Need help with DragonPlus PS2 -> PS3 / PC USB Converter + Guitar Hero Wold Tour PS2 Guitar

Tech Talk
1

Greetings everyone! I am trying to use a Guitar Hero World Tour PlayStation 2 wireless guitar, using a DragonPlus converter. Or at least the box says it’s DragonPlus. It’s clearly very made in China.

The converter connects to the PC just fine, and I can use the guitar in Frets on Fire. I can also use xPadder to map most of the guitar’s buttons.

But there is one huge, dealbreaker problem: the red fret button is always pressed, according to the Windows Controller Diagnostic tool.

https://i.imgur.com/XUVxaFo.png

Pardon the Russian screenshot, but you can see where the issue is - the button number 5 is always on. Pressing the red fret button has no effect. Without one of the fret buttons, the guitar is basically unusable.

I thought maybe the issue is with the guitar, after all it spent nearly 10 years in some shop’s store room in god knows what conditions. So I sent it back to the shop along with the DragonPlus converter, and they tried it with 8 other guitars, and they all had the same issue.

Then I thought the converter itself is broken, and requested a replacement from another shop. But the second converter has the exact same issue. I am at a loss.

I could try getting entirely another type of converter, but I have to order all of them online from another city, so it takes time and money, and my options are limited. Is there any way I could maybe somehow re-solder or re-program the Dragonplus converter so it works properly?

I took a couple of photos of the disassembled Dragonplus converter: https://imgur.com/a/U2p4B

Don’t mind the disconnected black wire, I broke it myself while disassembling. It can easily be resoldered, and I have a second fully functioning spare converter.

2

You can notice on one the of the photos that one of the controller connectors is not soldered to anything.

According to this guide: http://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/PS2/

That pin is “playstation -> controller command”. Maybe the guitar is supposed to receive a command that would tell it to unpress the red fret?

3

Looks like a problem in your converter, i remember back when i tried to play Guitar Hero 3 in PS2, you could fake a sony controller to be a guitar just by holding a button (left dpad? not sure) while plugging in.

Maybe that’s the actual problem, the converter is not recognising your buttons properly. can you test another converter? or you need a special converter for the guitar?

4

Yes, the shop tested the guitar with PS2 itself, and they said it works fine. Clearly the issue is in the converter, though it’s not a physical malfunction; it’s just built this way, because I have another DragonPlus converter with exact same issue, that also had exact same issue with 8 other guitars.

Judging from Amazon reviews, this converter doesn’t work (or not supposed to work?) with Guitar Hero. Hard to say, Amazon reviews often contradict each other.

I was hoping someone on this forum knows how the converter can be adjusted to work properly, re-wired or used with some sort of special driver, or enter some sort of dev cheat code on the guitar.

Only two types of converters are sold in Russia. I already have one of them:

and currently trying to order a second one:

If that doesn’t work, guess I’ll have to order another converter from USA. Wish I could just buy a PS3 Guitar, but alas they are more rare than something very rare.

5

can you buy from aliexpress or some chinese sites? you should try them first as they do free shipping :slight_smile:

6

Yeah, I can, but the delivery takes extra long due to customs tension, and I’m super itching to play Guitar Hero, was hoping to do that weeks ago. Ordered a second converter via express delivery, we’ll see how it goes.

7

Problem is those two converters are intended for normal game pads only.
Guitar Hero controllers are a hit or miss.