VOGONS


First post, by Lylat1an

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I'm trying to play a game using a SNES controller connected to my parallel port.

I've configured the keys I want to match the controller buttons, and I have enough conventional memory to load SNESKey and the game I want to play, but the game doesn't respond to the SNES controller.

Does the parallel port need to be set to a specific mode? None of the documentation I've read mentions that setting.

Reply 1 of 11, by Asaki

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The way I have it set up, I have the SNESKEY.EXE in with my other DOS utils, which are loaded in "path". So I put a BAT file and the INI file in with the game I want to run...BAT file just loads SNESKEY.EXE, the INI should point to the game I want to run and the keybindings (ProgPath = ultima.exe, for example). Running the SNESKEY.BAT should automatically load up the game, never had any problems.

If you're still having issues, are you sure your adapter is working properly?

Reply 2 of 11, by Lylat1an

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The version I have has a BAT file called GO that loads SNESKey, but otherwise seems identical to yours.

This is my first time using the adapter, I ordered it from Raphnet.

Reply 4 of 11, by Lylat1an

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My Windows 98 drive failed, waiting on a flash card to IDE converter to arrive before reinstalling.

In the meantime; I installed the DOS version of ZSNES since it supports the SNES adapter without needing a driver, but the controller still isn't getting through.

I noticed that my motherboard supports a few different modes for the parallel port, some of which have DMA access. May I ask what settings you're using?

Reply 6 of 11, by Jinxter

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I am using Sneskey with the gamepadLPT (serdashop), it workes fine. But i hade to set the printer port to SPP in the BIOS. When it was ECP the computer froze when using the keyboard and joystick at the same time.

I got Sneskey from this site: http://arcadecontrols.com/Mirrors/www.csc.tnt … ork/default.htm

Check out my YouTube channel: Retro Erik https://www.youtube.com/c/RetroErik
My collection: https://retro.hageseter.com

Reply 7 of 11, by Jinxter

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I have tested the gampadLPT on 4 portable computers.

Tecra 500CDT:
MS-DOS 6.22
Printerport set as SPP (SPP = bi directional)
Atari 2600 joystick works fine
Spinner does nok work
Genesis does not work

IBM Thinkpad E600
Windows 98 DOS (MSDOS 7.1)
Was not able to set printerport type in BIOS.
Nothing worked.

IBM Thinkpad 390
Windows 98 DOS (MSDOS 7.1)
Set the Printerport as Bi-Directional i BIOS
Atari 2600 works fine
Genesis3 works fine. I tried with an original Sega megadrive controller (3 button)
Genesis6 works fine. I used a copy-genesis controller called retro-bit. All buttons worked.
The Genesis controllers ONLY worked when Jumpers was set for Atari mode! No power was needed.
Atari spinner does not work

IBM Thinkpad I Series 2611
MS DOS 6.22
Nothing worked.
Tried to set the printerport as Standard, bi directional and ECP

They all run with emm386 /NOEMS.
I tried with and without +5V

Check out my YouTube channel: Retro Erik https://www.youtube.com/c/RetroErik
My collection: https://retro.hageseter.com

Reply 8 of 11, by matze79

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Did you run sneskey DOS unter Windows 98 ?
Does Windows Version of sneskey work for you ?

Here is also a 9x Driver for LPT Joystick

Filename
PPJoySetup.zip
File size
1.77 MiB
Downloads
67 downloads
File license
CC-BY-4.0

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https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 9 of 11, by RegTheEvil

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Hello, Lylat1an! I also made an adapter myself very recently. I made an LPT adapter for four SNES-controllers. I had issues first with europe-SNES controllers. My japan-controllers worked fine through diode-version of the LPT-adapter so I modified the adapter to have USB-power instead of diodes. After the mod, both my japan-controllers and europe-controllers worked perfectly. I consider the ZNES DOS-version to be a very good testing utility for SNES controllers since that program has native support for them through LPT port.

I don't know why my controllers behaved this way. I didn't find this info documented anywhere but this is what I experienced myself. I just read somebody mentioning that some laptop parallel ports only suply about 3 volts. I can't remember the exact voltage mentioned. Nobody mentioned about any possibility for japan and europe controllers to behave so differently.

If you try to use an europe-controller through your LPT-adapter, then maybe that's why you are experiencing the problem. I remember Raphnet using diodes in their LPT-SNES-control-adapters.

Cheers!

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Reply 10 of 11, by Asaki

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RegTheEvil wrote on 2021-03-06, 20:05:

I don't know why my controllers behaved this way. I didn't find this info documented anywhere but this is what I experienced myself.

Yeah, that does sound familiar. I remember reading before that European SNES controllers have slightly different circuits.

Found it: https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=controls: … _con_region_fix

Reply 11 of 11, by SETBLASTER

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i did the mod many years ago

https://www.instructables.com/SNES-to-Paralle … EcPtzHTklBl-JxY
http://arcadecontrols.com/Mirrors/www.csc.tnt … MK7rhHhER9-hLl8

sneskey.ini had some type of 4dos.com wich i took from http://www.dcee.net/Files/Utils/?fbclid=IwAR1 … zFRDfC0y6awE5xs

it was pretty straightforward and super awesome to use the snes controller, its even better than any other controller you can buy for a PC.
I configured it so each press had a keyboard letter like UP = K , down = L , etc.
then when i open each game, i went to the setup of the game, and configured what keyboard keys each action had, and the rest was using the gamepad.

It emulates pressing a keyboard key.