Thanks Alyinsanfran: Improve Your Mk2 Control Now


alyinsanfran said:
Squidge said:
On my GP2X at least, the plastic shaft of the cap touches the sides of the hole. If you remove the cap, you have more travel for the metal stick (that is the actual joystick).

Therefore, if you shave some of the plastic shaft off, you will eventually get to a point where the plastic no longer touches the sides, thus will you have slightly more travel.
Well that makes sense at last, thanks Squidge.

I hadn't thought my unmodded shaft was touching, but it must have been, as even playing with the metal shaft only (cap completely off) it was 100% more responsive, if ergonomically a shocker!
Playing that way was what prompted me to start tinkering.

How on earth did GP let this out with such a fundamental flaw?


This still does not explain why you think that this is better. For me, less travel would be better. I don't want to have to move my thumb a mile to move the cursor to the next block in Teris Attack. Bowser would totally own me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
doc5avage said:
This still does not explain why you think that this is better. For me, less travel would be better. I don't want to have to move my thumb a mile to move the cursor to the next block in Teris Attack. Bowser would totally own me.
Travel is exactly as it is out of the box. If your GP2X is turned off it'll 'feel' no different to an unmodded unit.

But for whatever reason, 'feel' and accuracy improve a lot after removing most of the plastic shaft.

Just to reiterate: The cap is in the same place as before the mod, but most of it's shaft is removed.

So maybe this mod is not for you, if travel is more important than accuracy. But I can't see how you lose by doing it.

Have you actually tried this mod yet doc5avage?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
alyinsanfran said:
Have you actually tried this mod yet doc5avage?
No, and I'm not denying that it will improve accuracy and usability. Just trying to figure out why/how.
I'm thinking of doing a d-pad mod, but wanted to wait until I either got a pandora, or my stick died.

Do you forsee that this mod will increase stick wear?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
doc5avage said:
alyinsanfran said:
Have you actually tried this mod yet doc5avage?
No, and I'm not denying that it will improve accuracy and usability. Just trying to figure out why/how.
I'm thinking of doing a d-pad mod, but wanted to wait until I either got a pandora, or my stick died.

Do you forsee that this mod will increase stick wear?


I don't think so. I was worried that there would be less of the cap shaft bearing against the metal shaft, maybe making the plastic 'roll' off it, but it feels just as stiffly mounted as before, even with quite hard use.

The stick itself (the metal shaft) should show no difference in wear.

I think it's what Squidge said: the plastic cap shaft does actually butt against the 'hole' at points, even though it may not look like it does. I could have sworn mine did not touch before the mod, but there really is no other reason I can think of for this mod to work.

I almost wish I could say it's all in my head, but my high scores on Mame are suggesting otherwise.
I mean, for it to make Amidar playable... ;-)

And keep in mind, I tinkered to find this mod after nearly committing to upgrading to a F200 (purely for the pad).
So I wasn't really expecting anything to happen, and took a couple of days to report it, as it didn't seem to make much sense to me either!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Squidge's explanation makes sense to me too (glad someone figured it out). I have decided to do this mod now when I get around to it.

Anyone new tried it yet?
 
The shaft part of my cap doesnt touch the GP2X case (joystick surround), and I'm one of those people who could never figure out what all the fuss was about.

Maybe GPh used a couple of different stick/switch components one with more travel, one with less?

???
 
coldfis said:
The shaft part of my cap doesnt touch the GP2X case (joystick surround), and I'm one of those people who could never figure out what all the fuss was about.

Maybe GPh used a couple of different stick/switch components one with more travel, one with less?

???

My GP2X case (joystick surround) is the same. :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:
quadomatic said:
sehs33 said:
craigix said:
This is just for units which have issues.

:huh:
This includes all units manufactured by GPH :p
Darn right.

For those of you who are worried you'll ruin your rubber cap by sanding it like this, fret not. Play-asia sells these joystick caps for 99cents.


Anyone figured out how to put a GP32 stick into a GP2X yet? :D

Until I did this mod' to my GP2X I was really missing my blu+.

But not any more, it only overclocked to 160, even with the pencil mod' ( who remembers the length of THAT thread?)
But the GP2X runs damn near everything at fullspeed with sound, and now controls perfectly.

To all you folk who still haven't taken the plunge, dive in. This is now an old, well established mod' that is very cheap to revert from if you don't like it.

Incidentally, I reckon this or Craig's original post should be pinned to stop some other poor bugger from thinking he's found the promised land, and just to get it out there.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
although I understand the concept, I dont see how this would work either. Yes, I can see how the cap shaft is touching the outside of the hole, and in theory shaving the shaft would work...

were it not for the top of the cap (part you put your thumb on) resting on the rim of the hole when pressed in any direction as it is now, without a shaved shaft.

Seems like shaving the shaft would lower the cap, and while the shaft would have a further distance to go, the top of the cap is now limiting the movement.
 
scientist said:
although I understand the concept, I dont see how this would work either. Yes, I can see how the cap shaft is touching the outside of the hole, and in theory shaving the shaft would work...

were it not for the top of the cap (part you put your thumb on) resting on the rim of the hole when pressed in any direction as it is now, without a shaved shaft.

Seems like shaving the shaft would lower the cap, and while the shaft would have a further distance to go, the top of the cap is now limiting the movement.
For that you win an innuendo award. :lol:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
scientist said:
Seems like shaving the shaft would lower the cap,
No, the cap is in the same place as before. The metal shaft is still fully inserted, as deep as it will go. (I know, I know... :D

All that's changed is that the effective thickness of the shaft (this is sounding worse) has been reduced i.e. instead of a metal shaft inside a plastic shaft, now there is only the metal shaft, for most of the metal shaft's length.

If you can imagine leaving the unmodded regular cap' on the metal shaft as normal, but somehow cutting around the plastic shaft near where it flares out into the thumb area, and removing that piece of plastic shaft, that's the mod.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
But then the edge (outer rim) of the cap would hit the case. Well it would on mine as it nearly does now. :rolleyes:
And yes i do know the cap would still be the same height if you chopped a bit of the plastic stem off.
 
Okay, I did this mod last night because I was sick of the crappy controls. For me, I cannot notice a difference. It has not worsened the controls, but I personally cannot feel a difference on my unit. Not saying it hasn't worked for others.

I will be shopping around for a Gamecube controller to do a dpad mod now.

Thanks ppl
 
Back
Top