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  • Aug
    5

    Gamemon USB Converter Review & Drivers

    Been in Wal-Mart lately? It is, of course, the standard mix of quality US products, cheap products thanks to the people from Bentonville, Arkansas, and the occasional even cheaper “Hong Kong” type item. Sadly, even their electronics aren’t immune from this.

    Upon my visit today, I found the Gamemon USB Converter. A $9.90 USB box that can allow you to use Gamecube, XBox, and PS2 controllers on your PC (all simultaneously if you desire), along with a couple of USB 1.1. ports in hub form. I’ve always been a fan of these style of converters since they came to be six or seven years ago in the form of PSX to Parallel Port converters (I got one of those sitting somewhere still). So, does this product stand up? Does it work in the most driver-challenging environment out there now, Windows Vista?

    The first answer? Yes! The device does work in Vista as long as you run the setup program first, which I have decided to post HERE so that anyone who loses the badly labeled mini-CD can re-download, it’s under 1 MB.

    How’s the response time? Testing this in the Control Panel, Game Controllers, it recognized all of the buttons, both axes, and the control pad as well as the POV hat. Meaning, it will work with any emulator or game you like, and without the lag that some of these devices have.

    I will continue to try this, along with the plugging in some Gamecube AND PS2 controllers (wired and wireless) and will continue to report my progress. There doesn’t appear to be as much as a mention of this on the web yet, so hopefully those tempted by the $9.90 price will have a resource.

    Download: GameMon USB Converter Setup Disc (1 MB)

    Update: There are some newer drivers available here if you do not want to use the setup disc ones. I, as noted in a future post, have yet to try them (blame moving), so give ‘em a shot and give some feedback if  you would like. 

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91 Responses to “Gamemon USB Converter Review & Drivers”

  1. ree-load said on

    hey, its crazy its like we are the only 2 people to know of this!!! Im having a problem tho and was wondering if u could help me out. i cant get my ps2 controller 2 work with a nes emulator i have. everything seems to work correctly during the tests(windows) but it wont let me play with it. i think its because i cant access the converters settings at all(from desktop or menu) and change 2 allow just the ps2 controller. lemme know what ya think… my email is djreeload@gmail.com, please e-mail, me back……..

  2. Wez Weasel said on

    I bought these on a wim today, came home, installed everything an popped in the demo for the new racing game DIRT… holy crap this little box works awesome! I will be going back to Wal Mart and buying a BOX of these to give to my friends. Now I can play racing games on my PC just like I liked to on my PS2. These must be brand new on the market, as you are the first one I’ve seen reviewing them.

  3. Hey man I saw this also at my local Wal-Mart and I have to admit that it works great. Tested GameCube and PS2 which are perfect, but have you tested out the Xbox controllers? I tested my Yobo gameware product and also the other third party controller and they say the same thing saying it isn’t reconizing the usb connectors. Of course it’s the 2 MU ports that are basically USB 1.1 ports but the fact is I can’t really tell if it’s actually installed correctly or it does need something to fix the usb malfunction which windows kept saying. Any feedback would be appreciated.

    Cody

  4. yea i cant access the controller settings either and i really need to, plz help if u can, boondocks95@yahoo.com

  5. I am having Cody’s same problem. Emailing the manufacturer (service@futime.com) proved futile. Out of all the controllers I have tested, only one has worked so far {made by Pelican, though one other that was tested is also made by Pelican), all of which are third party.

  6. does this work on the PS3, because playing guitar hero on the PS3 would be sweet with my original controller

  7. mitch. I emailed the company and they sent me a different version driver.

    Convertor Settings is pretty much useless. All it has is check boxes to turn on and off the various controllers.

  8. I want the converter settings program to do exactly that, but it’s not working.

  9. just bought this thing today and it works fine in the test screen but in game in dosnt work. is it that my game isnt compatiable or does this thing just suck

  10. I stumbled across this about a month ago. It seemed too good to be true. I have Vista Premium, and I will say it works great!

  11. James Flores said on

    Thanx for the driver. Darn thing is so small you rock dude

  12. For the linux crowd: this thing works great with XBox controllers (in Ubuntu 7.04 [xpad 1.6 driver]), as well as PS2 controllers. Best $9 I’ve spent recently.

