[the_dark_light]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about replacing my trusty Top Gun Afterburner with a Cougar controller (I have the resistance turned up to full and it still feels too slack and the non slip coating on the stick is already wearing off)

As I understand, the joystick doesn't twist like the top gun so I would need to connect a set of rudder pedals using the gameport on the Cougar (Freespace only recognises 1 set of controls?)

I've done some searching and I can only find USB pedals, can anyone advise on places to find gameport based rudders?

[TESLA]

Im sorry, I cannot help you. I know you are still waiting for a response (usually it is very quick for here, the lads and ladies on HLP are smart, intelligent and funny people ) give them time! Its the weekend.
Im sure you will get an answer by Monday 

[JGZinv]

Gameport got phased out many years ago, that's why you'll only find USB.

I'd suggest looking on eBay, that'd be about your only hope.
Otherwise you'll just about have to build your own pedals (look up
flight sim communities like for MS Flight Simulator) and DIY.

[Dilmah G]

Or buy a Saitek Cyborg Evo, problem solved.

[the_dark_light]

Thanks for the suggestions

I've just looked up the Cyborg Evo and it there's no throttle control.  I've seen that the X52 has a seperate throttle, do you know if this is a good controller?

[Dilmah G]

There's a throttle control. I own a Cyborg Evo. X52's good by the way.

[the_dark_light]

Is the throttle in the Evo seperate unit (Such as in the X52, Cougar and top gun afterburner) or integrated in to the stick?

[chief1983]

What you're referring to is commonly known as HOTAS.  Most of the parties here who can help you should know what that is anyway.  The X52 is good, but the X45 is the older, and cheaper version of it (still USB).  I prefer it for the rocker rudder on the throttle instead of a twist stick.  The Evo I believe has a throttle wheel on the stick somewhere.  I can't say for certain though, I can't even make out what the throttle should be in the pictures of it.  The Cyborg 3d Rumble, a slightly older stick, has a throttle wheel on the base, so I imagine the newer Evo does.

I use either a Sidewinder Precision Pro or a X45 myself.  I'd use a Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro but I no longer have gameport, although the 3dp-vert adapter supposedly lets a few old MS joysticks work with USB.

[Mongoose]

The Evo's throttle is the curved piece at the very rear of the base.  It's flush against the base at its minimum, and it rotates up to about 90 degrees at its maximum.

[voidSkipper]

I've found it's not ideal for anything other than patrols.

And even then there's the match speed button.

That said, the evo cyborg is a great stick. Maybe a bit weak on the force feedback, but still quite enjoyable.

[Dilmah G]

Hell my Evo doesn't even have FF I found it easier to map the match speed function to one of the joystick buttons, so when I need to take control or I want to try something fancy in a dogfight I'm not put off it by the time it takes to stretch my fingers to the auto-match speed keys.

[Mongoose]

I find it even easier to ignore the presence of the match speed function and exercise complete fine control over my ship's speed via using the throttle.

[chief1983]

I find it even easier to ignore the presence of the match speed function and exercise complete fine control over my ship's speed via using the throttle.

Seconded.  I tend to turn Match Speed off when playing with a throttle.  It does have its uses though, keeps you in line with a convoy during a boring stretch.

[iadesdragon]

I've done some searching and I can only find USB pedals, can anyone advise on places to find gameport based rudders?

Still looking for those? I would have some barely used Thrustmaster Pedals at hand that ar no good for my iMAC...

[Dilmah G]

If he doesn't want 'em, I wouldn't mind them. 

[Nuke]

i just use ch usb pedals. i know the cougar has some pretty badass software but im not sure if it supports combining with 3rd party controllers. best bet is to try to get a set of old skool ch pedals off of ebay. they last forever so you could probibly score a good set. im not sure but i think the cougar comes with a 15 pin gameport solely for the purpose of connecting rudder pedals. of course that was some time ago. on the bright side you can now get 64 bit versions of ppjoy, so you can combine axes and probibly use keystroke programming for the fs commands. thats the way my ch is programmed so i dont have to do any control config in fs accept assigning a few axes.

[iadesdragon]

Jep, whoever wants them, PM me...

But beware! I`m located in Germany so shipping might be the deal...

[Nuke]

i bet you could mod some usb pedals, simply disconnect the pot from the usb controller board and use the center pin of the pot for the signal, attach one end to ground and one end to the +5v supply. you can get port pinout info here. i think use the x axis for the signal pin. if i remember correctly the cougar really doesnt make any use of the toe breaks at all.

[iadesdragon]

Yep, absolutly

You can also build some quit easily, you only need a 20kOhms Pot and a 15pin sub-d connector

Google for the pinout of the game port. Mechanics however is a bit more of a deal...