bozzerbigd
Active member
Yep, tried back and for with a selection of Competition Pro and original CD32 pads. With and without your extender and 90 degree adaptors. It seems that Guardian CD32 is unplayable most disappointingly.
For Sale CD32-Compatible Automatic Joystick/Mouse Switcher
- Thread starter SukkoPera
- Start date
- Replies 67
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bozzerbigd
Active member
Something going on with the button mapping it seems! Red button is mapped to yellow and blue is mapped to red! From Guardian experience fast forward seems mapped to rewind etc. Photo of Xtreme Racing setup when red and blue were pushed for accelerate and fire weapon respectively! Also, blue seems cross wired as although it registers to yellow and accelerate it also fires weapon!
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bozzerbigd
Active member
From experimenting in Xtreme Racing the joypad attached to the switcher gives the following inputs:
Green button = forward
Yellow button = green
Forward shoulder = reverse
Reverse shoulder = not recognised
Red button = yellow
Blue button = red
From Guardian CD32 the Reverse Shoulder is conflicted with the Pause/Play i. e. Start Button!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!
Green button = forward
Yellow button = green
Forward shoulder = reverse
Reverse shoulder = not recognised
Red button = yellow
Blue button = red
From Guardian CD32 the Reverse Shoulder is conflicted with the Pause/Play i. e. Start Button!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!
bozzerbigd
Active member
...seems rock solid as a 2-button pad switcher and you can use CD32 pads but it seems just as 2 button pads for disk based games at the moment and with incompatibility with actual CD32 games!
The button mapping is fixed in the controller, there's no way to change it. I assume they work correctly without the switcher inbetween?
My best guess at what is happening is that the clock signal that the computer uses to read the controllers is getting delayed, but there's no reason for that, the switcher does not process any signals, it just... Well, switches then between a controller and the other.
My best guess at what is happening is that the clock signal that the computer uses to read the controllers is getting delayed, but there's no reason for that, the switcher does not process any signals, it just... Well, switches then between a controller and the other.
bozzerbigd
Active member
The CD32 works fine with proper mapped player 1 and 2 CD32 multibutton controls when the switcher is not in place. While it was not easy to troubleshoot what was going on with the CD32 games since the controls are seldom remappable, Xtreme Racing is a game that IS remappable AND specifically supports CD32 pads. I play the game on both machines and the mapping of the buttons to the wrong inputs was seen on both switchers, on two different machines and using either Competition Pro or the original pads! And it was tried with and without your extender/the 90 degree adaptors. Any help on the matter would be appreciated or a discount considered as they don't quite work as advertised despite best efforts all around!
bozzerbigd
Active member
I'm not at home at the moment but I have the game. The Chaos Engine CD32 will likely suffer the same issues as Alien Breed Tower Assault CD32 (which I have tried). However, the issue with the blue button mapping on AB:TA will be more noticeable as it has a 'blue button for retreat mode' option whereas it's probably just a special weapon on Chaos Engine. Obviously games like Guardian CD32, ADoom and Xtreme Racing are the best to test this issue as they require multiple buttons and directly support the CD32 pad including the shoulder buttons. What is particularly troubling is the the 'reverse'/left shoulder button doesn't seem to be recognised properly at all. It caused AB:TA to lock up when I pushed it and it causes Guardian to glitch into the game menu rather than have the space ship reverse thrust like its supposed to. I could also try the CD32 CD player which also uses ALL the CD32 buttons on my return but I fear the result will be the same.
bozzerbigd
Active member
Ok, the CD32 in-built CD player (based on the awesome CDTV animating one programmed by the genius Amiga developer Carl Sassenrath) reveals the following when a CD32 pad is connected through the switcher:
Red = Select = Correct
Blue = Stop = Correct
Green = Nothing = Incorrect as should be shuffle
Yellow = Loop Track On and Off AND Reverse Track = Incorrect as should ONLY be Loop Track ON & OFF = Mixed Signals!
Right Shoulder = Nothing = Incorrect as should be Fast Forward/Forward Track button
Left Shoulder = Nothing = Incorrect as should be Fast Rewind/Reverse Track button
Start Button = Nothing = Incorrect as should be Start Track/Pause
This definitely cannot be sold as fully CD32 compatible in its current form. I await your help/consideration of a discount. It works ONLY as a 2-button joystick/joypad and mouse switcher and CD32 pads work as 2-button joypads for standard Amiga games but they don't work as CD32 pads if connected through the switcher. Sad.
Red = Select = Correct
Blue = Stop = Correct
Green = Nothing = Incorrect as should be shuffle
Yellow = Loop Track On and Off AND Reverse Track = Incorrect as should ONLY be Loop Track ON & OFF = Mixed Signals!
