MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Wheel
I have a Sidewinder FFW (gameport), but i don't have any gameport connection on my laptop. I tested using a gameport to USB converter, set both as a 4 axis 4 button, and as a 2 axis 8 button game device, but i can't get it working under Win2k.
I have a Sidewinder FFW (gameport), but i don't have any gameport connection on my laptop. I tested using a gameport to USB converter, set both as a 4 axis 4 button, and as a 2 axis 8 button game device, but i can't get it working under Win2k. Shouldn't this work just fine?
I've also been thinking of the possibility to just cut off the gameport connector, and cut the USB connector off a USB cable, and just solder it on the cables instead. I've opened the wheel and noted which cable goes to which pin in the gameport connector, so i just need to know what goes where in a USB connector. There are 9 small cables and one for earth. How is it with the USB version of the wheel? Or is the electronics inside different from the gameport to the USB version?
Anybody know if it would be possible to make this work at all?
I've also been thinking of the possibility to just cut off the gameport connector, and cut the USB connector off a USB cable, and just solder it on the cables instead. I've opened the wheel and noted which cable goes to which pin in the gameport connector, so i just need to know what goes where in a USB connector. There are 9 small cables and one for earth. How is it with the USB version of the wheel? Or is the electronics inside different from the gameport to the USB version?
Anybody know if it would be possible to make this work at all?
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There is NO way, to my knowledge, that a microsoft gameport ff sidewinder wheel or joystick will work with a usb converter. I have tried and tried, browsed zillions of forums but no solution! The wheel/joystick will get power from the pc, but there is no way to correctly recognise it under the Game Controllers. My sidewinder ff joystick would only be recognised as a microsoft 3D sidewindor joystick. Status: not connected....
A feasible solution I can see for your case, is to get a Creative Extigy and connect the wheel there.
Sorry to pull your hopes down....
A feasible solution I can see for your case, is to get a Creative Extigy and connect the wheel there.
Sorry to pull your hopes down....
If your motherboard has an onboard MIDI/Game port connector you could just buy the Gameport bracket and attach it. Or buy a really cheap 16 bit sound card and just use the gameport feature. You could upgrade to a newer Creative Labs sound card like the Audigy series, they still have game ports, that connect via a bracket.
MS do not support the old gameport version of their Force Feedback wheel. This is egregious.
This is how to get your old wheel to work with XP.
d/l the MS Wheel 2 software from:
http://www.input-drivers.com/drivers/76/76441.htm
Now this is intended for the latest wheel with USB. Install it, but then when it fails to connect to USB (cos ure wheel is gameport) then kill the process.
Go into control panel and add game controller, pick MS Sidewinder (Autodetect). Your old wheel will work and provide resistive force feedback but some games don't give you impact/vibration feedback etc.
You can at least steer which is something.
This is how to get your old wheel to work with XP.
d/l the MS Wheel 2 software from:
http://www.input-drivers.com/drivers/76/76441.htm
Now this is intended for the latest wheel with USB. Install it, but then when it fails to connect to USB (cos ure wheel is gameport) then kill the process.
Go into control panel and add game controller, pick MS Sidewinder (Autodetect). Your old wheel will work and provide resistive force feedback but some games don't give you impact/vibration feedback etc.
You can at least steer which is something.
From a programming point of view you can get the same functionality from a Force Feedback Pro Joystick.
When you get XP to AutoDetect a SideWinder in your game port, and it finds the force feedback one, then you actually have the ability to use it in two modes at the same time.
In one mode, it works just like a normal joystick, and you can control stuff.
In the other mode, it will go stiff( centring) but will fail every time software tries to create a force feedback effect (of any sort).
from a programming perspective, you could muck around with both these modes at the same time, to get control with stiffness, but i don't think any games do this.
When you get XP to AutoDetect a SideWinder in your game port, and it finds the force feedback one, then you actually have the ability to use it in two modes at the same time.
In one mode, it works just like a normal joystick, and you can control stuff.
In the other mode, it will go stiff( centring) but will fail every time software tries to create a force feedback effect (of any sort).
from a programming perspective, you could muck around with both these modes at the same time, to get control with stiffness, but i don't think any games do this.
