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Title: 3DO pad to PC? Post by: Kohr-Ah Death 213 on December 23, 2007, 02:59:01 am I've just acquired a 3DO gamepad and i'm wondering if anybody knows if or how it can used on my PC?
I know this doesn't really go along with UQM (in a small way it does), i've just been searchin on google and have come up with nothing so far. Title: Re: 3DO pad to PC? Post by: Dakkus on December 23, 2007, 03:36:07 am I did a quick google and this is what I found:
You need a PC gamepad. Any cheapass thing should suffice. Probably, the cheaper, the less weird technology it's got and the easier it is for you to use. You take the 3DO controller apart and replace its innards with the PC gamepad's innards. Now just connect the 3DO controller's buttons to the same parts of its new innard where the similar-ish buttons used to be connected in the PC gamepad. As a result you have: 1 piece of useless PC gamepad shells (just throw it away) 1 piece of useless 3DO controller innards (just throw them away) 1 working 3DO controller with PC gamepad innards in it. (don't throw this one away) The theory is very easy, just solder solder tralalei. The only possible problem is that the PC gamepad's innards might not fit inside the 3DO gamepad. If that happens, then just saw off the end of the 3DO gamepad and let the innards stick out of it. It will look bad, but you will anyway be looking at the screen, not at the controller. Apparently you don't have to know a heck of how the 3DO controller's pins actually go. Just make sure you check how the PC gamepad works before cutting all the cords. Apparently a little school kid could get this kind of operation right :) This information was found from the following websites: http://www.gamesx.com/ (the left hand side menu has lots of interesting stuff in it) http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.3do/browse_thread/thread/545ffdb9c82a40d5/ff563a70d0e95f33?lnk=st&q=3do+controller#ff563a70d0e95f33 For googling technical information http://groups.google.com tends to yield far more usable results than http://www.google.com/ . Groups.google.com searches from the Newsgroups instead of the HTML Web. Hopefully this was of any help. I am not an expert in this matter myself, I just repeated what I learned in the interesting twenty minutes I spent for this :) Title: Re: 3DO pad to PC? Post by: meep-eep on December 23, 2007, 05:24:25 am The first hit on Google for usb "3do controller" gave me this (http://www.retrousb.com/index.php?productID=128). Not quite a complete solution, but very close, if you're not afraid of a bit of soldering.
The people on the FreeDO forums (http://www.freedo.org/) might know more. Title: Re: 3DO pad to PC? Post by: Kohr-Ah Death 213 on December 24, 2007, 06:42:05 am I did a quick google and this is what I found: You need a PC gamepad. Any cheapass thing should suffice. Probably, the cheaper, the less weird technology it's got and the easier it is for you to use. You take the 3DO controller apart and replace its innards with the PC gamepad's innards. Now just connect the 3DO controller's buttons to the same parts of its new innard where the similar-ish buttons used to be connected in the PC gamepad. As a result you have: 1 piece of useless PC gamepad shells (just throw it away) 1 piece of useless 3DO controller innards (just throw them away) 1 working 3DO controller with PC gamepad innards in it. (don't throw this one away) The theory is very easy, just solder solder tralalei. The only possible problem is that the PC gamepad's innards might not fit inside the 3DO gamepad. If that happens, then just saw off the end of the 3DO gamepad and let the innards stick out of it. It will look bad, but you will anyway be looking at the screen, not at the controller. Apparently you don't have to know a heck of how the 3DO controller's pins actually go. Just make sure you check how the PC gamepad works before cutting all the cords. Apparently a little school kid could get this kind of operation right :) This information was found from the following websites: http://www.gamesx.com/ (the left hand side menu has lots of interesting stuff in it) http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.3do/browse_thread/thread/545ffdb9c82a40d5/ff563a70d0e95f33?lnk=st&q=3do+controller#ff563a70d0e95f33 For googling technical information http://groups.google.com tends to yield far more usable results than http://www.google.com/ . Groups.google.com searches from the Newsgroups instead of the HTML Web. Hopefully this was of any help. I am not an expert in this matter myself, I just repeated what I learned in the interesting twenty minutes I spent for this :) Well i was trying to find a way to keep my controller intact (it holds sentimental value) i'm getting a 3DO in the next couple days, and also a copy of Star Control II from ebay if i win (i'll win even if it costs me over $50) although i have found interesting things on google about the 3do pads (pinouts and such), none really point to anybody actually making a 3do pad to pc interface. Title: Re: 3DO pad to PC? Post by: meep-eep on December 24, 2007, 02:12:58 pm although i have found interesting things on google about the 3do pads (pinouts and such), none really point to anybody actually making a 3do pad to pc interface. The page I linked to shows everything you need. All you need to do is solder a few connectors to the little circuit board that you buy there. |