How to mod a PSX/PS2 controller to your parallel port

06-28-2005

Have you ever been agrivated playing your emulated games without an authentic controller? Well, you wont be anymore after you have completed this tutorial! This tutorial will teach you how to mod your PSX/PS2 controller to your parallel port.

WARNING:
This will make your controller unusable on your playstation. If you would like to use your controller with your playstation, you may substitute the controller with a controller extension cord and use the female end of it. *'s indicate the alternative process.

Materials needed:
-1 PSX/PS2 controller (*PSX/PS2 extension cord*)
-1 Male DB25 connector.....RadioShack: #276-1447
-1 DB25 connector hood....RadioShack: #276-1549
-5 Diodes ......................RadioShack: #276-1620
-1 Roll of Electrical Tape

Utensils needed:
-Solder Iron
-Solder
-Wire Cutter/Stripper
-Screw Driver

Software needed:
-Direct Pad Pro (Windows 95, 98, 2000)
-NTpad XP v2.01 (Windows 2000, XP)

The first thing for you to do is to solder your diodes in place. A diode has two sides, anode

cathode. Cut down the anode side of five diodes to about an inch. Solder the anode side of the diodes you just cut to DB25 pins 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. On the cathode side, you are going to need to twist all diode wires together. Then, cut the twisted wires to about an inch, enough length to solder.

Now you need to prepare your controller cord for soldering. Use your wire cutter to cut off the male plug of your controller. Strip the wire down a few inches. Now it's ready to be soldered. (*Cut off the male end of the extension cord and strip it down a few inches. Make sure you leave the female end intact.*)

Below is a pinout of a Playstation controller. If you have a different brand of controller, other than sony, the color coding may be different. You will notice that three wires are not used. This is because they serve no purpose in modding the controller. Solder the controller's wires to the correct DB25 pins.

Code:

Playstation Pin-out
  +-----------------------------+
  | 1  2  3 | 4  5  6 | 7  8  9 |       
   \________|_________|________/

1 (brown).....................DB25 10
2 (Orange)....................DB25 2
4 (Black).....................DB25 18-25
5 (Red).......................DB25 Diodes (5-9)
6 (Yellow)....................DB25 3
7 (Blue)......................DB25 4

After you are finished soldering the wires, give them time to cool and form a tight bond. Once cooled, CAREFULLY place the DB25 male connector, along with the wires, into the DB25 hood. Screw the hood shut. If any wires are exposed outside the hood, wrap them with a few layers of electrical tape.

You finished the hardware. Good for you! Now all thats left is the software. Install the programs above, plug in your controller and configure it.

Now your done, Congratulations! You can use this controller for emulators, games, anything.

06-28-2005

You mean parallel port. You can't hook a PlayStation controller up to a serial port without more circuitry.

06-28-2005

Yeah he just fudged the title, he said parallel in the rest of it.

06-29-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by skegger

You mean parallel port. You can't hook a PlayStation controller up to a serial port without more circuitry.

Yeah, sorry about that. My first attempt was to use a serial port, but I didn't feel like making more circuitry for it.

06-30-2005

I don't have a parallel port on my computer, but Radioshack sells a converter that goes from parallel port to serial port, would that work?

06-30-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadow9987

I don't have a parallel port on my computer, but Radioshack sells a converter that goes from parallel port to serial port, would that work?

What? You mean it converts your serial port to a parallel port? if so, yes, I think it would work.

06-30-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armored_Hummer

What? You mean it converts your serial port to a parallel port? if so, yes, I think it would work.

I'll go stop by and have a look.

07-08-2005

Nice tutorial there Kevin. How much would the whole thing cost? Because I believe you can by those PS2 controller ports to USB port crossovers. I'm just wondering because if the crossover is cheaper it'd be better to buy that.

07-11-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arsenic

Nice tutorial there Kevin. How much would the whole thing cost? Because I believe you can by those PS2 controller ports to USB port crossovers. I'm just wondering because if the crossover is cheaper it'd be better to buy that.

DB25 Connector..........................................$1.89
DB25 Hood.................................................$1.79
Pack/50 Silicon Switching Diodes....................$2.59

Total........................................................$6.27

Then again, you don't need the 50 pack of diodes, but you get a damn good deal with that.

08-05-2005

thought i would add this... found the forums through google... and am using a non sony controller in my project

Madcatz Dual Force Controller for Playstation
Item - 8026

Old ??? controller but the pinout is different... after dissecting the actual port i came up with this

1 purple
2 brown
3 gray
4 orange
5 yellow
6 green
7 blue
8 n/a
9 red

understandably you still probably will not use the three not needed wires but added for completeness.
also seems like there is a shielded cable in the mix, doesnt terminate to a pin, probably could solder this one to the connector itself? or just clip it...