  13. Has anyone else tried to plug their ddr pad through this for StepMania? In my trial I could not get it to recognize two simultaneously pressed buttons (jumps).

  14. I got one yesterday and it works great except that the utility doesnt work and neither does the xbox portion, in fact it doesnt even show the ability to connect an xbx controller in CP->gamepad. only works with GC and Ps2 controllers and the utility does not work. oh well guess ill return it.

  15. confused said on

    ya, I just bought this the other day. works great with ps2 and gamecube. But the xbox wont work. I went out and bought an xbox controller today to use with halo pc, but when i hook up the controller to the converter…it said that the device has malfunctioned. Sounds like the same problem Cody has.

    any ideas? or should i just return the controller.

    btw it is a gamestop controller

  16. Open converter settings>properties>compatibility>win98
    ok now you can open converter settings

  17. weternspartan said on

    does anyone know if it works with unreal tournament 2004? thats the only reason i bought it!

  18. Josh and confused, your convertors aren’t broken 75% of the time {at least in my case 1 out 4 controllers did work) it won’t recognize the controller. It’s not the device, but more likely the driver that’s available. Even the most recent from the manufacturer site fails to recognize all Xbox controllers.

  19. playStation to usb Adapter Vista Drivers

  20. when i get the drivers then i can say something

  21. Rich, how about a e-mail address for the manufacturer so I can get that updated driver or a link the the site?

  22. Lorne, scroll up to find an earlier post where I posted the address. Keep in mind it may take a while for them to respond, and may simply ignore your email.

    Also, Scott has posted a link to the manufacturer site in his most recent post.

  23. thanks for posting this. ive had this product for about five months now and i just upgraded to a vista pc and couldnt find my driver disk. i have not had a problem with this product as of yet and i must say for a unknown company it is a pretty decent device.

  24. I’m so frustrated!! Spent the last two hours searching forums, uninstalling, reinstalling, calling china, trying to get this POS to work. AHAFDSHFJASDHFASD

  25. ive sucessfully used this product on a pc, allthough i never got the xbox controller to work, like other users. I was wondering if anyone knew how to make it work for mac os x, if that is even possible. I don’t really know where i can cnfigure controllers in the mac preferences or if there is a converter from the pc driver to a mac driver. any help would be appreciated.

  26. I recently bought this product at wal-mart too. I dont quite understand what u do with it. It doesn’t make much sense to me personally. Keep posting comments if u start to understand it. I’ll try to figure out what else it does besides make sure your controllers work. (I thought it played your games on the PC, PS2, GC, and XBOX). Its kinda wierd if you ask me.

  27. Wonderful review! I use this with Gentoo Linux, works wonderfully with a ps1 dualshock controller… except that the sticks can be a bit sensitive sometimes…

  28. hey i have a prob i bought this today and was going to try with various stuff and when i go to contoller whatever like in the manuel sometimes it will say pc to ps convertor ok then like 2 seconds l8r it goes away
    whats wrong (i have vista)

  29. for those who can’t get the XBOX portion to work, just install the XBCD drivers found here: http://www.redcl0ud.com/xbcd.html

  30. stickbug said on

    holy crap thank you so incredibly very very much for posting that driver disk man! I’m so glad someone else had the wisdom to do what I only briefly considered doing before promptly losing the badly labeled and tiny little disk.
    you’re my hero

  31. i have a 8 button mini gamemon controller but it don’t want to work on my pc i think i need the driver but know which one it is can you help me please! thank you

  32. I picked up the converter too… but for playing a game like Pong or Tetris w/ a GC controller it’s less than perfect. I’d like to use the binary directional pad, but so far I’ve only been able to use the left analog stick, feels less responsive. I wish someone would make new drivers to allow you to use the whole controller.

  33. @cptlare:But even that doesn’t work in all cases. Out of the five controllers that are present in my household, only 1 works with either driver installed. I have suspicions why, but nothing confirmed.

    @jose:Tried the manufacturer site? http://www.chinagameware.com/

    @Rob:I have no problems using all the functions {an exception is rumble but I don’t care for that anyway} of my Pelican GS Wireless GameCube controller with the most recent driver.

