Fun(?) fact: this video is based on penguinlord's guide, and if you read the intro on that, his was based on Tommy Gun's pads -- that's me! DDR was my first love, but now I mostly play Rock Band. I always wanted a metal pad and am still considering it, since there are more options out there now. I don't have my old modded pads anymore. :( My old site isn't up anymore, but it's still there on the Wayback Machine. On my pads, I took telephone cable (remember that?) and put it around the arrows so I could feel where they were. It worked pretty well.
That's seriously awesome! Thanks for making the original design this video wouldn't exist without you. Also glad to hear you're still playing rhythm games I deeply miss rock band. Awesome that you passed by here :D
This mod still works wonders in 2021. We're waiting for our L-TEK to ship and decided to give this a go with supplies we already had. Honestly surprised with how well it turned out.
I did a sort of semi-hard pad mod! I used this tutorial as a basis for what I did, although it was comparatively simpler. I used the same method of duct taping and using cut out squares under the arrows, but I didn't use any vinyl or staples, I just duct taped the edges of my soft pad to a piece of foam board so it looked nice. I slid cardboard squares under the arrows and taped them down. It works so much better than it did before and it only cost $10 total!
@@Kholdster Sure am. It's cheap as hell at the dollar store, it's rigid enough to keep its shape even after being stepped on (especially if you layer it), and it's very easy to work with, especially for someone who was like 14 when they did it and wrote that comment 👍 Never had any issues with it despite it getting kinda flattened pretty quick. The softer surface felt nice too
just ordered the vinyl (12 gauge - thanks to the commenter who pointed that out), have that identical soft pad in 2024. While i have an Arduino, i don't want to go thru the headache since i have the soft pad already and have 90% of these materials already at my house. Thanks man!
This worked great for us, we used: *12 gauge clear plastic (Joann Fabric called it "clear table vinyl," they have different gauges too) *3/4 inch plywood, I got the precut 1/2 sheet at Home Depot & cut to size *3/8 inch staples for the staple gun *2 3/4 inch wide black Gorilla tape *1 7/8 inch double sided carpet tape, Shurtape *permanent marker, hammer, straight edge, & scissors Note: We didn't raise the arrows on the dance pad, but still measured the carpet tape to be placed between/around the arrows, & not under the Select & Start buttons too. We were careful to leave extra fluff, so we didn't set off other buttons while dancing. Took about an hour to build. Because our original pad was old as the game, we ordered a new dance pad from Amazon. Thank you so much for the video.
UPDATE: This worked beautifully! Finished putting together the wood/vinyl pad and have now been playing DDR constantly since! :D Works as good as a flat-surface pad could ever! Comparable to the arcade experience except for there being no physical arrow buttons/squares. This semi-hard mod is lightyears beyond a plain ol soft mat!
Hey there! Glad this tutorial could help : ) I actually still have both of mine and they work very well still. Thanks for the update on how it turned out!
Just built this yesterday. The instructions were awesome and the final product works like a charm. We did make a slight adjustment. We didn’t feel that the double stacked plastic would provide enough of a "bump" to feel underneath so we cut up foam squares (of the same dimension) and taped those down instead. Now we have a very distinct raise that we can feel whilst playing. We haven’t had any issues so far with the incorrect buttons being activated.
This is the best ddr pad mod I have seen on youtube. Simple cheep and effective. Nothing too complicated or expensive. Just what I'm looking for. Great job yall!
Small suggestion: If you're doing this to a new pad, measure first. It may not exactly match. I cut 35 x 39, and found I should really have gone with 35 x 41 -- my pad was about 2" taller than Mario's, even though it looks identical. So measure the width and height of the pad, and then add 1 or 2 inches to each, and that's the size to cut your board.Otherwise--great tutorial!
Your tutorial gets everything right with what RUclips tutorials should be. Only exactly the information needed, and caveats noted where important. I'll probably try to follow this guide to make my own hard pad as soon as I can. Thanks for posting this!
Just finished working on mine! Used your tutorial to help me, but instead of using vinyl under the arrows I used cardboard and felt like it worked really really well… You guys are awesome thank you so much
This is awesome, I'm in uni and way too broke to buy anything fancy (and I'm no pro either) but this is pretty much all I want out of a DDR pad. thanks guys!
Waaaah this is exactly what I need, 10/10 what a comprehensive walk through! Thank you SO much, I never would have come up with this on my own!!! I know what I'm doing next weekend.
Thank you for an excellent and clear tutorial! ❤ So cool, I am not the most handy person but very tempted to try this out. P.S. Very good point re safety glasses - my dad sometimes doesn't wear these and earlier this year he got a serious cut to his eyeball and nearly blinded himself. Always be safe, hospitals are no fun!
So excited to do this!!! I'm trying to start a community after school program in my town to help kids learn about music, dance, video games and a healthy lifestyle. I have Mario DDR for Gamecube and found a couple pads that work perfectly. This will really legitimize my business! :-)
3 days later update: It is finished! Not as bad as I thought it would be. And I built it myself, that's always a satisfying feeling from deep within one's kid brain lol. I think I'll need to test it out for another week since mine does have its lightly annoying quirks. I have a Konami mat (the og shiny plastic kind without triangle and square buttons), so it's definitely more prone to wrinkling. I had to place the vinyl more loosely since the wrinkles made the contacts more sensitive, and didn't wanna risk having to close it up and realizing I effed up. Other than that, it's not angelic perfection, but it still gets the job done and it's awesome not having to deal with a pad sliding all over the place anymore. I think any lingering dissatisfaction I have is from my scoring, which I'm trying not blame on any glitchy buttons and it's just the fact that I suuuck right now 🤣 More motivation to improve on no-bar! I'm gonna scout out some old PS2 games soon 😀
Hey I'm glad you finished up the pads! Sorry about barely getting to you now, I'm just now getting to my RUclips comments after months of being away. Having the vinyl more loose was a good call because mine was too tight at first and held down the contacts without even standing on the pad. I actually want to get back into DDR as well since I've moved around so much the past years but I'm finally in a stable place. It will definitely improve no bar performance I can vouch for that! Hope you enjoy the pads and thanks for giving a detailed account of your experience it was fun and wonderful to read : ) wish the best!
Sweet dude, my pads just showed up can’t wait to get started on the project. My foam pad working nice but when it inevitably wears out I’ll have the modded pads. If I recall correctly I stopped back in the day because my two deluxe foam pads stopped working so now I’ll have some ready to go and who doesn’t like playing with a buddy. I hope that kid that weighs 95 pounds gets his form figured out. I used to chicken foot a lot now I’m getting the stomping action down. Back in the day ddr was big we had some machines here in South Dakota but they are all gone wish I could have bought the itg machine from the arcade when it was for sale. My dream is to refurbish an arcade machine.
Update it’s working perfectly with shoes and I’m setting new personal bests on 8 and 9 footers. Still dreaming of owning a arcade can but this is definitely worth the time
Update again the pad worked wonderfully and lasted with tons of use. I did splurge on a ltek pad and man that is a game changer but this option was there for me and my cheap soft pad really did great with this mod
Awesome Tutorial man! I've been trying to figure out ways to lose weight and i thought about getting back into DDR again but was afraid of the expensive pads. now that i found your video im way more excited to build my own custom pad. BTW what DDR games do you suggest getting for PS2? (Best Song lists)
Awesome to hear that you want to get back into DDR! and these pads should do very well. The only PS2 DDR games I owned were "DDR Extreme" and "DDR Max 2". I loved the songs and gameplay of both those games very much, so I would recommend those. I now however, play Stepmania with DDR themes on my PC. I just plug-in my pads with adapters like this: (www.ddrgame.com/ps3-accessory-cable-controller-converter.html) and play on the PC. If you don't already know what Stepmania is, here it is: www.stepmania.com/download/ it is like a simulator of DDR and has many extra features. Here are the two themes I love and have for Stepmania which make it seem almost exactly the same as DDR games: DDR X2 zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewthread.php?threadid=4920 DDR Extreme zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewthread.php?threadid=5076 With these, they act very similar to those DDR games, and you can download as many songs as you want. Almost every old mix songs (and some new) exists for download Hope this helps!
