rec.autos.simulators

Hi there,

has anyone succeeded in running the Screamer2 3Dfx patch TOGETHER with
the
Thrustmaster T2?  If I have joystick controls defined in the setup, I
don't get past
the intro since neither a key stroke or a joystick move has any effect.
If I put keyboard
controls in the setup, it works fine (what a difference that 3Dfx
makes!) with the keys,
but I want to use my T2!  :(
If anyone gets this working, is it possible to post the CONTROLS.CFG
file from the
S2/CONTROLS/ directory? I think that could maybe solve the problem.

Thanx,
Filip Humble

Yo Flip,

Just a quick question, where did you get the Screamer 2 3Dfx patch
from ???

Cheers

Mark

Hmmm, I have a GP1 and it works great no problems with the 3DFX patch!
I also ran it from DOS with no problems so I guess it's not DirectX :)
Are you using the converter?

Ok. This is a bit tricky.....

The problem is caused by some sort of mis calibration leakage, ie the
joystick does not calibrate properly and therefore no controls work.

What you have to do is setup the controls in the screamer rally demo (in my
case, in German) then copy the control.cfg and setup.dat files from the
screamer rally/config directory into the screamer2/config directory.

After that it works fine....

If you haven't got the Screamer Rally demo I could send the files, but you
would propbably not get any sound unless you have sb16 irq5 dma 1.

Olly

That's exactly how I solved a similar problem with the original Screamer2:
someonesent me the files, and then I could still make all necessary changes in
the setup as long
as I didn't change the key/joystick definition. I was not the only one
suffering from this
problem, and the control.cfg file appeared on some S2 sites so that everybody
could
download them.

So it would be a great help if you could send or post these 2 files 'cause I
don't have
Screamer rally, I got the patch from the net. (I even have the same sb
configuration so I don't have to change anything!)

To Mark: this 3Dfx patch is either on the Screamer rally CD, either on the net:
go to
http://op3dfx.com. It's only 1 Meg so no downloading problems.

% Ok. This is a bit tricky.....

% The problem is caused by some sort of mis calibration leakage, ie the
% joystick does not calibrate properly and therefore no controls work.

If this is being caused by Win95's whimpy reading of the joystick/T2,
try using Thrustmaster's ProPanel applet instead.  It does a much better
job of reading the joystick during calibration and can solve problems
like this.

You can get it at:
ftp://208.129.210.78/pub/library/propanel.exe

% What you have to do is setup the controls in the screamer rally demo (in my
% case, in German) then copy the control.cfg and setup.dat files from the
% screamer rally/config directory into the screamer2/config directory.

% After that it works fine....

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Could someone please post these 2 files? I don't have the Screamer Rally demo,
maybe it will even give the same problem, so those 2 files from a working version

could solve a lot for us unlucky guys.
Thanx,
Filip Humble

Maybe I'll wait for V-Rally (Win95) with DirectInput support
instead, its controller support is probably much better.

Joe

Just goes to show how flaky the controller support in MS-DOS games is,
and I can't really blame the game developers either, because the way
these MS-DOS controllers, yes, even your $400 steering wheels and
pedals, utilize your PC/gameport, is quite brain dead. MS-DOS games
programmers have been complaining about it forever. That's why you had
to buy all those silly "speed compensating game cards" to begin with,
because the joystick input changes with machine speed. Not so with
DirectInput with decent digital controllers, even using that very
same gameport on your sound card.

Problems than can be fixed by putting the setup.dat and s.exe files
from rally into the Screamer2 directory. I didn't need to do that, the
patch worked first time, but for all other people I've read about with
problem the above files fixed any controller problems.

Ancient history. Nascar2 has flawless controller support.

Sorry, the fact which you have not contradicted in any way is that
Win95 controller support is much worse. Sure there are a few bad DOS
games with lousy controller support, that's the price you pay for
having controller support in the application rather than the OS. But
at leastsolid, reliable controller support is *possible* in DOS,
unlike Windows where the game developers can do nothing about the
inept DirectInput code.

So again, your argument is not that Win95 has superior device input
code, but that everyone should through away all their old peripherals
(which worked fine in DOS) and buy new, ditigal ones. Hard to see that
as an improvement, even if digital wheels/pedals *were* available,
which they're not.

Joe

% >If this is being caused by Win95's whimpy reading of the joystick/T2,
% >try using Thrustmaster's ProPanel applet instead.  It does a much

% I thought they were talking about Screamer 2 3Dfx / Screamer Rally,
% which are MS-DOS games. I don't see how it is Win95's problem if
% another (again) MS-DOS game has controller problems even when running
% in pure MS-DOS.

Yeh, but way too many people insist on running DOS games through Win95.
Go figure....  And when they do, you can run into problems with how
Win95 reads the gameport.

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I use a T2 w/ screamer 2 3dfx, works fine w/ no mods.
I did find it worked much better in dos only mode though...

--
           fred louderman
                         >>>>>>>>>>>

www.3dfxmania.com or www.op3dfx.com

Matt