  34. i bought this yesterday and i want to use it with a gc controller for warrock. not sure if anyone’s familiar. but the problem is that it recognizes the controller on the test page but it doesn’t respond in the game. what do i do?

  35. I have owned this for a couple months, and I will second that it works well. I have Vista though, so I had to install that specific driver. SAVE THAT FILE HE HAS IN THE ARTICLE! I lost the CD within a couple days. Anyways, its pretty cool and worth 10 bucks.

  36. This guy is an asshole. He didn’t even post a link to the place to get real drivers. there is version 1.2 out and there is alot of fixes. you can get them here and also there is 1.3 on its way. http://www.chinagameware.com/download/display/5291754212d8ba840112d8f5e76a0014.shtml

    asshole next time past a link to the manufacturer site.

  37. Works great on my desktop but having problems on my Laptop. For some reason if I hold a button down it seems to automatically release it for a second and then resume. For example, when playing Zelda Link to the Past, when I charge up for the spin attack, after a few seconds it’ll automatically stop charging and the spin attack will go off. A split second later, I’ll swing the sword again and charge and the sequence repeats. Not having this problem at all with my desktop PC though, same OS too. Any ideas people?

  38. Monkeymook said on

    I bought one of these a while ago, and it is THE BEST $10 I have ever spent! Idon’t think my Walmart carries them anymore, I looked today…I recently tried running the Arcade version of Killer Instinct on my laptop today, and I could only get the Analog sticks to work. I couldn’t use the D-Pad, nor map it. I tried a tool called JoyToKey (freeware), and messed with it (set POV’s 1 and 2 to Up, Down, Left, and Right on the keyboard arrows, and it works, even with diagonals! I wish I could get more for a gaming competition at my school, I may look for some online. If you need any help, or if my suggestion helped you get yours working in some way, let me know at: Razunkain2@aol.com

  39. I got this a few weeks ago, but since the day I got it has not work correctly.

    When I plug it in, I get the “Found New Hardware” message, even after i’ve installed the drivers and whatnot. I don’t know if that’s supposed to happen, but I do know that it’s not supposed to randomly disconnect after using it about 10 minutes, which it often does.

    I don’t believe it’s my USB ports, because I have other usb devices that work fine and never disconnect while in use.

    Can anyone help me?

  40. I forgot to mention that I am using a Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop and running Windows XP SP 2.

    Using a Dell might be the whole problem, lol

  41. I am pissed……I bought the 8 button game pad it worked ok for two days and now my pc does not even recognize that it is plugged in I have gone crazy plugging ing and out rebooting trying to reconfigure my pc and then trying to reinstall the game pad which should be just plug and play. damn it another 10 dollars wasted to china….

  42. AH THANK YOU! i lost the mini-cd LOL! good thing i can download it here. NOW ITS TIME TO PLAY SOME GAME!

  43. potatosack said on

    ye this things a piece of crap. the PSX part works…gamecube part no go..and as i have no xbox controller i cant test that one.

  44. hey im usin vista on a compaq presario f500 and install and stuff and plug in go to controll panel and its like there for 3 sec. then gone. then like 4 min its there 4 3 sec. then gone whats up with that?

  45. oh could it be that when vista says cant find driver software i choose systen 32 or somethin like that?

  46. Hey has anyone tested to see if PS1/PSX controllers work with Gamemon? Many USB Converters that support PS2 also support PSX (and since I don’t own a PS2…)

    Gonna check the Walmarts in my area this weekend.

  47. I just purchased it and my computer doesn’t recognize it. I am running XP SP2. I think I got a bad device. I’m gonna try to exchange it if noone else has seen this happen. It doesn’t even work as a USB hub.

