The DDR homepad building and softpad modding thread! (HUGE TOPIC)

I don't understand...
Your willing to try and fix a disposable soft-pad but you also have a Cobalt Flux that is non-functional (probably dead control box). So you have hard foam, you have a working control box (in your Ignition), and you have a desire to fix. Seems like your energy would be best spent cannibalizing the Ignition and replacing the control box of your CF with the one from the Ignition, then using the foam under the pad for your apartment consideration.

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I am horrible with modding my CF and the Ignition only has adapters for the PS2 and Xbox. (not 360) I might plan on playing the Wii series that DDR is going to after reviewing the new release, so the Ignition adapters would be worthless. Also, I can't bring my CF to college without knowing what mayhem it would cause for the other people in my dorm, yet the Ignition is so much easier to bring and the hard foam is better than the wood and metal with keeping the sound down. :/ Lastly, foam is extremely cheap and I need to see if it works so I'll have a more portable pad than my CF. (CFs are such jerks to transport to places as I know from experience with them) I am already ordering a new control box for my CF, but it definitely won't get to me in time before college and I don't necessarily trust bringing my Flux just yet, so it would be a better option to mod the Ignition.

Edit: Well, after $2.50 spent on foam and about 3 hours cutting it, cutting holes in it, and cutting open my pad to duct tape it in, I had P:289 G:23 Go:1 Bo: 0 Mi: 1 OK:48 MCBO 182 on As The Rush Comes heavy while I'm half asleep on thick carpet with a sideways faced tv. WORKED REALLY WELL!

Edit 2: After two days of playing it, I noticed there are certain songs and times that my Ignition would just not register any steps for about 3 seconds, which is really bad on heavy. I'm still getting As and AAs, highest was 989,970 on A Thing Called LOVE, but 31 misses on JP Army... >> There is no ghost-firing, which is perfect, but maybe I'm wondering if I should go back to Joann's and just buy one foam sheet for the entire pad. Would that be a bad idea to get a 32x.5x28 sheet? I was also wondering if I could help the sensitivity by cutting the sides of the sheets I have already placed in the pad to possibly get some extra sensitivity for when I hit the edges of the arrows. Then again, this all could be because I have about 3/4" thick carpet. I guess I can give another update for when I get to my dorm. So far, I can play it next to my parents' room while they are asleep. Noise reduction is looking good, so I hope it is similar for non-ground level floors. T~T

Hey guys, I'm attempting to open this thing again, and now I have a camera that (somewhat) functions better than what I was using.

This is as far as I can get. I can't remove the wooden paneling after this.


There's a screw under each of the arrows near the center panel (so 4 screws) that I removed, but still no luck.


There's what seem like bolts on the sides of the metal paneling keeping me from taking the frame apart.
Any suggestions?

Where do the wires go after that? under the wood panels?
Also, those circles might be planed down rivets.

In any case, the sensors themselves look alright, if a bit odd.
You could probably route up that pad if you wanted to and install arcade sensors if you were really hardcore.


As for how to get further in to it, I've got no clue. heh.
Perhaps spend a few hours trialling every arrow with something metal on the sensors, while simultaneously connecting every single pair of wires with each other to try get a reading?

As it stands it looks like it's potentially a really nice pad, it's obv just getting the damn thing working in the first place that's causing the issues.

Does it just have that frayed cable coming from it, or does it have a d sub connector or what?

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Yeah, there are tiny holes drilled right where the wires go under the foam that go right under each wooden panel.

I'll have to try that again. I think I can make a chart that would make it a bit easier...

It's just the frayed cable. =/

EDIT:
So I sat with it for a few hours to try and test the wires coupled together.
First, I layed something on the sensor that would complete the circuit. (I just used a piece of the frame.)
Second, I cut all 15 wires to an even point and stripped them all equally (for neatness sake) and twisted them all together.
Third, I found these little holes on the sensor to put the multimeter leads in while testing, and it would show a good readout whenever I twisted all the wires together!
Finally, I removed each wire from the twisted group individually until I found one that made the circuit incomplete. I then knew this was one cable, so I matched it to the remaining cables and ended up with just two cables that completed the circuit for the Up arrow!

So I'm definitely making some progress now! I'll post again when I have a pair for each button~

(Pictures Below)


Lucky these were there to make testing with the multimeter easy.


Showing no reading.


Showing a good reading!



EDIT 2:
Ok, so a bit more tinkering and I have good and bad news.
Good news: I successfully linked pairs for the Up, Left, and X buttons.
Bad news: The Down, Right, and O buttons are constantly showing a completed circuit, regardless of what cables are connected. This only happens when there is a metal piece laying on the sensor, but I still can not single out two wires for each button. when no wires are touching it still shows a completed circuit.

