Sidewinder force feedback joystick windows 7

Answered by:. Archived Forums. Windows 7 Hardware Compatibility. Sign in to vote. This is disgraceful. I will certainly not be buying another Microsoft Joystick i can tell youm this is absurd, Surely Mr Microsoft can make the gameport and joystick work in it's own operating system.

Damn, even Linux Ubuntu found it ok!! Sunday, October 3, PM. C'mon, hardware does become obsolete. I am surprised it lasted this long.

Anyway, you can try installing the controller software in compatibility mode as a long shot How to install software in compatibility mode.

Tuesday, October 5, PM. You will not get any help with this. The Sidewinder joysticks reached an End Of Life back in This item is no longer supported. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Regards Syed Asad Bukhari. In addition it had two additional dials on the base for adjustment of the stick itself, one above stick and the other to the right of the stick.

It used a gameport connector to interface with the computer. Microsoft introduced the SideWinder Precision Pro in , correcting the ergonomic issues, fixing some of the electrical issues, and adding new features.

The Precision Pro introduced a new stick that was far more ergonomic than the 'geometric' design of the 3D Pro. Microsoft also gave the rest of the Precision Pro a more rounded design, replacing the rectangular base buttons with more rounded versions at the top of the base, the slider-based throttle with a wheel-based throttle, and the base itself was made more rounded. The Precision Pro also added a shift button to the base, doubling the number of possible button combinations.

Signatures can be seen inside the joystick, on the base coverplate. Fred Iyc and Edie Adams [10] are among the 17 people who have signed it. For its electronics, the Precision Pro featured a refined hybrid system, resolving some of the hardware compatibility issues with the 3D Pro. However, with the widespread introduction of USB in consumer computers shortly after the Precision Pro was released, Microsoft soon re-released the joystick in a USB-compatible form joysticks labeled as Part No.

X, Product I. The revised joystick still featured a gameport connector but had additional circuitry for interfacing with USB, and was bundled with a USB converter a DIY converter project exists. Original Precision Pros remain incompatible with this converter, [11] but a user made converter exists. However, due to a flaw in the design of the Precision Pro, in rare cases the stick would build up a static charge in its electronics and require either a complex process to discharge that was not always successful, or simply needed to stay unpowered for a number of hours to slowly discharge on its own.

The only moving parts were mechanical on the throttle and joystick pivots which gave this joystick virtually unlimited lifetime. The Precision Pro 2 had reintroduced potentiometers to save money and thus their lifetime was limited to wear and tear of the potentiometers. Thanks to the timing of the launch of the Precision Pro to coincide with the widespread launch of USB along the ergonomic corrections and rarity of the static charge problem, the Precision Pro saw a much higher sales volume and review scores than the earlier 3D Pro.

Built on the design of the Precision Pro, the Force Feedback Pro differed only in the inclusion of motors for the force feedback effects, and the lack of USB compatibility. A DIY converter project exists. Due to the inclusion of the motors, the Force Feedback Pro was significantly larger and heavier than the Precision Pro, making it easy to differentiate between the two. As the PC joystick port is input-only, the only way for data to be sent to the joystick to trigger force feedback events is to use the MIDI capabilities of the port.

This means that force feedback would be unavailable on the earliest of PCs, where the gameports lack MIDI functionality. The basis of Microsoft's last generation of SideWinder joysticks, the Precision 2 design was a further refinement of the previous Precision Pro.

Compared to the Precision Pro, the Precision 2 dropped the Pro's shift button, replaced the throttle wheel with a more traditional lever, and rearranged the face buttons on the stick into a symmetric design. The Precision 2 also dropped all gameport compatibility by only shipping in a USB version, and was slightly smaller and lighter than the Pro.

Compared to the Force Feedback Pro and the Precision 2, nothing new was added to the Force Feedback 2 that wasn't added to the Precision 2, in fact the shift button was taken away. The overall size and weight difference was not so great with the use of smaller motors. This joystick came in two varieties: one version with a silver trigger, and an updated version with a translucent red trigger.

One of the main ideas in the Force Feedback 2 was the removal of the power brick. Since the release of the Force Feedback 2, the stick has garnered a reputation of reliability and resiliency, many Force Feedback 2 sticks are still in use currently. Using the Precision 2 design once again, Microsoft introduced a value-oriented SideWinder joystick, simply called the SideWinder Joystick.

In spite of its value designation, the SideWinder Joystick was functionally similar to the Precision 2. The main features dropped were Z-axis control and the 8-way hat switch. Otherwise the differences were cosmetic, including shrinking the base, moving the throttle to the front of the base, and replacing 2 of the rounded buttons on the stick with more rectangular buttons.

Support for this joystick was dropped with the advent of Windows XP. It was the first wheel controller to contain force feedback. It features a total of 6 programmable command buttons, 2 zoom buttons, 3 shift buttons, a macro record button and a 3-point configuration switch.

The device also has three movement axes; X, Y and Z rotation. Through extensive configuration of the shift and command buttons, it is possible to create a total of 24 different commands per configuration. The Strategic Commander is a highly ergonomic device, and resembles a large mouse in shape, contoured for the left hand. It has an upper section attached to a base. On the upper section, the programmable buttons mentioned above are located near the tips of the index, middle and ring fingers for quick access.

