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Redwngs13 Trick Member
Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Location: Hockeytown |
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Promit Trick Member
Joined: 09 May 2004
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1281. Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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Lord of the DDRings wrote: | vsamaco wrote: | Lord of the DDRings wrote: | Ok, so i've got a decision to make. I've got it narrowed down to two pads that i want to buy. The BNS DX-Extreme and the LevelSix Deluxe DDR mat Ver 3.1 Anyone know where there is a good review about these? Or does anyone have one of these that can say how long they lasted. They are pretty much the same price ($48.95 and $45.95) and i can only buy 1. Any suggestions? |
The BNS DX and Level Six v3.1 are good ignition pads. The make is pretty sturdy if you take care of it and it has the "hard" foam. BNS has surface that is plastic/sticky to feet feeling, while level six has the more slippery/nylon surface. Other than that, they aren't too different. If ya want a really good buy on ignition pads, check out vortz v3.1 pads. They are like levelsix pads and have had very good feedback from those who got it. |
I think im gonna check out the vortz ones. cause i was looking back at previous pages and saw all this good stuff about the vortz pads. Thanks |
For 3 weeks now, my Vortz pads have taken 8 and 9 foot songs from Max and max2 pretty much non-stop. Not only are they still perfect, the foam inside isn't even marginally torn. I love my Vortz pads. |
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CaliburMonk Basic Member
Joined: 28 May 2004 Location: Dallas, TX |
1282. Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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65 pages, yikes.
Well, this might have been discussed, but are there any mods for noise reduction?
I stay on the third floor, and my downstairs neighbors have complained. I've got a Naki soft pad slipped under a heavy rug(no slipage, good acuracy), but I can only do Lights without bothering then. Any help would be appreciated _________________
Have you ever thought of the fact that while we are here discussing trivial matters, somewhere on the planet a sheep is having an orgasm? |
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HitokiriX Trick Member
Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA |
1283. Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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like i don't know exactly what u could do.....mayb try to soften ur jumps? and don't stomp on the pads? there is no mod i can think of that softens noise. its all about what u do that makes the noise come out. stomping, jumping, landing on heels......etc. i barely make any noise on my metal pad (yes i know its a soft pad thread but metals make more noise in my opinion) probably only cuz i play on my toes (or near my toes, like off my heels) and land softly. only when i'm in a tight spot during a song do i make much noise, but then when i do make noise it shakes the house.....lol |
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Duvdev Basic Member
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
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1284. Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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After reading Promit's post I decided to check the inside material of my Vortz. After about one month of use by a bunch of different people, one pad is perfect with no rips, but the other (the one which I believe has gotten the most use) has two small rips near the top of the bottom arrow, but the pads are still working great, and I have started Aing and Bing many 8 footers and some 9 footers.
What is the best method of repairing the rips? I remember reading duct tape fixes it, but I just wanna make sure. |
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vsamaco Trick Member
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
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1285. Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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Duvdev wrote: | After reading Promit's post I decided to check the inside material of my Vortz. After about one month of use by a bunch of different people, one pad is perfect with no rips, but the other (the one which I believe has gotten the most use) has two small rips near the top of the bottom arrow, but the pads are still working great, and I have started Aing and Bing many 8 footers and some 9 footers.
What is the best method of repairing the rips? I remember reading duct tape fixes it, but I just wanna make sure. |
Duct tape is my #1 tool for tears Sooner or later, the inside of my pad will have a layer of duct tape as a replacement It still good with mad duct I got under mines. |
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Promit Trick Member
Joined: 09 May 2004
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1286. Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:32 am Post subject: |
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vsamaco wrote: | Duvdev wrote: | After reading Promit's post I decided to check the inside material of my Vortz. After about one month of use by a bunch of different people, one pad is perfect with no rips, but the other (the one which I believe has gotten the most use) has two small rips near the top of the bottom arrow, but the pads are still working great, and I have started Aing and Bing many 8 footers and some 9 footers.
