Author Topic: Joysticks  (Read 11393 times)

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Offline Athenor

  • 22
I love, absolutely love, my Sidewinder Precision pro... But, unfortunately, its "dead zone" is getting larger and larger, which sucks cuz as that plastic wears down, the ultra-sensitive optical sensor is still picking up those movements... thus meaning that barely tapping the joystick will throw it off-center. It's getting annoying.

One of these days I'll afford the latest generation of the big Saitek monstrosity... Almost owned it, but I didn't like the blue version (the new silver one fixes 99% of my complaints)..But yeah.. that one is something I'd have to save quite a while for.

 

Offline FireCrack

  • 210
  • meh...
still with my FF pro, best i've ever used.
actualy, mabye not.
"When ink and pen in hands of men Inscribe your form, bipedal P They draw an altar on which God has slaughtered all stability, no eyes could ever soak in all the places you anoint, and yet to see you all at once we only need the point. Flirting with infinity, your geometric progeny that fit inside you oh so tight with triangles that feel so right."
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944 59230781640628620899862803482534211706...
"Your ever-constant homily says flaw is discipline, the patron saint of imperfection frees us from our sin. And if our transcendental lift shall find a final floor, then Man will know the death of God where wonder was before."

 

Offline Herra Tohtori

  • The Academic
  • 211
  • Bad command or file name
Ahh, joysticks. What an interesting subject.

I used to have a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. It has a solid base, great grip, superior button layout and crappy electronics.

Seriously, it would have been a killer stick. But, Logitech apparently decided to go cheap on internal parts, which has caused quite many of these sticks starting to have anomalous behaviour after some time of use (varies). Mine was absolutely great during the first months. Then it started to lose calibration after a few minutes of play, the problem gradually worsening. The feel was gone, the deadzone grow fast and re-plugging it only helped a few minutes (at best). For example, y-axis lost some 80-90% of it's negative portion - so that even ven you pulled the stick back all the way, it only sent a 10-20% signal to comp, causing only very little pitching up. Additionally, the z-axis (handle rotation) usually also lost some 60-70% of its right portion in a similar way - causing the rudder only function properly on left side. It sucked. So, when the x-axis ALSO started having these symptoms I decided to get a new stick.

I bought a Saitek Cyborg Evo. It has a little less solid base, practically three less of useable buttons, good, but not so great grip, and superior feeling caused by primary quality electronics. Plus, the throttle control is awesome. The handle adjustments are of course handy, but practically the only one having any real meaning is the wrist rest adjustment that can be set for left-handed also. Though it has to be said that the mentioned wrist support should be a bit wider IMO; the edge of my palm would sit more comfortably on right where the edge of the support piece.

So, it doesn't sit into hand as well as Logitech, but as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't help much if the stick doesn't work properly. It's not much use if all you can do is to keep it in hand and admire its feel...  :rolleyes: The Saitek has been in use soon about 4 months, thus far I have had no problems whatsoever. The thing has been plugged onto my computer ever since; I have had no need to even re-plug (re-calibrate) the device. Installing it was easy. Very easy.

And, the lights are cool, too.

Anyway, I like using the joystick and mouse in conjunction, actually. Practically I use mouse for slow battle or accurate shots and joystick in more hectic dogfight.

Sometimes I grab the stick with left hand and take care of movement with it and aim more accurately with mouse simultaneously.  :nervous: Talk about weird preferences, eh?
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

  

Offline Mongusa

  • 23
Thrustmaster Afterburner. I like the separate stick and throttle. Saiktek X52 looks pretty cool too but I've never used one.

 
have the logitech extreme 3d pro.  works great.  haven't had any problems with it so far.  only thing about about logitechs is they don't remember deadzone settings at all in controll panel.  been eyeing the x52 and ch combatstick though, *drools*...

 

Offline bfobar

  • 28
Logitec extreme 3d pro thingy here as well. I find that it seems to lose calibration a lot but unplugging it and plugging it back in gets it back. I think it's dying. I used to have a microsoft sidwinder precision pro, but since they quit supporting the drivers for non-usb sticks I ditched it. I actually like the logitek layout a little better. If I had money burning holes in my pockets, I'd want to try one of those 200 dollar jobs with 2 sticks and 30 odd buttons that are heavy and have metal parts.

 

Offline Cobra

  • 212
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I used to have a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. It has a solid base, great grip, superior button layout and crappy electronics.

Seriously, it would have been a killer stick. But, Logitech apparently decided to go cheap on internal parts, which has caused quite many of these sticks starting to have anomalous behaviour after some time of use (varies). Mine was absolutely great during the first months. Then it started to lose calibration after a few minutes of play, the problem gradually worsening. The feel was gone, the deadzone grow fast and re-plugging it only helped a few minutes (at best). For example, y-axis lost some 80-90% of it's negative portion - so that even ven you pulled the stick back all the way, it only sent a 10-20% signal to comp, causing only very little pitching up. Additionally, the z-axis (handle rotation) usually also lost some 60-70% of its right portion in a similar way - causing the rudder only function properly on left side. It sucked. So, when the x-axis ALSO started having these symptoms I decided to get a new stick.

