Keyboard for PS1 RPG Maker!

Ixzion · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 1:54 am

http://www.pavilionboards.com/forum/sho ... hp?t=23058

Thutmose at the Pav has a topic about this:

Thutmose wrote:

While the Pav' was briefly on VB 4.0, I made a post about an idea for a PS1 RPG Maker text-input device. I guess it seems kind of silly given that the maker is so old, the console is so old, and there are many other options available, but I thought that I would re-post it to see what people think (thanks, Valk for saving this from the dead "upgraded" forums :thumbs).

-----------------------------------------------

Someone with sufficient knowledge of embedded hardware could link a USB keyboard to something like an Arduino that connects to a PS1/2/3 d-pad that connects to a PS1/2/3. With an internal data array that mimics the RPGM keyboard layout, it would be possible to type on the keyboard and have the Arduino translate the keystrokes into the necessary d-pad presses. Include a LCD character screen and a message buffer, and you can type a paragraph out ahead of time, store it in non-volatile internal flash memory, then just press one button on the Arduino unit and have it automatically enter the text for you in a matter of seconds.

Use a removable memory card or flash drive for the non-volatile memory, and you could type your entire script on the computer, save it to a text file on the flash memory, stick it in the Arduino unit, then use a control pad on the unit to select the paragraph you want typed into RPGM, and your text-input problems would be a thing of the past.

Designed properly, it could all be contained in one small unit with a chiclet keyboard, a PS1/PS2 connector, and a rechargeable battery - so it would be plug 'n play.

If I had an extra PS1 laying around, and a copy of RPGM, a few other assorted electronic components, a little cash, maybe I'd try to make one myself. Sounds like a fun challenge.

Though, I've never worked with modding game consoles before. The most I have experience with is some embedded design/programming for RFID sensing and reporting.

In theory, however, it should work. I think I have a PDF around here somewhere that talks about emulating PS controller button presses.

It's been a while since I used RPGM, but it shouldn't be too terribly difficult to pull off, if memory serves me correctly.

I got to thinking about it some more, trying to pin down the price. If I use PICAXE or OEM Basic Stamp, rather than the ludicrously expensive Arduino, and make the circuit board myself (I gotta use those 3 gallons of ferric chloride some time :wink), and use my junk-box electrical components, the cost of production would be between $20 and $50 per unit.

Maybe once I built one, and figured out the design, I could come up with a cheaper design or figure out how to manufacture them cheaply.

Well, if anyone's interested, let me know.

I'd like to hear what you think.

There's more to see.

Lantis · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 3:12 pm

I would pay him $50 in a heartbeat if this is really possible.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 4:39 pm

Lantis wrote:

I would pay him $50 in a heartbeat if this is really possible.

I'll hold you to that. :evil

I just took apart an old PS2 controller, to do some preliminary testing. It's looking good so far. I can trigger button presses with my multimeter and have started mapping the PCB tracks. The final product will use a PS1 controller, but since I don't have one at the moment, I'll be doing my proof-of-concept on the PS2. Those connections I'll have to solder to are freaking tiny.

Once I finish mapping the tracks, I'll hook up an 08M and write a program to see whether or not I can get the Picaxe to trigger the button presses - this will also let me see how quickly the micro-controller will be able to move the RPG Maker cursor to enter letters.

My main concern is voltage/power issues with the keyboard. I don't know if a PS\2 keyboard will be able to run on the voltage supplied by the PS1/PS2/PS3/PC. The controller itself runs on 3.3 volts, while PS\2 keyboards run at 5V. If that doesn't work, I could try using a regulator to bump up the voltage. I also don't know the amperage of the PS controller, but hopefully it will be able to support the keyboard and the extra electronics I'll be fitting it with. If not, then I could just use a cheap $5 5V wall-wart that will plug into the controller to supply the necessary power.

