Controllers and Memory Cards
Controllers/Memory Cards
Controller and Memory Card Overview
Controller and Memory Card Signals
Controller and Memory Card Multitap Adaptor
Controllers
Controllers - Communication Sequence
Controllers - Standard Digital/Analog Controllers
Controllers - Mouse
Controllers - Racing Controllers
Controllers - Lightguns
Controllers - Configuration Commands
Controllers - Vibration/Rumble Control
Controllers - Analog Buttons (Dualshock2)
Controllers - Dance Mats
Controllers - Pop'n Controllers
Controllers - Densha de Go! / Jet de Go! Controllers
Controllers - Fishing Controllers
Controllers - PS2 DVD Remote
Controllers - I-Mode Adaptor (Mobile Internet)
Controllers - Additional Inputs
Controllers - Misc
Memory Cards
Memory Card Read/Write Commands
Memory Card Data Format
Memory Card Images
Memory Card Notes
Pocketstation (Memory Card with built-in LCD screen and buttons)
Pinouts
Pinouts - Controller Ports and Memory-Card Ports
Controller and Memory Card Overview
Controllers and memory cards connect to the console using a serial protocol and
are accessed through SIO0 registers:
Serial Interfaces (SIO)
The protocol used is similar to standard SPI, with no start/stop bytes and no
parity (even though SIO0 has support for it). Unlike typical SPI, only one byte
is transferred at a time and a separate wire (/ACK) is used by the device to
signal the PS1 that it is ready to exchange the next byte. For more details see:
Controller and Memory Card Signals
Device addressing
Each controller port and its respective memory card slot are wired in parallel,
and the /CSn signals select both the controller and the memory card when
asserted. This selection is narrowed down through a simple addressing scheme,
where the first byte sent by the console after asserting /CSn is the address of
the device that shall reply. All devices must keep the DAT line idle before
receiving this byte. Once the address is sent, the device that was addressed
shall pull /ACK low to signal its presence and start exchanging bytes.
The following addresses are known to be used:
| Device | Address |
|---|---|
| Standard controller | 01h |
| Yaroze Access Card | 21h |
| PS2 multitap (incompatible with PS1) | 21h |
| PS2 DVD remote receiver | 61h |
| Memory card | 81h |
DSR (/ACK) Controller and Memory Card - Byte Received Interrupt
Gets set after receiving a data byte - that only if an /ACK has been received
from the peripheral (ie. there will be no IRQ if the peripheral fails to send
an /ACK, or if there's no peripheral connected at all).
Actually, DSR means "more-data-request",
accordingly, it does NOT get triggered after receiving the LAST byte.
/IRQ10 (/IRQ) Controller - Lightpen Interrupt
Pin 8 on Controller Port. Routed directly to the Interrupt Controller (at
1F80107xh). There are no status/enable bits in the SIO0_registers (at
1F80104xh).
Plugging and Unplugging Cautions
During plugging and unplugging, the Serial Data line may be dragged LOW for a
moment; this may also affect other connected devices because the same Data line
is shared for all controllers and memory cards (for example, connecting a
joypad in slot 1 may corrupt memory card accesses in slot 2).
Moreover, the Sony Mouse does power-up with /ACK=LOW, and stays stuck in that
state until it is accessed at least once (by at least sending one 01h byte to
its controller port); this will also affect other devices (as a workaround one
should always access BOTH controller ports; even if a game uses only one
controller, and, code that waits for /ACK=HIGH should use timeouts).
Emulation Note
After sending a byte, the Kernel waits 100 cycles or so, and does THEN
acknowledge any old IRQ7, and does then wait for the new IRQ7. Due to that
bizarre coding, emulators can't trigger IRQ7 immediately within 0 cycles after
sending the byte.
BIOS Functions
Controllers can be probably accessed via InitPad and StartPad functions,
BIOS Joypad Functions
Memory cards can be accessed by the filesystem (with device names "bu00:"
(slot1) and "bu10:" (slot2) or so). Before using that device names, it seems to
be required to call InitCard, StartCard, and _bu_init (?).
Synchronous I/O
The data is transferred in units of bytes, via separate input and output lines.
So, when sending byte, the hardware does simultaneously receive a response
byte.
One exception is the address byte (which selects either the controller,
or the memory card) until that byte has been sent, neither the controller nor
memory card are selected (and so the first "response" byte should be ignored;
probably containing more or less stable high-z levels).
The other exception is, when you have send all command bytes, and still want to
receive further data, then you'll need to send dummy command bytes (should be
usually 00h) to receive the response bytes.
Controller and Memory Card Signals
Overview
____ _____
/CS \____________________________________________________________/
______ ____ ____ ____ ____ _________
SCK |||||||| |||||||| |||||||| |||||||| ||||||||
____ _____
MOSI '=[ Addr ]====[ Cmd ]====[ Tap ]====[Param ]====[Param ]==='
MISO ---------------===[ IDlo ]====[ IDhi ]====[ Data ]====[ Data ]===------
_______________ _________ _________ _________ _________________
/ACK |_| |_| |_| |_|
--- High impedance
=== Any state (don't care)
Address byte (01h) being sent
____
/CS \__________________________________________________________________
______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __________________ _ _ _ _
SCK |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|
__________ ___
MOSI 1 |_0___0___0___0___0___0___0____________________0_| 1 |_0___0_
____
MISO -----------------------------------------------=======' 1 |_0___0___0_
______________________________________________ ____________________
/ACK |___|
--- High impedance
=== Any state (don't care)
Notes:
- All bytes are sent LSB first.
- The standard baud rate used by the kernel is ~250 kHz. Some controllers and memory cards may work with faster rates, but others will not.
- The clock polarity is high-when-idle (sometimes referred to as CPOL=1). Each bit is output on a falling clock edge and sampled by the other end on the rising clock edge that follows it (CPHA=1).
- The device has to pull /ACK low for at least 2 µs to request the host to transfer another byte. Once the last byte of the packet is transferred, the device shall no longer pulse /ACK.
- The kernel's controller driver will time out if /ACK is not pulled low by the device within 100 µs from the last SCK pulse. It will also ignore /ACK pulses sent within the first 2-3 µs (100 cycles) of the last SCK pulse.
- Devices should not respond immediately when /CS is asserted, but should wait for the address byte to be sent and only send an /ACK pulse back and start replying with data if the address matches.
Controller and Memory Card Multitap Adaptor
SCPH-1070 (Multitap)
The Multitap is an external adaptor that allows to connect 4 controllers, and 4
memory cards to one controller port. When using two adaptors (one on each
slot), up to 8 controllers and 8 memory cards can be used.
Multitap Controller Access
Normally joypad reading is done by sending this bytes to the pad:
01 42 00 00 .. ;normal read
01 42 01 00 .. ;method 1: receive special ID and data from ALL four pads
0n 42 00 00 .. ;method 2: receive data from pad number "n" (1..4)
The second method works more like "normal" reads, among other it's allowing to transfer more than 4 halfwords per slot (unknown if any existing games are using that feature).
The IRQ10 signal (for Konami Lightguns) is simply wired to all four slots via small resistors (without special logic for activating/deactivating the IRQ on certain slots).
Multitap Controller Access, Method 1 Details
Below LONG response is activated by sending "01h" as third command byte;
observe that sending that byte does NOT affect the current response. Instead,
it does request that the NEXT command shall return special data, as so:
Halfword 0 --> Controller ID for MultiTap (5A80h=Multitap)
Halfword 1..4 --> Player A (Controller ID, Buttons, Analog Inputs, if any)
Halfword 5..8 --> Player B (Controller ID, Buttons, Analog Inputs, if any)
Halfword 9..12 --> Player C (Controller ID, Buttons, Analog Inputs, if any)
Halfword 13..16 --> Player D (Controller ID, Buttons, Analog Inputs, if any)
Sending the request is possible ONLY if there is a controller in Slot A (if controller Slot A is empty then the Slot A access aborts after the FIRST byte, and it's thus impossible to send the request in the THIRD byte).
Sending the request works on access to Slot A, trying to send another request during the LONG response is glitchy (for whatever strange reason); one must thus REPEATEDLY do TWO accesses: one dummy Slot A access (with the request), followed by the long Slot A+B+C+D access.
Previous access had REQ=0 and returned Slot A data ---> returns Slot A data
Previous access had REQ=0 and returned Slot A-D data -> returns Slot A data
Previous access had REQ=1 and returned Slot A data ---> returns Slot A-D data
Previous access had REQ=1 and returned Slot A-D data -> returns garbage
Previous access had REQ=1 and returned garbage -------> returns Slot A-D data
Toggling REQ on/off after each command: Returns responses toggling between normal Slot A data and long Slot A+B+C+D data.
Sending REQ=1 in ALL commands: Returns responses toggling between Garbage and long Slot A+B+C+D data.
Both of the above is working (one needs only the Slot A+B+C+D part, and it doesn't matter if the other part is Slot A, or Garbage; as long as the software is able/aware of ignoring the Garbage). Garbage response means that the multitap returns ONLY four bytes, like so: Hiz,80h,5Ah,LSB (ie. the leading HighZ byte, the 5A80h Multitap ID, and the LSB of the Slot A controller ID), and aborts transfer after that four bytes.
Multitap Memory Card Access
Normally memory card access is done by sending this bytes to the card:
80 xx .. .. ;normal access
8n xx .. .. ;access memory card in slot "n" (1..4)
Multitap Games
Bomberman / Bomberman Party Edition (requires Multitap on Port 2 instead of 1)
Bomberman World
Breakout: Off the Wall Fun
Circuit Breakers
Crash Team Racing
FIFA series soccer games
Frogger
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy
Hot Shots Golf 2 & 3
Jigsaw Island: Japan Graffiti / Jigsaw Madness (requires Multitap on Port 2 instead of 1)
NBA Live (any year) (up to 8 players with two multitaps)
Need For Speed 3
Need For Speed 5
Poy Poy (4 players hitting each other with rocks and trees)
Running Wild
S.C.A.R.S. (requires Multitap on Port 2 instead of 1)
Zen Nippon Pro Wrestling: Ouja no Tamashii (requires Multitap on Port 2 instead of 1)
Multitap Versions
.------.
SCPH-1070 | | SCPH-111
(gray case) | | (white case)
(for PSX) | D | (for PSone)
| | .----------------.
cable | | cable .' D C '.
''--.. | C | '''--..__| |
\| | | |
.----------------' | '. A B .'
| | '----------------'
| |
| A B /
'---------------------'
MultiTap Parsed Controller IDs
Halfword 0 is parsed (by the BIOS) as usually, ie. the LSB is moved to MSB, and
LSB is replaced by status byte (so ID 5A80h becomes 8000h=Multitap/okay, or
xxFFh=bad). Halfwords 1,5,9,13 are NOT parsed (neither by the BIOS nor by the
Multitap hardware), however, some info in the internet is hinting that Sony's
libraries might be parsing these IDs too (so for example 5A41h would become
4100h=DigitalPad/okay, or xxFFh=bad).
Power Supply
The Multitap is powered by the PSX controller port. Unknown if there are any
power supply restrictions (up to eight controllers and eight cards may scratch
some limits, especially when doing things like activating rumble on all
joypads). However, the Multitap hardware itself doesn't do much on supply
restrictions (+3.5V is passed through something; maybe some fuse, loop, or 1
ohm resistor or so) (and +7.5V is passed without any restrictions).
PS2 multitap
Sony made a multitap adapter for the PS2, however it is not compatible with the
PS1 as it plugs into both the controller and memory card ports (which are not
wired in parallel on the PS2). The protocol is also different: rather than
modifying packets it seems to act as a mostly-passive port multiplexer,
accepting switching commands with address 61h. Unknown if the PS2 multitap is
backwards compatible with the SCPH-1070 protocol.
See also
Pinouts - Component List and Chipset Pin-Outs for Multitap, SCPH-1070
Controllers - Communication Sequence
Controller Communication Sequence
Send Reply Comment
01h Hi-Z Controller address
42h idlo Receive ID bit0..7 (variable) and Send Read Command (ASCII "B")
TAP idhi Receive ID bit8..15 (usually/always 5Ah)
MOT swlo Receive Digital Switches bit0..7
MOT swhi Receive Digital Switches bit8..15
--- transfer stops here for digital pad (or analog pad in digital mode) ---
00h adc0 Receive Analog Input 0 (if any) (eg. analog joypad or mouse)
00h adc1 Receive Analog Input 1 (if any) (eg. analog joypad or mouse)
--- transfer stops here for analog mouse ----------------------------------
00h adc2 Receive Analog Input 2 (if any) (eg. analog joypad)
00h adc3 Receive Analog Input 3 (if any) (eg. analog joypad)
--- transfer stops here for analog pad (in analog mode) -------------------
--- transfer stops here for nonstandard devices (steering/twist/paddle) ---
Controller and Memory Card Multitap Adaptor
The two MOT bytes are meant to control the rumble motors (for normal non-rumble controllers, that bytes should be 00h), however, the MOT bytes have no effect unless rumble is enabled via config commands, for details, see
Controllers - Configuration Commands
Controllers - Vibration/Rumble Control
Controller ID (Halfword Number 0)
0-3 Number of following halfwords (01h..0Fh=1..15, or 00h=16 halfwords)
4-7 Controller Type (or currently selected Controller Mode)
8-15 Fixed (5Ah)
xx00h=N/A (initial buffer value from InitPad BIOS function)
5A12h=Mouse (two button mouse)
5A23h=NegCon (steering twist/wheel/paddle)
5A31h=Konami Lightgun (IRQ10-type)
5A41h=Digital Pad (or analog pad/stick in digital mode; LED=Off)
5A53h=Analog Stick (or analog pad in "flight mode"; LED=Green)
5A63h=Namco Lightgun (Cinch-type)
5A73h=Analog Pad (in normal analog mode; LED=Red)
5A7xh=Dualshock2 (with variable number of inputs enabled)
5A79h=Dualshock2 (with all analog/digital inputs enabled)
5A80h=Multitap (multiplayer adaptor) (when activated)
5A96h=Keyboard (rare lightspan keyboard)
5AE3h=Jogcon (steering dial)
5AE8h=Keyboard/Sticks (rare homebrew keyboard/segasticks adaptor)
5AF3h=Config Mode (when in config mode; see rumble command 43h)
FFFFh=High-Z (no controller connected, pins floating High-Z)
Controllers - Standard Digital/Analog Controllers
___ ___ ___ ___
__/_L_\__ Analog Pad __/_R_\__ __/_L_\__ Digital Pad __/_R_\__
/ _ \--------------/ \ / _ \--------------/ \
| _| |_ | | /\ | | _| |_ | | /\ |
| |_ X _| |SEL STA| [] () | | |_ X _| | | [] () |
| |_| ___ ANALOG ___ >< | | |_| | SEL STA | >< |
|\______ / L \ LED / R \ ______/| |\_________/--------------\_________/|
| | Joy |--------| Joy | | | | | |
| / \___/ \___/ \ | | / \ |
\____/ \____/ \____/ \____/
Standard Controllers
__Halfword 0 (Controller Info)_______________________________________________
0-15 Controller Info (5A41h=digital, 5A73h=analog/pad, 5A53h=analog/stick)
__Halfword 1 (Digital Switches)______________________________________________
0 Select Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
1 L3/Joy-button (0=Pressed, 1=Released/None/Disabled) ;analog mode only
2 R3/Joy-button (0=Pressed, 1=Released/None/Disabled) ;analog mode only
3 Start Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
4 Joypad Up (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
5 Joypad Right (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
6 Joypad Down (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
7 Joypad Left (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
8 L2 Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Lower-left shoulder)
9 R2 Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Lower-right shoulder)
10 L1 Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Upper-left shoulder)
11 R1 Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Upper-right shoulder)
12 /\ Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Triangle, upper button)
13 () Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Circle, right button)
14 >< Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Cross, lower button)
15 [] Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (Square, left button)
__Halfword 2 (Right joystick) (analog pad/stick in analog mode only)_________
0-7 adc0 RightJoyX (00h=Left, 80h=Center, FFh=Right)
8-15 adc1 RightJoyY (00h=Up, 80h=Center, FFh=Down)
__Halfword 3 (Left joystick) (analog pad/stick in analog mode only)__________
0-7 adc2 LeftJoyX (00h=Left, 80h=Center, FFh=Right)
8-15 adc3 LeftJoyY (00h=Up, 80h=Center, FFh=Down)
__Further Halfword(s) (Dualshock2 only, and only if enabled)_________________
0-7 .. Analog Button (if enabled) (00h=Released, FFh=Max Pressure)
8-15 .. Analog Button (if enabled) (00h=Released, FFh=Max Pressure)
.. .. ..
Analog Mode Note
On power-up, the controllers are in digital mode (with analog inputs disabled).
Analog mode can be (de-)activated manually by pushing the Analog button.
Alternately, analog mode can be (de-)activated by software via rumble
configuration commands (though that's supported only on newer pads; those with
two rumble motors). It is essential that emulators and any third-party hardware have a way of manually toggling analog mode, similar to original analog controllers, as certain games like Gran Turismo 1 will not attempt to enter analog mode on their own, even if they support analog controls and detect an analog controller.
Since analog pads boot in digital mode and will return the same ID byte as digital controllers, the most common way of distinguishing between the 2 is to send a Dualshock-only command (Typically command 43h - enter/exit config mode) and seeing how the controller responds to it.
The analog sticks are mechanically restricted to a "circular field of motion"
(most joypads can reach "min/max" values only in "straight" horizontal or
vertical directions, but not in "diagonal" directions).
Analog Joypad Range
...''''''''''...
____ .''________________''._____ ___ 00h
| .'' ''. |
|.' '.| ___ 10h
.' '.
:| |:
: | | : ___ 60h
.' | .''''''. | '.
: | .' '. | :
: | : : | : ___ 80h
: | : : | :
: | '. .' | :
'. | '......' | .' ___ A0h
: | | :
:| |:
'. .' ___ F0h
|'. .'|
|__'..______________________..'__| ___ FFh
. '.. ..' .
00h '''..........''' FFh
Big Circle --> Mechanically possible field of motion
Square Area --> Digitally visible 8bit field of motion
Small Circle --> Resting position when releasing the joystick
SCPH-1150 Min=(00,00), Mid: (72..90,79..AC), Max=(FF,FF) at 25'C
SCPH-1200 Min=(0E,0E), Mid: (6C..8A,75..79), Max=(ED,ED) at 16'C
SCPH-110 Min=(11,11), Mid: (8A..9F,70..96), Max=(FD,FD) at 16'C
Dual Analog Pad in LED=Green Mode
Basically same as normal analog LED=Red mode, with following differences:
ID is 5A53h (identifying itself as analog stick) (rather than analog pad)
Left/right joy-buttons disabled (as for real analog stick, bits are always 1)
Some buttons are re-arranged: bit9=L1 bit10=[] bit11=/\ bit12=R1 bit15=R2
Might be useful for a few analog-stick games like MechWarrior 2, Ace Combat 2, Descent Maximum, and Colony Wars. In most other cases the feature is rather confusing (that's probably why the LED=Green mode wasn't implemented on the Dual Shock).
See also
Pinouts - Component List and Chipset Pin-Outs for Digital Joypad, SCPH-1080
Pinouts - Component List and Chipset Pin-Outs for Analog Joypad, SCPH-1150
Pinouts - Component List and Chipset Pin-Outs for Analog Joypad, SCPH-1200
Pinouts - Component List and Chipset Pin-Outs for Analog Joypad, SCPH-110
Controllers - Mouse
Sony Mouse Controller
__Halfword 0 (Controller Info)________________
0-15 Controller Info (5A12h=Mouse)
__Halfword 1 (Mouse Buttons)__________________
0-7 Not used (All bits always 1)
8-9 Unknown (Seems to be always 0) (maybe SNES-style sensitivity?)
10 Right Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
11 Left Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
12-15 Not used (All bits always 1)
__Halfword 2 (Mouse Motion Sensors)___________
0-7 Horizontal Motion (-80h..+7Fh = Left..Right) (00h=No motion)
8-15 Vertical Motion (-80h..+7Fh = Up..Down) (00h=No motion)
Sony Mouse Hardware Bug on Power-On
On Power-on (or when newly connecting it), the Sony mouse does draw /ACK to LOW
on power-on, and does then hold /ACK stuck in the LOW position.
For reference: Normal controllers and memory cards set /ACK=LOW only for around
100 clk cycles, and only after having received a byte from the console.
The /ACK pin is shared for both controllers and both memory cards, so the stuck
/ACK is also "blocking" all other connected controllers/cards. To release the
stuck /ACK signal: Send a command (at least one 01h byte) to both controller
slots.
Sony Mouse Compatible Games
3D Lemmings
Alien Resurrection
Area 51
Ark of Time
Atari Anniversary Edition
Atlantis: The Lost Tales
Breakout: Off the Wall Fun
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
Clock Tower: The First Fear
Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Retaliation
Constructor (Europe)
Die Hard Trilogy
Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas
Discworld
Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!?
Discworld Noir
Dune 2000
Final Doom
Galaxian 3
Ghoul Panic
Klaymen Klaymen: Neverhood no Nazon (Japan)
Lemmings and Oh No! More Lemmings
Monopoly
Music 2000
Myst
Neorude (Japan)
Perfect Assassin
Policenauts (Japan)
Puchi Carat
Quake II
Railroad Tycoon II
Rescue Shot
Risk
Riven: The Sequel to Myst
RPG Maker
Sentinel Returns
SimCity 2000
Syndicate Wars
Tempest 2000 (Tempest X3)
Theme Aquarium (Japan)
Transport Tycoon
Warhammer: Dark Omen
Warzone 2100
X-COM: Enemy Unknown
X-COM: Terror from the Deep
Z
Certain games, mostly FPS games such as Quake II and Doom, have players plug a standard digital/analog pad in port 1 and a mouse in port 2. This way, players can use the mouse for aiming and shooting, while the pad can be used for moving, reloading, and so on.
Sony Mouse Component List
PCB "TD-T41V/\, MITSUMI"
Component Side:
1x 3pin 4.00MHz "[M]4000A, 85 2"
2x 2pin button (left/right)
1x 8pin connector (to cable with shield and 7 wires)
1x 3pin "811, T994I"
2x 3pin photo transistor (black) ;\or so, no idea which one is
2x 2pin photo diode (transparent) ;/sender and which is sensor
1x 2pin electrolyt capacitor 16V, 10uF
1x 32pin "(M), SC442116, FB G22K, JSAA815B"
1x 14pin "BA10339F, 817 L67" (Quad Comparator)
2x 3pin "LC" (amplifier for photo diodes)
1x 3pin "24-" (looks like a dual-diode or so)
plus many SMD resistors/capacitors
PSX.Controller.Pin1 DAT ---- brown -- Mouse.Pin4
PSX.Controller.Pin2 CMD ---- red -- Mouse.Pin3
PSX.Controller.Pin3 +7.5V ---- N/A
PSX.Controller.Pin4 GND ---- orange -- Mouse.Pin7 GND (G)
PSX.Controller.Pin5 +3.5V ---- yellow -- Mouse.Pin1
PSX.Controller.Pin6 /CSn ---- green -- Mouse.Pin5
PSX.Controller.Pin7 SCK ---- blue -- Mouse.Pin2
PSX.Controller.Pin8 /IRQ ---- N/A
PSX.Controller.Pin9 /ACK ---- purple -- Mouse.Pin6
PSX.Controller.Shield -------- shield -- Mouse.Pin8 GND (SHIELD)
PS/2 and USB Mouse Adaptors
Some keyboard adaptors are also including a mouse adaptor feature (either by
simulating normal Sony Mouse controller data, or via more uncommon ways like
using the PSX expansion port).
Controllers - Keyboards
RS232 Mice
Below is some info on RS232 serial mice. That info isn't directly PSX related
as the PSX normally doesn't support those mice.
With some efforts, one can upgrade the PSX SIO port to support RS232 voltages,
and with such a modded console one could use RS232 mice (in case one wants to
do that).
The nocash PSX bios can map a RS232 mouse to a spare controller slot (thereby
simulating a Sony mouse), that trick may work with various PSX games.
Standard Serial Mouse
A serial mouse should be read at 1200 bauds, 7 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit
(7N1) with DTR and RTS on. For best compatibility, the mouse should output 2
stop bits (so it could be alternately also read as 7N2 or 8N1). When the mouse
gets moved, or when a button gets pressed/released, the mouse sends 3 or 4
characters:
__First Character____________________
6 First Character Flag (1)
5 Left Button (1=Pressed)
4 Right Button (1=Pressed)
2-3 Upper 2bit of Vertical Motion
0-1 Upper 2bit of Horizontal Motion
__Second Character___________________
6 Non-first Character Flag (0)
5-0 Lower 6bit of Horizontal Motion
__Third Character____________________
6 Non-first Character Flag (0)
5-0 Lower 6bit of Vertical Motion
__Fourth Character (if any)__________
6 Non-first Character Flag (0)
5 Middle Button (1=Pressed)
4 Unused ???
3-0 Wheel ???
"M" = Two-Button Mouse (aka "Microsoft" mouse)
"3" = Three-Button Mouse (aka "Logitech" mouse)
"Z" = Mouse-Wheel
Mouse Systems Serial Mouse (rarely used)
Accessed at 1200 bauds, just like standard serial mouse, but with 8N1 instead
7N1, and with different data bytes.
__First Byte_________________________
7-3 First Byte Code (10000b)
2 Left? Button (0=Pressed)
1 Middle? Button (0=Pressed)
0 Right? Button (0=Pressed)
__Second Byte________________________
7-0 Horizontal Motion (X1)
__Third Byte_________________________
7-0 Vertical Motion (Y1)
__Fourth Byte________________________
7-0 Horizontal Motion (X2)
__Fifth Byte_________________________
7-0 Vertical Motion (Y2)
Notes
The Sony Mouse connects directly to the PSX controller port. Alternately serial
RS232 mice can be connected to the SIO port (with voltage conversion adaptor)
(most or all commercial games don't support SIO mice, nor does the original
BIOS do so, however, the nocash BIOS maps SIO mice to unused controller slots,
so they can be used even with commercial games; if the game uses BIOS functions
to read controller data).
Serial Mice (and maybe also the Sony mouse) do return raw mickeys, so effects
like double speed threshold must (should) be implemented by software. Mice are
rather rarely used by PSX games. The game "Perfect Assassin" includes
ultra-crude mouse support, apparently without threshold, and without properly
matching the cursor range to the screen resolution.
Controllers - Racing Controllers
neGcon Racing Controller (Twist) (NPC-101/SLPH-00001/SLEH-0003)
__Halfword 0 (Controller Info)_______________________________________________
0-15 Controller Info (5A23h=neGcon)
__Halfword 1 (Digital Switches)______________________________________________
0-2 Not used (always 1) (would be Select, L3, R3 on other pads)
3 Start Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
4 Joypad Up (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
5 Joypad Right (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
6 Joypad Down (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
7 Joypad Left (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
8-10 Not used (always 1) (would be L2, R2, L1 on other pads)
11 R Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (would be R1 on other pads)
12 B Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (would be /\ on other pads)
13 A Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) (would be () on other pads)
14-15 Not used (always 1) (would be ><, [] on other pads)
__Halfword 2 (Right joystick) (analog pad/stick in analog mode only)_________
0-7 Steering Axis (00h=Left, 80h=Center, FFh=Right) (or vice-versa?)
8-15 Analog I button (00h=Out ... FFh=In) (Out=released, in=pressed?)
__Halfword 3 (Left joystick) (analog pad/stick in analog mode only)__________
0-7 Analog II button (00h=Out ... FFh=In) (Out=released, in=pressed?)
8-15 Analog L button (00h=Out ... FFh=In) (Out=released, in=pressed?)
_____ _ _ _____ ____
|__L__\_______/ || \_______/__R__| / \
/ _ namco || neGcon \ / \
| _| |_ || B | | |
| |_ X _| ....||.... II A | .... Rotation Axis ... | ... \|/
| |_| || I | |
| START || | \
| ________ || ________ | \__\
| / \_||_/ \ | /
\____/ \____/
Namco Volume Controller (a paddle with two buttons) (SLPH-00015)
This is a cut-down variant of the neGcon, just a featureless small box. It does
have the same ID value as neGcon (ID=5A23h), but, it excludes most digital, and
all analog buttons.
_______
| namco | Halfword 1 (digital buttons):
| | Bit3 Button A (0=Pressed) (aka neGcon Start button)
| A B | Bit13 Button B (0=Pressed) (aka neGcon A button aka () button)
| | Other bits (not used, always 1)
| _ | Halfword 2 and 3 (analog inputs):
| (_) | Steering Axis (00h..FFh) (as for neGcon)
|_______| Analog I,II,L button values (not used, always 00h)
SANKYO N.ASUKA aka Nasca Pachinco Handle (SLPH-00007)
Another cut-down variant of the neGcon (with ID=5A23h, too). But, this one
seems to have only one button. Unlike Namco's volume controller it doesn't look
featureless. It looks pretty much as shown in the ascii-arts image below. Seems
to be supported by several irem titles. No idea what exactly it is used for,
it's probably not a sewing machine controller, nor an electronic amboss.
____ ____ Halfword 1 (digital buttons):
| / _ \ Bit12 Button (0=Pressed) (aka neGcon B button aka /\ button)
|_ / (_) ) Other bits (not used, always 1)
|_|___ /\ Halfword 2 and 3 (analog inputs):
____| |_ Steering Axis (00h..FFh) (as for neGcon)
|__________| Analog I,II,L button values (not used, always 00h)
Mad Catz Steering Wheel (SLEH-0006)
A neGcon compatible controller. The Twist-feature has been replaced by a
steering wheel (can be turned by 270 degrees), and the analog I and II buttons
by foot pedals. The analog L button has been replaced by a digital button (ie.
in neGcon mode, the last byte of the controller data can be only either 00h or
FFh). When not using the pedals, the I/II buttons on the wheel can be used
(like L button, they aren't analog though).
__________________________
/ ____________________ \ Stick
/ / \ \ ___ Brakes Gas
/ ( ) \ ( ) II I
/ I \ / A \ \ / ___ ___
/ /\ II \____________MODE__/ B /\ \ | | | | |
| | \ L _ R / | | | |!!!|_|!!!|___
| | ) _| |_ MadCatz ( | |_|_ /|!!!| |!!!| /
| | | |_ X _| | | | | | / |___| |___| /
| | | |_| | | | / / =========== /
| | \ SEL STA / | | / / =========== /
\ \__/ ______________________ \__/ / / /_____________/
\____/ \____/_/
|___________________________|
Unlike the neGon, the controller has Select, >\< and [] buttons, and a
second set of L/R buttons (at the rear-side of the wheel) (no idea if L1/R1 or
L2/R2 are at front?). Aside from the neGcon mode, the controller can be also
switched to Digital mode (see below for button chart).
MadCatz Dual Force Racing Wheel
Same as above, but with a new Analog mode (additionally to Digital and neGcon
modes). The new mode is for racing games that support only Analog Joypads
(instead of neGcon). Additionally it supports vibration feedback.
MadCatz MC2 Vibration compatible Racing Wheel and Pedals
Same as above, but with a redesigned wheel with rearranged buttons, the digital
pad moved to the center of the wheel, the L/R buttons at the rear-side of the
wheel have been replaced by 2-way butterfly buttons ("pull towards user" acts
as normal, the new "push away from user" function acts as L3/R3).
____________________
/ ________________ \ ___ Stick Brakes Gas
/ / MC2 \ \ ( ) ___ ___
/ /__________________\ \ \ / | | | |
| A () _|_ I >< | | |!!!|_|!!!|___
| B /\ _ | _ II [] | | /|!!!| |!!!| /
___| L2 / \ STA / \ R2 |_|_ / |___| |___| /
/ \ / | SEL | \ / \ / =========== /
/ ____\ |___| |___| /____ \ / =========== /
/__/ \____________________/ \__\ /_____________/
MadCatz Button Chart
Mode Buttons...................... Gas Brake Stick Wheel
Digital >< [] () /\ L1 R1 L2 R2 L1 R1 >< () L1/R1 lt/rt
Analog >< [] () /\ L1 R1 L2 R2 L3 R3 UP DN L1/R1 LT/RT
Negcon I II A B L R L R L R I II up/dn Twist
Namco Jogcon (NPC-105/SLEH-0020/SLPH-00126/SLUH-00059)
__Halfword 0 (Controller Info)___________________
0-15 Controller Info (5AE3h=Jogcon in Jogcon mode) (ie. not Digital mode)
halfword1: buttons: same as digital pad
halfword2:
0 unknown (uh, this isn't LSB of rotation?)
1-15 dial rotation (signed offset since last read?) (or absolute position?)
halfword3:
0 flag: dial was turned left (0=no, 1=yes)
1 flag: dial was turned right (0=no, 1=yes)
2-15 unknown
The Mode button probably allows to switch between Jogcon mode and Digital Pad mode (similar to the Analog button on other pads), not sure if the mode can be also changed by software via configuration commands...? Unknown how the motor is controlled; probably somewhat similar to vibration motors, ie. by the M1 and/or M2 bytes, but there must be also a way to select clockwise and anticlockwise direction)...? The controller does reportedly support config command 4Dh (same as analog rumble).
___ ________ ___
__/_L_\__ / \ __/_R_\__
/ _ \ / LED MODE \-/ \
| _| |_ | SEL STA | /\ |
| |_ X _| | ________ | [] () |
| |_| | / \ | >< |
|\_________/\/ \/\__ ______/|
| | | JOGCON | | |
| | | DIAL | | |
| | \ / | |
| | \________/ | |
| | | |
| | | |
\_____/ \_____/
Controllers - Lightguns
There are two different types of PSX lightguns (which are incompatible with
each other).
Namco Lightgun (GunCon)
Namco's Cinch-based lightguns are extracting Vsync/Hsync timings from the video
signal (via a cinch adaptor) (so they are working completely independed of
software timings).
Controllers - Lightguns - Namco (GunCon)
Konami Lightgun (IRQ10)
Konami's IRQ10-based lightguns are using the lightgun input on the controller
slot (which requires IRQ10/timings being properly handled at software side).
Controllers - Lightguns - Konami Justifier/Hyperblaster (IRQ10)
The IRQ10-method is reportedly less accurate (although that may be just due to
bugs at software side).
Third-Party Lightguns
There are also a lot of unlicensed lightguns which are either IRQ10-based, or
Cinch-based, or do support both.
For example, the Blaze Scorpion supports both IRQ10 and Cinch, and it does
additionally have a rumble/vibration function; though unknown how that rumble
feature is accessed, and which games are supporting it).
Lightgun Games
Controllers - Lightguns - PSX Lightgun Games
Compatibilty Notes (IRQ10 vs Cinch, PAL vs NTSC, Calibration)
Some lightguns are reportedly working only with PAL or only with NTSC games
(unknown which guns, and unknown what is causing problems; the IRQ10 method
should be quite hardware independed, the GunCon variant, too, although
theoretically, some GunCon guns might have problems to extract Vsync/Hsync from
either PAL or NTSC composite signals).
Lightguns from different manufacturers are reportedly returning slightly
different values, so it would be recommended to include a calibration function
in the game, using at least one calibration point (that would also resolve
different X/Y offsets caused by modifying GP1 display control registers).
Lightguns are needing to sense light from the cathode ray beam; as such they
won't work on regions of the screen that contain too dark/black graphics.
Controllers - Lightguns - Namco (GunCon)
GunCon Cinch-based Lightguns (Namco)
__Halfword 0 (Controller Info)___________________
0-15 Controller Info (5A63h=Namco Lightgun; GunCon/Cinch Type)
__Halfword 1 (Buttons)___________________________
0-2 Not used (All bits always 1)
3 Button A (Left Side) (0=Pressed, 1=Released) ;aka Joypad Start
4-12 Not used (All bits always 1)
13 Trigger Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) ;aka Joypad O-Button
14 Button B (Right Side) (0=Pressed, 1=Released) ;aka Joypad X-Button
15 Not used (All bits always 1)
__Halfword 2 (X)_________________________________
0-15 8MHz clks since HSYNC (01h=Error, or 04Dh..1CDh)
__Halfword 3 (Y)_________________________________
0-15 Scanlines since VSYNC (05h/0Ah=Error, PAL=20h..127h, NTSC=19h..F8h)
Error/Busy Codes
Coordinates X=0001h, Y=0005h indicates "unexpected light":
ERROR: Sensed light during VSYNC (eg. from a Bulb or Sunlight).
ERROR: no light sensed at all (not aimed at screen, or screen too dark).
BUSY: no light sensed yet (when trying to read gun during rendering).
On a NTSC console, time between VBLANK and VSYNC is around 30000 cpu clks, reading the lightgun (or analog joypads) takes around 15000 cpu clks. So, reading two controllers within that timeframe may be problematic (and reading up to eight controllers via multitaps would be absolutely impossible). As a workaround, one may arrange the read-order to read lightguns at VBLANK (and joypads at later time). If more than one lightgun is connected, then one may need to restrict reading to only one (or maybe: max two) guns per frame.
Minimum Brightness
Below are some average minimum brightness values, the gun may be unable to
return position data near/below that limits (especially coordinates close to
left screen border are most fragile). The exact limits may vary from gun to
gun, and will also depend on the TV Set's brightness setting.
666666h Minimum Gray
770000h Minimum Blue
007700h Minimum Green
000099h Minimum Red
BUG: On a plain RED screen, aiming at Y>=00F0h, the gun is randomly returning either Y, or Y-80h (that error occurs in about every 2nd frame, ie. at 50% chance). It's strange... no idea what is causing that effect.
Coordinates
The coordinates are updated in all frames (as opposed to some lightguns which
do update them only when pulling the trigger).
The absolute min/max coordinates may vary from TV set to TV set (some may show
a few more pixels than others). The relation of the gun's Screen Coodinates to
VRAM Coordinates does (obviously) depend on where the VRAM is located on the
screen; ie. on the game's GP1(06h) and GP1(07h) settings.
Vertical coordinates are counted in scanlines (ie. equal to pixels). Horizontal
coordinates are counted in 8MHz units (which would equal a resolution of 385
pixels; which can be, for example, converted to 320 pixel resolution as
X=X*320/385).
Misinformation (from bugged homebrew source code)
__Halfword 2 (X)_________________________________
0-7 X-Coordinate (actual: see X-Offset) ;\with unspecified
8-15 X-Offset (00h: X=X-80, Nonzero: X=X-80+220) ;/dotclock?
__Halfword 3 (Y)_________________________________
0-7 Y-Coordinate (actual: Y=Y-25) (but then, max is only 230, not 263 ?)
8-15 Pad ID (uh, what id?) (reportedly too dark/bright error flag?)