I plan on doing this mod with my dad, albeit with a modification. The wooden base will be a little longer at the bottom to compensate for a bar (probably a pipe mounted to the wood). Wish me luck.
This is great! I have one idea, I wonder if you could raise it up and add some extra stability by building a brace frame underneath with 2x2 beams or something.
Possibly if you try it and it works let me know! I actually built new wood pads with my brother a year ago to practice for eventually making from scratch decent metal pads
These DDR Soft Pad all have a common problem. The big circle in the middle does not have any sensing area. I really don’t know why they imitate this design flaw of KONAMI.
I plan to use wood, foam tape, and thick cardboard for the panals along with wood edges to hide the fact hat I’m using a soft pad. Just that little bit of aesthetic
I remember in my old soft pads back in the 2000s that the sensors would migrate inside of the pad. Do they still migrate with the plywood base or does that help to keep them in place?
Sorry I didn't see this comment until now. I did not have that problem actually because the vinyl really kept the pad from folding and scrunching up (which in turn prevents the sensors from moving out of place). I definitely did have that problem when I was young though too but yeah did not show up in my current modded pads
Thanks for posting this. Really good video (and nice of your dad to help with the construction and sourcing). Do you think it would cause any issues if I were to insert a layer of foam between the plywood and pad? I have bad knees and hardwood floors, and am thinking some foam might make playing more comfortable.
Hello there! Sorry for the late reply been extremely busy the past weeks with college. Adding a layer between the wood and the pad possibly may cause an issue with arrow sensitivity, but it also may be perfectly fine. I would recommend trying it out without taping anything first. So put the wood on the floor, put the foam and then the pad on top. You can temporarily put the vinyl on top just to test and try out a song. If the arrows work fine and there are no problems then definitely go for it. Just remember not to put the vinyl on too tight when taping the final mod together. If the test doesn't work, you can possibly cut square pieces of yoga mat out, and place them on top of the vinyl over each arrow to lessen the impact. Again sorry for the late response, please let me know if the test worked and keep me updated on the final outcome! I definitely would like to know how it turned out and if you have any more questions let me know!
I'm kinda excited 😅 I could def save money trying to revive my place in DDR gaming (again). The only thing that put me off from my PS2 games was my crappy soft mat - didn't compare at all to the arcade machines when trying to improve my stamina. But I knew I couldn't blow money at the arcade every other day, so I got discouraged about playing. I'm looking forward to this as my first possible mod, for some reason I'm slightly intimidated too 😭
If you have a few bucks lying around you can get the L-Tek Metal pads for PC its around like 300$ for one sturdy pad I just bought one recently:) and you can customize the Arrows and center piece
I bought a couple soft pads, then I read up how bad and how vulnerable the pads are on carpet when you tap; so I'm going to give this a shot. I've watched the video a few times, how much vinyl did you use to finish both the mats? I'm not sure if I missed this small detail or if I'm just too excited to do this. This will be an excellent project to finish for isolation for the next year and a half or so!
Brings back memories, I did the exact same thing here and had a plywood insert in a red octane ignition as well, and used em both for doubles, they worked fantastic for a while. Here's me 15 years ago playing on them, can't believe this is still up: ruclips.net/video/uF73x7-VeqE/видео.html Unfortunately I haven't played in like 12 years, and I miss it so much... I just don't have the option these days, being on the top floor apartment of an old building and no machines anywhere near me...
Hello! I'm using a replica of DDR extreme on my computer. Here is the link if you want it: zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/thread?threadid=5076. Once you boot up the game from that download you go to options and at the very bottom is test input which will take you to that screen. Hope this helps!
can you link some vinyl I could use I'm having a hard time figuring out what department in side of Walmart I should look at to find it I thought about using a clear shower liner if I cant find any.
The vinyl I got was this one here: kittrichstore.com/collections/magic-cover/products/magic-cover-54-deluxe-clear-bulk-roll-non-adhesive I found it at walmart though and it was in the fabrics section of the store. I couldn't find it in hardware or anything like that but the fabrics. It's hard to find alternatives on the internet only because I can't really see or feel the texture but it's fully smooth (no grip patterns or textures) and it's a little less thick than a business card
Milo Suricato Milo Suricato Hey, yes you can definitely play with shoes. You may miss a couple notes here and there from the shoes stretching the vinyl, but it works quite well and I do it all the time
Hello every year it seems harder to find the exact vinyl mostly because I bought it in store. The closest options I have found are these three below. The name of mine was Double Polished Clear Vinyl. Hope the links help >< sorry: - www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-PVC-Vinyl-54-Premium-Clear-Roll-12-Yds/23554849?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2648&adid=22222222227017128830&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40942233512&wl4=pla-78879780152&wl5=9031944&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=23554849&wl13=2648&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5J_mBRDVARIsAGqGLZDL0Du4Q3oK6reWr8o8Q_5ZlCLsRIfU3tPuLTNrIUcexnI8TIJXvR4aAp0TEALw_wcB - www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-PVC-Vinyl-54-Multi-Purpose-Clear-Roll-25-Yds/23554847?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2648&adid=22222222227017128828&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40942244552&wl4=pla-78879717752&wl5=9031944&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=23554847&wl13=2648&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5J_mBRDVARIsAGqGLZDTOf426Y65SBv4R4jSdEy-TKPDiuC9GkTa7fUvq-DB2TXiv08m4ngaApbSEALw_wcB - www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-PVC-Vinyl-54-Super-Clear-Roll-10-Yds/23554850?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2648&adid=22222222227017128831&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40942199312&wl4=pla-78879704072&wl5=9031944&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=23554850&wl13=2648&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5J_mBRDVARIsAGqGLZAEipgo4-ES30AVzgjfr0Ihy7awfT4GjamymwuegaDeTlwYONjLZLUaAlQ7EALw_wcB
Maybe late into the game, but i wonder if there any risk to have smaller plywood ( to the exact size of the soft dance pad, I am not living house so I dont want to buy big plywood to take place. I wonder if there is any stability issues. I mean 12 mm thick plywood with adhesive should contain well with vinyl?
Hey thanks a lot for this video. I recently searched for a way to make my DDR pad better and this might be the solution. However I do have a question: Do you know the thickness of the vinyl used in the video? Thanks in advance ! :)
Hello there! I don't know if there is any millimeter exact thickness, the vinyl only said "double polished clear vinyl" but it was thin and worked well. Mine is specifically from walmart and it's the blue rolls. Here are two links to what kind I used: www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-Multi-Purpose-Clear-Vinyl-Roll-54-x-25-yds/23554847 www.etsy.com/listing/582183144/clear-vinyl-covering-54-x-60-roll?gpla=1&gao=1&&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqM3VBRCwARIsAKcekb3c1lk3sYmW_Y5G4srkwTuoXSgRf2ZDpeRJUUIOlg2T-c8rujvXnQMaApSxEALw_wcB Hope this helps!
Thanks for the quick reply! Since I live in Germany I can't buy the same vinyl you posted, however I think I found something similar. The information that the vinyl was somewhat thin was really helpful. Thanks again and I will post again when I finished my Dancepad :)
Hello! So both pads held up for 3 years in working condition. After the 3 year mark the sensors inside the pad started to give out. The actual wood board, and vinyl is still holding up well, but the internals of the pad itself have slowly been dying. I still own the pads (now 5 years) and they technically "work" but they often don't detect every button press and will misstep many times. This is after heavy use and lots of Heavy/Expert stepcharts so I'd say it lasted a good amount of time. Hope this helps!
