Where to print artwork for fightstick (UK)?

Hi,

So I got pulled back into console games with the release of Street Fighter IV (hate it or love it; the game revived the fighting genre) and trying to improve myself, my friend told me I should try out using arcade sticks (fightstick) if I was serious about getting better. So I did and bought the Madcatz Fightstick SE. I noticed some motions were easier to do than the Xbox360 d-pad but preferred some motions on the d-pad. Anyway, I've replaced the buttons (because some responded intermittently) and now I'm thinking of replacing the artwork. The problem is I don't know WHAT to print it on nor WHERE. There are guides online but it's pretty much aimed at US audience so I don't know what the equivalent store/shop/service would be. So I was hoping that someone here (UK based) knows the answer to my questions...

1. What paper/material do I ask the artwork to be printed on?
2. Where (shop/store name, web address?) can I get it printed?
3. Do you think it's worth me changing to this - http://www.razerzone.com/gb-en/store/razer-atrox)

I'm not just buying a new stick because I think I'm too good for the current one, but I've noticed that the gates in my joystick have started to act funny... sometimes it will register me holding a direction for a fraction of a second longer. So when I try to dash, I walk instead. So sometimes I want to do 6->6P, I end up doing 6~P. I wouldn't mind changing the gates on my current one, but the Atrox stick seems to be made for people to customise!

 

If you're happy with the size of the case of your MadCatz SE, DON'T buy a whole new stick for different parts! Total waste of money. AFAIK, the joystick and buttons in a SE fightstick are imitations of the Sanwa parts but they're so similar (in installation at least, not in use ) that you can directly replace the joystick to a Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y-SK and the buttons to Sanwa OBSF-30s and OBSF-24s for the Start/Back (or Select/Start for PS3) buttons.

A set of buttons and the joystick will work out at £40 so much, much cheaper than buying a whole new stick. Installation is just a matter of having the 3 tools (a hex/allen key (3.5mm I think, info on that can be found easily) to remove the top panel from the case, a philips screwdriver for removing the joystick from the top panel and a flat-head screw driver for removing the balltop from your joystick so that you can take the joystick out of the panel (balltop will get in the way otherwise).

 

Actually in the SE (the white stick by madcatz to be clear) there's no top panel, or to be more specific you just unscrew the bottom panel and you unplug everything from there. I have both TE and SE and I have done that twice or more.

The origianl parts of the SE are not bad at first, only problem is they feel cheesy pretty soon and after you try sanwa parts you should feel ok for a lot of time. Also the lever has a big problem after some uses in time: the spring will mess up your lever when coming back to neutral position so if you do something like 66 and you let the lever come back naturally to the neutral position you can end up with somethin like 664 or 6464 which is not really wellcome at all.
Sanwa parts are usually the first thing you need but also require some mantainance to keep them soft and functional 100% of the time. This doesn't requires much and i asked G0d3l to teach me how to take care about my stick.
Buttons are easy to fix if the get dirty. Just open them up and clean the shit out of them and you are good to go.

 

Thank you for the replies.

I think I've either made my post too long or I've mis-communicated. I'm not asking about parts, I've already installed Sanwa parts as the default buttons didn't last that long. I'm more interested in the artwork replacing questions. In the guides I've seen they've made suggestions to go to particular shops, but I don't know what the equivalent is in the UK. I want to customize the artwork of my joystick.

Any joystick/fightstick modders from the Uk here?

Thanks,

Chi

 

Some may have better suggestions. What I did was buy a pack of 8x 11 shipping labels. Also buy a pack of 8 x 11 clear labels. Assuming you have your graphic all sized on photoshop to fit your arcade stick, save the file and take it to whatever printing service your area has. In America we have Kinkos. I don't know what the UK equivalent is.

 

I take it nobody knows...?

 

Thanks Richkwondo for your solution. Might look into that a bit more.

 

So after looking on the internet (more thoroughly this time), I finally came to this video: on YouTube.

