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Solid D-pads, due to their geometry, incorrectly register diagonal inputs if a cardinal direction is pressed too hard. Split D-pads solve this by having a separate pieces for each directional button, which eliminates cross-button interference and helps you input directions more precisely.

Personally, my grip gets very tight when under pressure, playing fast-paced skill games, and over 50% of my \u201cdeaths\u201d were directly caused by directional input fails rather than a skill issue. Now with these split buttons, 100% of them are caused by skill issues. Inspired by hours upon hours of Celeste's 7C, which was finally beaten 30 minutes after installing these into my controller.

Printing:

I recommended printing this model with a 0.10mm layer height (or lowest available) for the best balance between comfort and grip. No brim or supports needed.

You might want to lightly sand the button faces or buff them over a piece of wool or rough carpet as a post-processing step if you want them to feel even softer. Alternatively a layer of lacquer or transparent/colored nail polish can be used on the button faces to achieve a shiny-smooth surface if preferred.

You'll need to print 4 pieces for each button, and replace the controller's D-Pad with with the separate buttons - instructional videos at the bottom.

Notes:

Split buttons may make inputting circular motions harder, as those found in grappling characters' moves in fighting games. To alleviate this I've tried making the edges smoother and haven't personally experienced any issues yet, but your mileage may vary.

These buttons sit about 1 mm higher than the stock one to improve retention inside the housing. I was afraid this would wreck ergonomics, but they turned out to be surprisingly comfortable.

This model was designed using the DS4 controller housing as a reference, but should fit the DualSense controller as well, as their D-Pads dimensions are the same. The buttons might as well be compatible with DS3 controllers too, but I haven't done any testing to prove it - out of the 3, I prefer using the DS4 the most for skill-based games and that's where most of my time with this model went.

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