Gruso, The Blog Gruso, The Blog Syndication Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:23:11 +0000 hando@gp32x.com (GP32X.com - GP32 GP2X Pandora The Wiz - open source entertainment) IP.Blog 60 Shoulder Complaints, Serious Business.
This minor annoyance got the better of me recently, when I bought CellFactor:PW from XBLA. It's a first person arena shooter in which you're armed with one weapon and three psychic powers. These functions are mapped to the triggers and shoulder buttons (aka bumpers), and if you don't have a finger on each of these four buttons at all times, you don't really have a chance. My options were to change my grip to suit the controls, or change the controls to suit my grip.

I'm stubborn, I have a Dremel, decision made.

First I needed some buttons. A bit of digging around Benheck and the like told me that tact switches were the way to go. They're basically microswitches, so they're clicky, not the soft membrane type. I found this 10 pack of 12mm switches with button caps on eBay.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/01buttons.jpg

After extensive 3D modelling and wind tunnel testing, I decided where I wanted my new "shoulder buttons" to live (note pen marks). This is where the tips of my middle fingers sit during play. Somehow though, I knew something would thwart me in the first steps. And oh did it... notice the rumble motor sitting exactly where I don't want it to? Great.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/02marks.jpg

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/03position.jpg

Then a light came on. Fixing these buttons inside so that they hold up to hours of gaming abuse is going to be a fiddly task. But in this position, I can just jam them under the motors where they'll never move. I marked out the internals, and got busy with drill & Dremel. Rather than locating the holes on my original pen marks, I had to center them between the rails. And there happens to be a handy moulding mark on each side (see the faint circle in between the rails?) so I know the button positions will be symmetrical. Thanks Microsoft, very sporting of you.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/04internalmarks.jpg

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/05firsthack.jpg

That sorted, it was time to prep the electrical side of things. My idea was to find connection points at the existing bumpers, so that I could parallel the new buttons and leave the original ones functioning too. Sometimes things just go right. Note the black microswitches mounted vertically on the PCB - these are the bumpers. And the pair of silver contacts on top of each one are spares! How good.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/06connectionpoint.jpg

You don't need to see my soldering skills in close-up, so let's skip that part and show everything connected. The buttons are currently held in place by some Loctite 406. It runs like water, and bonds instantly. It runs and bonds so well in fact, that I completely glued up the mechanisms in the first pair of buttons I installed. Criminy! This is take two, with less glue.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/07connected.jpg

The button caps themselves had to be hacked brutally as well, so they could reach the mechanism through the controller shell and still have room to move. I'm not an artist, ok?

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/08trimmedbuttons.jpg

With everything connected and jimmied back into place, it was reassembly time. But it didn't quite fit together. Didn't see that coming, no sir.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/09ruhroh.jpg

This is where it starts to get ugly. The upper half of the controller shell had to be Dremel'd out to allow the rumble motors to sit higher. There are two things to be thankful for here. One, there is plenty of plastic to work with, so it's just a matter of grinding it down. Two, the horrendous aftermath will forever be out of sight.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/10moregrinding.jpg

It all went back together nicely without too much pain. It's shown here complete, but without screws.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/11doneminusscrews.jpg

The verdict? A huge success. They're in just the right position, they're fixed in place solidly to say the least, and they have a very satisfying click. It does take some minor brain re-training to use the right fingers at the right time, but that takes all of a few minutes to nail. Now I've got instant-twitch access to game functions that I barely used before.

What about the game that inspired it all then, CellFactor:PW? Has this mod really helped? I don't know. I've been too busy playing BF:1943.]]> Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:52:00 +0000 Roland, Sweet Roland. Where Were You When I Needed You Most?
Spirits are high at camp Gruso, following the arrival of a legendary piece of gaming and synthesizer history: a Roland MT-32. If you're familiar with the MT-32, then you're already nodding knowingly. If not, I'll bring you up to speed with some edited excerpts from Wikipedia.

Quote

The Roland MT-32 Multi-Timbre Sound Module is a MIDI synthesizer module first released in 1987 by Roland Corporation. Along with its compatible modules, it established an early de-facto standard in computer music.

Despite its original purpose as a companion to other professional MIDI equipment, the MT-32 became a de-facto standard for PC computer game publishers. Sierra On-Line, a leading PC game publisher of the time, took an interest in the sound-design of its PC games. Sierra secured a distribution deal to sell the MT-32 in the US, and invested heavily in giving its game titles (at the time) state-of-the-art sound by hiring professional composers to write in-game music. King's Quest IV, released in 1988, was the first Sierra title with a complete musical soundtrack scored on the MT-32.

