Hardware / Joysticks and flight controls

PDPI L4

discussed in 453 posts, 1998-2005 · overall tone positive

Posts per month

Key threads

PDPI L4 gamecard benefits and PDPI's USB controller plans 2000-01-02 · 45 posts
A user asked why the PDPI L4 gameport card was not more popular given its jitter-free input. Owners praised its stability and lack of recalibration but noted its 8-bit resolution, while others said SB Live and USB ports were good enough. Shumi, PDPI's new marketing director, explained the card's history and announced that PDPI would build its own wheels and joysticks with high-resolution USB interfaces, plus conversion kits for ECCI and TSW wheels, starting around Q2 2000.
Buying an ECCI wheel and PDPI/PMB2 setup tips 2004-04-14 · 52 posts
John Simmons announced he was buying an ECCI 6000GT wheel with the PMB2 brake module and USB option. Steve Smith said his ECCI had gained him about two seconds a lap and shared registry tweaks for the PDPI gameport card, while several owners complained that the PMB2 brake required enormous force. Joachim Trensz noted that real brakes lock well before full pedal travel, and a side spat flared between John Simmons and David G Fisher over RASCAR.
PDPI L4 gameport card and the ISA slot problem 2000-10-06 · 26 posts
Users discussed the PDPI Lightning L4 gameport card, which Jason Murray said beat USB and soundcard gameports for smooth controller input. Owners agreed it was much better than an SB Live gameport, but noted it was ISA-only as new motherboards dropped ISA slots. Murray alleged PDPI had been treated badly by Act Labs.
Steering jitter with Thrustmaster wheels in GPL 1999-01-16 · 45 posts
Marc Collins reported his Thrustmaster wheel shaking in GPL despite replacing the potentiometer. Others blamed worn or contaminated pots, soundcard gameports, especially Creative's PCI cards, and driver settings, and suggested contact cleaner, dedicated gamecards like the PDPI L4, and calibrating with the generic driver. Marc found an older SB16 largely cured it.
Budget steering wheel recommendations 1999-06-07 · 20 posts
A poster asked for a cheap wheel compatible with SCGT, GPL, Viper Racing and TOCA 2. The Mad Catz Andretti wheel was recommended for its price and quality, though it lacks split pedal axes. John Bodin and Craig Galbraith clarified which ACT Labs RS configurations support split axes, and posters explained how to test for split axes and rewire a Thrustmaster T2.
Guillemot Ferrari force feedback wheel problems 2000-01-21 · 35 posts
Marc Collins described weak force feedback and oscillation on his Guillemot Ferrari wheel in GPL. PDPI's Shumi criticised current wheels and talked up PDPI's forthcoming wheel, which drew a rebuke for knocking competitors. Mats Lofkvist found that setting the driver's spring gain to 0% greatly increased GPL's force feedback, an apparent driver bug that cured Collins's problems.
Fixing steering jitter ('the shakes') in GPL 1999-02-20 · 38 posts
A user with a Saitek R4 wheel surveyed others about steering-arm jitter in GPL with linear wheel settings. Reports pointed to noisy sound-card game ports and worn potentiometers, with dedicated PDPI L4 cards, Diamond MX300 sound cards, USB or force-feedback wheels, and new pots cited as fixes.
Getting a TSW wheel working under Windows XP 2004-11-09 · 46 posts
EldredP built a new PC without ISA slots and could not get his TSW wheel working via the SBLive gameport under XP. Members explained XP's limited gameport support, suggesting USB upgrades, lower-resistance pots, Windows 2000 or dual-booting 98SE, and he got a Sidewinder wheel working in split-axis mode via its software. An anonymous troll repeatedly insulted him.
TSW2 wheel jitter on SB Live gameport and fixes 2002-01-05 · 63 posts
An owner of a TSW2 modified wheel reported severe jitter that Thomas Super Wheels said was on his end, even after replacement pots. Others said the SB Live gameport was a known problem and recommended a PDPI card or the Sim-Addicts USB converter, while many owners praised the wheel and TSW support. A side discussion covered getting split-axis pedals working in F1 2001 by holding the brake during startup or using DXTweak.
Debate over GPL car handling, AI lines and difficulty 1998-10-02 · 61 posts
David G Fisher questioned why human hotlaps in GPL looked wild and sideways while the AI drove smoothly at similar times. Respondents argued hotlaps differ from race driving, pointed to Dave Mansell's smooth Spa hotlap as proof that clean fast driving was possible, and debated whether GPL confused difficulty with realism. The thread degenerated when Jay Wolf declared the cars too twitchy and traded insults with several regulars, though he later conceded his skills were improving.
Upgrading to a Pentium III and Voodoo3 for GPL 1999-04-20 · 25 posts
A poster described large GPL improvements after upgrading to a Pentium III and Voodoo3. Eric Busch of Papyrus said he had probably been running software OpenGL and advised sticking with Glide, while Graeme Nash shared a batch file setting Glide texture memory that fixed Voodoo3 texture problems at higher resolutions. Randy Cassidy explained what the 'poll with interrupts enabled' joystick option does.
Choosing a force feedback wheel and combining controllers 1999-05-19 · 37 posts
Griffin asked which FF wheel to buy. Owners compared the Logitech Formula Force, Microsoft Sidewinder FF and ACT Labs Force RS, with Marko Viitanen arguing that pedal quality matters more for GPL. Papyrus's Randy Cassidy explained that games using DirectInput can easily combine controllers from different makers, and others described PDPI's Virtual Stick utility and tricks such as limiting brake travel to avoid lockups.

Busiest threads

PDPI L4 gamecard benefits and PDPI's USB controller plans (19 posts about it)
Buying an ECCI wheel and PDPI/PMB2 setup tips (9 posts about it)
Attention PDPI L4 users! (7 posts about it)
PDPI L4 gameport card and the ISA slot problem (7 posts about it)
PDPI L4, Jitters and GPL (7 posts about it)
So Exactly *** WHAT *** is Up with PDPI / Act Labs ??? Does Anybody Know ??? (7 posts about it)
SPECIAL CARDS FOR WHEELS???? (6 posts about it)
Steering jitter with Thrustmaster wheels in GPL (6 posts about it)
Anyone using a PDPI L4 game card? (6 posts about it)
PDPI and MSFF Wheel: INCOMPATIBLE? (6 posts about it)
GPL: TSW+PDPI not smooth??? (6 posts about it)
PDPI L4 vs. SBLive! gameport (5 posts about it)
GPL PDPI L4 Control (5 posts about it)
Budget steering wheel recommendations (5 posts about it)
Guillemot Ferrari force feedback wheel problems (5 posts about it)

Sentiment by year

Each post that discussed it was rated from −2 (very negative) to +2 (very positive).

Year	Posts	Positive	Negative	Tone
1998	66	31	3	positive (+0.56)
1999	186	76	11	positive (+0.47)
2000	138	61	14	positive (+0.47)
2001	30	14	3	positive (+0.43)
2002	12	6	1	positive (+0.50)
2004	12	6	1	very positive (+0.67)
2005	9	3	2	positive (+0.22)