OT: Getting 2 Controllers connected

What is the best way to connect 2 controllers, FF joystick and FF wheel that both use the gameport socket? An additional gameport card? Can they then just be selected in 'Game Controllers'? Thanks Iain

I've had as many as 3 game ports in one PC. There can be issues regarding resources being allocated but this can usually be worked around with a bit of fiddling :) Directx now allows you to move controllers around under the advanced tab. (i.e. move them to 1st, 2nd or more controller) Many titles (GPL, Rally 2000 etc.) will let you select primary or secondary controllers so you don't need to worry about moving the wheel to the primary controller etc. Tony

If you're talking about using only one of them at a time, a simple gameport A-B (or A-B-C-D) switch works. Keep in mind that you still will have to change the selected controller in Windows Control Panel. This has worked fine for me for years. I got my switchbox at a local computer show. I would recommned getting a mechanical one. I found that the electronic ones which supposedly switch "automatically", don't. If you're trying to use 2 controllers at the same time, I found that it only works with GPL. Yes, it's true that RC2000 lets you use a controller at ID 2, but I've found that you cannot use 2 controllers simultaneously with RC2000. If I'm wrong on this, someone please explain to me how it's done. Iain Mackenzie wrote: > What is the best way to connect 2 controllers, FF joystick and FF wheel that > both use the gameport socket? An additional gameport card? Can they then > just be selected in 'Game Controllers'? > Thanks > Iain

Do these switch boxes work with FF devices? The ones I've got (from a couple of years ago) don't! Iain BRH <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > If you're talking about using only one of them at a time, a simplegameport A-B > (or A-B-C-D) switch works. Keep in mind that you still will have tochange the > selected controller in Windows Control Panel. This has worked fine for mefor

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> years. > > I got my switchbox at a local computer show. I would recommned getting a > mechanical one. I found that the electronic ones which supposedly switch > "automatically", don't. > > If you're trying to use 2 controllers at the same time, I found that it

only > works with GPL. Yes, it's true that RC2000 lets you use a controller atID 2, > but I've found that you cannot use 2 controllers simultaneously withRC2000. If

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> I'm wrong on this, someone please explain to me how it's done. > > > > Iain Mackenzie wrote: > > > What is the best way to connect 2 controllers, FF joystick and FF wheel

that > > both use the gameport socket? An additional gameport card? Can theythen > > just be selected in 'Game Controllers'? > > Thanks > > Iain >

BRH <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > If you're trying to use 2 controllers at the same time, I found that itonly > works with GPL. Yes, it's true that RC2000 lets you use a controller atID 2, > but I've found that you cannot use 2 controllers simultaneously withRC2000. If > I'm wrong on this, someone please explain to me how it's done. > I was able to use my LWFF wheel and CH Pedals in RC2000. To do this I did the following: In the Windows Game Controllers panel I configured the LWFF as controller ID 1 with split axis pedals. I configured the CH Pedals with a joystick as controller ID 2 using the CH Flightstick Pro driver and set the switch on the pedals to Car mode. Add the line mergejoy=1 to the file ral.cfg which need to be in the rc\var directory In RC 2000 I configured the controller for player 1 to use the LWFF and configure the controller for player 2 to use the joystick and CH Pedals. In single player mode you will now find that either set of controls can be used to drive the car which means you can use the LWFF wheel and CH Pedals together. Tonight I'm going to experiment with using the joystick as a handbrake. Hope this helps. Let me now if you have any problems. Cheers Phil -- http://www.youpies.co.uk

I'm not really sure whether the switchbox works with FF devices. I have an A-B-C-D switch with the following controllers connected. MS Gamepad Yamaha MIDI keyboard (Yes, even the MIDI works thru the switchbox) Wingman Extreme Digital Joystick TSW Wheel (non FF) I have an LWFF wheel connected thru my serial port as well, to rounf this all out. If MIDI works thru the switchbox, I would guess that FF also does, but I can't really be sure. Since the LWFF doesn't hook up thru the gameport, I can't try it out for you.

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> Do these switch boxes work with FF devices? The ones I've got (from a > couple of years ago) don't! > Iain > > If you're talking about using only one of them at a time, a simple > gameport A-B > > (or A-B-C-D) switch works. Keep in mind that you still will have to > change the > > selected controller in Windows Control Panel. This has worked fine for me > for > > years. > > I got my switchbox at a local computer show. I would recommned getting a > > mechanical one. I found that the electronic ones which supposedly switch > > "automatically", don't. > > If you're trying to use 2 controllers at the same time, I found that it > only > > works with GPL. Yes, it's true that RC2000 lets you use a controller at > ID 2, > > but I've found that you cannot use 2 controllers simultaneously with > RC2000. If > > I'm wrong on this, someone please explain to me how it's done. > > > What is the best way to connect 2 controllers, FF joystick and FF wheel > that > > > both use the gameport socket? An additional gameport card? Can they > then > > > just be selected in 'Game Controllers'? > > > Thanks > > > Iain

