Sidewinder Success

I'm sorry if no-one cares, but I'm so happy that I had to post this. Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work in digital mode ! Initially I had it working on my P90, once I had installed DirectX5. However when I went to a P166MMX it seemed that the Gameport on my Soundcard couldn't handle the 66Mhz bus speed (obviously a good soundcard!). Well I tried everything to get it to work. Reinstalled, the gameport drivers, directx5, soundcard drivers, sidewinder driver etc. Even tried Microsoft's Tech Support, who were very helpful (I was surprised), but couldn't solve the problem. Well last night I was looking in one of my draws, and I found a CH Gamecard 3 Automatic. It bought it over a year ago and had removed it from my system when I realised it wouldn't handle more than two buttons on each joystick. ( I didn't have my 3D Pro then). I thought I'd give it a try now, so I installed it, and now I have full digital control. It's amazing what a difference those extra buttons make, and the profiler now means I can assign keystrokes to my joystick. Also, now when I disconnect my Sidewinder and replace it with my Thrustmaster wheel the calibration settings are remembered, and vice versa. Most people out the take having the Sidewinder working for granted, but not me anymore. Regards Andrew

I'm really greatly amazed here, since I've been using the SW 3D Pro on my SB-16 both on the 486 as well as on the P-166 without any problem both analogue AND digital. What kind of soundcard did you use? My SB-16 is one of the first models.

My guess would be a Soundscape. In their infinite wisdom, MS designed a joystick that conflicts w/ one of the most common OEM soundcards out there.

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> >I'm sorry if no-one cares, but I'm so happy that I had to post this. > >Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work > >in digital mode ! > >Initially I had it working on my P90, once I had installed DirectX5. > >However when I went to a P166MMX it seemed that the Gameport on my > >Soundcard couldn't handle the 66Mhz bus speed (obviously a good > >soundcard!). > >Well I tried everything to get it to work. Reinstalled, the gameport > >drivers, directx5, soundcard drivers, sidewinder driver etc. Even tried > >Microsoft's Tech Support, who were very helpful (I was surprised), but > >couldn't solve the problem. > >Well last night I was looking in one of my draws, and I found a CH > >Gamecard 3 Automatic. It bought it over a year ago and had removed it > >from my system when I realised it wouldn't handle more than two buttons > >on each joystick. ( I didn't have my 3D Pro then). > >I thought I'd give it a try now, so I installed it, and now I have full > >digital control. > >It's amazing what a difference those extra buttons make, and the > >profiler now means I can assign keystrokes to my joystick. > >Also, now when I disconnect my Sidewinder and replace it with my > >Thrustmaster wheel the calibration settings are remembered, and vice > >versa. > >Most people out the take having the Sidewinder working for granted, but > >not me anymore. > >Regards > >Andrew > I'm really greatly amazed here, since I've been using the SW 3D Pro on my > SB-16 both on the 486 as well as on the P-166 without any problem both > analogue AND digital. > What kind of soundcard did you use? My SB-16 is one of the first models.

I can sympathize with you. It took me a lot of time and effort to get mine to work, and everytime I change a component, it seems to need something different. I started with a CH gamecard auto as well, and it was always flaky if the digital mode would work. If I would keep clicking calibrate and test over and over again, it might work. Then I dropped the game card, and just used the sound card gameport, and on my first sound card, it never worked. Then I got a Monster Sound, and I have to install all the drivers in a particular order now to make it work. It's such a nice JS, but it's really flaky. Jason

Well, problems with MS Sidewinder Pro has been reported with games. I can mention FS 98. Apparently, there is an interference between the sound card frequency and the 3D pro. There are ways to deal with this problem. A new driver for the sound card. Or to use another sound card, as in your case. -- Check out my website at: http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/1315 Enjoy! :-)

Hi I had the same problem with my Terratec Maestro 16/32 Se sound card. I couldn't get the Sidewinder 3d Pro work in the digital mode. The same problem also applies to the Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital. When I used the Soundblaster Pro driver both joysticks worked in digital mode. However the sound wasn't good anymore. Therefore I bought a gamecard, disabled my gameport on the soundcard and I plugged my Joystick to my gamecard and it worked. mit

Sidewinder not working with Soundscape!?! I've had it working with my EnsoniqSS for years... works with my new AudioPCI too!

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>My guess would be a Soundscape. In their infinite wisdom, MS designed a >joystick that conflicts w/ one of the most common OEM soundcards out there. >> >I'm sorry if no-one cares, but I'm so happy that I had to post this. >> >Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work >> >in digital mode !

[snip]

snip..

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> Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work > in digital mode ! > Well last night I was looking in one of my draws, and I found a CH > Gamecard 3 Automatic. It bought it over a year ago and had removed it > from my system when I realised it wouldn't handle more than two buttons > on each joystick. ( I didn't have my 3D Pro then). > I thought I'd give it a try now, so I installed it, and now I have full > digital control.

