Slow moving arcade stick, or shmup?

[nierexy]

Hi guys, bear with me on this; I'll try and make it as coherent as possible, haha!
I've been trying to get into the SHMUP gaming scene for a while now and was advised by a friend to buy an arcade stick.
Me being as awkward as I am I set out to build one.
Me also being me I bought a cheap-ass one to tide me over while various parts become available (PCB is still outta stock).

The one I bought was:

(I know it's not cheap there but work had just the stick in for £25 lol)

Now when I got home I started playing various shmups with it (ikaruga, ESPGaluda) the up, down, left and right directions move REALLY slow but the diagonal directions move at full speed.

I'm sure it's not input lag as the ship moves and fires immediately so being wireless isn't the problem.
All I've managed to limit it down to is - damaged switches (unlikely as they're digital - on or off), some sticks only working on shmups (also weird) or the game itself not being optimised for arcade sticks (which is crazy as they're arcade ports?)

Sorry if this is the wrong board to ask it just you guys seem pretty knowledgeable about tech and niche arcade games haha (I could repost this in general gaming if that works better)

Thanks for any light you can shed on this problem.
Nierexy

[vlame]

maybe it has to do with the gate, i think tekken sticks are 4 ways. you need to open it up to see what i mean.

[nierexy]

maybe it has to do with the gate, i think tekken sticks are 4 ways. you need to open it up to see what i mean.

Well that's what I thought, that the square gate might restrict the movement of the switch but it's digital, not analogue so it either works or it doesn't ? Unlike a pad where you can tilt the stick slightly and and move slower - from what I'm told arcade sticks don't have that function?

[CRTGAMER]

maybe it has to do with the gate, i think tekken sticks are 4 ways. you need to open it up to see what i mean.

Well that's what I thought, that the square gate might restrict the movement of the switch but it's digital, not analogue so it either works or it doesn't ? Unlike a pad where you can tilt the stick slightly and and move slower - from what I'm told arcade sticks don't have that function?

Not sure what your Tekken Stick insides are, I am guessing they are digital switches as in most Arcade Sticks. Regular game controller sticks are analog which allows for variable reading for movement slow to fast. But I think most of the games you mentioned do not have a variable read for controlling movement. Its either move or don't move with no control of how fast that SHMUP ship moves around.

Does the Tekken Stick have a programable button or a "Slow" function? Maybe the stick needs to be reset to clear the memory.

[vlame]

no slow...

[nierexy]

maybe it has to do with the gate, i think tekken sticks are 4 ways. you need to open it up to see what i mean.

Well that's what I thought, that the square gate might restrict the movement of the switch but it's digital, not analogue so it either works or it doesn't ? Unlike a pad where you can tilt the stick slightly and and move slower - from what I'm told arcade sticks don't have that function?

Not sure what your Tekken Stick insides are, I am guessing they are digital switches as in most Arcade Sticks. Regular game controller sticks are analog which allows for variable reading for movement slow to fast. But I think most of the games you mentioned do not have a variable read for controlling movement. Its either move or don't move with no control of how fast that SHMUP ship moves around.

Does the Tekken Stick have a programable button or a "Slow" function? Maybe the stick needs to be reset to clear the memory.

Yeah it was the one that vlame posted above - and I can hear the clicking noise of the switches so it's starting to sound like something in the game ... which is both worrying and annoying lol as they're in japanese (so there's nothing in the manual I can read) and I've never heard anyone have this problem before >.>

[CRTGAMER]

Not sure what your Tekken Stick insides are, I am guessing they are digital switches as in most Arcade Sticks. Regular game controller sticks are analog which allows for variable reading for movement slow to fast. But I think most of the games you mentioned do not have a variable read for controlling movement. Its either move or don't move with no control of how fast that SHMUP ship moves around.

Does the Tekken Stick have a programable button or a "Slow" function? Maybe the stick needs to be reset to clear the memory.

Yeah it was the one that vlame posted above - and I can hear the clicking noise of the switches so it's starting to sound like something in the game ... which is both worrying and annoying lol as they're in japanese (so there's nothing in the manual I can read) and I've never heard anyone have this problem before >.>

I'm suspecting the stick is the problem. Maybe defective in sending a wrong "pot" reading signal when a limit switch is closed.

Try the game with a regular analog controller to confirm. Also try a game that can only be played with the gamepad portion of the controller and then try with the Tekken stick for a comparison.

Does the stick only work on "gamepad" controlled games or does it also provide limited function to analog stick controlled games?

[Lokkenjawnz]

I can tell you right now that it's not the stick: like you said, digital sticks are either on or off, there is no in between.

So I'm assuming it's the game itself. I'd recommend trying it on another game and seeing what happens. Ideally, you could try playing another shmup, perhaps on your computer on MAME, to rule out any issues, though I'm not sure if you can hook up that particular stick to a computer or not.

If it is the game itself, then it's probably a setting issue. I would assume that most of these repackaged shmups for modern systems have modified support for analog sticks to appease newer people who wouldn't understand why they shouldn't use analog sticks for shmups.

One thing that occurs to me though, is that perhaps what you mean by slow isn't what is really happening. I assume that stick you're using has a Sanwa stick in it, which has a pretty long throw, as it's mainly built for fighting games. Most people who play shmups prefer a much shorter throw, usually on Seimitsu sticks. Now that I think about it, I bet that is the problem, as I had a similar issue when I first got my HRAP3. I still haven't gotten around to switching it to a proper Seimitsu stick, but I've grown somewhat accustomed to the Sanwa throw, and I'm able to do OK in shmups. I'd look into that, maybe stop by an arcade and see which stick you like best. Also, check out shmups.com, and the forum there, as they have a massive amount of information on these things.

[vlame]

he is right, you might need an additional spring and a 4 way gate to make non-fighters play better.

http://shoryuken.com/forum/threads/hori ... st-3697266

http://shoryuken.com/forum/threads/hori ... ick.85264/

these should help, i also saw your thread on SRK.