Both are about the same volume but instead of sounding like a plastic bag the modded pad sounds low and thumpy. Here is a video I shot real quick to see yourself as well: ruclips.net/video/uRsfWoyZ_8g/видео.html
@@marioCazares - Oh wow! You went out of your way making a video. I didn't expect that but it certainly helps. I really wanted to hear the sound. And it's a big improvement to me. My main reason for finding your tutorial was the crumpling sound as I move around. I can definitely deal with a little bit of the wood thumping. I'm going start building my own. Thanks for these videos and keeping active after 7 years!
Yup you can definitely add some inches to it to give it room for a bar, there isn't anything at the back of the pad that a bar would interfere with. I usually just place a chair behind me as a bar since I didn't install one
What I have considered when doing this in the future is making the board's height longer underneath to make a bar, I have seen people make their own pads with a bar, but the board would need to be really sturdy ^^"
No recent comments but i came across this after seeing Penguinlords tut. Im planning on doing your version of it tomorrow granted i can find the correct vinyl material. Question do you still use these pads do they still hold up?
Awesome to hear! thank you for responding so quickly as well! That was really the only thing i was curious about was the life span. Amazing almost 3 years out of a soft pad. I broke 2 metal pads when i was about 10 years younger lol. Hoping this will be quite a bit better.
Just finished mine up. Works like a charm been playing for a little over an hour. Again great tutorial and thank you. Tell your Pops I said thank you too! lol
Hey there so we ended up taking out the vinyl under the pad because it was causing unwanted arrow presses on one of the pads. Thin foam might work but if it's too tall it'll keep causing the arrows to press when you don't want. Also having hard acrylic on top might be heavy enough to press down on the arrows as well. If possible I would test it out without taping/gluing anything together to see if it works
The pads have lasted and still work to this day however they do miss some steps or double step from occasionally. They worked reliably for years I would say even to around 2021 without many issues. I even played in shoes often. (Although shoes do make the pad slide around the floor a little) We owned 3 soft pads before these modded ones and those all ripped after a year or two. So I'd say this dramatically increases the longevity and the feel of the pad as well. Keeps it from scrunching up as well which is huge
@@marioCazares That's amazing, from 2 to 6 years is incredible, i've already purchased a soft pad from Ali and can't wait to mod it with my old man, he seems eager too since he gave me my first soft pad more than a decade ago lol Now I need luck sourcing the materials used lmao
What kind of ps2 controller to usb converter is that? Based on Amazon reviews, they don't register pads very well, and I don't want to waste money, lol.
Hello there I actually use the convertor linked below. I thought it was sketchy at the time when I got it in 2018 but it still works today and supports one or two pads at a time www.walmart.com/ip/PS2-USB-Dual-Controller-PC-Adapter-Converter-Consumer-Electronics-Gaming-Accessories-Player-Cable-Playstation-Attractive-Game-Joypad/581869851?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=101091584&&adid=22222222228000000000&wl0&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=42423897272&wl4=aud-430887228898%3Apla-51320962143&wl5=1013523&wl6&wl7&wl8&wl9=pla&wl10=462998764&wl11=online&wl12=581869851&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtJeNBhCVARIsANJUJ2ES6iK6IKpAFg5PM-dEh1gyoZVBMFr5zKZuICVct3Gc3IBYXEVYJZgaAr_jEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
The vinyl keeps the top really smooth so the pad doesn't wrinkle and trip you up. It also protects the pad from tearing which sometimes happens to the soft pads. Lastly you can use shoes on them since it's much stronger. Hope that helps!
I have only bought dance pads from this website here! www.ddrgame.com/ddrmatpad.html The pads came exactly as advertised and were definitely good quality. I only bought the regular mats but they offer other mats as well
Hey there, i love the vid and i really want to male a ddr pad for my fiance, becuz of covid she cant really go out to play ddr anymore and i had some questions, first instead of lifting the arrows with vinyl would it still work if lifted with foam? And also do you think it would work if i made a metal frame for the top that had sections missing to reveal the buttons? Also in your opinion how hard would it be to make it more of a box than just a pad? I had wanted to add the ddr support beams
Hello there 1) After I had made the build, I actually had to take out the vinyl under the arrows because it was lifting them too high and causing them to always be pressed. Adding foam might cause the same issue where it presses the button constantly, so you can test it but it also may not work. 2) The metal frame to reveal the buttons sounds cool and might work, you'll just have to worry about two things. The first is making sure the metal doesn't get too close to the arrows or it will constantly press them down. The second is it may be uncomfortable to play without shoes. As long as you play with shoes or carefully use the metal then it should be fine 3) Making a box would be fine as long as it's very sturdy (as it will be stepped on a lot) and as long as you are aware of the weight. Each pad weighs 20 pounds with just the flat piece of wood, so just keep in mind the weight Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions
oof, i'm having trouble sourcing the vinyl, but this is a great tutorial! how thick is the stuff you guys used? (sorry if that's covered in the video, lol)
Hi! I don't remember the exact thickness, the vinyl only said "double polished clear vinyl" it was quite thin however. Mine was specifically from walmart and it's the blue rolls. Here is the link to what kind I used: www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-Multi-Purpose-Clear-Vinyl-Roll-54-x-25-yds/23554847
Out of all the current pads out at the low price point, which do you think has the best sensors? looking to do a build but not regret not starting with the best pads later on
Hey sorry! (don't know why RUclips doesn't show me so many comments). I know it's two years later but I've only bought pads from here: www.ddrgame.com/ddrmatpad.html. I don't know how pads from other people work but these worked really well
This works great! But I did find that after 1-2 years the plastic conductive material inside the pad kind of degrades? Maybe it's just my shitty chinese soft pad lol... I'm going to buy a high end ddr/itg setup one day!!
will there be any input lag if I use a converter to PC? I wanna get a pad like right now but I don't have money for an ltek but this will do the only problem is I don't have a ps2 lol
Both my pads use a PS2 to Pc converter and they have zero lag they work perfectly. I've used two other pads with convertors as well and they worked perfectly fine too
@@harmonicposting Hey I use this one: www.walmart.com/ip/PS2-USB-Dual-Controller-PC-Adapter-Converter-Consumer-Electronics-Gaming-Accessories-Player-Cable-Playstation-Attractive-Game-Joypad/581869851?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=101091584&&adid=22222222228000000000&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=42423897272&wl4=aud-430887228898:pla-51320962143&wl5=1013523&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=462998764&wl11=online&wl12=581869851&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtJeNBhCVARIsANJUJ2ES6iK6IKpAFg5PM-dEh1gyoZVBMFr5zKZuICVct3Gc3IBYXEVYJZgaAr_jEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Can be done on a Pump It Up PS2 dance mat too? I bought one to play on my PS2/PC, but i don't want to damage it too much because the game requires speed and precision
Late to the party but I have a question! I'm around 95 lbs and ghost over a lot of the arrows so I like a very sensitive pad I can just slide my foot over. Worried with the extra padding it might not register my light taps well. Any other lightweights have good sensitivity experience with these cause I'd love to do this!
Hello there, I don't have the pads with me now to test, but my cousins (7 and 9 at the time) were able to play fine and they were quite light. If others would like to chime in it'd be helpful, but I think this mod should be okay
Krafty Krow it’s your form I weigh 220 and will “ghost” steps sometimes when I get crossed up on crossovers. Study your form and learn crossovers on easier songs first until you get the pattern down. It’s not the pad but it’s your form, hopefully you can get it figured out.
@@marioCazares I made two, both near identical to your tutorial. My wife is as small as me (both 100ish lbs girls) She doesn't play as high a difficulty as me, but she loves the vinyl across the pad, as does our young son. I however found it difficult to get it to register my light, rapid steps, so I tore the covering vinyl off. It's not as pretty, but it works great for me and she has her mat that she loves. Either way, thank you for this tutorial video. So easy to follow and easy to add modifications (or tear them off) when needed. OH! and I put stick on LED strip lights around them. Light em up!
