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Replacement N64 sticks

blaze3927

blaze3927

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couldn't find the old thread,

I bought the bullet and bought a few of the replacement sticks and unfortunately the only ones I could find where the new potentiometer based ones.
Upon trying two they are worthless, pivots/dashdancing is impossible.

Has anyone had any luck with these? trying to determine if there are different suppliers of the new type, possibly i just got a bad batch?
 
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Sempiternity

Smash Lord
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I bought a few ****ty pot-based sticks off eBay or something one time and they were awful. They looked sexy and felt really nice, but the 15-20 frames of input lag made them impossible to play with. I couldn't even do a smash attack properly.

Something tells me that no matter where you get them, they're all the same.
 
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Sempiternity

Smash Lord
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blaze3927 said:
cheers for confirming that

found out from the below link that its due to the microchips they use, the actual stick is ok apparently

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VO46SWo2M

saves a bit of trouble with case work but still a pain
Click to expand...
I saw you mentioned something about clear controllers? What do you mean by that? The replacement sticks work better with solid color controllers (different circuitry?)

And ah, so it is the cheap chips. Any idea where to get the ATtiny24 chip? That sounds like something I'd be interested in if it also fixes the lag problem I assume comes from converting the photodiode signal to pots.

Like I said, the stick feels reallllllyyyy good and I'd like it to work.
 
blaze3927

blaze3927

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woops missed this

yeah there is a few different board revisons for n64 controllers but don't know much about details, those sticks were horrible on all controllers

however if you disassemble the analog stick and solder one of these in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga8rLSz64XQ&list=UUNVzH9f4y0-lGq490h7mgPA&index=5&feature=plcp

the stick works fantastically and you dont have to do case mods.

get attiny24's off ebay and a programmer, I would sell a preprogrammed board at cost but shipping is gay ouutside of OZ
 
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Elzevir

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Brampton, ON


I bought the one on the right off of Amazon. It looks and feels nice but it is very difficult to dash dance, dash->up smash and do smashes in general. You have to press A slightly after you would with a normal joystick. I do not recommend.
 
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Sempiternity

Smash Lord
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blaze3927 said:
woops missed this

yeah there is a few different board revisons for n64 controllers but don't know much about details, those sticks were horrible on all controllers

however if you disassemble the analog stick and solder one of these in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga8rLSz64XQ&list=UUNVzH9f4y0-lGq490h7mgPA&index=5&feature=plcp

the stick works fantastically and you dont have to do case mods.

get attiny24's off ebay and a programmer, I would sell a preprogrammed board at cost but shipping is gay ouutside of OZ
Click to expand...
I don't know much about programming chips; how much would a programmer set me back/where could I get one? Would it cost more than shipping costs from you? Because I'd be happy to buy a few off you if it's easier and cheaper.

but then again, I might want to make more.... hmmmm, let me know!
 
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Sempiternity

Smash Lord
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Alright, now forgive my ignorance, but what do each of those things actually do? I see a lot of adapters/converters...

What exactly goes in the controller? Just the chip itself?


Also, looking around for USBasp programmers, I seem to find one rather ubiquitous type that's based off of Fischl's design, like this one, but it seems not to support ATtiny24 microcontrollers. I take it I should avoid those in favor of something like this? Just looking for something a little cheaper than $10, but I suppose it's not that big of a deal.
 
blaze3927

blaze3927

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it really depends on how you want to do it.

all you really need is the usbasp programmer (the one you linked should work fine) the micro chip and a few wires/components, all that needs to go in the controller is the microchip and its components (capacitor/resistor etc)

The thing about microchips is that on top of the programmer, you need to circuit the microchip with a few components to make it programmable, Or to make it easier you could buy this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ATtiny24A...item3cc5878412

however that is only for the smaller versions of the attiny24
see: for small:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4PCS-ATtiny...ltDomain_0&hash=item3a73536e2e#ht_2049wt_1163

see: for big:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATTINY24-20...upplies_ET&hash=item1e622f902b#ht_1074wt_1163

and that is where that other adapter pcb comes in, to make soldering the smaller chips easier

that all may seem a bit silly but in the long run the smaller chips are cheaper and in my experience having the premade programmer boards saves a bit of hassle, however lots of people get away building their own programmer circuits every time,

http://www.mediafire.com/file/q4232gx1w2q2w0s/GC_PSX_stick_in_N64_controller_v1.2.zip

Micro"s guide covers the schematics/very extensive guide however i personally reccomend not using the parallel port programmers as i have bought three that broke very quickly.
 
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Sempiternity

Smash Lord
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Your first link is dead.

The guide is very good. So what he's doing is making his own circuit every time (at least that's what the guide implies)?

So could I just connect a few 1.5V AA batteries in series for the power supply?


Again, sorry if I'm missing things, but what's the difference between the parallel port programmer and the USBasp? i.e. what extra components will I need or not need, depending on the route I take?

I saw an ISP Socket in the guide. Is that something included with the programmer?

