Whatcha Been Playing?

[KSubzero1000]

Keeping in mind I'm absolutely nowhere near the type of DIY wizard that Suits is, but my feeble past attempts at trying to fix the stick drift in my DS4 have proven to be wildly unsuccessful. Opened it up (apparently the screws are made of butter - better bring an extra bag of spares if you can), cleaned it as thoroughly as I could and somehow managed to creak and wobble it back together. But the stick itself is really complex and I couldn't find any way to disassemble it properly to access its dusty entrails, and so the drift remained. Best I could do was plonk the rubber part off and back on again.

For comparison, I ended up having zero issues whatsoever with my GameCube controller - opened it up, cleaned it all off and put it back together like it was the most self-explanatory thing in the world.

[Suits]

But the stick itself is really complex and I couldn't find any way to disassemble it properly to access its dusty entrails, and so the drift remained. Best I could do was plonk the rubber part off and back on again.

Yeah, that's the thing.

You can get it off by heating the legs that the housing is sat on, then twisting them out of the motherboard. There's also a decent amount of fine soldering required to disconnect the actual radial readers from the traces. (this is for the DS1 & DS2 controllers mind, but I assume the DS4 is unlikely to be too dissimilar).

Honestly, I'd not be happy taking the thing off, let alone put it back on .

Isopropanol, compressed air and kinetic techniques is pretty much all you want to be doing to these inputs.

Without opening up my DS4 (although it is very tempting ) this is what a DS1 analogue housing looks like and its not too dissimilar really.

Excuse the moody photo but it's the only one I had to hand.


As I mentioned earlier (and the Owl Lord alluded to also) the DualShock controllers are pretty complex and wouldn't be the place to start messing about with stuff but born from necessity is skill I suppose.

[KSubzero1000]

Without opening up my DS4 (although it is very tempting ) this is what a DS1 analogue housing looks like and its not too dissimilar really.

Yep, just going from memory it's pretty much what those looked like in the DS4 as well.

I was surprised at how complex it was in there, really. First there's the battery (which I took the opportunity to replace iirc), then there's the massive touchpad and all the smaller contacts and other elements... Packed like sardines, the lot of them.

GC controller might as well have been made of Lego Technic in comparison.

[Suits]

I was surprised at how complex it was in there, really. First there's the battery (which I took the opportunity to replace iirc), then there's the massive touchpad and all the smaller contacts and other elements... Packed like sardines, the lot of them.

Yeah, it's to be expected I suppose with the amount of tech crammed in there nowadays, whilst they still have to maintain the form factor and size.

Off on a tangent slightly, but DS-Lites are pretty short for space inside too.

[Magical_Isopod]

I was surprised at how complex it was in there, really. First there's the battery (which I took the opportunity to replace iirc), then there's the massive touchpad and all the smaller contacts and other elements... Packed like sardines, the lot of them.

Yeah, it's to be expected I suppose with the amount of tech crammed in there nowadays, whilst they still have to maintain the form factor and size.

Off on a tangent slightly, but DS-Lites are pretty short for space inside too.

I replaced a touchscreen on a DSi, and those things are just a pain to work with. The screen connectors in particular are just... No bueno. I haven't gotten them to work properly since taking it apart.

[chase210]

The Modern Warfare 2 remaster! Which is a fun game I like a lot. The relatively small £20 price tag helps a lot.

[Flabyo]

Launch Japanese dreamcast was the most densely packed thing I’ve seen. They’d solved a lot of that by the time the western hardware launched.

It was liquid cooled! Freon I think. Heavy as a pile of house bricks.

[Suits]

The screen connectors in particular are just... No bueno. I haven't gotten them to work properly since taking it apart.

Do you mean the ribbon gates ??

I may be teaching you to suck eggs here, but you are opening and closing them correctly aren't you ??

[Alex79]

The Modern Warfare 2 remaster! Which is a fun game I like a lot. The relatively small £20 price tag helps a lot.

Yeah it's priced fairly reasonably, but no multiplayer is a killer.

[Magical_Isopod]

The screen connectors in particular are just... No bueno. I haven't gotten them to work properly since taking it apart.

Do you mean the ribbon gates ??

I may be teaching you to suck eggs here, but you are opening and closing them correctly aren't you ??

I'm an automation technician, so the connector is not troubling me. More that it's not sitting correctly, by some measure. I have no idea. The screens just aren't as crisp and colourful as they were, and the scan lines are more visible now. It's kind of a shit connection to begin with, but trying to get it seated PERFECTLY when there's so much play in the connector is driving me mad.

[Suits]

The screens just aren't as crisp and colourful as they were, and the scan lines are more visible now.

The DSi has two potentiometers just next to the battery that will allow you to fine tune settings for both screens, this may help you with the issues you're having above.

I've straightened out a few DS's and GBA screens with this.

[Stanshall]

Another one for the framers!

[Suits]

Another one for the framers!

Not sure if you knew or remember but I got an awful lot of abuse once from one American dude because my pictures weren't framed perfectly .

Proper came at me he did, insults, attacking what I was doing, why I was bothering, who I was and how I need some self respect.

Then asked me for higher res images .

[Stanshall]

I do! What a gonk. They're cracking photos, though. You're the Damien Hirst of controllers!

[Magical_Isopod]

Another one for the framers!

Not sure if you knew or remember but I got an awful lot of abuse once from one American dude because my pictures weren't framed perfectly .

Proper came at me he did, insults, attacking what I was doing, why I was bothering, who I was and how I need some self respect.

Then asked me for higher res images .

You can fix controllers, but you can't fix broken men...

[KSubzero1000]

Speaking of broken men, that picture IS askew!

[Stanshall]

He needs to get some self-respect.

[KSubzero1000]

For real.

I'll take some higher resolution pictures though, I guess.

Spoiler: show

You stole my joke, you prick!

[Suits]

Hooligans , the pair of you !!!

[Alex79]

Another one for the framers!

Not sure if you knew or remember but I got an awful lot of abuse once from one American dude because my pictures weren't framed perfectly .

Proper came at me he did, insults, attacking what I was doing, why I was bothering, who I was and how I need some self respect.

Then asked me for higher res images .

I don't remember you ever telling us about this! Go on....?