Three buttons are located near the thumb in an arc. A feature of the device is that the upper section is also a 2-axis motion controller with additional support for rotation.

This made it an ideal companion for FPS and similar games; because you can aim weapons or look up and down with the right hand while simultaneously slewing position with the left hand, and change weapons etc. Software was included for the device to provide hotkeys for a number of then popular games. The buttons are also programmable, allowing the device to be used with other games and applications.

For example, one application developed at Carnegie Mellon used the device as a peripheral for navigating massive social network maps.

Linux treats this device as a joystick with all 3 axis and 12 plus 3 buttons and can be used as one or using various applets can be used as a 'joystick action to key press' device e. The Game Voice is an early voice chat device. It was shaped like a hockey puck, with four channel buttons that allowed the user to speak to individual teammates. It could also be set to communicate with the entire team, or globally to all players.

The driver software also allowed it to function as a voice command device using programmable macros. The headset, along with the system speakers, plugged into the puck, where a switch could be used to set whether sound would be output from the speakers or the headset. The puck also had its own volume control. To provide power for the puck LEDs and drive the voice command and channel functions, a USB connection was also required. Microsoft discontinued the product in By then, the market for voice chat had seen intense competition from downloadable and free-to-use software like Ventrilo and TeamSpeak, among others.

These software packages only charge the host or server, whereas each person would have to own a Game Voice in order to use the hardware and software. As a result, the Game Voice ultimately lost that market. However, these competing software packages do not offer voice command systems. Microsoft has not released the hardware specifications so that an open source driver could be developed. The Freestyle Pro, released in , was a unique gamepad, as the up-down-left-right directions in analogue mode were controlled by the physical movement of the controller, more precisely by the absolute pitch and roll position of the pad.

Games such as Motocross Madness which was bundled with and designed for the controller profited from this physical interaction. The left side of the controller features an eight-direction d-pad which function varies depending on which mode the controller is on.

The control pad had a total of ten digital fire buttons: six buttons controlled with the right thumb named ABC XYZ , two shoulder buttons one left, one right , and two buttons controlled with the left thumb, one named start , the other marked with a shift key symbol as the SideWinder software allowed to use this button to shift controls for the ABC XYZ buttons - on the driver side, it was just an action button like the others.

In analogue mode, the x- and y-axis were controlled by the analogue controller movements, and the D-pad was used as a hat switch. In digital mode, the D-pad controlled the x- and y-axis like a traditional digital control pad therefore, there was no hat switch function in digital mode.

Without the adapter, the controller's cable ended in a game port plug. The sale box contained the game port-to-USB adapter for free. The Dual Strike, which debuted in , was Microsoft's second notable venture into strange gamepad designs, following the Freestyle Pro.

The Dual Strike attempted to blend both mouse and gamepad functions into a single unit. It was composed of two portions; there is a hinge between the two that allows you to rotate the right side up and down and from side to side.

Circa Serial no. In , following a collaboration with Razer in creating the Microsoft Habu and Microsoft Reclusa, a gaming mouse and gaming keyboard sold under the plain Microsoft Hardware brand, Microsoft resurrected the SideWinder brand with an all-new SideWinder Mouse, designed from the ground up for high-end PC gaming.

The design incorporated a number of advanced features including adjustable weights, programmable macro mode, on- the- fly DPI change, and a built-in LCD display, the first ever found in a mouse. It features up to 30 programmable macro keys, volume control, media control, a detachable numpad and backlighting.

Along with this keyboard a new mouse was released dubbed the SideWinder X5. The X5 has a more basic function set than its predecessor but was well received because of its lower price. Its shape is the same as the original but without the LCD, weight adjusting and metal side buttons. It also comes with a complete black design with red 'LED Jets' on the back to make it stand out from the original and better fit the X6 keyboard.

This new iteration incorporated new Microsoft BlueTrack tracking technology, intended to provide better tracking on non-standard surfaces. In addition, the mouse was made wireless, and the maximum DPI sensitivity was upped to In March , Microsoft released a second gaming keyboard, the Sidewinder X4. In comparison with the earlier X6, anti-ghosting technology was added. However, the detachable numpad was removed, and a numpad was instead attached permanently to the keyboard.

As of October , Microsoft no longer offers any gaming mice or keyboards in the US. This page describes the basics of programming for Xbox One racing wheels using Windows. Centre joystick and the aircraft yoke remains at full right deflection. So the sim is not positioning the aircraft yoke in response to joystick position, although the controller config screen confirms that FS is seeing precisely where the joystick position is. I found a solution. Logitech Extreme 3D Pro stick. My MSSFF2 is working just fine, nice feeling on the controlls, but everything needs to be mapped in the controls setup, before it works.

No Force Feedback yet. I did need to assign the controls. Force feedback does NOT work, however. It s works fine for me…with MSFS…. Self-Service Peripherals. Can someone help me? Having the same issue! Not to mention that the program is so slow.