ALL Soft Pad Discussion goes HERE

bio retard · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 5:19 pm Post subject:

I finally duct taped my Cyphergames Ignition to a board. It works so much better now, with no sliding at all. I could finally do Orion .78 Civ Mix.

mogbert · Basic Member Joined: 24 Apr 2003

There are so many pages that I don't know if someone has done the same thing I have or not. I'm new to DDR and picked up the only pad that was available off the shelf around here, The Mad Catz Beat Pad (which has gotten good revies as best "in it's price range"). As I was paying for it, the cashier (a gamer) suggested I tape it to plywood or a chair mat. When I got home, I placed it on the floor and stepped around a little. I saw the advantage of having it flat and stationary. I didn't have any plywood handy, but had a chair mat in my study, so I brought it upstairs and taped the Beat Pad to it with packing tape (real thick stuff). problem was after a few songs, the packing tape started lifting off of both the pad and the mat. I suppose I could have fixed this by using a lot of tape, but I wanted a sokution that looked a little nicer (and was still cheap). Well, that was a long setup to describe my mod, hear it is: an uncut chairmat, a can of 3M Repositional Adheasive spray, and some really thick cardboard. First of all, Since the Beat Pad doesn't have a zipper or anything for a foam insert (it only has a very thin padding permenantly installed), you will be sticking the pad onto of the mat. The spray can be found at art stores in the mask and frisket section. it is basically a spray on version of the glue on the back of Post-It notes. I just sprayed liberally on the chair mat where that pad would fit. The cardboard is the thick heavy duty stuff they ship things like 100 lbs of disasembled furnatur in. I cut the card board into the shapes of the arrow sensors (there is a curved section that is important for beginners to help them find the center with their feet). I sprayed both sided of the cardboard pieces with the adheasive and position them on the pad where the arrows are, then put the pad on the mat. Because nothing has been sprayed on the pad, there is no warrenty issue, there isn't any residue on the pad, and the pad can be removed/replaced with little to no problem. There was zero slippage and zero bunching (but I can only take it up to six feet so far, I'm new). the cardboard starts out thick but once it squishes down it is a nice indication through socks of where you are putting your feet. I pre-sqished the cardboard cause it is more comfortable squished.
OK, sorry for that long first post. Basically this was the same thing as the "tape it to something" mod with the only exception of having a great substitue for tape. keep in mind though that the 3M Repositional Spray adheasive is semi-permenant to one side (ever tried to remove the adheasive off the back of a post-it note?) sp descide if you want to keep the mat clean or the pad clean, and spray accordingly. This also lets you take the pad without the mod to a freinds house, replace a broken pad, or upgrade to a nicer similar pad without having to re-mod. That sray adheasive is the nicest stuff and I have found a million uses for it. Here is a nice one: instead of cork board and thub tacks for a buliten board area, a piece of poster board sprayed with this stuff works great. You just stick papers to it, and pull them off when done.

Ok, now the post is over, um, just wanted to say hi to people and my name is Mogbert.

Naturally Small Asian · Basic Member Joined: 23 Oct 2002

Hmmm

I ordered 2 new Ignitions off of EBAY....to get the same ones i got last time.

Although it showed me the pictures of the older 1.0 ignitions.

I recieved a 2.0 from Cypher Games lol

The 2.0 pads are sweet. Very solid, doesn't sink in like 1.0s, the cord is MUCH BETTER, and the new pad design is dope. I used a staple gun and stapled the corners to Plywood. It feels soo much like an Arcade Pad.

2.0 Pads are so tight!
_________________

Best thing about DDR:

You can be 5'1 and still see the screen!!!!

sommda · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002 Location: Sunnyvale, CA

I've got a question about softpad modding:

I have two Topway soft pads, modded to particle board and covered with hardwood floor covering (as suggested in many a FAQ). At my previous apartment, the floor was carpeted, so I attached a mat with a velcro-like bottom to the bottoms of each pad to keep them from slipping, and it worked really well.

But I've just moved to another apartment with hardwood floors, and the same pads slip and slide like crazy. Also, the floors don't absorb shock very well, so when I jump, the whole place shakes!

The questions:

1. What can I add to the bottom of the pads to keep it from slipping on the hardwood floors, and yet not damage the floors. I play tons of Double, so it's important that the pads not slip...

2. Is there any way to keep the shock under control--perhaps a way to mod the pads to absorb more of the jumping shock so the floor doesn't have to?

Hopefully someone will see this (I'd start a new thread, but it would almost certainly get locked

)

Ke6dRRtY · Trick Member Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Location: Mesquite, TX

bio retard · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2003 3:54 am Post subject:

To solve the noise problem, I would try Ignitions (with the foam in) and taping them to a board.

RelliK · Trick Member Joined: 21 Apr 2003

I have a simple question. After a plywood mod, is it ok to use shoes on the pad? Will the hardwood floorcovering on top help protect or should i stick with socks only?