08-24-2005

Does this work only with emulated games, or could I set it up to play, say, BF2 with a PS2 controller?

09-04-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanabedriver

Does this work only with emulated games, or could I set it up to play, say, BF2 with a PS2 controller?

this should work with any game.. essentially the computer will recognize the controller as a gamepad... just like one you would buy specifically for the pc.

keep in mind that there are a lot of ps pad clones made for the pc.. you should be able to pick up one at walmart or best buy or something. you could also purchase an adapter that converts the ps port to usb ... they make them for every controller to date i believe.

good luck and happy gaming.

07-23-2006

I just finished making one of these useing a 6' extension cable works great. thanks for the guide.

12-27-2006

ive some advice... I made this whole thing, screwed with it for a few hours and still couldn't get it to work. I made it exactly as the schematic says, but i could get no action out of the controller more than the little red light kind of blinking when i pushed the analog button. I trusted the guide, assuming that since other people had made the converter successfully i would be able to as well.

The problem i was up against was that there was no ack line in this schematic. i hunted out another on the interwebs (it's actually a c++ source file but it has the schematic in there, http://www.koders.com/c/fidF528CD4CB...1C447D913.aspx) and it had this magic new line included... "was that on the first site?" "i don't think so man..." "hm. well... give it a go then." soldered on the new line, magically it worked just as expected. also... the drivers mentioned here are not the greatest and didn't work properly, when they did at all for me. I got PSXPad, which worked perfectly first time, which by the way there is an installation guide at cbud.raphnet.net/snes/psxpad/xp/index_en.html for.

This is just my experiences, and no doubt i screwed something up, i'm just posting this to warn any other people making this, as it is google hit no. 1 for what i searched for. Anyway, i hope this helps someone so they don't have to screw around as much as i did and suffer ridicule from their freinds along the lines of quoting the incredibly cheap prices of usb adapters on ebay... Oops, rambling.

So, that's my story. Good luck and may god be with you. You're gonna need help from high up to make this thing work.

PS it's well worth the hours of toiling, it's just magic playing a N64 game on PC with a PSX controller.

02-13-2007

I put one of these parrallel PSX controllers together and it works except it's response time is VERY slow. I know that the parrallel port it's self has a fairly small amount of data that can be transferred per second but the amount transferred from the control should be way under this limit, right? Anyway, I was wondering what I could do to fix this weather it be software or hardware (considering i salvaged the diodes.)

02-13-2007

try different drivers. that fixed the problem for me. if that doesn't help then screw around with the parallel port settings.

05-02-2007

i built this and beeped everything out with my meter. all the wires from the controller are connected to the correct pins on the db25 connector. when i use the ntpad configuration tool in the control panel everything is messed up. none of the buttons respond and the analoge sticks dont work.

06-28-2005	#1 (permalink)
Captain_Smiley	Have you ever been agrivated playing your emulated games without an authentic controller? Well, you wont be anymore after you have completed this tutorial! This tutorial will teach you how to mod your PSX/PS2 controller to your parallel port. WARNING: This will make your controller unusable on your playstation. If you would like to use your controller with your playstation, you may substitute the controller with a controller extension cord and use the female end of it. 's indicate the alternative process. Materials needed:* -1 PSX/PS2 controller (PSX/PS2 extension cord) -1 Male DB25 connector.....RadioShack: #276-1447 -1 DB25 connector hood....RadioShack: #276-1549 -5 Diodes ......................RadioShack: #276-1620 -1 Roll of Electrical Tape Utensils needed: -Solder Iron -Solder -Wire Cutter/Stripper -Screw Driver Software needed: -Direct Pad Pro (Windows 95, 98, 2000) -NTpad XP v2.01 (Windows 2000, XP) The first thing for you to do is to solder your diodes in place. A diode has two sides, anodecathode. Cut down the anode side of five diodes to about an inch. Solder the anode side of the diodes you just cut to DB25 pins 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. On the cathode side, you are going to need to twist all diode wires together. Then, cut the twisted wires to about an inch, enough length to solder. Now you need to prepare your controller cord for soldering. Use your wire cutter to cut off the male plug of your controller. Strip the wire down a few inches. Now it's ready to be soldered. (Cut off the male end of the extension cord and strip it down a few inches. Make sure you leave the female end intact.) Below is a pinout of a Playstation controller. If you have a different brand of controller, other than sony, the color coding may be different. You will notice that three wires are not used. This is because they serve no purpose in modding the controller. Solder the controller's wires to the correct DB25 pins. Code: Playstation Pin-out +-----------------------------+ \| 1 2 3 \| 4 5 6 \| 7 8 9 \| \________\|_________\|________/ 1 (brown).....................DB25 10 2 (Orange)....................DB25 2 4 (Black).....................DB25 18-25 5 (Red).......................DB25 Diodes (5-9) 6 (Yellow)....................DB25 3 7 (Blue)......................DB25 4 After you are finished soldering the wires, give them time to cool and form a tight bond. Once cooled, CAREFULLY place the DB25 male connector, along with the wires, into the DB25 hood. Screw the hood shut. If any wires are exposed outside the hood, wrap them with a few layers of electrical tape. You finished the hardware. Good for you! Now all thats left is the software. Install the programs above, plug in your controller and configure it. Now your done, Congratulations! You can use this controller for emulators, games, anything. Last edited by Captain_Smiley : 06-28-2005 at 01:47 PM.

