SF4 Standard Edition FightStick - Problem / Defect Thread

Tech Talk
1001

I posted this on the “How to mod your SE thread” but now that I see I think this is the correct thread.

Here’s what I posted:

I opened my SE to check if the stick came out faulty, so I take the stick out and check, the PCB is not scratched, but the SE is new so I’m still not convinced. (yes, screw the warranty). When I finish closing up the stick, I plug it to my 360 and the backwards direction did not work, so I open it up again to check what it is, and I noticed one of the cables of the white connector that goes to the stick is loose, but not out of the connector. I play with it a bit being careful I dont break it, then the upwards and backwards directions dont work, so I start to worry since I dont know how to fix that much. At last I keep moving the cable until all the directions work. I put back everything in place and left it like that, so I could at least play.

I’m pretty sure this is going to be temporary because I plan to mod the stick, is there a way to fix it permanently so I dont have that problem again?

I forgot to say, the cable is the last to the right if you look it from the bottom of the stick.

1002

Hi,

Before I relate my own tale of woe I’d like to reply to some ppl from previous posts (I’ve read every single one :D):

  1. AKStreetFighter907 - I think a picture might help, I’m having trouble visualising the problem, you say the stick still works fine? I can only think it will be a problem given time if things are moving inside that should not, and at the moment you’re the best judge there

  2. To everyone who says that opening the case will void the warranty - the sticker reads that the case should only be opened by qualified people (words to that effect), it does NOT say that simply opening it up will void the warranty. The stick itself has glue around all parts you would need to fiddle with in order to replace it, so that is how Madcatz will know you’ve done something you maybe shouldn’t have, and that’s the only way I think they can void your warranty. And judging by posts from a few pages back, they may not even do it then. But this may be territory specific, plus back then the washer problem was in full swing so it may have been to stop too much bad press.

  3. I think too many people are saying the washer problem still exists. From previous posts, what I gather is that the problem involves grinding of the joystick PCB (perhaps enough to be audible), the stick itself not resetting to neutral position fully or at all, and finally directions not registering. As I will say below for my query, my own joystick washer moves, but NOT horizontally. As far as I can tell it is not grinding against the PCB, so I think it is wrong to say the washer is loose and therefore incorrectly installed when the tilting that I can see in mine may be all that is going on here (note: I’ve just taken a look at the Sanwa JLF :smiley: I just received today and the washer neither slides nor tilts, so I could have egg on my face here)

  4. Again with the washer, if you think you can hear grinding, make sure it is not simply the noise from the spring. Apart from anything else, a small washer grinding against a PCB isn’t likely to be that loud

  5. madari1: Lefty-loosey, righty-tighty

  6. Nevvermore: sounds to me it may be the … the uh… you know the plastic things that the joystick pushes against, that connect to … connectors to make moves register? Them. I wonder if they are they problem here, reasoning being that if there is some kind of sticky residue, then if you do a quick movement they won’t have the chance to get stuck properly, whereas if you hold them in they can?

  7. To all those complaining about non-responsive buttons, I don’t have a solution but I will chime in on the other side and say that although they don’t have the ‘feel’ I would quite like (unlike my new Sanwas :D), they have been top draw in responsiveness and durability. Heck I even thumped them after a horrendous loss, and the only thing that came out badly was my fist! (Damn that case is solid!). Incidentally, the main problem I describe below happened before the thumping incident lol. I’ve heard that the XBox stick has probs with having to pull out and re-plug the USB cable to get it to work when it stops respnding, perhaps there is also a compatability issue to do with the buttons? How many ppl are having button probs with the PS3 stick?

And now, my own question:

I’ve heard that the turbo buttons on the SE might not work on certain fighting games, and have experienced something in SF4 that although not related to turbo buttons, may be related to some kind of technical compatability issue - either that or the infamous washer problem.

