The original Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro

[Perrine]

I'm thinking about buying this joystick.
Does this old joystick from Microsoft still work with Windows 7 + Aces High 2?

[96Delta]

I have this stick but without the force feedback.
It works fine with the game.  I run Windows XP Pro.

[jeffn]

I also use the MS FF pro. The second generation one with the USB connection. Windows 7 does not recognize the software but you can set your force feedback settings within the game. I also have the first generation MS FF that uses a game port, but its the same deal,,,,, works but the software is un-usable with Windows 7.

Other than that, this stick is great. If you do purchase and would like my FF settings and key mapping, PM me I will share.

<S>

[boxboy28]

I too use an MSFF2..... i started with the MSFF ver1   way back in  2001 i used the old MSFF ver1 but it broke...... since then ive gone thru the 1st MSFF ver1,   one MSFFver2  and im on my second MSFF2  but AKDogg found a electronics website that if you have any eoldering ability at all you can pretty much fix the stick as needed!    


To be honest with you i wouldnt  mess with version 1 with the game port specially on win7    get the MSFF2!  

[Perrine]

To be honest with you i wouldnt  mess with version 1 with the game port specially on win7    get the MSFF2!  

But i heard the original had a digital optical tracking so you rarely have to calibrate.
However I'm not sure if force feedback 2 also had digital optical tracking

[pervert]

But i heard the original had a digital optical tracking so you rarely have to calibrate.
However I'm not sure if force feedback 2 also had digital optical tracking

It does

[Traveler]

I also use the MS FF pro. The second generation one with the USB connection. Windows 7 does not recognize the software but you can set your force feedback settings within the game. I also have the first generation MS FF that uses a game port, but its the same deal,,,,, works but the software is un-usable with Windows 7.

Other than that, this stick is great. If you do purchase and would like my FF settings and key mapping, PM me I will share.

<S>

When you say Windows does not recognize the software?  Are you loading the original disk?   Or do you mean that when you plug in the stick that W7 doesn't try to find the software?   Go to ActiveWin   Google it they have a download section for W7 drivers for the stick.

[jeffn]

Yea, I was unclear there.

The drivers are installed through Win7 but the software that comes with the stick windows7 does not recognize and therefore im not able to use the mapping and profiles that the software offered. A shame to, was easy to set up and maintain.

<S>

[Perrine]

It does

hmmI  wonder why it's not advertised as a feature on FF2...

[Perrine]

I also have the first generation MS FF that uses a game port, but its the same deal,,,,, works but the software is un-usable with Windows 7.

I have no gameport in my laptop, but I heard there's a gameport to usb adapter.
Will the original MS FF + gameport-to-USB work on my Win7 laptop?

If not then there's the MS-FF-2 as an alternative.
Some say MS-FF-2 had digital-optical-tracking-camera (or whatever it's called) just like the original MS-FF, but I'm really not sure if MS-FF-2 came with it since Microsoft and Amazon did not advertise that feature.

[Ghastly]

I have no gameport in my laptop, but I heard there's a gameport to usb adapter.
Will the original MS FF + gameport-to-USB work on my Win7 laptop?

If not then there's the MS-FF-2 as an alternative.
Some say MS-FF-2 had digital-optical-tracking-camera (or whatever it's called) just like the original MS-FF, but I'm really not sure if MS-FF-2 came with it since Microsoft and Amazon did not advertise that feature.

The MSFF2 used the same optical widget to read the X and Y positioning as the Sidewinder Precision PRO & 3D.  (this was a small "wafer" that the handle slid around - I couldn't even begin to guess how it actually functioned, but it was very precise and the best feature of both sticks).   Throttle and rudder positioning were determined by pots, and had significantly decreased precision over X and Y positioning.

The MS sticks while using a gameport were not standard analog gameport devices - ms overloaded the driver and communicated information digitally between the stick and the computer.  A gameport to USB adapter WILL NOT WORK with them, unless it specifically states that it supports them.  The exception to this is (possibly) the original 3D PRO, which could be switched to modes that emulated other era joystocks, but in so doing would "lose" the 8 way hat capability.

<S>

[nrshida]

Perrin,

To save you the trouble I have already gone down the gameport to USB converter road. There is a Descent player called Grendle who makes a custom converter for Gameport Sidewinders. He states that the FF feature is NOT supported. He says it is too much work to reverse engineer the commands (and not enough demand to make it worthwhile). So no Force Feedback with Gameport sticks anymore 

The optical sensors in the Sidewinder series essentially operate like a primitive camera. On the the earlier (Gameport) version the CCD sits still and the base of the stick moves two LEDs over its surface, as Ghastley has described. This gives aileron, elevator & rudder position at the same time. There was also a throttle LED which swiped across the chip in an arc as well, thus throttle was also optical.

I think an FF2 USB version is now the only practical solution.

[Kazaa]

I'm on my first MSFFB2, love it.

[Perrine]

Perrin,

To save you the trouble I have already gone down the gameport to USB converter road. There is a Descent player called Grendle who makes a custom converter for Gameport Sidewinders. He states that the FF feature is NOT supported. He says it is too much work to reverse engineer the commands (and not enough demand to make it worthwhile). So no Force Feedback with Gameport sticks anymore 

I can live without force feedback feature... but will it all its buttons, HAT, throttle and X/Y/Z axis work?
I kinda want the original because it's the heaviest joystick known to man, and I don't want the joystick to leave the table when I yank it hard

[nrshida]

The latest version of Grendle's converter uses a Teensy board and is easy to make:

http://www.descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?t=15526&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

and this was his previous version which you could buy complete:-

http://web.archive.org/web/20060822220409/http://grendel.koolbear.com/3dpro.htm

They claim the 8-way hat and all buttons do work, but as I say, no Force Feedback.

I'm not sure how good it will be to use a Gameport FF stick with the FF feature just 'dead'. Because the electric motors will still be physically connected to the stick and you'll be winding them around with your inputs. Also because there are no springs and no active motors to keep the stick centred, you will have no 'neutral' position.

May I ask do you already have a Gameport Sidewinder? You do seem quite determined I must say, despite all the advice in this thread. Do you not have such a thing as BluTack where you live? Some players use that to secure their stick to their desk.