There are several arcade-style USB joysticks available for XBox/PS2/etc. - will these work with FSX Steam and Win10? Are buttons mappable too?

I have limited hand dexterity and can no longer use my Logitech joystick so I am searching for alternatives. I use a joystick on my powerchair by wrapping my hand around the controller and "steering" with the gap between my thumb and index finger. I think the arcade-style may work for me physically.

Other alternatives?

Thanks!

I just connected an XBox Elite controller to my PC and looked at the axes/buttons in a DirectX viewer, and it appears as a regular HID device with variable-position axes on X-Y (left thumbstick) and XRot-YRot (right thumbstick) axes, and a hat switch.  The buttons are also standard DirectX buttons 1-4.  The triggers are a bit odd...they both (left and right) alter the variable position Z axis, with the left trigger moving the axis one direction from center, the the right in the other direction, and they cancel each other out.

So it should be possible to use an XBox controller as a joystick, perhaps with the right thumbstick XRot (left-right) axis as rudder.  Throttle could be managed with the buttons mapped to the throttle increase/decrease controls.

Regards

Thanks - but I'm asking about the arcade style joysticks. 

Here is one: https://www.amazon.com/Mayflash-F300-Arcade-Joystick-SWITCH

If a controller is advertised as working with Steam does that imply it should work with Steam FSX?

Well, "works with Steam" doesn't tell the whole story.  If the joystick only produces discrete position inputs (e.g. left, right, up, down etc) then it may "work" with a Steam arcade game such as a PC version of something like PacMan, but not with anything that requires a variable analog input.

Some quick Google-Fu led me to one review of that Mayflash F300 that suggests to me that it produces discrete inputs (and inconsistently based on stick throw at that).

Regards

 

For anyone interested my vote goes to the PDP Wired Controller, Xbox and Win 10 which I use on a PC - its the best controller I have for flying simulators and also the cheapest. 

https://www.amazon.com/PDP-Wired-Controller-Xbox-Verdant-Green/dp/B073X515PL?th=1

with two hands you have throttle, elevator and ailerons, and two paddles on the back for rudder control you can access with your spare fingers at the back. It gives full control and this full control makes it closest to the real thing imo. The only downside is that I have the throttle set up on the right stick and the self centering spring means you have to hold it down to idle - but you get used to it, and one advantage is in the centre it will maintain a good thrust level for cruising.

After years of trying pedals for sims I have given up on them. Found the pedals in a real aircraft not that comfortable to use either. The paddles as rudders works well for me.

The self centering springs on this controller (similar to radio control controllers) work much better than on joysticks. I have to modify my other joysticks with a plastic zip tie to make them useable, since every joystick I have bought had springs which were far to strong and made using the joystick sticky and hard to use. There are youtube videos showing how to modify a joystick, that is reduce the spring force with a plastic tie (its a 50 cent investment), by clamping the centre spring under the base. It works well. I had to do this when I started flying helis on fsx, to make the stick smoother, but now I use the PDP controller.