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PS2 to USB Adapter Documentation

Supported Controllers​

This list contains all confirmed working controllers, but others may work If you have a controller that works that isn't on our list, let us know!

  • RedOctane SG Guitar Controller
  • RedOctane MayFlash Guitar Controller (wireless dongle required, has lots of latency)
  • RedOctane Kramer Striker Guitar Controller (wireless dongle required, has lots of latency)
  • Sony DUALSHOCK 2 Controller

Supported Platforms and Games​

  • Clone Hero
  • YARG
  • Guitar Hero 3/BetterGH3
  • Guitar Hero World Tour Definitive Edition
  • Gitadora
  • Emulators
    • RPCS3
    • PCSX2
    • Dolphin
    • Xenia (not tested)

Setup​

Requirements
  • PS2-to-USB Adapter
  • USB-C to USB-A cable
  • A compatible controller
  • *A computer that uses Windows, macOS, or Linux
  • *The latest revision of the RCM Programming Tool

*only required if reprogramming or calibration is needed

Programming​

To change the preset of your PS2-to-USB Adapter, you must use the RCM Programming Tool. Click here to be taken to the download page.

  1. Open the RCM Programming Tool.

  2. Plug your PS2-to-USB Adapter into your computer. Make sure the mode switch is set to D. You will see it appear with "Configure" and "Reset to factory" buttons.

  3. Click "Configure"

  4. You will be brought to this screen in the Programming Tool

    If you are attempting to change to a different preset, click the dropdown on the left side, then select that preset. After, click "Save Settings".

  5. Wait until the bar at the bottom reaches 100% and says Status: Done.

Calibration and Tuning​

  1. Open the PS2 Controller Inputs dropdown menu.

  2. Scroll down to the guitar whammy section. You'll see this:

  3. Click Calibrate!

  4. Then, don't touch your whammy bar and then click Next.

  5. After that, push your whammy bar down as far as it can go without overdoing it. Hold it there, then click Next.

  6. Now you have to set Deadzone. Push the whammy bar in a little bit and you can see the value go up a little bit. Look for a point where the whammy won't activate on it's own. Hold it there, then click Next.

  7. You're done! Click Save Settings on the left side. After it's done, give it a try! You can manually adjust the deadzone with the sliders as well if you'd like to tweak your settings.

  1. Before even attempting to calibrate the PS2-to-USB Adapter for Gamepads, make sure you're on the preset for your controller. Click here to be taken to the programming section. You can find out what preset you're on in the main menu of the programming tool.

  2. Plug in your gamepad. You should see "1 Devices connected" appear next to either PS2 Controller Inputs.

  3. Click the dropdown with whichever type of input you plugged in, then scroll to the thumbsticks. There should only be four inputs. X and Y axis for both thumbsticks.

  4. Move both stick around and see the values that they idle at once you release. Adjust the deadzone to be a bit higher than the idling number. Once you set this, click Save Settings on the left side of the window. You can also use the Calibrate feature, which you then just need to follow the steps of.

    Optionally, you can set deadzones for triggers if those are experiencing any erratic change in idle value.

Authentication​

To play Rock Band 4 on your Xbox with a PS2-to-USB Adapter, you will have to authenticate the PS2-to-USB Adapter with a licensed Xbox One or Xbox Series controller.

  1. Turn on the Xbox One/Series, then using your Xbox controller, load into Rock Band 4.

  2. Disconnect the Xbox controller from your Xbox One/Series. (Pop out batteries)

  3. Connect the licensed Xbox controller into the female USB-A port on the PS2-to-USB Adapter.

    • Xbox One – models 1537, 1697, and 1698
    • Xbox One S – models 1708 and 1797
    • Xbox Series S/X – model 1914

  4. Plug the adapter into the console with the gamepad plugged in.

  5. Wait a moment, then press start on the gamepad to verify the connection is made. On the "Join" screen, a guitar player should appear. If your controller is connected under the profile you want to use for the guitar, you’ll need to “drop out” the controller before assigning that profile to the guitar.