What is the best method of repairing the rips? I remember reading duct tape fixes it, but I just wanna make sure. |
Duct tape is my #1 tool for tears Sooner or later, the inside of my pad will have a layer of duct tape as a replacement It still good with mad duct I got under mines. |
Most people seem to simply duct tape it. The foam basically jsut serves as a backing for the soft pad on top. Duct tape it to keep the tears from getting worse, and maybe 8 months down the line, you can spend the $15 on a new foam insert. |
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CaliburMonk Basic Member
Joined: 28 May 2004 Location: Dallas, TX |
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TrueFlog Trick Member
Joined: 17 May 2004
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1288. Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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Hi there! I'm lookin' for a little help getting my soft pad up and running. I recently purchased a Vortz dance pad 3.0 (http://www.vortz.net/product_2103_5462.html) and PS2/USB converter (http://www.vortz.net/product_1646_5528.html). I've connected the adapter to a free USB port, installed the drivers, and plugged in the dance pad. Under Start->Settings->Control Panel->Gaming Options, I can verify that the pad works. The six buttons on the pad register correctly as digital buttons, and the four arrows register on the left analog control. So far, so good, right? Well, when I try to configure Stepmania for the pad, it crashes whenever I step on an arrow. I would appreciate any advice y'all can share on how to configure the pad/Stepmania to play nice with each other.
Incidentally, I tried turning the pad 45 degrees so that the B-button was at the top, X-button at the bottom, etc. I then configured Stepmania to use the four digital buttons as the arrows (B for Up, X for down, and so forth). It worked like a charm - kinda reminds me of my days playing Q-bert. Anywho, that's not how the pad is designed to work, what with the raised arrows and what not, and I'd like to set it so that Up is Up, ya know?
Thanks,
Matthew _________________
We must go out and ninja in the night... |
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vsamaco Trick Member
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
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1289. Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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TrueFlog wrote: | Hi there! I'm lookin' for a little help getting my soft pad up and running. I recently purchased a Vortz dance pad 3.0 (http://www.vortz.net/product_2103_5462.html) and PS2/USB converter (http://www.vortz.net/product_1646_5528.html). I've connected the adapter to a free USB port, installed the drivers, and plugged in the dance pad. Under Start->Settings->Control Panel->Gaming Options, I can verify that the pad works. The six buttons on the pad register correctly as digital buttons, and the four arrows register on the left analog control. So far, so good, right? Well, when I try to configure Stepmania for the pad, it crashes whenever I step on an arrow. I would appreciate any advice y'all can share on how to configure the pad/Stepmania to play nice with each other.
Incidentally, I tried turning the pad 45 degrees so that the B-button was at the top, X-button at the bottom, etc. I then configured Stepmania to use the four digital buttons as the arrows (B for Up, X for down, and so forth). It worked like a charm - kinda reminds me of my days playing Q-bert. Anywho, that's not how the pad is designed to work, what with the raised arrows and what not, and I'd like to set it so that Up is Up, ya know?
Thanks,
Matthew |
What is player1 key register as? joy1 or joy2? Or do you simply crash and can't tell. Also when you went to game controller options, did the directional arrows register as buttons or did the axis display activiate? If a button didn't register for arrows, hold start+select+up for 3 seconds. |
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TrueFlog Trick Member
Joined: 17 May 2004
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1290. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:52 am Post subject: |
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vsamaco wrote: | What is player1 key register as? joy1 or joy2? Or do you simply crash and can't tell. Also when you went to game controller options, did the directional arrows register as buttons or did the axis display activiate? If a button didn't register for arrows, hold start+select+up for 3 seconds. |
It crashed before I had a chance to see. The pad is plugged in as controller #1 on the adapter. Under Gaming Options, the arrows activate the axis display and do not register as buttons. The pad doesn't have a Select button, though it does have one for Back. I've tried holding Back+Start+Up tp put it in digital mode, but nothing happens. It always shows up on the axis display. Can I use that code anytime, or do I have to hold it as I plug in the pad? Could it be that I need newer drivers?
Flog _________________
We must go out and ninja in the night... |
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sammy Basic Member
Joined: 09 May 2004 Location: Austin, TX |
1291. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:30 am Post subject: BNS pad problems |
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Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has had problems with the durability of the BNS DX-Xtreme pads. I bought two about a month ago and I was generally happy with the play. However, one of them started having a problem with a sticky left arrow. I called BNS and (to their credit) they sent a new pad out right away. Now one of the pads has a dead up arrow, so I have to call BNS again today. This is getting to be a pain.
I have not modded the pads in any way because they have the 1" hard foam and work well without mods. However, I wonder if I should do something to improve the durability.
At this point I would even consider buying different pads, if that's what it takes.
Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! |
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vsamaco Trick Member
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
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1292. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:04 am Post subject: |
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TrueFlog wrote: | vsamaco wrote: | What is player1 key register as? joy1 or joy2? Or do you simply crash and can't tell. Also when you went to game controller options, did the directional arrows register as buttons or did the axis display activiate? If a button didn't register for arrows, hold start+select+up for 3 seconds. |
It crashed before I had a chance to see. The pad is plugged in as controller #1 on the adapter. Under Gaming Options, the arrows activate the axis display and do not register as buttons. The pad doesn't have a Select button, though it does have one for Back. I've tried holding Back+Start+Up tp put it in digital mode, but nothing happens. It always shows up on the axis display. Can I use that code anytime, or do I have to hold it as I plug in the pad? Could it be that I need newer drivers?
Flog |
Is the "ignore joy axes" on? That may prevent stepmania from crashing. The directional arrows will not work if they aren't mapped to buttons. I would assume that the back button is the same as select. Try holding those 3 buttons longer 5 secs and make sure your pressing all of three. You can do the code anytime as long as the pad is plugged in. If that doesn't work, plug a ps/2 controller and press/hold the three buttons. If the directional keys still do not show up as buttons, I think your adapter doesn't have the code activation function. I don't know of any drivers you can get for this adapter, since its plug and play (like usb mouse). Either return the adapter for a replacement or get an EMS2 which requires no code.
I have the same adapter but I got it from their ebay seller.
sammy wrote: | Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has had problems with the durability of the BNS DX-Xtreme pads. I bought two about a month ago and I was generally happy with the play. However, one of them started having a problem with a sticky left arrow. I called BNS and (to their credit) they sent a new pad out right away. Now one of the pads has a dead up arrow, so I have to call BNS again today. This is getting to be a pain.
I have not modded the pads in any way because they have the 1" hard foam and work well without mods. However, I wonder if I should do something to improve the durability.
At this point I would even consider buying different pads, if that's what it takes.
Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! |
How often to you play DDR? I have BNS pad for 6+ months with moderate use and folding it up occassionally. The inside of the pad is riddled with duct tape, but its still responsive. I didn't do any mods to my pads. If your play DDR often, your probably killing the foam in between the sensors and its unable to provide adequate spacing anymore. You would still be compressing the foam even if you did the plywood mod. The chairmat mod wouldn't work because the foam insert fits snuggly inside and wouldn't help your situation either. A more expensive pad like RO wouldn't provide any additional durability because it has the same build as any other ignition pad.
Have you thought about a metal pad or homemade metal pad?
Last edited by vsamaco on Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:37 am, edited 2 times in total |
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OMGhi Trick Member
Joined: 21 May 2004 Location: Henderson, Colorado |
1293. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:04 am Post subject: |
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Hey all,
I've had my 2 NX soft pads for about 2 months and all of a sudden one day I play I hit my bottom arrow only to find out that it triggers the top arrow and the Triangle button at the same time. This means if I'm scrolling down and I hold it or tap it even soemtimes it will reset the game or "go back" to certain previous screens. The part that makes me !@!$!@1 is that the top arrow registers at the same time with the bottom so if I hit the bottom arrow I don't even have to jump up if there is a up down jump. Here is a link to the bundle I got with these NX pads. Anyone have any idea what I should do? I don't even think they will accept this back probably, right? . Well am I just !@@$!!@#? Or is there a way to possibly fix just the part where the top arrow registers whenevr I hit the bottom one? It's so akward too that both pads had the same thing happen on the same day, ahhhh.
Oh this basically screwed me now since I can't do songs with Down Up Down because I hit down and it registers up as an almost. Bye bye combo and catas. No more catas for me until July when I get my CF . I should be at least happy I can play on it though, although anyone that have a similar problem happen or can give me advice to fix this?
Link to pad : "http://www.buynshop.com/productinfo/1873/VG-DDR-MAX2B/" |
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vsamaco Trick Member
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
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1294. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:31 am Post subject: |
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OMGhi wrote: | Hey all,
I've had my 2 NX soft pads for about 2 months and all of a sudden one day I play I hit my bottom arrow only to find out that it triggers the top arrow and the Triangle button at the same time. This means if I'm scrolling down and I hold it or tap it even soemtimes it will reset the game or "go back" to certain previous screens. The part that makes me !@!$!@1 is that the top arrow registers at the same time with the bottom so if I hit the bottom arrow I don't even have to jump up if there is a up down jump. Here is a link to the bundle I got with these NX pads. Anyone have any idea what I should do? I don't even think they will accept this back probably, right? . Well am I just !@@$!!@#? Or is there a way to possibly fix just the part where the top arrow registers whenevr I hit the bottom one? It's so akward too that both pads had the same thing happen on the same day, ahhhh.
