Your thoughts on Hitbox

What is your VF5FS STAGGER RECOVER TECHNIQUE (command input)?
(full circling or only half circling then which 4,2,6 or 4,8,6? 4,8,6 circling is better because character not sit down after recovery, but 4,8,6 more difficult i think on Hitbox than 4,2,6 (because no slide method).

 

the 426...just avoid the 2 as best as possible when ur done sliding unless you plan on ducking a high

 

I'm about 99% with this now. The cool thing is before I had added G to the same row as P and K to make the slide easier:

PKGx
Gxxx

but now I'm able to do it with standard layout.

Let me know if there are any other staggers that may be harder to break and I'll give them a go.

 

Staggers from a wall stagger hit I think are the hardest staggers in the game. Good luck with that one.

 

BTW, don't know if I posted about this here... but Zass from Seattle uses finger tape when using his hitbox. This allows him to slide across the buttons without any concern of wear on his fingertips or getting botched input from inconsistent feel.

He tends to like to complicate things further, but I like the fingertape. I think he was first encouraged to do it because he likes to slide across the buttons in some situations (he's also obsessed with perfect giant swing).

 

Do you mean that your STAGGER RECOVER TECHNIQUE on Hit Box is:
- using Button layout:
PKGx
Gxxx

- press and holding G button by right Thumb, you perform SLIDING by left Forefinger 4>2>6 and by right Forefinger G>K>P simultaneously.

Am i right?

Questions:
1) How many times you need to perform this "Double sliding" to recovery from Light, Mid, Strongest staggers?

2) Do you perform SLIDING OR TAPPING on Left, Right hands?

 

Someone suggested this to me saturday since i developed small blisters on my left index finger from doing staggers all week. I doubt all be using crazy slides with that finger anymore since my stagger breaks use pkg mostly. My other index finger has did about an equal amount of sliding and aside from some slight redness its blister free and ready for more. Still i may use some tape for my right finger for the consistency factor.

 

you just gotta build up your finger skin from practice. You gonna have musician fingertips soon enough.

 

I usually hold G to get hit by the stagger then start the slide so that P is the first input I hit. Everything is done with the index/forefinger and I'm never holding G (as most players do) until I'm done sliding. Since Ive only been working on this Goh stagger the slide is just a 1-2 swipe of the PKG. All other staggers should be the same except you have more lenient timing on the lighter staggers. On my left hand I usually just tap 46 or just 6.

 

Well I play guitar but its been awhile since ive picked up my axe's. Never had a problem with blisters when doing slides on guitar strings. And building callouses on the finger tips have never been a problem for me either but I dont use the fingertips for hitbox sliding. The blisters I have are closer to the first line/fold on that finger.

 

I might be putting tape there myself then, that's a nasty spot to get a blister.

 

My old custom-made stick (made out of old ps1 gamepad like 9 years ago lol) and new, nearly-fnished hitbox conversion
Made to test how hitbox works and if it is for me.

 

That looks great Unicorn. Hope it works out for you.

 

Fun!

wanting a little project outside of work and wanting to explore the hitbox was the reason I ripped the innards out of my TE and dumped them in a a new home.

The transition wasn't fluid. Muscle memory fought against certain tech and I found that in real matches I lost a ton of tech. and basic tech, like fuzzy. I wasn't the best at doing fuzzy by a long stretch but in clutch situations I found I just held guard without struggle, fuzzy or anything. heh.

Going back through the tutorials and through Dojo helped immensely. I constantly drilled the guard, evade, and TE tutorials and then went into Dojo and started to build scenarios for stagger recover and fuzzy through the command function.

I'm still only 60% or so but the player matches I've had with SDS and Tricky are showing me that I'm getting it back slowly.

anyway, have fun with it. you will see an immediate improvement in your movement (IMO) and then it is just a factor of making new muscle memory pathways for all the detail your fingers need to be competitive.

 

two days into my newly modded Madcatz TE hitbox and I'm running drills to get used to the thing. i can already say my arm is thanking me by not hurting anymore. I can actually cancel my dashes into evades so fast that I don't even see the dashing motion. The only way I know I had dashed is the dashing sound comes out. I'm loving it, I can also cancel my evades at speeds that used to kill me before. Oh man I can't wait to get my fingers totally used to this new input method. Now that I can practice movement for extended periods of time I'm starting to wonder how I ever played the game before. I feel like I was so much more stiff than the game allowed me to be.


Now my biggest concern is just getting used to up being in a place my brain is having a hard time getting used to. I made some drills for it that I figure I can share with you guys. I posted this in the drill section too, but figured it belongs here too.

For joystick to Hitbox transition players:​

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To get used to the new control input method quickly I find the following to be a good tool. I'll refer to the butons you'll be pressing. This is simply to help rewire your brain more quickly. The key here is speed and accuracy. If you're fast but inputs are off, then slow down, it has to be perfect.​

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4,1,2,3,6 then 6,3,2,1,4 and repeat over and over increasing your speed. If this is too hard then you can just do 2,3,6 then 6,3,2 (repeat with 2,1,4 --- 4,1,2).​

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After that is down you work on the 6,9,8,7,4 then 4,7,8,9,6 over and over. use same pattern as before for the quarter circle motions if you're having trouble with the half circle.​

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Then go for 8,9,6,3,2 then go back up. Repeat on the other side 8,7,4,3,1,2 and go back up.​

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If this here can't get you used to the new input method then nothing will .​

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sidenote: if you press 4 and 6 at the same time (at least on my TE dunno if it's a coding thing with VF or if it's my stick) I end up getting he 4 direction. If I press 8 and 2 and the same time I get the down direction. It dosen't matter which button I press first, if both buttons are pressed I'll get those directions.​

 

Basically, I have some serious issues with fine motor skills. Not ideal when you are playing FGs for sure This is also the main reason why I decide to give HBX a try - when I need to coordinate my left hand on stick, I have some issues which - with a lot of practice - can be minimized but not completely overcome.

Well and through the weekend, I was on offline tournament and I finally get my finalized custom-made hitbox to my hands there. After the main event (and following friendly matches) was finished, I jump straight into the HBX and start testing it. I made few notes back there which I will now try to elaborate and share.

0 min impression
After taking the HBX to Dojo, I am a little disappointed. I do not feel anything to be better that on stick (I borrowed hori Fighting Edge stick for the tourney - the VERY BEST stick I ever had in my hands - and that did not help the impression too, that is for sure). The movement does not look any better or anything. I also realize that clicking buttons with my left hand affects my right hand coordination as well - the brain seems to be confused by this fact and I am missing some multi-buttons inputs (3p+k for example - that are 4 buttons at once and if I am not concentrating, I often "forgot" to press one of them).
Well... Not impressed much, buying the Fighting Edge seems to be much better way to go. But lets see.

10 min impression
I am starting to understand the very core motoric mechanisms needed for playing HBX. Basically, the 426 buttons are VERY natural and easy to learn - at this point, all 63214 directions are coming out naturally out of my hands (thank you, countles hours with MK1/2 on PC!!! ). What is the problem is 8. The placement is ergonomically good, but it is not natural for my head.
The basic movement (11/33 and 44/66) is easier for me that on stick (I do not have issues with missing directions), but evade canceling seems to be 110 % impossible to perform, unlike on stick. That sucks.
What I like are the 624/426 inputs. Perfect GS 24/7? Hell yes!

2 hours impression
I found that I can 44/66 dash very fast using the fact that my HBX (obviously unlike Tricky's one) works like 4+6=5 and 2+8=5.I can dash very fast by pressing 6_ and holding it, then a moment later slide the other finger over 4 very slightly and a moment later releasing 6 and repeating it over. I hope you get it from my description - basically I am doing nearly the some thing as when you are inputting Akiras knee, just quickly one after another after another
The 8 direction still sucks, but I feel I will get used to it through time. The evade canceling is still impossible.
But what is complete disaster are certain WS moves. I am playing wolf and doing 2_3 P (input 33P) is easy as hell now; but doing 2_36P (336P) seems to be completely impossible for some reason. I turned on the input display and I am pressing everything correctly, yet I keep getting 2_3P move 24/7. I am starting to consider dropping HBX, because this sucks a lot.

