I got my original MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro hooked up today to a "new" Soundblaster audio and game port card (£5 on ebay). Forces work fine in MS Flight Sim X, using Win XP's built in drivers.
In AH, however, I get the occasional burst of stick shake if someone hits my plane, but control surface forces are extremely weak (and my own shooting generated no rumble at all). I had to play for hours before I was even certain there was any control surface feedback at all. (The weak forces get largely swamped by a certain "cogginess" in the force feedback mechanism.)
I read somewhere among the many postings on the FF subject that HTC has such as stick? Would be very interested to know if this stick is supposed to work under XP SP2 (built in drivers).