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Hyperkin Ranger is out.


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17 hours ago, 0078265317 said:

So does this work on real 2600?  And probably not with masterplay clone on 5200 since 2600 paddles are wired backwards.  And some 5200 games need 2 fire buttons.  How many of the original 5200 games used 2 buttons?

I can test on an actual Atari console this evening hopefully. 

 

I have tried using the Ranger on the 5200 using my Masterplay Clone as well as a bohoki PC 15 pin to Atari 5200 adapter combined with a 9 pin to 15 pin PC controller adapter made by Ikonsgr, and both of these options allow the Ranger (joystick mode) to work on digital games of the 5200.  Paddle mode is incompatible with all methods I've tried so far. 

Edited by ave1
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2 hours ago, ave1 said:

So, if I made a 9 pin male to 9 pin female adapter that swapped pins 4 and 6, would the button of the Ranger (which is in paddle mode) work when playing a paddle game with the Gemini splitter? 

On the connector for paddle a, this should work (pin 4 to pin 6 then back to pin4 at console). You need to switch pin 6 and 4 for the paddle B connector. 

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14 hours ago, chad5200 said:

I just took apart my Ranger and sanded around where the paddle sits in the plastic.  Very easy to open up with a small phillips screwdriver.  Only six screws.

 

Also, when putting it back together, I slightly loosened the two screws near the paddle.

 

This has greatly improved my paddle.  It no longer is tight.  Much easier to turn it now.

 

I'd say that this has caused the paddle to go from a C to an A-.  (Note, real working clean original paddles would be a A+)

 

Do you think we could get away with just loosening the screws a bit inside near the paddle, and skip the sanding part, and still come away with a better, looser paddle? I don't mind looseing the screws inside but I'd rather not do any sanding if I can avoid it.

 

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54 minutes ago, fiudr said:

Do you think we could get away with just loosening the screws a bit inside near the paddle, and skip the sanding part, and still come away with a better, looser paddle? I don't mind looseing the screws inside but I'd rather not do any sanding if I can avoid it.

 

Might help.. and very easy to try.

 

The nice thing about the sanding is that it is only on places that you cannot see when paddle is reassembled.

 

 

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Just now, chad5200 said:

Might help.. and very easy to try.

 

The nice thing about the sanding is that it is only on places that you cannot see when paddle is reassembled.

 

 

Not sure if I want to give the controller a go but if I do I'll definitely try this out, as one of the things I don't like about it from what I've been seeing is the tight paddle knob. I don't like that it can't be used for single-player versions of Warlords or Video Olympics though - that might be a deal-breaker. There are so few paddle games anyways and if the controller doesn't work with those games for single-player that's a real bummer. Also you would need two of these controllers to play 2-player paddle games, whereas you would only need a single original paddle controller.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Dionoid said:

So if I connect pins 6 and 3, does than mean that the paddle works for both?

If you are trying to use two Rangers in paddle mode in player 1 port, both need the pin6 on the controller changed to pin 4 before connecting to the Gemini y-cable. The pin6 to pin3 was a typo. I meant pin 6 to pin4 for both controllers. So you end up with the Gemini y cable and two homemade adapters to use two rangers as paddles on a 2600. 

 

However, this is just for ave1’s Gemini  y cable. If it is a standard 2600/genesis ycable, the first ranger is fine, but the second one need changes- pin 5 to pin 9 and I’m not sure about the fire button. Hard to review on my phone how the directions changed around on the Ranger in paddle mode and aa is blocked at work. 

 

Also, this is just a logical guess. Someone will have to test it to be sure something else funky isn’t going on. 

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1 hour ago, fiudr said:

Will the Ranger work with the flashback X? They've fixed the ports working with paddle controllers for flashback X, so I'm wondering if that means the Ranger will work?

 

I think pin 5 and 7 on the ranger are always “live” in both joystick and paddle mode and the flashbacks will always detect this as being a paddle. So, perhaps paddle games will work but you will need to modify it somehow, like with a genesis pad, so it does not always think the controller is a paddle. 

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3 hours ago, Dionoid said:

So if I connect pins 6 and 3, does than mean that the paddle works for both?

Image result for atari paddle controller schematic

Looking at the schematics of the Atari Paddle controller pair, if I want the Ranger's paddle to drive the second paddle, I should create an adapter that switches pins 3 and 4, and pins 9 and 5. 

Still that's too much work just for a singple-player game of Video Olympics ?

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Dionoid said:

Image result for atari paddle controller schematic

Looking at the schematics of the Atari Paddle controller pair, if I want the Ranger's paddle to drive the second paddle, I should create an adapter that switches pins 3 and 4, and pins 9 and 5. 

Still that's too much work just for a singple-player game of Video Olympics ?

 

 

Yes, this is exactly what I did and it worked like a charm. :) I wired a splitter so I can have 2 player paddle games too. :thumbsup: 

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2 hours ago, Dionoid said:

Image result for atari paddle controller schematic

Looking at the schematics of the Atari Paddle controller pair, if I want the Ranger's paddle to drive the second paddle, I should create an adapter that switches pins 3 and 4, and pins 9 and 5. 

Still that's too much work just for a singple-player game of Video Olympics ?

