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Odd Issue with SideWinder 3D Pro in Win98

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First post, by Orzene

Posted on 
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Haven't had luck with current posts talking about this issue, so I'm going to go ahead and make a new topic for this. Sorry for retreading ground, if I've missed a post somewhere.

I just picked up a SideWinder 3D Pro (Gamepad Port version), and have been going through the mess of getting it to operate properly on a Win98 machine. Now, I've seen a lot of people talking about how driver and hardware configuration has made it a chore to install, but I'm happy to say that "Not Connected" issue is not a problem!

However ...

With the current setup, I'm getting a very odd problem of the operational area of the joystick being a bit larger than what a games operating in Wnidows are willing to recognize. While the joystick "deadzone" isn't exactly steady, in regular DOS games (like NEED FOR SPEED SE and TOPGUN: Fire At Will), operations are smooth -enough- without it being too terribly problematic. Even Duke 3D has been fine, even if M/KB feels better to control (I wanted to test it out since I'd never tried it before - Not too bad).

In both Fury3 and Hellbender, the joystick has a "drift" that causes the ship to spin up and to the left, and with the attached images, you'll note that this issue is very much a problem of how Windows is defining the operational area. This issue was much worse before I used these drivers --> MS SideWinder 3D Pro Win9x Drivers

I don't know if there's a utility that lets you fix these issues, or if I need to find someone who can edit the drivers properly, but I'm a bit perplexed as to why this is happening.

As a note: The 3.02 Drivers that I had installed were giving me the "Not Connected" problem, and even with Akula's drivers, I couldn't get past that bug. It was fixed using the July '95 drivers --https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fil … menustate=27,26-- oddly enough, and the noted community drivers corrected the "operational area bug" somewhat, but didn't fix it completely. The Joystick is connected to the Mainboard's Gameport, rather than the Sound Blaster LIVE!, since that seems to mess with the audio.

--Hardware--

Pentium III EB "Coppermine" 1oooMHz
3DFX Voodooo3 2000 16MB
Intel D815EEA Mainboard
Kingston PC133 Low-Density SDRam (2x 512 MB)
Windows 98SE

Attachments

  • 20240302_172823.jpg
    Filename
    20240302_172823.jpg
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    File comment
    Joystick tracker with trail (goes well outside expected zone)
    File license
    Public domain
  • 20240302_172757.jpg
    Filename
    20240302_172757.jpg
    File size
    1.3 MiB
    Views
    96 views
    File comment
    Windows98 3D Pro Properties window (Joystick centered)
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 1 of 1, by Orzene

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I think, to be honest, this joystick would be better on a Win95 machine with a slower CPU - I picked up a Baby AT PC with an ASUS P5A-B rev1.05 and Pentium MMX 200, which I intend to make my Win95 machine. The same machine came with an ATI Rage IIc, but that's getting pulled, and I plan on putting my Voodoo3 into it instead. The Sidewinder 3D Pro will be placed on that, while I pick up a SAITEK Cyberborg 2000 for my Win98 machine.

I might test the 3D Pro on the Win98 in the future, given a fresh install and probably a different driver set, but right now it's just a bit too annoying to fuss with any more.

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