105

So over the last 4 yrs I’ve gone from a dualshock 2, to a dualshock 3, to a (self-made) hitbox, to a stick, and now this. I’m wondering if I’m just now noticing the weaknesses of the pad after having used more precise controllers, or if they’re just particular to some pads.

First of all, I have a question for pad users: do you have your thumb-joint resting in the middle of the dpad, or do you use your thumb-tip and slide it around? I’ve always done the former, but wonder if the other way is more optimal.

Now the issues I have with this pad are:

  1. I simply cannot hit buttons concurrently. Timing is sometimes 1-frame off. I know it’s technically me and not the device but by god do you have to be bang on to never hit it with plink-timing. That’s just unacceptable for me.
  2. It seems near impossible to transition from one direction to an opposite one without touching other directions on the way accidentally. For instance I might try to dragonpunch from down-back, and end up drawing a whole quarter circle when moving to forward–then if I do from down to down-forward and then finish at forward instead of staying at down-forward I end up triggering a super. Not saying I can’t overcome this with practice but it seems very subtle.

The one strength pad seems to have is that it is extremely fast. I’ve been practicing a madcatz TE for 5 months now and it still feels awkward and clunky to me. I feel restricted in what I can do at a given time, I can get caught not blocking more easily. With a pad I feel like I can be wherever I want direction-wise, instantly, I’ll just hit other directions on the way.

106

I pre ordered the 360 one on amazon and was pretty stoked for it now it appears to be out of stock…I need a pad for late night marvel when my wife is asleep I use the rock candy pad now

107

Does anyone know if the D-pad on the Hori Commander Pro 3 can be fixed or replaced with another d-pad? I don’t know what other pads are there left to use since I’m so accustomed with the swappable L-R buttons. Or maybe I just need to learn how to use a stick…

108

With another Hori Commander Pro 3. Most pads DO NOT have interchangeable parts, you are very unlikely to get a d-pad from a Mad Catz, PDP, Nintendo or even a different model Hori to fit the Commander Pro 3.

109

in the same boat, start a thread. Darksakul comment in it saying no hope, but from the stock pictures the dpad on these hori gem pads, they look the same. IF it is all we would need to do is a straight swap on the rubber conductive membrane that sit between the dpad and pcb and then we can continue to use the commander pro. I will purchase a gem and ‘give it a go’ (but not right now. after chistmas probably)

110

I’m with Darksakul on this. Bottom line: you might get lucky and find one that sorta[ fits, or maybe even something that fits perfectly. But your mileage may vary, and the chances of success are generally low, even when it comes to controllers made by the same company.

To reiterate, you might have lucked out if the Hori Gem controller has a rubber membrane that fits, but you’ll have to buy one to try it, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll work, even if they look the same.

But don’t let me discourage you: if you think that it’ll fit, you should get a Gem pad and try it out. Share the info, it would be most welcome here. I personally own a Hori FCP3 as well, so I’d be interested in knowing too, even though I don’t use mine remotely regularly.

111

i got a email from hori support as i inquired with them.

I asked: " I would like to ask if the Dpad (minus the rotation and stiffness feature) is the exact same dpad that is in the hori fighting commander 3 pro or if it is a completely redesigned dpad"

*Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for contacting HORI USA.

In regards, the Dpad and its components are differ between the Fighting Commander 3 Pro and the GEM PAD.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you very much.

HORI USA*

112

Of course Hori will tell you that, that is the typical corporate answer.
They are not going to tell you how to reverse engineer there stuff, they only want you to buy more.

113

I agree its a copy, pasted response, but maybe they knew about the dpads in the fcp3 falling apart so they changed it completely.

114

I think you’re being too hopeful and reading too much into it; I hardly think any company is really going back to revise their D-pad rubber membrane technology at this point. I would think that the Gem pad was designed essentially from the ground up, probably from entirely different design teams, considering the different target audience (FCP3 for fighting game people, Gem pad for the everyday user), and that very little is “learned” from one to the other.

On the flipside, it’s very likely that they learned from the design of the FC3 (not-Pro) over and onto the FC3 Pro, mainly because they are from the same “line” of controllers and have the same target end-user.

At this point, it’s all speculation from us the consumers, and it’s pretty clear that no one has a clearcut Yes/No answer to whether or not the rubber pads are compatible; until proven otherwise, the answer is “Maybe it might, but don’t count on it”.

Instead of continuing to guess or anything, you really should just take the plunge, buy the Gem controller and find out first hand.

115

question, has anyone used the Madcatz pro controller dpad modules? and if so which is the closes to the hori FC3 Pro?

116

I actually also have the MLG controller along with the additional discrete-directions module and the Fightpad module.
I gotta say that none of them (those two, along with the two that come stock with the controller) feel anything like the Hori FC3 Pro, unfortunately…

117

Thanks, which one do you end up using the most? and is the madcatz pro you pad of choice now then?

118

Honestly, I don’t use pad that much. I only use my Hori FC3Pro on my PC and netbook when I don’t feel like lugging around a stick. But I use an arcade stick as much as I can these days.

That being said, I mainly use my MLG controller for playing games online with buddies, and that invariably ends up being action or FPS games, and I tend to use the discrete-direction-module, just to be accurate in selecting my weapon/accessory/etc.

119

Ok so after 8 months of extensive usage of the HFC3P, the d-pad is destroyed. I might decide to go back to using the regular HFC3 and get the L-R buttons swapped. The D-pad on the regular seems to be more forgiving.

120

That sucks to hear.
I wouldn’t doubt that the regular HFC3 has a more durable D-pad, especially with the absence of the (useless) “features” they threw onto the Pro version (adjustable diagonals and rotating D-pad… who cares about them?..)

@ashstampede mentioned above that the D-pad membrane from a Hori Gem pad looked like it might be a suitable swap, so maybe that might be worthwhile to check out? We’d all like to know the results of that.

121

I have used the rubber membrane on my Old HFC and put it in my HFC3P after my dpad broke. The edges was slightly larger so i just trimmed it and it worked like a charm.
It’s been working fine now for the past 8 months but im still expecting it in the future to break again. So i would love somebody to check if the rubber membrane on the new gem pad is similar to the HFC3P.

122

Was it difficult to replace the rubber membrane from your OLD HFC to the Pro? I might actually try this on my own if its not too hard. I have a friend that has the Gem pad, will ask him to open it up and see if the rubber membrane is the same.

123

It was actually pretty easy. The edges on the OLD HFC are slightly larger so all you need to do is trim it slightly to make it match the HFC3P. Then put it all back together and it works perfectly. Yes please let me know if the GemPad is similar remember it doesn’t have to be exactly the same you can still trim and play around with it to make it fit the HFC3P.

124

I never bought the gem pad as i had a 2nd pro pad and swap out the dpad module. i found a old ben hack thread tempted to do my own switches with a breadboard and tact switches. tact switches are pretty cheap compared to buying the gem pad just for the membrane.

but its time vs money so if the gem pads go on sale then i’ll but the pad.

i wont make progress on either solution untill hfc3 pro #3 dpad breaks however. depending how difficult it might be to do that custom dpad may get the gem pad, only worrying thing is the clearance inside the entire dpad module shell.

but this will be the first place i post on my results.