 

 

 

2 hours ago, johnnywc said:

Yes, this is exactly what I did and it worked like a charm. :) I wired a splitter so I can have 2 player paddle games too. :thumbsup: 

Okay. Good. The only thing that made me doubt this was, as ave1 said, when the ranger is in paddle mode, pressing the joystick right (usually pin4) sends a signal to pin3 (left), but fire button sends a signal to pin4 (right). So, moving the joystick right would also fire paddle 2 with johnnywc's adapter (in theory). That joystick business struck me as making no sense.

 

Also, in theory, I think Paddle A can fire your partners paddle by moving the joystick right, unless you disable that, as well.

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I finally received my Ranger today.  Good news and bad news- I was able to degrease and regrease the potentiometer.  As a result, I'd say that the turning resistance is reduced by about 60%.  It's much better for a game of Super Breakout on my 7800 than it was.

 

I did some careful trimming to eliminate the knob's rubbing on the case of the controller.  This is something that Hyperkin can and should fix. 

 

The pot is easy to disassemble by cutting the crimps off of two aluminum or tin rivets(pot shaft side) with an Exacto.  The rivets still serve a purpose when reinserted, as they hold the plastic pieces together, although they aren't actually necessary to retain the metal(shaft) side as the well in the controller holds the pot securely enough.

I suppose that the rivets could be replaced by screws if desired.

 

I soaked the shaft in '3 in 1 oil` to break down the old grease, then used suction to remove the oil.  I then filled the inner cavity of the metal with lithium grease and attached a tube to the outer shaft side with a bulb in order to create a vacuum and draw the grease onto the shaft, after which I cleaned away all of the excess with a qtip.

 

The side of the pot(or at least the one in *my* Ranger) opposite of the shaft also has a tiny bit of sticky grease on a contact(physical not electrical) ring that rubs on the cover over the wiper assembly.  I used a qtip moistened in IPA to remove the old grease from the cover and from the bottom of the wiper wheel, then applied a tiny bit of lithium grease to replace it.

 

To reduce the slop in the knob, I put a single layer of electrical tape on the sides(only) of the reassembled pot casing.

 

Now the bad news... I still don't like the paddle.  The case of the controller is well designed and comfortable to hold at several different angles, but the knob leaves my 'knob hand' feeling cramped when I have it between my finger and thumb in such a way as to have enough travel without repositioning my finger mid turn.  The knob is simply too small as it is positioned in the controller to be comfortable to use, at least for my medium sized hands.  'Increasing the resolution' of the pot via resistors isn't likely to be a good solution, as the amount of travel once reduced is(IMO) going to be too small for comfort(brain) for most people even if it allows for the knob to be cradled more comfortably by the fingers.

 

The button works well, and the thumb stick is good enough for being a thumb stick(which I don't really like on any controller that I've tried) although the travel could be reduced by half, IMO(something that could be accomplished with the addition of resistors, though I'm not motivated to do so.)  As it isn't being used as a real analog stick I don't think it needs to do ~50% travel before activating a direction as it is now.

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Got a Ranger for Christmas, quite a departure from the controllers I'm used to using on the Atari. Works well for most games and reminds me of an NES controller some. Got Galagon and it makes this game so fun to play. I hadn't owned any paddle controllers so this is a bonus but pales in comparison to the paddles I had as a kid, might need to check some out.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

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I got my kids a FB9 and was gonna update the firmware later but didn't even think about the paddle games. I don't have a ranger yet but I was thinking of getting a couple. It's not too big of a deal since I got the 2600 set up on a smaller TV right next to the big one. 

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On 12/25/2019 at 9:31 AM, KevKelley said:

I was curious. I was reading that paddles are not compatible with the FB9. But does anyone know if the Ranger is compatible?

I tried the Ranger on my FB9 and when in joystick mode the directionals don't work when moving the little thumbstick around. It seems to be 100% incompatible with the FB9. 

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On 12/25/2019 at 9:31 AM, KevKelley said:

I was curious. I was reading that paddles are not compatible with the FB9. But does anyone know if the Ranger is compatible?

Paddles are supposed to work with the Flashback X since they supposedly fixed the paddle issue for the X.

 

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1 hour ago, fiudr said:

Paddles are supposed to work with the Flashback X since they supposedly fixed the paddle issue for the X.

 

It is likely the FBX will always see the Ranger as paddle like the FB9 did. Adding a simple adapter that hides pin 5 from the FB9 may make it work as a joystick. At some point all these homemade passive adapters get a little ridiculous. I’ve made so many for other 9 pin applications I’ve realized I should have been labeling them. 

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I received on of these for Christmas. It works really well with the Retron 77, but doesn't seem to work as all on the 7800 or the ST in either paddle or Joystickick mode. 

But, for what is, it makes the Retron 77 a really nice unit and no jittry paddle controls. It takes a bit to get used to it, but eventually Super Breakout on the 77 plays great. 

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I bought a couple for Christmas and finally had a chance to try it this morning with a stelladaptor.  It worked great.  The left/right switch is really nice to have because for some reason I have difficulty playing 2600 games with left hand direction controls.  The paddle seemed backwards at first, but switching to left controls made it control more how I was expecting.  I did have to exit and restart whenever I flipped one of the switches on the controller.

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On 12/30/2019 at 1:22 AM, jefffulton said:

...but doesn't seem to work as all on the 7800 or the ST in either paddle or Joystickick mode. 

...

I had issue when I first tried it on my 7800. I plugged it in with the unit on. Would not work properly. I unplugged it, turned unit off, plugged it in, then turned unit back on. Works just fine now.

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