19 replies to this topic

[Amechwarrior]

Does anyone else still have the Steel Battalion controller? Anyone else want this unique controller to get some extra life with the new Mechwarrior? I do not think their is a better fitting joystick setup available and would love to use it for MW:O.

[Red Beard]

Good luck with that.

[Brixx]

amechwarrior, on 31 October 2011 - 08:21 PM, said:

Does anyone else still have the Steel Battalion controller? Anyone else want this unique controller to get some extra life with the new Mechwarrior? I do not think their is a better fitting joystick setup available and would love to use it for MW:O.

Also there are only like 5 people around the world with the aim to use this joystick for MW:O. I do not think that this is going to be supported, sorry.

[The Herald of Darkness]

You can get some mapping software that lets you use it in Windows. Perhaps you could turn it into a virtual controller using PPjoy
Depends what version of Windows you're using. I can't make it work on Windows 7.

[MekBeth]

The Herald of Darkness, on 03 November 2011 - 05:25 AM, said:

Depends what version of Windows you're using. I can't make it work on Windows 7.

This sure is an awesome controller. But the thing doesn't even work on Windows O.o
If you aren't a genius hacker yourself ...

[Amechwarrior]

Well, I found this: http://vt.beckament.net/

I have ordered a xbox1 to PC adapter and will see if I can get MW4:Merc running with it on win7-64bit.

[PyronTBC]

red beard, on 31 October 2011 - 08:55 PM, said:

Good luck with that.

What he said

[Colaessus]

****, steel battalion failsauce

[Amechwarrior]

Amro_One, on 05 November 2011 - 11:13 PM, said:

****, steel battalion failsauce

Do explain why you think it is failsauce. It is not a perfect game, but its controller gave you the closest thing to the actual battletech pod experience. Yes they might have not been Jenners and Timber Wolfs on screen, but it had the same gritty, no frills, everything is dirty approach as the Battletech table-top and you actually had to manage the many subsystems and really pilot the machine. Not just poptart or circle strafe while coolant flushing then waiting to respawn, if you did not eject it wiped your save, forever.

One thing that cannot be argued is that the controller is nothing like any other kind of joystick/pedal setup you can buy today. This is the only home controller meant to pilot a giant robot, not a fighter jet. If they made the game at least not reject the homebrew solutions the net has created to make it work on a PC I feel it could offer the most immersive way possible for playing the game in your own home.

[HardDrive]

holy hell I would LOVE to this setup be supported I have had that game for years and keep wishing I could use it for something else, I will be looking into this!!!!

[GreenHell]

I've been to the ppjoy site. It apparently does work, but you need the adapter. I have the controller as well. I was a crazy good Steel Battalion player. I played that game on Armageddon mode while my friends couldn't stop falling over in easy mode... lol

[HardDrive]

I've been seriously thinking about ordering that adapter and checking out that software thats available for it, just been going through what i would use the peddles for since there is a steering stick and full function aiming joystick as well.

[Amechwarrior]

I got my adapter in today. However the win7 64bit support for PPJoy needs to be run in the win7 Testing Mode. The VTdrivers have not been updated since before win7 and I am taking some time to do more research on the details and other ppjoy like programs such as http://sourceforge.n...ects/vjoystick/

[HardDrive]

Amechwarrior, on 10 November 2011 - 04:23 PM, said:

I got my adapter in today. However the win7 64bit support for PPJoy needs to be run in the win7 Testing Mode. The VTdrivers have not been updated since before win7 and I am taking some time to do more research on the details and other ppjoy like programs such as http://sourceforge.n...ects/vjoystick/

Any headway on this?

[Amechwarrior]

HardDrive, on 18 November 2011 - 08:16 PM, said:

Any headway on this?

The xbox adapter, of which all seem to be chinese cheapos, came with a floppy disk that apparently contains the driver. That will be a little setback not directly related to the SB controller.

On the other hand, the VT controller drivers online are not set for win7 or vista. But I did find a guy who wrote a .NET library for them.

http://steelbattalionnet.codeplex.com/

But his site http://www.geekteligence.com/blog/ has gone stale. What we would really need is someone who can utilize the .NET libraries to create a proper driver for it that works on today's operating systems. I am not sure his has access to the axis and analog controls yet, he only mentions the buttons.

One of his blog comments:

"That’s correct…this is just meant to be a library that allows you to pull the information from the controller. I wrote it specifically so I could integrate it with my podcast setup. It’s written to be as generic as possible, so it can be included in other custom-developed applications. The “script text” is a language called C#, which is part of the Microsoft .NET Framework.

What you’re looking for is more of a joystick driver…which this library isn’t…at least not yet. My ultimate goal was to write a user-mode DirectShow joystick driver…but I just didn’t have the time for what I needed to accomplish.
I just found a blog about a guy who managed to write a C#-based user-mode driver for Windows…which I’m going to dive into once I have some time.
I’m sorry this probably isn’t what you’re looking for…but look at it this way…it’s a start! And trust me…I want to use it with MechWarrior just as much as you do. "

[HardDrive]

I'm not complaining at all your doing some awesome detective work on this, My hat is off to you Sir! I appreciate all of the info you have provided and the work involved!

[Amechwarrior]

If you know anyone who can write C#....

Other then that, I have been messing around with other ideas and other combinations like win7 TESTMODE (newest ppjoy needs this) and other similar projects like vjoy. I think the combo of vjoy and the .NET lib will win out, I might just have to email some of the developers of the programs.

[Red Beard]

Controller, awesome. Game, not so much.

[GreenHell]

Email all of what you find to Piranha Games!!!
Maybe they could find a way to code the VT controller in.
If you send them everything you can find for the controller, half the work is done.
Making it compatible will be easy for them.

[Rodney28021]

Or you could run windows xp in a virtual box and load the drivers you got and the game there. Think MS put out a virtual box addon lately.