[ephesus]

So I have a MS Sidewinder Precision Pro with a Belkin game port to USB adaptor and am running Windows 7.

MS Sindewinder Precision Pro
Windows wont recognize the device. MANY people have this problem and I have searched a LOT and NOBODY seems to have an solution...
(Searched the boards, couldn't find any help)

I figured I would try here as a last ditch effort because I feel that people here must have run into this problem and if anyone has solved it there's a good chance it's a Freespace player

Basically what others have said and what I have tried:
-Windows recognizes it as an unknown device
-No drivers at all for this thing for years, MS says they no longer plan on supporting this device (Since Win 2000 I believe, still worked for some people on XP. Even though it's THEIR product, and a very popular one at that.)
-Cannot manually add devices in windows 7 (Older Windows some people went to CP, add game controllers, add sidewinder pro or something like that.)
-Belkin doesn't support the adapter, have it listed on even their discontinued products page, and dont know what your talking about when you call.)

Anyone have any suggestions? I'll take vista advice too, since usually fixes are the same...

[Fury]

I used to have MS Sidewinder Precision Pro USB version. Which really was the gameport version that came bundled with USB adapter. The stick worked fine in Vista x64 and Win7 x64. The problem is the adapter itself, it would appear that the Belkin adapter doesn't work properly while the one that MS bundled with the stick does. I threw the joystick away not too long ago along with its adapter.

And this topic belongs to gaming discussion board.

[JGZinv]

All the gameport Sidewinders were like this... and the adapter issue is notorious.
Unless you can find someone to chop one up to give you a wiring schematic, no third party
adapter is going to work.

[ephesus]

Are drivers something that are not easily programmed? I feel like someone would have made an unofficial driver by now. Is there some reason this isn't possible? You can find fixes for nearly everything somewhere. I'm not too experienced in how this all works exactly, but it just doesn't seem like it could be such a complex issue...

Oh well, back to the mouse until I buy a new joystick...

Thanks for the advice. Any recommendations on an inexpensive joystick that is still quality? I'm not die-hard and am basically looking for the cheapest that I'll still be happy with.

...Would it be worth trying to install an old XP driver and seeing if that worked or would that just be a waste of time?

[Nuke]

i have a 3d pro plus, and i was looking at maybe interfacing it with an arduino. seems to transmit all its data on the 4 button wires. i think it transmits as a 3 bit paralel interface with the 4th line being a clock signal. i have already written a serial interface app for ppjoy to get joystick data into the computer. all i really got to do is figure out how to interface the stick with the arduino.

there are 2 versions of the stick, one has a built in usb mode which only requires a dumb dongle to connect to the computer, the other version has no internal usb support.

some info here:

some info about how to connect the stick with the usb built in
http://www.descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?t=14791

plans and code for a diy adapter for the one that doesnt
http://code.google.com/p/sw3dprousb/


as for drivers all modern sticks usually use a generic hid class, to simplify (or eliminate) the driver creation process. i wouldnt install the xp drivers because in all likelyhood they are just drivers to allow the gameport hardware to decode the signal, usb mode doesnt need this.

[Davros]

you should be able to use the stick without the belkin
you just wont be able to use the profiler to program it

[Nuke]

**** the profiler, it sucked anyway
no the only time you really need a profiler is when you have a megaload of buttons to deal with, like when youre using a hotas. in case of the precision pro, i usually prefer to have the shift act as its own button.

[Adept]

Somebody posted a wiring solution on the Allegiance forums for these sticks.

Personally I just tried out modern sticks until I found what I wanted. Ended up going with Logitech Force 3D pro.

[ephesus]

I use the Belkin to as a gameport to usb converter since my laptop has no game port, and I'm noob when it comes to half the stuff you guys are talking about. if its a simple matter of resoldering I can probably handle it fine, beyond that, it would have to be a very clear guide. Thanks for all the help though, I'll see if I can find that rewiring fix, otherwise I think I might just have to give up on this JS and buy a new one...

[Adept]

I can try to find the re-wiring fix from the www.freeallegiance.org forums for you. If it doens't work, I really recommend the Logitech. Excellent value for money.

[Nuke]

i think that adept be banned from the forum for recommending a logitech joystick.

it may just be cheaper and easier to try to score one of the (relatively) newer versions of that stick (such as the precision pro 2). thrift stores and garage sales are your friend. i think some of the higher end joysticks are blatant ripoffs though. im sure if you connect any other old school gameport joystick to that belkin adapter it would probibly work. some of the joysticks you pay $200-$300 for really is just $10 bucks worth of sensors and buttons hooked up to a $5 microcontroller with little if any additional electronics. with joysticks i see lots of price hikes with very little innovation going on.

[Davros]

there are some very cheap sticks out there
this is £10 or $14
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001HBCV9E/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0000AW9RQ&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0GWC54NE0HXM48GPVBX0