This is probably the case yes because I ran into the exact same issue. When the plastic is too tight the button is "already pressed" so doesn't read when tapped on. If loosening the plastic doesn't work let me know!
The pad does not move around nearly as much, and also you never have the issue of the pad scrunching up. You can even use shoes with this mod. So I'd say it a substantial difference from the non-modded soft pad
This is the page where I bought the dance pads: www.ddrgame.com/softpads.html There are different pads for different consoles and for PC. I purchased a DDR Non-Slip Dance Pad for PC. It is saying however that these are out of stock. You can use this as a reference to find the same pads, but I'm not sure exactly who else has them. I looked and couldn't find any yet. The pad is around $25.
+Marcelo Hernández I can only do up to level 15 songs so Im not sure about 17 and up. I can tell you that the pad even works well with level 15 songs and only results in one or two missed arrows. If you are thinking about being really serious, this might not be a perfect fit, but for levels 1-15 I definitely recommend especially on a tight budget
Hi! i don't know if you're still active on here, but if i can, i want to ask a question. Is it okay if i replace the hard wood panel with a foam board?
If you think it will be strong enough you can try but it may end up bending or breaking if it's not strong enough. If you're able to stand on the boards and step around on them without them breaking before starting the project it may work.
@@marioCazares I see... i may end up using a wood board, because as it turns out after i asked that question, my dad planned to do roof jobs and he said i can have the leftover boards. With that said, can i substitute the cushioning under the arrows with cardboard?
@@anggoroputra5660 Actually one of pads has no cushioning under the arrows and it's doing very well, so having no cushion altogether should be okay. The cushions were actually causing the arrows to be pressed even when standing in the middle of the pad
@@marioCazares Hi! I thought i would give a final update. I managed to complete the mod with a few changes. The plywood that i got were not thick enough to staple the vinyl, so i can only tape it, but it works out in the end. It works so great compared to stock, i managed to get scores above 900k on 10s pass 12s now! It would still slide around the floor so the final thing i need to do is buy some anti slip pads that i can stick to the underside. Thanks again for the tutorial! All the best to you 🙏🙏
There is definitely enough room around the border to nail to a pallet but you might want to try the pad without the pallet first to see if you need to do that
Will this mod work well on tiles? I'm having a hard time playing because my pad keeps on slipping on tiles and I'm planning to do this mod to solve my problem. And also, can I use any other type of double sided tape instead of carpet tape? Thanks! :)
You can try a yoga mat placed under the modded pad (as this worked pretty well for me) or one that I haven't tried is possibly using Velcro strips under the pad
hey mario, If I want to make a most ghetto one. That mean I just need a soft pad, a piece of wood and a double sided carpet tape right? Update: After told this to my mom, she gave me a thick double sided tape and a thick yoga pad. I taped the soft pad on the yoga pad and it works! Well... For now.
I think that could work but just keep in mind skipping the vinyl will make the pad come off the wood a lot easier. The vinyl helps hold it down along with the carpet tape. If anything you can always just add more carpet tape if it looses stickiness
I've never tried it but I don't think the soft pad sensors are sturdy or sensitive enough to reliably work. You can quickly put the plexy glass on top of the pad though and test if the arrows still work.
Since I already had the wood boards I believe it was only about 9$ total for the supplies other than the pads. I only had to buy double sided carpet tape and vinyl because I already had duct tape. If you buy all the items (besides tools) it should only cost around 40-45$. This is all assuming you have dance pads already. Also, since this is for TWO pads, doing ONE pad could save you money on the vinyl and wood board. Hope this helps.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Fun(?) fact: this video is based on penguinlord's guide, and if you read the intro on that, his was based on Tommy Gun's pads -- that's me! DDR was my first love, but now I mostly play Rock Band. I always wanted a metal pad and am still considering it, since there are more options out there now. I don't have my old modded pads anymore. :( My old site isn't up anymore, but it's still there on the Wayback Machine. On my pads, I took telephone cable (remember that?) and put it around the arrows so I could feel where they were. It worked pretty well.
That's seriously awesome! Thanks for making the original design this video wouldn't exist without you. Also glad to hear you're still playing rhythm games I deeply miss rock band. Awesome that you passed by here :D
This mod still works wonders in 2021. We're waiting for our L-TEK to ship and decided to give this a go with supplies we already had.
Honestly surprised with how well it turned out.
is this soft mat with mod better than an L-TEK???
8 years Later, still perfect ! Just used your Tutorial to make 2 pads for my Wife and I and
It's Working Wonderfully. Thanks a lot !!!
I did a sort of semi-hard pad mod! I used this tutorial as a basis for what I did, although it was comparatively simpler. I used the same method of duct taping and using cut out squares under the arrows, but I didn't use any vinyl or staples, I just duct taped the edges of my soft pad to a piece of foam board so it looked nice. I slid cardboard squares under the arrows and taped them down. It works so much better than it did before and it only cost $10 total!
+dj505Gaming Nice man! Glad to hear you were able to fit the tutorial to your own mod
Hi, bro, so... you didn't use plywood?
I think I am going to try the foam board idea! I will probably bring back the double stick tape between the sensors for extra strength.
foam board is really flimsy and would permanently collapse if you stepped on it once... are you sure that's what you used?
@@Kholdster Sure am. It's cheap as hell at the dollar store, it's rigid enough to keep its shape even after being stepped on (especially if you layer it), and it's very easy to work with, especially for someone who was like 14 when they did it and wrote that comment 👍
Never had any issues with it despite it getting kinda flattened pretty quick. The softer surface felt nice too
just ordered the vinyl (12 gauge - thanks to the commenter who pointed that out), have that identical soft pad in 2024. While i have an Arduino, i don't want to go thru the headache since i have the soft pad already and have 90% of these materials already at my house. Thanks man!
This worked great for us, we used:
*12 gauge clear plastic (Joann Fabric called it "clear table vinyl," they have different gauges too)
*3/4 inch plywood, I got the precut 1/2 sheet at Home Depot & cut to size
*3/8 inch staples for the staple gun
*2 3/4 inch wide black Gorilla tape
*1 7/8 inch double sided carpet tape, Shurtape
*permanent marker, hammer, straight edge, & scissors
Note: We didn't raise the arrows on the dance pad, but still measured the carpet tape to be placed between/around the arrows, & not under the Select & Start buttons too. We were careful to leave extra fluff, so we didn't set off other buttons while dancing. Took about an hour to build. Because our original pad was old as the game, we ordered a new dance pad from Amazon. Thank you so much for the video.
which dance pad did you get? Any link? Appreciate if share! :)
UPDATE: This worked beautifully! Finished putting together the wood/vinyl pad and have now been playing DDR constantly since! :D Works as good as a flat-surface pad could ever! Comparable to the arcade experience except for there being no physical arrow buttons/squares. This semi-hard mod is lightyears beyond a plain ol soft mat!
Hey there! Glad this tutorial could help : ) I actually still have both of mine and they work very well still. Thanks for the update on how it turned out!
Just built this yesterday. The instructions were awesome and the final product works like a charm. We did make a slight adjustment. We didn’t feel that the double stacked plastic would provide enough of a "bump" to feel underneath so we cut up foam squares (of the same dimension) and taped those down instead. Now we have a very distinct raise that we can feel whilst playing. We haven’t had any issues so far with the incorrect buttons being activated.
What foam did you use?
Glad you got that to work!
Made this in 2023 with one of the first party konami pads! Went through this entire process and the pad turned out great. Great tutorial!
Very useful and surprisingly a little heartwarming for some reason. Might do this. Thanks a ton
This is the best ddr pad mod I have seen on youtube. Simple cheep and effective. Nothing too complicated or expensive. Just what I'm looking for. Great job yall!
