the situation. This can be found here after you read my mod below(or before, your call =]).
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for what you do to your own hardware, I am only showing you what
I did to suit my own purposes. If you want to try this yourself, you WILL void your warranty, and
I cannot be held responsible for any error on your part.
Please do not steal my work, but rather link to it. If you want to tell others
about it, please mention my name
Questions/Comments?: Email me at neal0007@tc.umn.edu
There, got that outta the way ;)
I was playing Agent Under Fire, and I was displeased with the amount of precision allowed by
the use of the c-stick for aiming. I am stuck on setup 3 for playing, as its the type I've used
for years and I cannot change from. I, like many of you, am still spoiled by the beautiful
precision that Goldeneye allowed us so many years ago. I was wondering what it was that was
making it so hard for me and my friends to gain the precision we wanted instead of the somewhat
sloppy shooting that often ensued during single and multiplayer games.
THe problem it seems, is due to 2 things. First, the game just wasn't quite done right as far
as control. As with most games, not enough attention is put into what matters most, the quality
of controls and the ability to CHANGE them to suit ones precise needs. Second, the c-stick on
the controller is just not right for using in FPS. Its short stub means that many times our
thumbs will go from small to very large movements when we really don't want for this to happen.
Some of you know what I'm talking about, some of you may not, but it lies in simple physics, as
well as the way our thumb rests on the control sticks.
The game is on a disc, and the code cannot be changed, so the only remedy I found was to modify
the controller in some way to make controlling AUF as well as other games more natural. My
decision was to replace the yellow c-stick with and additional grey control stick. If you haven't
noticed, the grey and c-stick same the same size partial sphere, and it also turns out the share
the same connection underneath.
Where would I find this extra grey stick? Well I couldn't actually. I couldn't find a supplier
that had just the grey control stick, so I decided for the sake of this experiment to use a stick
from one of my other GC controllers. I would end up with a controller with two c-sticks. It turned
out that that wasn't bad at all, as the c-stick works just as well in the left position as the
grey stick.
The process is fairly simple, but I decided to make a small tutorial for the less initiated(or
less brave):
1. Remove the six screws from the underside of the controller:
WARNING!!! To open the controller, you can use a 2.0mm flathead screwdriver with a fairly skinny blade on it. Be CAREFUL and press firm so you don't strip screws or the screwdriver!!!!
2. Slowly take off the back of the controller(if it resists than you don't have all the screws
loosened). It will look like this:
3. Slowly remove circuit board from inside. Grab it at the edges so you don't risk the possiblity
of introducing acids to the wire leads:
4. Remove the yellow control stick and replace it with a seperate grey one(its up to you to either
find one or go the route I did and swap one from another controller).
5. Place the circuit board carefully in its case, make sure you don't disturb the buttons(especially
the z button). The cord has a loop in it near the controller, that loop goes around the screw post
that is nearby. If you don't put it around that post, you will not be able to shut it properly.
Put the screws back in and screw them tight. Here is the final product:
Here is the c-stick version that resulted:
Conclusion: Whether you want to do this or not is up to you. But I found that my accuracy did improve quite a bit.
Is it now Goldeneye? Not even close, but thats where the game and its own control issues come into play.
It just wasn't tweaked enough to suit the controller any better, especially when it comes to precise
movements with the right control stick. The new controller works better, and I have been using it for
about a week now. The other controller that now has 2 c-sticks works fine too, as I really don't see a
big difference with using the c-stick in place of the grey stick when it comes to the left position.
You don't HAVE to use two controllers for this. It was brought up on the planetgamecube boards where that
I could have just swapped the c-stick and grey stick around. I am glad it was mentioned as I had completely
forgot to include down here for your consideration. By all means, if you want, just swap the positions of
of the two sticks. As I mentioned above, the c-stick performs really well in the upper left position.
The reason I don't do this is a matter of consistancy and ergonomics. I feel more comfortable having both
thumbs rest on the same size control stick. I just have a better feel for movement, and this applies when using
the two grey or two yellow combos. I find that for FPS's(of which there is one right now), the two grey stick combo
better suits my needs. But for games like SSX Tricky(or Tony Hawk if thats your thing) I really enjoy using the
c-stick in place of the grey stick as it almost makes the left thumb able to move a little more quickly(a welcome
addition for doing fast combos). Thanks JobVanDam from the PGC boards for reminding me!
I hope some of you find this helpful, but I caution only those that feel they know what they're doing
to attempt this. It is as simple as it gets, but I still wouldn't want anyone breaking their controller
as this procedure breaks your warranty!
Questions/Comments?: Email me at neal0007@tc.umn.edu
My son likes using the new setup!
Copyright © 2002 Peter Nealy.