So, all told, I don't think that there are going to be any problems too big to not be able to find a work-around. The main issue is just the speed at which text can be typed into RPG Maker. My preliminary tests with the 08M will shed some light on that, but I won't know what the speed will be in practice until the prototype is complete.

There's a lot more info in the Pav topic, FYI. But if anyone has any questions/comments, I'll be checking back here, too.

Lantis · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 5:45 pm

I highly look forward to the outcome. If you manage this, you will do what every single RPG Maker 1 user has only dreamed of.

Ixzion · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 8:49 pm

Quote:

The final product will use a PS1 controller, but since I don't have one at the moment, I'll be doing my proof-of-concept on the PS2.

Everything you say fills me with hope.

But check it, I have a surplus of PS1 controllers. I'd be willing to ship you a couple free of charge for this project if you want them.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 9th, 2010, 9:03 pm

Ixzion wrote:

Quote:

The final product will use a PS1 controller, but since I don't have one at the moment, I'll be doing my proof-of-concept on the PS2.

Everything you say fills me with hope.

But check it, I have a surplus of PS1 controllers. I'd be willing to ship you a couple free of charge for this project if you want them.

That'd be great - but let's wait until I get all my proof-of-concept work done; I wouldn't want you to pay for shipping and whatnot before I can prove that the foundation will work.

I just need to finish mapping out the button connections (I got all the four main buttons and up/down, but left/right is giving me some trouble) and get some really thin wire, then I'll be able to start my proof-of-concept tests with the 08M.

As soon as I get it done, I'll let you know.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 11th, 2010, 12:22 am

Update: Okay - I finished mapping the traces, more or less, and soldered wires to the appropriate places. A couple hours, and several burns later, I got it hooked up to a BS2 for some testing.

Unfortunately, the button presses were ludicrously erratic. I would activate the left d-pad button, and triangle would be pressed. If I left a loop of left d-pad pressing running, any and every button on the controller would be randomly triggered - it was quite interesting watching it cycle through every part of RPG Maker, at times I thought it had become sentient and started to make a game.

Obviously this was not the desired result. The PS2 controller is just too advanced and finicky. So I'm going to have to get a PS1 controller, which is what I always intended to use anyway, and do my testing on that.

Despite the problems, I did at least learn that it is possible to use a micro-controller to trigger button presses, and that it can get it going fairly fast - though that still doesn't tell me how quickly letters can be entered with the micro-controller processing keystrokes too. But this has still left me optimistic.

Hopefully I'll acquire a PS1 controller tomorrow so I can start really getting work done on this.

After doing some reading, I think that getting everything connected in the PS1 controller will be a lot easier than it was for the PS2. The PS2 controller is a lot more advanced, so Sony was packing in a good deal more electronics into the same small space than the PS1 had, making everything smaller and harder to work with. That's why I had so much trouble soldering, the connections were very tiny. But with the PS1 controller, it should be a much simpler matter since I can just drill through and/or solder directly to the PCB, which has larger tracks than the PS2 controller.

To sum up: The basic proof-of-concept work is done. Now I need to get a PS1 controller, and do more advanced testing. Once that testing is complete, I will be able to start building the prototype. The Picaxes and mini-din connectors are already on the way, and I should have them by Thursday. If everything goes well, I'll have enough materials to make 5 RPG Maker PS\2 Keyboard Controller Adapters.

Lantis · **Posted:** January 11th, 2010, 10:26 am

Thutmose wrote:

it was quite interesting watching it cycle through every part of RPG Maker, at times I thought it had become sentient and started to make a game.

I lol'd.

Also, this is turning into the most epic episode of Mythbusters ever. And hearing that you are optomistic about it all makes me quite happy.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 11th, 2010, 3:22 pm

Lantis wrote:

Thutmose wrote:

it was quite interesting watching it cycle through every part of RPG Maker, at times I thought it had become sentient and started to make a game.

I lol'd.

Also, this is turning into the most epic episode of Mythbusters ever. And hearing that you are optomistic about it all makes me quite happy.