Small suggestion: If you're doing this to a new pad, measure first. It may not exactly match. I cut 35 x 39, and found I should really have gone with 35 x 41 -- my pad was about 2" taller than Mario's, even though it looks identical. So measure the width and height of the pad, and then add 1 or 2 inches to each, and that's the size to cut your board.Otherwise--great tutorial!
Wow, this is way simpler than trying to construct a hard pad! I wish I'd had this back in the day.
Your tutorial gets everything right with what RUclips tutorials should be. Only exactly the information needed, and caveats noted where important. I'll probably try to follow this guide to make my own hard pad as soon as I can. Thanks for posting this!
+Fiska Thanks that means a lot!
dont have the money for a proper dancepad atm and I was at a con last week that really gave me the DDR itch again, so this is really good, thanks!
Thanks for watching and have fun getting back to DDR again :D
Dude this was such a cool video and your Dad is mega awesome for helping you with this. :D Wish I would of had a pad like this when I was a kid!
Haha yeah he's awesome! Thanks for watching!
Just finished working on mine! Used your tutorial to help me, but instead of using vinyl under the arrows I used cardboard and felt like it worked really really well… You guys are awesome thank you so much
This is awesome, I'm in uni and way too broke to buy anything fancy (and I'm no pro either) but this is pretty much all I want out of a DDR pad. thanks guys!
man this is awesome.. looks doable to. no going inside and messing with the circuit board ... awesome !
That's pretty cool my dude. I wish someone out there was making new pads...
Just did this yesterday and it worked great! Thank you! We accidentally did a sheet of vinyl under everything but it still worked out.
Thank you for posting this video and giving clear instructions. My wife and I finished our pad tonight. This makes a huge difference!! Thanks again.
I’m gonna make a doubles pad using this method. Very informative.
Waaaah this is exactly what I need, 10/10 what a comprehensive walk through! Thank you SO much, I never would have come up with this on my own!!! I know what I'm doing next weekend.
Glad the video helped hope the build goes well! :D
@@marioCazares I'll have to remember to report back! I got fed up after getting scooted all over the darned place one time too many 😂
Thank you for this video. Just the idea of basically binding it to a wooden board and wrapping it in vinyl is of as much value as the practical steps.
Thank you so much, I just ordered my ddr pad and I'm going to use your tutorial. I'll update this when I complete the assembly, Thank you again!
Thank you for an excellent and clear tutorial! ❤ So cool, I am not the most handy person but very tempted to try this out.
P.S. Very good point re safety glasses - my dad sometimes doesn't wear these and earlier this year he got a serious cut to his eyeball and nearly blinded himself. Always be safe, hospitals are no fun!
Thank you so much for making this extremely detailed, well-made, helpful video. I'll be trying this tomorrow! Got the supplies today!
So excited to do this!!! I'm trying to start a community after school program in my town to help kids learn about music, dance, video games and a healthy lifestyle. I have Mario DDR for Gamecube and found a couple pads that work perfectly. This will really legitimize my business! :-)
That seriously sounds so cool and very fun! Hope the program goes well!
Outstanding... I know I'm late to this party, but this was a great tutorial, thank you for the mod!!
3 days later update: It is finished! Not as bad as I thought it would be. And I built it myself, that's always a satisfying feeling from deep within one's kid brain lol. I think I'll need to test it out for another week since mine does have its lightly annoying quirks. I have a Konami mat (the og shiny plastic kind without triangle and square buttons), so it's definitely more prone to wrinkling. I had to place the vinyl more loosely since the wrinkles made the contacts more sensitive, and didn't wanna risk having to close it up and realizing I effed up. Other than that, it's not angelic perfection, but it still gets the job done and it's awesome not having to deal with a pad sliding all over the place anymore. I think any lingering dissatisfaction I have is from my scoring, which I'm trying not blame on any glitchy buttons and it's just the fact that I suuuck right now 🤣 More motivation to improve on no-bar! I'm gonna scout out some old PS2 games soon 😀
Hey I'm glad you finished up the pads! Sorry about barely getting to you now, I'm just now getting to my RUclips comments after months of being away. Having the vinyl more loose was a good call because mine was too tight at first and held down the contacts without even standing on the pad. I actually want to get back into DDR as well since I've moved around so much the past years but I'm finally in a stable place. It will definitely improve no bar performance I can vouch for that! Hope you enjoy the pads and thanks for giving a detailed account of your experience it was fun and wonderful to read : ) wish the best!
@@marioCazares Thanks for posting a vid version of a great tutorial!! 🙌
Fantastic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm totally buying all this tomorrow and doing this thanks for the help !
This is a really well put together tutorial!
Thank you!
Wow this is awesome, I have two soft pads I wanted to mod so this the ideal finish I am aiming for. Thanks a ton I can’t wait to start this project
Best wishes on your mods! :D
Sweet dude, my pads just showed up can’t wait to get started on the project. My foam pad working nice but when it inevitably wears out I’ll have the modded pads. If I recall correctly I stopped back in the day because my two deluxe foam pads stopped working so now I’ll have some ready to go and who doesn’t like playing with a buddy. I hope that kid that weighs 95 pounds gets his form figured out. I used to chicken foot a lot now I’m getting the stomping action down. Back in the day ddr was big we had some machines here in South Dakota but they are all gone wish I could have bought the itg machine from the arcade when it was for sale. My dream is to refurbish an arcade machine.
I also would love to have a machine one day! Hope the modded pads treat you well mine still work pretty well today
Update it’s working perfectly with shoes and I’m setting new personal bests on 8 and 9 footers. Still dreaming of owning a arcade can but this is definitely worth the time
Update again the pad worked wonderfully and lasted with tons of use. I did splurge on a ltek pad and man that is a game changer but this option was there for me and my cheap soft pad really did great with this mod
Brilliant. I will try this myself!
Just got a soft pad yesterday gonna try this, will update when done *spelling
Awesome Tutorial man! I've been trying to figure out ways to lose weight and i thought about getting back into DDR again but was afraid of the expensive pads. now that i found your video im way more excited to build my own custom pad. BTW what DDR games do you suggest getting for PS2? (Best Song lists)
Awesome to hear that you want to get back into DDR! and these pads should do very well. The only PS2 DDR games I owned were "DDR Extreme" and "DDR Max 2". I loved the songs and gameplay of both those games very much, so I would recommend those.
I now however, play Stepmania with DDR themes on my PC. I just plug-in my pads with adapters like this: (www.ddrgame.com/ps3-accessory-cable-controller-converter.html) and play on the PC.
If you don't already know what Stepmania is, here it is: www.stepmania.com/download/ it is like a simulator of DDR and has many extra features.
Here are the two themes I love and have for Stepmania which make it seem almost exactly the same as DDR games:
DDR X2
zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewthread.php?threadid=4920
DDR Extreme
zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewthread.php?threadid=5076
With these, they act very similar to those DDR games, and you can download as many songs as you want. Almost every old mix songs (and some new) exists for download
Hope this helps!
Wow Amazing! thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me, really means a lot!
@@LaserCat006 If you're still into it ddr extreme (the green one) has my favorites!
based dad
Thank you for the tutorial! I finished mine and it's perfect following everything in this tutorial
Glad it helped! Enjoy your new dance pad mod :D
I plan on doing this mod with my dad, albeit with a modification. The wooden base will be a little longer at the bottom to compensate for a bar (probably a pipe mounted to the wood).
Wish me luck.
This is great! I have one idea, I wonder if you could raise it up and add some extra stability by building a brace frame underneath with 2x2 beams or something.
Possibly if you try it and it works let me know! I actually built new wood pads with my brother a year ago to practice for eventually making from scratch decent metal pads
These DDR Soft Pad all have a common problem. The big circle in the middle does not have any sensing area. I really don’t know why they imitate this design flaw of KONAMI.
