rec.autos.simulators

by **Jan Hoviu** » Fri, 28 May 1999 04:00:00

Hello,

I just read something about this digital gameport add-on card to solve
framerate problems caused by the standard PC gameport. Does anybody out
here has got any experience with this card? Would you like to share it
with me (and eventually this newsgroup)?

Currently I own a PII-350 w. 128Mb and a VooDooII-12MB add-on which should
be a guarantee to have some smoothness in GPL and MGPRS2 but especially in
the latter I experience a slow down in fram rates when cornering
(otherwise the game is very smooth) which makes it almost impossible to
corner. I really think it has to do with this "old" PC Gameport don't you?

Thanks,

Jan.

by **5th Docto** » Fri, 28 May 1999 04:00:00

I own this card. And yes it does wonders for controller precision input and
relieving the cpu of polling tasks. The drivers and utilities are somewhat
"idiosyncratic" and I actually had to return my L4 for replacement. When it
worked, it worked very well.

>Hello,

>I just read something about this digital gameport add-on card to solve
>framerate problems caused by the standard PC gameport. Does anybody out
>here has got any experience with this card? Would you like to share it
>with me (and eventually this newsgroup)?

>Currently I own a PII-350 w. 128Mb and a VooDooII-12MB add-on which should
>be a guarantee to have some smoothness in GPL and MGPRS2 but especially in
>the latter I experience a slow down in fram rates when cornering
>(otherwise the game is very smooth) which makes it almost impossible to
>corner. I really think it has to do with this "old" PC Gameport don't you?

>Thanks,

>Jan.

I can confirm what you are saying 5th Doctor. Since about 1 week I try
to install the L4. First I had to buy a new
soundcard. So keep in mind, if you have a cheap sound card with fixed
settings of game port resources, you
also have to buy a new one. I bought a SB Live value which runs fine
with the L4, but actually Im more happy
with the SB Live until now, than with the L4. Because the latest miracle
is that my controller will disappear, when
I switch of the PC. So every time I start the PC, I have to select and
calibrate the controller again.
I guess something went wrong with the Direct X drivers. Tonight I will
continue the research on this, still hoping
to use the L4 free of trouble finally. Does anyone has an idea how to
fix this problem???

Jo Lueg

5th Doctor schrieb:

> I own this card. And yes it does wonders for controller precision input and
> relieving the cpu of polling tasks. The drivers and utilities are somewhat
> "idiosyncratic" and I actually had to return my L4 for replacement. When it
> worked, it worked very well.

> >Hello,

> >I just read something about this digital gameport add-on card to solve
> >framerate problems caused by the standard PC gameport. Does anybody out
> >here has got any experience with this card? Would you like to share it
> >with me (and eventually this newsgroup)?

> >Currently I own a PII-350 w. 128Mb and a VooDooII-12MB add-on which should
> >be a guarantee to have some smoothness in GPL and MGPRS2 but especially in
> >the latter I experience a slow down in fram rates when cornering
> >(otherwise the game is very smooth) which makes it almost impossible to
> >corner. I really think it has to do with this "old" PC Gameport don't you?

> >Thanks,

> >Jan.

--
Neosid Pemetzrieder GmbH & Co. KG

Joachim Lueg-Althoff

by **Antony Bower** » Fri, 28 May 1999 04:00:00

My L4 did exactly this. I don't know how to fix it. However, the good news
is that after half-a-dozen reboots it stopped happening. So I no longer
have to recalibrate every time I switch on.

I hope the problem disappears for you too. It is only a minor niggle though,
the smoothness and precision is well worth the hassle of occasional recalibration.

Anton

--
Antony Bowers, Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, UK.
http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~bowers/

by **Bill Met** » Fri, 28 May 1999 04:00:00

Jan, In your case I doubt the PDPI would buy you much of an increase in
frame rate. It *will*, however, substantially improve your ability to
control the car in GPL and other sims. If you're looking for a framerate
increase, I would say that you should first upgrade to a modern PCI-based
sound card like the Diamond MX300 or the SB Live! Value. If you already
have a PCI-based sound card, consider upgrading your processor. The PDPI
is a great product, but buy it for increased control not for incresed
frame rates.
--
| "Instead of letting the moon be the
Bill Mette | gateway to our future, we have let
Enteract, Chicago | it become a brief chapter in our

by **John Bod** » Sat, 29 May 1999 04:00:00

Try this:

http://irlinsider.adnetweb.com/sims/pdpi/

Enjoy!

-- John Bodin
Publisher, The IRL Insider Magazine
http://irlinsider.adnetweb.com/

On Thu, 27 May 1999 12:51:28 +0200, Jan Hovius

>Hello,

>I just read something about this digital gameport add-on card to solve
>framerate problems caused by the standard PC gameport. Does anybody out
>here has got any experience with this card? Would you like to share it
>with me (and eventually this newsgroup)?

