Using Saturn controllers on PC.

[Menk]

i've gotten into emulators recently (metal slug... mmm... (which i have on saturn anyway.. so uh... metal slug 2... mmmm..)) and the games sure work a lot better with a gamepad. problem is, i have this pos gravis gamepad with only 4 buttons and the directional pad aint too cool either.

i searched for ways to connect two (of my eight.. heheh) saturn controllers to the pc and found stuff on directpad pro. it allows u to mod ur saturn connectors (or saturn extension cables so u cant fubar the actual cables) to hook it up to the parallel port of ur computer. however, directpad pro 5.0 does not support windows 2000. which sucks. because i use windows 2000. the directpad portion of the site has also mysteriously disappeared (as someone else stated in a previous thread). does anyone know of any other drivers that will allow me to mod my controllers for use on the pc?

there actually is a directpad for w2k/xp but its in chinese and i'm not sure if it actually supports other controllers besides psx, because i've only seen it linked from psx sites so i'm thinking these people just dub it directpad cuz it does what the original directpad does. but only for psx controllers. unless someone's tried it and it works for saturn controllers. if thats the case, please let me know, thanks.

i just dont wanna mod a buncha stuff and find out it wont even work because there are no drivers 😱P

 

[megametalgreymon]

it may well work actually, because i have a 3rd part pad with a connector for both saturn and psx ( a logic 3 explorer 32) so the two pads must be pretty similar

 

[Menk]

hmm... yeah, i'm thinking the basic buttons and directions will work... but i'm wondering if maybe i can get the analog pad to work too 😱P oh well, not that important that it does. meanwhile, i'll see if i can figure out how the saturn wiring corresponds to the psx wiring... which is gonna be like... guesswork for me... being that i dont have a psx controller... so i can take it apart... and i'm no electrical engineer... meh.

 

[IceDigger]

they are NOT simple plug rewiring jobs.. you need a decoder that converts the saturn signals back into plain signals for each direction and button, and then an encoder that puts them back into a psx format.

 

[Menk]

hi. hm, might neattools (http://www.pulsar.org/2k/neattools/) have some potential for kinda creating an interface between the pc and control pad via parallel port? i'll keep reading... just a possibility...

 

[slinga]

There has to be an easier way...There's a saturn => dreamcast convertor right? There's a ton of dreamcast => usb convertors right? So why can't we buy both the convertors and hope it works...

 

[IceDigger]

there is not a single dc->USB converter.

none was ever made cause the dc pad was considered crappy by most.

 

[Menk]

i guess someone can always program a driver using windows ddk (driver development kit). anyway, i dont have the technical know-how about drivers and parallel ports and that little chip inside the saturn pad that does stuff. i guess i'll just have to dual boot to w98 to use my nice saturn pads for metal slug 3 for now.

somebody wake me up when there's a working driver for saturn pads on windows 2000 😱P

 

[Shaneus]

can anyone get me a copy of the directpad software and schematics? would really love to do some of the stuff they had on there, but i think its been removed 🙁

btw has anyone made a successful attempt at connecting a saturn/psx pad to a PC (using directpad)?

 

[mal]

Found it Shaneus.

Not an easy task these days. You should see it soon.

 

[Menk]

umm... did your post mess up or something, mal? it um.. didn't seem to provide much info 😱P

anyway, here's a mirror to the directpad site:

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/Mirrors/www....el.com/dpadpro/

i'm still waiting for my saturn extension cables to come in. i ended up dual booting my system 98/2000 (it was about time i formatted anyway). i'll letchall know how they work once i get the cables and mod them.

 

[mal]

No, my post was fine. I emailed the software to Shaneus.

I didn't realise anyone else was after it.

I thought you were after a Win2000 solution which DirectPadPro 5 isn't.

 

[Menk]

k, well i finally got my saturn extension cables in the mail, followed the directpad construction instructions, and they work like a charm. mmmm... metal slug 3 and msh vs sf using saturn controller.... (my mod chip broke so i'm too lazy to play my burned games like msh vs sf on the saturn). drivers dont work in win2k as expected, but the regular control pads seem to be fully functional in win98 using kawaks and mame. the analog pad works too, but i dont have any analog games and the analog pad's digital mode doesnt seem to be able to operate as a standard digital pad. oh well, i prefer the original saturn pads for my digital needs anyway. if you only have analog pads, then i'm not sure how useful its gonna be. unless theres some way to make the analog pad's digital mode work like a normal controller.