Namco Lightgun Drawing
_-_______________________--_
-----> | namco \\\\ \ Namco G-Con 45 (light gray) (cinch)
sensor |............ .. .....\\\\...|_
|_ : :.. _____ _\
| O :__../ )))| (
\__________/ |_\____/| \
: : | |
: : | | NPC-103
A-Button (Left) Trigger | | SLPH-00034/SLEH-0007/SLUH-00035
B-Button (Right) |______|
See also
Pinouts - Component List and Chipset Pin-Outs for Namco Lightgun, NPC-103
Controllers - Lightguns - Konami Justifier/Hyperblaster (IRQ10)
Overall IRQ10-Based Lightgun Access
Send 01h 42h 00h x0h 00h
Reply HiZ 31h 5Ah buttons
Standard IRQ10-based Lightguns (Konami)
The Controller Data simply consists of the ID and buttons states:
__Halfword 0 (Controller Info)___________________
0-15 Controller Info (5A31h=Konami Lightgun; Timer/IRQ10 type)
__Halfword 1 (Buttons)
0-2 Not used (All bits always 1)
3 Start Button (Left Side) (0=Pressed, 1=Released) ;aka Joypad Start
4-13 Not used (All bits always 1)
14 Back Button (Rear End) (0=Pressed, 1=Released) ;aka Joypad X-Button
15 Trigger Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released) ;aka Joypad []-Button
Konami Lightgun Drawing
__ ______ _
_|__\_______________/ ___ \ \ Konami Justifier/Hyperblaster (light green)
| _______________ __ / \ \ \
|__| _ _ _ _ |==| O| \O\ .... Back Button (Rear End)
|__:_:_:_:_:__ |___\__ / ( (
|_| ) \ : \ \
Trigger ...... \___/| :...|.|.... Start Button (Left Side)
| | |
| | | SLPH-00013/SLPH-00014/SLEH-0005/SLUH-00017
/ _|_|
\___--
Konami IRQ10 Notes
The PSX does have a lightgun input (Pin 8 of the controller), but, Sony did
apparently "forget" to latch the current cathode ray beam coordinates by
hardware when sensing the lightgun signal (quite strange, since that'd be a
simple, inexpensive, and very obvious feature for a gaming console).
Instead, the lightgun signal triggers IRQ10, and the interrupt handler is
intended to "latch" the coordinates by software (by reading Timer 0 and 1
values, which must configured to be synchronized with the GPU).
That method requires IRQ handling to be properly implemented in software
(basically, IRQs should not be disabled for longer periods, and DMA transfers
should not block the bus for longer periods). In practice, most programmers
probably don't realize how to do that, to the worst, Sony seems to have
delivered a slightly bugged library (libgun) to developers.
For details on Timers, see:
Timers
In some consoles, IRQ10 seems to be routed through a Secondary IRQ Controller,
see:
EXP2 DTL-H2000 I/O Ports
IRQ10 Priority
For processing IRQ10 as soon as possible, it should be assigned higher priority
than all other IRQs (ie. when using the SysEnqIntRP BIOS function, it should be
the first/newest element in priority chain 0). The libgun stuff assigns an even
higher priority by patching the BIOS exception handler, causing IRQ10 to be
processed shortly before processing the priority chains (the resulting IRQ
priority isn't actually higher as when using 1st element of chain 0; the main
difference is that it skips some time consuming code which pushes registers
R4..R30). For details on that patch, see:
BIOS Patches
Even if IRQ10 has highest priority, execution of (older) other IRQs may cause a
new IRQ10 to be executed delayed (because IRQs are disabled during IRQ
handling), to avoid that problem: Best don't enable any other IRQs except IRQ0
and IRQ10, or, if you need other IRQs, best have them enabled only during
Vblank (there are no scanlines drawn during vblank, so IRQ10 should never
trigger during that period). DMAs might also slow down IRQ execution, so best
use them only during Vblank, too.
IRQ10 Timer Reading
To read the current timer values the IRQ10 handler would be required to be
called \<immediately> after receiving the IRQ10 signal, which is more or
less impossible; if the main program is trying to read a mul/div/gte result
while the mul/div/gte operation is still busy may stop the CPU for some dozens
of clock cycles, and active DMA transfers or cache hits and misses in the IRQ
handler may cause different timings, moreover, timings may become completely
different if IRQs are disabled (eg. while another IRQ is processed).
However, IRQ10 does also get triggered in the next some scanlines, so the first
IRQ10 is used only as a notification that the CPU should watch out for further
IRQ10's. Ie. the IRQ10 handler should disable all DMAs, acknowledge IRQ10, and
then enter a waitloop that waits for the IRQ10 bit in I_STAT to become set
again (or abort if a timeout occurs) and then read the timers, reportedly like
so:
IF NTSC then X=(Timer0-140)*0.198166, Y=Timer1
IF PAL then X=(Timer0-140)*0.196358, Y=Timer1
Mind that reading Timer values in Dotclock/Hblank mode is unstable, for Timer1 this can be fixed by the read-retry method, for Timer0 this could be done too, but one would need to subtract the retry-time to get a correct coordinate; alternately Timer0 can run at system clock (which doesn't require read-retry), but it must be then converted to video clock (mul 11, div 7), and then from video clock to dot clock (eg. div 8 for 320-pixel mode).
Above can be repeated for the next some scanlines (allowing to take the medium values as result, and/or to eliminate faulty values which are much bigger or smaller than the other values). Once when you have collected enough values, disable IRQ10, so it won't trigger on further scanlines within the current frame.
IRQ10 Bugs
BUG: The "libgun" library doesn't acknowledge the old IRQ10 \<immediately>
before waiting for a new IRQ10, so the timer values after sensing the new IRQ10
are somewhat random (especially for the first processed scanline) (the library
allows to read further IRQ10's in further scanlines, which return more stable
results).
No idea how many times IRQ10 gets typically repeated? Sporting Clays allocates
a buffer for up to 20 scanlines (which would cause pretty much of a slowdown
since the CPU is just waiting during that period) (nethertheless, the game uses
only the first timer values, ie. the bugged libgun-random values).
Unknown if/how two-player games (with 2 lightguns) are working with the IRQ10
method... if IRQ10 is generated ONLY after pressing the trigger button, then it
may work, unless both players have Trigger pressed at the same time... and,
maybe one can enable/disable the lightguns by whatever commmand being sent to
the controller (presumably that "x0h" byte, see above), so that gun 1 generates
IRQ10 only in each second frame, and gun 2 only in each other frame...?
Controllers - Lightguns - PSX Lightgun Games
PSX Lightgun Games
Some games are working only with IRQ10 or only with Cinch, some games support
both methods:
Area 51 (Mesa Logic/Midway) (IRQ10)
Crypt Killer (Konami) (IRQ10)
Die Hard Trilogy 1: (Probe Entertainment) (IRQ10)
Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas (n-Space) (IRQ10/Cinch)
Elemental Gearbolt (Working Designs) (IRQ10/Cinch)
Extreme Ghostbusters: Ultimate Invasion (LSP) (Cinch)
Galaxian 3 (Cinch)
Ghoul Panic (Namco) (Cinch)
Gunfighter: The Legend of Jesse James (Rebellion) (Cinch)
Judge Dredd (Gremlin) (Cinch)
Lethal Enforcers 1-2 (Konami) (IRQ10)
Maximum Force (Midway) (IRQ10/Cinch)
Mighty Hits Special (Altron) (EU/JPN) (Cinch)
Moorhuhn series (Phenomedia) (Cinch)
Point Blank 1-3 (Namco) (Cinch)
Project Horned Owl (Sony) (IRQ10)
Rescue Shot (Namco) (Cinch)
Resident Evil: Gun Survivor (Capcom) (JPN/PAL versions) (Cinch)
Silent Hill (IRQ10) ("used for an easter egg")
Simple 1500 Series Vol.024 - The Gun Shooting (unknown type)
Simple 1500 Series Vol.063 - The Gun Shooting 2 (unknown type)
Snatcher (IRQ10)
Sporting Clays (Charles Doty) (homebrew with buggy source code) (IRQ10/Cinch)
Star Wars Rebel Assault II (IRQ10)
Time Crisis, and Time Crisis 2: Project Titan (Namco) (Cinch)
Controllers - Configuration Commands
Some controllers can be switched from Normal Mode to Config Mode. The Config
Mode was invented for activating the 2nd rumble motor in SCPH-1200 analog
joypads. Additionally, the Config commands can switch between analog/digital
inputs (without needing to manually press the Analog button), activate more
analog inputs (on Dualshock2), and read some type/status bytes.
Normal Mode
42h "B" Read Buttons (and analog inputs when in analog mode)
43h "C" Enter/Exit Configuration Mode (stay normal, or enter)
Configuration Mode
40h "@" Unused, or Dualshock2: Get/Set ButtonAttr?
41h "A" Unused, or Dualshock2: Get Reply Capabilities
42h "B" Read Buttons AND analog inputs (even when in digital mode)
43h "C" Enter/Exit Configuration Mode (stay config, or exit)
44h "D" Set LED State (analog mode on/off)
45h "E" Get LED State (and Type/constants)
46h "F" Get Variable Response A (depending on incoming bit)
47h "G" Get whatever values (response HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 02h 00h 01h 00h)
48h "H" Unknown (response HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 00h 00h 01h 00h)
49h "I" Unused
4Ah "J" Unused
4Bh "K" Unused
4Ch "L" Get Variable Response B (depending on incoming bit)
4Dh "M" Get/Set RumbleProtocol
4Eh "N" Unused
4Fh "O" Unused, or Dualshock2: Set ReplyProtocol
Normal Mode - Command 42h "B" - Read Buttons (and analog inputs when enabled)
Send 01h 42h 00h xx yy (00h 00h 00h 00h) (...)
Reply HiZ id 5Ah buttons ( analog-inputs ) (dualshock2 buttons...)
yy.bit0-7 ---> Left/Large Motor M1 (analog slow/fast) (00h=stop, FFh=fastest)
xx.bit0 ---> Right/small Motor M2 (digital on/off) (0=off, 1=on)
Normal Mode - Command 43h "C" - Enter/Exit Configuration Mode
Send 01h 43h 00h xx 00h (zero padded...) (...)
Reply HiZ id 5Ah buttons (analog inputs...) (dualshock2 buttons...)
xx=00h Stay in Normal mode
xx=01h Enter Configuration mode
Caution 2: A similar reset occurs when the user pushes the Analog button; this is causing rumble motors to be stopped and locked, and of course, the analog/digital state gets changed.
Caution 3: If config commands were used, and the user does then push the analog button, then the 5Ah-byte gets replaced by 00h (ie. responses change from "HiZ id 5Ah ..." to "HiZ id 00h ...").
Config Mode - Command 42h "B" - Read Buttons AND analog inputs
Send 01h 42h 00h M2 M1 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah buttons analog-inputs
Config Mode - Command 43h "C" - Enter/Exit Configuration Mode
Send 01h 43h 00h xx 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
xx=00h Enter Normal mode (Exit Configuration mode)
xx=01h Stay in Configuration mode
Config Mode - Command 44h "D" - Set LED State (analog mode on/off)
Send 01h 44h 00h Led Key 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h Err 00h 00h 00h
When Led=00h --> Digital mode, with LED=Off
When Led=01h --> Analog mode, with LED=On/red
When Led=02h..FFh --> Ignored (and, in case of dualshock2: set Err=FFh)
When Key=00h..02h --> Unlock (allow user to push Analog button)
When Key=03h --> Lock (stay in current mode, ignore Analog button)
When Key=04h..FFh --> Acts same as (Key AND 03h)
Config Mode - Command 45h "E" - Get LED State (and Type/constants)
Send 01h 45h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah Typ 02h Led 02h 01h 00h
Led: Current LED State (00h=Off, 01h=On/red)
Typ: Controller Type (01h=PSX/Analog Pad, 03h=PS2/Dualshock2)
Config Mode - Command 46h "F" - Get Variable Response A
Send 01h 46h 00h ii 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply Hiz F3h 5Ah 00h 00h cc dd ee ff
When ii=01h --> returns cc,dd,ee,ff = 01h,01h,01h,14h
Otherwise --> returns cc,dd,ee,ff = all zeroes
Note: This is called PadInfoAct in official docs, ii is the actuator (aka motor) and the last response byte contains its current drain (10 or 20 units). Whereas, Sony inisits that controllers should never exceed 60 units (eg. when having more than 2 joypads connected to multitaps).
Config Mode - Command 47h "G" - Get whatever values
Send 01h 47h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 02h 00h 01h 00h
Config Mode - Command 4Ch "L" - Get Variable Response B
Send 01h 4Ch 00h ii 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply Hiz F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 00h dd 00h 00h
When ii=01h --> returns dd=07h.
Otherwise --> returns dd=00h.
Config Mode - Command 48h "H" - Unknown (response HiZ F3h 5Ah 4x00h 01h 00h)
Send 01h 48h 00h ii 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 00h 00h ee 00h
Otherwise --> returns ee=00h.
Purpose unknown. The command does not seem to be used by any games.
