Have you tried the Microsoft Sidewinder 3D PRO patch at http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … menustate=26,25 ?

I can't tell you whether it works in XP, but may be worth a try

The Sidewinder 3D has a tiny switch at the front that is marked with one and two dots at the bottom. It switches the joystick from analogue to digital mode.
Did you try playing around with that option as well?

thanks for the suggestion, but still doesn't work unfortunately. the patch needs version 3.02 installed first which XP doesn't like. I clicked past the compatibility warnings and it threw up some errors about not having enough resources for the software.I also found version 1.0 of the 3D Pro Drivers for win95, which actually do run, but then give an error saying it needs to run as an admin, my account is definitely an admin and I even tried using the builtin "administrator" account but no luck there either.

I tried running the SideWinder Auto detect with the switch in both positions, each time it comes up as an unknown device and device manager just lists it as "unknown." when I add it as a generic 6 button throttle/pov joystick with the switch in position 1 everything works except for the z axis and the four base buttons, moving the switch to position 2 disables the throttle and the z axis and extra buttons still don't work.

Have you tried it on another system to rule out a problem with controller or the sound card?

Per the manual, the switch on the bottom of the Sidewinder 3D Pro has nothing to do with digital mode. The switch selects one of two analog configurations. Position 1 corresponds to a CH Flightstick Pro, while Position 2 corresponds to a ThrustMaster joystick.

Control Supported Position 1 Position 2
Slider Yes No
Hat switch Yes Yes
Multiple buttons No Yes
pressed at once
Four conventional Yes Yes
joystick buttons
Base buttons No No
Joystick rotation Yes Yes

The only way to get the stick into digital mode is to have a driver or game that sends a particular signal sequence to the stick, and there is no such Microsoft installable driver for Windows-NT kernel or later OSes. There is apparently some DirectX support for the stick, but it requires very particular timing on the hardware host to function (think Pentium 3 and early Pentium 4), and even so it is still a hit/miss proposition.

If you are willing to spend some time and money on a USB converter for the stick, then you should see the links for Grendel's converter in this post (I have no idea about hardware availability given the age of the project):
Re: Ms Sidewinder 3D Pro "Not Connected"

It may pay to enquire in the Tech Forum at descentbb.net for more information on Grendel's project.

akula65 wrote on 2021-01-06, 03:26:

Per the manual, the switch on the bottom of the Sidewinder 3D Pro has nothing to do with digital mode. The switch selects one o […]
Show full quote

Per the manual, the switch on the bottom of the Sidewinder 3D Pro has nothing to do with digital mode. The switch selects one of two analog configurations. Position 1 corresponds to a CH Flightstick Pro, while Position 2 corresponds to a ThrustMaster joystick.

Control Supported Position 1 Position 2
Slider Yes No
Hat switch Yes Yes
Multiple buttons No Yes
pressed at once
Four conventional Yes Yes
joystick buttons
Base buttons No No
Joystick rotation Yes Yes

The only way to get the stick into digital mode is to have a driver or game that sends a particular signal sequence to the stick, and there is no such Microsoft installable driver for Windows-NT kernel or later OSes. There is apparently some DirectX support for the stick, but it requires very particular timing on the hardware host to function (think Pentium 3 and early Pentium 4), and even so it is still a hit/miss proposition.

If you are willing to spend some time and money on a USB converter for the stick, then you should see the links for Grendel's converter in this post (I have no idea about hardware availability given the age of the project):
Re: Ms Sidewinder 3D Pro "Not Connected"

It may pay to enquire in the Tech Forum at descentbb.net for more information on Grendel's project.

Ahhh Great explanation and documentation! I remember the original 3D Pro having issues with P2 above 400Mhz or about there, and was a patch but it only helped up to p2/p3 700 or 800 or some such thing.
Had to do with the original Game Port being polled by cpu cycles and how the old game ports were never designed for faster CPU. So every one went to USB after that. Thanks !

I made my own Gameport-to-USB adapter for my Sidewinder 3D Pro a few months ago. (Assuming you're a basic solderer already) it's a reasonably trivial task.

I can assist with information if you decide to go down that route.

What SB (SoundBlaster Soundcard) model do you use?

I had very similar problems with my MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro (Gameport) Joystick that I wanted to use for my Freespace Battle Station.
I'v tried several different SB models, but nothing worked reliable, untill I finally tried a model SB0220 with this drivers (<Link>) and that did the trick (for me) 😀

The only downsides using the FFB Stick under XP are ...
a) no second command layer for the buttons
b) the strenght of the FFB is not adjustible in the native XP Joystick interface
... but I guess that doesn't matter for you without the FFB component

ildonaldo wrote on 2021-01-06, 09:35:

What SB (SoundBlaster Soundcard) model do you use? […]
Show full quote

What SB (SoundBlaster Soundcard) model do you use?

I had very similar problems with my MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro (Gameport) Joystick that I wanted to use for my Freespace Battle Station.
I'v tried several different SB models, but nothing worked reliable, untill I finally tried a model SB0220 with this drivers (<Link>) and that did the trick (for me) 😀

The only downsides using the FFB Stick under XP are ...
a) no second command layer for the buttons
b) the strenght of the FFB is not adjustible in the native XP Joystick interface
... but I guess that doesn't matter for you without the FFB component

It's a soundblaster Live, CT4780.