24-7ddR*aLaN* · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2003 11:18 am Post subject:

wait, hardwood on top? I dont think using shoes ever is a good idea on soft pads. kinda sticky, and wear tear and move extremely fast

_________________

When you've had the glory of AA every song in DDR MAX (heavy) with beaten-up DX Extremes, it's a pain in the @$$ when your cheap-@$$ memory card gets corrupted.
*most favorite interest= whooping on Jansberg360's white @$$.*
(formerly =veteran=)

Andreq · Trick Member Joined: 11 Apr 2003 Location: Quebec foreva

I did a small stupid mod...

Put some plexiglass sqare on the arrow and tape them..
look like :

FAR :

Close to blue arrow :

Closer :

Close to "pink/red" arrow :

Closer :

Work great...and.. I really know where are the arrow (rofl)

edit : Im writing like a ***
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My dance dance revolution metal pad pictures and stuffs : http://membres.lycos.fr/csclanbef/DDR/

steel dancer · Basic Member Joined: 26 Apr 2003

Does anybody have any online modding guides using chair mats, or something other than plywood that they could provide? Or are modding chair mats and plywood pretty much the same?

24-7ddR*aLaN* · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2003 8:53 pm Post subject:

wow andreq thats a pretty nice mod, now if u put it on somthing u could maybe use shoes, am i correct?

_________________

When you've had the glory of AA every song in DDR MAX (heavy) with beaten-up DX Extremes, it's a pain in the @$$ when your cheap-@$$ memory card gets corrupted.
*most favorite interest= whooping on Jansberg360's white @$$.*
(formerly =veteran=)

Andreq · Trick Member Joined: 11 Apr 2003 Location: Quebec foreva

ddravan · Basic Member Joined: 20 Apr 2003

Just modded my to 2.0 pads w/ foam inserts today.

table mat inside the pad and doubletaped tablemat on the underside to stop slidage..

Works extremely well.

ascii graphics

_________________ <-- top part of mat
|||||||||||||||||||||||| <- chair mat w/ spikes down (firm dance surface)
============= <- foam insert
_________________ <- bottom part of mat
|||||||||||||||||||||||| <== double taped chairmat underneath spikes down (no slip)

Highly recommended to everyone!

Kraftwerk Kid · Trick Member Joined: 22 Dec 2002 Location: Illinois

Beginner here trying to mod my soft pad (the brand name escape me at the moment, but it's one of those entry-level cheap ones), as I'm on carpet and find it difficult to correctly land my steps when the pad is slip sliding all over the carpet. The solution? Well, PitterPanda's guide looked simple enough, so I drove out to the Home Depot today to get the necessary supplies. Packing tape? Check. A board? Check. Staple gun? Got one at home already. Now all I need is "hardwood floor covering".

Went to the flooring section of the store and was shown what looked exactly like what is pictured here, but upon closer inspection I saw that it was not a completely smooth surface, but that it had a pattern on it. I guess I didn't notice that in the original guide (if you squint you can see the little ridges in the covering), and I backed off from buying it because I really wasn't sure if modding the pad with something like that would be a good idea or not.

I mean, if you're sliding (a technique I have no yet mastered but am very aware of), wouldn't your feet get caught on the ridges? I mean, they're only 1 or 2 millimeters high, but it seems to me like that could affect the game. Is it ok for the hardwood floor covering I'm using to have a pattern on it like what's in the picture? If so, when I lay it over the mat and staple it to the board, am I supposed to put the textured side face-up or face-down?

Any help in this would be great. Surely a lot of your have followed PitterPanda's guide, right? Is this still the most commonly used means of modding?

Kraftwerk Kid · Trick Member Joined: 22 Dec 2002 Location: Illinois

Sorry, accidental post...I didn't mean to and it'll never happen again. If there's a way for member to delete their own posts (which, after looking around, I'm guessing there isn't), then please clue me in on it.

Zep · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 9:58 am Post subject:

Don't worry I do stupid posts as well I think

Oh no this is one of them
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sommda · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002 Location: Sunnyvale, CA

Kraftwerk Kid · Trick Member Joined: 22 Dec 2002 Location: Illinois

Cool. Thanks Sommda. Thanks just what I needed to know.

I'm sure I'd be able to figure it out, but how did you attach the mats to the bottom of the board? Staples? Tape? Something else?

GiZMO13SOLiD · Trick Member Joined: 24 Apr 2003

My homedepot and lowe's do not have hard wood floor covering. All they have is floorrunner. Where else could I go to get platic to cover my pad using the plywood-mod?

onlysublime

Has anyone bought or heard about these pads from Levelsix? Does the price seem right or are they high? They have 3.1 and 3.0 Ignition pads. Are the 3.1s worth the price?

http://www.levelsix.com/products/playstation2/deluxeDDR_v3.shtml

http://www.levelsix.com/products/playstation2/deluxeDDR_v31.shtml