Block of wood 35" x 39"
I plan to use wood, foam tape, and thick cardboard for the panals along with wood edges to hide the fact hat I’m using a soft pad. Just that little bit of aesthetic
I remember in my old soft pads back in the 2000s that the sensors would migrate inside of the pad. Do they still migrate with the plywood base or does that help to keep them in place?
Sorry I didn't see this comment until now. I did not have that problem actually because the vinyl really kept the pad from folding and scrunching up (which in turn prevents the sensors from moving out of place). I definitely did have that problem when I was young though too but yeah did not show up in my current modded pads
@@marioCazares nice! Thank you so much for the reply!
Thanks for posting this. Really good video (and nice of your dad to help with the construction and sourcing). Do you think it would cause any issues if I were to insert a layer of foam between the plywood and pad? I have bad knees and hardwood floors, and am thinking some foam might make playing more comfortable.
Hello there! Sorry for the late reply been extremely busy the past weeks with college.
Adding a layer between the wood and the pad possibly may cause an issue with arrow sensitivity, but it also may be perfectly fine. I would recommend trying it out without taping anything first. So put the wood on the floor, put the foam and then the pad on top. You can temporarily put the vinyl on top just to test and try out a song. If the arrows work fine and there are no problems then definitely go for it. Just remember not to put the vinyl on too tight when taping the final mod together.
If the test doesn't work, you can possibly cut square pieces of yoga mat out, and place them on top of the vinyl over each arrow to lessen the impact.
Again sorry for the late response, please let me know if the test worked and keep me updated on the final outcome! I definitely would like to know how it turned out and if you have any more questions let me know!
I'm kinda excited 😅 I could def save money trying to revive my place in DDR gaming (again). The only thing that put me off from my PS2 games was my crappy soft mat - didn't compare at all to the arcade machines when trying to improve my stamina. But I knew I couldn't blow money at the arcade every other day, so I got discouraged about playing. I'm looking forward to this as my first possible mod, for some reason I'm slightly intimidated too 😭
If you have a few bucks lying around you can get the L-Tek Metal pads for PC its around like 300$ for one sturdy pad I just bought one recently:) and you can customize the Arrows and center piece
I bought a couple soft pads, then I read up how bad and how vulnerable the pads are on carpet when you tap; so I'm going to give this a shot. I've watched the video a few times, how much vinyl did you use to finish both the mats? I'm not sure if I missed this small detail or if I'm just too excited to do this. This will be an excellent project to finish for isolation for the next year and a half or so!
Hey sorry just seeing this now. I bought about 3 yards length of vinyl to make 2 pads. 4:22. Also the vinyl is about 54 inches wide. hope this helps!
Brings back memories, I did the exact same thing here and had a plywood insert in a red octane ignition as well, and used em both for doubles, they worked fantastic for a while. Here's me 15 years ago playing on them, can't believe this is still up: ruclips.net/video/uF73x7-VeqE/видео.html
Unfortunately I haven't played in like 12 years, and I miss it so much... I just don't have the option these days, being on the top floor apartment of an old building and no machines anywhere near me...
Thank you for this guide.
Thanks for this! What program are you playing DDR on at 19:26?
Hello! I'm using a replica of DDR extreme on my computer. Here is the link if you want it: zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/thread?threadid=5076. Once you boot up the game from that download you go to options and at the very bottom is test input which will take you to that screen. Hope this helps!
can you link some vinyl I could use I'm having a hard time figuring out what department in side of Walmart I should look at to find it I thought about using a clear shower liner if I cant find any.
The vinyl I got was this one here: kittrichstore.com/collections/magic-cover/products/magic-cover-54-deluxe-clear-bulk-roll-non-adhesive
I found it at walmart though and it was in the fabrics section of the store. I couldn't find it in hardware or anything like that but the fabrics. It's hard to find alternatives on the internet only because I can't really see or feel the texture but it's fully smooth (no grip patterns or textures) and it's a little less thick than a business card
thank you!!!!@@marioCazares
A question: Am I able to playing with shoes?
Milo Suricato Milo Suricato Hey, yes you can definitely play with shoes. You may miss a couple notes here and there from the shoes stretching the vinyl, but it works quite well and I do it all the time
Thanks, if I don't have a Wood, May I try using hard carton?
Hey can you link the vinyl you used for this project? I'm having difficulty finding the correct vinyl
Hello every year it seems harder to find the exact vinyl mostly because I bought it in store. The closest options I have found are these three below. The name of mine was Double Polished Clear Vinyl. Hope the links help >< sorry:
- www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-PVC-Vinyl-54-Premium-Clear-Roll-12-Yds/23554849?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2648&adid=22222222227017128830&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40942233512&wl4=pla-78879780152&wl5=9031944&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=23554849&wl13=2648&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5J_mBRDVARIsAGqGLZDL0Du4Q3oK6reWr8o8Q_5ZlCLsRIfU3tPuLTNrIUcexnI8TIJXvR4aAp0TEALw_wcB
- www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-PVC-Vinyl-54-Multi-Purpose-Clear-Roll-25-Yds/23554847?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2648&adid=22222222227017128828&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40942244552&wl4=pla-78879717752&wl5=9031944&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=23554847&wl13=2648&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5J_mBRDVARIsAGqGLZDTOf426Y65SBv4R4jSdEy-TKPDiuC9GkTa7fUvq-DB2TXiv08m4ngaApbSEALw_wcB
- www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-PVC-Vinyl-54-Super-Clear-Roll-10-Yds/23554850?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2648&adid=22222222227017128831&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40942199312&wl4=pla-78879704072&wl5=9031944&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=23554850&wl13=2648&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5J_mBRDVARIsAGqGLZAEipgo4-ES30AVzgjfr0Ihy7awfT4GjamymwuegaDeTlwYONjLZLUaAlQ7EALw_wcB
Maybe late into the game, but i wonder if there any risk to have smaller plywood ( to the exact size of the soft dance pad, I am not living house so I dont want to buy big plywood to take place. I wonder if there is any stability issues. I mean 12 mm thick plywood with adhesive should contain well with vinyl?
Hey thanks a lot for this video. I recently searched for a way to make my DDR pad better and this might be the solution. However I do have a question: Do you know the thickness of the vinyl used in the video? Thanks in advance ! :)
Hello there! I don't know if there is any millimeter exact thickness, the vinyl only said "double polished clear vinyl" but it was thin and worked well. Mine is specifically from walmart and it's the blue rolls. Here are two links to what kind I used:
www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-Multi-Purpose-Clear-Vinyl-Roll-54-x-25-yds/23554847
www.etsy.com/listing/582183144/clear-vinyl-covering-54-x-60-roll?gpla=1&gao=1&&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqM3VBRCwARIsAKcekb3c1lk3sYmW_Y5G4srkwTuoXSgRf2ZDpeRJUUIOlg2T-c8rujvXnQMaApSxEALw_wcB
Hope this helps!
Thanks for the quick reply! Since I live in Germany I can't buy the same vinyl you posted, however I think I found something similar. The information that the vinyl was somewhat thin was really helpful. Thanks again and I will post again when I finished my Dancepad :)
I hope you reply but how long did your modded board hold up for
Hello! So both pads held up for 3 years in working condition. After the 3 year mark the sensors inside the pad started to give out. The actual wood board, and vinyl is still holding up well, but the internals of the pad itself have slowly been dying. I still own the pads (now 5 years) and they technically "work" but they often don't detect every button press and will misstep many times. This is after heavy use and lots of Heavy/Expert stepcharts so I'd say it lasted a good amount of time. Hope this helps!
How does it sound? Does it get rid of the plastic bag type sound of soft mats?
