Recently, my ignition DDR pad had been screwing up on me...again. The pad, in general, still works, per se, but buttons would "stick". (See my previous entry on my screwed up DDR pad). After some internet research, i've found that most of the problems associated with DDR pads have to do with a cheap sheet of foam placed in between two layers of sensor circuits inside the pads. These two layers must not come into and remain in contact for the pad to work properly.

There are many small, circular holes in this sheet at all allow the pad to close the circuits. Problems with unresponsive arrows usually occur when the foam layer folds over itself, covering its own holes, preventing the sensor circuit from closing, thus, the arrow connected to that area of censors, doesn't work. The problem with sticking arrows (the main problem I have), usually happens with that foam layer has been severely compressed to the point where it no longer easily refills with air, causing the sheet to become very thin, and as result, allows the two layers of sensors to come into, and remain in contact, in effect, causing the arrow to "stick" in the context of how the game itself responds to it.

I made an incision (sp?) around 3 of the 4 sides of the perimeter of the pad to get inside, and made the same type of incision through subseqent layers until I reached the foam layer. Sure enough, the foam was compressed around the arrows (though stil relatively puffed in the center) and thin. The the sheet was also a bit bunched toward the bottom of the pad. The sheet itself was also "stretched" in effect, though I don't know how it got that way, so my only option was to make the same type of incision as the previous layers, into the foam layer, and then litterally pull on the foam sheet until there was no more bunching, even though this, in effect, caused the sheet to become even thinner, but it was probably my only option. I cut off any excess foam from the pulling, and manually cut circular holes in areas where foam was covering sensor areas of the pad when before they had not. I then closed and "bandaged" the pad using duct tape (none of it is visible as all of the incisions were done in the interior of the pad), and gave it a test. I played DDR and it works, i'd say, 96% better. The pad is once again playable, I can get A's on songs and everything like I did before, but every now and then I notice "ghost steps" where the game will register steps even though I didn't make them. Also, every now and then, the pad will fail to register steps immediately after performing a jump. Both of these problems are the result of the thin sheet of foam in the pad. The ghost steps simply occur when I do a step, causing the two sensor layers to come into contact, then slowly separate, as the layers get close to completely separating, the light contact causes the control box in the pad to interpret that as a light step(s) on the arrow, causing the game to register that as steps even though I didn't perform them. The problem with the failed registering of steps after peforming a jump is simply the result of the significant force of all my weight slamming down on the pad, basically, sending a blow to the pad, causing the two sensor layers to come into significant contact through the already thin sheet of foam between them. The constant and significant contact between the sensors causes them to be unable to sense any other steps until the two layers separate. Jumps are also one of the biggest causes of the deflation of the foam in the first place.

If I want to elimanate this problem altogether, i'm gonna have to do one of two thing things. I can either go and buy a thicker, more dense sheet of foam and replace the worn out foam in the pad with it, which i'll probably do, or I can just buy a new pad altogether, but I want to avoid that option for two reasons:

1. I don't have much extra money
2. I want the next DDR pad I buy to be a Metal Pad, I don't wanna spend any more money on softpads unless its to fix one I already have.

But anyway, I think thats my first ever surgery on video game hardware, and the surgery was a success!, lol.