rec.autos.simulators

   Ever since I installed my Quantum3D dual Voodoo2 card two
weeks ago, I've been unable to select X axis for steering,
Y axis for throttle/brake and button 1 and 2 for shifting.  

   But I believe you can, if you have a wheel or stick.  

   My ECCI is set as follows:

      Steering   - all the same
      Throttle   - Y up
      Brakes     - Y down
      Shift up   - button 1
      Shift down - button 2

   At least, that's what it looks like when I test it in the
control panel's properties.  

   Please, if you are racing with this configuration:

      Go to your config screen

      Select your control tab, this step might not be necessary.

      Save your configuration under whatever name you want.  

      E-mail me with an attachment to that config file.  It's
      under f1rs\saved\configs.  

   These are only a couple of K, so it won't hurt if a few of
you do it.  Different types of input, joysticks vs wheels, might
be different, So the more configs I get the better.  Please
mention what your equipment is, that might help.  

   I haven't raced for TWO WEEKS!  I think I will be able to
edit that config if I want to change anything, except control.  

The problem:

   The "Choose Command" light flashes on and off before I can
change the settings.  YMenard suggested starting the D3D copy
of F1RS, and setting it there, but I'm having no luck with
that either.  After setting my desktop to 800x600 and high
color, the D3D F1RS just sits, system frozen, until I <CTL-
ALT-DEL>.  Then a window tells me "F1Racing Simulation [Not
Responding]".  

The Quantum:

   I've run a few laps setting in a different car, as a
passenger, the combination of the Quantum3D being faster, my
new Montego sound card having a digital joystick port, and a
vacant ISA bus seems to have made a big difference.  My two
and a half year old PPro was doing a competent job job with
my Pure3D, but it looked to be at it's limit, now it seems to
be effortless.  

The Surprise:

   I'm mystified at how my flight-sim buddies, who would
remove their own appendix with a rusty lid from a tuna fish
can before they would race GP2 or Indycar, LOVE this sim.  

                                                       Thanks
                                                       Larry

   I'm still fighting to get F1RS working with my new Obsidian2 X-24
card.  

   As posted before, I'm unable to assign proper
steering/throttle/brake/shift
controls, because the "Choose Command" light blinks off before I have a
chance
to do the selection.  

   I first saw this two weeks ago when I replaced my Pure3D with the
Obsidian
dual Voodoo2 card.  At that time I was also using a TM ACM j-stick card
and an
old SB16.  

   I'm never sure if I've untangled all the bits when I attempt to
remove a
device, like my Pure3D, from WIN 95.  We've been hearing about nicer
frame
rates when people dump their ISA cards and go all PCI.  We have also had
reports that digital game ports, PDPI or on sound cards, provide a
smoother
interface.  

   So, I decided to do a clean install of WIN 95.  Since I was going to
all
this trouble, I decided I would also install a Turtle Beach Montego, a
PCI
sound card with a digital game port.  

   I have done the full system build, with the newer OSR2, the one with
USB.  
This is identified as 4.00.950 B.  

   My current system:

       PPro
       1/4 Gig of memory
       Quantum3D Obsidian2 X-24
       Turtle Beach Montego A3D Xstream
       WIN 95 4.00.950 B
       F1RS UK version,
         Patch 1.09V
         Full install
         A3D Sound patch NOT installed.  Turtle Beach said that requires
MMX.  
         No other patches.  

   I calibrated and tested my ECCI with WIN 95.  

   I installed and patched F1RS, escaped through the opening screens and
went
to config/control.  Exact same problem, crap.  

    To fix the first problem, control assignment, I took a config that
was
constructed on a different system.  This is what ymenard suggested.  The
config
screen seems Okay.  However, clicking on one of the tabs still results
in the
"Choose Control" blinking out too quickly.  But the assignment was
correct.  
Let's race.  

