My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

GoHerd35--
i was only 15 when i built mine..
BUT i loved DDR then, so ya (and i build LOTS of stuff)

1)--FIRST go get a soft pad to make sure u like it first, i mean u prolly will, but check before u spend like 150+ on a metal pad....

2)--then once u play..get up to standard play, then ur gonna want a metal/new pad...

3)--then hit me up on AIM, or PM..

or if u got the money and just cant wait skip to step 3

and whoever wanted to know about more "arcade authenticity" or whatever, go with riptides..i think (and i think others agree), that its best for that arcade feel, and u can put lights in it pretty easily if u ever want to

im still planning to put lights in, but i decided.."what for: you dont look at the lights of the pad when you are playing anyway..."
so i prolly wont put lights, but i will build another pad

THIS TIME, im *hopefullly* not going to scrwe up so many times, and i WILL get NICE DETAILED instructions, and videos if enough people ask for them
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VoijaRisa · Trick Member Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Location: Lawrence KS

Got myself a controller today. Unfortunately, in testing some things out, I came across a fairly serious glitch.

I picked up a Wild Catz "Control Pad Pro". It's a fairly standard off brand PS2 controller from the looks of it. I tore it apart and used a extra bit of a wire to test to make sure I knew where all the buttons were and the ground.

Then I broght in my partially complete pad and taped the step wire to the ground plate to make what should be a complete circuit once I hooked up the controller.

However, as soon as I touched the wire to the little silver circle where the button's solder point will be, it registered it (very rapidly at that), even though I hadn't hooked up the common wire.

What gives?

EDIT: I just tested it with the control circuit I tore out of my old wireless pad. It works fine with that so the problem's gotta be with the Mad Catz controller. I'll try to get a picture of it (my camera's dead so I'll have to see if someone else in my family has one I can borrow) to make sure I'm figuring the contacts right.

VoijaRisa · Trick Member Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Location: Lawrence KS

Ok, here's the setup of my controller I bought. I labelled everything as I thought they were.

Here's how the pad looks thus far:

as you can see, I've taped the wire that will be attached to the upper plate to the ground one. The solid blue wire is attached to the ground plate, the blue/white striped one will be the upper plate. When I touch the other end of either wire to the points on the controller that I assume are the arrow contact points, it starts registering, even though I've only touched one wire (ie, there's no ground).

Again, I've tried doing this with the control circuit from the wireles pad I tore up and everything works perfectly. Additionally, I've also used just a spare piece of wire on the controller to test these contact points, and it works correctly.

Anyone have a clue as to what's going on and especially how I can fix it?

stoli · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Location: Southern NH

It is likely that your controller is just sensing a small change in voltage when you touch a wire to it. To do a proper test, you should:

1. Disconnect the controller from your game console.

2. Connect the common wire of your pad to the contact on your controller that you have labelled "ground".

3. Connect the "UP" plate on your pad to the "UP" contact on the controller.

4. Reconnect the controller to your game console.

To test, use a wire to momentarily connect the "UP" plate on the pad to the common (ground) wire on the pad - simulating a step on the up arrow. If that works, I think it is safe to say that you have correctly labelled the controller board and you can connect the remaining arrows from the pad to the controller.

-Stoli
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My Chrome Pad Website

VoijaRisa · Trick Member Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Location: Lawrence KS

stoli · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Location: Southern NH

Iguess the next thing to do is verify that the controller is good. It should also give you an idea if you have selected the correct common:

Using a short piece of wire, connect one end to the contact labelled "ground" on your controller and then momentarily touch the up, down... contacts on the controller to see if it works. If it does, then your pad wiring is messed up. I can't help you with that since the picture is a little out of focus.
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My Chrome Pad Website

VoijaRisa · Trick Member Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Location: Lawrence KS

Punkly Daft · Trick Member Joined: 16 May 2005 Location: On a DDR Pad

damn, I am so mad...

I finished building my pad a few days ago, I tested it, and everything worked great, then the down arrow went poof. I tested everything: controller, wire, etc. It turns out the controller was not sending a signal. My guess was that it fried, but every other button/contact worked fine.

