Replacing the DPad assembly with DPad/board from controller...Pointers?

[TheGrandPubaa]

I'm just curious what all needs to be considered in order to basically replace the existing PSP DPad assembly with a DPad board from another controller, the theory being that the new pad could feature much more reliability for fighting/shooting games such as MVS or CPS1/2. As far as techniques go, I am aware of a simplified safety pin technique for connecting wires to the DPad ribbon cable without having to solder directly to the ribbon, so i'm good there.

Moreover, i'm really curious about the possible pratfalls involved, such as how to mount the new DPad, how much to cut away at of the faceplate to make room, perhaps even a sample run through of how to wire up a dpad to the existing one. Also, I initially wanted to take a Neo Geo Pocket joystick and put it inside the PSP. Trying to figure out how to mount it effectively forced me to put my experimentation on hold. See, the joystick consists of four click buttons, effectively, housed in a DPad-looking plastic shell, with the plastic part of the joystick pressing the appropriate button when you push it in a direction. Each button had two solder points on the board. I'm newbie enough not to know which one to solder where in relation to the PSP's DPad ribbon cable. I must confess, i'm not totally sure I understand how the signal vs. ground scenario works.  I'm not an idiot, but this is stuff I was never taught in school or at home. My theory was that the best way to mount the joystick assembly would be to actually cut around the joystick on the board itself and use those eight solder points to connect it to the PSP DPad ribbon. But...well, i'm just not sure I can do it to a perfectly working NGPC, even if it means having perfect controls in my fighting games...

If I can find it within me to feel confident I can pull this off, I may just go at it full force. My techniques won't be clever or fancy, hell, they'll probably be downright ugly, but I just want it to work. But before I can do that, there's just some stuff I really need to understand first.

[Blizzrad]

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[TheGrandPubaa]

Thanks for the concern, but when I say joystick, I am referring to the Neo Geo Pocket thumbstick, which is less than an inch tall, so it shouldn't be a hindrance to hold the unit. I would never even consider trying to mount a full sized joystick internally on a PSP(wouldn't be a bad idea for an external controller, though...).

I'll see if I can take some pictures of the NGPC joystick assembly with my crappy webcam, but bear in mind, lighting may not be optimal and the resolution is a low low 320x240.

I'm thinking of just ordering a replacement faceplate and DPad ribbon cable so that I don't have to worry about really damaging the PSP permenantly.

[TheGrandPubaa]

Images as promised...this is actually my first time using ImageShack, so bear with me...

[TheGrandPubaa]

That's odd...Diagonals are actually great on the Neo. Fighting games are a staple of the system, and from what i've played of King of Fighters R-2, i've had no problems pulling off moves at all. Diagonals were never a problem from what i've experienced. Also worth noting on the GP2x is that the joystick consists of 8 directional buttons rather than the four on the Neo. I've actually used a GP2x, and I understand your point about the diagonals, but on that system, the joystick was just plain poor. I guess I just don't see how the NGPC stick would give me diag problems, but i'm definitely not an expert.

[TheGrandPubaa]

What happened to the posts by PvP? And, for that matter, what happened to about 20 of my posts? I had a post count of around 64 last night, but now i'm back down to 43. What the hell?

[Blizzrad]

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