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PostPosted: May 29th, 2011, 1:41 pm 
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Joined: June 11th, 2008, 3:16 pm
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Location: Barcelona
I want to know if pads/joysticks for NEC PC-9801/PC-9821 do exist or if all released games can only be played with keyboard. I've never seen a PC-98 pad/joystick.

In the "NEC PC-8801 MC" I can use my FM-Towns/MSX pad perfectly simply connecting it to the mouse port for playing some games (there are games that can only be played with keyboard but a lot can be played with the pad), but in my "PC-9801 DS" I can't connect the FM-Towns/MSX pad because the mouse port is female instead of being male (probably this can be solved buying a DB9 male to male adaptor). And in my "NEC PC-9821 Cereb" I can't connect the FM-Towns/MSX pad because there are any DB9 port (there's only a DB25 pad/joystick port in the front, and I don't know how to use it with games because under MS-DOS the DB25 pads/joysticks are not recognized and probably always need to be installed and used under Windows so will work only for games running under Windows).

I've noticed that the NEC PC-Engine pad connector is the same of the PC-9801/PC-9821 keyboard. The pad fits perfectly. Are the pad (and multitap for connecting two or more pads) of this console compatible with PC-98 computers or this may damage the computer if I try (causing a short circuit)? Probably the pad cross is equivalent to the directional keys of the numeric keyboard used in the games (up=8, up-left=7, up-right=9, left=4, right=6, down=2, down-left=1, down-right=3), the "Z" and "X" keys are equivalent to "II" and "I" buttons in the PC-Engine pad, ...


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PostPosted: May 29th, 2011, 6:31 pm 
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Joined: January 9th, 2007, 9:57 pm
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Location: Russia
Quote:
I've never seen a PC-98 pad/joystick.


Image

http://www.ns-technology.co.jp/nstdirec ... ucts_id=18


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PostPosted: May 29th, 2011, 11:26 pm 
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Joined: June 11th, 2008, 3:16 pm
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Location: Barcelona
Thanks al32gabby.
That's the same pad I've seen in yahoo auctions today. It has DB9 conector and probably is the same used in FM-Towns, MSX, PC-88, ...
I'll try using a DB9 male to male cable for connecting my FM-Towns pad.

About PC-Engine pads... finally I prefer not to try connecting them in the keyboard port. I don't think it will work and it may damage the computer. Pads in old japanese computers usually connect to mouse port and never to keyboard port.


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PostPosted: February 2nd, 2014, 9:28 pm 
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Joined: October 27th, 2009, 5:04 am
Posts: 57
The 86 and 26K sound cards both appear to have J-PC style game controller connectors on the back. Is there any way to add this functionality back without having to buy the entire card?

Also, which games support which controllers? I doubt the earlier games know how to talk to the standard PC Gameport on a Sound Blaster.

There's also the weird mystery of whether or not there are game controllers that plug into the mouse port.


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PostPosted: February 2nd, 2014, 9:36 pm 
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Joined: October 27th, 2009, 5:04 am
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Oh yeah, there's this cable too:

http://www.sanwa.co.jp/product/syohin.a ... -9821N-07K

You can drive a gameport from a parallel port no problem, but do any games support that? It does seem to make the most sense since nearly every PC-98 has a parallel port.


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PostPosted: February 19th, 2014, 7:21 am 
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Joined: January 31st, 2014, 5:44 am
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papa_november wrote:
Oh yeah, there's this cable too:

http://www.sanwa.co.jp/product/syohin.a ... -9821N-07K

You can drive a gameport from a parallel port no problem, but do any games support that? It does seem to make the most sense since nearly every PC-98 has a parallel port.


I paid way too much for a similar cable:
http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k140577894

Should have thought to look on Sanwa for the cheaper version. These two cables should support a "real" 15-pin PC joypad / joystick. I'm hoping that Night Slave, Rusty and other games support a real joystick.