>Currently I own a PII-350 w. 128Mb and a VooDooII-12MB add-on which should
>be a guarantee to have some smoothness in GPL and MGPRS2 but especially in
>the latter I experience a slow down in fram rates when cornering
>(otherwise the game is very smooth) which makes it almost impossible to
>corner. I really think it has to do with this "old" PC Gameport don't you?

>Thanks,

>Jan.

Your comment give me some relief Antony, because the same happpend to my
problem yesterday. Usually I dont like it when problems just disappear
without knowing why?? Still I guess it might have to do with DirectX
drivers. Funny that the Monster VDII control pannel disappeared at the
same time when the problem was active. Now since the controller does not
disappear any more, also the control pannel is back again.
PCs are full of secrets :-))

Jo Lueg

by **Ruud van Ga** » Sat, 29 May 1999 04:00:00

>> ... the latest miracle
>> is that my controller will disappear, when
>> I switch of the PC. So every time I start the PC, I have to select and
>> calibrate the controller again.
>> I guess something went wrong with the Direct X drivers. Tonight I will
>> continue the research on this, still hoping
>> to use the L4 free of trouble finally. Does anyone has an idea how to
>> fix this problem???

>My L4 did exactly this. I don't know how to fix it. However, the good news
>is that after half-a-dozen reboots it stopped happening. So I no longer
>have to recalibrate every time I switch on.

Mine did this too!
And also it disappeared after another couple of Shutdowns after
removing the obsolete gameport driver (which reappears automatically,
thanks to Plug & Play). Follow the instructions carefully.
It (the controller in the Game Controllers section) also disappeared
at reboots, requiring a reselect of the PDPL Gameport Driver and
adding the T2 Wheel I have here. But now after some attempted removes
of the SB16 gameport driver it keeps working after I reboot.
Don't know about power-offs; I almost never do that.

Other than that, I had enormously more fun with the L4, also since I
cleaned the pots of the T2; it is rock solid. Note however that the L4
won't do FF (as this mostly needs a MIDI joystick port); and things
like the MS FF wheel doesn't work since it is optical and uses its own
driver.

Last note: the SB16 seems to have quite a worse gameport than the SB
Live, which at itself seems to improve sensitivity by a large margin.

Ruud van Gaal
MarketGraph / MachTech: http://www.marketgraph.nl
Art: http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery

by **Ruud van Ga** » Sat, 29 May 1999 04:00:00

On Thu, 27 May 1999 12:51:28 +0200, Jan Hovius

>Hello,

>I just read something about this digital gameport add-on card to solve
>framerate problems caused by the standard PC gameport. Does anybody out
>here has got any experience with this card? Would you like to share it
>with me (and eventually this newsgroup)?

Oh by the way, I use a PII-450 and Voodoo1 (!), so it is quite nice
but V3 would be a lot nicer; still, it seems the L4 does some good to
the framerate (better consistency perhaps). That's because it does the
pot polling in hardware (it samples all the time) and just delivers
numbers to the PC, so no waiting for loading pots.
Although ofcourse the newer digital wheels don't need busy polling
either anymore.

Ruud van Gaal
MarketGraph / MachTech: http://www.marketgraph.nl
Art: http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery

by **Sam A. Mancus** » Sun, 30 May 1999 04:00:00

I have a full review posted at The Control Center.

--
Sam Mancuso

Visit The Control Center for the latest PC Game Controller News, Reviews
and Information!

> I own this card. And yes it does wonders for controller precision input
and
> relieving the cpu of polling tasks. The drivers and utilities are
somewhat
> "idiosyncratic" and I actually had to return my L4 for replacement. When
it
> worked, it worked very well.

> >Hello,

> >I just read something about this digital gameport add-on card to solve
> >framerate problems caused by the standard PC gameport. Does anybody out
> >here has got any experience with this card? Would you like to share it
> >with me (and eventually this newsgroup)?

> >Currently I own a PII-350 w. 128Mb and a VooDooII-12MB add-on which
should
> >be a guarantee to have some smoothness in GPL and MGPRS2 but especially
in
> >the latter I experience a slow down in fram rates when cornering
> >(otherwise the game is very smooth) which makes it almost impossible to
> >corner. I really think it has to do with this "old" PC Gameport don't
you?

> >Thanks,

> >Jan.

by **Gadget?** » Tue, 01 Jun 1999 04:00:00

Lueg-Althoff, Neosid Pemetzrieder GmbH & Co. KG) dribbled the
following:

Sounds a bit like my modem connected to the USB > Serial converter.
W98 reconises it and install the correct modem driver but it has done
this 4 times now. I have 4 modem drivers with the same name in Device
manager. It has since stopped detecting my modem as another new
device.

--
Gadget???.
http://www.i-r-gadget.freeserve.co.uk
UIN 862812
Please remove the "NOWT" from email if replying.
soz bout tha speeling.

rec.autos.simulators

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request