Testing, Troubleshooting, and Configuring

The best (or at least easiest) way to test is to simply plug the controller into your computer. You may want to use a somewhat disposable computer if you're not fully confident in your wiring, but I just went ahead and plugged it into my laptop without any unfixable problems. Be sure to have Notepad or some other program open where random keystrokes won't cause problems, especially if you're using keys like Delete or something.

The most common problems I did have were shorts or broken connections in my soldering. These problems result in keystrokes being sent continuously, or no keystrokes at all. If that happens simply unplug the controller and check your work. This is a relatively minor problem. Taking the time to make sure your soldering is good and solid before proceeding will save you lots of headaches. There's nothing worse than a wire coming loose on pin 8 (the very middle one) on a D-type connector and not being able to fit the solderer back in there to fix it. If such a thing happens, do what I wound up doing once: chop the whole plug off and start over. If you cut your wires nice and long you can afford mistakes like that.

To configure your controller in your emulator, simply go to the input configuration where the key preferences are made. If you remember which buttons are assigned to which keys you can simply enter them in with a regular keyboard, or plug in your controller and use the buttons to enter them in first hand. Laptops are great for this stuff because you've always got the built-in keyboard in addition to your controller, so you're never left "stranded", unable to type things into the computer. If you've got a desktop, keyboard splitters are available on the internet for anywhere from $25–$40. These will allow you to have two keyboards connected to the same computer and use both at the same time.

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