Programming old Thrustmaster gear

[Guest]

While cleaning up the house the other day I stumbled upon a box of joysticks and related items. Even though this stuff is all gameport, I thought I might give the Thrustmaster stuff (F-16 FLCS and WCS Mk II) a second chance. The problem is, all of the software I have for this stuff is for DOS. I'm running Windows 2000, and it doesn't care for the DOS programs. I there any simple way to program this stuff in Win2K for use in FS2002?Thanks!

[wsieffert]

Have you tried plugging them in (make sure you plug them in with the computer off - the gameport is not like USB) and trying them out. Open control panel, select the gaming (whatever its called in Win2K), see if the joystick appears. If not try adding it as a generic.Also check the manufacturer's website for updated drivers.

[Guest]

I've plugged them into an old PC and they work fine. But that only includes the basics, i.e. 2-axis, 2-button joystick functionality. The extra buttons and hat switches perform keyboard emulation, and that's what I need to program. They still have old programming information in them; I fired up notepad and pressed buttons, and various commands from Doom, the last game that these controllers were used for, spewed forth.It's possible to download the old DOS utilities from the manufacturer (these are the newest ones available) to program these units, but this software is a real PITA to use. Maybe a decade ago I would have been willing to spend the time to master this single-purpose programming, but age and a recent brush with death has made me value my time more than I did previously. These controllers are very powerful, but not very easy to set up in DOS (unless, of course, I want to use present templates for a bunch of mid-90's games...) I use Windows 2000, and these DOS apps don't work with this OS. Given that there are tons of these units out in the market, I was hoping to find a 32-bit application that could ease the programming burden.

[Bob Church]

You can't program them under Win2K or WinXP. The way the OS is set up, the downloader can't send data out the keyboard port. You can dual-boot to W98 and download, or you can boot a DOS floppy and do the download from there. Once the download is done, you can go back and use them in 2K/XP okay. They can still send characters, it's just the download that won't work.- BobThe StickWorkshttp://www.stickworks.com

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, Bob. Two quick questions, however. First, is it possible to have two keyboard (or keyboard-like) devices installed on the system simultaneously? I programmed an old CH Throttle using a Win98 machine, and it appeared to work fine on that machine (with the keyboard running through the it). When I hooked it up to my Win2K machine it didn't respond. The major difference with these two systems is that I use a USB keyboard on the Win2K machine, since it's connected up to a USB KVM switch with my Macs. Can the Win2K machine handle input from both the USB keyboard and the PS2 port simultaneously?Second, is there any better software for the Thrustmaster stuff other than what Thrustmaster has provided? Maybe Foxy Two was more than what I needed, particularly since I'm not all that adept at Thrustmaster programming. If not, I guess I'll have to find an IDE drive to slap into the Win2K machine, since I'm currently set up to boot from an NTFS formatted SCSI drive, and install Win98 on that volume.

[Bob Church]

>> Thanks for the reply, Bob. Two quick questions, however. First, is it possible to have two keyboard (or keyboard-like) devices installed on the system simultaneously? <> Second, is there any better software for the Thrustmaster stuff other than what Thrustmaster has provided? Maybe Foxy Two was more than what I needed, particularly since I'm not all that adept at Thrustmaster programming. If not, I guess I'll have to find an IDE drive to slap into the Win2K machine, since I'm currently set up to boot from an NTFS formatted SCSI drive, and install Win98 on that volume. <http://www.stickworks.com

[Guest]

You know, after doing a bit more work, I don't think I need the Thrustmaster stuff after all. I got the CH Throttle to work - since I never ran this computer with a PS2 keyboard, it didn't know what to do with the throttle plugged in to the PS2 keyboard port. I connected up an encoder board salvaged from an old keyboard, and that was enough to fool the system into recognizing the CH Throttle. The programming is a little off (needs a few repeats added in), and it looks like I'll have to do the DOS thing with it, but that's OK since I was planning on adding that IDE HD and Win98 anyway. I also found PC drivers for the Contour Shuttle Pro that I use for video and audio editing on the Mac, hooked the unit up to the KVM switch, and now can use it as an auxilliary input device. Although all that stuff is nice, I did just complete one nifty modification to my trusty CH Flight Sim yoke LE. Not content with the ten buttons and such, I gutted a $1.99 Suncom USB joystick and added the pieces to my yoke. I've now got three extra pots/sliders and four more buttons. One of the buttons looks like it came straight from CH Products themselves, and in a way it did. Using stock CH parts from an old flightstick that was converted to a Thrustmaster handle years ago, I added a button to the right handle to match the one on the left. A hole needed to be drilled and the button shaved down a bit, but the mounting pad for the microswitch was already cast into the handle - sweet! In addition to a couple more momentary switches mounted on the base of the unit, I mounted a nice on/off (non-momentary) toggle switch in the middle of the yoke. The main goal for this bugger was to allow me to fire off the thrust reversers in FS2002 without me needing to hold down a button - a simple repeat command takes care of that for me. Everything appears to work fine, although I do have some minor calibration issues with the new pots and mapping their functionality to things such as mixture and propellor control; even though they're calibrated properly, I don't seem to get full action on screen - any ideas?Thanks again for your help. :)

[Bob Church]

Sounds great! WRT to the calibration, I'm not really clear on where the problem is. Are you saying it doesn't move full range in the Game Controllers test screen, or that you don't get full range of movement in FS itself? If it's the former, which end is "short"? If the latter, have you tried fussing with the FS2K sensitivity settings?- BobThe StickWorkshttp://www.stickworks.com

[Guest]

Oops - in retrospect, I guess I could have phrased that a bit better. Calibration went fine, and everything appeared normal in the Game Controllers test screen. It was in FS2002 itself where the problem was noticed - the prop and mixture controllers didn't have the full range of motion on screen, in both directions, in comparison to the throttle. You were right in pointing me towards the sensitivity settings; I think I was tweaking with those a while back when trying to get some other controller to operate these functions, and I never set them back. Now that these have been reset to the default settings the prop and mixture controllers operate perfectly. While I don't fly many prop planes, it's nice to have the ability to fly them properly. But my favorite feature of this upgrade has to be ability to set the speedbrakes wherever I want (on planes so equipped, of course), rather than just up or down. My approaches still stink, setting off the GPWS on a regular basis, followed by a prolonged float over the deck before I finally crash down to Earth in a semi-controlled fashion. Too much time in F-16s and F/A-18s I guess, thus leading to a reluctance to line up the ol' 767 more than a mile or two from the field. I did have a nice flight in an L-1011 the other day when all three engines flamed out at 40,000+ feet and couldn't be restarted. My crash just short of the runway was understandable, given that I didn't have the hydraulics necessary to retract the flaps.Since you seem to be the joystick expert, I have one more question for you. Is Suncom still in business? While over at a software store I saw a nice USB F-15 style stick for $12, but was more interested in the throttle that they offered. Suncom's website seems to be down, and from what I've read it's been down for over a year. Searching all over the web for this throttle didn't result in any successful hits, and I begin to wonder if this device was ever released in USB form...