Maybe I'll post some video of it later - hopefully with no explosions. At least I'm entertaining.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 1:21 am

Update: Video has been posted to my blog. Link in sig.

Duel · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 4:59 am

It went haywire, hilarious!

ErikaFuzzbottom · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 8:34 am

That was absolutely hilarious. :lol

It's nice to see that you can get the cursor to move even faster than RPGM1 itself can.

Lantis · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 10:15 am

It would HAVE to if you used a keyboard. If anyone knows anything about typing, then they'd be typing faster than RM1 would be able to keep up... and that would lead to problems.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 5:40 pm

Lantis wrote:

It would HAVE to if you used a keyboard. If anyone knows anything about typing, then they'd be typing faster than RM1 would be able to keep up... and that would lead to problems.

Yeah - I don't know exactly how fast the letters are going to be typed out, yet. So I may have to incorporate a buffer that would allow you to type faster than the letters are entered on screen.

The buffer shouldn't add very much to the overall cost - maybe $.45 or so, if it's necessary.

Lantis · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 5:42 pm

You just have an answer to everything, don't you. This is something so big, that people in Japan should be like, "Holy sh*t, did you see what that dude in America did?"

I say that because all I can think about is the work Take did in japan on RPG Maker 1 and 2 and we were all like, "OMG, look at that... it's amazing!"

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 5:53 pm

Lantis wrote:

You just have an answer to everything, don't you.

Hey - I'm Thutmose. Having an answer to everything is what I do. :shades

ErikaFuzzbottom · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 8:09 pm

The problem for me is my typing goes to heck when I'm typing ahead of the cursor (lag-typing). It's actually easier to type with my eyes closed.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 8:23 pm

Draygone wrote:

The problem for me is my typing goes to heck when I'm typing ahead of the cursor (lag-typing). It's actually easier to type with my eyes closed.

I look at the keys as I type, so I don't have that problem. I still type fairly fast, but looking at the screen just disorients me, especially when there's lag. :@_@

It's easier for me to keep everything I type in my head than to look at the screen as a visual reference.

The version of the controller I'm working on now is the basic model, which may or may not include word-wrap - I'll have to see if people actually want word wrap or not.

A more advanced version I was considering (which I think you read about on the Pav) would allow you to type everything out on a LCD screen, then just press a button to have it typed into RPG Maker in a few seconds. That would eliminate the lag problem, and allow you to save dialog to the controller for later use. It would also allow you to take the things you've typed into RPGM and export it as a text file into your computer for backup - allowing you to type things out on your computer, then paste them into RPGM, and vice versa. It would be a bit more expensive, but if people would want that feature, then I'll make it.

insultobot · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 8:38 pm

would it have to include an lcd screen?

what if it just read from a usb flash drive for "text1.txt", "text2.txt" all the way to however many you choose, then just hit ctrl+alt+"?" to hot key each file to load or really just play out for entry into rpgmaker. Then all the typing is on the pc with (oh thank god) spellcheck. The hot key could even be the file name, if we use one character names.

I am just thinking of simplicity for the more advanced one.

Thutmose · **Posted:** January 14th, 2010, 8:56 pm

insultobot wrote:

would it have to include an lcd screen?

what if it just read from a usb flash drive for "text1.txt", "text2.txt" all the way to however many you choose, then just hit ctrl+alt+"?" to hot key each file to load or really just play out for entry into rpgmaker. Then all the typing is on the pc with (oh thank god) spellcheck. The hot key could even be the file name, if we use one character names.

I am just thinking of simplicity for the more advanced one.

That sounds good - it should be doable. Interfacing with USB does add to the price, of course. I haven't done too much research on this since I've mainly been planning the basic version. But I'll look into it and post my findings, later.

	It is currently December 1st, 2024, 2:22 pm
View unanswered posts \| View active topics

Keyboard for PS1 RPG Maker!

Who is online