I`m looking to rewire some DDR pads with Playstation2 controller ends. I`ve looked around bit, but honestly work on sony poducts is not generally my thing and I can`t quite seem to find what I am looking for. Any help would be appreciated. -ServiceGames-
Ha ha ha... THERE In fact, I think the pinout is identical to the PS1, it's like a serial port and the difference is in the protocol, not the hardware.
Surely it would be easier to get a ultra cheap dance pad and use that as the basis for a DDR controller? Save having to make someone fron scratch and you'll have all the inputs you'll need.
Actually there is alot more to the setup then I let on. I wanted to rewire the pads because they are part of an as of yet unworking Stepmania setup at a local laser tag arena that I help out at. Long story short the owners were to cheap to buy an actual DDR so they hired a woefully underqualified guy with basically zero design or troubleshooting skills to build them a stepmania in a cabinet. First thing he did was cut the ends off of some decent lighted aluminum PS2 DDR pads and try to qire them through an Ultamarc I-Pac board and cut out all of the lighting.... I have as of yet refused to do any work on the abomination. Opting only the rewire the controller ends.
Heh, hopefully this place doesn't get too much traffic because if *anyone* in the DDR scene (which is pretty active) notices a Stepmania cab being used in public (and costing money) you can bet that the legal papers will start flying rather quickly. It'll very much likely end up costing that company a lot more than a DDR machine would have in the first place, especially given that a used DDR machine can be had pretty cheaply. -hl718
Hmm, I am still unsure why you feel the need to rewire things, the easiest way for what you wanted to do would be to use a PS2 > USB convertor.
Be careful when doing it. The PS1/PS2 Controller ports "like" to die with no apparent reason, specially using low quality third party accessories. My friend Marcelo, from Maximum Level Games, stopped selling PS1 and PS2 lightguns because of those problems.
Thanks to all for the help. Hl718 that`s the major factor in my reluctance to work on it. I told them I would find a used Konami system for them, but they wanted no part of it... So far they`re in $5000..... and I have no idea how. Jamtex I agree completely and that is what I would have done. However, as soon as they got the pads they cut the ps2 connectors off and tried to wire it to the I-pac.. They did quite a shoddy job too if I do say so. now the whole thing is messed up. As of now it is rewired to PS2 and running through an adapter to USB and working fine.. This is what happens when tight asses try to make their own arcade hardware with absolutely zero experience or common sense.
They've already spent $5,000 on trying to "build" a blatantly infringing machine (which is sure to put a mark on their back because it's a company planning to use it for profit) but didn't want to spend that $5,000 to just buy a DDR machine outright? I'm missing the logic here. Channel Beat is *far* from the best pricing on DDR machines, but they never have trouble sourcing stock. For $5,000 you could almost have your choice of machines (excepting SuperNova) buying from them. Look around for a local reseller/operator and you'll easily get one for a lot less. http://channelbeat.com/products/dance/dance_dance_revolution_series.html Spending more money for an inferior product (those PlayStation pads aren't going to hold up nearly as well as the original DDR arcade pads) than it costs to have an authentic original is just plain stupidity. Whatever you do, don't take any money from them for the work. If they put this thing on location, the first thing they'll do when sued is claim ignorance and then point a finger at you and say "ServiceGames sold us the machine! He said it was a DDR arcade machine. We paid him for it. See! Here's the cancelled check!" Watch your back on this one. -hl718
They cut the cable and tried to wire it to an ipac? As they tried to wire the PS2 cable end to an Ipac or they tried to wire the pads into an ipac? Either way sounds like they are a bunch of idiots. $5000? What they been doing? Lighting cigarettes with $1 bills? Even a large LCD flat screen TV, some speakers, an amp, a PC and two high quality pads wouldn't even touch $3000.
Well hooking them up to an ipac doesn't mean they are idiots. The fact they couldn't wire it up to an ipac makes them idiots. Vinyl mats basically fall apart when you open them, but a stage ought to be pretty easy to modify. The only thing I can think of is maybe the switches are wired differently. Obviously it's easier to use a playstation to usb adapter, which is ok as long as you have usb and it doesn't lag. The ipac on the other hand could be ps/2 and won't lag.
Yeah I have no idea how they pissed away $5000 at this point. I think the guy that was working on it for them was screwing them big time. They bought some decent quality aluminum pads, but they couldn't have been more than about a hundred dollars a piece. Any way they straight chopped the controller connectors off and wired the ends through an ipac through ps/2 but for whatever reason there were 2 issues.. Considerable yet inconsistant lag and after a few hours of use the system would register an F key being pressed and it would throw the whole thing off. I haven't touched the thing to be honest so I do not know if this is a result of miswiring to the ipac or faulty control pad wiring. I printed the pinouts and they did the rewiring. removing the ipac and rewiring the cables through PS2 to USB converters has negated both of the known issues... Why they didn't just try this in the first place is beyond me. I'm really just approaching the whole thing as a minor curiosity. I know I could build a much better custom cabinet that would have worked flawlessly. I never would have done this for a commercial environment mind you, but I enjoy trouble shooting and this whole thing is just hilarious to me as I know the owner and have seen his relative stupidity bite him in the ass before.
For what they paid they could have bought an old DDR cab and stuck a PC in it. The only reason I go to the arcades and put money into a machine is because all the mats and stages you can buy for home are rubbish in comparison.
