VC Control Stick Mapping

[whyieyesya]

Quick question, will there be anyway to put the code onto an existing adapter that I own without having to buy a new one or no? Just wondering, if I need to buy another adapter it's fine with me but it'd be nice to not have to buy another one.

This should be possible. I use the same schematics for the adapter (on purpose). You would have to cut off the shrink wrap from your Raphnet adapter and temporarily solder a programmer to your pcb. You can get a programmer for 3 bucks from Ebay. If you think you are capable of doing this procedure, please let me know, because it is convenient to get some feedback.

[Pheenoh]

This should be possible. I use the same schematics for the adapter (on purpose). You would have to cut off the shrink wrap from your Raphnet adapter and temporarily solder a programmer to your pcb. You can get a programmer for 3 bucks from Ebay. If you think you are capable of doing this procedure, please let me know, because it is convenient to get some feedback.

I can do this, provided you supply the code.

[whyieyesya]

I can do this, provided you supply the code.

I will only supply the binaries for now. I haven't really decided if I am going to release the source code, because I am afraid people will start modding it, to make ess even easier. I don't know how the community would feel about mods like this, so I will wait with releasing the source code a bit. It also shouldn't really be a problem if I don't release the source code when people agree the adapter does its job well.

Do you already have the equipment to program it? You need an isp programmer for this. If you need help with any of this, please let me know. I can't guarantee that my code will work with Raphnet's pcb, but I am 99% sure it will, because his code also worked on my own pcb.

I'll upload the binaries when I am on my laptop. It would be really nice to get some feedback from a more experienced Zelda player. 

[ING-X]

I would also like to have the binaries. I already have an adapter so if it's relatively easy to insert the binaries into my own adapter then I'd like to do that so I can play VC with good controls ASAP.

[Pheenoh]

I will have to order the programmer first, but I have the rest of the materials (besides the actual binaries, of course).

[ahou]

I will only supply the binaries for now. I haven't really decided if I am going to release the source code, because I am afraid people will start modding it, to make ess even easier. I don't know how the community would feel about mods like this, so I will wait with releasing the source code a bit. It also shouldn't really be a problem if I don't release the source code when people agree the adapter does its job well.

Do you already have the equipment to program it? You need an isp programmer for this. If you need help with any of this, please let me know. I can't guarantee that my code will work with Raphnet's pcb, but I am 99% sure it will, because his code also worked on my own pcb.

I'll upload the binaries when I am on my laptop. It would be really nice to get some feedback from a more experienced Zelda player. 

If people really want to cheat they will. Hiding your source is just going to make it a tiny bit harder, and make it far less likely anyone will consider the possibility when someone just rewrites it their self.

[whyieyesya]

Here are the binaries. These should work with the Raphnet adapter that has an ATmega8 microcontroller. If any of you guys have an ATmega88 version, then I'll try to port the code asap.

I'll post some explanation and images of how you can reprogram your Raphnet adapter later.

Also just made a video about the adapter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAmUWBJ7tuM

[whyieyesya]

Allright here are some instructions for if you want to reprogram your Raphnet Adapter yourself:

To reprogram your adapter you need an isp programmer. You can get one for four bucks here.

Once you have received your programmer you need drivers for it. You can get them from this page. Also, you are gonna need a program to be able to program your adapter. I recommend using Khazama AVR Programmer.

To be able to program your adapter you are gonna have to carefully remove the heat shrink from it. Once you have removed it, you have to verify that your adapter uses an ATmega8. You can verify this by looking at the text on the chip. If you turn out to have an ATmega88, then let me know and I will try to port the code for your adapter, but as long as no one has an ATmega88 version I do not plan on porting the code.

Now that you have a bare PCB, you are gonna have to connect the programmer to your PCB. I recommend putting some solid metal core wires (stripped of course) into the connector from the programmer and solder the other side of wires to the corresponding pads of the PCB. There are six different wires you have to connect: VCC, GND, MOSI, MISO, SCK and RESET. VCC and GND probably have some wires connected to them already. These will have to stay either connected or have to be reconnected once you are done programming the adapter. Here are two images that show where these connections are positioned on the connector from the programmer and the PCB:

ISP connector pinout:


PCB with pads that need to be connected to the programmer:


Once you have everything connected it's time to start Khazama AVR Programmer. I'll post a video soon demonstrating the steps you need to take. Basically it goes like this: first thing you do is check if you are able to read the chip's signature, so you can be assured that everything is working and connected correctly. After this you are ready to program the .HEX which can be found here.

