VOGONS


First post, by Der Kuenringer

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Is there anything akin to the CH & Suncom Gamecards, but PCI instead of ISA? PCI soundcards won't cut it, I want two Gameports on one card.

Reply 1 of 24, by Horun

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Never seen one but you can split most Game Ports for use with two items as long as certain criteria are met. Not sure if it can be done on a PCI card properly.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 24, by cyclone3d

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swaaye wrote on 2020-08-17, 00:41:

Is there a USB gameport adapter?

Yes, but most of them are junk. There are a few that don't have latency issues.

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Reply 5 of 24, by swaaye

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-08-17, 01:05:

Yes, but most of them are junk. There are a few that don't have latency issues.

This actually reminds me that I bought a Mayflash USB adapter to run N64 controllers on PC and have not tried it yet....

Reply 6 of 24, by yawetaG

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Not gameport, but there are official Sega ISA and PCI adapter cards to use Sega Saturn gamepads on your PC. There also is a very rare expansion card that lets you use the Saturn light gun (with a CRT).

Reply 7 of 24, by Der Kuenringer

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Horun wrote on 2020-08-16, 23:30:

Never seen one but you can split most Game Ports for use with two items as long as certain criteria are met. Not sure if it can be done on a PCI card properly.

Something like the Gravis Midi Adaptor might work, I take it?

gravis.jpg

Could you elaborate on which criteria have to be met?

Reply 8 of 24, by Horun

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Standard Game ports support only a certain amount of channels and buttons (4 of each): "The game port's DA-15 connector includes inputs for a total of four analog channels and four buttons. These were almost always implemented as two joysticks with two buttons each, but it is also possible to support four paddle controllers each with one button using the same inputs. The port includes redundant pins, including a total of four +5 V supplies, and separate grounds for most of the buttons. In most similar game ports, like those on the Atari, a single +5 V and ground is used for all the channels."
For how game ports are typically wired : https://old.pinouts.ru/InputCables/GameportPC_pinout.shtml
Your adapter should (like a Joystick "Y" adapter) isolate the two joysticks connections or else they will conflict or overlap if Analog type. Digital joysticks will not have the same issue (but will not work in DOS) because they use a Windows driver, as long as both show up in the Windows Game Controller applet.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 9 of 24, by cyclone3d

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Are you wanting to use something in DOS or would it be ok for it to work within Windows only?

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Reply 10 of 24, by matze79

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Warlord wrote on 2020-08-17, 00:15:

I have a PCMCIA gameport card so surely it was possible.

PCMCIA is ISA, Cardbus is PCI based

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Reply 11 of 24, by Stiletto

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When PCI was king, my memory is that there weren't really any dedicated PCI Gameport cards so instead people would try installing a second PCI sound card and disabling the sound part of it (or at least not installing the sound drivers or disabling the sound devices in Device Manager). That was under Windows and you guys could say better than I at this point whether that would have worked in Windows games. USB came along very soon after tho.

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Reply 12 of 24, by Der Kuenringer

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-08-22, 20:13:

Are you wanting to use something in DOS or would it be ok for it to work within Windows only?

For use in DOS, predominantly. Flight gear to be precise, HOTAS + rudder pedals.

Reply 13 of 24, by cyclone3d

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Do you already have the HOTAS + rudder pedal setup you are going to be using?

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Reply 15 of 24, by Warlord

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matze79 wrote on 2020-08-22, 20:49:
Warlord wrote on 2020-08-17, 00:15:

I have a PCMCIA gameport card so surely it was possible.

PCMCIA is ISA, Cardbus is PCI based

Both statements are true however, cardbus is pcmcia 5.0
good catch now that I think about it my card is PCMCIA 2.1 and its 16bit.

Reply 16 of 24, by cyclone3d

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Yeah, they definitely could have existed. My guess is that there just wasn't enough demand for them as everything was moving over to USB around that time.

The other thing that may have something to do with it is that some gameport devices have issues with faster computers.

I had gotten a used Saitek X35/X36 HOTAS setup that was the older gameport version. It wouldn't work at all on the system I had at the time. I contacted Saitek and they told me that it was because the gameport version wouldn't work on faster systems. They had me send it in and they replaced it with the USB version for free.

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Reply 17 of 24, by cyclone3d

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Der Kuenringer wrote on 2020-08-23, 21:07:

I have a CH Force Fx & Pro Throttle so far (both Gameport). I don't have the pedals yet. Still looking for either NOS CH pedals, or a used Simped.

Ok, so I have the gameport version of the CH Pedals. You plug the joystick into the pedal cable and then plug the pedal cable into the gameport.

The gameport version of the CH Pro Pedals (what you probably want IF you want the CH brand) also uses the same type of setup but looks like you also need a second gameport (maybe) as it has another cable coming off of it labeled "AUX port". Or maybe that is only needed if you are using a gameport that only supports 2-axis 2-buttons per port?

Also... the Joystick should plug into the throttle, then the throttle to the pedals, and then the pedals into the gameport.
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=475

The drivers for the CH products are also available on vogonsdrivers.com.
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … menustate=25,24
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … menustate=25,24

After thinking about it a bit, I do not think that adding a PCI sound card to give yourself a second gameport is going to work unless you can change the address of one of the gameports.

The Thrustmater HOTAS + Pedals setup uses 1 gameport, the keyboard port and optionally the mouse port... depending on the throttle you have. Everything daisy-chains together. I Think you could use the Thrustmaster throttle and pedals along with whatever joystick you wanted though it would be trial and error to find the button assignments for the joystick in the Thustmaster programming software.

Last edited by cyclone3d on 2020-08-23, 23:40. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 18 of 24, by Horun

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Der Kuenringer wrote on 2020-08-23, 21:07:

I have a CH Force Fx & Pro Throttle so far (both Gameport). I don't have the pedals yet. Still looking for either NOS CH pedals, or a used Simped.

Doesn't the CH Force FX use both a Game Port and a Serial port ? All those buttons should be re-mappable to keyboard keys but not sure if that can be done in DOS..

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 19 of 24, by cyclone3d

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Horun wrote on 2020-08-23, 23:27:
Der Kuenringer wrote on 2020-08-23, 21:07:

I have a CH Force Fx & Pro Throttle so far (both Gameport). I don't have the pedals yet. Still looking for either NOS CH pedals, or a used Simped.

Doesn't the CH Force FX use both a Game Port and a Serial port ? All those buttons should be re-mappable to keyboard keys but not sure if that can be done in DOS..

There is DOS programming software available... I have added the vogonsdrivers.com link to my previous post.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK