Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

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Nusakan
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Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by Nusakan »

Here's my DC twin stick mod using a Madcatz 4716 Controller.

unfortunately there are a few revision of this controller so you will need to figure out how the buttons are mapped out. This controller is definatly different that what is found in the shoryuken forums (padhacking madcatz 4716 08/09 controller)
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The Xbox Guide button.  The button was taken out of an old Saturn Fighting stick that was converted to use for DC via internal Adapter.
The Xbox Guide button. The button was taken out of an old Saturn Fighting stick that was converted to use for DC via internal Adapter.
The insides.  A bit messy but it's the only thing i can think of w/o having to have the controller be outside of the twin sticks.  The DC cord is totally disconnected and I left it on the top right corner as storage if i ever want to reverse it back for DC use.
The insides. A bit messy but it's the only thing i can think of w/o having to have the controller be outside of the twin sticks. The DC cord is totally disconnected and I left it on the top right corner as storage if i ever want to reverse it back for DC use.
The final product!
The final product!
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Nusakan
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Re: Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by Nusakan »

Reserved for the actual guide. Gonna try (when i get a chance) to write a full guide from the ground up for people who are less familiar dealing with electronics.

The stuff that was used. and how much I spent. Don't go off buying the most expensive stuff.
- DC twinsticks... This one I have on hand is still "brand new" since I used it like 10 times on the DC.

- ~$25 x2 A Madcatz 4716 with PCB version G. You only need one, two was bought cause i'm gonna mod two twinsticks. Technically got these two for 7 bucks cause I had gift certificates. A warning with these ones tho, it seems like Madcatz like to make revisions of this controller so you'll have to figure out what is common ground and what isn't. This will be explained.

- ~$200+ for A Multimeter. What I used was a Fluke 87 III True RMS meter. This kind is EXPENSIVE. You just need a multimeter. Get one that can beep, it'll make finding common ground easier. I had this one cause it was for school.

- Also to go along with the multimeter it's nice to have alligator clips with your multimeter. This will help you find common grounds on the back side of the controller.

- ~$? Phillips screw driver. You'll need these to open up the DC twin sticks, opening up the Madcatz controller as well as removing the PCB board from the controller. Most people have a set of these in different sizes, if not, i'm sure your local warehouse have them.

- ~$3 x4 for Wire spool. I believe the ones I have are 24 awg. I bought one of each color I could find (black, green, yellow, & white)

- ~$5 for solder. Any works. Lead or Lead free... all depends on if you ever feel like licking solder or something....

- ~25 for a soldering iron. If you already have one, great, just buy a thin tip attachment for it, unless you're an expert at soldering.

- ~$5 for soldering flux. These will make soldering to the controller much easier. Be careful not to spill/splash it around, very sticky stuff when settled.

- ~$1 for a button. You'll need a button of some sort for the xbox guide button. it's not completely necessary since the 360 will automatically assign a player # to your sticks once you plug them in and you could always just exit out of the game instead of using the guide button so this is completely up to you. You can find these at radio shack or something. I tore apart a Saturn/DC fighting stick. This thing was useless to me anyways since i got it free when i worked at EBgames. Someone poured coke on it and luckily 5 of the buttons were still functional and not sticky. Would've been nice if the button was gray.

- As you noticed in the picture, an ESD bag was used to house the controller. Since I suck at making boxes, I decided to put the controller in an ESD bag and punch holes to where the wires will be coming out of so that I can connect it to the twinsticks. I got this from work but you can probably use like the ESD bag from your video card for your PC or something. NOTE: Do make sure it is non-conductive though.

- ~$10 wire stripper/cutter. The crimping tools for the optional reversible mod should have these if you plan on doing that otherwise, you still need a way to strip wires and cut them.

- $? PCB holders. I cannot for the life of me find where mine are hiding. Prices on these things widely range. You just need them to hold the controller while you do your thing. Not required, but recommended. Especially if you're going to solder the reverse side of the board and don't want to bend any wires on the other side.

Optional for reversible mod.
- ~$7 10x B3B-PH-K-S, 10x B4B-PH-K-S, & B5B-PH-K-S. I got these JST connectors from http://www.digikey.com/ This is more than what you need but you can always use these for future projects.

- ~$1-3 for a bag of crimps. The ones I got were totally wrong and they didn't have anything else smaller from Frys so this got shot down for me. This will make wiring up the JST super easy. Because I bought the wrong crimps I had to hand solder these. Be careful when hand soldering cause if you get the pins too hot it will melt the plastic and loosen up the pins.

- ~10-15 for crimping tools. Used for the crimps. Don't get anything expensive. Just read the back of the box to see how to use it.



To be continued...

Edit: Ugh, been bz at work. Gonna try to get sometihng going once this is over. for now just look at http://216.246.50.234/showthread.php?t=197388 This is where i got my info for doing pad hacks. MAKE SURE you find your common grounds and don't just go off the picture because my controller's common ground was not in the same area as mentioned in this forums.
Last edited by Nusakan on 27 Jul 2009, 14:24, edited 15 times in total.
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Re: Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by Nusakan »

Reserved in case I somehow manage to pass the 60000 character limit.
Dreamcazman
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Re: Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by Dreamcazman »

Nice mod. Couple of things I would change however.

1. Remove the DC board totally and keep it safe somewhere. It doesn't need to be in there.

2. I wouldn't keep the Madcatz PCB in an anti-static bag. Sometimes the inside of the bags are conductive, good for storage, not good with power running through them.

Once you remove the DC board, you'll have amply room to mount the Madcatz PCB, plus neaten up the wiring in the process. ;)
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Re: Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by Trump111 »

Congrats on a successful mod!

Not a bad idea to keep all the original parts inside the case since they won't get lost that way. Since you have zipties there, why not tie the DC cable up too (gently)?
And maybe you did it already, but it would be wise to insulate the JST connector solder joints. When I tested mine, two of them touched and my right weapon fired whenever I dashed and who knows what other weird stuff could happen...

As for the JST connectors melting easily, that is quite true. The plastic melts pretty quickly and the pins start drifting out of place. I had to force my first few back in place with a needlenose plier.

So what will you do for the second mod?
Is it another DC Twin Stick or a Sega Saturn one?
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Re: Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by Nusakan »

Thanks ^^
1. Remove the DC board totally and keep it safe somewhere. It doesn't need to be in there.

2. I wouldn't keep the Madcatz PCB in an anti-static bag. Sometimes the inside of the bags are conductive, good for storage, not good with power running through them.
I did take it out but then I thought to myself... "I'm a pack rat... god knows where the board is gonna end up being if I ever wanted to reverse it." So I left it in there. Though, now that I think about it I can just take the cables and board out and leave them in the original DC box. That's harder to lose. Thanks for bringing that up. =)

With these ESD bags, I did poke my multimeter around the insides and didn't get any readings from it so I figured it was safe. Any suggestions beside an ESD bag? I can't think of anything small that I could mod that the PCB would fit inside the twinsticks.
And maybe you did it already, but it would be wise to insulate the JST connector solder joints. When I tested mine, two of them touched and my right weapon fired whenever I dashed and who knows what other weird stuff could happen...
The JST Joints will be gently covered or weaved with electrical tape. The cables on the soldering side are zip tied about 1 inch away to keep the cables aligned. Tied any closer and pins will start bending. I haven't been done yet because something happened to my electrical tape that i can't explain... so i gotta get a new roll.

The second one right now depends on when Toys n Joys wants to ship my DC twin sticks. Their last e-mail was on wednesday saying "the sticks are being shipped from their Japan warehouse". I wasn't aware that they had a Japan warehouse which I think is full of xxxx but they said end of this or next week. If I hear nothing, I'm just gonna cancel and decide from there.
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Re: Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by MentholMoose »

Nusakan wrote:With these ESD bags, I did poke my multimeter around the insides and didn't get any readings from it so I figured it was safe. Any suggestions beside an ESD bag?
Those bags have capacitance and probably shouldn't be used. Here's an interesting video on Youtube showing the effect: High Voltage Antistatic Bag

For my modded DC Twin Sticks, I used some electrical tape to hold it in place, and taped a piece of paper to the metal base plate to serve as insulation in case the PCB gets loose and touches it.
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Re: Nusakan's Dreamcast Twinstick Mod.

Post by Nusakan »

hmm... didn't think about the bags acting as a cap before. Looks like I'll have to revise this. i still have the casing to the controller i could probably sand down the excess plastic and mount the controller to it. I'll have to look at it when i get home.
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