There are products like the EXP Game Traveler which will add a gameport via PCMCIA card. I have one and it works in DOS, but I only tried simple joysticks.

That rotational stick, I assume that it only rotates no more than 180 degrees?

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I noticed some games like Crusader: No Regret (and its prequel No Remorse), as well as Star Control's melee combat, depends hea […]
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I noticed some games like Crusader: No Regret (and its prequel No Remorse), as well as Star Control's melee combat, depends heavily on rotational movement.

Problem is; it is quite uncomfortable and imprecise to make rotational movement with joystick. Mouse is better, but still not precise.

The latest game controller I remember that has rotational controller is Logitech Wingman Warrior, which has a rotational knob on the left of its base to make precise rotational control.. Works nice with 2.5D games like Doom and its clones.

However, it is a vintage hardware. It has gameport connector and serial mouse connector (for its rotating knob), as well as DOS drivers for the knob. I'd love to play Star Control and Crusader on my laptop (using DOSBOX), which unfortunately lacks gameports.

Is there any known modern, USB controllers with rotational knob? Also, if such thing exist, is it programmable? If there is such device, which is capable to translate the knob's rotation into joystick axis/mouse axis, then it fills my need.

Great Hierophant wrote:

There are products like the EXP Game Traveler which will add a gameport via PCMCIA card. I have one and it works in DOS, but I only tried simple joysticks.

That rotational stick, I assume that it only rotates no more than 180 degrees?

Actually, it is 360. And it still needs serial mouse port besides gameport. And here's another bad news: the driver is for DOS. 🙁

Besides, it's too big to carry around. Right now I already have USB keypad to play DOS games in my laptop (many DOS games require eight-directional keypad). I wonder if there is a "turn knob controller" for PC, which can be programmed to emulate joystick axis and/or mouse axis.

I believe these are more frequently called "paddle" controllers. They were well known on the Atari 2600; most recently, I had an N64 "racing" controller that was quite similar. Either of those options would require an adapter of some sort, of course.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I noticed some games like Crusader: No Regret (and its prequel No Remorse), as well as Star Control's melee combat, depends heavily on rotational movement.

Problem is; it is quite uncomfortable and imprecise to make rotational movement with joystick. Mouse is better, but still not precise.

What's wrong with using the keyboard for playing Cursader? There are 2 control methods, numlock on and off, I agree that it takes some time to get used too, but then it plays very well imo. And for your laptop you can use a normal keyboard or one of those loose numpads if you want to use your laptops keyboard. I can't speak for Star Control though, cause I have never played it. Crusader does have its control issues, but I don't think another controller will make it better, it's more of a shortcomming from it's isometric view.

This reminds me of me, I have bought almost every PC gamecontroller under the stars, wanting to get better control, but in my experience some games just play better with a simple keyboard or/and mouse.

The knob on the left side, is that the rotational control? If it is, then it makes perfect sense that you would need a serial port for it to function, because it would be a rotary dial, essentially one half of a mouse. I doubt a standard mouse driver would work, however.

You should look at rotary controller solutions for MAME.

Did these work for all games ? Sounds like a great thing to have.

KAN,

You might consider the SpaceOrb 360 (IF you can lay your hands on one). While the original device has an RS-232 serial interface, hackers have come up with a kit solution to make it work on modern 64-bit systems:

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheBestControll … dOrbShield.aspx

It sounds like what you really want is a 3Dconnexion device, but these unfortunately require application-specific support:

http://www.3dconnexion.com/

(EDIT: I stand corrected: http://www.3dconnexion.com/index.php?id=231 )

If none of the solutions above fits the bill, then you might also consider the old Microsoft SideWinder Strategic Commander. Someone has apparently put together a tool (Strategic Engine) to get it to work on 64-bit OSes as well:

http://blog.sav2880.net/2009/07/20/windows-7- … they-play-nice/

Qbix, I have one, and it only supported a handful of DOS games with the spinner control, through the driver disk that it came with. It also has a DirectInput driver for Windows, so you can use it with any Windows game that way.

You can also use it in place of a Wingman Extreme by connecting it to a gameport, and choosing between the hat-stick or the throttle.

OP, the Windows driver only uses the serial port connector for the Wingman Warrior. The gameport connector is only for DOS games that don't support it natively.

I don't know if it applies to other games you play, but Star Control was easy to play on the Sega, and Sega controllers (or usb adapters) designed for the PC are available.

thrustmater do a gamepad with a rotational control
http://www.thrustmaster.com/en_UK/products/f1 … limited-edition

then there is allways a trackball

This came up in a Google search: a do-it-yourself guide using a cannibalized mouse.
http://arcadecontrols.com/files/Miscellaneous/spinner.pdf

But there are lots of hits for <usb spinner>, and as I said, it seems some people have indeed used an Atari 2600 paddle controller via a USB adapter.

Thanks, all. 😀

The vintage controllers (SpaceOrb 3D, etc) are interesting, but unfortunately they require extra effort to work with modern systems. I might look at them when I have more time.

3D Connexion looks interesting, but unfortunately it requires application-specific support.

Right know, it seems the viable solutions for me is either Thrustmaster F1 Wireless Gamepad Davros pointed out, or USB-adapted Atari paddles.

However, I also stumbled into this one interesting product: Griffin Powermate multimedia controller, which is apparently a mouse with a turn knob on its base. I just need to discover if it is possible to remap the turn knob into mouse X axis (or joystick x axis). Anyone experienced with such product before?

If it works, then it could be great controller, not only for Crusader or Star Control, but for games like Vangers and Death Rally as well.

Star Control series is actually pretty easy to be controller with keyboard, but sadly, Crusader isn't the same case. The keyboard directional control is less precise, while the keyboard rotational control is too slow. I can use mouse rotational control, but somehow it's not really accurate (or maybe I'm just using shitty mouse --but it's HP). Also, games like Vangers and Death Rally are pretty difficult to control with keyboard.

There was the panther-xl

you can buy an update kit here :
http://assassin3d.squarespace.com/

Davros wrote:

There was the panther-xl http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1387/panbacksmall.jpg […]
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There was the panther-xl

you can buy an update kit here :
http://assassin3d.squarespace.com/

Interesting. It takes up quite a space, but interesting nonetheless. I wonder if the rotational control is as comfortable as that in Wingman Warrior.