  6. Unplug the licensed Xbox controller from your device.

  7. Plug in your guitar, if applicable.

  8. Play the game!

If your controller is connected under the profile you want to use for the guitar, you'll need to "drop out" the controller before assigning that profile to the guitar.

(image)

Fortnite Festival​

NOTE: EPIC HAS CHANGED A SETTING IN FORTNITE THAT HIDES PRO MODES NORMALLY. YOU WILL WANT TO ADJUST THIS TO ALWAYS HAVE PRO MODES SHOWING. TO FIX THIS:

GO TO Settings > GAME > scroll to bottom > change "Always Display Pro Parts" to ON.

PLACEHOLDER

Move the PS2 to USB adapter's toggle switch to "U".

This will put your guitar into keyboard mode, where your inputs will be assigned to the default Fortnite Festival Pro Lead Keyboard settings:

  • 1-5 for frets
  • Right Ctrl & Right Shift for strum
  • Forward Slash (/) for whammy
  • Page Down for overdrive

You will know it's working if your instrument changes when you press the frets in the Festival Main Stage Lobby.

Note that you will have to control your menus/character movement with keyboard & mouse/other controller, but once you load into the game from the Festival Main Stage, the guitar will function as intended! Have fun!

  1. Open Fortnite on your Nintendo Switch.

  2. Load into Festival Main Stage.

  3. Open the Settings menu, then move over to the Game tab.

  4. Scroll down to the "Festival - Pro Parts" category.

  5. Enable "Enable Guitar Mode" and "Always Display Pro Parts."

  6. Move the PS2toUSB Adapter's mode switch to "D" if not already.

  7. Plug the adapter into your Nintendo Switch or Switch Dock.

  8. Wait a few seconds, then test if the guitar is functioning by pressing the blue fret to open the music menu. You should be able to navigate the music menu using the strum bar and GREEN/RED frets.

  9. Once you've selected your songs, leave the music menu then press and hold YELLOW fret.

  10. It should just work!

Windows​

Setup on Windows is usually easy as plug-and-play, but sometimes things have to be mapped manually.

  1. Open Clone Hero.

  2. Press the SPACE BAR on your keyboard to open the controls/binds menu.

  3. If you haven't already, plug in your PS2 to USB Adapter with instrument attached. You will see the PS2 to USB Adapter appear here:

  4. If you are playing on with a guitar, you may need to calibrate tilt and/or whammy. Click the Calibrate button.

    You will be taken to this menu:

    Axis 0 tends to pertain to whammy while Axis 1 is usually for tilt. Click Calibrate and follow the directions. Once you've calibrate, click Done.

  5. On the right side of the main binds menu, there are blank spaces for each input. Click on the inputs that apply to your instrument and follow the setup instructions. Once you've bound all applicable inputs, click Done at the top left of the screen.

  6. Once binds are set, press start in the home screen to pick your profile, then jump into a song and test out your inputs!

  1. Plug in your PS2 to USB Adapter + instrument

  2. Open the YARC Launcher, then open YARG

  3. Once the game is open, head to the Profiles section

  4. Create a new profile if you don't already have one, then click "Connect" on that newly made profile. It will ask you to pick a device.

  5. If you are using an instrument aside from a guitar, change the "Game Mode"

  6. Click the Edit Profile and Binds button, then click on the Binds button at the top of the screen.

  7. Go through each applicable input and create a new bind for each one, setting up the buttons as you go! Some instruments might not need this, so do as needed.

  8. Once you have the binds set up, you're ready to play!

Inputs should be bound automatically when using the GH Guitar preset (default).

If not, refer to the Definitive Edition Binding Controllers guide.

Inputs should be bound automatically when using the GH Guitar preset (default).

If not, try plugging the adapter in BEFORE you open the game.

If that does not work, update your BetterGH3 to the latest revision.

