Finally: smoother steering with DirectX games (e.g. NFS2SE)

I finally managed to fix that stupid joystick deadzone problem with Need For Speed II SE that caused steering response to suck. This fix should also work for any other DirectX game that uses DirectInput for analog-style joystick/wheel input but doesn't have a separate control setting for the deadzone. The deadzone is the area in the center where the joystick/wheel doesn't respond. DirectX has its own notion of a deadzone, and Microsoft has hardcoded the default to 5% of its full range. Need For Speed II SE doesn't have an option to adjust the deadzone and therefore uses the DirectX default, which results in a pretty good simulation of a loose steering linkage! This is really annoying for those of us that don't want to use our expensive steering controllers as PlayStation gamepads! :-) Anyway, DXDZFIX patches the DINPUT.DLL default of 5% and changes it to 0 (or anything you like, for that matter). You can find it at: http://www.nd4spd.com/downloads/misc/dxdzfix.zip http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/util/dxdzfix.zip (soon) Send me a note if you try it out and like it. --- Neuroscience and Computer Science at University of British Columbia, Vancouver http://www.House.ORG/chris http://www.sns.cs.ubc.ca/chris

I've downloaded the DXDZFIX utility in an attempt to solve the "Win95 calibration jitters" with my T2 wheel. I've correctly patched the DINPUT.DLL file with different deadzone values (from zero to 25) but it seems to make no difference at all. When is the DINPUT.DLL library loaded? Is it at Win95 startup time? Do I need to reboot after replacing the DINPUT.DLL file?

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>I finally managed to fix that stupid joystick deadzone problem with >Need For Speed II SE that caused steering response to suck. This fix should >also work for any other DirectX game that uses DirectInput for analog-style >joystick/wheel input but doesn't have a separate control setting for the >deadzone. >The deadzone is the area in the center where the joystick/wheel doesn't >respond. DirectX has its own notion of a deadzone, and Microsoft has >hardcoded the default to 5% of its full range. >Need For Speed II SE doesn't have an option to adjust the deadzone and >therefore uses the DirectX default, which results in a pretty good simulation >of a loose steering linkage! This is really annoying for those of us that >don't want to use our expensive steering controllers as PlayStation gamepads! >:-) >Anyway, DXDZFIX patches the DINPUT.DLL default of 5% and changes it to >0 (or anything you like, for that matter). >You can find it at: > http://www.nd4spd.com/downloads/misc/dxdzfix.zip > http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/util/dxdzfix.zip (soon) >Send me a note if you try it out and like it. >--- >Neuroscience and Computer Science at University of British Columbia, Vancouver >http://www.House.ORG/chris http://www.sns.cs.ubc.ca/chris

Joe

Joe, I installed the "patch" also, and I found it to help a great deal in sims that use Win '95 control panel. What games/sims are you using for comparison? No, you do not need to re-boot to get the "new" DLL files effect. BTW, Need for Speed 2 SE will be effected by the patch, where DOS sims like Nascar 2 and Indy Car 2 will not. -- Paul My "reply" e-mail address has been changed to deter spammers. My real address is: ICQ UIN: 5692838 >I've downloaded the DXDZFIX utility in an attempt to solve the "Win95 >calibration jitters" with my T2 wheel. I've correctly patched the >DINPUT.DLL file with different deadzone values (from zero to 25) but >it seems to make no difference at all. >When is the DINPUT.DLL library loaded? Is it at Win95 startup time? Do >I need to reboot after replacing the DINPUT.DLL file?