Also, the wire they use seems to be called "programmer's ribbon cable". Is that something I should go to the store to pick up? Is there any particular wire or cable that you recommend for the actual mod job? The only reason I ask is because I saw those little red cover doodads at the ends of wires, and I don't recall ever using something like that and if it's included with the wire I purchase, or if I have to get those separately.
 
blaze3927

blaze3927

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fixed first link

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ATtiny24...ltDomain_0&hash=item3a5d1983e9#ht_2246wt_1163

as for the power supply
you can usb aaa batteries etc however if you get the USBASP it powers itself so it is not necessary.
Thats the only difference as far as parts go

an ISP socket would need to be purchased if you wanted to go down the build the programmer every time road,

as for wire i use this stuff for jobs like this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1M-1-met...t_Equipment&hash=item4601708bb6#ht_762wt_1163
 
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Elzevir

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I am thinking about trying this. One problem I have though is that the micro controller on the replacement stick has 9 "legs" on each side whereas the ATtiny24 has 7. How will you get it to fit on the board?
 
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Elzevir

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I'd be interested in this too! Probably gonna try my hand at a few mods before the summer's up and am going to use both GC sticks and those ****ty replacement sticks I found online.
 
blaze3927

blaze3927

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honestly micro"s guide has most/all of the info you need



above pic

A: VCC or GND (try one way then swap if the axis' are inverted)
B: X axis
C: VCC or GND
D: Y axis
 
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Sempiternity

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Oh, looks like they got more back in stock! They were out for the longest time during my search a while back.

Are they really brand new? Last I heard they were salvaged from new-ish controllers and refurbished (whatever the hell that means), but they weren't new.

And of course I'm weary of going down this road because I'll just wear it out and need to get a new one :( Looks like GC/modding those ****sticks are the best and most renewable option!
 
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tc29

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Yeah they seem to be brand new, but the sticks do wear out over time (I bought a pair in September and they lasted until mid-May). They're definitely the smoothest sticks I've ever used on an N64.
 
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Elzevir

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I think the sticks that came in the clear controllers were made to have less friction. I have a stick and base from one and it is really smooth, so I put vaseline in the base to keep it from grinding down. The only thing that wears is the black plastic gears. They took 3 years to wear down for me and it was still in really good condition.

Lucky for me I just found a mint controller at a pawn shop for $10 so I swapped the new black gear pieces in and I have a legitimately mint condition stick. Although I know the stick would last me for another 3 years I'm not satisfied unless I know I have a consistently renewable option.
 
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Elzevir

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It was only mint in terms of joystick looseness. It was a very tight stick but the only problem is I could hear and feel the friction when I moved it. So what I did was take the stick and base from my smooth controller, and the 2 black gears from the new one and create a super tight and friction free joystick.

If I left it how it was I would have a decent condition smooth stick and a mint stick that would grind down relatively fast (~1 year).
 
Timotheus

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Smash Lord
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Those definitely look new/different from the usual suspects. The guy even mentions that they're not the same as those **** rip-offs, so it looks promising. He seems rather down-to-earth and not some shady Chinese seller. Even provides a lot of nice pictures, and considering the cheap sticks are sold with pictures of original sticks, this a great indicator.

Doesn't appear to be the same stick as in those cheap controllers, either.

The one thing we don't know (maybe it's worth asking? Doubt he knows though) is if they're potentiometers or photodiodes (like the original sticks). Photodiodes are expensive so I'd bet that's not it, but potentiometers require a chip to translate the signal coming from the original controller (photodiode to pots).

The crummy GC sticks are actually quite nice, but the shoddy chip is their downfall. There are videos in this thread that show a guy using a proper chip and getting them to function well.

So the real question here is whether the chip is good and efficient at translating the signal, i.e. all movements are registered and there is no lag.


Verdict: I say go for it! Somebody's gotta test 'em out, and I've already blown enough money on other cheap imitations to see if they work.... :/
 
Battlecow

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I think it's hilarious that the guys selling the knockoff 64 controllers have 99.5% positive feedback. Wow.
 
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Not entirely sure what you mean by that, but every big-name eBay company has at least 99% feedback. It's because of all the bots and fake high reviews that the actual REAL low customer reviews barely make a tenth of a percent of dent in the overall rating.

I know some people who refuse to buy from anybody with less than a 100% feedback rating. You'll definitely want to be weary of anybody less than 99.5%, and highly skeptical of sub-99% sellers.
 
Battlecow

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That's disappointing. I was like, wow, only one in 200 people disapproved of those controllers? I've played with those before, and they literally do **** like register up every time you press right. You couldn't play brawl on those things.
 
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Elzevir

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A huge box (500+) of LodgeNet N64 hotel controllers just came into my work today to be destroyed. I managed to sneak about 20 joysticks out, they are all extremely good condition too.

And I just wasted $15 on a single one from rock30games :(
 
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Elzevir

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There are metal detectors on the way out so I took out the springs, the white spring cover and the computer component. I have the sticks, the black gears and the bases.

I'm just reading that there was a revised lodgenet controller that had a gamecube style stick on it. FML why couldn't we have gotten those.
 
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