In there, they have printed their artwork on something called lami-label. Essentially a big sticker.

So I looked into "Lami-label uk" and found the following threads:

A shoryuken thread about alternatives to lami-labels in the UK o- http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/78502/lami-label-alternative-available-in-the-uk

Another thread (on thekingofhate.com) with links to two suppliers in the UK - http://thekingofhate.com/forums/Thread-Printing-Artwork-in-the-UK

I think I'll ask for quotes from these two companies and then see what happens from there...

 

In case any of you are interested I was quoted: £20 for printing the artwork on lami-label by Utopia Designs. Delivery and VAT will be on top of that so I'm estimating it'll cost me £30 for everything.

They also offer artwork services too (I didn't ask them a quote on that since I already created) if you're struggling to do it yourself.

I guess what's next is to order my other joystick parts and send them the artwork.

I still haven't heard back from the Colour company yet.... unlike Utopia Designs which is a family run business, Colour company have chains around UK, so maybe my order was too small for them to bother with? dunno.

 

lamilabels worked well for my old SE stick. I used Kinkos. I don't know if they're in the UK or not.

 

Just an update

My fightstick parts arrived yesterday and got the invoice for my artwork to be printed on the lami-label. It cost me £30.

Thoughts on dealing with Utopia Signs (not Design!!): I had to email them twice to get things started at first, but then when they did reply, their friendly customer service representative was super helpful - replying to one of my queries on a Sunday! Everything has gone smoothly so far. Just waiting for the label to be printed and delivered now.

Chi

EDIT: They accept psd, hi-res pdf and indd/idml files.

 

Alright! So I got my lami label printed and delivered!!

I'll be putting my new parts into my joystick and stick my new artwork on. In addition to my much needed replacements, I will also be switching to an octogate... So I'm going to have to get used to it before the Sega Cup... So If I just start playing really awful... sorry... I'll be trying to adapt.

 

Woohoo! Finished my new artwork and parts installation! Now, to fire up training mode and do a bit of license mode.

Chi

 

Dude, post a pic of the finished product!!!

 

http://cheekychi.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/project-interface-installation-complete/

 

Oh mai... and Chun! Had no idea you were a SNK man heh, have to hook up on PC GGPO MOTW or KOF98 one night, especially now you've got that piece of kit. I used to use the the stock version of that, very nice size and weight.

On that blog there, I see you pasted up the 1000th loss v Mr Rahn. Well, I wouldn't worry too much. He's an old hand Aoi player who seriously levelled up this year, almost Kingo style now. From what I saw the other night when you quickly perfected me, lol, you'll soon be fighting guys like him on a much more equal footing, no worries.

 

Thanks for visiting my blog

Yeah, I love SNK games, they're more challenging than Capcom ones. I haven't bought MOTW nor played it properly though I have played the demo on Xbox live. I love SvC Chaos, I used to play it with my friends in the arcades (Las Vegas near China town). But that was just us button mashing. I then got the PC emulated version (fighting game with keyboard!).

I'm trying to post something regularly on my progress with VF. So those are just milestone posts and not me being super upset about losing to someone. It also helps me keep track of whether I've been mindlessly playing, or that I've made an effort to improve. Speaking of which, I'm supposed to have made a couple of posts which I haven't gotten round to...

That night was just me being lucky with my hits connecting so you probably shouldn't think about it too much.

 

Yeah, I don't know London very well at all, but I was down there in a shop called Gamebase I think some years back, and they had SvC running on cab downstairs, when it was new. Some boxed AES carts under the glass counter as well, always nice to see.
I've heard the netcode on the older SNK games isn't too hot on 360, but on PC if you set the router up properly, they work a treat. The east Asian PSN stores have a load of the PS2 ports as well by the looks of it, but no idea if you can buy or play them with a UK top-up card.
The Dreamcast as well of course, has some great conversions ten plus years back, and KOF'97 on Saturn, that was excellent at the time, and much cheaper on import via mail order cheque than the £300+ original cartridge, oh my days.