    I'm on the staring grid, waiting for the red lights to go off,
What's this?  
The RPM lights are pegged, the RPM is 16,500, throttle and brake have no
effect on
the RPM.  When the race starts, I shift into 1st, the RPM drops to
1,600, and the
speed goes to 1 or 2 MPH.  The wheel also does nothing.  I can shift up
through
the gears, but the RPM is unchanged, I can drop into reverse, and the
car creeps
backward at the same turtle's pace.  An outside view of the car shows
smoke from
the tires in 1st gear.  

   The sound may, or may not, be present when I start the race.
Selecting to
ride in another car, as a passenger, shows nice smooth graphics.  

   One thing seems odd, the side walls of the tires, viewed from the
***pit, are
distinctly higher than the tire's driving surface.  I'm grasping for
straws here,
perhaps this is just a Voodoo 2 thing.  

   Whatever is screwing with my the config/control screen has a firm
grip on my
car during a race.  

   I fire up Longbow2, no problem, oh look, the flashing MFD is gone.
F22-ADF
flies fine.  Forsaken is just a blank screen and a hard re-boot - I've
never
tried it before, so I don't know what to think of that.  I did hear it
was
eye candy-licious.  

   Is ANYBODY still reading this?  

   David Greene suggested I manually replace the dxinput3.dll and
dxinput5.dll
from the 1.09 patch.  No joy.  

   So I go to the device manager.  

      I see the familiar yellow "!" by the "Intel 82371SB PCI Bus Master
IDE
      Controllers" entry.  I've tried to step on this, there is a maze
on Intel's
      site that deals with this.  I can't make it go away, I think I
would need
      IDE equipment to get rid of the "!", but I'm a Unix programmer,
and we
      don't use no stinkin' IDE.  : )

      Clicking through the Sound, video... entry:
        TBS Montego PCI Audio:
           Resources:
              Interrupt Request 09 used by:
              IRQ Holder for PCI Steering

           WTF?  PCI Steering?  I don't think I've ever heard of that
one.  
           I look at the system's interrupt usage.  This seems to be
related
           to the sharing of interrupts,

           Int 9 has:
              IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
              TBS Montego multifunction PCI Platform
              TBS Montego PCI Audio   <--- This has the conflict message

           Int 10 has:
              3Com Fast Etherlink...
              IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
              Adaptec AHA 2940...

           Int 11 has one of these PCI Steering things and my Matrox,
nothing
           else.  

          Only the "TBS Montego PCI Audio" reports an IRQ conflict.  

       The Obsidian2 has two device manager entries, one for each
Voodoo.  These
       report a conflict with the PCI-to-PCI bridge.  The manual says to
ignore
       this.  

   Last week was between jobs, so I spent a lot of time on this
problem.  This
week I have clients who have never shown any interest in paying me to
drive
F1RS.  So I'm squeezed between not having a lot of time to fix this, and
the
fact that the 30 day window for returning the Obsidian2, or TB Montego
is running
out.  If I don't get a fix on this, I'll try to budget time for one more
full
WIN95 install without 3D graphics or sound card, commit that to tape,
and try to
swap in different combinations of cards.  Right now, I have to suspect
it's the
Obsidian.  

   One thing makes the Pure3D, SB16 and TM ACM card superior to the
Quantum3D
Obsidian2 X-24 and the Turtle Beach Montego.  They work with F1RS.  

   Thanks for any suggestions, or even expressions of sympathy.  

Larry

One wonders whether the term "PCI steering" refers to something to do with
the PCI bridge. Surely not the gameport.  The fact that other games operate
happily would indicate that this is a job for UBI's tech support messieurs.
The other rather unorthodox feature of your sytem is the ol' non MMX PPro
CPU.  Something in F1RS' (or drivers for your new cards) code prolly assumes
that MMX should be available.  Have you considered updating your M/B to at
least a super 7 with an AMD K6-2?  You've virtually rebuilt the thing
anyway - around an out-dated heart.  (Like the mega ship in Star-Trek(2?)
with the old "V-ger" at its core)

/Ron