Both are about the same volume but instead of sounding like a plastic bag the modded pad sounds low and thumpy. Here is a video I shot real quick to see yourself as well: ruclips.net/video/uRsfWoyZ_8g/видео.html
@@marioCazares - Oh wow! You went out of your way making a video. I didn't expect that but it certainly helps. I really wanted to hear the sound. And it's a big improvement to me. My main reason for finding your tutorial was the crumpling sound as I move around. I can definitely deal with a little bit of the wood thumping. I'm going start building my own. Thanks for these videos and keeping active after 7 years!
@@winterhaydn No problem and best of luck on the modding :D!
i know this comment is kinda late, but can you extend the wood measurements before you cut to add a support bar?
Yup you can definitely add some inches to it to give it room for a bar, there isn't anything at the back of the pad that a bar would interfere with. I usually just place a chair behind me as a bar since I didn't install one
I've done this and my pad has been vastly improved for over a year
Do you know if there's a way to add a bar now?
That would be the icing on the cake!
Lol I actually just use folding chairs! If I think of anything better I'll let you know haha
What I have considered when doing this in the future is making the board's height longer underneath to make a bar, I have seen people make their own pads with a bar, but the board would need to be really sturdy ^^"
No recent comments but i came across this after seeing Penguinlords tut. Im planning on doing your version of it tomorrow granted i can find the correct vinyl material. Question do you still use these pads do they still hold up?
Life Of A Gamer Hey hello there, glad to hear you'll be modding your pads and yes both actually hold up and are used to this day :)
Awesome to hear! thank you for responding so quickly as well! That was really the only thing i was curious about was the life span. Amazing almost 3 years out of a soft pad. I broke 2 metal pads when i was about 10 years younger lol. Hoping this will be quite a bit better.
Just finished mine up. Works like a charm been playing for a little over an hour. Again great tutorial and thank you. Tell your Pops I said thank you too! lol
can you use a thin foam instead of the vinyl under the pad? can you use thin acrylic (hard) for the top layer?
Hey there so we ended up taking out the vinyl under the pad because it was causing unwanted arrow presses on one of the pads. Thin foam might work but if it's too tall it'll keep causing the arrows to press when you don't want. Also having hard acrylic on top might be heavy enough to press down on the arrows as well. If possible I would test it out without taping/gluing anything together to see if it works
@@marioCazares Thanks much.
Hey man, i am thinking about doing this mod soon, i know this video is really old and all but how much would say this increased the pad's durability ?
The pads have lasted and still work to this day however they do miss some steps or double step from occasionally. They worked reliably for years I would say even to around 2021 without many issues. I even played in shoes often. (Although shoes do make the pad slide around the floor a little)
We owned 3 soft pads before these modded ones and those all ripped after a year or two. So I'd say this dramatically increases the longevity and the feel of the pad as well. Keeps it from scrunching up as well which is huge
@@marioCazares That's amazing, from 2 to 6 years is incredible, i've already purchased a soft pad from Ali and can't wait to mod it with my old man, he seems eager too since he gave me my first soft pad more than a decade ago lol
Now I need luck sourcing the materials used lmao
What kind of ps2 controller to usb converter is that?
Based on Amazon reviews, they don't register pads very well, and I don't want to waste money, lol.
Hello there I actually use the convertor linked below. I thought it was sketchy at the time when I got it in 2018 but it still works today and supports one or two pads at a time
www.walmart.com/ip/PS2-USB-Dual-Controller-PC-Adapter-Converter-Consumer-Electronics-Gaming-Accessories-Player-Cable-Playstation-Attractive-Game-Joypad/581869851?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=101091584&&adid=22222222228000000000&wl0&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=42423897272&wl4=aud-430887228898%3Apla-51320962143&wl5=1013523&wl6&wl7&wl8&wl9=pla&wl10=462998764&wl11=online&wl12=581869851&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtJeNBhCVARIsANJUJ2ES6iK6IKpAFg5PM-dEh1gyoZVBMFr5zKZuICVct3Gc3IBYXEVYJZgaAr_jEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
@@marioCazares cool, thank you! I saw the single adapters in your video. Glad to have feedback on one that works!
@@yorhey Ah yes those came with the pad but I lost one hence buying the blue one linked. Glad to help!
I want to get into ddr but I’m just not sure
It's very fun I highly recommend :)
The vinyl across the top of the pad; what benefits did that part of the mod provide?
The vinyl keeps the top really smooth so the pad doesn't wrinkle and trip you up. It also protects the pad from tearing which sometimes happens to the soft pads. Lastly you can use shoes on them since it's much stronger. Hope that helps!
Would you happen to have a link online to a soft pad that you recommend? Thanks for the video, excited to try it out soon
I have only bought dance pads from this website here! www.ddrgame.com/ddrmatpad.html
The pads came exactly as advertised and were definitely good quality. I only bought the regular mats but they offer other mats as well
what about putting the vinyl under the non-arrows to replicate recessed arrows a bit?
That sounds like good idea, I think that could actually work. I can't test it but putting the pad together I feel like that could work.
I was thinking the same thing and thinking about doing it that way to give a more natural arcade feel
Hey there, i love the vid and i really want to male a ddr pad for my fiance, becuz of covid she cant really go out to play ddr anymore and i had some questions, first instead of lifting the arrows with vinyl would it still work if lifted with foam? And also do you think it would work if i made a metal frame for the top that had sections missing to reveal the buttons? Also in your opinion how hard would it be to make it more of a box than just a pad? I had wanted to add the ddr support beams
Hello there
1) After I had made the build, I actually had to take out the vinyl under the arrows because it was lifting them too high and causing them to always be pressed. Adding foam might cause the same issue where it presses the button constantly, so you can test it but it also may not work.
2) The metal frame to reveal the buttons sounds cool and might work, you'll just have to worry about two things. The first is making sure the metal doesn't get too close to the arrows or it will constantly press them down. The second is it may be uncomfortable to play without shoes. As long as you play with shoes or carefully use the metal then it should be fine
3) Making a box would be fine as long as it's very sturdy (as it will be stepped on a lot) and as long as you are aware of the weight. Each pad weighs 20 pounds with just the flat piece of wood, so just keep in mind the weight
Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions
oof, i'm having trouble sourcing the vinyl, but this is a great tutorial! how thick is the stuff you guys used? (sorry if that's covered in the video, lol)
Hi! I don't remember the exact thickness, the vinyl only said "double polished clear vinyl" it was quite thin however. Mine was specifically from walmart and it's the blue rolls. Here is the link to what kind I used:
www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Cover-Multi-Purpose-Clear-Vinyl-Roll-54-x-25-yds/23554847
Out of all the current pads out at the low price point, which do you think has the best sensors? looking to do a build but not regret not starting with the best pads later on
Hey sorry! (don't know why RUclips doesn't show me so many comments). I know it's two years later but I've only bought pads from here: www.ddrgame.com/ddrmatpad.html. I don't know how pads from other people work but these worked really well
This works great! But I did find that after 1-2 years the plastic conductive material inside the pad kind of degrades? Maybe it's just my shitty chinese soft pad lol...
I'm going to buy a high end ddr/itg setup one day!!
Nice haha, I don't see that happening yet to my pads, but I'll keep that in mind
will there be any input lag if I use a converter to PC? I wanna get a pad like right now but I don't have money for an ltek but this will do
the only problem is I don't have a ps2 lol
Both my pads use a PS2 to Pc converter and they have zero lag they work perfectly. I've used two other pads with convertors as well and they worked perfectly fine too
@@marioCazares sounds good, which converter are you currently using if you dont mind?
@@harmonicposting Hey I use this one: www.walmart.com/ip/PS2-USB-Dual-Controller-PC-Adapter-Converter-Consumer-Electronics-Gaming-Accessories-Player-Cable-Playstation-Attractive-Game-Joypad/581869851?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=101091584&&adid=22222222228000000000&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=42423897272&wl4=aud-430887228898:pla-51320962143&wl5=1013523&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=462998764&wl11=online&wl12=581869851&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtJeNBhCVARIsANJUJ2ES6iK6IKpAFg5PM-dEh1gyoZVBMFr5zKZuICVct3Gc3IBYXEVYJZgaAr_jEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
THANK YOU
I took this and made it 1 step cheaper-Just nailed my soft pad into a plywood board and called it a day.
