Competitive/Tournament Play Help

Newbie Saikyo Dojo
1

Because I am under-informed I have many questions about tournaments and competitive play in general.
-What are pools? Are they essentially like qualifiers or…?
-Weeklies are exactly that, right? Tournaments every week? Running a whole organized tournament on a weekly basis just seems like so much work, so I wasn’t totally sure.
-Is it better to get a converter for sticks or get it dual-modded?
-In addition, how much should it cost to dual mod a stick? A shop I know said they charge around 120$ total for all modifications, and it doesn’t seem worth it IMO.
-I live in Ajax, Ontario. Where can I find weeklies, majors and/or casuals close to me?

That’s all for now off the top of my head. Sorry for all my ignorance, lol
If I remember any of the other questions I had, I’ll continue to post here.
Thanks

2
  1. They are essentially qualifiers…win out of your pools to qualify to the next round.
  2. Weeklies are usually smaller tournaments…easier to maintain I guess.
  3. Better to dualmod.
  4. Dunno…check in Tech Talk.
  5. http://forums.shoryuken.com/categories/canada
3

Weeklies (at least for my community) is a bunch of us get together and play. sometimes we do tournaments but its mostly casuals

4

  1. Pools is basically a mini-tournament within a large tournament. They’re usually only used when there’s a lot of entrants. So basically, if you play in a tournament with pools, your pools will usually have 8-16 players. If you win in pools, you’ll get sent to the next pools, and so on and so forth, until you are crowned supreme champion. In a double elim tournament (which most tournaments are), if you lose in the "grand finals’ in your first pool, you’ll still be sent to the next pool, but in the loser’s bracket.

  2. Weeklies are what they sound like. They’re tournaments or events that happen every single week, with regular players showing up on a consistent basis to play. It is a lot of work. Being part of organizing anything in a community is a lot of work, but dedicated and passionate people do it because they love the scene. Also, they could do it because they’re misguided and want to make money, but they don’t usually last long when they realize what a poor financial investment it is.

  3. Depends on what stick you’re using. If you want an Xbox360<->PS3 converter, then get it dual-modded. There are no converters out on the market right now that will properly convert between the two systems that doesn’t a) fail out-right, b) cause severe input delay, c) drop you or your opponent’s inputs. Getting it dual-modded by using any of the aftermarket PCBs available in the market (i.e. PS360+, Cthulu, etc…) is the best solution.

If you own a PS2 stick, you’re in luck! PS2->Xbox360/PS3 converters actually work very well. The etokki converter has been universally praised for its reliability and performance.

  1. It depends on what kind of PCB you purchase, as well as whether or not you want to do the work yourself or hand the work off to someone else. The boards themselves cost anywhere from $30-$60. That’s pretty consistent. Labor itself depends on the guy who’s charging you. I’d say anywhere from $100-$150 seems to be the range at which people charge. Anything over that is starting to get excessive. Is it expensive? Yes, but hey, that’s the cost of trying to use a nice arcade stick in this day and age.

Conversely, I’d recommend you’d try the mod yourself. There are a ton of guides and helpful information available here on the SRK forums and on the net itself that can get you started, plus it makes for a great hobby, and learning how to work with basic tools and basic principles of electronics is always a good thing.

  1. Look in the regional matchmaking forum, specifically the World or Canada side, and look for local players available near you. Canada Cup should be happening this weekend or sometime soon, but that’s probably a bit far away.

Good luck.

5

How do dual modded sticks work? Is it just plug and play and it adapts on its own or is there some sort of switch?
Secondly, do different sticks have different dual modding requirements? For example, is the modding process for a Madcatz SFIV TE for Xbox different from the process for, say, a Hori RAP V3 SA Kai?

6

Come to toronto sometime =) we have a great community. I live in scarborough, and there are a few meetups here as well. so it’s not THAT far of a trip.

IIRC the newest IMP switch detects the system on it’s own. but there are many types of switches.

Some boards are inherently multi console and down need switches, for example:
The MCCthulhu is a board that works for pretty much All video game systems except xbox 360. (I plugged my stick into my SNES a month ago for Killer instinct)

so if you’re only using USB systems, the MC Cthulhu + 360 pcb is all you need + switch will cover everything.

If you want to use on retro consoles as well (dreamcast, SNES, PS1, etc. You’ll need to sacrifice some extension cables (and probably a way to detatch the cables from your stick too… Although some people prefer having their stick looking like a squid/octopus with all those cables hanging out all the time) Personally I detach my cables.

The modders here will complete most mods for about $90 parts included. The modding process for the most part is generally the same. Depending on how the stick is put together, there maybe more or less soldering involved.

I’m not very good at soldering, but I can put together and do a majority of mods without the need for soldering.

There is a caviat though, Sticks are tradionally modded only if the PCB has common ground. It can be done, and there are posts on shoryuken.com with mods done with non-common grounds. But it’s much more complicated and difficult. So next time you buy a stick, check around to see if it’s common ground before you buy it. that’s pretty much the only “requirement” for mods. the majority of sticks now a days are. some of the older ones might not be.

I can do a majority of mods and repairs for TEs, other sticks, i’d have to take a look at. if you have a TE for Xbox, then I can stick a MC Cthulhu in for you for about $20 labour + 40-60 for the PCB.

I’ll make a RJ-45 cable for retro consoles for $5 if you provide an extension cord as well.

There’s about 5 or 6 modders here in Toronto. Let me know if you decide to make the trip.

7

Will definitely be keeping this in mind, thanks a lot.

Would it help if I posted a picture of my sticks internals?

I was thinking of using the PS360+ PCB but it seems a lot bigger than my Hori’s factory PCB. And it doesn’t help that the PCB is actually screwed down into four fixed screw holes :confused:

8

It depends on what kind of dual-mod setup you’re using. Some setups have built-in auto-detect features that just let you plug and play. Others require you to hold a series of button combinations while plugging it. Some have both auto-detect, and the ability to force the board to detect a certain console.

As far as modding goes, same kind of answer. It depends on what kind of route you want to go with, along with the case you’re using. At best, the dual-modding procedure is all very similar, but your wiring path or mounting system will differ depending on the case. At worst, it’ll require you to find creative ways to mount the board, along with possible cutting and drilling.

9

Sure. Post some pictures of the internals. I’ll take a look. Most likely space won’t be an issue though. Before I knew anything about modding I thought my hori ex2 couldn’t possibly hold a mod due to its small size. but now inside this small case (which is what I opt to carry over my TE if I have lots of other equipment) I have 4 sets of 10 wires for essentially a tri-mod. 3 cable outputs, a manual switch, an RJ 45 pass through, and (originally I thought impossible due to how thin the stick is) quick disconnects AND lead weights taped on to the bottom plate for stability. I can still probably fit in a couple of fgwidgets (which I’m considering putting in both my sticks)

So unless your stick is smaller than the ex 2 (not many are) space might be tight, but it probably won’t prevent you from having all the mods you’ll ever need in one stick.

10

Phone camera image coming, apologies for any blurrines

Also I should probably say now that I plan to get one of those new Qanba Q2 Glows, and I’ll probably only mod my Hori if that’s a ways away, and also because the QQ2G seems sort of untapped in modding to me (that or I haven’t searched for mod topics for that stick hard enough, hahah).

11

from my initial 30 second glance, that should be a very simple mod. and so much space that you should never have to worry about it. unless your modder is extremely messy and disorganised