  1. Download this guitar preset file for an easy setup process:

    Click here to download the "RCM Guitar for Dolphin" preset

  2. Plug your ADAPTER into your computer.

  3. Open Dolphin.

  4. Click Controllers in the menu bar.

  5. Click the Configure button next to Emulated Wii Remote (Wii Remote 1).

  6. A window will appear that shows a bunch of inputs. At the top right there is a box that says Profiles. Click the arrow on the right, then select Open Folder.

  7. A Windows File Explorer window will appear. Drag and drop the 'RCM Guitar for Dolphin.ini' file into that folder. It will look like this:

  8. Go back to Dolphin controller configuration menu, then in the Profiles box, click the dropdown and select RCM Guitar for Dolphin. You may need to close the configuration window and reopen it for this selection to appear.

  9. Click Load. The following settings will change in the Extension menu and Motion Simulation menu. You can double check for these:

  10. At the top left of the window, there is a box titled Device. If your device is not set to Xinput Guitar, switch it to that. You'll be able to see your inputs pop up with little red bars when you press them.

  11. Once you've confirmed that your inputs are working, close the window. You're ready to play!

You can use our premade PCSX2 Preset File for an easy setup.

Click here to download the RCM PCSX2 Controller Preset. (Top right of page is download button)

  1. Open PCSX2 and click Tools > Click "Open Data Directory"

    This will open a file explorer window of your PCSX2 Installation folder.

  2. Drag the PCSX2 Controller Preset file into into the "inputprofiles" folder.

  3. Once the preset file is in the 'inputprofiles' folder, close PCSX2 and reopen it. Navigate to Settings > Controllers. On the bottom left, click the dropdown menu next to "Editing Profile:" and change it to "RCM_PCSX2_Profile"

  4. Click on "Controller Port 1 – Guitar" in the left menu. This screen will appear. If it does not look like this, double check to make sure that the Editing Profile is set to "RCM_PCSX2_Profile".

  5. Close the window and test the inputs in a game!

    If it does not work, make sure no other controllers are plugged into your computer.

You can use our premade RPCS3 Controller Preset file for an easy setup.

Click here to download the RCM RPCS3 Controller Preset. (Top right of page is download button)

  1. You must first navigate to where RPCS3 is installed.

    This can be done easily by right clicking an installed game, hover "Open Folder", then click "Open Custom Config Folder". This will open up a window that contains your game configurations.

    Click the "config" folder.

    Open the "input_configs" folder. If this folder doesn't exist, create it.

    Open the "global" folder. If this folder doesn't exist, create it.

    Lastly, drag the "RCM RPCS3.yml" file into the global folder.

    You can now close out of the File Explorer window.

  2. Returning to RPCS3, click on the "Pads" button at the top. This will open the controller configuration menu.

  3. At the top right of the menu, click on the Configuration Files dropdown menu and switch it to "RCM RPCS3 Profile".

  4. At the top middle of the menu, your device should have changed to "XInput Pad #1". If it shows "(disconnected)" beside it, unplug and plug the guitar back in. Then, click the dropdown and see if there is a device without the disconnected tag. If you don't see XInput Pads at all, change the handler in the top left to XInput. If you need further support with this part, let us know.

  5. You can verify that everything is set correctly by comparing to this image.

    • Your XInput Pad #1 is selected
    • Your Configuration Preset is set to "RCM RPCS3 Profile"
    • Triangle is set to X
    • Square is set to Y
    • Device Class is set to Guitar

  6. Hit Save. This window will pop up. Hit Yes.

    The popup happens because we have to map tilt to select, as RPCS3 does not have guitar hero controller passthru YET.

  7. Boot your game and have fun!

macOS​

macOS requires manually mapping your inputs the first time you open the following games and emulators. Once you've mapped them, the inputs will automatically work moving forward.

Make sure that you've followed the instructions in the Calibration and Tuning section

Let's get the PS2 to USB Adapter working on those games and emulators!