I tried following your advice for RC2000 but no dice. So, a few questions to clarify. I'm actually running Mobil 1 Rally Championship (the US version of RC2000), and it does not have a ral.cfg file in the rc\var directory (or anywhere else). I tried creating one using Windows Notepad, and entered the mergejoy=1 line into it. But it didn't work. Does anything else need to be in the ral.cfg file? Also, please be specific as to how your 2 controllers are configured within RC2000, specifically the split-axis settings. Even when setting it up to run only with my LWFF, I found these settings confusing, but finally got them to work right. Finally, does the LWFF absolutely have to be on ID1? To get me set-up to work with GPL, I found that the LWFF had to be in ID2 with the TSW pedals on ID1. I'd like to avoid having to switch these back and forth all the time. Thanks for your help!

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> > If you're trying to use 2 controllers at the same time, I found that it > only > > works with GPL. Yes, it's true that RC2000 lets you use a controller at > ID 2, > > but I've found that you cannot use 2 controllers simultaneously with > RC2000. If > > I'm wrong on this, someone please explain to me how it's done. > I was able to use my LWFF wheel and CH Pedals in RC2000. To do this I did > the following: > In the Windows Game Controllers panel I configured the LWFF as controller ID > 1 with split axis pedals. I configured the CH Pedals with a joystick as > controller ID 2 using the CH Flightstick Pro driver and set the switch on > the pedals to Car mode. > Add the line mergejoy=1 to the file ral.cfg which need to be in the rc\var > directory > In RC 2000 I configured the controller for player 1 to use the LWFF and > configure the controller for player 2 to use the joystick and CH Pedals. > In single player mode you will now find that either set of controls can be > used to drive the car which means you can use the LWFF wheel and CH Pedals > together. Tonight I'm going to experiment with using the joystick as a > handbrake. > Hope this helps. Let me now if you have any problems. > Cheers > Phil > -- > http://www.youpies.co.uk

Sorry you couldn't get the controls working. Here's some additional info which may help you out. I'm using the UK version of RC with the latest patch (4) to take it to version 5.27.1. The file ral.cfg which I referred to is NOT created during the installation. It is a configuration file used by MF to change varous setting in the game. The file needs to be created in the var directory. On my PC, RC is installed in the C:\Games\Rc directory so the ral.cfg file need to be in the C:\Games\Rc\Var directory. My ral.cfg file contains the following lines: framecounter=1 sensiblesaving=1 mergejoy=1 nofmv=1 framecounter adds a framecounter at the top of the screen. sensiblesaving allows saving at the end of each stage. mergejoy allows controls from players 1 and 2 to be used in single player mode and nofmv switches off the intro movie. In Windows I set controller 1 to be my LWFF with split axis pedals. I set controller 2 to be my CH Pedals and a joystick set up as a CH Flightstick Pro with rudder pedals enabled. I made sure that the switch on the CH Pedals was set to Car and that I callibrated both controllers. In RC, I configured player 1 to use controller 1 which I set to be a 3 axis wheel with pedals. I set all the controls using the LWFF. I set the upper deadzone so that it was slightly less than maximum and the lower deadzone to its minimum setting. This is important. With split axis pedals there is a bug which locks the brakes on if the upper deadzone is set to maximum (no grey). This can be seen when you change to the chase cam which will show the brake lights are always on. Its amazing how much your times improve when you don't brake all the time! Once I'd set all these, I saved the settings and configured player 2. I configured player 2 to use controller 2 which I also set to be a 3 axis wheel with pedals. I set all the controls using the joystick and my CH Pedals and saved the settings. I then went to drive in single player mode and was able to use any of the controllers the control the car. I've tested this with the LWFF as controller 2 and couldn't get it to work. Maybe that's your problem. The other possibility is that the US version of the game doesn't support ral.cfg. Try my file settings and see if you get a framecounter. If you don't, remove all lines except the framecounter and try again. If you still don't get a framecounter, your luck may be out. I suppose you could download patch 4 from www.rallychampionship.co.uk to get it to work. Alternatively, try the High Gear forum. They are a helpful bunch their and the forum has a good search facility. It's where I found the solution to this problem. The URL for it is: http://forums.simracingnews.com/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum =Rally+Championship&number=3&DaysPrune=30&LastLogin= You mention that you had to have the LWFF as controller 2 for GPL. I use this configuration in GPL with no problems. I set steering to be axis zero, the accelerator to be axis 6 and the brakes to axis 7. When you were callibrating the controls in GPL did you click on the gold arrow at the bottom left of the callibration window to allow you callibrate axes 4 to 7? If you missed this, you may be able to set the LWFF to controller 1 and your pedals to controller 2. A lot of people, myself included, have found that the LWFF produces more force as controller 1. Hope this helps. Cheers Phil -- http://www.youpies.co.uk