Hey everyone, my name is Tommy and its a pleasure to be posting here. I’ve been lurking for a while and I finally decided to make an accpunt and join in on the conversations! Anyway, enough about me: Onto the questions.
I just ordered a Qanba Q4RAF Ice Red as my first ever Arcade Stick and im VERY excited to get it. I got it specifically because I play lots of Blazblue and Persona 4 Arena, with the occasional game of Mortal Kombat, UMvC3 and Soul Cal 5. I feel as if I played enough with my pad and its time to move on to bigger and better things, having used my friends Fusion Synthesis stick, the answer was clear to me as for what stick I would purchase. He had a Octagonal Gate in place of the Square, and I went opted to go the same route with mine. Anyway, all that aside, I want to do a few things to tweak and personalize my stick the way I wanted.
I know I want to get a Red Bubble Top in place of the stock Red Ball top, How would I go about installing that, and what size Bubble Top do I buy (mm wise)
I was planning to replace the Sanwa Buttons with some really nice Seimitsu buttons I found online, what would be the easiest way to go about doing this?
My Final Question: Later on down the line, I knew that I would want to customize the stick with my own art, so I ordered the clear Plexiglass Panel. I downloaded the Template, but I tried to mess around in GIMP but couldnt really understand what I was doing, any help would be appreciated.
Again, Thanks for taking the time to look at thos and help, it really means alot. If you’d like to add me on Xbox and play a few games, feel free to add me. GT- NaotosTwerkTeam
I personally prefer the standard 35mm balltop, but for some games I’ll bump it up to a 38mm.
All I can really say is pop open the stick and get acquainted with it’s layout. If it’s your first time replacing buttons, I’d suggest doing it one button at a time, just to keep from getting your wires crossed. Now that I’ve done it a few times, I like to just fill out the positions of buttons and the corresponding wire colors in a pocket notebook as soon as I’ve got the stick open.
That is right up my alley, I’d suggest taking a look at some gimp tutorials on youtube find a few techniques you like and apply them to your art. (Tip: if you can’t find a technique you like when looking through the plethora of GIMP tuts, try looking them up for Photoshop and applying them to gimp) I went through a design certification (Adobe Associate) while in school so I’m more of a CS6 kind of guy.
Glad to meet another new new face, hope you enjoy your stay Tommy.
Wait, Naoto’s Twerk Team? There a story behind that?
Anywho,
1: Assuming the shaft sizes are the same (they probably are) you just unscrew the old one and screw the new one on. You should be able to use a screwdriver on the bottom of the joystick shaft to get a better grip. Also, I like to put a dab of medium strength threadlocker on the threads to keep the balltop tight but that’s your choice.
2: You should just be able to pop the old ones out and the new ones in. Be sure to measure the diameter of the button holes so you order the right buttons.
Thanks guys! Im definitely gonna look into all of these suggestions! And yeah, there was a story behind my name involving a Game of P4A and a video on YouTube haha I dunno if some people do commissions for making custom art, but i’d gladly look into such a thing, seeing as how I’m horribly inexperienced with both GIMP and Photoshop.
Well if you’ve got a good idea of what you want the art to look like, I can give it a try. I normally only charge for website coding and from “scratch” paintings, I won’t charge if I can use renders and such. (although that may change in the future if I can gain a good standing with the folks around here.)
I dunno if some people do commissions for making custom art, but i’d gladly look into such a thing, seeing as how I’m horribly inexperienced with both GIMP and Photoshop.