F12002, XP, & MSFFW problem

I just put XP on my primary gaming system today and was happy to have most everything work straight away. Everything that is except for my MS FFB Wheel (gameport version) in F12002. Not even noticing it at all. The wheel's working fine in N2002, N4, and GPL, but nogo in F12002. Any guesses? I didn't have to do anything special to get it running with the other games and was a bit suprised that F12002 had issues given that it's the newest of the bunch. I don't have the Sidewinder software installed as I'm not aware of a version for the gameport wheel that works for XP. I used to use the 3.02 version with 98, but it's listed as being 98 only so I hadn't tried it. Thanks in advance for any help! -John

Nevermind... Ran through the XP updates just for fun and one of them appears to have licked it. Not sure which one, but F12002 is happy now. -John

Glad you got it working to your satisfaction. Game port devices have basically been abandoned by the controller industry in favor of USB connections. Windows XP only has basic, generic support for game port devices, since drivers and the support software for those controllers need the .vxd format to function properly. Most controller manufacturers ceased making game port devices about three years ago, and have figured additional software updates aren't worth the time and effort. BTW - On Windows XP, don't just rely on the in-box XP install of drivers for your hard ware. Seek out the latest from the various manufacturers' web sites. Those drivers included in XP were written nearly a year ago now, and have been updated numerous times across the board. -- Chris H. "John Harwood" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Nevermind... Ran through the XP updates just for fun and one of them > appears to have licked it. Not sure which one, but F12002 is happy > now. > > -John >

On Sat, 15 Jun 2002 05:25:57 GMT, "Chris H." <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Glad you got it working to your satisfaction. Game port devices have >basically been abandoned by the controller industry in favor of USB >connections. Windows XP only has basic, generic support for game port >devices, since drivers and the support software for those controllers need >the .vxd format to function properly. Most controller manufacturers ceased >making game port devices about three years ago, and have figured additional >software updates aren't worth the time and effort. BTW - On Windows XP, >don't just rely on the in-box XP install of drivers for your hard ware. >Seek out the latest from the various manufacturers' web sites. Those >drivers included in XP were written nearly a year ago now, and have been >updated numerous times across the board.

Yeah, I definitely buy USB these days and will for my next steering wheel, but as long as I've got a perfectly functional gameport wheel, figured I might as well use it as long as I can, eh? ;-) Thanks for the top on XP drivers, always very sound advice. I'm usually a driver junkie so had already snagged the current video, sound, printer, scanner, etc drivers prior to install, just got stumped by the odd steering wheel thing. -John

Good for you, John! Remember, as you go along with your drivers junkie habit, if you run across one that just doesn't do it for you, Windows XP has the "Roll Back Driver" feature. Just go into Device Manager, select the appropriate item (display adapters or sound, video and game controllers), and open the Properties on the item by right-clicking. On the Driver tab, second button from the bottom, is Roll Back Driver. This will get you back to the previous, working driver. -- Chris H. "John Harwood" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Sat, 15 Jun 2002 05:25:57 GMT, "Chris H." <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >Glad you got it working to your satisfaction. Game port devices have > >basically been abandoned by the controller industry in favor of USB > >connections. Windows XP only has basic, generic support for game port > >devices, since drivers and the support software for those controllers need > >the .vxd format to function properly. Most controller manufacturers ceased > >making game port devices about three years ago, and have figured additional > >software updates aren't worth the time and effort. BTW - On Windows XP, > >don't just rely on the in-box XP install of drivers for your hard ware. > >Seek out the latest from the various manufacturers' web sites. Those > >drivers included in XP were written nearly a year ago now, and have been > >updated numerous times across the board. > > Yeah, I definitely buy USB these days and will for my next steering > wheel, but as long as I've got a perfectly functional gameport wheel, > figured I might as well use it as long as I can, eh? ;-) > > Thanks for the top on XP drivers, always very sound advice. I'm > usually a driver junkie so had already snagged the current video, > sound, printer, scanner, etc drivers prior to install, just got > stumped by the odd steering wheel thing. > > -John >