It could be because Down, Right and O are paired to ground already and you've soldered the wires onto them (try switching the wires round), or something conductive is on top of the sensor.

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Good to see you're making progress in any case, I imagine you're getting to the 'fuck i just want to play' phase pretty quick.

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Brazen, I haven't soldered anything yet (since I'm still trying to find out what does what) but I tried separating every wire so none were touching each other and they still showed a complete circuit when I tested them the same way I tested the other 3 buttons.

Hahaha, I've been there for weeks now. I've got so many simfiles just waiting for me. x.x

EDIT:
So I realize now that I've been testing them somewhat wrong. I had the right idea but I was executing it incorrectly. Instead of having both multimeter leads on the sensor (because that should always show a connection) I have one lead on the sensor, and the other I am touching to individual wires to find each button. I am labeling each wire with what button it relates to as I go. I'm assuming that these wires are going to be soldered onto the control box at the points labeled each button. I'm not going to start soldering until I know for sure, but I'm getting so close I can feel it.

EDIT2:

So here's what I have come up with so far.


I have no idea what to do with the other wires.

EDIT3:
So reviewing the thread I realized that I have my 6 buttons now, and I just needed my common ground. I found another (darker) black wire that showed a complete circuit whenever it was attached to one lead and the Left and Down buttons were pressed with their corresponding wires attached to the other lead. The other wires showed no response when I pressed down their buttons while they were attached.

EDIT4(bump):
I just got a PS2 to USB adapter to try out the control box with the wires alligator clipped to the contacts, and I'm having some issues.
When I was checking my wires for resistance I was getting good readings when the circuit for each button was complete, however now that I'm trying wire them to the control box they don't seem to respond. Left and Down work, but no other buttons work. What would you guys recommend I do?

EDIT5:
I got to thinking that maybe more wires could be ground wires, so I twisted all the extra wires together and alligator clipped them to the ground section of the CB, and that got most of the other buttons working. Now I get responses from Up, Down, Left, and O, but not Right or X. I'm really close but I can't figure out what I'm missing to get the last two buttons working. I checked those two over and over again and they both should be working so I don't know what's keeping them. I've discovered that when I press Up and Right together, it sees it as Up-Right in the Joystick Properties' Axes section, but it doesn't recognize Right by itself. Any ideas?

How's the integrity of the wire coming out of the pad? Are there any nicks in it or dents that could indicate a break point?

And the wires for right and up work on the volt meter individually, do they?

How about when you try them as different arrows? (ie try connecting them to different points on the CB?

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The cable's only frayed at the end of it.

Correct.

When I switched the alligator clip from the Right contact to O, it did the same thing, except activating Button 2 and Up. Up is the only button that pairs with the Right button, if that helps narrow down the possible issue.

God I completely forget about this thread and then come back and go 'oh god it's been too long since I posted'

Did you have any further luck getting this to work?

In any case, I just had another idea as to how you could get this to work.

What you could do is cut the wires to X and/or O, and add extensions so you can change the sensors from those panels to the right and up ones. If you use wires the same thickness as those in there already or less, and put them in unobtrusively you should be able to make it work.

That is, assuming you didn't just rip it all apart in the end.

Yay thanks al

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So I'm guessing that since this is a stickied thread, nobody's going to get too bent out of shape if I bring it back from the dead...ahem.

I'm working on my plans for building a pair of DDR pads myself. Now, here's the thing - I want them to be as arcade accurate as possible, but with the added functionality of the X and O buttons on the topleft/right corners (plus the added benefit of solo play =P). To this end, I'm currently looking at using the second design, modified to halve the distance in the border. HOWEVER, and more importantly, I also need the pads to have bars - and not just any bars, but a sturdy, arcade-accurate, REMOVABLE bar. The way I've considered doing that is making the bar section separate, with holes to be screwed on and removed from the pads relatively easily.

They also need to be sturdy - I myself weigh just over 300, but more importantly, these might be seeing public use every once in a while, and I don't know WHAT they'll have to stand up to. I'm not going to run over them with a truck, but I'd like them to be sturdy enough so that I don't have to worry about the bar snapping off, or the pads getting damaged due to excessive force (stompers, AGH).

Oh, and one final challenge. I need them to be USB, as I will never be using them with a console - this is 100% PC (for my OpenITG setup).

So what I need to know is this:

A. How much sheet metal would I need for two pads? And how much Lexan? My brother-in-law works in sheet metal cutting, so I'll have professionals to do that, I just need to know how much to get.