Config Mode - Command 4Dh "M" - Get/Set RumbleProtocol
Controllers - Vibration/Rumble Control
Config Mode - Command 40h "@" Dualshock2: Get/Set ButtonAttr?
Config Mode - Command 41h "A" Dualshock2: Get Reply Capabilities
Config Mode - Command 4Fh "O" Dualshock2: Set ReplyProtocol
Controllers - Analog Buttons (Dualshock2)
Config Mode - Command 49h "I" - Unused
Config Mode - Command 4Ah "J" - Unused
Config Mode - Command 4Bh "K" - Unused
Config Mode - Command 4Eh "N" - Unused
Config Mode - Command 40h "@" - Unused (except, used by Dualshock2)
Config Mode - Command 41h "A" - Unused (except, used by Dualshock2)
Config Mode - Command 4Fh "O" - Unused (except, used by Dualshock2)
Send 01h 4xh 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Note
Something called "Guitar Hero controller" does reportedly also support Config
commands. Unknown if that thing does have the same inputs & rumble motors
as normal analog PSX joypads, and if it does return special type values.
Controllers - Vibration/Rumble Control
Rumble (aka "Vibration Function") is basically controlled by two previously
unused bytes of the standard controller Read command.
There are two methods to control the rumble motors, the old method is very
simple (but supports only one motor), the new method envolves a bunch of new
configuration commands (and supports two motors).
SCPH-1150 DualAnalog Pad with 1 motor ;-old rumble method
SCPH-1200 DualAnalog Pad with 2 motors, PSX-design ;\new rumble method
SCPH-110 DualAnalog Pad with 2 motors, PSone-design ;/
SCPH-10010 DualAnalog Pad with 2 motors, PS2/Dualshock2 ;-plus analog buttons
Blaze Scorpion Lightgun with rumble ;\unknow how to control rumble
Fishing controllers with rumble ;/
SCPH-1180 Analog Pad without rumble ;\unknow if there're config commands
SCPH-1110 Analog Stick without rumble ;/for analog mode (probably not)
Old Method, one motor, no config commands (SCPH-1150, SCPH-1200, SCPH-110)
The SCPH-1150 doesn't support any special config commands, instead, rumble is
solely done via the normal joypad read command:
Send 01h 42h 00h xx yy (00h 00h 00h 00h)
Reply HiZ id 5Ah buttons ( analog-inputs )
xx --> must be 40h..7Fh (ie. bit7=0, bit6=1) ;\switches motor on
yy --> must be 01h,03h,...,FDh,FFh (ie. bit0=1) ;/
LED state is don't care (rumble works with led OFF, RED, and GREEN). In absence of config commands, the LED can be controlled only manually (via Analog button), the current LED state is implied in the controller "id" byte.
For backwards compatibility, the above old method does also work on SCPH-1200 and SCPH-110 (for controlling the right/small motor), alternately those newer pads can use the config commands (for gaining access to both motors).
New Method, two motors, with config commands (SCPH-1200, SCPH-110)
For using the new rumble method, one must unlock the new rumble mode, for that
purpose Sony has invented a "slightly" overcomplicated protocol with not less
than 16 new commands (the rumble relevant commands are 43h and 4Dh, also,
command 44h may be useful for activating analog inputs by software, and, once
when rumble is unlocked, command 42h is used to control the rumble motors).
Anyways, here's the full command set...
Controllers - Configuration Commands
And, the rumble-specific config command is described below...
Config Mode - Command 4Dh "M" - Get/Set RumbleProtocol
Send 01h 4Dh 00h aa bb cc dd ee ff ;<-- set NEW aa..ff values
Reply Hiz F3h 5Ah aa bb cc dd ee ff ;<-- returns OLD aa..ff values
00h = Map Right/small Motor (Motor M2) to bit0 of this byte
01h = Map Left/Large Motor (Motor M1) to bit0-7 of this byte
02h..FEh = Unknown (can be mapped, maybe for extra motors/outputs)
FFh = Map nothing to this byte
Send 01h 4Dh 00h 00h 01h FFh FFh FFh FFh ;enable new method (two motors)
Send 01h 4Dh 00h FFh FFh FFh FFh FFh FFh ;disable motor control
In the initial state, aa..ff are all FFh, and the controller does then use the old rumble control method (with only one motor). However, that old method gets disabled once when having messed with config commands (unknown if/how one can re-enable the old method by software).
Unknown Dualshock2 Vibration
Dualshock2 does reportedly have "two more levels of vibration", unknown what
that means and if it's used by any PSX or PS2 games... it might refer to the
small motor which usually has only 2 levels (on/off) and might have 4 levels
(fast/med/slow/off) on dualshock2... but, if so, it's unknown how to
control/unlock that feature.
Also, the PSone controller (SCPH-110) appear to have been released shortly
after Dualshock2, unknown if that means that it might have that feature, too.
Note
Rumble is a potentially annoying feature, so games that do support rumble
should also include an option to disable it.
Controllers - Analog Buttons (Dualshock2)
Dualshock2 has three new commands (40h,41h,4Fh) for configuring analog buttons.
Additionally, Command 45h does return a different type byte for Dualshock2.
Dualshock2 is a PS2 controller. However, it can be also used with PSX games
(either by connecting the controller to a PSX console, or by playing a PSX game
on a PS2 console).
The analog button feature is reportedly rarely used by PS2 games (and there
aren't any PSX games known to use it).
Config Mode - Command 40h "@" Dualshock2: Get/Set ButtonAttr?
Send 01h 40h 00h Idx Val 00h 00h 00h 00h ;<-- Set NEW Val, array[Idx]=Val
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h Val 00h 00h 00h ;<-- Old Val (or FFh when Idx>0Bh)
Digital button sensitivity, or Analog button sensitivity, or
Analog button bit-depth/conversion speed, or something else?
Config Mode - Command 41h "A" Dualshock2: Get Reply Capabilities
Send 01h 41h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah FFh FFh 03h 00h 00h 00h
Config Mode - Command 4Fh "O" Dualshock2: Set ReplyProtocol
Send 01h 41h 00h aa bb cc dd ee ff
Reply HiZ F3h 5Ah 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
- HighZ (always transferred) 1st byte
- ID/Mode/Len (always transferred) 2nd byte
- 5Ah (always transferred) 3rd byte
0 LSB of digital buttons (0=No, 1=Yes) 4th byte
1 MSB of digital buttons (0=No, 1=Yes) 5th byte
2 RightJoyX (0=No, 1=Yes) 6th byte
3 RightJoyY (0=No, 1=Yes) 7th byte
4 LeftJoyX (0=No, 1=Yes) 8th byte
5 LeftJoyY (0=No, 1=Yes) 9th byte
6 DPAD Right (0=No, 1=Yes) button 00h 10th byte
7 DPAD Left (0=No, 1=Yes) button 01h 11th byte
8 DPAD Uup (0=No, 1=Yes) button 02h 12th byte
9 DPAD Down (0=No, 1=Yes) button 03h 13th byte
10 Button /\ (0=No, 1=Yes) button 04h 14th byte
11 Button () (0=No, 1=Yes) button 05h 15th byte
12 Button >< (0=No, 1=Yes) button 06h 16th byte
13 Button [] (0=No, 1=Yes) button 07h 17th byte
14 Button L1 (0=No, 1=Yes) button 08h 18th byte
15 Button R1 (0=No, 1=Yes) button 09h 19th byte
16 Button L2 (0=No, 1=Yes) button 0Ah 20th byte
17 Button R2 (0=No, 1=Yes) button 0Bh 21st byte
18-39 Must be 0 (otherwise command is ignored)
40-47 Unknown (no effect?)
Send 01h 41h 00h 03h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h Digital buttons
Send 01h 41h 00h 3Fh 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h Digital buttons + analog sticks
Send 01h 41h 00h FFh FFh 03h 00h 00h 00h Enable all 18 input bytes
CAUTION: Sending Command 44h does RESET the Command 4Fh setting (either to DigitalMode=000003h or AnalogMode=00003Fh; same happens when toggling mode via Analog button).
Note: Some Dualshock2 Config Mode commands do occassionally send 00h, 5Ah, or
FFh as last (9th) reply byte (unknown if that is some error/status thing, or
garbage).
Analog Button Sensitivity
The pressure sensors are rather imprecise and results may vary on various
factors, including the pressure angle.
00h Button released
01h..2Fh Normal (soft) pressure
30h..FEh Medium pressure
FFh Hard pressure
Medium pressure is less predictably: The values do not increase linearily, it's difficult to apply a specific amount of medium pressure (such like 80h..9Fh), increasing pressure may sometimes jump from 24h to FFh, completely skipping the medium range.
Relying on the medium range might work for accelleration buttons (where the user could still adjust the pressure when the accelleration is too high or too low); but it would be very bad practice to assign irreversible actions to medium pressure (such like Soft=Load, Medium=Save, Hard=Quit).
Digital Button Sensitivity
Digital inputs are converting the analog inputs as so:
Analog=00h --> not pressed
Analog=01h..FFh --> pressed (no matter if soft, medium, or hard pressure)
See also
[https://gist.github.com/scanlime/5042071] - tech (=mentions unknown details) [https://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/PS2/] - guide (=omits unknown stuff)
Controllers - Dance Mats
PSX Dance Mats are essentially normal joypads with uncommonly arranged buttons,
the huge mats are meant to be put on the floor, so the user could step on them.
Dance Mat vs Joypad Compatibility
There are some differences to normal joypads: First of, the L1/L2/R1/R2
shoulder buttons are missing in most variants. And, the mats are allowing to
push Left+Right and Up+Down at once, combinations that aren't mechanically
possible on normal joypads (some dancing games do actually require those
combinations, whilst some joypad games may get confused on them).
Dance Mat Unknown Things
Unknown if the mat was sold in japan, and if so, with which SLPH/SCPH number.
Unknown if the mat's middle field is also having a button assigned.
Unknown if the mat is having a special controller ID, or if there are other
ways to detect mats (the mats are said to be compatible with skateboard games,
so the mats are probably identifying themselves as normal digital joypad;
assuming that those skateboard games haven't been specifically designed for
mats).
Dance Mat Games
D.D.R. Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Remix
(and maybe whatever further games)
Dance Mat Variants
There is the US version (DDR Dance Pad, SLUH-00071), and a slightly different
European version (Official Dance Mat, SLEH-00023: shiny latex style with
perverted colors, and Start/Select arranged differently). The japanese version
(RU017) resembles the US version, but without Triangle/Square symbols drawn in
lower left/right edges.
And there is a handheld version (with additional L1/L2/R2/R1 buttons; maybe
unlicensed; produced as MINI DDR, and also as Venom Mini Dance Pad).
US Version (white/black/red/blue) Handheld Version (blue/gray)
__________.---------.___________ _____/ MINI \_____
| \ / | | D.D.R. |
| SELECT '-------' START | |L1 L2 SEL STA R2 R1|
|------------.------.------------| | ___ ___ ___ |
| .''''. / \ .''''. | || X | | ^ | | O ||
| | \/ | | /\ | | .''. | | ||___| |___| |___||
| | /\ | | /..\ | | '..' | | | ___ .---. ___ |
| '....' '. || .' '....' | || < | |Stay | | > ||
| .-------. .''''''''. .-------. | ||___| |Cool!| |___||
|/ /| .' '. |\ \| | ___ '___' ___ |
| / |-- | | --| \ | || []| | v | | /\||
| \ |-- | Stay Cool! | --| / | ||___| |___| |___||
|\ \| '. .' |/ /| |___________________|
| '-------' '........' '-------' |
| .''''. .' || '. .''''. | Gothic Dance Mat (black/silver)
| | /\ | | \''/ | | |''| | | _.----------._
| | /__\ | | \/ | | |..| | | | \ SEL STA / | This one
| '....' \ / '....' | | '--------' | wasn't ever
'------------'------'------------' | .----------. | produced,
| | .''''. | | as cool as
European Version (pink/blue/yellow) | | | /\ | | | it could have
__________.---------.___________ | | | /..\ | | | been, the lame
| \ SEL STA / | | | '.||.' | | marketing
| '-------' | | +----------+ | people didn't
|----------.----------.----------| | | .''''. | | even think
| .''''. | .''''. | .''''. | | | | /\ | | | about it.
| | \/ | | | /\ | | | .''. | | | | | /..\ | | |
| | /\ | | | /..\ | | | '..' | | | | '.||.' | |
| '....' | '.||.' | '....' | | +----------+ |
|----------+-.. ..-+----------| | | .'||'. | |
| .'/|'. / '''' \ .'|\'. | | | | \''/ | | |
| | / |--|/ \|--| \ | | | | | \/ | | |
| | \ |--|\ /|--| / | | | | '....' | |
| '.\|.' \ .... / '.|/.' | | +----------+ |
|----------+-'' ''-+----------| | | .'||'. | |
| .''''. | .'||'. | .''''. | | | | \''/ | | |
| | /\ | | | \''/ | | | |''| | | | | | \/ | | |
| | /__\ | | | \/ | | | |..| | | | | '....' | |
| '....' | '....' | '....' | | '----------' '
'----------|----------|----------' '--------------'
Stay Cool?