Oh this basically screwed me now since I can't do songs with Down Up Down because I hit down and it registers up as an almost. Bye bye combo and catas. No more catas for me until July when I get my CF . I should be at least happy I can play on it though, although anyone that have a similar problem happen or can give me advice to fix this?
Link to pad : "http://www.buynshop.com/productinfo/1873/VG-DDR-MAX2B/" |
The BNS NX pads are bad period. The top surface breaks down easily causing the internal layers to be exposed. And the wiring system seems to be very faulty, causing buttons to be activiated somewhere else its not suppose to. This may be caused to bad build or the raised arrow feature. I was able to salvage the control box from my defunct NX pad. There is really not much you can do to repair soft pads when they begin to breakdown. You can try cutting open the pad and see where wires are being crossed, but you may be unable to put it back together or weaken the pad more due to the incisions. Unfortunately I think your NX pads are goners.
Either find some other pads or play with the controller |
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sammy Basic Member
Joined: 09 May 2004 Location: Austin, TX |
1295. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:43 am Post subject: |
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vsamaco wrote: |
sammy wrote: | Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has had problems with the durability of the BNS DX-Xtreme pads. I bought two about a month ago and I was generally happy with the play. However, one of them started having a problem with a sticky left arrow. I called BNS and (to their credit) they sent a new pad out right away. Now one of the pads has a dead up arrow, so I have to call BNS again today. This is getting to be a pain.
I have not modded the pads in any way because they have the 1" hard foam and work well without mods. However, I wonder if I should do something to improve the durability.
At this point I would even consider buying different pads, if that's what it takes.
Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! |
How often to you play DDR? I have BNS pad for 6+ months with moderate use and folding it up occassionally. The inside of the pad is riddled with duct tape, but its still responsive. I didn't do any mods to my pads. If your play DDR often, your probably killing the foam in between the sensors and its unable to provide adequate spacing anymore. You would still be compressing the foam even if you did the plywood mod. The chairmat mod wouldn't work because the foam insert fits snuggly inside and wouldn't help your situation either. A more expensive pad like RO wouldn't provide any additional durability because it has the same build as any other ignition pad.
Have you thought about a metal pad or homemade metal pad? |
The problem with the up arrow seems to be a lead problem: if I wiggle the plastic box at the top of the pad then the arrow will start working again, but only weakly. I'm not using the pad a lot, so I wonder if I'm just beating on it too hard.
I have thought about getting a metal pad. Does anyone have a good reference for making your own metal pad? |
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vsamaco Trick Member
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
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1296. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:53 am Post subject: |
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sammy wrote: |
The problem with the up arrow seems to be a lead problem: if I wiggle the plastic box at the top of the pad then the arrow will start working again, but only weakly. I'm not using the pad a lot, so I wonder if I'm just beating on it too hard.
I have thought about getting a metal pad. Does anyone have a good reference for making your own metal pad? |
Opps I didn't see the other problem. You may want to open up the control box and see if the plastic+copper is securely connected to the board. It maybe a little loose when you open it up, because the cover has a piece of foam that presses the layer onto the board. If that checks good, then the wires maybe have gone detached or lost connection to the board or within the cord. It's kinda difficult to check the wire connection because the board is glued into the box. Try the best to see. I had a problem with my control box of my DX because the cord was being pulled alot, screwing up the wiring to the control box. I was able to fix it by replacing the control box with my garbage NX pad.
The homemade metal pad discussion. Check out the first page for different types of building guides.
