PDPI L4 digital gameport - info request

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 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.

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>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:

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> 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

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/

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

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

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>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

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>> ... 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

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

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.

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.