  48. I exchanged it and it works as noted above. My XBOX controll seemed to have a stuck button, but works now with the XBCD installed. Thanks for the fixes:

    Thanks robert: Open converter settings>properties>compatibility>win98
    ok now you can open converter settings

    Thanks cptlare: “for those who can’t get the XBOX portion to work, just install the XBCD drivers found here: http://www.redcl0ud.com/xbcd.html

  49. I exchanged it and it works as noted above. Thanks for the fixes cptlare and robert.

  50. I can’t get it to work for my GC controller either. I’ve tried installing the setup/drivers/etc on my laptop (runs on Vista) but no dice. It will show the device is connected, but nothing works. I guess this means time to take it back to wal-mart and get my money back and get a USB controller instead. :\

  51. i cant get it to work said on

    one gc controller doesnt go down well, the other i tried doesnt go left, both work fine on a gc, to run the setup program, change to run in 256 color mode. has anyone had similar problems with directions, in ssb kailera, i cant drop through platforms in one controller and i cant smash in the broken direction of each respective controller, or run/fast fall

  52. Help with Gamemon said on

    What games is it supposed to work with when it does work. It works in the test screen, but not on PC or Internet games once installed. I’m running XP any one able to help?

  53. Dont buy it, its not a very consistent device.

  54. happy gamer said on

    I am running Windows XP Pro SP2. I love this little box.
    It works for me both on USB2 and USB1 ports. Make sure
    that you install the drivers from the included CD before plugging
    the device in. Go to Start–Control Panel–Game Controllers to test that
    everything is working. The only issue I have found is that some programs have trouble detecting the analog sticks, as these use axes instead of whatever you would call the other kind of definition. I have verified this device (with PS2 controller) to work in:

    Project 64 v1.6
    Snes9x
    Nemu64
    Final Fantasy 7 FFVII PC
    Continuum (except for analog sticks, working on that)
    Works fine as a USB hub for an external DVD player

    I also enjoy using AutoHotKey (nice all-round global keymapper
    with scripting capabilities) to remap or link buttons. This can
    also be used as a workaround for those having troubles with
    certain buttons.

    For those not wanting to pay the extra $10 for the
    popular Adaptoid, this is a great buy.

  55. Lumberjack said on

    I have this converter and found that the drivers that came on the mini disk were worse than the generic drivers windows supplies. I am trying to use a dance mat with this converter box. Can the pov hat be mapped to buttons? The right and left on the dance mat are right and left on the pov hat with this converter box, so it is impossible to do the jumps in ddr. Any help would be appreciated.

  56. this handy little box worked out of the box on my linux setup , workes great for psx emulation, (my origional psx still works, but I like my PC screen better) lost the cd for windows drivers, thanks for the link for that.

  57. Gamerguy said on

    I had to get my computer’s memory wiped a while back and therefore lost all of the data on the harddrive. i can’t find the disk for the convertor. The driver is installed but i need the utility to map the controller buttons, can anyone help me out?

  58. guys, srs said on

    guys, it works as a game pad. it doesn’t have keyboard or mouse emulation software so if the program doesn’t support game pads (many emulators have this problem, as well as a few games) it won’t work. also, with the whole d-pad not working problems, every controller i’ve ever had, most games and programs will not let you use both the dpad and the analog stick and you either have to turn the analog off or use keyboard/mouse emulation software. for those of you wanting to use your controllers with un-supporting programs or programs that doesn’t support it very well (a d-pad is a must with games like M.U.G.E.N.) download Xpadder from http://www.xpadder.com/ it’s a great little piece of software that works great with this lil gem.

  59. This is one of the best $9 i had spent, I come to play a lot of psx games on my pc cuz i don’t have a chipped psx nor the magic swap cd, also play lotsa games that never reached american shores…. so i play a lot of emulated console games and using a PS2 or gamecube control for it is just neat!!!!

    The only draw back, is that I get a DDR pad to play stepmania with this thing and i can’t do jump as was stated before, so i just mapped another up,down, left, right to the other buttons and when need to do a jump or, for example, keep pressing left but a right is coming closer, press the other button. Also, it has like some kind of lag, i had to press the button like 0.5msec before. But still, it’s pretty hard, but playing and mastering the game with this handicap will ensure that when you play on the normal DDR game o a console version, you’ll beat it!!!

    Greatest $9 i have ever spent!!!!

  60. ProblemSolver said on

    Hey guys,

    For those who have downloaded the drivers… http://www.chinagameware.com/download/display/5291754212d8ba840112d8f5e76a0014.shtml

    In order to enable the Converts’ Settings right click the icon ->properties->Compatibility Tab->Check Run this program in compatibility mode->Windows 2000 from the drop menu->Apply->OK

    Problem solved. Double click the icon and it should start.

    cheers,
    leo

  61. http://www.chinagameware.com/download/display/5291754212d8ba840112d8f5e76a0014.shtml
    FT8D91 Driver

    1. Add the Dance mat Mode in the Converters’ Settings.
    The Dance mat Mode is used for the dancing mat. It solves the problem that the left and right(up and down) direction can’t be pressed at the same time.

