Joystick Problem - Converting Game Port to USB

H

hammmy

New Member
This looks like the closest matching forum for my problem; apologies if it's not.

I have an old MS SideWinder Pro Plus joystick that I've had forever, mainly to play X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. I recently got the urge to play it again, but when I dragged the trusty SideWinder out of the storage box, I discovered my Abit NF7-S2 mobo doesn't have a game port. It does have onboard sound, so I don't have the usual sound card game port either.

I bought a Belkin DB-15 joystick game port-to-USB adapter off the net. It's supposedly specifically for SideWinders, presumably because they have a specific pin configuration. However, it doesn't work. WinXP doesn't detect the adapter when it's plugged in. Seeing as it's a passive device, that doesn't surprise me greatly, but when the SideWinder is plugged in it doesn't detect that either.

Any help?

TIA,

-dave
 
Nothing came with the adapter. IIRC, I bought it from HP's small business store of all places. Belkin's site doesn't list the adapter at all. I managed to find the part number by Googling for "Belkin joystick adapter" or similar.

I'm poking through MS.com's support atm. After that, I suppose I'll bug Belkin about it.
 
You could try adding the joystick as a custom stick. I recall having to do that once to get my sidewinder working :confused:

oh and check the little switch on the bottom of the joystick, make sure its on 1
 
No switch on mine.

Part of the problem, at least from the Game Controllers section of the CP, seems to be that it requires game port drivers to be installed for it to bother trying to detect anything. I've installed the Standard Game Port driver using the Add Hardware wizard, but nothing useful seems to be accomplished. Once that driver is installed, then Game Controllers will pretend to Auto-Detect a SideWinder 3D Pro and report it as Not Connected, but it doesn't actually see a joystick at all--apparently it just adds a default SideWinder profile to the list. I've tested that premise with no joystick connected.

I suppose what I'm looking for is a way to identify the passive USB adapter as a game port, using some manual method. Or, perhaps some other game controller management would detect a non-game-port controller. I dunno. I've tried d/ling and installing the last version of the SideWinder software from MS (v3.02), but it won't install on XP SP2. I've considered trying it on a Win2K machine, but that really just delays the inevitable. Mostly, I'm just pissed that this stupid Belkin adapter doesn't do what it specifically was advertised to do: adapt a game port SideWinder to USB.

Email sent to Belkin's techies.

Edit: Found a v4.0 of the SideWinder software and installed from a German site. No help, as it just points back to the Game Controllers area of Control Panel.
 
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Well, I heard back from Belkin finally. Turns out the adapter is meant to adapt USB SideWinders to a game port. Yeah, like not having USB has been a huge problem.

Anyhoo, I give up. Gonna hunt down a USB joystick. Anyone have a suggestion for a good lefty (or at least non-righty-only) stick?

-dave
 
I like the Saitek Cyborg Evo, it's pretty much fully customizable so hand size and left/right handed-ness isn't an issue
 
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