In addition, I have been looking into the possibility of doing a parallel port joystick interface, too. I've built the PPJoy (http://ppjoy.bossstation.dnsalias.org/) interface in the past to interface an Atari style joystick to a PC parallel port. My intention was to write a simple DOS TSR that would convert joystick input as key presses. Pretty lofty goal considering I've never written a DOS TSR or DOS device driver before. I'm hoping that it's more of a device driver shim on top of the built-in LPT (assuming PC-98 DOS even has that). If the cable I bought works, my motivation for DOS development will likely dissipate ;)


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PostPosted: March 26th, 2014, 5:40 pm 
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Location: Barcelona
As I said three years ago, my PC-9821 can not use one of those FM sound cards out there with MSX pad ports, so the only port I can use is the "normal" DB25. That supposedly "PC-98 DB25 pad" is in fact a normal PC IBM one.
I can use DB25 pads and joysticks under Windows but didn't find any pure MS-DOS game supporting that. I tried with Night Slave and many other games and it doesn't work. Maybe some PC-98X1 games with Sound Blaster sound option could use DB25 pads under MS-DOS (as happens on PC IBM computers).


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PostPosted: April 10th, 2014, 12:36 am 
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The cable I bought does not appear to work. It has a standard 15-pin PC style joystick connector to which I connected a standard 15-pin PC joypad. I tested using Night Slave, which allows you to choose a "Joystick Port" under the configuration menu. I tried all the options (0088H, 0188H & 0288H) without any luck.

I also tried the joy2key style DOS program "JoyEmu" which just locked up the machine. (I know: long shot!)

Assuming I ever get some free time, I'd still like to figure out how to hook up a parallel port joystick / gamepad & use x86 IN assembly or inportb() in C to write a TSR to translate gamepad input into key presses. If anyone has any advice -- generic or PC-98 specific -- please let me know.


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PostPosted: June 6th, 2014, 12:00 am 
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Joined: June 11th, 2008, 3:16 pm
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Location: Barcelona
Quote:
Assuming I ever get some free time, I'd still like to figure out how to hook up a parallel port joystick / gamepad & use x86 IN assembly or inportb() in C to write a TSR to translate gamepad input into key presses. If anyone has any advice -- generic or PC-98 specific -- please let me know.

Any progress with that Tanuki? I'm still very interested. Can not use MSX pads on my Cereb, only DA-15 pads with PC-98 games that can be launched from Windows (like "The Legend Of Heroes III" and "The Legend Of Heroes IV" CD-ROM versions) loading "JoytoKey" program (configured) before launching the game.
Being able to use COM-1 (DB25), or COM-2 (DB9) serial ports, or printer port, for connecting PC gamepads and use them with PC-98 games under pure MS-DOS would be great.

Maybe an alternative solution would be to use "PCJoy2": http://www.iodata.jp/products/pccard/pcjoy2.htm at least for those games leting you to choose different ports for the gamepad (Like "Night Slave"). Anyway, it seems "PCJoy2" only works on PC-98 computers missing a DB-15 port because it cause conflict if that port is found. :/

You can also sacrifice a PC-Engine pad and a "ten-key" to make manually a gamepad that can be conected to the PC-98 keyboard port and will work with almost all PC-98 games: http://www.geocities.jp/wp_gopher/pc/98/keypad.html


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PostPosted: January 16th, 2015, 5:14 pm 
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I now have a PC-9801FA up and running with a PC-9801-86 sound card. My motivation to hack hardware & figure out how to write a DOS device driver / TSR is somewhat diminished. The PCMCIA card doesn't look like it would work with DOS games, but maybe it's still worth a try?

I think your suggestion of hacking up a 10-key is a good one. In fact, that was the direction I was going to take next & I actually bought a 10-key to try it out at some future date.

If I do get the time & motivation to mess with DOS device drivers & hardware, I'll certainly post my experience here.


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PostPosted: January 26th, 2018, 8:20 pm 
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Joined: July 12th, 2007, 4:26 pm
Posts: 34
Location: france, navarre
so.. anyone tried the 10key pad hack? the only picture of the japanese hack is not clear enough to distinguish.. and pcb hacks are not always the reliable ones.. (arcade/mame etcc , ground problems, bad inputs or chaotic reactions)


i have bought too times ago a 10keypad for a pc-9821, but all is in distant place actually, but that still intrigues me..


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