Good PCBs for arcade joystick?

[GhostGK]

Hello, I'm new at this, but I want to built a custom joystick for myself with Sanwa parts..

I've been reading up about some stuffs regarding it & having trouble choosing a PCB..

I was going to break open my extra Xbox 360 controller to use the circuit board there, but wondering if there's a better PCB for PC & Xbox 360..

Zero Delay PCB that's comes with the Sanwa Kit I order doesn't seems too bad, but it's not Xbox 360 compatible..
And, I'm looking at PS360+ too..

Any tips & recommendations for this newbie will be much appreciated!

[emphatic]

If you have a Zero Delay PCB with the Playstation cord, there's a PS->360 adapter that works great and I'd fairly cheap.

[airs]

One thing some people feel is important to consider when choosing a controller is PCB latency. Here's a list of some results (X360 results are down at the bottom of the page): http://www.teyah.net/sticklag/results

[Obiwanshinobi]

Considering the wealth of PSX controllers and PSX-to-various systems adapters, you can get a pretty beat-up PSX arcade stick for its PCB and hook it up via adapter. I have one with mad rapid auto-fire I plan on getting modded.

[TransatlanticFoe]

I started out with the generic Mayflash stick, which has PS2 compatibilty as well as PS3 and PC. I use the xtokki adapter for 360 play.

There's a new model now that does 360 out of the box so that might be a good starting point. Gives you a shell as well as the PCB so you just need to swap the parts out.

If you opt for a random old stick, make sure the thing's deep enough (the 360 Hori EX2 is too shallow to replace the stick easily) and see if you can find a picture of the PCB online to check the layout. Some can be easier than others, for example the aforementioned EX2 has buttons directly soldered to the PCB.

[GhostGK]

One thing some people feel is important to consider when choosing a controller is PCB latency.

I am actually worried about that too.. Someone told me that Zero Delay has a latency (ironically)..
But, I think I can overlook small latency issues..

Considering the wealth of PSX controllers and PSX-to-various systems adapters, you can get a pretty beat-up PSX arcade stick for its PCB and hook it up via adapter.

I started out with the generic Mayflash stick, which has PS2 compatibilty as well as PS3 and PC. I use the xtokki adapter for 360 play.

There's a new model now that does 360 out of the box so that might be a good starting point.

These suggestions sounds fantastic.. I shall try those options out too..
Thanks!!

[emphatic]

Don't bother yourselves with thinking about latency, it's for crazy people. The biggest lag you'll get from your screen unless you're playing on a CRT anyway.

[GhostGK]

Don't bother yourselves with thinking about latency, it's for crazy people. The biggest lag you'll get from your screen unless you're playing on a CRT anyway.

I figured.. But, some people are really obsessed with it.. I wondered why & got me thinking whether that's a big issue..
Same goes for those fighting game players too..

Maaaye it matters in the tournaments (very microsecond counts, or something like that), but I don't think there any differences for day to day play..

[BONKERS]

Don't bother yourselves with thinking about latency, it's for crazy people. The biggest lag you'll get from your screen unless you're playing on a CRT anyway.

Latency adds up

[viletim]

All of the PS2 converters work by polling the controller on an asynchronous 16ms loop. That is, the polling of the PS2 controller is not sync'd to the polling of the host. This adds a variable amount of lag (0-16ms) for every poll. This is also true for products based on PS2 converter hardware like the PS360+, etc.

By itself, it's not enough to notice, at least for me. Maybe it's significant if you combine it with slow video hardware.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

Don't bother yourselves with thinking about latency, it's for crazy people. The biggest lag you'll get from your screen unless you're playing on a CRT anyway.

It can matter in a game where you have to mash a button really fast. I noticed that my Hori V3 SA dropped some of the button presses if I was pressing the button rapidly.

[donluca]

One thing some people feel is important to consider when choosing a controller is PCB latency. Here's a list of some results (X360 results are down at the bottom of the page): http://www.teyah.net/sticklag/results

Thanks for this! Very interesting!

[airs]

All of the PS2 converters work by polling the controller on an asynchronous 16ms loop. That is, the polling of the PS2 controller is not sync'd to the polling of the host. This adds a variable amount of lag (0-16ms) for every poll. This is also true for products based on PS2 converter hardware like the PS360+, etc.

By itself, it's not enough to notice, at least for me. Maybe it's significant if you combine it with slow video hardware.

Interesting. How does the PS360+ manage to score 6.98ms on Teyah's X360 test if it polls every 16ms? Also, why is 16ms used - why not 1ms for example?

Edit: 6.98ms isn't an absolute measurement of the PS360+ latency, but a comparison against the control hardware (Hori RAP VX-SA) - perhaps this is the reason?

[NightSprinter]

The reason that ~16ms (actually 16.67 to be exact) is used is the fact that one frame (at least from the innumerous posts on this forum and vids from people that use upscalers that I've seen) of video takes that long. When dealing in fighting games, shooters, or platformers where response time is required, it can be possible to detect if response from an input takes longer than that frame.

[emphatic]

Don't bother yourselves with thinking about latency, it's for crazy people.

[viletim]

All of the PS2 converters work by polling the controller on an asynchronous 16ms loop. That is, the polling of the PS2 controller is not sync'd to the polling of the host. This adds a variable amount of lag (0-16ms) for every poll. This is also true for products based on PS2 converter hardware like the PS360+, etc.

By itself, it's not enough to notice, at least for me. Maybe it's significant if you combine it with slow video hardware.

Interesting. How does the PS360+ manage to score 6.98ms on Teyah's X360 test if it polls every 16ms? Also, why is 16ms used - why not 1ms for example?

Edit: 6.98ms isn't an absolute measurement of the PS360+ latency, but a comparison against the control hardware (Hori RAP VX-SA) - perhaps this is the reason?

By it's nature, Teyah's X360 tells you the average lag, not the worst case of any particular instant.

The converter inside the PS360+ sets the polling rate. The microcontroller just pretends to be a Playstation controller. The polling rate of the converter cannot be changed (it's presumably set in it's own software/hardware -- inaccessible) and it uses 16ms by default as anything faster might cause compatibility problems with real Playstation controllers.