Basically, since using the (PS3) SE fightstick there would be times during a match where, when I was blocking diagonally down to the right, the block would not register and I would be hit, even though both down and right are individually registering. This happened infrequently to begin with, but now it seems to be a permanent issue. HOWEVER, if I REALLY push the stick to the corner, THEN it will register. Also, I am able to do moves involving diagonal down-right with barely a problem. How is this possible?

Then a few days ago something bigger came up, where during training, all of a sudden the left direction would not register at all. After a good few seconds of waggling, I jumped forward for a wall jump and noticed that on the way back, diagonal up-left registered (where it hadn’t before when trying to jump back), but still I could not walk left. I suspected it wasn’t the joystick from this, and after restarting the training session from the pause menu, indeed all was well.

So, does anyone know what this could be, could it be the joystick, or the game? I have clocked 160 hours in the game, around 80 of which was with the PS3 controller, when neither issue occured. And if it is the joystick, would it be to do with the main PCB, or the joystick PCB? I have just received a Sanwa stick and buttons, but don’t want to do the swap if the previous stick is not the issue, which is possible because I got mine in late April which is when the Madcatz sticks were supposed to be fine, and also I opened it up and though I took nothing apart, I could see that although the washer WAS tilting, it was not sliding around (except for MAYBE a fraction of a millimetre), and was therefore not in contact with the PCB.

Any help greatly appreciated,

  • scum
1003

simulation credit auto
:encore:I discovered this site this week and it’s worth so much in professional advice and information

1004

Hey guys, I have a theory and wanna know if this works or not.

I was just wondering if I could check whether the washer was loose or not by looking under the black disc surrounding the joystick. Like if I lift it and move the joystick, will I be able to tell if my washer is stuck? I tried it and mine seems glued on.

Everything works great so far, its been a week now. I don’t want to open it unless I have to. The buttons aren’t as craptacular as I thought.

1005

Nope, only way to tell is to open the case and take apart the stick. I’m not sure if I recommended gluing down that washer anyway as you’d have to remove most of the lubrication from the stick. If I was you I’d leave the stick alone until something goes wrong or you can no longer take the low quality of the parts. A 8 year old with a little guidance can modify this arcade stick, well at least the technical side of the operation. glances at cut finger from trying to remove near impossibly tight quick connect and restrictor plate. Also, half of the screws where pre-stripped for me.

On the subject of buttons, the madcatz buttons are very light weight are easier to compress yet less responsive then Sanwa buttons. I prefer American buttons as their stiffer and you will not have false fires as your palm guides over them.

1006

welcome to visit our site.

simulation credit auto

1007

First point isn’t true, just open the case and you can see the washer, it’s right at the base of the stick shaft as you look down on it. Move the stick, and if you see zero movement of anything else you’re in the money. If you see horizontal sliding you’re screwed, but I’m not convinced there’s anything wrong if the washer just tilts, as mentioned in my above post.

On the buttons, the madcatz ones are less even in the feedback when you press them - press in the middle and the whole button goes down, but press at the edge and only the edge goes down; Sanwa buttons depress evenly no matter where you press them, and (hence) have a more solid feel about them. There may be something else to it, personally I didn’t experience added responsiveness but I haven’t had them long, and besides the madcatz buttons are incredibly responsives anyway - if you cough in their direction you can probably perform an ultra.

-scum

1008

If I’m understanding you correctly he’d had to remove the artwork off the top of the stick to do so?

1009

That’s for the TE, but that one doesn’t have a washer problem. On an SE you unscrew 6 screws from the bottom of the case, remove the backplate and there you are.

1010

Right, which is why in my first post I said he’d have to open the case and could not tell by just lifting the dustcover on the Madcatz JLF clone.

1011

ahhh my O(medium kick)(circle)(lol) button works randomly :frowning:
it only works sometimes,
i don’t know if its the PCB or the button itself.
the stick feels fine, maybe kinda loose, but doesn’t stick to any specific area but neutral.