B. What solution should I use for the doubles setup? Keep in mind that the pads HAVE to be separable, and that goes for the bars as well - what should I do about those?

and C. What controller would be easiest to use as a USB controller? I know next to nothing about soldering, so I'll probably be getting assistance with that part as well, but I need to know what I need to make it work before I worry about the actual wiring itself.

<3

The easiest solution for bars would be to build a barless pad, then build a frame or base of sorts, stick a bar to that, then sit the pads in it. You can measure an arcade machine's bars and get some done by a metalworker, shouldn't be too hard. Might be pricey, but strong PVC piping is an alternative.

How much sheet metal would you need? Take one pad's requirement and double it, I would assume.

Doubles? Make two pads with a slight border to imitate the gap between ddr/itg pads and then build a bracket of some sort that latches the pads together similar to the arcade pads.

Controllers? No idea. I used an old softpad's control box, works well enough when I can be assed playing. Might be an option to find some ddr ps3 or universe pads and hack them apart, or just use a gamestop controller or something. Just make sure you find one with either enough spots to solder 8 or however many buttons to to cover both pads, or two exactly the same to eliminate any possible input lag differences between the two.

Note the ps3 and universe pads have the axis issue so you could only use 2 arrow circuits for a pad without risk of encountering it.

Failing all else get a minimaid or some other usb interface device used by arcade machine conversions, because it will work exactly the same.

You COULD track down bluemaomao on aaronin.jp, he's built a damn fantastic arcade accurate homepad with full arcade sensor setup and everything, and could perhaps share the blueprints or build one/two for you.


AAAAND failing ALL else, try find a broken machine, steal the pads, get the aforementioned usb interface devices and twist some wiers together and use arcade pads.

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I'm planning on making a pad since my latest soft pads are finally starting to go and the Cobalt Flux isn't available anymore. Stoli's design looks good to me, but I was wondering if anyone who has done it has any comments on its sensitivity?

I don't think many round here will have actually built a pad to be honest. That was more of the people on DDR freak before it died.

Still, I imagine it would be pretty decent for it to get so much attention prior to the collapse of all things DDR. Failing all else, if you build it, you can mod it so it works better.

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Hey everyone. I have a small, if not irritating problem with my CF. After I got DDR 2 for wii, I started playing and was already having a problem. My CF works perfectly with Ps2 releases, but on the wii, even though it has a cord for it, does not register well at all. I will be stepping on the top arrow or perform a left-down jump, and it continuously triggers the opposite arrows, giving me goods every four freaking steps, so it is impossible to have a grade above a C or keep a combo at all, even on difficulty. Figuring it was a control scheme issue, I tried switching the control scheme to dance pad in the controller configuration menu, but it stays locked on controller mode and defaults to it whenever I plug in the CF(does that make any sense or is this confusing?). I even cleaned out the pad to see if it was a maintanance issue, but even after the pads were completely cleaned without a speck of grime on them it still did not solve the issue.

So, is there any way to diagnose this? My DDR 2 has been collecting dust on my shelf for months because I got frustrated trying to play the game and I am really getting tired of ps2 and stepmania for now.

Any and all help will be much appreciated!

I will be back later on tonight cause I have to go to college for now.

Few possibilities I suppose.

Have you tried adjusting the timing for it? Does it work fine in the menus and such?
Also, the cobalt flux does register as a controller as far as I know, as do many other pads (which is why the AXIS problem exists)

Failing that you could try getting a converter to use the ps2 connector or something.

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Sorry for the late reply, I was having problems with my internet. How would I adjust the timing? I dont know if ddr 2 has a timing adjustment option like the ps2 games do. It works perfectly in menu and dance play selection, it just does not work properly when I am actually playing a song.

Excuse my noob question, but what is the AXIS problem? You brought up a good point about converters, I never even thought of that in the first place Also where can I get good converters because I dont think gamestop has them.

There should be a timing option, I know Universe 1 through 3 have it, as do almost all the other DDR games in existence as far as I'm aware (I know the early, early ones don't), as do almost all other music games (ie rockband, guitar hero)
hunt around the options menu.

As for the axis issue it's most commonly complained about on the stepmania forums where people try to use xbox 360 pads on their pc, only to find the pad is treated as a dpad (hat), and the driver doesn't let you press left and right, or up and down (since when could you do that with a normal d pad?)

As a result, people can't do jumps or streams very well.

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Thanks for the info. Ill check the options, its probably better to explain the situation when I take a look at the game while its on. Ill be back with more information when I get the time to sift through the menu.