Despite of the "Stay Cool!" slogan, the mat wasn't very cool - not at all! It
offered only two steps back-and-forth, and also allowed to do extremly uncool
side-steps. Not to mention that it would melt when dropping a burning cigarette
on it. Stay Away!
Controllers - Pop'n Controllers
Controllers used for Konami's Pop'n Music series. At least a few different versions of the controller (Pop'n Controller, Pop'n Controller 2, larger arcade-size version, possibly others and in different color variations) have been released for the PS1 and PS2. Unknown if the controllers released in the PS2 era have any additional commands not present in the original Pop'n Controller, but they are supposedly fully compatible with PS1 Pop'n Music games.
Pop'n Controllers report as digital controllers (ID byte 41h), but the left, right, and down d-pad controls are not connected to any physical buttons and are always reported as pressed (in the first transferred button byte, bits 5-7 are always 0). Pop'n Music games check these bits to determine if a Pop'n Controller is connected and will change the in-game controls accordingly if so.
Controllers - Densha de Go! / Jet de Go! Controllers
Controllers used for Taito's Densha de Go! and Jet de Go! series. Unknown what method is being used by Densha de Go! and Jet de Go! games for detecting these controllers.
- The workings of Densha de Go! PSX controllers have been extensively researched in the ddgo-controller-docs repo.
- The Jet de Go! PSX controller comes in gray and black color. It seems to work the same as an analog controller and supports vibration. The steering wheel is mapped to the left stick (wheel rotation as horizontal, wheel raise/lower as vertical axis). The thrust throttle seems mapped to the right stick Y-axis full range (so half throttle matches vertically centered right stick).
Controllers - Fishing Controllers
The fishing rods are (next to lightguns) some of the more openly martial
playstation controllers - using the credo that "as long as you aren't using
dynamite: it's okay to kill them cause they don't have any feelings."
PSX Fishing Controller Games
Action Bass (Syscom Entertainment) (1999) (SLPH-00100)
Bass Landing (ASCII/agetec) (1999) (SLPH-00100, SLUH-00063)
Bass Rise, Fishing Freaks (Bandai) (1999) (BANC-0001)
Bass Rise Plus, Fishing Freaks (Bandai) (2000) (BANC-0001, SLPH-00100)
Breath of Fire IV (Capcom) (SLUH-00063)
Championship Bass (EA Sports) (2000) (SLUH-00063)
Fish On! Bass (Pony Canyon) (1999) (BANC-0001, SLPH-00100)
Fisherman's Bait 2/Exiting Bass2 - Big Ol'Bass(Konami)(SLPH-00100,SLUH-00063)
Fishing Club: (series with 3 titles) (have "headset-logo" on back?)
Lake Masters II (1999) (Dazz/Nexus) (SLPH-00100)
Lake Masters Pro (1999) (Dazz/Nexus) (BANC-0001, SLPH-00100)
Let's Go Bassfishing!: Bass Tsuri ni Ikou! (Banpresto) (1999) (SLPH-00100)
Matsukata Hiroki no World Fishing (BPS The Choice) (1999) (SLPH-00100)
Murakoshi Seikai-Bakuchou Nihon Rettou (Victor) (SLPH-00100)
Murakoshi Masami-Bakuchou Nippon Rettou:TsuriConEdition (1999) (SLPH-00100)
Pakuchikou Seabass Fishing (JP, 03/25/99) (Victor) (SLPH-00100)
Perfect Fishing: Bass Fishing (2000) (Seta) (yellow/green logo)
Perfect Fishing: Rock Fishing (2000) (Seta) (yellow/green logo)
Oyaji no Jikan: Nechan, Tsuri Iku De! (2000) (Visit) (BANC-0001, SLPH-00100)
Reel Fishing II / Fish Eyes II (2000)(Natsume/Victor)(SLPH-00100, SLUH-00063)
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 29: The Tsuri (2000) (yellow/green logo)
Suizokukan Project: Fish Hunter e no Michi (1999)(Teichiku)(SLPH-00100)
Super Bass Fishing (1999) (King) (BANC-0001, SLPH-00100, yellow/green logo)
Super Black Bass X2 (2000) (Starfish) (SLPH-00100)
Tsuwadou Keiryuu Mizuumihen (Best Edition)(2000) (ASCII PS1+PS2 controllers?)
Tsuwadou Seabass Fishing (PlayStation the Best) (1999) (Oz Club) (SLPH-00100)
Uki Uki Tsuri Tengoku Nagami/Uokami Densetsu Oe (2000) (Teichiku)(SLPH-00100)
Umi no Nushi Tsuri-Takarajima ni Mukatte (1999)(Victor)(BANC-0001,SLPH-00100)
Winning Lure (Hori) (2000) (for Hori HPS-97 controller) AKA HPS-98 ?
Logos on CD Covers
US Fishing games should have a "SLUH-00063" logo. European Fishing games don't
have any fishing logos; apparently fishing controllers haven't been officially
released/supported in Europe.
Japanese Fishing games can have a bunch of logos: Usually BANC-0001 or
SLPH-00100 (or both).
Moreover, some japanese games have a yellow/green fishing logo with japanese
text (found on Perfect Fishing: Bass Fishing, Perfect Fishing: Rock Fishing,
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 29: The Tsuri, Super Bass Fishing) (unknown if that
logo refer to other special hardware, or if it means the "normal" BANC-0001 or
SLPH-00100 controllers.
And Moreover, some japanese games have some sort of "headset" logos with
japanese text, these seem to have same meaning as SLPH-00100; as indicated by
photos on CD cover of Tsuwadou Keiryuu Mizuumihen (Best Edition) (2000); that
CD cover also has a "headset 2" logo, which seems to mean a newer PS2 variant
of the SLPH-00100.
PSX Fishing Controllers
ASCII Tsuricon SLPH-00100 (also marked with a second serial, ASC-0514TR, on the packaging box)
ASCII Tsuricon 2 ASC-0521TR2 (has a mode switch with 3 settings. "1" is original Tsuricon mode, "2" is Tsuricon 2 mode. Unknown what the unnumbered mode does)
Sammy Tsuricon 2 SMY-0506FS (looks to be identical to the ASCII Tsuricon 2)
Sammy Tsuricon 2+ SMY-0511FS (unknown what the differences between this and the Tsuricon 2 are)
Agetec Bass Landing Fishing Controller SLUH-00063 (US version of ASCII's SLPH-00100 controller)
Bandai Fishing Controller BANC-0001 (dark gray/blue) (has less buttons than ASCII/agetec)
Interact Fission (light gray/blue)(similar to ASCII/agetec, 2 extra buttons?)
Naki (transparent blue) (looks like a clone of the ASCII/agetec controllers)
Hori HPS-97/HPS-98 (black/gray) (a fishing rod attached to a plastic fish)
Tech Info (all unknown)
Unknown how to detect fishing controllers.
Unknown how to read buttons, joystick, crank, motion sensors.
Unknown how to control rumble/vibration.
Unknown if/how Bandai differs from ASCII/agetec (aside from less buttons).
Unknown how the Hori thing works.
ASCII SLPH-00100 / agetec SLUH-00063 (silver)
___
__|___|__
_| |_ _ __
| | | | | |=|__| <--- crank handle
| | SEL STA | | | |
| | | |---| \ ASCII SLPH-00100
| \ / |---| / agetec SLUH-00063
/ L1 R1 \ | | __
| L2 .---. R2 | |_|=|__|
| | joy | |
| |stick| | <------- analog thumb controlled joystick
| /\ '---' >< |
| [] () |
\ ASCII /
'.___________.' \___ 10 buttons (SEL,STA,L1,L2,R1,R2,/\,[],(),><)
\ _____ /
| | Note: many (not all) agetec controllers
| | have the >< and () buttons exchanged
| |
| | Aside from the crank/buttons/joystick,
| | the controller reportedly contains:
| | some sort of motion sensors?
| | some kind of rumble/vibration?
| |
'.___.'
'--...___ cable
Bandai BANC-0001 (dark gray/blue)
___
__|___|__
_| | _ __
| .---. |\ | |=|__| <--- crank handle
|| joy | | | | |
||stick| | |-#-| \
| '---' | |-#-| /
/ \ | \ | | __
| | ... | | |_|=|__|
| | : : | ()|
| |O :___: O| | <--- two buttons: () and ><
| |- |___| -| ><| and some slide switch with I and 0 positions?
| | | |
\ | BANDAI | / unknown if the joystick is digital or analog
'._\_______/_.'
| | unknown if there are motion sensors and/or rumble
'. .'
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
'.___.'
'--...___ cable
Hori HPS-97 / HPS-98 (black/gray)
....----------------O
.'' \ HPS-97 (controller bundled with game)
_:_ \ \ HPS-98 (controller only, for HPS-96 game)
__|___|__ \ short \
_| |_ elastic \
| | pole \
| | \ <--- string (from pole to
| SW? | _ __ \ reel inside of fish)
/ \ | |=|__| \
| .---. | | | \
| ( ) | joy | |--| \ \ ___
| |stick| |--| / \ / /
| ( ) '---' | | | __ \ ...---''''''--. /|
| | |_|=|__| <--- crank \ ' '/ |
\ ( ) ( ) / handle '..| |.
'.___________.' |__________________| :
\ / \ plastic fish :
| | joystick, (presumable some heavy :
| | four buttons, stationary thing that :
| | and a switch? rests on floor) :
| | (presumably with :
| | motor-driven reel?) :
| | :
| | the two cables do probably connect :
| | to both of the PSX controller slots :
'.___.' cable 2 ---'
'--...___ cable 1
Controllers - PS2 DVD Remote
An accessory released by Sony for the PS2, consisting of an infrared remote
control and a receiver dongle that plugs into a controller port. The remote
features all standard controller buttons (including L3/R3) as well as additional
controls for the PS2's DVD player.
The receiver behaves very differently from any other known device: it does not
respond to any command until a button on the remote is pressed. When a valid IR
code is received it will start accepting commands for about 2000-2500 ms, then
become unresponsive again. It will initially behave as two different devices,
one with address 01h acting like a standard digital controller and the other
with address 61h exposing IR codes as received from the remote.
Command 04h - IR poll (and disable controller mode)
Send Reply Comment
61h N/A IR receiver address
04h 12h Receive ID bits 0-7, send command byte
00h 5Ah Receive ID bits 8-15
00h len Receive code length (20 for DVD remote, 0 if no button is pressed)
00h code Receive code bits 16-23
00h code Receive code bits 8-15
00h code Receive code bits 0-7
The code is returned LSB first and MSB aligned, i.e. it should be right-shifted by (24 - len) bits to obtain the "raw" code as sent by the remote. For instance:
Code sent by remote (first bit after preamble to last bit):
0000 0000 1011 1001 0010
Code sent by remote (MSB to LSB):
0100 1001 1101 0000 0000
Data returned by receiver:
code[16:23] = 01001001
code[8:15] = 11010000
code[0:7] = 0000xxxx ; xxxx = (24 - len) bits of padding (all zeroes)
Reassembled MSB-aligned code (MSB to LSB):
0100 1001 1101 0000 0000 xxxx
Command 06h, 03h - Re-enable controller mode
Send Reply Comment
61h N/A IR receiver address
06h 12h Receive ID bits 0-7, send command byte 1
03h 5Ah Receive ID bits 8-15, send command byte 2
00h ? Receive unknown data, send padding
00h ?
00h ?
00h ?
Command 0Fh - Unknown
This command exists (the receiver will keep pulling /ACK low) but its purpose is
currently unknown. It could possibly be an alternate poll command that does not
disable controller mode.
IR code format
The DVD remote always emits 20-bit IR codes. The receiver does return the length
of the code, but it's unclear if it can receive codes with lengths other than 20
bits.
All non-controller buttons on the remote are arranged in an 8x16 button matrix,
shown below (transposed for readability):
| Col | Row 0 | Row 1 | Row 2 | Row 3 | Row 4 | Row 5 | Row 6 | Row 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | Previous | Slow << | |||||
| 1 | 2 | Next | Slow >> | |||||
| 2 | 3 | Play | ||||||
| 3 | 4 | Scan << | Subtitle | |||||
| 4 | 5 | Scan >> | Display | Audio | ||||
| 5 | 6 | Shuffle | Angle | |||||
| 6 | 7 | |||||||
| 7 | 8 | |||||||
| 8 | 9 | Time | Stop | |||||
| 9 | 0 | Pause | Up | |||||
| 10 | Title | A<->B | Down | |||||
| 11 | Enter | DVD Menu | Left | |||||
| 12 | Repeat | Right | ||||||
| 13 | ||||||||
| 14 | Return | |||||||
| 15 | Clear | Program |
Each button in the matrix is assigned a code as follows:
code = 49D00h OR (row << 4) OR (column) ; sent LSB first
; where row = 0..7, column = 0..15
code = DAD50h OR (id) ; sent LSB first
; where id = 0..15, index of the bit that would normally represent the button
; in the bitfield returned by a controller poll command
; (i.e. 0=Select, 1=L3, 2=R3, 3=Start, 4=Up, 5=Right, etc.)
