, the arcadia and sega logos up to have been removed.

 

I'm going to cry.. snif..
Sometimes i even think it's not worth playing vf...not even buying vf4 evo when it comes out (if it comes out) just because in that precise moment i think of that beautiful game, a picture of Catch 22's Arcade Sticks come to my head... and then I wish i had those skills..

Life's unfair.. /versus/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

my sticks are great, if only for the fact that they use Sanwa parts. It's this aspect of it, that I really even wanted to build one.

Vale, buy the Hori sticks, they are wonderful. 6-button layouts are good, but there is nothing like playing on a dedicated 3 button layout without anything else getting in the way.

VF4Evo > A good joystick

Playing Evolution on shitty sticks, is better than not playing Evo at all. BTW, the only shitty sticks around are the consumer American ones.

 

HI everyone. I'm a first timer on your board. nice meeting you guys/gals.
I'm from the hk-vf.net board. from Hong Kong.
catch22, I was wandering if you could kindly allow me to link your joystick building site on our board, since it's so informative and cool looking.
Do pop round, i understand, the site is in Chinese but I'm sure people (well, I certainly would) answer all English VF4evo questions in English. if they were posted in English/versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Looking forward to see you guys around. I'll also be visiting.
Take care.

 

Welcome Reggaemonk. Nice to see newer faces around.

 

[ QUOTE ]
reggaemonk said:

HI everyone. I'm a first timer on your board. nice meeting you guys/gals.
I'm from the hk-vf.net board. from Hong Kong.
catch22, I was wandering if you could kindly allow me to link your joystick building site on our board, since it's so informative and cool looking.

[/ QUOTE ]

No problem. Everything is public domain. The site is just my way of contributing something to the worldwide VF community.

BTW, a Raggae fan in Hong Kong? I didn't know Raggae was so popular in Hong Kong.

 

[ QUOTE ]
replicant said:

Welcome Reggaemonk. Nice to see newer faces around.

[/ QUOTE ]

HI Replicant.

And Thanks C22. will past the site on to the others.

Yeah, reggae aren't main stream but there are lots of music lovers over here.
Shame they don't have an afro for Leifei, that will be cool.
at the moment, my Leifei in PS2 evo looks like..erm ..Ronald Macdonald. /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif figure that one out..

 

catch i have a question. do you know where i can find a picture of the real VFevo arcade layout? I want to see the colors of the buttons and the exact location they are in. thanks

 

You can find a picture of that in any Japanese arcade. Just go in and take a look at the layout of the buttons on the machines there. Taking a picture of the cabinet will give you an idea where the buttons are and what color they are, etc. That's what I did to help me get the exact look and layout for my stick. I recommend flying JAL airline, they have really nice service.

p.s. There's a picture on Catch's site that has the exact layout of the buttons and stick. Colorwise, it varies from arcade to arcade. The official VF Sanwa buttons come in a variety of colors. The most recognizable choice of colors for VS cabinets are Green for Guard, Blue for Punch, and Pink for Kick. Color of the stick are mostly green, but varies as well.

/versus/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

Color of the stick was actually crystal-clear, with the feel of 'broken glass' inside /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

 

There's more discussion here, and you can find a layout of the VF buttons on the JB website.:

http://virtuafighter.com/versuscity/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=console&Number=24619&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=25&vc=1

Yup, as far as colors go, they vary, but I do notice that a Red Joystick and buttons have been most prevalent, as far as what I have seen in various pictures and videos.

When I was building a stick for the first time, those "gotta be just like the JP machine" craziness got me. Did a whole lotta research as far as colors and layout goes.

The VF4 color scheme is similar to that on the VF4 hori stick, GREEN=G, BLUE=P, RED=K. I like to use this color scheme, as it's reproduced on various VF media and at VFDC too! What's an advantage to this, is that you can tell VF newbies you're training to press buttons according to color.

In the end, it's up to you what you use.

 

Thx for the reply. ill prolly be going to japan this summer to see my grandparents and all my other relatives. ill prolly be there for like 2months. til then no japanese arcade... /versus/images/graemlins/frown.gif
But i dont really like JAL. I usually fly with ANA. Sometimes JAL has old planes....

 

Catch, I'm confused about how you wired everything to the PC port (15 pin or something?). Do you have that shit detailed on your site? I think that the electronics shit is the hardest part, that stuff needs to be illustrated like friggin crazy, step-by-step.

I guess I want to know what is in between the buttons and the port, and then how you create the console adapter that attaches to it.

 

Catch, I am a moron, you DO have the electrical shit extensively detailed on your site, I'll shut up now.....

Actually, wait, I guess this is what I was asking. In another post on somewhere you mentioned that you designed your controller to be easily convertible to any system. Does that mean that you wired the button and joystick circuitry directly to the 15-pin thingy, and then stick the actual PCB board for the specific system you are using outside the box? I've seen pictures of yours illustrating a playstation cord with a little black box at the end and a male 15-pinner, so I'm assuming that the playstation PCB board is inside that little black box. I hope that didn't sound too stupid /versus/images/graemlins/confused.gif.

 

imagine if you will... a wire. But you don't want the wire long everytime, you want to be able to "pull" the single wire off... or disconnect it. Instead of cutting it in half, and wrapping the copper together, and electrical taping it together each time you want to make the same connection, you use a 15 pin connector to "BREAK THE WIRE". It could be a 1 pin connector, for one wire... but with 15 pins, you have the option of using 0-15 pins for 0-15 wires you want to disconnect. In this case, it's a ground wire, the direction wires, and the button wires. On the 15pin connectors, each of the 15 pins are numbered so you won't mix up what pins your'e using for which functions. Say you use pin 1 for ground... you use pin 1 on the female and male connectors. Use pin 2 for up, pin 3 for down, etc, etc, etc.

That connector is just a way to connect wires without tape.

Now, read this page carefully, and if you got any other question, HOLLAH...
http://members.cox.net/ctwentytwo/joystick_builder/electronics/terminals.htm

 

Maybe I should have read your post more carefully...

Yes, the PCB is in that small box. A little chop chop is need of the PCB board. You don't have to be careful, just know what you're doing.

In that sense, yeah, with the 15pin connector, imagine, you can build the box with a PCB board for each and every console ever made! Just remember what pins on the base of the joystick goes to what.

Say you used pin 1 to Ground, pin 2 to Up, pin 3 to Right...ect. It's up to you what you use. This is the pins on the 15pin connector you have on the base and I usually use the Male connector. Now all you have to do is when you make other boxes, you connect the ground from the PCB to Pin 1, Up on the PCB to Pin 2, Right on the PCB to Pin 3, etc. .. and this would be on the female 15 pin connector.

Just make sure that you know what pins on your base does what function... so write it down.

 

Thanks dude. I have another one for you: you spraypaint your boxes, right?

 

not the box, which, again, you can find at radio shack. Ask for "project boxes."

The base is spray painted though.

 

Do you use higher res overlays than you have posted on your site?

 

Those "overlays" are just layouts for the buttons.

The artwork themselves are usually 92 dpi or 300 dpi.

The proof in the pudding is in your printer and the material you print them on.