  1. Open Clone Hero.

  2. Press the SPACE BAR on your keyboard to open the controls/binds menu.

  3. If you haven't already, plug in your PS2-to-USB Adapter with guitar attached. You will see the PS2-to-USB appear here:

  4. If you are playing on with a guitar, you may need to calibrate tilt and/or whammy. Click the Calibrate button.

    You will be taken to this menu:

    Axis 0 tends to pertain to whammy while Axis 1 is usually for tilt. Click Calibrate and follow the directions. Once you've calibrate, click Done.

  5. On the right side of the main binds menu, there are blank spaces for each input. Click on the inputs that apply to your instrument and follow the setup instructions. Once you've bound all applicable inputs, click Done at the top left of the screen.

  6. Once binds are set, jump into a song and test out your inputs!

  1. Plug in your PS2 to USB Adapter + instrument

  2. Open the YARC Launcher, then open YARG

  3. Once the game is open, head to the Profiles section

  4. Create a new profile if you don't already have one, then click "Connect" on that newly made profile. It will ask you to pick a device.

  5. If you are using an instrument aside from a guitar, change the "Game Mode"

  6. Click the Edit Profile and Binds button, then click on the Binds button at the top of the screen.

  7. Go through each applicable input and create a new bind for each one, setting up the buttons as you go! Some instruments might not need this, so do as needed.

  8. Once you have the binds set up, you're ready to play!

  1. Open Dolphin

  2. Click the Controllers button in the tool bar

  3. In the "Wii Remotes" section, click the Configure button next to Wii Remote 1

  4. At the top left of the window that popped up, change the device to the PS2-to-USB

  5. Then, on the right side of the window, there is an Extensions section. By default it will show that there is "None" extension. Change that to Guitar, then click Configure Extension. You will be taken to the Extension menu.

  6. In the Extension menu, begin mapping each input. If you have trouble mapping them from the Extensions menu, right click the input. A popup will appear that shows all possible inputs. Press down the input you're trying to bind a few times while looking through the inputs. Once you've found the one you want, click Insert Input, then click OK.

  7. Once you've bound all the inputs you need, click Close and test a game!

    If you run into any input issues, check that multiple buttons are not bound to the same input.

  1. Plug your PS2 to USB Adapter + guitar into the computer

  2. Open PCSX2

  3. Click the Settings menu in the Mac menu bar, then click "Controllers"

  4. Click "Controller Port 1" on the left side of the window

  5. If it isn't already set to guitar, change the preset on the left side to guitar

  6. Hold SHIFT then click an input. Add the binding manually. We do this process manually to ensure that each one is correctly set.

  7. Once you have each input bound, close the menu and start the game!

Troubleshooting​

There are multiple potential reasons for this occurring.

  • Your PS2-to-USB Adapter may be in the wrong mode, set the switch to D.
  • The instrument plugged into your PS2-to-USB Adapter may be causing the adapter to go into a different mode. Unplug the instrument, then plug the PS2-to-USB Adapter back into your computer.
  • Faulty USB cable or USB port. Using the same cable, try a different port, then switch the cable.
  • Lastly, you may just need to hard reset the device. Holding the reset button (The "U" shaped button on your PS2-to-USB Adapter) while plugging the adapter in will put it into recovery mode, which you can then open the RCM Programming Tool and erase and reset to factory.

If you continue to run into issues, send us an email at support@retrocultmods.com

If you are experiencing the following pop-up, macOS is detecting the RCM Programming Tool as a false-positive for being malware.

To fix this, open your System Settings/System Preferences.

Then navigate to the Privacy and Security tab in the left side menu.

Once you've entered this tab, scroll down to the Security section, then you'll see that the programming tool was blocked. Click Open Anyway. It will ask you to either enter your password or input Touch ID.

Once you've completed this, the programmer will open. However it is only for this revision.

Say you had 10.7.11 instead of 10.7.10, you would need to do this process again.

If the RCM Programming Tool is not seeing your device, it is likely due to a permissions issue in Linux.

You will need the following file:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD 68-RCM.rules

Navigate to /etc/udev/rules.d/, then drop 68-RCM.rules into the folder.

Once you've done that, open the RCM Programming Tool. Your device should appear now! If not, try unplugging and plugging back in.