53 replies to this topic

[Bishop Steiner]

OK, so I have used the olod Microsoft Sidewinder joysticks since Mechwarrior 2. When MW3 came out,there still wasn't a better joystick on the market. MW$, same drill.... except shortly thereafter, Microsoft kills the Sidewinder.

I liked it so much, I hunted down a spare on Ebay. Question is... has anyone finally put out one that works as easily and well YET?!?!?! That Artemis Razer looks like a contender, except I have not gotten the most glowing reviews for Artemis. Saiteks (at least every one I have found, I have 3) don't hold a candle to Old Faithful.

Anyone know if the old Sidewinder is compatible with MW:O?

[Bryan Kerensky]

I used to own those as well and I can say they don't work if you are using windows 7. They should work with computers still using XP.

[Bishop Steiner]

Bryan Kerensky, on 12 July 2012 - 09:38 PM, said:

I used to own those as well and I can say they don't work if you are using windows 7. They should work with computers still using XP.

Now ain't that some bull pucky! Built the best dang joystick, disconitue it, never bring out a replacement worth anythingg... and now windows 7 don't lemme use it? grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Romulus Stahl]

Bishop Steiner, on 12 July 2012 - 09:58 PM, said:

Now ain't that some bull pucky! Built the best dang joystick, disconitue it, never bring out a replacement worth anythingg... and now windows 7 don't lemme use it? grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It is/was an ok joystick, by far not the best.
MS has a poor performance history with supporting their gaming hardware.

[PiroGoth]

My Force Feedback 2 works on my win7 64Bit laptop so you should be fine.

Dug it out like a week ago to make sure it was all good and used it to play MW4:Mercs.

[PoPuP]

had both the orginal and the Force feadback2, with spares. unfortunately with so much gaming they finally gave up the ghost, may they R.I.P lol

[EmptySkull]

I loved the force feedback when I had it back in the day. It died from heavy used. So I replaced it with it's baby brother sidewinder precision 2 joystick. I actually have 2. So I also dusted them off to play MW:4 mercs. And my W764 pro recognizes it. It works. But I did have to do some tinkering.

MW4 recognized it. But the buttons didn't work after I plugged it up. I had to track down the software online and install it. Run the test. All the buttons worked then. The I relaunched the game as was golden.

I do hope it will work with MWO. Because I can't get another joystick right now. But if not I'll just have to learn to keyboard and mouse it.

[Stray Ion]

If your running Vista or Win7 and the Sidewinder is serial and not USB. You can install a PCI serial port and with using "dependency walker" get the drivers working.

The only problem I have had is getting the gyros in the sidewinder to spin up, without them it is a limp stick and will not stay centered. I know the gryos are good as I took it apart and powered them directly. For some reason they don't spin, which may be due to the fact Vista and Win7 do not support force feedback. Same problem when using a serial/USB adapter

The stick should work as long as inputs in MWO are configurable. Me, I just bought a logitech extreme 3d pro, and may be one of the lucky few who has never had problems with it.

[Morhadel]

I have M$ Sidewinder FF2 with USB not serial. Win7 Recognizes my stick but the key-mapping is totally jacked up and what killed me from using it is that there is no return to center pull at all. so while i love my FF2 it is effectively unusable. And i still have the original software disc with the sidewinder zeroing program

Edited by Morhadel, 13 July 2012 - 10:47 AM.

[TheNineBreaker]

I still have my original sidewinder ff1 that I used to play mechwarrior 3 with.
Ever since win xp was released they stopped supporting it.
I havent been able to use it, its too bad because it was a great controller.
Anyone ever find a driver for win xp or win 7 that could bring it back to action?

[Chilly]

I have a MS Sidewinder Pro with serial connection, that i have a serial to USB converter for, and it works great on my Win 7 64 bit system. Have no idea how it will, or will not, work in MWO though, will have to wait and see.

[Balcore]

I also used to use one of these,Sidewinder force feedback 2 Still have it in fact but its not compatible with windows 7. and I don't think I want to mess with trying to Hack drivers over for it.

[SlasH58]

Hmmm, I have the FF1 stick, but haven't used it for a while. I have Win7 64bit loaded, so I might try it over the weekend to see if it works...

[Donovan Jenks]

Morhadel, on 13 July 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:

I have M$ Sidewinder FF2 with USB not serial. Win7 Recognizes my stick but the key-mapping is totally jacked up and what killed me from using it is that there is no return to center pull at all. so while i love my FF2 it is effectively unusable. And i still have the original software disc with the sidewinder zeroing program

Exactly, I could not handle the lack of return to center, it was too floppy and the twist action was too sensitive. I played both MW3 and MW4 with this and yielded to the mouse and keyboard and my performance got much better.

[Stray Ion]

TheNineBreaker, on 13 July 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

I still have my original sidewinder ff1 that I used to play mechwarrior 3 with.
Ever since win xp was released they stopped supporting it.
I havent been able to use it, its too bad because it was a great controller.
Anyone ever find a driver for win xp or win 7 that could bring it back to action?

You have to find the old Win98 WIn2000 WIn ME drivers (I used the disk that came with it). Then use a a program like dependecy walker to find out what .dll's you need. The good thing Win XP and Win7 use your system32 folder so you do not need to go into DOS (Actual DOS) to replace conflicting .dll's, just drag in drop. But be carefull where you get your .dll's from and I am not responcible for you killing your machine.

IMO it is not worth the headache and even if you get it working it will not center as Win7 and Vista have no force feedback support. I know how you feel, I miss my serial sidewinder pro FF too.

Edited by Stray Ion, 13 July 2012 - 12:17 PM.

[Stray Ion]

Morhadel, on 13 July 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:

I have M$ Sidewinder FF2 with USB not serial. Win7 Recognizes my stick but the key-mapping is totally jacked up and what killed me from using it is that there is no return to center pull at all. so while i love my FF2 it is effectively unusable. And i still have the original software disc with the sidewinder zeroing program

Win7 has no force feedback support, therefore the gyros do not spin in the sidewinder, the gryos are what actually keep the stick centered.

[SteelRavynn]

Guess I should have looked up the whole Force Feedback support issue before buying a used one off Ebay. lol Works fine, but as mentioned, I can't deal with not having the return-to-center function. Ugh!!

[Raptram]

I've been using my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 with MW4Mercs all night without any problems, other than some pain in my wrist. I'm not used to using a joystick, and especially not one that I have to wrestle with.

Once I launch the game the stick stays centered.

[Raptor8009]

Mine works like a charm

[RacerX]

My Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 works great under Windows 7 64-bit. I bought it specifically for MW4 when it came out and it is the only stick I've used since. I think it is one of the best joysticks I've ever owned. I don't use the force feedback because it simply gets in the way of competitive play. Even with the main power off for the force feedback it is hands down the smoothest feeling joystick I've ever had. Just move the stick to the left or right and you'll know what I mean. No spring action crud there.

I have to admit that I've had to canablize the electronics of other, older sticks to keep this baby running. After 10 years of MW4 something was bound to wear out. I just hope MWO supports this stick. I don't really care about the force feedback aspect. I just want to use Old Bessy in the new game!