Whatever works!
Can be done on a Pump It Up PS2 dance mat too? I bought one to play on my PS2/PC, but i don't want to damage it too much because the game requires speed and precision
If it's similar to the thin DDR pads it should work the same. I've never seen a Pump it Up soft pad however so I can't tell you for sure
Late to the party but I have a question! I'm around 95 lbs and ghost over a lot of the arrows so I like a very sensitive pad I can just slide my foot over. Worried with the extra padding it might not register my light taps well. Any other lightweights have good sensitivity experience with these cause I'd love to do this!
Hello there, I don't have the pads with me now to test, but my cousins (7 and 9 at the time) were able to play fine and they were quite light. If others would like to chime in it'd be helpful, but I think this mod should be okay
Krafty Krow it’s your form I weigh 220 and will “ghost” steps sometimes when I get crossed up on crossovers. Study your form and learn crossovers on easier songs first until you get the pattern down. It’s not the pad but it’s your form, hopefully you can get it figured out.
@@marioCazares I made two, both near identical to your tutorial. My wife is as small as me (both 100ish lbs girls) She doesn't play as high a difficulty as me, but she loves the vinyl across the pad, as does our young son. I however found it difficult to get it to register my light, rapid steps, so I tore the covering vinyl off. It's not as pretty, but it works great for me and she has her mat that she loves. Either way, thank you for this tutorial video. So easy to follow and easy to add modifications (or tear them off) when needed.
OH! and I put stick on LED strip lights around them. Light em up!
I tried this tutorial but sometimes it works fine and sometimes it doesn't recognise any input. Is this because the plastic is on too tight?
This is probably the case yes because I ran into the exact same issue. When the plastic is too tight the button is "already pressed" so doesn't read when tapped on. If loosening the plastic doesn't work let me know!
I just got DDR but how much better is the performance with this mod?
The pad does not move around nearly as much, and also you never have the issue of the pad scrunching up. You can even use shoes with this mod. So I'd say it a substantial difference from the non-modded soft pad
mario Cazares Really cool!
Where did you get the dance pad? I want to do this. I have an old one but it doesn't respond unless I stomp really hard on it.
This is the page where I bought the dance pads: www.ddrgame.com/softpads.html
There are different pads for different consoles and for PC. I purchased a DDR Non-Slip Dance Pad for PC. It is saying however that these are out of stock. You can use this as a reference to find the same pads, but I'm not sure exactly who else has them. I looked and couldn't find any yet. The pad is around $25.
This mod works good for songs high level (for example, level +17 DDR song)?
+Marcelo Hernández I can only do up to level 15 songs so Im not sure about 17 and up. I can tell you that the pad even works well with level 15 songs and only results in one or two missed arrows. If you are thinking about being really serious, this might not be a perfect fit, but for levels 1-15 I definitely recommend especially on a tight budget
Hi! i don't know if you're still active on here, but if i can, i want to ask a question. Is it okay if i replace the hard wood panel with a foam board?
If you think it will be strong enough you can try but it may end up bending or breaking if it's not strong enough. If you're able to stand on the boards and step around on them without them breaking before starting the project it may work.
@@marioCazares I see... i may end up using a wood board, because as it turns out after i asked that question, my dad planned to do roof jobs and he said i can have the leftover boards. With that said, can i substitute the cushioning under the arrows with cardboard?
@@anggoroputra5660 Actually one of pads has no cushioning under the arrows and it's doing very well, so having no cushion altogether should be okay. The cushions were actually causing the arrows to be pressed even when standing in the middle of the pad
@@marioCazares I see, thanks for the heads up! One last question. This was made in 2015, how does your pad feel 5 years on?
@@marioCazares Hi! I thought i would give a final update. I managed to complete the mod with a few changes. The plywood that i got were not thick enough to staple the vinyl, so i can only tape it, but it works out in the end. It works so great compared to stock, i managed to get scores above 900k on 10s pass 12s now! It would still slide around the floor so the final thing i need to do is buy some anti slip pads that i can stick to the underside. Thanks again for the tutorial! All the best to you 🙏🙏
Can I nail it to a plastic pallet after?
There is definitely enough room around the border to nail to a pallet but you might want to try the pad without the pallet first to see if you need to do that
@@marioCazaresanother thing can I use shoes on it
@@wizardwaffle75I was able to use shoes on mine no problem
where did you get your pad? Any link to share? Thanks!
Hello I actually bought my dance pads from this website: www.ddrgame.com/ddrmatpad.html
Will this mod work well on tiles? I'm having a hard time playing because my pad keeps on slipping on tiles and I'm planning to do this mod to solve my problem. And also, can I use any other type of double sided tape instead of carpet tape? Thanks! :)
Add some low profile rubber non-slip self adhesive pads to the base of the timber and it will work well for you.
Alright thanks!
Ah sorry I thought I responded! It should work on tiles but Andrew's suggestion is a great one!
I'm planning on doing this mod, how well has it held up since?
Still holding up perfectly fine and works just as well as when I first made the mods. No tears or anything
I finished the modification and it worked very well, but when I try to play it slides. how do I make it non-slip?
You can try a yoga mat placed under the modded pad (as this worked pretty well for me) or one that I haven't tried is possibly using Velcro strips under the pad
@@marioCazares thank you!! and one more thing. i can now play it with shoes or not?
@@trippyship6222 yup you can I played quite a bit in shoes but I actually found it more comfortable with socks mostly
Yo man I was wondering I got the same dance as you with a hde adapter and it don’t work what do I do?
I'm not sure, are you trying to hook the pads up to a computer?
mario Cazares yea
mario Cazares what ps2 adapter you use
Sorry for late reply this is the one I use actually www.amazon.com/DUAL-CONTROLLER-ADAPTER-CONVERTER-80001/dp/B000SPA46M
this is so awesome pls
Your dad play ddr too? can't tell at the end.
Oh he doesn't it's just my brother haha but once in a while he'll try it
Right on, awesome that he helped you out with the project! My dad is 75 and still helps me build things
hey mario, If I want to make a most ghetto one. That mean I just need a soft pad, a piece of wood and a double sided carpet tape right?
Update: After told this to my mom, she gave me a thick double sided tape and a thick yoga pad. I taped the soft pad on the yoga pad and it works! Well... For now.
I think that could work but just keep in mind skipping the vinyl will make the pad come off the wood a lot easier. The vinyl helps hold it down along with the carpet tape. If anything you can always just add more carpet tape if it looses stickiness
@@marioCazares got it, thanks.
awesome but who actually has that wood cutting thing lolll
Genial! Thanks!
Thanks appreciate it!
Can someone tell me were to buy it online ?
I've looked and it's as if all the dance pads are just gone now :/ Mostly because a major site that used to sell them stopped selling them
will this work with plexy glass??
I've never tried it but I don't think the soft pad sensors are sturdy or sensitive enough to reliably work. You can quickly put the plexy glass on top of the pad though and test if the arrows still work.
How much did you spend on doing all of this?
Since I already had the wood boards I believe it was only about 9$ total for the supplies other than the pads. I only had to buy double sided carpet tape and vinyl because I already had duct tape.
If you buy all the items (besides tools) it should only cost around 40-45$. This is all assuming you have dance pads already. Also, since this is for TWO pads, doing ONE pad could save you money on the vinyl and wood board.
Hope this helps.
And this goes the same as the ps2 pad,right?
Yup!
@@marioCazares aww yeah !!
can you make a metal dance pad out from the ddr soft pad ?? please
If I had the ability I would be probably wouldn't be good