    2. Solve the Gamecube controller is unresponsive when with only GC To PC Converter enabled problem in some computer.

    Ver 1.1:
    1. Solve the problem that the Convertor Settings can’t be used in some computer.

    Ver 1.0:
    The first edition of the driver

    What should be updated in the coming Ver 1.3?
    1. Add the Digital Mode
    2. Add calibration function

  62. For who ever is concern about Dance mat Mode on the adapter is has been updated by its latest driver. Works great on Stepmania.

    http://www.chinagameware.com/download/display/5291754212d8ba840112d8f5e76a0014.shtml
    FT8D91 Driver

    1. Add the Dance mat Mode in the Converters’ Settings.
    The Dance mat Mode is used for the dancing mat. It solves the problem that the left and right(up and down) direction can’t be pressed at the same time.

  63. Did anyone figure out how to get it to work with simultaneous button press in Stepmania with a DDR pad?

  64. I can’t get this game controller to work.It works on the test screen but not with the pc and other game when installed im running window vista can someone plese help me if you can.

  65. thanks for the softwere when i bought the convertor it didnt have the setup disc at all ive been trying to git the setup program for allmost a year now
    so thanks big time

  66. Bobby Miller said on

    How do I get my controller converter to work?

  67. i am having problems trying to find out how to set my buttons to match my game im trying to use a ps2 controller with this to play final fantasy xi it worked on my old laptop but for some reason i cant figure out how to change the buttons now to get it to work with my game some help would be appreciated..

  68. hmm
    no comments? or suggestions?

  69. I can’t get the throttle on the pedals to work - they act as buttons instead. Depressing the accelerator ends up in a massive wheelie as there’s no modulation! The coverter settings icon won’t load on my PC either :(

    Anyone got any hints?

  70. I got this last Christmas and it didn’t work right when i got it. I tried it yesterday with my PS2 Guitar used for GH2 and it worked at first, but then it just disconnects automatically for no reason.
    I have to unplug and replug it in a few times to get it to work again. When i loaded Frets on Fire with the Guitar In it was working. It let me set the keys and strumming and everything.
    Then when i tryed to play WITH the Guitar Control Keys set the game crashes. I haven’t got the PS2 to work for any game yet. It likes to keep auto disconnecting.
    Same problem with the X-Box. I don’t think i have tried the Gamecube Controller.

  71. I can’t get this thing to work with Gamecube dance mats at all. The dance mat mode either disables the controller or does nothing. I have other PSX/PS2 to usb adapters, so I mainly got this for the gamecube controllers, specifically the dance mats.

  72. james said on

    This seems to work fine but not with pc games left stick seems to be off to the left a bit i try to see if it was my controller but nope might be vista or the driver went into game controllers and tried a new ps2 controller same problem guess i’ll just have to buy a VISTA COMPATIBLE controller cause this gamemon device seems to off to the left a tad don’t know if xp has this problem though if i were you just go and buy a pc controller hmm but witch one should i buy for vista is so touchy!!!Oh and i can’t turn the analog off and just use the pov that sucks….

  73. James said on

    Well the driver above helped a little but now both sticks don’t want to reposition their selfs correctly i give up on this one but i didn’t seem to have these issues in xp just vista but the wierd thing is it only seems to to it in pc games not on emulators n such go figure works fine there oh n someone delete my last post just now whats up with that? i just tried to get help with my issue maybe the 1.3 driver will fix this?

  74. I cant get my comp to recognize anything. When I open the Game Controllers window, its empty. Tried installing and re-installing. Any advice?

