New and innovative analog controls mod for the 5200 using Atari paddles

[Swami]

i'm really proud of you swami since you have come this far on modifications i wonder if you would want to go a little further

 

sorry i use so much glue on the plug end but you will need to carefully cut some away to get to pin #12 run a length of wire down to the pc connection and use a switch to allow it to do the job of pin so you will want the wire coming from pin 9 on one side of the switch pin 12 on the other and the center pin attach it to the place where you detached pin 9 (the pc controllerconection pin 1 i think)

 

why do this?

 

well it will put the atari in tracball mode that adds some neat features like it will allow pole position to switch gears with the keypad

and on missile command the cursor will still move super quick but it will stay where you leave it instead of snapping back to center

 

in theory that mod should not harm the 5200 but i can not be held responsible for your soldering skills or age of the machine or the devices you attach so it is at your risk

 

 

when i sold on ebay i had a bunch of joysticks with a throttle and i made special adapters that switched the Y axis with the throttle axis so people could use the little lever as the shifter lever so out there ten 5200 owners have that one

 

a person could go crazy with all the other options with switches i generally like to keep an adapter simple

 

but my personal prototype has switches to use button 3 as 1 ,button 4 as 2 ,swap throttle for Y,swap rudder for x

 

i never use it i just want to plug in my gravis gamepad press the little start button and play digdug

That's an interesting suggestion. I'll put it on my (unfortunately long) to do list. What you say makes me wonder if plugging the 5200 controller/keypad end of your original adapter into the 5200 trackball would have the same effect, just to see what effect it has. Obviously, this would be a little more crowded than the mod you suggested, but, if it works, it would give me an idea if i did the adapter mod properly. This would be nice, if true, since sometimes I about pull my hair out with testing and re-testing the trimmer because the insides of the DB15 breakout connector contacts start to shred after many wires are inserted and removed, especially poking two or three wires into one contact hole at a time, and you think you have contact, but you don't, which can lead to wrong conclusions. But was still a lot of fun overall.

[Swami]

and on missile command the cursor will still move super quick but it will stay where you leave it instead of snapping back to center

 

I know virtual position recentering (as opposed to joystick recentering) is a problem with some games using the mouse/keyboard setup, like Star Wars Arcade and the speed in River Raid (up/down) and it may be what is causing the PS2 UltraRacer and MC2 wheel to automatically shift back to hi gear when you release the "up" button. I've seen Star Wars Arcade also auto recenter on screen with the 5200 trackball (I'll have to double check, maybe it was in joystick mode, if it has such a thing).

 

So, to be clear, does the pin mod above put you in trackball mode or put you in joystick mode?

[Swami]

Update 4: MC2 pedals work in digital and NeGCon mode with masterplay-like adapter. In digital mode MC2 shifter works, but in NeGCon mode does not stay on low when you release shifter. NeGCon steering is digital.

With Innovation PS2 to 15pin PC adapter, pedals only work in MC2 wheel digital mode, not in NeGCon mode. Shifter always goes back to high when you release shifter.

With PS2 dual shock controller on Innovation, shifter shifts from high to low with analog stick, then shifts okay with D-pad, but after using analog stick to shift back to high gear, shifter returns from low to high gear after releasing up button on Dpad. Appears to be some kind of analog pedals to digital 5200 signal for accelerate/fire1 and digital to analog problem for pressing up/down to shift. Crazy. Will try plugging the keypad controller cable from bohoki adapter into 5200 trackball next.

[Swami]

Got something unique for everyone here who might want to try a really different analog control method which is effective on a good number of 5200 games. This mod brings a new purpose to your Atari 5200-compatible Wico Command Control Splitter cable along with your 2600 analog paddles.

 

 

This project goes a step beyond just modding a 5200 controller to have a paddle added in place of the joystick which many have accomplished over the past number of years. It allows for two paddles to be utilized simultaneously on certain games that might use two fire buttons (ie. Moon Patrol, Tempest, Dreadnaught Factor) or on games that have only one fire button, but two axes of motion in action (ie. River Raid). I'm figuring this way of control is new territory for all Atari fans, which could give just about anyone here a new desire to retry some of the old favorite games they may not have plugged in for quite a while.

 

5200 games are really quite unique when compared to the games of the other 80's game systems because of the analog aspects of its controllers. This mod takes advantage of that, and gives you a totally unique and fun avenue to breathe new life into some of the classics. Enjoy

 

 

i'm really proud of you swami since you have come this far on modifications i wonder if you would want to go a little further

 

sorry i use so much glue on the plug end but you will need to carefully cut some away to get to pin #12 run a length of wire down to the pc connection and use a switch to allow it to do the job of pin so you will want the wire coming from pin 9 on one side of the switch pin 12 on the other and the center pin attach it to the place where you detached pin 9 (the pc controllerconection pin 1 i think)

 

why do this?

