N3: Weird loss of steering with MS USB Precision Pro (No FF)

A buddy of mine (who has no luck but bad it seems) just received his replacement MS USB Precision Pro from MS (great service BTW, one week, and they don't want the old one (2 months old) back??). The new one works perfectly in GPL and Nascar Heat. In N3, it calibrates perfectly (combined or seperate axis), assigns the Steering, Accel, Brake, etc. to the proper axis, but when he goes into race he has no steering. Gas, brake, shift, wheel buttons, etc. work fine. I walked him through the calibration routines and am sure hes doing them correctly. Had him reinstall DX7.0a for the heck of it, still NG. I know the MS Tech had him running around in circles changing this and that, but as the wheel works fine in everythin BUT N3 I was hoping someone has seen this. We also uninstalled and reinstalled the sim, same results. Another strange thing is he has to program his shifters to hit keys (J & K) to upshift and downshift as N3 doesn't see them as button presses (as it does with my MS USB FF Wheel). Whats really odd to me is the wheel calibrates and is assigned fine, so why in the world can't the poor guy steer? Win98SE with all updates SB Live! Sound/Gameport PIII 700 128megs IBM ATA66 20 gig MS Wheel is the only controller listed Thx for any help..... G Patricks

N3 has two different methods for reading wheels. Try both, its a drop down box on the options page called joystick driver. the choice is Direct X or Papyrus. good luck dave henrie "G Patricks" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> A buddy of mine (who has no luck but bad it seems) just received his > replacement MS USB Precision Pro from MS (great service BTW, one week, > and they don't want the old one (2 months old) back??). The new one > works perfectly in GPL and Nascar Heat. In N3, it calibrates perfectly > (combined or seperate axis), assigns the Steering, Accel, Brake, etc. > to the proper axis, but when he goes into race he has no steering. > Gas, brake, shift, wheel buttons, etc. work fine. I walked him through > the calibration routines and am sure hes doing them correctly. Had him > reinstall DX7.0a for the heck of it, still NG. I know the MS Tech had > him running around in circles changing this and that, but as the wheel > works fine in everythin BUT N3 I was hoping someone has seen this. We > also uninstalled and reinstalled the sim, same results. Another > strange thing is he has to program his shifters to hit keys (J & K) to > upshift and downshift as N3 doesn't see them as button presses (as it > does with my MS USB FF Wheel). Whats really odd to me is the wheel > calibrates and is assigned fine, so why in the world can't the poor > guy steer? > > Win98SE with all updates > SB Live! Sound/Gameport > PIII 700 > 128megs > IBM ATA66 20 gig > MS Wheel is the only controller listed > > Thx for any help..... > G Patricks

Thanks for the reply Dave. I did have him try the Papyrus driver but he said the caligration was jumping all over the place. G Patricks

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>On Sat, 28 Oct 2000 14:33:48 GMT, "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote: >N3 has two different methods for reading wheels. Try both, >its a drop down box on the options page called joystick driver. >the choice is Direct X or Papyrus. >good luck >dave henrie >"G Patricks" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >news:[email hidden]... >> A buddy of mine (who has no luck but bad it seems) just received his >> replacement MS USB Precision Pro from MS (great service BTW, one week, >> and they don't want the old one (2 months old) back??). The new one >> works perfectly in GPL and Nascar Heat. In N3, it calibrates perfectly >> (combined or seperate axis), assigns the Steering, Accel, Brake, etc. >> to the proper axis, but when he goes into race he has no steering. >> Gas, brake, shift, wheel buttons, etc. work fine. I walked him through >> the calibration routines and am sure hes doing them correctly. Had him >> reinstall DX7.0a for the heck of it, still NG. I know the MS Tech had >> him running around in circles changing this and that, but as the wheel >> works fine in everythin BUT N3 I was hoping someone has seen this. We >> also uninstalled and reinstalled the sim, same results. Another >> strange thing is he has to program his shifters to hit keys (J & K) to >> upshift and downshift as N3 doesn't see them as button presses (as it >> does with my MS USB FF Wheel). Whats really odd to me is the wheel >> calibrates and is assigned fine, so why in the world can't the poor >> guy steer? >> >> Win98SE with all updates >> SB Live! Sound/Gameport >> PIII 700 >> 128megs >> IBM ATA66 20 gig >> MS Wheel is the only controller listed >> >> Thx for any help..... >> G Patricks >

On Sat, 28 Oct 2000 13:38:32 GMT, G Patricks <[email hidden]> thus spoke:

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>A buddy of mine (who has no luck but bad it seems) just received his >replacement MS USB Precision Pro from MS (great service BTW, one week, >and they don't want the old one (2 months old) back??). The new one >works perfectly in GPL and Nascar Heat. In N3, it calibrates perfectly >(combined or seperate axis), assigns the Steering, Accel, Brake, etc. >to the proper axis, but when he goes into race he has no steering. >Gas, brake, shift, wheel buttons, etc. work fine. I walked him through >the calibration routines and am sure hes doing them correctly. Had him >reinstall DX7.0a for the heck of it, still NG. I know the MS Tech had >him running around in circles changing this and that, but as the wheel >works fine in everythin BUT N3 I was hoping someone has seen this. We >also uninstalled and reinstalled the sim, same results. Another >strange thing is he has to program his shifters to hit keys (J & K) to >upshift and downshift as N3 doesn't see them as button presses (as it >does with my MS USB FF Wheel). Whats really odd to me is the wheel >calibrates and is assigned fine, so why in the world can't the poor >guy steer?

I don't know. I have the same wheel and it works in Nascar3 just fine. N3 uses the same calibration routine as GPL so don't understand why it would work in GPL and not N3. He shouldn't have to program his wheel at all to work in N3 and the shifters should show as buttons 7 and 8. Have him try the calibration with no MS Profile software loaded again. -- xyz

Since your friend can't assign the paddles it sounds like you need to install the patch, as it added support for up to 15 direct input buttons. Who knows, that might just fix the whole mess. Couldn't hurt to try:) Cheers, Mortado

This might help. Go into the main Nascar3 directory and delete the files wcalib.val and wcntrls.cfg the run Nascar3 again and add controller. It will rewrite the new information and hopefully solve the problem. "G Patricks" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> A buddy of mine (who has no luck but bad it seems) just received his > replacement MS USB Precision Pro from MS (great service BTW, one week, > and they don't want the old one (2 months old) back??). The new one > works perfectly in GPL and Nascar Heat. In N3, it calibrates perfectly > (combined or seperate axis), assigns the Steering, Accel, Brake, etc. > to the proper axis, but when he goes into race he has no steering. > Gas, brake, shift, wheel buttons, etc. work fine. I walked him through > the calibration routines and am sure hes doing them correctly. Had him > reinstall DX7.0a for the heck of it, still NG. I know the MS Tech had > him running around in circles changing this and that, but as the wheel > works fine in everythin BUT N3 I was hoping someone has seen this. We > also uninstalled and reinstalled the sim, same results. Another > strange thing is he has to program his shifters to hit keys (J & K) to > upshift and downshift as N3 doesn't see them as button presses (as it > does with my MS USB FF Wheel). Whats really odd to me is the wheel > calibrates and is assigned fine, so why in the world can't the poor > guy steer? > > Win98SE with all updates > SB Live! Sound/Gameport > PIII 700 > 128megs > IBM ATA66 20 gig > MS Wheel is the only controller listed > > Thx for any help..... > G Patricks