As for metal pads. If you can't afford a Cobalt Flux($300) or a RedOctane($200), there are some on ebay that go for ($100). Disregarding CF as the best metal pad, the RO, BNS, CG, ebay seem to differ only by arrows (polycarbon or acrylic) and the craftsmanship. RO has the better (may not be superior) of these two characteristics and a respectable customer service. For me, I save myself $100 (risking the quality of craftsmenship and warranty/customer service) and went on ebay and got a metal pad that works flawlessly but isn't polycarbon
Last edited by vsamaco on Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:13 am, edited 2 times in total |
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OMGhi Trick Member
Joined: 21 May 2004 Location: Henderson, Colorado |
1297. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:02 am Post subject: |
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vsamaco wrote: | OMGhi wrote: | Hey all,
I've had my 2 NX soft pads for about 2 months and all of a sudden one day I play I hit my bottom arrow only to find out that it triggers the top arrow and the Triangle button at the same time. This means if I'm scrolling down and I hold it or tap it even soemtimes it will reset the game or "go back" to certain previous screens. The part that makes me !@!$!@1 is that the top arrow registers at the same time with the bottom so if I hit the bottom arrow I don't even have to jump up if there is a up down jump. Here is a link to the bundle I got with these NX pads. Anyone have any idea what I should do? I don't even think they will accept this back probably, right? . Well am I just !@@$!!@#? Or is there a way to possibly fix just the part where the top arrow registers whenevr I hit the bottom one? It's so akward too that both pads had the same thing happen on the same day, ahhhh.
Oh this basically screwed me now since I can't do songs with Down Up Down because I hit down and it registers up as an almost. Bye bye combo and catas. No more catas for me until July when I get my CF . I should be at least happy I can play on it though, although anyone that have a similar problem happen or can give me advice to fix this?
Link to pad : "http://www.buynshop.com/productinfo/1873/VG-DDR-MAX2B/" |
The BNS NX pads are bad period. The top surface breaks down easily causing the internal layers to be exposed. And the wiring system seems to be very faulty, causing buttons to be activiated somewhere else its not suppose to. This may be caused to bad build or the raised arrow feature. I was able to salvage the control box from my defunct NX pad. There is really not much you can do to repair soft pads when they begin to breakdown. You can try cutting open the pad and see where wires are being crossed, but you may be unable to put it back together or weaken the pad more due to the incisions. Unfortunately I think your NX pads are goners.
Either find some other pads or play with the controller |
So I can't really adjust any arrow settings without actually cuttin up the pad? Like possibly just making the bottom arrow not activate the top one. I guess your right though my pads are screwed. I guess I'm stuck with playing standard and light songs for 25 days without a down up down stream . Oh boy, I can't wait for my CF now jeez. Is stomping on it a little harder going to fix the problem? I notice if I lightly touch it the up arrow sometimes doesn't register at the same time which is good. But I don't think I can light step the back on R&P with crazy Cross overs. Errrr Ummm I guess that's it |
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vsamaco Trick Member
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
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1298. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:22 am Post subject: |
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OMGhi wrote: |
So I can't really adjust any arrow settings without actually cuttin up the pad? Like possibly just making the bottom arrow not activate the top one. I guess your right though my pads are screwed. I guess I'm stuck with playing standard and light songs for 25 days without a down up down stream . Oh boy, I can't wait for my CF now jeez. Is stomping on it a little harder going to fix the problem? I notice if I lightly touch it the up arrow sometimes doesn't register at the same time which is good. But I don't think I can light step the back on R&P with crazy Cross overs. Errrr Ummm I guess that's it |
If your stomping somehows uncrosses and moves the wires/contacts back into place maybe, but thats unlikely to happen. Sure you can try tapping the arrows lightly, but I'm sure it'll leave your more frustrated. Is there someway you can get a holds of a cheap $20 softpad that isn't madcatz from the store for the time being, so you can play DDR w/o the bs problems? |
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Fedora Trick Member
Joined: 23 May 2004 Location: Atchison, KS |
1299. Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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Hello DDR Freaks, I need help.
I bought a Red Octane Ignition pad 5 days ago (the dual compatible PS/PS2/XBox Version) and I've been playing 4-8 footers for the past few days. Now, I'm having a problem with the down arrow. When I step on the half closest to the middle, it works fine. But when the half closest to the edge in stepped on, it often doesn't register. I'm playing on carpet, but this is a good pad, and it doesn't seem like that should matter too much. (It's not thick, and there's concrete under it.)
It's almost like when the back half is stepped on, the pad gives a little bit and the arrow part flips up in the front just a touch. But that could be my imagination.
Any ideas on a fix? Or should I call in the warranty?
-The Nintendo Kid |
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