 

well it will put the atari in tracball mode that adds some neat features like it will allow pole position to switch gears with the keypad

and on missile command the cursor will still move super quick but it will stay where you leave it instead of snapping back to center

 

in theory that mod should not harm the 5200 but i can not be held responsible for your soldering skills or age of the machine or the devices you attach so it is at your risk

 

 

when i sold on ebay i had a bunch of joysticks with a throttle and i made special adapters that switched the Y axis with the throttle axis so people could use the little lever as the shifter lever so out there ten 5200 owners have that one

 

a person could go crazy with all the other options with switches i generally like to keep an adapter simple

 

but my personal prototype has switches to use button 3 as 1 ,button 4 as 2 ,swap throttle for Y,swap rudder for x

 

i never use it i just want to plug in my gravis gamepad press the little start button and play digdug

Steve, this is a really interesting mod, now that I've had a chance to watch it a couple times. I remember a post in the 2600 forum where we were talking about a video where a guy was playing centipede with one paddle (no vertical) and we wondered about having a board with two paddles fixed to it for playing games and the exercise in eye-hand coordination it would be. It's cool to see someone try it out. I am curious if you found it works better with the bases pointed out than the round paddles pointed out and buttons in fixed position.

 

I tried the SpeedLink Redeemer and Innovation adapter with my trimming adapter down to 0nF on both axes for centipede and missile command and it slowed it down quite a bit, but not enough, unless I used but 30 dpi DT225 trackball, but even then the movement was very jerky (stop and go), unfortunately. I may try using parallel resistors (as 500k pots, perhaps) with zero capacitance added to see if slowing the cursor down even more on the adapter helps. The XBox smart joy and XP Joybox may work better.

 

For the trackball spoofing on the bohoki adapter, after looking at your drawing, bohoki, of the wire connection and reading a bit, I see 5200 pins 9 and 12 do not go to the trackball with the bohoki adapter, only pins 1-8, so I'll have to try the wiring method. I already have a switch installed as I was trying to get the pedals on my Mad Catz MC2 racing wheel to work in NeGCon mode and pin 13 on the PC end (y-axis 2) showed resistance changed for the the gas and pin 11 (x-axis 2) showed resistance changed for the brake. However, the voltages and resistance behaved in unexpected ways by pressing the pedals that were not helpful.

[0078265317]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-PC-15-PIN-JOYSTICK-CONTROLLER-76H1572/142784134046?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649.

 

Got this today. A little bulky but good for most games. Works with bohoki adapter.

[bohoki]

 

For the trackball spoofing on the bohoki adapter, after looking at your drawing, bohoki, of the wire connection and reading a bit, I see 5200 pins 9 and 12 do not go to the trackball with the bohoki adapter, only pins 1-8, so I'll have to try the wiring method. I already have a switch installed as I was trying to get the pedals on my Mad Catz MC2 racing wheel to work in NeGCon mode and pin 13 on the PC end (y-axis 2) showed resistance changed for the the gas and pin 11 (x-axis 2) showed resistance changed for the brake. However, the voltages and resistance behaved in unexpected ways by pressing the pedals that were not helpful.

 

sorry if i was to vague but its the 5200 pin 9 that is pot common and pin 12 is pot common for tracball the pc gameport pins are adapted its complicated

[Swami]

I did get my MadCatz MC2 Universal racing wheel (ps2/xbox/gc) working with both pedals and gear shift in analog mode using the Innovations Smart Joy ps2->15pin PC adapter and the trim box I'm working on, although I did need to add power for this wheel using a ps2->ps3 and ps3->ps2 adapter with a usb y-cable to usb power.

 

The ordinary MadCatz MC2 may also work if you use the separate Innovations pedal adapter for the pedals.

 

The tricky thing with these racing wheels is find one where you can re-map what you want. The Logic3 could map to the pedals and shifter, but could not re-map d-pad direction to them. The regular Ps2 Mad Catz MC2 wheel lets you map the d-pad to the shifter but doesn't let you map the pedals, but you didn't need extra power to use it. I'm sure if I use the Innovations pedals it will require added power, like the Universal wheel. The Mad Catz Universal wheel lets you map the shifter and pedals with the action buttons or dpad directions. I don't have a proper 15pin racing wheel to test, so I won't be able to test one. I've already got 4 racing wheels taking up too much room, so unless I sell one, I probably won't get one.

[Swami]

I thought I would post that I finally finished the bohoki type box with trim pots, added switches to speed up or slow down x- and y-axis, switch for joystick or trackball power activation and a usb port to add external +5V power. You can also add a 15pin to 9-pin ADC they sell on ebay to use Atari and Amiga sticks. I have to check Genesis and SMS. No keypad, though - you plug in a controller or Masterplay clone for that. I seems a little tricky to get Pole Position out of trackball mode, for some reason; Especially with the rom on a multicart. I'm posting the schematic as I said I would when I finished it. I just realized, at the top switch, point 2 (where D is) should have a wire to ground (pin 15) I forgot to write down.