>I installed the "patch" also, and I found it to help a great deal in sims >that use Win '95 control panel. What games/sims are you using for >comparison? No, you do not need to re-boot to get the "new" DLL files >effect. BTW, Need for Speed 2 SE will be effected by the patch, where DOS >sims like Nascar 2 and Indy Car 2 will not. Mostly TOCA, because it's steering is way too sensitive. I get slightly "jittery" Win95 calibration of my T2 wheel, and it seems there's no way to fix it. Joe

I had the jitters too in Win95 with both my wheel and TM Joystick. I yanked out my old ACM card and the jitters went away.. I am not sure if it was an incompatibility with DX5 and the ACM or if the mechanical movement of the acm card was shot. btw this was an older card that did NOT have the adjustable extention pot. Mine had a very small post between the joystick ports, most difficult to grab hold of and rotate. dave henrie

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> >I installed the "patch" also, and I found it to help a great deal in sims > >that use Win '95 control panel. What games/sims are you using for > >comparison? No, you do not need to re-boot to get the "new" DLL files > >effect. BTW, Need for Speed 2 SE will be effected by the patch, where DOS > >sims like Nascar 2 and Indy Car 2 will not. > Mostly TOCA, because it's steering is way too sensitive. I get > slightly "jittery" Win95 calibration of my T2 wheel, and it seems > there's no way to fix it. > Joe

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> I had the jitters too in Win95 with both my wheel and TM Joystick. I yanked >out my old ACM card and the jitters went away.. I am not sure if it was an >incompatibility with DX5 and the ACM or if the mechanical movement of the acm >card was shot. btw this was an older card that did NOT have the adjustable >extention pot. Mine had a very small post between the joystick ports, most >difficult to grab hold of and rotate. >dave henrie

Yeah, I had an ACM too (which I feel is a piece of junk) and it also had the jitters. Now I use my Soundblaster16, which isn't as bad but still jittery enough to foul up sensitive games like TOCA. Joe

When I try to apply the DXDZFIX patch, the response is "program won't run in DOS mode" I have tried running in a DOS window, DOS mode and W95 command line. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks

>When I try to apply the DXDZFIX patch, the response is "program won't >run in DOS mode" I have tried running in a DOS window, DOS mode and >W95 command line. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks That's wierd. It is a DOS program. Joe

% > I had the jitters too in Win95 with both my wheel and TM Joystick. I yanked % >out my old ACM card and the jitters went away.. I am not sure if it was an % >incompatibility with DX5 and the ACM or if the mechanical movement of the acm % >card was shot. btw this was an older card that did NOT have the adjustable % >extention pot. Mine had a very small post between the joystick ports, most % >difficult to grab hold of and rotate. % >dave henrie % Yeah, I had an ACM too (which I feel is a piece of junk) and it also % had the jitters. Now I use my Soundblaster16, which isn't as bad but % still jittery enough to foul up sensitive games like TOCA. Not to say that this was the cause of your problems, but many times this type of "jitters" with an ACM is because there is still an existing conflict with the gameport on the soundcard. Until the soundcard's gameport is "TOTALLY" disabled, the ACM can not always get the readings it needs as the soundcard's gameport is stealing some of the I/O reads. -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

> I've downloaded the DXDZFIX utility in an attempt to solve the "Win95 > calibration jitters" with my T2 wheel. I've correctly patched the > DINPUT.DLL file with different deadzone values (from zero to 25) but > it seems to make no difference at all. DXDZFIX only corrects DirectX 5.0 games that don't have their own deadzone adjustment. You shouldn't have to reboot or anything after you apply the patch to your DINPUT.DLL file. Just start up your DirectX game, and it will load the patched DLL. It doesn't to anything for non-DirectX games (which includes all non-Win95 games :-) It also won't work if the game does its own deadzone weirdness (like Need For Speed II SE which needed its own additional patch, grrr). You can find the patches at: http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/util/dxdzfix.zip ftp://ftp.nd4spd.com/pub/nfs2se/nfsdzfix.zip -- Neuroscience and Computer Science at University of British Columbia, Vancouver http://www.House.ORG/chris http://www.sns.cs.ubc.ca/chris

> When I try to apply the DXDZFIX patch, the response is "program won't > run in DOS mode" I have tried running in a DOS window, DOS mode and > W95 command line. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks You should run it from a Win95 MS-DOS window, but check your Properties to make sure you're not running the window in a weird mode or anything. If you just run the program without arguments, it will print out usage instructions. -- Neuroscience and Computer Science at University of British Columbia, Vancouver http://www.House.ORG/chris http://www.sns.cs.ubc.ca/chris