rec.autos.simulators

I'll make this short and hopefully easy-to-understand:

1) Got 3 Microsoft peripherals (Gamepad, FF Joystick, FF Wheel).

2) Got tired to crawling underneath to switch them around all the time.

3) Bought a 3-way game cable. Didn't work.

4) Bought a Radio Shack 3 way game switchbox. Didn't work.

The "didn't work" bit means that if I had more than 1 device plugged into
either the cable or the switchbox (regardless of the switchbox setting), the
Joystick control panel would always say "MS Gamepad" (even if it was the
joystick and wheel plugged in).

Even if I removed the Gamepad setting from the control panel and added the
other two, it would automatically switch back to Gamepad.

Either there's some Joystick control panel setting I don't understand, or MS
devices can't be plugged in more than one at a time. I mean, they wouldn't
make these cables or switchboxes if they didn't work for anyone, would they?

Please help!

Thanks!
Greg

Was this an electronic switchbox or a mechanical one?  I've had success with
mechanical switchboxes.  I believe that the electronic ones, which are supposed
to somehow automatically sense which controller you want to use, don't work very
well.

I've used a 4-way mechanical switchbox for some time.  TSW wheel -- MS Gamepad
-- various joysticks -- MIDI keyboard.  It worked fine.  Just remember that, in
addition to throwing the switch on the box, you still have to change the
controller on ID #1 on Windows Control Panel.

BTW -- my mechanical switch box was bought at a local computer swap show.  I've
never seen one in a mainstream store.

Hope this helps.

  yes, I use a box called joyswitch.  I can have two different pedals and 4
joysticks connected.  But I still have to go into the control panel section
and remove the unactive one so I can enable another choice.
  I flip the switch to whatever combo I want, then enter the 'game
controller' control panel and remove my old choice and add a new one.  This
works very well for sticks and wheels that use the soundcard's joyport, but
won't do a thing for users who have USB equipment.
(I have some of both, and can remove the usb wheel if I want to use the
sidewinder joystick)
dave henrie

I have used several switches in the past, and they worked for
some equipment and not others. The gameport MS FF Wheel
might be a particular problem. Even a particular switch that promised
MIDI support didn't seem to work with it. If you have other wheels
or can convince a friend with another controller to help you test,
you might be able to determine if the wheel is just too picky for the
switch.

Other problems I've had is hooking too many controllers to
one port on the switch (say a throttle, stick and rudder pedals
on one port, with driving gear on another.)
In this case, the power requirements for all of them might be too much
for the gameport to supply through the switch. I was able in one case
to split some of them off onto other ports of the switch which seemed
to work more reliably.

If Windows DirectX doesn't agree with the type of equipment plugged
in, then you pronbably aren't getting adequate signal from some of the
analog axes. Perhaps you are only getting enough to make it match the
profile of the gamepad...

- Matt

I've been using a joyswitch setup for several years with no problems.  It's
currently setup with a MS gamepad, CH Combatstick, Suncom Talon and SFS
Throttle, and a TM Gran Prix 1 wheel all working through a set of CH pedals.

The trick is to change the drivers when you switch the hardware.  I found
the CH Quickjoy program a blessing.  I load it at start up so it's always
running in my task bar.  When I change controllers through the joyswitch, I
left click the icon on the taskbar and change the drivers.  You can even
access the Windows joystick control panel for testing and calibrating each
controller.

I also use 3 MS devices: MSFF Wheel, game pad, and a Sidewinder Precision
Pro stick.

They are connected to my computer as follows:

Stick is plugged into the USB port
Game pad is plugged into the game port
Wheel is plugged into the game pad pass through plug

I use CH Products QuickJoy program to switch devices.

To use the wheel, you must first deactivate the game pad by pressing the
mode button on the pad.

This setup has worked great for a couple years.

Bill G.

The MS FF stuff uses the Midi signals on the Joystick port (for
the FF effects), and they are digital devices.

Could that be why it won't work?

A guess, I assure you:)

-Larry

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