I found that the the digitial mode did not work with my Vibra 16 using the version 1.0 software that came with the stick. I tried the updated profiler software from the microsoft site, and it does calibrate and work, and gives 8 point hat-switch calibration. Couple of things I don't like: 1. - The profiler software crashes when I exit it. 2. - The profiler software loads when I start WIN95. It appears that it is being called up from the Registry, since there aren't any additions in autoexec.bat or config.sys. Any information on how to stop it from loading would be appreciated.

[snip] hkey_local_maschine -> software -> microsoft -> windows -> currentversion -> run*

It is in your start up folder, just remove it from there. Thats what i did.

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>[snip] >>2. - The profiler software loads when I start WIN95. It appears that it >>is being called up from the Registry, since there aren't any additions >>in autoexec.bat or config.sys. Any information on how to stop it from >>loading would be appreciated. >hkey_local_maschine -> software -> microsoft -> windows ->

currentversion -> >run*

Congratulations! Nice to have it working huh? I currently have a MS FFpro and its awesome, I use a SB 16PNP and have not had any problems with it. On the other hand I have a new PCI S3 sonicvibes PCI PNP sound card and it won't work at all! go figure.. -- David Home : www.axtek.com/durst Desert Air : www.axtek.com/durst/da.htm

Had simalier problem. Solution as fo;;ows CAUSE The ESS AudioDrive device that exhibits this problem is an onboard chip that is soldered to the card. Early versions of the driver for this device cannot reserve physical RAM, and allow the driver to be paged out of virtual memory. The device is not capable of using virtual memory. Although Windows 95 correctly identifies the sound card as an ESS Technology ES1688 AudioDrive sound card, the Windows 95 driver does not work correctly. RESOLUTION Windows 95 To resolve this issue, use either of the following methods: Remove the ES1688 sound card driver and replace it with the ESS ES688 sound card driver. To do so, follow these steps:

hmmm.... i assumed he'd already looked there. perhaps not.

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>It is in your start up folder, just remove it from there. Thats what i did. >>[snip] >>>2. - The profiler software loads when I start WIN95. It appears that it >>>is being called up from the Registry, since there aren't any additions >>>in autoexec.bat or config.sys. Any information on how to stop it from >>>loading would be appreciated. >>hkey_local_maschine -> software -> microsoft -> windows -> >currentversion -> >>run*

>My guess would be a Soundscape. In their infinite wisdom, MS designed a >joystick that conflicts w/ one of the most common OEM soundcards out there. I had a SoundScape Elite and it worked fine with my Sidewinder 3D Pro. OTOH, it wasn't an OEM (There are no OEM SSElite's, to my knowledge) http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/esh7/ ICQ UIN: 2610172 To avoid unsolicited mail, my address at the top is INCORRECT. Please be sure

>It is in your start up folder, just remove it from there. Thats what i did. Profiler has never installed itself in my startup folder. It's only in the registry for me (and most others, apparently). The only way to remove it permanently (other than uninstalling) is to delete it from the registry. I don't know why yours would have set itself up differently. That certainly would have been a lot more convenient. :) http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/esh7/ ICQ UIN: 2610172 To avoid unsolicited mail, my address at the top is INCORRECT. Please be sure

Yeah, the SWFF and Precision Pro don't work on off-brand sound cards. I replaced an Ensoniq with a SB16 to get rid of my problems. Strangely enough, I on;y had the problem with Jedi Knight, so maybe it's a Lucas thang... -- #define NII Information SuperCollider

You played Jedi w/ a joystick? As to a lucas thing, I too have an Ensoniq. Using my regular Sidwidern, in XvT my base buttons are randomly activated, since some of the settings in the joystick and the sound card conflict. So I'll be flying along, and on a certain musical chord, a flair fires off!! fwiw, only Lucas games have given me this trouble.

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> >Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work > >in digital mode ! > Yeah, the SWFF and Precision Pro don't work on off-brand sound cards. > I replaced an Ensoniq with a SB16 to get rid of my problems. > Strangely enough, I on;y had the problem with Jedi Knight, so maybe > it's a Lucas thang...

>You played Jedi w/ a joystick? Yes, MS SW PrecPro. It works pretty well, and greatly enhances the feel and playabilty of the game, especially the ability to use the twist axis to run around the enemy and continue firing at him. Now that I'm getting a bit further into it, I find I have to remap my buttons and keep the keyboard handy for all the extra stuff I can do, but it really helps! Of course, now my wife wants one... -- #define NII Information SuperCollider

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>>Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work >>in digital mode ! >Yeah, the SWFF and Precision Pro don't work on off-brand sound cards. >I replaced an Ensoniq with a SB16 to get rid of my problems. >Strangely enough, I on;y had the problem with Jedi Knight, so maybe >it's a Lucas thang...