Low-level IR protocol
The remote emits IR pulses modulated with a 38 kHz carrier, as most remotes do.
Codes are sent as a 2460 µs "preamble" pulse followed by 24 data pulses, each of
which can be either 1250 µs (if the respective bit is 1) or 650 µs (if the
respective bit is 0) long. After each pulse including the preamble, the remote
waits 530 µs before sending the next pulse.
Every code is always sent at least 3 times in a row (more if the button is held
down but not necessarily a multiple of 3), approximately every 45 ms. For arrow
buttons the matrix code is sent 3 times first, then the respective controller
button code is sent 3 times, then the sequence repeats until the button is
released (with the total number of codes sent always being a multiple of 6 in
this case).
Built-in IR receivers
In later PS2 models, Sony integrated the IR receiver into the console. Assuming
the built-in receivers used the same circuitry as the external dongle, this may
explain its weird behavior: the receiver was likely designed to be wired in
parallel with one of the controller ports, and to be unresponsive until the
remote is actually in use to avoid interfering with another controller plugged
into the same port. Whether or not the integrated receivers are connected this
way has not been confirmed.
There is a second revision of the DVD remote with power and eject buttons, meant
to be used with the PS2 models that have a built-in receiver. Weirdly enough,
however, it seems to be incompatible with the older receiver dongle.
Controllers - I-Mode Adaptor (Mobile Internet)
The I-Mode Adaptor cable (SCPH-10180) allows to connect an I-mode compatible
mobile phone to the playstation's controller port; granting a mobile internet
connection to japanese games.
PSX Games for I-Mode Adaptor (Japan only)
Doko Demo Issyo (PlayStation the Best release only) (Sony) 2000
Doko Demo Issyo Deluxe Pack (Bomber eXpress/Sony) 2001
Hamster Club-I (SLPS-03266) (Jorudan) 2002
iMode mo Issyo: Dokodemo Issho Tsuika Disc (Bomber/Sony) 2001
Keitai Eddy (iPC) 2000 (but, phone connects to SIO port on REAR side of PSX?)
Komocchi (Victor) 2001
Mobile Tomodachi (Hamster) 2002
Motto Trump Shiyouyo! i-Mode de Grand Prix (Pure Sound) 2002
One Piece Mansion (Capcom) 2001 (japanese version only)
Note: "Dragon Quest Monsters 1 & 2" was announced/rumoured to support I-mode (however, its CD cover doesn't show any I-Mode adapter logo).
Tech Details (all unknown)
Unknown how to detect the thing, and how to do the actual data transfers.
The cable does contain a 64pin chip, an oscillator, and some smaller components
(inside of the PSX controller port connector).
Hardware Variant
Keitai Eddy seems to have the phone connect to the SIO port (on rear side of
the PSX, at least it's depicted like so on the CD cover). This is apparently
something different than the SCPH-10180 controller-port cable. Unknown what it
is exactly - probably some mobile internet connection too, maybe also using
I-mode, or maybe some other protocol.
Controllers - Keyboards
There isn't any official retail keyboard for PSX, however, there is a shitload
of obscure ways to connect keyboards...
Sony SCPH-2000 PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Adaptor (prototype/with cable) (undated)
Sony SCPH-2000 PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Adaptor (without cable) (undated)
A PS/2 to PSX controller port adaptor. Maybe for educational Lightspan titles?
There are two hardware variants of the adaptor:
Adaptor with short cable to PSX-controller port (and prototype marking)
Adaptor without cable, directly plugged into controller port (final version?)
- Keyboard reading might work with the Online Connection CD.
- Mouse reading might work with normal mouse compatible PSX games.
Lightspan Online Connection CD Keyboard (1997)
The Online Connection CD is a web browser from the educational Lightspan
series, the CD is extremly rare (there's only one known copy of the disc).
The thing requires a dial-up modem connected to the serial port (maybe simply
using the same RS232 adaptor as used by Yaroze). User input can be done via
joypad, or optionally, via some external keyboard (or keyboard adaptor)
hardware:
Send 01h 42h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h 06h
Reply HiZ 96h 5Ah num dat dat dat dat dat dat dat dat dat dat dat
The keyboard scancodes are in "PS/2 Keyboard Scan Code Set 2" format.
The binary contains some (unused) code for sending data to the keyboard by changing the 4th-11th byte, and resuming normal operation by setting 4th and 11th byte back to zero:
Send .. .. .. 01h xxh FFh FFh FFh FFh FFh 00h .. .. .. ..
Send .. .. .. 00h .. .. .. .. .. .. 00h .. .. .. ..
Despite of the mouse-based GUI, the browser software doesn't seem to support mouse hardware (neither via PS/2 mice, nor PSX mice). Instead, the mouse arrow can be merely moved via joypad's DPAD, or (in a very clumsy fashion) via keyboard cursor keys.
Note: The browser uses SysEnqIntRP to install some weird IRQ handler that forcefully aborts all controller (or memory card) transfers upon Vblank. Unknown if that's somehow required to bypass bugs in the keyboard hardware. The feature is kinda dangerous for memory card access (especially with fast memcard access in nocash kernel, which allows to transfer more than one sector per frame).
Spectrum Emulator Keyboard Adaptor (v1/serial port) (undated)
Made by Anthony Ball. [http://www.sinistersoft.com/psxkeyboard]
[1F801058h]=00CEh ;SIO_MODE 8bit, no parity, 2 stop bits (8N2)
[1F80105Ah]=771Ch ;SIO_CTRL rx enable (plus whatever nonsense bits)
[1F80105Eh]=006Ch ;SIO_BAUD 19200 bps
RX Keyboard Scancode (same ASCII-style as in later versions?)
CTS Caps-Lock state
DSR Num-Lock state
Spectrum Emulator Keyboard & Sega Sticks Adaptor (v2/controller port) (2000)
Made by Anthony Ball. [http://www.sinistersoft.com/psxkeyboard]
This adaptor can send pad/stick data,
Send 01h 42h 00h 0h 0h
Reply HiZ 41h 5Ah PadA
Send 01h 42h 00h 0h 0h 0h 0h 0h 0h 0h 0h 00h 00h 0h 0h 0h 0h 0h 0h
Reply HiZ E8h 5Ah PadA PadB PadC PadD Ver Lock Buffer(0..5)
Version=1 ; version number
0 SCROLL ; scroll lock on
1 NUM ; num lock on
2 CAPS ; caps lock on
3 DONETEST ; keyboard has just done a selftest
4 EMUA ; emulation mode a
5 EMUB ; emulation mode b
01 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 69 1F
60 21 22 68 24 25 5E 26 2A 28 29 5F 3D 2D 0B 0E 0F 67 2F 1E 2D
27 51 57 45 52 54 59 55 49 4F 50 5B 5D 0D 10 61 62 37 38 39
3B 41 53 44 46 47 48 4A 4B 4C 3A 40 23 34 35 36 2B
02 5C 5A 58 43 56 42 4E 4D 3C 3E 3F 03 63 31 32 33
04 05 06 20 07 08 09 0A 65 64 66 30 2E 6A
Homebrew PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Adaptor (undated/from PSone era)
Send 01h 42h 00h 00h 00h 00h 00h
Reply HiZ 12h 5Ah key flg dx dy
bit0-1 = Always 11b (unlike Sony mouse)
bit2 = Left Mouse Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
bit3 = Right Mouse Button (0=Pressed, 1=Released)
bit4-5 = Always 11b (like Sony mouse)
bit6 = Key Release (aka F0h prefix) (0=Yes)
bit7 = Key Extended (aka E0h prefix) (0=Yes)
Runix hardware add-on USB Keyboard/Mouse Adaptor (2001) (PIO extension port)
Runix is a homebrew linux kernel for PSX, it can be considered being the holy
grail of the open source scene because nobody has successfully compiled it in
the past 16 years.
- USB host controller SL811H driver with keyboard and mouse support;
- RTC support.
file: drivers/usb/sl811h.c
TTY Console
The PSX kernel allows to output "printf" debug messages via stdout. In the
opposite direction, it's supporting to receive ASCII user input via
"std_in_gets" (there isn't any software actually using that feature though,
except maybe debug consoles like DTL-H2000).
Controllers - Additional Inputs
Reset Button
PSX only (not PSone). Reboots the PSX via /RESET signal. Probably including for
forcefully getting through the WHOLE BIOS Intro, making it rather
useless/annoying? No idea if it clears ALL memory during reboot?
CDROM Shell Open
Status bit of the CDROM controller. Can be used to sense if the shell is opened
(and also memorizes if the shell was opened since last check; allowing to sense
possible disk changes).
PocketStation
Memory Card with built-in LCD screen and Buttons (which can be used as
miniature handheld console). However, when it is connected to the PSX, the
buttons are vanishing in the cartridge slot, so the buttons cannot be used as
additional inputs for PSX games.
Serial Port PSX only (not PSone)
With an external adaptor (voltage conversion), the serial port can be used
(among others) to connect a RS232 Serial Mouse. Although, most or all
commercial games with mouse input are probably (?) supporting only Sony's Mouse
(on the controller port) (rather than standard RS232 devices on the serial
port).
TTY Debug Terminal
If present, the external DUART can be used for external keyboard input, at the
BIOS side, this is supported as "std_in".
Controllers - Misc
Standard Controllers
SCPH-1010 digital joypad (with short cable)
SCPH-1080 digital joypad (with longer cable)
SCPH-1030 mouse (with short cable)
SCPH-1090 mouse (with longer cable)
SCPH-1092 mouse (european?)
SCPH-1110 analog joystick
SCPH-1150 analog joypad (with one vibration motor, with red/green led)
SCPH-1180 analog joypad (without vibration motors, with red/green led)
SCPH-1200 analog joypad (with two vibration motors) (dualshock)
SCPH-110 analog joypad (with two vibration motors) (dualshock for psone)
SCPH-10010 dualshock2 (analog buttons, except L3/R3/Start/Select) (for ps2)
SCPH-1070 multitap
Special Controllers
SCPH-4010 VPick (guitar-pick controller) (for Quest for Fame, Stolen Song)
BANDAI "BANC-0002" - 4 Buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square) (nothing more)
Joystick
__________ __________
| | | ^ | ^
| L1 R1 | | X <+> O | <+> = Digital Stick
\ ___| <--- L2 [] ---> |___ v / v
| | <--- R2 /\ ---> | |
___| |___________________________| |___ Not sure if all buttons
| | | SEL STA =?= | | | are shown at their
| | | | | | correct locations?
| | |_ [] /\ _| | | (drawing is based on
| _| / L1 R1 \ |_ | below riddle/lyrics)
| \_____/ X O \_____/ |
| /___\ L2 R2 /___\ |
| |
| |
\___________________________________________/
The thumb buttons on the left act as L1 and R1,
the trigger is L2, the pinky button is R2
The thumb buttons on the right act as X and O,
the trigger is Square and the pinky button is Triangle.
I find this odd as the triggers should've been L1 and R1,
the pinkies L2 and R2.
The buttons are redundantly placed on the base as large buttons like what
you'd see on a fight/arcade stick. Also with Start and Select.
There is also a physical analog mode switch,
not a button like on dual shock.
MX4SIO
The MX4SIO is a homebrew microSD card adapter for the PS2 that plugs into a
memory card slot, taking advantage of the fact that SD cards support an SPI mode
which is more or less compatible with SIO0. The adapter is completely passive
and has the card wired up as follows:
| uSD pin | Name | Wired to MC pin |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | D2/NC |
- |
| 2 | D3//CS |
/CS |
| 3 | CMD/MOSI |
CMD/MOSI |
| 4 | VCC |
+3.5V |
| 5 | SCK |
SCK |
| 6 | GND |
GND, /ACK |
| 7 | D0/MISO |
DAT/MISO |
| 8 | D1/NC |
- |
Unfortunately, this design has a fatal flaw that makes it unusable as-is on the
PS1: /ACK is permanently shorted to ground, taking down the entire controller
bus. However, it should be possible to use the MX4SIO on a PS1 with custom
driver code once the MX4SIO's /ACK pin is masked out with some tape, or if no
other controllers or memory cards are plugged in.
Note that, as SD cards do not employ the addressing scheme used by standard
controllers and memory cards, the MX4SIO should get its own dedicated /CSn pin
and not share the port with a controller (i.e. if the MX4SIO is plugged in slot
2, then controller port 2 shall be left unused).
Memory Card Read/Write Commands
Reading Data from Memory Card
Send Reply Comment
81h N/A Memory card address
52h FLAG Send Read Command (ASCII "R"), Receive FLAG Byte
00h 5Ah Receive Memory Card ID1
00h 5Dh Receive Memory Card ID2
MSB (00h) Send Address MSB ;\sector number (0..3FFh)
LSB (pre) Send Address LSB ;/
00h 5Ch Receive Command Acknowledge 1 ;<-- late /ACK after this byte-pair
00h 5Dh Receive Command Acknowledge 2
00h MSB Receive Confirmed Address MSB
00h LSB Receive Confirmed Address LSB
00h ... Receive Data Sector (128 bytes)
00h CHK Receive Checksum (MSB xor LSB xor Data bytes)
00h 47h Receive Memory End Byte (should be always 47h="G"=Good for Read)
When sending an invalid sector number, original Sony memory cards respond with FFFFh as Confirmed Address (and do then abort the transfer without sending any data, checksum, or end flag), third-party memory cards typically respond with the sector number ANDed with 3FFh (and transfer the data for that adjusted sector number).
