SNES Gamepad to Parallel Adapter

Introduction:

There are several ways of going about this. You can simply convert an SNES multitap to plug into the parallel port, OR you can be l33t and integrate the controller ports into your system. Like this. Here, I'll be describing how to make an external adapter out of an SNES multitap. The two versions are very similar, you should be able to figure the internal one out once you read this. It's basically the same. In either case, you still need to get some stuff.


What you need:


Before we begin:
Just some info about diodes before we begin. Take a look at this picture of a diode from radio shack.

See the black stripe on the right side? That indicates the cathode end. Remember that. There's a quiz on it later.

The actual work:
First let's take a look at this pic:

That's the wiring diagram that you're going to follow. Depending on how many controllers you want to interface, you use a different number of pins on the parallel side. For one controller you need pins 2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,18 and 19. For a second controller, add pin 12 to the list. Number three, add 13 too. Four, add pin 15. And finally, for five controllers, add pin 11. Write down what pins you need. There's a quiz later.

Now take your old printer cable and chop of the unneccessary end. But make sure it's long enough so that you can place the multitap in an accesible location while it's plugged into the back of your computer.
See all those little tiny wires inside the fat cable? Well you get to figure out which pins those wires are connected to. First strip the outer most layer of insulation off the cable such that the little wires inside stick out about 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Then strip a quarter inch of insulation off all the individual wires. Then bust out the multimeter and have at it. Write down which color goes to which pin. Just find the pins you need! Don't waste time and energy figuring out every single pin. Zero ohms means of course means there is a direct connection (no resistance)


Ok you've found the pins you need among the bundle of wires. Now you need to trim and protect all the wires you don't need. You don't want any stray connections being made. Use some electrical tape or scotch tape or silly putty or whatever you have (no really electrical tape is best) and tape up the ends of the wires you don't need.

The next step is to take the ports off the circuit board in your multitap. I don't know what your particular multitap looks like, but you might need some desoldering braid to remove the ports. If you're desperate, you can just destroy the board by nipping it with some pliers so you're removing the board from the ports, instead of the other way around. Just go around the ports and don't damage them. But desoldering braid is best. Hold the braid on top of the solder joint and press the hot soldering iron on top of the braid. The solder should melt and get sucked into the braid magically (capillary action).

Ok, now you have a multitap shell with just the ports. Now take a look at the wiring diagram again. The controller ports are all wired exactly the same except for the pin that's 4th from the right. Those go to their own pins on the parallel port. That simplifies things somewhat. Just go from one connector to the next for those four shared pins. With the controller ports seated in the multiap case, go ahead and solder hook up wires between the ports like this (only 4 controller ports shown, the fifth would be wired in the exact same way.):

Once you've done that, solder some wires to the remaining 4 pins on the SNES gamepads. Leave them dangling for now. Make sure you make them long enough to reach where the parallel cable is going to enter the multitap case.

Next we must prepare the diodes. Get 5 of the diodes you bought at Radio Shack. Remember which is the cathode end? Right, the end with the stripe. Take the 5 cathode ends and twist them together like this and solder them together:

Trim the bundle if you think it's too long. Then solder the cathode end of the bunch to the corresponding pin on the SNES ports:

Now take your printer/parallel cable and see if it fits in the opening where the multitap cable used to be. You might have to expand the hole a little bit. Use a sharp utility knife or something to expand the hole until the cable fits in nice and snug.
Ok, let's start soldering the connections to the parallel cable. Let's start with the diodes. Solder pins 5 through 9 on the parallel cable to the anode ends (the non-cathode ends) of the diodes.

Next let's do the connections that are common to the SNES ports. Note: Both 18 and 19 from the parallel are connected to that same pin on the SNES port.

Ok, now let's hook up the wire for the individual ports. Remember if you have a fifth port, that goes to pin 11 on the parallel port.

Ok, you're almost done! Now let's take the time to insulate any exposed wiring. Use electrical tape and cover up any exposed wiring that might accidently touch and cause a short.
Now fit the fat parallel cable in the hole in your multitap box and wrap some tape around the cable to prevent the cable from being pulled out of the multitap case.

Now close up the multitap and marvel in your l33tness. The hardware is now done, but you have to install the drivers.

Software:
Download DirectPad Pro. Rename that file's extension to .zip. F2s didn't like the zip I put up so I had to change it. Unzip it to a temporary folder. Plug a controller into port one of your adapter. Then:
  1. Go to Control Panel
  2. Go to Gaming Controllers (or Gaming Options)
  3. Click Add
  4. Click on Add Other
  5. Click Have disk..
  6. Then point windows to the folder in which you extracted DirectPad.
  7. Click OK a couple times and windows might ask you to restart.
  8. Then go back to Gaming Options, click on Add again.
  9. Now in the big list of controllers, you should see DirectPad Pro Controller and DirectPad Pro Force Feedback Controller.
  10. Select DirectPad Pro Controller and click OK.
  11. You should be taken back to the main Gaming Options screen and you should see DirectPad Pro Controller in the list.
  12. Double Click on DirectPad Pro Controller to get to its properties.
  13. Under Controller type select SNES

That's it! Move the directional pad on the controller around and hit some buttons and see if it responds. For the other controllers repeat steps 8 through 13 for each additional controller, with one important change. After step 13, make sure you change the ID number for each controller: ID #2 for controller 2, ID #3 for controller 3 and so on.
If the controller doesn't respond or doesn't respond properly, you might want to play with the Scan Delay value in the Advanced tab of the controller properties.

That's it! Now for an internal adapter like the one in the EmuBox. Just substitute the printer cable with a DB25 connector from Radio shack to plug into your parallel port and use some ribbon cable to to loop back the connections into the case. Then mount the controller ports to your case, do the wiring, and that's it!

Enjoy your new controllers!

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hadooken!
buy real arcade controllers ;)