Sidewinder Force Pro

[Flemming Malmkvist]

Hi

I fund my old Microsoft Siderwinder Force Pro joystick and have tried to
install it under Windows XP SP1. The software from
www.microsoft.com/siderwinder is not combatible with WinXP, is there any
work-a-round on this problem or do I have to buy a new joystick?

I can se some reaction in the controlpanel (Game controllers/Calibrate), but
it is not the right buttons/axises reacting on command.
Using:
1 pcs USB to Gameport converter
1 pcs Siderwinder Force Pro (gameport edition)
- buildin software - not the Sidewinder 3.x from microsoft.com

Best regard
Flemming Malmkvist

 

[Yves Leclerc]

No work-a-round!

 

[Mike P]

The only work around is to replace it with a logitec stick or similar (don't
give MS more $ like they're trying to coerce you to). Logitec work with xp,
MS wants you to buy another stick from them so they won't provide drivers
for xp.

Mike

 

[Nathan McNulty]

I have two questions. Have you tried using it even though it says it
isn't compatible? Have you actually plugged it in, tried to install it
as new hardware? I have an old game pad that isn't supposed to be
compatible, but it works with the drivers set in compatibility mode.
That is another option you could try. Set the drivers to compatibility
mode

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

Hi Flemming,

The gameport to USB converters aren't going to work for digital devices
of any brand. The driver in all cases was written to communicate on a
gameport bus not the USB bus. Even if you get movement from the device (some
devices will fall back to analog mode and would work on the converter) you
would never get forces with gameport devices because the force data is sent
down MIDI to the device. The drivers for your device are built into Windows
XP and the device will work fine once it is connected to a properly
configured gameport. Here is the instructions for loading the driver:

1. Connect the device to the gameport
2. Start -> Run -> Control Panel
3. Switch to "Classic View".
4. Run the Gaming Options control
5. In Gaming Options Click the "Add..." button.
6. From the list choose "Microsoft SideWinder (Auto Detect)"
7. This should install your device.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need more help.

Joshua Smith
DirectInput and OpenGL Test Labs
Microsoft