Right Shoulder = Nothing = Incorrect as should be Fast Forward/Forward Track button
Left Shoulder = Nothing = Incorrect as should be Fast Rewind/Reverse Track button
Start Button = Nothing = Incorrect as should be Start Track/Pause
This definitely cannot be sold as fully CD32 compatible in its current form. I await your help/consideration of a discount. It works ONLY as a 2-button joystick/joypad and mouse switcher and CD32 pads work as 2-button joypads for standard Amiga games but they don't work as CD32 pads if connected through the switcher. Sad.
This week I'm on holidays, but next week I'll try to reproduce your issue. This adapter has seen limited testing, as I stated clearly in my first post, but it is surely working better than what you are experiencing.
bozzerbigd
Active member
Ok, enjoy your holidays. Speak again.
bozzerbigd
Active member
Any thoughts? I notice there are jumpers present on the board. Do they change settings between a CD32 pad and standard 2-button Amiga joypad?
Also, just read this on EAB:
I assume the switcher design takes this into account? I don't pretend to know the differences between bank switching used on the MegaDrive pads and the CD32 serial scheme.
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I have managed to build 2 more units (I didn't have any left), will work on reproducing the problem in the weekend.
The INH(hibit) jumpers will force controllers to 2-button mode when removed. The CD32/C64 jumper should be self-explanatory
(but it is still untested, I have also just procured a C64 for that).
The INH(hibit) jumpers will force controllers to 2-button mode when removed. The CD32/C64 jumper should be self-explanatory
(but it is still untested, I have also just procured a C64 for that).
So, I haven't had as much time to test this as I hoped I'd have in the weekend, but I have managed to do some testing and everything works as expected in my experience. All buttons work as expected on a real CD32 console, both with a reproduction of the original controller and with my PSX Adapter. Unfortunately I don't have XTR, but I have tried a few other games AND the builtin CD Player and everything is working good.
I have a few more things to try and reproduce the issue though, stay tuned.
I have a few more things to try and reproduce the issue though, stay tuned.
I have just managed to sort of reproduce the issue by using a low-quality extension cable. Whenever I use it, all sort of oddities will happen, including the CD32 going crazy when I press any direction on the D-Pad! This only happens when using (a reproduction of) the original controller, the switcher and the extension, it does not happen if I remove the cable (or use a good-quality one), the switcher or if I use my PSX adapter, even with the switcher inbetween, so it's a pretty precise combination. Don't ask me why this happens though, I have no idea (Added resistance of wires? Bad ground?).
Are you using any extension cable, by any chance?
Are you using any extension cable, by any chance?
bozzerbigd
Active member
Again, not at home right now to swap stuff around and retest, but the one switcher is directly plugged into the side of the CD32 console whereas my Big Box Amiga yes has the splitter plugged in on the end of an 9-pin extender. The Competition Pro/Official C= CD32 pads act in the same way regardless. I'll test again when I return. I'll also double check the jumpers.
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bozzerbigd
Active member
Machine 1 - CD32
Ok, so I've got one unit working as advertised with the CD32 music player but it's very twitchy and can work or not work depending on which of my official CD32 pads are plugged in (possibly different signal strengh or tolerances between pads?)! I also had to clean some residual blue plastic off the input pins of your extender adapter which was giving a poor connection. You're right that extenders/90 degree adapters if plugged between the switcher and the Amiga seem to degrade the signal enough to jumble the CD32 inputs! This is a shame. I may have to downgrade one of the units to 2-button only for my big box Amiga as I am not happy sticking it out vertically out the back on that model and hence need to use the 90 degree switcher which doesn't allow it to be used reliably in CD32 mode. Maybe the signal sensitivity/tolerance could be improved in future units to tolerate these extenders to a larger degree? As I say, I even had to clean YOUR custom-made extender to get a good enough signal through it!
On further testing with Alien Breed: Tower Assault the blue button of the switcher pad still doesn't work for retreat mode and green button crashed the game! So there are still issues sadly!
After further testing, Ultimate Body Blows CD32 seems alright with ALL buttons registering as expected but again Guardian is unplayable 2-player with garbled controls! Very hit and miss!
... back to the music player and it still works!!! This has got to be a signal strength/tolerance type issue?
Machine 2 - Big Box Amiga
Ok, on my other machine and using the other switcher I've just removed the CD32 INT Jumper and it has had no noticeable effect (Edit: however, I still had Xtreme Racing set up to recognise it as a CD32 pad. I should have changed the settings to 2-button joypad but it's still weird it could see the extra buttons registering if the jumper isolates them)! I thought it might have isolated the other buttons and just operated as a 2-button joypad (Red and Blue buttons only)...
.... Ok, joypad is recognised as a 2-button pad now that I've told Xtreme Racing that's what it is. TinyBobble works ok as a 2-button pad (blue for jump). So I'm fairly confident it will work reliably as a 2-button joypad/mouse switcher on that machine with my 90 degree adapter.
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