PCB or Adapter? (Converting a MadCatz TE-S for PS3 to PC/PS4)

Tech Talk
1

Ok so I need some advice from some of you more knowledgeable in fightsticks than I am. I have a MadCatz TE-S stick (Not TE-S+ or TE2) that I need to fix to work mainly on PC.

The stick works okay on one older PC that I found but not my main one so the stick is def not a dead stick. That older PC was collecting dust though and isn’t powerful enough to run SFV. On that PC some games like BlazBlue don’t recognize the stick at all but MAME and Skullgirls do. It’s pretty hit or miss.

On my main laptop the stick comes up as “PC USB Wired Stick 8838” and isn’t recognized by anything. I can’t map the buttons to MAME or any games. After looking around online I saw some people were recommending that peeps with legacy PS3 sticks should swap their PCBs, but is that the right route to go? If it is what PCB should I get? What about Adapters?

Right now I’m kinda torn between three-ish options:

  • PS3/PC Zero Delay USB Encoder PCB: Japan Style Controls
  • Brook PS3 PS4 Fighting Board + (PS4/PS3/PC)
  • Brook Super Converter: Playstation 3 to Playstation 4 USB Adapter

The Zero Delay USB Encoder isnt pricey and is what I keep hearing people use when upgrading their old PS3 sticks, but I feel kinda dirty replacing the central brains of the stick with something that looks cheap and might crap out on me after awhile. If people swear by these PCBs I can wait and get one of these when they come back in stock on Focus Attack

Brook PS3/PS4/PC fighting board sounds like it would do everything I need and it would be much higher quality, but idk if it’s worth the price. Just the board alone on Focus Attack is $50 and idk if I would need to buy new cables to connect the parts in my TE-S (they are all stock Sanwa parts). If there’s any soldering involved this is a no go for sure since I don’t have any soldering tools with me

Brook Super Converter: Playstation 3 to Playstation 4 USB Adapter looks promising since it’s cheaper than the PCB and looks like it’s just plug and play, but idk if it would be plug and play on a PC. It’s the most versatile option since I could use it with other controllers/sticks I might get later but I haven’t found videos or posts of anyone using it to know if it works plug and play on PC with the TE-S

What do you guys think?

2

If you only need it for PC then I’d go with the Zero Delay board or the converter. Newer Windows messed up older PS3 sticks. Wiring the control panel might be a little confusing if you decided to go for the zero delay board, although if you don’t use then it isn’t much of an issue. Or if you don’t want to do any wiring then just buy the adapter. Depends if you want to save 30 bucks or not.

3

Wiring isnt that big of an issue, I just want something portable that works. If you can vet that the converter will work plug and play on PC then I guess that’s what I’ll get

4

Mad Catz sticks are known to have faulty Circuit boards.
So I say go with a new PCB and get that flaw taken care of right away