Homemade gamepad. Me and my joysticks or how to turn a hobby into a job (and vice versa). Settings via control panel

25.01.12

Hi all! Here is my tutorial on how I made a joystick for PC from SonyPlaystation

A little background.
I wanted to play fights on a joystick, but it was expensive to buy one for a PC, so I decided to solder it myself.
In principle, I’m not very good with diagrams and all that nonsense, but I really wanted to make a joystick for a PC. Having scoured the Internet, I found a bunch of different schemes
but somehow they are too twisted for my simple brain. Through trial and error, and digging through a bunch of sites, I finally assembled the joystick and it worked.

Before we begin, I will say a few nuances:
1) In the picture that I depicted, the joystick is black with vibration, but I did it with a simple one. I took the black picture just for a general concept.
2) My article is purely informational in nature and everything you do will be on your conscience.
3) In the diagram, I cut off the SP port from the joystick, and if you will not connect the joystick except to a PC, then the article is for you.

Abbreviations: SP (Sony Playstation)

If you agree, then GO!

We will need:
1) Joystick from SP1.
2) LPT port like dad.
3) USB cord any unnecessary.
4) Soldering iron.
5) Any additional wiring for the minus on USB.
6) Drivers for joystick.

Take the joystick and cut off its SP port

After cutting, we will have a bunch of wires sticking out of the cord, we will need all of them except RED, RED will go to the “plus” on the USB.

We solder the remaining wires as shown in the picture, and note that the BLACK wire is soldered to TWO plugs paired with any left wire (which will go as a “minus” USB).

Here's a clear photo.

2) In order for the joystick to have power, since LPT does not provide power, there is a lot of advice on the Internet like solder a lot of resistors and all that nonsense, but why? We have a Power Supply! We use it as USB power supply port.

We take the USB and cut the wire, there will be FOUR wires sticking out there, we need TWO, these are BLACK (minus) and RED (plus), the rest are digital wires.

We connect the wiring from the USB with the wiring from the SP cord and what we soldered
with black paired with LPT.
Red to red.

Black to the fact that he left LPT.

Here it is clearly.

That's it, the soldering is over.
Insert the plug into the motherboard.

IMPORTANT!
First we insert the LPT
Then USB
We pull it out the other way around.

Now we need to install the drivers.

I want to say that do not be alarmed if, when you inserted the connectors into the motherboard, Windows did not find new equipment and is generally silent, this is normal. I have Win7 and at first I thought that nothing had worked out, but it turned out to be normal, although a friend found new equipment on XP.

After surfing the Internet, I found three types of drivers. Depending on your joystick (and they are all Chinese and you understand what I mean...), the same driver will work differently on seemingly identical joysticks. Therefore, try different drivers until you find yours.

Here are the names of the drivers that I found.
1) 30 PsXP
2) PPJoy0 83
3) NotePaden (something like that).

It worked fine for me only with the 1st.

We put firewood.

How to find out whether it is there or not.

I have Win7 and I found out this way:

Start – Games – (tab) Tools – Input Devices.
Your joystick should appear there; if you click there twice, the joystick settings window will open.

Control panel - Printer device. There, in Seven, a joystick icon also appears.

Thanks for reading, good luck everyone. I don’t answer questions, everything works stably for me.

For games. After all, if you purchase a device in a store, the likelihood that it will initially work correctly is extremely low. That is why it is worth understanding all the intricacies before sitting down to play.

Why configure your gamepad?

As mentioned above, before starting the game, you first need to configure the gamepad. There are a lot of games using a joystick, so this article will be useful to a wide range of gamers. But it should be explained why it is necessary to carry out configuration, while the device must be prepared initially.

It’s worth making a reservation here: if you purchase a gamepad from XBox, then most likely it will function perfectly, but a device from another company is unlikely. This is the case because games designed for a joystick are cross-platform. This means that the developer makes them not only for PC, but also for PlayStation and XBox. And the game, accordingly, supports the device of these two flagships of the console industry.

Speaking in simple language, if you have a third-party device, then you must know how to configure the gamepad, because otherwise it will not function correctly or will not start working at all.

Settings via control panel

So, let's get started with the story of how to set up a gamepad for convenient game. First of all, the simplest method will be discussed, which does not involve downloading additional applications. You should configure it using standard utilities Windows.

First you need to log into the control panel. To do this, select the section of the same name in the Start menu. Once you have done this, a window will appear with a large number of icons, but we are only interested in one - “Devices and Printers”.