Me too. I need to replace my sound card before my SW FF will work. Luckily, sound cards are pretty cheap nowadays. I got mine for like $18. Kay-Yut

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> >You played Jedi w/ a joystick? > Yes, MS SW PrecPro. It works pretty well, and greatly enhances the > feel and playabilty of the game, especially the ability to use the > twist axis to run around the enemy and continue firing at him. Now > that I'm getting a bit further into it, I find I have to remap my > buttons and keep the keyboard handy for all the extra stuff I can do, > but it really helps! Of course, now my wife wants one... > --

interesting. Have you always played w/ a joystick, or are you switching from mouse/keyboard? there' are some things I really hated about Joystick play in such games, such as: 1) I'm a man, not a tank. I always hated the smoothness of motion caused by a joystick. If you turn, you turn like a turret. No flexibilty in the speed of doing so. Felt really off for me. 2) On that thread, a mouse allows very fine adjustments, as well as being able to completely spin around at amazing speed w/ just the flick of a wrist. I've never been able to do this w/ a joystick. Has the FF SW been able to solve these problems?

>interesting. Have you always played w/ a joystick, or are you switching >from mouse/keyboard? there' are some things I really hated about >Joystick play in such games, such as: I played Duke Nukem with keyboard and mouse, and JK with the joystick, and really like the joystick. Sounds like you had a switch-type joystick, what in the olden days we called digital (you're moving or you're not, you're turning or you're not, etc). Try it with an analog (or nowadays, modern digital) joystick, which gives you proportional control over your movement. Twist the joystick harder and you turn faster, push a little sideways to sidle along a wall, turn and push sideways to do the "circle of death" thang that I could never do with keyboard/mouse. Note that it's important to find one with good ergonomics, stop by CompUSA and try out a couple dozen on their display rack before you decide. Much as I hate MS, the Sidewinder precision Pro (and it's twin brother, the serious steroid abuse case the FF version) have a control setup I really like. The PP actually has better feel then the FF, IMHO. I still use the mouse for fine aiming for sniper work and such, as it's got a finer resolution. -- #define NII Information SuperCollider

Well you just had to get the little adapter from Microsoft, if your MIDI port is non-SB-compliant. I have a tropez Plus and it works for me, all is I had to sacrifice the COM1 port to get it to work. Now the Mouse was moved to PS/2 port so its ok for me. At least now I can still use my external keyboard at the same time. Which the SB cant!!!!!

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>>>Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work >>>in digital mode ! >>Yeah, the SWFF and Precision Pro don't work on off-brand sound cards. >>I replaced an Ensoniq with a SB16 to get rid of my problems. >>Strangely enough, I on;y had the problem with Jedi Knight, so maybe >>it's a Lucas thang... >Me too. I need to replace my sound card before my SW FF will work. >Luckily, sound cards are pretty cheap nowadays. I got mine for like >$18. >Kay-Yut

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> >Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work > >in digital mode ! > Yeah, the SWFF and Precision Pro don't work on off-brand sound cards. > I replaced an Ensoniq with a SB16 to get rid of my problems. > Strangely enough, I on;y had the problem with Jedi Knight, so maybe > it's a Lucas thang...

I've had this problem almost every time I try to use the Sidewinder 3D Pro as just that instead of as a CH Flightstick or Thrustmaster (ie in analog mode) with my Ensoniq Soundscape Elite. Other than that I REALLY like the card. Does anyone know if this happens with the Audio PCI card? BTW it happens for me in almost 80% of games not just Lucasarts.

>I've had this problem almost every time I try to use the Sidewinder 3D >Pro as just that instead of as a CH Flightstick or Thrustmaster (ie in >analog mode) with my Ensoniq Soundscape Elite. Other than that I REALLY >like the card. Does anyone know if this happens with the Audio PCI card? >BTW it happens for me in almost 80% of games not just Lucasarts. Uhh, I had a SoundScape Elite for quite some time, and experienced only ONE problem with my Sidewinder 3D Pro - The WC Prophecy demo went haywire in terms of joystick control. Everything else worked flawlessly (and the sound card sounds great. It puts Creative Labs' cards to shame quite easily :). http://w3.to/erik/ ICQ: 2610172 ftp://esh7.resnet.cornell.edu To avoid unsolicited mail, my address at the top is INCORRECT. Please be sure

William, if you go to the Lucas Arts homepage there is a patch in the tech support area that fixes the fighter from veering off to the right. http://www.lucasarts.com I think it is.

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>>Well after a lot of trying I've finally got my Sidewinder 3D Pro to work >>in digital mode ! >Yeah, the SWFF and Precision Pro don't work on off-brand sound cards. >I replaced an Ensoniq with a SB16 to get rid of my problems. >Strangely enough, I on;y had the problem with Jedi Knight, so maybe >it's a Lucas thang... >-- >#define NII Information SuperCollider