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Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:09 pm
by Motoracer5
Roareye wrote:
Hadn't heard of the PantherDC before, what a cool curiosity item. But it's not really the same as a dual analog stick device. Having said that, I couldn't imagine playing an FPS with a trackball and flight stick combo. Might work better than I expect. But it also built by MadCatz, they don't have a good reputation. They're over £100 now too, that's a lot to pay for a 20 year old MadCatz controller. Thanks for bringing it up though, something I didn't know about

It was amazing for Starlancer. Also a good compromise between comfort (gamepad on a couch) and the accuracy and speed of KBM. I remember really wishing the track ball was on the other side, but got used to it. I ended up taking it apart and rearranging some of the buttons, can't remember what I changed
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 1:40 pm
by Ragfish
The panther was even mentioned in the quake 3 manual and had its own dedicated control scheme for it
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 5:58 pm
by Anthony817
Roel wrote:Anthony817 wrote:So that means that either one of the the unused Home or Select keys would be good candidates to add as macros for the "D" as soft reset.
But the "D" button
doesn't soft-reset, so sending a "D" button press over the maple bus does not achieve that goal. Unless you want to hack all Dreamcast games to soft-reset when the "D" is pressed. Which, in my opinion, would be impractical at best.
I appreciate you taking the time to clarify your idea, and I agree that soft reset would be a good use of the Home button. But as far as I can tell, the implementation of such a feature would not require, or even relate to, the presence of a D button in the maple protocol.
If you want the Home button to soft-reset:
1. Press "Home" on the wireless controller.
2. Controller tells the dongle that "Home" has been pressed.
3. Firmware in dongle maps that input to "A+B+X+Y+Start" and sends that over the maple bus to the Dreamcast, triggering a soft reset (in games that support it).
The "D" button doesn't come into play here.
I apologise if I'm just missing the point here, but I hope I have at least been clear about what's causing my confusion in this matter.
Well like I said, I was just saying using an unused input like that would be a good idea. I was under the impression that if we used some unused button and mapped it to something the DC understood easier it would be good. So be it if we can just directly use the home for the soft reset. I was maybe complicating things too much and over thinking how it would be done. I will admit I am not a coder but my understanding was we could hook into something like that. I didn't have enough knowledge on the way it would be able to be implemented. So if we can just use the Home button directly that way then good.
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:43 pm
by Cass
Not sure what mod this is but would love to be able to play Quake/HL/UT on original hardware with dual sticks.
https://youtu.be/s81OA8e_3YQ
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:06 pm
by megavolt85
Cass wrote:Not sure what mod this is but would love to be able to play Quake/HL/UT on original hardware with dual sticks.
https://youtu.be/s81OA8e_3YQ
this is a chinese dualshock wireless connected via my adapter on STM32
P.S. this is my friend's youtube channel
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:29 pm
by Cass
megavolt85 wrote:Cass wrote:Not sure what mod this is but would love to be able to play Quake/HL/UT on original hardware with dual sticks.
https://youtu.be/s81OA8e_3YQ
this is a chinese dualshock wireless connected via my adapter on STM32
P.S. this is my friend's youtube channel
Ah great stuff Megavolt85!
The work your doing for the DC community is amazing.
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:43 pm
by megavolt85
look at the video on this channel, there my friend shows how you can make a mouse for dreamcast from STM32 and old junk

Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:00 pm
by Motoracer5
Anthony817 wrote:Roel wrote:Anthony817 wrote:So that means that either one of the the unused Home or Select keys would be good candidates to add as macros for the "D" as soft reset.
But the "D" button
doesn't soft-reset, so sending a "D" button press over the maple bus does not achieve that goal. Unless you want to hack all Dreamcast games to soft-reset when the "D" is pressed. Which, in my opinion, would be impractical at best.
I appreciate you taking the time to clarify your idea, and I agree that soft reset would be a good use of the Home button. But as far as I can tell, the implementation of such a feature would not require, or even relate to, the presence of a D button in the maple protocol.
If you want the Home button to soft-reset:
1. Press "Home" on the wireless controller.
2. Controller tells the dongle that "Home" has been pressed.
3. Firmware in dongle maps that input to "A+B+X+Y+Start" and sends that over the maple bus to the Dreamcast, triggering a soft reset (in games that support it).
The "D" button doesn't come into play here.
I apologise if I'm just missing the point here, but I hope I have at least been clear about what's causing my confusion in this matter.
Well like I said, I was just saying using an unused input like that would be a good idea. I was under the impression that if we used some unused button and mapped it to something the DC understood easier it would be good. So be it if we can just directly use the home for the soft reset. I was maybe complicating things too much and over thinking how it would be done. I will admit I am not a coder but my understanding was we could hook into something like that. I didn't have enough knowledge on the way it would be able to be implemented. So if we can just use the Home button directly that way then good.
I had a Dreampad with a soft reset mod. To reset a Dreamcast it needs to see A+B+X+Y+Start. If you used D it wouldn't reset, it would just see a D input
I found a single button for soft reset more of a liability than anything. Ended up getting accidentally hit way too often
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:14 pm
by Anthony817
Oh, yeah I already knew that. But I was just saying since there was an unused D key it could have been used as macros. I already said in last post just make it directly mapped to Home. I was overthinking it for some reason.
Re: Retro-Bit DC Controller
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:19 pm
by Motoracer5
Anthony817 wrote:Yeah I already knew that. I was saying since there was an unused D key it could have been used as macros. I already said in last post just make it directly mapped to Home. I was overthinking it for some reason.
Ahhh, alright.