Now you will see images of all devices connected to your personal computer. Among everything, find images of your gamepad. Now you need to press right button mouse over the icon and select “Game control device settings” from the menu. Next in the window you need to open the properties of this device.

Let's move on to the final stage. In the window you see a number of fields that need to be filled out. Each field requires entering a key on the keyboard, which will be activated when you press the corresponding button on the gamepad. Fill in all fields and then click "Save".

Now, when you enter the game, all assigned buttons should function properly. But if this is not the case, do not despair, now another way will be discussed on how to set up a gamepad for games.

Setup using x360ce

If the above instructions did not help you, you need to move on to other methods. This time you will need the help of third-party software, namely x360ce. This is an XBox 360 gamepad emulator. It makes any game feel like a PC device connected to an XBox joystick.

After downloading, you need to configure the program. This is not a difficult task, so everyone can easily cope with setting up this application:

1. After downloading the archive, place the files from it in any folder on your computer.
2. Now open the x360ce.exe file from this folder.
3. If the controller is connected correctly, you will hear a characteristic signal upon startup.
4. At the bottom, click on All templates will open in front of you.
5. From the list, select Thrustmaster Dual Tigger 3 in 1 Rumble Mods.
6. Click the Load button.

Now, when you press the gamepad buttons and interact with the sticks, you will see that the corresponding buttons on the controller image will light up. If this is not the case, then change the preset or assign the desired buttons manually. After everything is done, click the Save button and close the window.

All that remains to be done is to copy the files from the folder, namely: x360ce.exe, x360ce.ini, xinput1_3.dll - to the root folder of the game. The root folder is the one in which the launcher is located. To find it, you can right-click on the game's shortcut and select "File Location". A folder will open in which you need to place all the above files.

Setting up a gamepad using XPadder

So, now let's look at how to configure a gamepad using the XPadder program. We can say that we are now moving to heavy artillery, since this program it no longer emulates the controller, but the keyboard of your PC, that is, you assign keyboard keys to the gamepad. This is a universal method, because with it you can play games from the device, even if they do not support joystick control at all.

So, let's set up the program:

• In the program window, click on the joystick icon, which is located at the top left of the window.
• Click "New".
• From all the buttons, select "Open".
• In the window that appears, open the controllerimages folder. It contains pictures of different gamepads. Select yours and click “Open” (if you didn’t find yours, select any).
• In the left panel, select "Sticks".
• In the box, check the box next to "Enabled". Following the instructions, press left, then right.
• A circle will appear on the joystick image, move it to the left stick.
• In the stick settings window, check the box next to “Enabled”, only now on the right, and repeat all the steps, but move the circle to the right stick.
• In the left panel, select "Cross".
• Check the "Enabled" box and follow the instructions to press the appropriate buttons on the gamepad.
• Drag the cross in the picture to the desired location.
• In the left panel, select "Buttons".
• Press all the gamepad buttons one by one. Squares will appear on the pictures: drag them to the corresponding buttons.
• In the left panel, select "Triggers".
• Press the left and then the right trigger.
• Click "Accept".

Now you just have to click on the white squares to assign the corresponding keys on the keyboard.

Now you know how to set up a gamepad using Xpadder.

What to do if the gamepad is not configurable?

Of course, there is a possibility that all of the above methods will not help you. Unfortunately, this only means one thing - the gamepad is faulty. All that remains is to take it to the store and demand the money back or exchange the device for another.

So you have learned how to set up a gamepad. PC games, of course, are controlled using a keyboard and mouse, but it is much more convenient to lie down on the couch and, picking up a joystick, enjoy your favorite activity.

This article describes how to make a simple joystick for your personal computer, with very little financial and time investment. True, it is necessary that your personal computer has a game port, which at this point in time is considered outdated. Now its functions are taken over by the USB port (why computer manufacturers did this is easy to guess after reading this article: to assemble a device with USB requires great qualifications; to assemble a device for a game port - a joystick or an electronic steering wheel, you need nothing more than a couple of resistors and not necessary). :-).
In general, there are a huge number of different models of joysticks (we are talking specifically about devices designed to connect to the game port of a computer), but they all work with the game port and are connected to a 16-pin connector located on the back wall of the computer. In this case, the maximum number of degrees of freedom inherent in the game port can reach 4, with a maximum number of buttons - 4.
A diagram of a device that simply shines with its simplicity and “spontaneity” is presented below.