Same thing happened to me when i bought my first 3D Extreme Pro. Whenever I would start a game, the X-axis would be fine, but then after about 5 minutes of gameplay it would develope a massive deadzone on the positive X-axis. I would have to quit and then play the game again to correct it, over and over. Then I exchanged it as a faulty product and got a working model, but the negative X-Axis is more sensitive than the positive.
To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow. - Metrodorus of Chios
I wept. Mysterious forces beyond my ken had reached into my beautiful mission and energized its pilots with inhuman bomb-firing abilities. I could only imagine the GTVA warriors giving a mighty KIAAIIIIIII shout as they worked their triggers, their biceps bulging with sinew after years of Ivan Drago-esque steroid therapy and weight training. - General Battuta

 

Offline Shade

  • 211
An old pre-Tie Fighter CH Flightstick Pro. I swear this thing is indestructable, having survived my joystick habits through all these years of regular use. It's gone a little wobbly in the dead zone, but aside from that it's still in perfect working condition. It *is* due for replacement, I just can't get myself to give it up...
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Offline starfox

  • 28
Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital 3D, dying one, if I may add...
Used to be pretty good in handling general Joystickness, but for now it's spending some un-quality time at the very bottom of my "bottomless box"

*Dreams of buying HOTAS some day...*
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Using a Saitek Cyborg Evo Force since last year, seems to be holding up pretty well, nice to have force feedback at last.

Should see my through till i can afford an x-52  :)

 

Offline Cyker

  • 28
An old pre-Tie Fighter CH Flightstick Pro. I swear this thing is indestructable, having survived my joystick habits through all these years of regular use. It's gone a little wobbly in the dead zone, but aside from that it's still in perfect working condition. It *is* due for replacement, I just can't get myself to give it up...
Yeah, no kidding - Those sticks were built to last!!

I wish Thrustmaster hadn't gone so consumer; Their older sticks were excellent, not like the plasticky crap they mostly sell these days, Couger withstanding (But even that 500 ton gorilla is not very well made; My brother has had to repair is several times... and the damned thing kept crashing until we updated it's firmware!!!!)

 
upgraded to ch pro throttle and combatstick  :D

 
I have the old Saitek X36 throttle joystick combo.  I've had it 8+ years used it for WCP and the first time through with Freespace2. It still works very well and with the new programming software it has nearly unlimited setup flexibility. My only complaint is the stiffness of the rudder spring. The rudder control is a rocker type switch located on the back of the throttle but the spring is very tight. Fying a helicopter in Flight Simulator is almost impossible. The weight is not as much as the new X-45 or X-52. This one is usb and gameport compatable. Good luck in finding one though as they are pretty much obsolete.

 
I've got a Saitek X45.  The pinkie trigger is a bit awkward, and the rudder paddle on the throttle grip is hard to manipulate and I can never seem to get it calibrated properly (too much drift).
I've got my eyes set on a full set of CH products...stick, throttle, and pedals.  It's tough to justify the ~$350 for that whole package, though ;)

 

Offline Blue Lion

  • Star Shatterer
  • 210
Keyboard was good enough for Squadwar it's good enough still.......

I'm in an ever dwindling minority :(

 

Offline Nix

  • 28
  • In the morning!
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I STILL use my keyboard/mouse combo. The only thing that's changed has been the button mapping on my various mice.  It's gone from two extra functions, up to eight extra functions, down to six. 

 

Offline Jopi

  • 25
  • In the army now, TJ 163
I'm using Logitech wingman 3D with force feedback. 7 buttons is enough, but  the throttle looks like that in a few months it will be broken. It's nice, or it would be, if it were working. I don't know why, but Freespace just refuses to recognize it. I can calibrate it, but Freespace won't register any keypresses or anything. Does anyone know a reason for this? I'm using fs_open 3.6.7.

 

Offline Herra Tohtori

  • The Academic
  • 211
  • Bad command or file name
Have you bound the buttons/axis layouts to functions in F2 -> Control Config? Just to make it sure. This has sometimes been the reason to "controller malfunctions".
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

 

Offline Jopi

  • 25
  • In the army now, TJ 163
Have you bound the buttons/axis layouts to functions in F2 -> Control Config? Just to make it sure. This has sometimes been the reason to "controller malfunctions".

Yes, I'm not that n00b :D
I got it working now, though. I started Logitech Profiler software, then thought that it looks useless, and closed it. It said that no Logitech game controllers will function properly aftermore. Well, that was just when my joystick started working :D

 

Offline Herra Tohtori

  • The Academic
  • 211
  • Bad command or file name
That was the thing I would have suggested next.  :D

Though I've got a Logitech Force 3D Pro and if I remove the Profiler, I cannot set the force feedback strength and stuff through Windows' Control Panel. All the buttons and axis's work though. Which version of the profiler you had? You might want to try out the newest profiler version from Logitech site and see if that works. The newest version is 4.60, and they even got a separate version for Win XP 64bit users.

...I would say this in Finnish if it wasn't so unpolite. Oh whatever. ;)
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.