06-28-2005	#2 (permalink)
skegger	You mean parallel port. You can't hook a PlayStation controller up to a serial port without more circuitry.

06-28-2005	#3 (permalink)
Volkov	Yeah he just fudged the title, he said parallel in the rest of it.

06-30-2005	#5 (permalink)
Lambo	I don't have a parallel port on my computer, but Radioshack sells a converter that goes from parallel port to serial port, would that work?

07-08-2005	#8 (permalink)
Arsenic	Nice tutorial there Kevin. How much would the whole thing cost? Because I believe you can by those PS2 controller ports to USB port crossovers. I'm just wondering because if the crossover is cheaper it'd be better to buy that.

08-05-2005	#10 (permalink)
tremere	thought i would add this... found the forums through google... and am using a non sony controller in my project Madcatz Dual Force Controller for Playstation Item - 8026 Old ??? controller but the pinout is different... after dissecting the actual port i came up with this 1 purple 2 brown 3 gray 4 orange 5 yellow 6 green 7 blue 8 n/a 9 red understandably you still probably will not use the three not needed wires but added for completeness. also seems like there is a shielded cable in the mix, doesnt terminate to a pin, probably could solder this one to the connector itself? or just clip it...

08-24-2005	#11 (permalink)
wanabedriver	Does this work only with emulated games, or could I set it up to play, say, BF2 with a PS2 controller?

07-23-2006	#13 (permalink)
qwemnb	I just finished making one of these useing a 6' extension cable works great. thanks for the guide.

12-27-2006	#14 (permalink)
MasterCJ	ive some advice... I made this whole thing, screwed with it for a few hours and still couldn't get it to work. I made it exactly as the schematic says, but i could get no action out of the controller more than the little red light kind of blinking when i pushed the analog button. I trusted the guide, assuming that since other people had made the converter successfully i would be able to as well. The problem i was up against was that there was no ack line in this schematic. i hunted out another on the interwebs (it's actually a c++ source file but it has the schematic in there, http://www.koders.com/c/fidF528CD4CB...1C447D913.aspx) and it had this magic new line included... "was that on the first site?" "i don't think so man..." "hm. well... give it a go then." soldered on the new line, magically it worked just as expected. also... the drivers mentioned here are not the greatest and didn't work properly, when they did at all for me. I got PSXPad, which worked perfectly first time, which by the way there is an installation guide at cbud.raphnet.net/snes/psxpad/xp/index_en.html for. This is just my experiences, and no doubt i screwed something up, i'm just posting this to warn any other people making this, as it is google hit no. 1 for what i searched for. Anyway, i hope this helps someone so they don't have to screw around as much as i did and suffer ridicule from their freinds along the lines of quoting the incredibly cheap prices of usb adapters on ebay... Oops, rambling. So, that's my story. Good luck and may god be with you. You're gonna need help from high up to make this thing work. PS it's well worth the hours of toiling, it's just magic playing a N64 game on PC with a PSX controller.

02-13-2007	#15 (permalink)
Possoms	I put one of these parrallel PSX controllers together and it works except it's response time is VERY slow. I know that the parrallel port it's self has a fairly small amount of data that can be transferred per second but the amount transferred from the control should be way under this limit, right? Anyway, I was wondering what I could do to fix this weather it be software or hardware (considering i salvaged the diodes.)

02-13-2007	#16 (permalink)
MasterCJ	try different drivers. that fixed the problem for me. if that doesn't help then screw around with the parallel port settings.

05-02-2007	#17 (permalink)
dragonmoonxx	i built this and beeped everything out with my meter. all the wires from the controller are connected to the correct pins on the db25 connector. when i use the ntpad configuration tool in the control panel everything is messed up. none of the buttons respond and the analoge sticks dont work.