Paddles

[AmintaMister]

What kind of converter / Snac have I to buy to make work my Vic 20 paddles and Atari paddles with MiSTer?

[lomdar67]

Don't know if there is an adapter out there, but you can modify your paddles:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Retro-C ... rollersUSB

[Newsdee]

I have these and they work great:
http://www.2600-daptor.com/

[LamerDeluxe]

Don't know if there is an adapter out there, but you can modify your paddles:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Retro-C ... rollersUSB

I see the readme for the JogConUSB adapter is missing there (which should contain the build instructions). With this adapter the JogCon can be used as both a paddle and a spinner (as well as a self-centering steering wheel IIRC), using its force-feedback functionality.

[bankshot]

I have tried, and tried, and tried, to get my 2600 paddles working with a D9 2600 daptor in the Atari 7800 core on my MiSTer. (I'm aware that the 2 player paddle will not work.) Either I can get the paddle to spin and no working fire button, or working fire button and no spin on the paddle. I am frustrated because I can see them both working simultaneously on the Input tester utility program. I also tried the Arkanoid arcade and NES Core/Arkanoid combo and couldn't get that to work either. I have not tried the deprecated 2600 core.

Can someone please shed some light on how to set this up properly? Which way do you have the DIP switches set up on your D9 daptor? I even tried updating the firmware on my daptor that added this functionality:

10/31/21 - DIP switches all down is now dedicated Atari 2600 paddle/joystick/driving controller mode.

[thorr]

I have tried, and tried, and tried, to get my 2600 paddles working with a D9 2600 daptor in the Atari 7800 core on my MiSTer. (I'm aware that the 2 player paddle will not work.) Either I can get the paddle to spin and no working fire button, or working fire button and no spin on the paddle. I am frustrated because I can see them both working simultaneously on the Input tester utility program. I also tried the Arkanoid arcade and NES Core/Arkanoid combo and couldn't get that to work either. I have not tried the deprecated 2600 core.

Can someone please shed some light on how to set this up properly? Which way do you have the DIP switches set up on your D9 daptor? I even tried updating the firmware on my daptor that added this functionality:

10/31/21 - DIP switches all down is now dedicated Atari 2600 paddle/joystick/driving controller mode.

It is for sure very finicky. What paddle you first move or press the button on can affect the behavior, so maybe try different combinations of pressing one of the paddle buttons first, then moving it, vice versa, and the same on the other paddle, and swapping the paddles to yes and no in the core. Also different games use different paddles. Try using Warlords in a four player game and see if you can get any of the players to work with the button and movement. When I get it to work, I use the auto-detect. Sometimes I use the Commodore Paddles mode on the D9 to affect the range of the paddle movement.

[thorr]

Don't know if there is an adapter out there, but you can modify your paddles:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Retro-C ... rollersUSB

I actually did this and there is a problem that the paddles slightly affect each other's movement. In order to move the player all the way across the screen, you need to move the main paddle all the way, and the player gets most of the way there, and then use the other paddle to move the player the rest of the way. I haven't tried modifying the Arduino code to fix this issue yet.

[LamerDeluxe]

Don't know if there is an adapter out there, but you can modify your paddles:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Retro-C ... rollersUSB

I actually did this and there is a problem that the paddles slightly affect each other's movement. In order to move the player all the way across the screen, you need to move the main paddle all the way, and the player gets most of the way there, and then use the other paddle to move the player the rest of the way. I haven't tried modifying the Arduino code to fix this issue yet.

That is really odd, I wonder what is causing that.

[thorr]

That is really odd, I wonder what is causing that.

I don't know, but thinking about it, if I spent time modifying the code to fix that, I could also modify it to only use a portion of the paddle range like the real Atari paddles, or maybe I will try to make a new version that doesn't require modifying the internals of the paddles. This won't be anytime soon though. I have too many other projects going on and I am getting over Covid which grinded everything to a halt for the past few weeks. I feel pretty confident I could make a finally good paddles adapter for the 7800 core which so far has been elusive. I will probably even build in a range calibration feature so people can make the range adjustable to their preferences.

