rec.autos.simulators

I recently installed a Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro wheel. Everything went well
for a couple of days playing GP2, when suddenly the wheel would not turn
right ie. in the game, not physically.

I powered the PC off, restarted and checked the ProPanel. It said the wheel
was "Unplugged"... Checked that the cable was properly plugged into the
AWE64 game port, the pedal was switched to "separate", and the wheel cable
connection. Powered the PC down, up again... No go... I opened up the PC,
removed the sound card, put it in another slot.. No go...

Opened up Control Panel, checked Device Manager, and it said the Creative
Gameport Joystick was working properly. Driver date 24/3/97, resources
0200-0207.

Checked the Control Panel applet Game Controllers and it said that
"Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro w/separate pedals" was not connected on Controller
ID 1. Whilst I turned on this dialog the "Status" column toggled between
"Not Connected" and "OK" depending on the position of the wheel... I could
repeat this using the Thrustmaster ProPanel...

Ran the ThustMaster Game Device Viewer. It said that I had a joystick
connected on Controller ID 1, but it was "Unplugged"... The Joystick X/Y on
the Axis Inputs was stuck on the bottom right hand corner. Even though it
said it was "Unplugged", I still registered that the four buttons ie. two
on the steering wheel, and gear lever were working... When I turned the
wheel it registered some movement, but basically stuck to the bottom right
hand side of the box...

Has anybody got any idea what's going on here... The main questions are.

1. Is it a problem with the wheel?
2. Is it a problem with the cable?
3. Is it a problem with the AWE64 game port?
4. Is it software related ie. drivers?
5. Do I need to buy a Thrustmaster ACM card?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Regards,
Les.

PS. My config is basically...
- DirectX 5.0
- Windows 95b OEM 2
- AWE64 PnP
- Pentium 200mhz MMX

% I recently installed a Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro wheel. Everything went well
% for a couple of days playing GP2, when suddenly the wheel would not turn
% right ie. in the game, not physically.

Do you still have this trouble if you run GP2 in a pure DOS environment?
If so we have a problem in Win95.  If not then I would suspect a problem
with the steering pot on the NASCAR Pro Wheel.

Try running Thrustmaster's TMScope program in pure DOS.  If it can't
detect proper movement of the steering wheel and pedals, I would suspect
a problem with unit.  However, if everything looks right, we need to
figure out the problem in Win95.  

<snip>
% Opened up Control Panel, checked Device Manager, and it said the Creative
% Gameport Joystick was working properly. Driver date 24/3/97, resources
% 0200-0207.

Can you set the properties of the the game port to just 201-201?  You
might want to give this a try.

% Checked the Control Panel applet Game Controllers and it said that
% "Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro w/separate pedals" was not connected on Controller
% ID 1. Whilst I turned on this dialog the "Status" column toggled between
% "Not Connected" and "OK" depending on the position of the wheel... I could
% repeat this using the Thrustmaster ProPanel...

This is what makes me suspect the NASCAR Pro as have either a short
(wires for the buttons shorthing out when turning the wheel?) or a bad
steering pot.

% Ran the ThustMaster Game Device Viewer. It said that I had a joystick
% connected on Controller ID 1, but it was "Unplugged"... The Joystick X/Y on
% the Axis Inputs was stuck on the bottom right hand corner. Even though it
% said it was "Unplugged", I still registered that the four buttons ie. two
% on the steering wheel, and gear lever were working... When I turned the
% wheel it registered some movement, but basically stuck to the bottom right
% hand side of the box...

% Has anybody got any idea what's going on here... The main questions are.

% 1. Is it a problem with the wheel?
% 2. Is it a problem with the cable?
% 3. Is it a problem with the AWE64 game port?
% 4. Is it software related ie. drivers?
% 5. Do I need to buy a Thrustmaster ACM card?

% Any help or advice would be appreciated.

After you have isolated the problem to the unit or Win95, I would give
Thrustmaster a call.  They have excellent tech support via the phone.

THRUSTMASTER CONTACT INFORMATION

CUSTOMER SUPPORT                        SERVICE&REPAIR
(503)615-3201 phone                     (503)615-3202 phone
(503)615-3300 fax                       (503)615-3300 fax

GENERAL CONTACT INFO
ThrustMaster, Inc.
7175 NW Evergreen Pkwy. #400
Hillsboro, OR  97124
(503)615-3200 phone
(503)615-3300 fax

For complete European support contact refer to:
http://www.thrustmaster.com/support/europe.htm
--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

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

On Tue, 30 Dec 1997 07:01:56 -0500, "Les Marton"

Hi Les!

I had the same problem with my SB 16 ASP (a very old one). In
DOS-Mode, all works fine, but in W95 nothing happend if i try to
calibrate the wheel.

A German gamemag wrote about this problem, the cause is directx 5.0.
TM and MS know this and work on a solution (maybe).

GP2 runs in DOS-Mode, in which this directx 5.0 is not needed.

Change the resources to 201-201 and check if it work, in my case it
did. Everything runs absolutely fine.

have fun
Andre Waldmann