  75. Mason said on

    there sumthing wrong with the chinaware website
    is there another way to download the drivers

  76. Mason said on

    ok new problem i got into the website dloaded the driver but my pad still doesnt work im getting irritated

  77. Frequenxy said on

    Hey, uh, if anyone is still on this thread, please help! I bought this thing today and I must say it works great! The only problems I have with it though are:

    When I need to do some configurations of the controller I’m using, I have to press cntr+alt+del, then I can access the configs. Otherwise, My mouse is completely pointless. I can move the arrow around, but I can’t click on jack squat. Anyone know what this is about? And another thing is, I’ll be playing a game on an emulator, and like every 15 mins in the game, my controller, along with any simultaneous controllers along with it, will just completely stop. I have unplug the the main usb unit from the hub, and re-attach it to my computer’s usb drive. Anyone know what this is? Any help would be great! Thx!

    -Frequenxy

  78. King James said on

    Just wanted to know when the 1.3 driver’s are going to be out cause from what i have read it will fix the issue’s i have had with it.For the most part it does work pretty good though.Even in vista! Good product!

  79. Demon Tree said on

    the program is installed correctly, and it won’t show the xbox controller plugin. it only says “GC TO PC CONVERTER” and “PS TO PC CONVERTER”…is that right? i only have a gamecube controller and one of the usb ports filled, will that affect anything?

  80. [...] hong kong … but do they work? Read here to find out, and to get drivers if you lost your disc.http://blog.sav2880.net/2007/08/05/gamemon-usb-converter-review-drivers/Convert Hong Kong Dollars HKD to Japanese Yen JPY - Exchange RatesConvert, To, Result, Explain. 1 [...]

  81. It worked for me. I bought mine around the time of the last post on here April 08, it sat around and now I hooked it up and I want another one but my walmarts out of them. sucks. New drivers are available on the manufacturers website now. It fixes the dance pad problems…

  82. When I go to converters settings nothing happens…wtf

  83. Okay I got to the converter settings, dance pad mode…still I miss everything. there is like a half a second lag that fucks it all up

  84. PS, PS2 controllers work on Mac OS X 10.4.11 with CarvWare GamePad Companion installed (minimum requirement 10.1) but no dice with the original XBOX Duke “hamburger” controller.

    FWIW, the Gamemon Mini USB Game Pad, and Gravis GamePad Pro work too.

  85. I bought this and I am using it for stepmania I only have one problem … It works but it will only let me hit one button at a time and stepmania has jumps requring you to hit 2 buttons at once … what can I do to fix this?

  86. um i cant get onto the website that the 1.2 driver is on can somebody email it to me at
    J_JOSLIN135790@yahoo.com

  87. CJLopez said on

    Wanna know another little thing about this wonder

    You can plug it on you PS3 via USB and then you can use GameCube and PS1/PS2 controlers on PS3 games. just tested on Soul Calibur IV, cuz I needed another controler and didn’t have another PS3 controller, so I tried and worked like a wonder, just the buttons on the PS2 are a little messed up, as like square being triangle, circle being square, L1 as L2, same for R’s and viceversa. But man, also tested and gamecube control, L1 button is the start button, so the game doesn’t have start button with a cube control. Didn’t tested a Xbox one cuz I like of one of those

    This is is amazing!!!!!

  88. BLASTER2K6 said on

    I HAVE MS/ VISTA 64 BIT AND IT WONT INSTALL THE DIVICE WITHOUT A DIGITALY SIGNED DRIVER. ANY CLUE WHERE THE HELL I CAN GET ONE?

  89. same here BLASTER2K6 Ive installed before maybe its the new updates screwing me over

  90. I bought one of these last year at our local Wal-mart, and decided to do a little ‘Googling’ around the web to see what other people were saying about this little unit, before posting it on my site as a fun little gadget.

    Mine has been reliable and fun, and yes, perfect Vista install. First thing I tried to do with it was use my NYKO wireless PS2 controllers with it, and it worked fine. Next I plan on trying my Logitech PS2 wireless controllers, and maybe eventually a Gamecube one or two.

    Thanks for this review site–it made for good reading, and others should find it informative and helpful.

  91. DJ Nintendo said on

    I bought this little gadget, and it works wonders whenever using controllers, although I have updated and updated the bitch to work for my ddr pad in stepmania, and it still suffers from the axes problem, I can jump at the same time now after installing the driver, but the buttons switch sides on me. It’ll work right for a while and then switch to the other side. i.e. left becomes right, right left, up becomes down, down up, and it does it off and on, its driving me insane because its impossible to play like that!!!

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