Writing Data to Memory Card
Send Reply Comment
81h N/A Memory card address
57h FLAG Send Write Command (ASCII "W"), Receive FLAG Byte
00h 5Ah Receive Memory Card ID1
00h 5Dh Receive Memory Card ID2
MSB (00h) Send Address MSB ;\sector number (0..3FFh)
LSB (pre) Send Address LSB ;/
... (pre) Send Data Sector (128 bytes)
CHK (pre) Send Checksum (MSB xor LSB xor Data bytes)
00h 5Ch Receive Command Acknowledge 1
00h 5Dh Receive Command Acknowledge 2
00h 4xh Receive Memory End Byte (47h=Good, 4Eh=BadChecksum, FFh=BadSector)
Get Memory Card ID Command
Send Reply Comment
81h N/A Memory card address
53h FLAG Send Get ID Command (ASCII "S"), Receive FLAG Byte
00h 5Ah Receive Memory Card ID1
00h 5Dh Receive Memory Card ID2
00h 5Ch Receive Command Acknowledge 1
00h 5Dh Receive Command Acknowledge 2
00h 04h Receive 04h
00h 00h Receive 00h
00h 00h Receive 00h
00h 80h Receive 80h
Invalid Commands
Send Reply Comment
81h N/A Memory card address
xxh FLAG Send Invalid Command (anything else than "R", "W", or "S")
FLAG Byte
The initial value of the FLAG byte on power-up (and when re-inserting the
memory card) is 08h.
Bit3=1 is indicating that the directory wasn't read yet (allowing to sense
memory card changes). For some strange reason, bit3 is NOT reset when reading
from the card, but rather when writing to it. To reset the flag, games are
usually issuing a dummy write to sector number 003Fh, more or less
unneccessarily stressing the lifetime of that sector.
Bit2=1 seems to be intended to indicate write errors, however, the write
command seems to be always finishing without setting that bit, instead, the
error flag may get set on the NEXT command.
Note: Some (not all) non-sony cards also have Bit5 of the FLAG byte set.
Timings
IRQ7 is usually triggered circa 1500 cycles after sending a byte (counted from
the begin of the first bit), except, the last byte doesn't trigger IRQ7, and,
after the 7th byte of the Read command, an additional delay of circa 31000
cycles occurs before IRQ7 gets triggered (that strange extra delay occurs only
on original Sony cards, not on cards from other manufacturers).
There seems to be no extra delays in the Write command, as it seems, the data
is written on the fly, and one doesn't need to do any write-busy handling...
although, theoretically, the write shouldn't start until verifying the
checksum... so it can't be done on the fly at all...?
Notes
Responses in brackets are don't care, (00h) means usually zero, (pre) means
usually equal to the previous command byte (eg. the response to LSB is MSB).
Memory cards are reportedly "Flash RAM" which sounds like bullshit, might be
battery backed SRAM, or FRAM, or slower EEPROM or FLASH ROM, or vary from card
to card...?
Memory Card Data Format
Data Size
Total Memory 128KB = 131072 bytes = 20000h bytes
1 Block 8KB = 8192 bytes = 2000h bytes
1 Frame 128 bytes = 80h bytes
Header Frame (Block 0, Frame 0)
00h-01h Memory Card ID (ASCII "MC")
02h-7Eh Unused (zero)
7Fh Checksum (all above bytes XORed with each other) (usually 0Eh)
Directory Frames (Block 0, Frame 1..15)
00h-03h Block Allocation State
00000051h - In use ;first-or-only block of a file
00000052h - In use ;middle block of a file (if 3 or more blocks)
00000053h - In use ;last block of a file (if 2 or more blocks)
000000A0h - Free ;freshly formatted
000000A1h - Free ;deleted (first-or-only block of file)
000000A2h - Free ;deleted (middle block of file)
000000A3h - Free ;deleted (last block of file)
04h-07h Filesize in bytes (2000h..1E000h; in multiples of 8Kbytes)
08h-09h Pointer to the NEXT block number (minus 1) used by the file
(ie. 0..14 for Block Number 1..15) (or FFFFh if last-or-only block)
0Ah-1Eh Filename in ASCII, terminated by 00h (max 20 chars, plus ending 00h)
1Fh Zero (unused)
20h-7Eh Garbage (usually 00h-filled)
7Fh Checksum (all above bytes XORed with each other)
Filename Notes
The first some letters of the filename should indicate the game to which the
file belongs, in case of commercial games this is conventionally done like so:
Two character region code:
"BI"=Japan, "BE"=Europe, "BA"=America
in "AAAA-NNNNN" form ;for Pocketstation executables replace "-" by "P"
"abcdefgh"
Broken Sector List (Block 0, Frame 16..35)
00h-03h Broken Sector Number (Block*64+Frame) (FFFFFFFFh=None)
04h-7Eh Garbage (usually 00h-filled) (some cards have [08h..09h]=FFFFh)
7Fh Checksum (all above bytes XORed with each other)
Broken Sector Replacement Data (Block 0, Frame 36..55)
00h-7Fh Data (usually FFh-filled, if there's no broken sector)
Unused Frames (Block 0, Frame 56..62)
00h-7Fh Unused (usually FFh-filled)
Write Test Frame (Block 0, Frame 63)
Reportedly "write test". Usually same as Block 0 ("MC", 253 zero-bytes, plus
checksum 0Eh).
Title Frame (Block 1..15, Frame 0) (in first block of file only)
00h-01h ID (ASCII "SC")
02h Icon Display Flag
11h...Icon has 1 frame (static) (same image shown forever)
12h...Icon has 2 frames (animated) (changes every 16 PAL frames)
13h...Icon has 3 frames (animated) (changes every 11 PAL frames)
Values other than 11h..13h seem to be treated as corrupted file
(causing the file not to be listed in the bootmenu)
03h Block Number (1-15) "icon block count" Uh?
(usually 01h or 02h... might be block number within
files that occupy 2 or more blocks)
(actually, that kind of files seem to HAVE title frames
in ALL of their blocks; not only in their FIRST block)
(at least SOME seem to have such duplicated title frame,
but not all?)
04h-43h Title in Shift-JIS format (64 bytes = max 32 characters)
44h-4Fh Reserved (00h)
50h-5Fh Reserved (00h) ;<-- this region is used for the Pocketstation
60h-7Fh Icon 16 Color Palette Data (each entry is 16bit CLUT)
Pocketstation File Header/Icons
Icon Frame(s) (Block 1..15, Frame 1..3) (in first block of file only)
00h-7Fh Icon Bitmap (16x16 pixels, 4bit color depth)
Data Frame(s) (Block 1..15, Frame N..63; N=excluding any Title/Icon Frames)
00h-7Fh Data
Shift-JIS Character Set (16bit) (used in Title Frames)
Can contain japanese or english text, english characters are encoded like so:
81h,40h --> SPC
81h,43h..97h --> punctuation marks
82h,4Fh..58h --> "0..9"
82h,60h..79h --> "A..Z"
82h,81h..9Ah --> "a..z"
Note: The titles are \<usually> in 16bit format (even if they consist of raw english text), however, the BIOS memory card manager does also accept 8bit characters 20h..7Fh (so, in the 8bit form, the title could be theoretically up to 64 characters long, but, nethertheless, the BIOS displays only max 32 chars).
For displaying Titles, the BIOS includes a complete Shift-JIS character set,
BIOS Character Sets
Shift-JIS is focused on asian languages, and does NOT include european letters (eg. such with accent marks). Although the non-japanese PSX BIOSes DO include a european character set, the BIOS memory card manager DOESN'T seem to translate any title character codes to that character set region.
Memory Card Images
There are a lot of different ways to get a save from a memory card onto your
PC's hard disk, and these ways sometimes involve sticking some additional
information into a header at the beginning of the file.
Raw Memory Card Images (without header) (ie. usually 128K in size)
SmartLink .PSM,
WinPSM .PS,
DataDeck .DDF,
FPSX .MCR,
ePSXe .MCD...
All of these headers contain a signature at the top of the file. The three most
common formats and their signatures are:
Connectix Virtual Game Station format (.MEM): "VgsM", 64 bytes
PlayStation Magazine format (.PSX): "PSV", 256 bytes
some programs will OMIT any blank or unallocated blocks from the end of the
memory card -- if only three save blocks on the card are in use, for example,
saving the other twelve is pointless.
Xploder and Action Replay Files (54 byte header)
00h..14h Filename in ASCII, terminated by 00h (max 20 chars, plus ending 00h)
15h..35h Title in ASCII, terminated by 00h (max 32 chars, plus ending 00h)
36h.. File Block(s) (starting with the Title sector)
.MCS Files (Single Save Format)
MCS files consist of the 128 byte directory frame for the savefile's first block followed by all of that savefile's blocks in linked list order. When importing this format, the directory frame should be parsed for the save filename and the filesize while other fields should be ignored. The rest of the directory frame fields and any extra directory frames, in the case of multi-block saves, should be reconstructed based on the destination memory card.
.GME Files (usually 20F40h bytes)
InterAct GME format, produced by the DexDrive.
000h 12 ASCII String "123-456-STD",00h
00Ch 4 Usually zerofilled (or meaningless garbage in some files)
010h 5 Always 00h,00h,01h,00h,01h
015h 16 Copy of Sector 0..15 byte[00h] ;"M", followed by allocation states
025h 16 Copy of Sector 0..15 byte[08h] ;00h, followed by next block values
035h 11 Usually zerofilled (or meaningless garbage in some files)
040h F00h Fifteen Description Strings (each one 100h bytes, padded with 00h)
F40h 128K Memory Card Image (128K) (unused sectors 00h or FFh filled)
Memory Card Notes
Sony PSX Memory Cards
Sony has manufactured only 128KByte memory cards for PSX, no bigger/smaller
ones.
Sony PS2 Memory Cards
A special case would be PS2 cards, these are bigger, but PS2 cards won't fit
into PSX cards slots (unless when cutting an extra notch in the card edge
connector), a PSX game played on a PS2 console could theoretically access PS2
cards (if it supports the different directory structure on that cards).
Third Party Cards with bigger capacity
Some third party cards contain larger memory chips, however, the PSX
games/kernel are supporting only regular 128Kbyte cards, so the extra memory
can be used only by dividing it into several 128Kbyte memory card images.
Selecting a different memory card image can be done by a switch or button on
the card, or via joypad key combinations (joypad/card are sharing the same
signals, so the card could watch the traffic on joypad bus, provided that the
MIPS CPU is actually reading the joypad).
Third Party Cards with bigger capacity and Data Compression
Some cards are additionally using data compression to increase the card
capacity, but that techinque is having rather bad reputation and could result
in data loss. For example, if a game has allocated four blocks on the memory
card, then it'll expect to be able to overwrite that four blocks at any time
(without needing to handle "memory card full" errors), however, if the card is
full, and if the newly written data has worse compression ratio, then the card
will be unable to store the new game position (and may have already overwritten
parts of the old game position). As a workaround, such cards may use a LED to
warn users when running low on memory (ideally, there should be always at least
128Kbytes of free memory).
Joytech Smart Card Adaptor
The smart card adaptor plugs into memory card slot, and allows to use special
credit card-shaped memory cards. There don't seem to be any special features,
ie. the hardware setup does just behave like normal PSX memory cards.
Datel VMEM (virtual memory card storage on expansion port)
The Datel/Interact VMEM exists as standalone VMEM cartridge, and some Datel
Cheat Devices do also include the VMEM feature. Either way, the VMEM connects
to expansion port, and contain some large FLASH memory, for storing multiple
memory cards on it. Unknown, how that memory is accessed (maybe it must be
copied to a regular memory card, or maybe they've somehow hooked the Kernel (or
even the hardware signals?) so that games could directly access the VMEM?
Passwords (instead of Memory Cards)
Some older games are using passwords instead of memory cards to allow the user
to continue at certain game positions. That's nice for people without memory
card, but unfortunately many of that games are restricted to it - it'd be more
user friendly to support both passwords, and, optionally, memory cards.
Yaroze Access Cards (DTL-H3020)
The Yaroze Access Card connects to memory card slot, the card resembles regular
memory cards, but it doesn't contain any storage memory. Instead, it does
merely support a very basic Access Card detection command:
Send Reply Comment
21h N/A? Probably replies HighZ (ie. probably reads FFh)?
53h 0xh? Replies unknown 8bit value (upper 4bit are known to be zero)?
Without the Access Card, the Yaroze Bootdisc will refuse to work (the disc contains software for transferring data to/from PC, for developing homebrew games).