1012

OK, I’ve now installed the Sanwa stick after opening my SE and finding that the blocking problem I was having was likely due NOT to a pcb problem, but that the right switch is knackered. It really isn’t clicking like the others, it feels spongey, and I’ve found that if I’m riding the gate in order to block, then if I am but half a millimeter away from the very corner, it won’t register the right direction for the block. Also, it seems that the way I am holding the joystick itself can have an influence.

So I took the plunge and invalidated my warranty, but have had no problems blocking with the Sanwa, and it would then seem that the PCB isn’t the only thing that can go wrong with the Madcatz stick :frowning:

-scum

1013

I’ve had this problem with my 360 stick. Maybe once every day or two the LB RB buttons will cut out completely and the only way to fix it is reestablishing the connection between the stick and xbox (ie unplug and plug back in).

I really think its a problem with the breakaway cable, thus why it only effects the 360 and not PS3 version.

I’m going to try and find a replacement for the breakaway-USB portion of it and see if that solves the issue. If not, I’ll have to figure out how to replace the whole cord on the stick. If anyone can provide info on this that would be great.

Either way I’ll post back here if I learn something.

1014

HORI EX2, SE stick or wait for TE?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and let me start by explaining my situation. I bought SF4 day one, brought it home and beat it with the Xbox 360 controller. Went online and lost 10 matches… I was pretty upset so I went to Gamestop to try and pick up a TE stick. Little did I know you had to pre order them (I wasnt really paying that much attention to the fight sticks because I thought they would be avaialble when the game released so thats my fault)

Well I’ve been searching everywhere for a fight stick ever since. I stopped playing SF4 awhile back because online is unplayable with an Xbox 360 controller. Untill yesterday… I walked into a store and they had both a HORI EX2 and an SE stick.

Now I’ve read through this post and it would seem that people are still having lots of problems with the SE stick. I’ve found a place that is taking preorders for the TE stick but I was thinking of picking up the SE stick instead of waiting the month or two for the TE stick (plus it’s cheaper)

I guess my question now is would it be worth it to pick up a EX stick or a SE stick? I dont really plan on modding them but if the SE still craps out then is it worth it?

1015

Well I got about 50 hours’ play out of my SE stick before wear and tear became a significant issue, which isn’t much actually (though of course you could return it under warranty a couple of times I guess). I hear a modded SE >> the Hori stick, but if you really won’t mod it then I’m not sure how durable the Hori is so not sure what you should do there.

btw, no way should you get the TE unless you want to have your own faceplate on there lol, a modded SE is way cheaper than a TE, yet they will have the same internal parts.

1016

new models

quick question and sorry if this has been asked but regarding the new models that are being sold in retail, do they still have this defect?

1017

mine doesn’t seem to have the classic (i.e. washer) defect, the problem was I think just that the parts weren’t up to heavy use. Manufacturer says the defect is fixed, anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise but there may have still been stock left from the old batches. But the stick is still worth getting for the customisation

1018

I Have a question … this pertains to the scratching of the pcb … if the pcb to the joystick gets scratched up… will replaceing the Joystick (for instance like a sanwa) fiz this issue??? or i gues what i am saying is does the sanwa joystick come w/ its own pcb ? thanks (sorry if this doesnt make any sense)

1019

Replacing the stock Mad Catz Joystick with a Sanwa JLF will indeed fix the scratched PCB issue.
That is because the Sanwa JLF-TP-8 comes with its own Microswitch PCB Assembly (TP-MA).

Replacing with Seimitsu LS-32-01 would fix also, as it comes with its own PCB.
In fact, you can replace with a Joystick that doesn’t even use a PCB.

You’ll just be soldering the wires directly to Microswitches.

1020

all of the joysticks people turn to to replace the stock joystick in the SE have their own pcbs and you will see none of the problem, even if you had the loose washer (JLF-8YT and LS-32-01).