[LamerDeluxe]

That is really odd, I wonder what is causing that.

I don't know, but thinking about it, if I spent time modifying the code to fix that, I could also modify it to only use a portion of the paddle range like the real Atari paddles, or maybe I will try to make a new version that doesn't require modifying the internals of the paddles. This won't be anytime soon though. I have too many other projects going on and I am getting over Covid which grinded everything to a halt for the past few weeks. I feel pretty confident I could make a finally good paddles adapter for the 7800 core which so far has been elusive. I will probably even build in a range calibration feature so people can make the range adjustable to their preferences.

That would be really great. I got an extra set of paddles recently, in mint condition, for a low price. But it still doesn't feel good to have to modify them. I would much rather use an adapter to plug the DB9 connector into.

[thorr]

That is really odd, I wonder what is causing that.

I don't know, but thinking about it, if I spent time modifying the code to fix that, I could also modify it to only use a portion of the paddle range like the real Atari paddles, or maybe I will try to make a new version that doesn't require modifying the internals of the paddles. This won't be anytime soon though. I have too many other projects going on and I am getting over Covid which grinded everything to a halt for the past few weeks. I feel pretty confident I could make a finally good paddles adapter for the 7800 core which so far has been elusive. I will probably even build in a range calibration feature so people can make the range adjustable to their preferences.

That would be really great. I got an extra set of paddles recently, in mint condition, for a low price. But it still doesn't feel good to have to modify them. I would much rather use an adapter to plug the DB9 connector into.

I just looked at the paddles circuit diagram and I am very confident I could do this without modifying the paddles. I am completely booked this weekend, but if I had a full weekend, I could probably make this pretty quickly. I have no experience with creating a github project, but I would want to and release it that way. I have a github account and have created issues before, but that's it. I will have to watch a youtube video and learn how to use github.

Also I can make it work with two DB9 inputs so four paddles can work all at once.

[LamerDeluxe]

I don't know, but thinking about it, if I spent time modifying the code to fix that, I could also modify it to only use a portion of the paddle range like the real Atari paddles, or maybe I will try to make a new version that doesn't require modifying the internals of the paddles. This won't be anytime soon though. I have too many other projects going on and I am getting over Covid which grinded everything to a halt for the past few weeks. I feel pretty confident I could make a finally good paddles adapter for the 7800 core which so far has been elusive. I will probably even build in a range calibration feature so people can make the range adjustable to their preferences.

That would be really great. I got an extra set of paddles recently, in mint condition, for a low price. But it still doesn't feel good to have to modify them. I would much rather use an adapter to plug the DB9 connector into.

I just looked at the paddles circuit diagram and I am very confident I could do this without modifying the paddles. I am completely booked this weekend, but if I had a full weekend, I could probably make this pretty quickly. I have no experience with creating a github project, but I would want to and release it that way. I have a github account and have created issues before, but that's it. I will have to watch a youtube video and learn how to use github.

Also I can make it work with two DB9 inputs so four paddles can work all at once.

That sounds really promising. It would be great if you could get that to work. Four player support would be fantastic.

Personally, to simplify working with Git, I use TortoiseGit. Others, for instance, prefer Sourcetree. Though I've also used Git from the command line for a long time.

[bankshot]

It is for sure very finicky. What paddle you first move or press the button on can affect the behavior, so maybe try different combinations of pressing one of the paddle buttons first, then moving it, vice versa, and the same on the other paddle, and swapping the paddles to yes and no in the core. Also different games use different paddles. Try using Warlords in a four player game and see if you can get any of the players to work with the button and movement. When I get it to work, I use the auto-detect. Sometimes I use the Commodore Paddles mode on the D9 to affect the range of the paddle movement.

Thanks thorr. I may give the 7800 core one more try but I feel like the 2600 core may be my best shot at this point. I gotta figure out how to make it show back up as an available core.

I bought a couple of nice TurboTwist spinners from GGG so I may be throwing the Atari paddles back into storage. I'm always amazed when I read someone online saying that the Atari/D9 combo worked for them plug-n-play on the MiSTer. As usual in life, YMMV.