How does the scheme work?
The device has two buttons SB1 and SB2 (pins 2 and 7 of the game port), the button is triggered when the voltage on pins 2 and 7 becomes zero, i.e. button is pressed.
Resistors R1, R2 are resistors of joystick No. 1, in the photographs below it is on the left. Resistors R3, R4 belong to joystick No. 2. Circuit R5 VD1 - power indication. C1 is a blocking capacitor on the power bus. Changing the resistance of the resistors means moving the joystick handle.
Details and design.
The joystick was based on the same Chinese ready-made resistor joysticks that were used to build the transmitter. They look like this. The nominal value is 100 k, although we tried with 10 k - everything works (the main thing is not to forget to calibrate). According to the technical description of the game port, you can use resistors from 1 k to 100 k, and you can even install different ones in one joystick (although this is not recommended)!!!
The wire from the board with resistors to the connectors is ordinary twisted pair, of course, here it would be necessary to use multi-core flexible wires, but we made do with what was available. :-). Buttons from an old mouse. Any VD1 LED (I took it from a broken CD-ROM). Places for installing buttons and LED VD1 and resistor R5 on the foil PCB are cut with a paper knife. The size of the fee is arbitrary, it seems to me that if it is more, it will be more convenient (and so it may be for some).
Joystick handles are Chinese paper buttons.

(to enlarge - click on the picture)

After everything is assembled and tested, the device must be connected to a personal computer. Then go to the "Control Panel" (everything that is described applies to Windows XP) and click on the " Gaming devices" and select the joystick type "Other". Indicate that it has two buttons and four degrees of freedom. Then calibrate (MANDATORY!!!). Moreover, the result of your joystick will be visible IMMEDIATELY! If you saw (after calibration!!!) how the cross moves across the screen and the blue bars smoothly “crawl” left and right - you can consider your freshly assembled joystick to be working! I would like to note that this joystick also works under Linux, and the method for setting it up is similar to that described above (almost the same windows appear as in). Windows XP). By the way, buttons are not needed in the flight simulator, but without buttons you will not be able to calibrate the joystick, so you need to install at least one button, either SB1 or SB2 (I installed two - I was just wondering what would happen :-)).
To make it easier to assemble it, below is a photograph where the connections between the device nodes are clearly visible.

Prospects and use.
In general, this joystick was made specifically for FMS operation (you can download it), but as it turned out, it works great in the legendary GTA games Vice City, and in Counter Strike 1.5, the only thing that will apparently need to be done is to add more buttons, i.e. realize the unused capabilities of joystick No. 2. But, since this application did not interest me very much, I cannot say anything on the merits of the issue. If anyone has any thoughts on this, please write and we will post it so that everyone can use it.
And in more detail about the purpose of the contacts of the game port (it is sometimes also called a MIDI port) you can get acquainted here. I can only note that this design uses most of the provided capabilities of the game port, but there is still some unused stuff left! If you need to connect additional buttons you can use pins 10 and 14 (they are marked with a dotted line on the diagram), well, but for those who are interested in the MIDI interface, then, in general, this is a separate story (in the literal sense of the word). :-).
The time required to build this joystick will be about 3.5 hours (this article was written in 2.5 hours), or maybe less!

We have already made a similar homemade product on our own, only in it we coordinated the joystick from the Dandy console with the computer hardware within the means special program. Here we will simply remake the usual computer keyboard into the joystick.

What do we need? Any keyboard (preferably with USB bus for convenience), but naturally working. Any joystick from any console, from any manufacturer, even a non-working one is possible. The main thing is that another board on top fits inside it.

I took this “chubby” joystick.

I’ll tell you our problem briefly, I think you’ll understand everything.

I don’t know whether you know or not that the keyboard and joystick work in a similar way. Namely, each of these devices uses the principle of command encryption. This is done so that as few wires as possible can be removed from the device. For example, if you connect at least one wire to each button on the keyboard, you will end up with a lot. And so it was decided to encrypt them and convert them into impulses.

In the keyboard, unlike the joystick, the principle of cross-connection of buttons is used, that is, about a dozen buttons go to the keyboard board, and 4 or 5 from the board, depending on the device interface.

Let's get down to action. We take out the board from the joystick and use a screwdriver to cut off all the contacts from the original microcircuit.

Accordingly, you need to find out in advance which contacts on the board are responsible for which buttons.

The work is a bit complicated, it requires careful attention.