Once your adapter is programmed there is a big chance the analog stick acts really weird. This is because you first have to select the preferred mapping. You can do this by holding the d-pad while plugging in the adapter. D-up is for OoT and D-down for MM. 

[Pheenoh]

Thanks for this! Still waiting on my programmer, but I'll post an update in a few days when I'm finished or if I have any issues.

[Pheenoh]

I successfully programmed mine. The Ocarina of Time controls feel perfect aiming and ESS angle changing are very easy. Majora's Mask still feels a bit too sensitive, angle changing is still pretty difficult (I know the ESS range is small on N64 too, but I don't usually have trouble doing a HESS with angle changing on that). Aiming is fine though.

[ING-X]

Hm... maybe try both mappings for MM and see if the other one works better?

I should really get a programmer and do this mod myself. Only thing is I'm afraid of soldering the wires

[Pheenoh]

Hm... maybe try both mappings for MM and see if the other one works better?

I should really get a programmer and do this mod myself. Only thing is I'm afraid of soldering the wires

It's about the same. I can do it with angle changing, it's just marginally more difficult than OoT. Also, using the OoT mapping in MM causes weird things like being unable to backflip.

[whyieyesya]

It's about the same. I can do it with angle changing, it's just marginally more difficult than OoT. Also, using the OoT mapping in MM causes weird things like being unable to backflip.

OoT mapping indeed doesn't work for MM.

I'll have another look at MM. I can verify if the ess range is still the same, because I wrote a program that is able to send fixed analog stick values to my Wii. That way I am able to check for which GC value Link starts and stops turning. I can also check these values for the N64 version with an emulator and that way I can compare them and see if they correspond in the mapping table. I am pretty sure I did this last time, but it's been some time. I will check this for US version first.

I can also change the mapping table and make ess just as easy as on Ocarina of Time, but I don't know how people would feel about this.

Edit: maybe you just need to get comfortable with VC? I can imagine VC feels different from the N64 version in general.

[whyieyesya]

I think I have figured out what is wrong with Majora's Mask. It's pretty awful, but don't worry, because it is fixable and I fixed it already in the sense that I am able to angle change really easy now. Basically Nintendo has a different mapping for when you hold your analog stick diagonal. I have confirmed this by sending fixed analog stick values to my Wii (with the mapping table I can then lookup which N64 value would actually be held) and see when Link starts and stops ess-ing. I did the same on an N64 emulator with a TAS plugin. The values I acquired didn't match. With the current mapping table when you hold diagonal you don't have to push the analog stick as far as on the N64 version. I checked the distance the analog stick would be removed from the center for when Link starts walking and in a lot of cases Link already starts walking for a distance of 20. On the N64 version I checked this and it was more like a distance of 30. In Majora's Mask Link starts essing when you only change one axis at a value of 16. What this means is that when you are gonna angle change you are gonna cross the x-axis and you have like a distance of 4 as a margin of error, which is way too less. I hope this is clear, but it probably isn't.

Making the field of ess-ing bigger in the mapping table isn't gonna work. The mapping for the diagonals is just too different, which means that the diagonals just expect way different GC values than the normal x- and y-axis, so it would never fit in one mapping table.

Right now I am fixing this problem by checking if the analog stick is held diagonal and accounting for what I send to the Wii. With this I am able to angle change really easy. During the writing of this post I came up with another method: a corrected mapping table for the diagonals. That last option will probably be easiest and best.

Hm... maybe try both mappings for MM and see if the other one works better?

I should really get a programmer and do this mod myself. Only thing is I'm afraid of soldering the wires

It would be really convenient if you were able to program your adapter. It isn't very hard and the adapter is pretty useless with the Raphnet code for the Zelda games. I am pretty sure your feedback is one of the best I can get. Perhaps you know someone that can help you solder it?

Edit: just a work in progress, but here is a link to a .hex with modified code that works better for me: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/23212729/N64_MM_Mapping_Table_V1.hex

Edit2: above one isn't that good either. Right now I am gathering some data and plotting some graphs, to figure out how I can fix this nicely. This will take some time, because I am also pretty busy with university, or at least should be lol.

[whyieyesya]

Screw it, I want this working well so badly that I tried to fix it just now. Here's a link to the version in which even I can angle change really easily in mm.

Edit: It worked at first, then it didn't work anymore after rebooting. Got it working now. It was just bad programming. I'll upload it once I have tested it a little better.