Author Topic: CH Fighterstick USB and Pro Pedals (Read 440 times)

gofaster · « **on:** April 09, 2003, 09:47:00 AM »

Any "gotchas" with this combination? My 8-year-old CH Combatstick and regular CH pedals gameport-thru-USB converter setup isn't working out and I may move up to the USB line.

Vermillion · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2003, 11:47:32 AM »

No, its fine.

Of course you have to have the USB pedals to work with the USB Fighterstick, but other than that, no.

I transitioned over to the USB Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals. The only problem I had was the number of USB ports on my computer (came with 6, and I added a 4 port HUB). Realize that each device needs its own USB port.

And make sure you download the Control Manager 2.0 software from the website (the older 1.1 comes on the CD's).

gofaster · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2003, 12:43:23 PM »

Thanks for the tips, Verm ^Skull^.

I didn't know about each controller needing its own port. The gameport versions plug into each other so I assumed the USB stick and rudders did, too. I'll have to pick up a 4-port hub sometime between now and the delivery of the new gear. Between my racing wheel, my gamepad, the scanner, and my camera, all my ports are belong to peripherals.

Does the Fighterstick plug into the keyboard like the gameport version did or does it do everything through the USB port?

Yeah, I'm transitioning to all-USB. I went ahead and placed an order with Provantage for the Fighterstick and Pro Pedals:

Quantity 1 - (CHPU005) Fighterstick USB @ $93.17 each.

Quantity 1 - (CHPP002) Pro Pedals USB @ $95.57 each.

Subtotal: $188.74
Shipping: $20.35
------------------------------
Total: $209.09 (US dollars)

The shipping seemed a bit high, but even then it's still cheaper than Amazon.Com and FlightSimCentral. ChipsBits.Com was sold out.

Animal · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2003, 02:37:34 PM »

you dont need to plug the keyboard or anything like that.

you only need three usb ports and thats it.

the wonders of USB

FOGOLD · « **Reply #4 on:** April 10, 2003, 07:09:36 AM »

So stick, throttle and pedals are difinitely seen as ONE controller with the CH version 2 software?

I am thinking of a stick/throttle to go with my CH USB pedals and I wanna be sure, cos that was one ting that pissed me off about the Cougar. Gameport rudders were unobtainable at the time I bought my cougar. AH is fine but support for 2 controllers in other sims is iffy.

gofaster · « **Reply #5 on:** April 17, 2003, 08:07:19 AM »

I finally got around to hooking up my gear last night and installed the 1.x Manager software (haven't upgraded to 2.0 yet, maybe tonight). Each peripheral requires a USB port - unlike the gameport model where everything connected to the rudder cable and then only the rudder cable went into the gameport.

I haven't tried using them in other games yet, but they worked fine in Aces High. I may actually try installing IL-2 tonight and giving it a whirl. I'll also test them in Jane's F-15, Fighters Anthology, and CFS-2 if the wife will leave me alone long enough. Was there a particular game you were concerned about?

The CH Products homepage says you can't mix USB and gameport stuff, so I would suspect that its all seen as 1 controller.

gofaster · « **Reply #6 on:** April 19, 2003, 06:39:21 PM »

Here's a quick blurb on how the Control Manager works with the USB device and Windows to make the controllers work with older games:

The Control Manager is unique, though, in that it allows you to define Control Manager Devices that are based on the controls from several different controllers. This is an absolute necessity with older games which can only respond to a single device.

To get an idea of how the Control Manager system works, it's helpful to have a brief understanding of how Windows handles USB game controllers. If you've ever used a USB device before, you may have noticed that you actually get two devices when you plug the controller in. One is the USB device itself, the second is a "HID-compliant game controller".

The USB device represents the hardware controller itself. When you plug it in, it notifies the system that it is a HID joystick. The system responds by creating the "HID-compliant game controller" to represent the controller to Windows. This HID device is the device that you see in the Windows Game Controllers Applet. Normally, Windows creates this device to mirror the controls which are actually on the USB device itself.

In Direct Mode, the Control Manager creates HID devices that match the controllers that they represent just as Windows itself does. In this case, the devices show up under their standard names in the Game Controllers Applet.

In "Mapped Mode", the Control Manager collects all the axes and buttons from the USB devices just as in Direct Mode. The difference is that it passes it through a "Map" before passing it along to the HID devices that are visible to Windows.