Any reasons as to why this may have happened? I used the exact same controller in DDRhomepad's design, and I would like some advice before I go out and buy a new one.
_________________

"One more time we're gonna celebrate
Oh yeah, alright, don't stop the dancing"

-Daft Punk "One More Time"

HitokiriX · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA

stoli · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Location: Southern NH

VoijaRisa:
I read over all your posts and it looks like you have a good grip on how to wire up the pad, so I can only conclude that the controller you have chosen is not going to be compatible with this application.

Punkly: I think you will find that no one has had any problems with the MadCatz Beatpad controllers. At least I have not found any posts that deal with such. I switched to these controllers for my last 2 pads and they are perfect for this type of application. The circuit board is small enough so you could hide it inside your home built pad. It is also easy to hook them up to the pad and keep the original controller housing if you plan to go that way. I suggest you call around to some of the businesses that sell them in your area. Since the Beatpad's themselves are such junk, you might be able to get a hold of a returned pad for $5 or less. I'm not sure what they do with the returned pads, but it is worth a try. Otherwise, they cost around $20.

HitokiriX: How would you make selections (like difficulty level) in the PS2 games if you didn't have a down arrow?

-Stoli
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My Chrome Pad Website

VoijaRisa · Trick Member Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Location: Lawrence KS

Thanks for the input stoli. Currently, my plan is to use the wireless controll box I have temporarily. I'll use that till my other soft pad I have dies, then switch it out. Or, if the wireless is really a huge problem, I'll have to go out and find a MadCatz Beatpad. Sadly, I've never seen one in my area. The stores around here only seem to sell wireless pads.

Punkly Daft · Trick Member Joined: 16 May 2005 Location: On a DDR Pad

That's what I thought. I'm ripping up a crappy foam pad and using the chip. I wanted to use the D-Pad instead of X, because then I couldn't increase difficulty with the down arrow.

The ground was fine - the controller fried somehow - so I figure i might as well make some use of my soft pads before I burn them.

I'll try and get some pics of flaming crapness

thanks guys

-PD
_________________

"One more time we're gonna celebrate
Oh yeah, alright, don't stop the dancing"

-Daft Punk "One More Time"

HitokiriX · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA

Punkly Daft · Trick Member Joined: 16 May 2005 Location: On a DDR Pad

Zeeky · Basic Member Joined: 26 Dec 2005

yo, I'm just getting into standard songs and I'm looking to start building my own pad pretty soon. I have riptide's videos and they look nice n easy to follow. Stoli's pad looks really cool, too.
Right now I think I'm going to go with riptide's design except not have the brackets to cut the cost a bit.

anyone have useful tips that will make it easier? places you screwed up when you were building yours so that i dont make the same mistake?

thanks

Punkly Daft · Trick Member Joined: 16 May 2005 Location: On a DDR Pad

Make sure you have Rosin core solder. Any other wont stick. Believe me. I fried much by making that mistake. Get the Brackets from Home Depot - trust me, is you are going for arcade feel, they are a must.

Plus, they are the only things that hold the plexiglass down in Riptide's design, so they're kinda hard to drop from the project.

MAKE SURE YOUR DRILL IS SET FOR CLOCKWISE WHEN YOU SCREW STUFF IN. I made this stupid mistake so many times, I probably stripped 9 or 10 holes doing it.

When measuring the plexiglass, subtract about 1/16" from each dimension (length+width) - helps it to move freely.

(If you're doing riptides) - Make sure all the screws are level BEFORE you put on the lucite. And use brass screws instead of the drywall screws in the video for the contacts. Sensitivity goes thru the roof with those.

That's about all I can think of for now. If you have any other questions, PM me.

-PD
_________________

"One more time we're gonna celebrate
Oh yeah, alright, don't stop the dancing"

-Daft Punk "One More Time"

marcan · Trick Member Joined: 28 Jul 2005

OK, I've been away for a while... I've rethinked the whole electronics concept for my pad. For those who didn't follow discussion a few pages behind, I'm building a DDR pad with electronics from scratch, and analog pressure sensors.

I've redone the electronics. I now use a (very cool BTW) PIC18F4550 chip. What this means is pretty cool: eww-ess-bee. That's right, I'm making the circuit work with the PC and the Xbox as well as the PS2 (triple protocol!).

The new chip also has quite a bit more horsepower, so I'm going to make the pad more "intelligent". I'll be replacing the whole mode select/adjustment contept with a menu-driven interface. I'll put a small character LCD (maybe 4 lines of 8 chars each or around that size) on the thingy, and have a verbose interface for configuration. This would include calibration and pressure sensitivity adjustment (remember my pad is analog and adjustable), and also stuff like configuring settings (lights mode, USB settings, PC/Xbox mode selection, test mode, etc). Also, I will write a StepMania driver (for linux initially, and I will investigate about writing a windows one) for controlling the lights of the pad, directly thru USB (so that the lights light up according to the steps you HAVE to follow, not the ones you actually press, if you choose so).

This should also be a nice controller for other's homemade pads. I will make a "dumb" version of the firmware, with no user interface and no analog sensors, just the standard digital inputs and USB/PS2/Xbox connections, for people to build into their (regular) homemade pads. The source code for the thing will of course be available, so hack to your heart's consent (and hey, I'm all for suggestions, so if you have any let me know and I'll add them in!)

I do have some questions though. First of all, the pad has to have 4 general arrow direction sensors (that's how many physical sensors I have anyway). But then I need the control buttons. Here's the question: what do you think I need? Obviously Start and Back. Anything else? Dedicated menu buttons maybe?

For the user interface (the little LCD screen for changing settings of the pad itself) I think I'm definitely going to use that, an LCD screen (allows for lots of options). But for actually controlling it, I need two buttons (OK and Cancel, and here's the question: either two Up/Down buttons for changing settings, or one of those nifty rotary encoders (the stuff you find on newer car radios that looks like a volume control but audibly clicks and is actualy digital, and rotates infinitely with no endpoints)

I'd also like to know what people want for their pads. I want all this stuff to be useful for other people too. Obviously most people will not want to go through the hassle of using analog sensors and all the configuration stuff, and will just do the regular digital pad sensor type. Others may want lights or not. What features would you want for your pad electronics? (don't go around asking for a DDR minigame on the pad itself, that isn't going to happen anytime soon... or is it? If I have a bunch of memory leftover after everything else and I'm bored, I might put that LCD screen to some use...

)

Punkly Daft · Trick Member Joined: 16 May 2005 Location: On a DDR Pad

About your buttons, start and select will take care of everything, along with the four arrows, of course. You could also use this combo:

(X or Circle) + Triangle

It has the same functions and capabilities as start/select
_________________

"One more time we're gonna celebrate
Oh yeah, alright, don't stop the dancing"

-Daft Punk "One More Time"

Ulala321 · Trick Member Joined: 28 Sep 2004

Finished my second pad recently:

Last minute adjustment after test use. I got it dirty quick with my dirty shoes, but it cleans up nice.

I also finished overhauling my first pad. It's now a DDRHomePad/Stoli hybrid. I'm going to pass it along to a DDR desiring friend. Didn't cost me much either. My dad's a contractor and let me use some scrap wood he had around. That, and a black can of spray paint that didn't cost me more than a few dollars.

Here it is, gutted, getting re-mounted and re-wired.

I finally got rid of the black KANOMI control box from my soft pad, and mounted the circuit boards underneath this panel. You can see the cord to the X-Box come out.

And finally...

NOTE: the 2 masking tape pieces are holding temporary screws down until I can replace them with the right ones.

The black border doesn't look half-bad. And with the low cost, I think I may continue with it in future pad endeavors. You'll notice the border isn't flush with the rest of the pad in height (a little experimentation); I don't much care for it, I think I like it better flush. So I'll probably stick in another half inch of scrap between the bottom plywood piece and the black bordered top, then finish it off with a paint job around the sides, so the black is uniform.

Thanks to everyone here who has helped make these pads possible! I couldn't have done it without you!

[EDIT] Made the pictures a more reasonable size. [/EDIT]