Although the MT-32's high price prevented it from dominating the end-user market of gamers, other PC publishers quickly followed Sierra's lead, expanding the role of music in their own game titles. The MT-32 remained the gold-standard for musical composition well into the early 1990s, when the game-industry began to shift toward the General MIDI label.

See also: List of MT-32-compatible computer games


Back in the day, when I was playing Sierra adventure games like Space Quest, Police Quest and Kings Quest on an old IBM XT clone, I had no idea this thing existed. Sure, it was listed in the sound options during setup, but along with the Sound Blaster and Ad Lib selections it was just some mystery thing that had nothing to do with me. All I had was the internal speaker. That horrendous single channel squawker was my aural gateway to gaming immersion, and I knew no better.

Here's what Space Quest 3 sounded like when I played it: http://www.defacto2....SQ3-Speaker.mp3

And here's what it sounds like through an MT-32: http://www.yvan256.n...le_-_LAPC-1.mp3

Ignorance truly was bliss. Still, I wouldn't swap those old days of bleepy soundtracks for anything. One game that managed to make something out of nothing was Xenon 2. Through some very clever trickery they made a single channel bleep sound like multi-channel audio, and to this day the PC speaker version of that theme remains my favourite one.

Back to the present day, and I was very happy to discover that DOSBox has full support for the Roland MT-32 - even via a USB MIDI adapter, in Windows 7. I'm a sucker for the painful ways of old though, and am currently building an actual DOS box from an old PIII. It's a toss up between Win95 and FreeDOS for the OS... I think Grim Fandango will probably make that decision for me.

Just a final note, if you own a GP2X you must check out Hooka's port of FreeSCI for your Sierra fix. It's superb. You can also play Sierra classics in your browser at sarien.net.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc333/Gruso/insertbuckazoid.jpg]]> Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:56:00 +0000 <![CDATA[This Is That Thing I've Been Telling You About]]>
Let's step back a few weeks. Wanting to breathe some new life into my C64, and with an Atari ST looking for playmates, I bought myself a MSSIAH cartridge. In a nutshell, the MSSIAH is a naughty C64 cartridge loaded with a bunch of synth and sequencing apps that tap into the 64's legendary audio chip, the SID. And it's got a MIDI in port too, giving you full control of the SID via an external sequencer. (In my case this will be the Atari, running C-Lab Creator. Like Fatboy Slim, but less coke and supermodels.)

MSSIAH is a fantastic piece of kit, but there are a few catches. If you want to tweak all those on screen knobs, you have to peck your way around the keyboard to highlight a control, then operate it with the joystick. Doable, but... nah. There are mouse options, but they're expensive. Lastly and bestly, you can connect up to four potentiometers direct to the joystick ports. Many MSSIAH disciples go out and buy all the components, surface mount the pots on their C64, and wire them internally. But I thought a bunch of old Pong paddles would be more fun.

Enough words? I think so. On with the final pics.










]]> Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:41:00 +0000 The Four Paddles Of The Apocalypse

"And he did find a package on the doorstep, and the inscription said UPS. And he broke the seal, and lo, he beheld four retro paddle controllers, and his name that sat on them was Fuckyeah. And he did look skyward and proclaim, I can't wait to dismantle dem bitches." (Modulation 3:64)


]]> Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:32:00 +0000 <![CDATA[World's Biggest Sd Reader]]>

Look at the size of that thing! It's bloody ridiculous!

This is, of course, just the first stage. The uIEC installation is incidental to the actual job, which involves a series of big black knobs (being shipped to me as we speak) and some little red buttons. But it's a start. And it couldn't have happened without the brave C64 cassette player that gave up its own worthless existence to provide me with a power cable, and a dashing gold panel label. Thanks, Serial No.870147.]]> Thu, 28 May 2009 12:38:00 +0000 Commodore 64 Synth, A Beginning.

It's more of a custom peripheral thing actually, but it still involves dismantling several innocent pieces of classic hardware. Their families have been notified. So let's start with what we've got:
  • Commodore C64-C with 8580 SID (rev unknown) and missing "4" key
  • MSSIAH synth/MIDI cart, just out of sight (back right)
  • uIEC/SD interface, hanging naked in the middle
  • 7" LCD TV, picked up for a steal on the 'bay. So long CRT!
  • On the left, an empty box. It used to be a Scitec Asynchronous Line Driver. Fascinating!




The aforementioned empty box will be the center of the action. It's probably not the perfect box for the job, but who could turn down consistent styling like that? The things you find in the shed!

Stay tuned.]]> Wed, 27 May 2009 12:09:00 +0000