3,5 hours impression
Oh damn this thing, fck my life!
I WAS WRONG ALL THE TIME!
I just found why I can not 2_36P and why I keep getting 2_3p only. I also realize why I was unable to cancel evades.
I am so stupid.
I was TOO FAST!
2_36p? I was so fast the game ignore the 6 direction, probably because of the safety net. I slow my inputs down just a little bit and 2_36P is coming out smoothly.
EDG? I was canceling the evade into dash into G so fast it was looking like I did failed evade and then G. Thanks Sega for practices, without the last one (EDG vs full circle move) I will probably drop HBX thinking it sucks...

5 hours impression
I am playing some friendly matches now. I am dropping a lot of stuff (mostly stuff with 8 direction, dammit) and I still need to concentrate on my inputs way too much to be able to play how I am used to play, but the HBX seems to be a way to go for me.

Basically I can say my movement is just a little faster, but much smoother now.Also the inputs generally are a LOT cleaner.
624/426 moves are fast, but I need to be extra careful to not hit P while sliding this - the 6 is way too close to P on my HBX, this was a mistake. 1 or 2 extra milimetres of distance (0,1 inch or even less) will do it perfectly, but like I have it now it will need certain practice and attention.
8426/8624 moves are possible, but I will need a more practice to pull them out fast and smooth - and consistently.
Slides generally - my fingers seems to do OK (just a small blister after all this time), but using some sort of sports finger-tape will be better for extended periods time spend of playing.

Overall, I like it. I think that especially for pad / keyboard players, the transition to HBX is very simple; in compare with transition to stick for sure. HBX itself seems to be pretty nice to use.
I can not wait to get silenced buttons into it, because playing right now is like shooting a machine gun

PS: I will need to re-box my HBX, the current size is way to small and my wrists hurts from being pressed against the corners of HBX box

 

1) Is any differences between official Hitbox and handmade custom Hitbox?

2) How to make own handmade custom Hitbox (step-to-step) or any useful links?

 

1) yes, there are some (a lot ). But the basic is that "oficial" hitbox have 4+6=5; but 2+8=8. This will be usually different on custom made ones - like in my case (2+8=5), or like in Trickys case (4+6=4 and 8+2=2).
Other things just depends... For example I have the "normal" buttons made out of 30mm ones, while original hitbox is using 24mm. Also I have just 6 buttons instead of 8 and the template is slightly different (I was aiming to play VF mainly on HBX, so I will not need L1/R1 much...). But basically this things are 100 % pre-set on normal HBX; but 100 % cusomizable on custom one.

2) there are multiple ways. The most simple will be to buy mad catz stick and then new steel plate and stick-buttons convertor Tricky linked in this thread.
In my case... Basically, I had ooooold custom-made stick made out of PS1 gamepad (1st custom made stick created in my country, lol). I create HBX template and let it to be cut out of solid 3mm steel with laser; then I add buttons and switch cables. The "normal" buttons was easy, the "direction" where more complicated, but thx to the nature of gamepad (each direction works like button basically) it was doable in terms of like 4 or 5 hours of trying things (not by me, but we have local guy here who is great in modding sticks etc).

 

If I may ask - how are people from your FG communities accepting you playing HBX?

I have it for 3 days. I did not play single tournament on it; yet there are people from here around who call me cheater. With no specific reason given, even when asked directly.
Just wondering if this is specific for our local scene or if this is more common phenomenon.

 

Just make it look like a really big playstation pad. It's essentially the samr thing but with better button placement. If that's cheating people need to rethink their shit.