Did you ever find the driver? I have the gameport/USB version, but no driver CD.

janskjaer wrote on 2026-04-12, 03:35:

Did you ever find the driver? I have the gameport/USB version, but no driver CD.

Any of this help...

X36 Launcher Software revision 2

As part of our programme of continuously improving our products, Saitek is happy to announce Release 2 of the X36 configuration software and drivers.

This Release fixes all bugs reported to 31/12/98. The new software also features a number of enhancements, including the ability to use the mouse feature on the throttle without the use of the separate mouse cable previously required.

Installation Instructions

Download x36launchv2.zip into a temporary directory
Unzip the file
Run the executable file that has been extracted
Reboot your PC

Please note that this is a complete re-installation, including the default config and command files that were added during the original installation. If you have modified any of them and wish to retain the changes you've made you'll need to export them to a new location outside of the install directory and then import them after the new installation.

Reporting Any Problems

If you still have problems please report the nature of the problem and as much detail as you can.



Thank you - and happy flying

Downloads - https://web.archive.org/web/19990825075111/ht … /downloads.html

Support FAQ - https://web.archive.org/web/19991001190724/ht … 36/x36supp.html

The driver you have provided (x36launchv2.zip) is: "not for use with the USB version of the X36" according to Saitek's driver page.
The X36 USB drivers are listed on the aforementioned page (sge1_1.exe). Unfortunately, the Wayback Machine hasn't captured them.
The X35F throttle driver is still available though.

I did find other, later versions of the X36 USB driver / SGE software from Saitek's website (archived):

SGE version 3 (2001-08-16) for Windows 9x can be found here
SGE / SD version 3.2 (2003-04-28) for both Windows 9x and NT/XP can be found here
SST 4.3.3 (2004-10-28), which seems to be the latest, is here

The best source of information on this particular joystick and throttle combo is archived here.
According to this page on the site above, the Saitek driver CD-ROM that released with the X36 USB was version GD10. GD10 contains SGE software version 2.3. The site has SGE 2.3 here, but the Wayback Machine hasn't archived it.
This information correlates with my copy of the printed X36 user manual which has "GD10 11/00" printed on the back cover.

What's interesting is, my Saitek manual and the README found within the drivers states that the minimum system requirements are Windows 98 and DirectX 7 when connecting via USB. It does not state the requirements for the game port.
However, on the top of the retail box, it states that Windows 95 and DirectX 6 can be used if connecting via the game port. The SGE software does not allow the installation to continue if a minimum of DirectX 7 cannot be found. Therefore, it's seemingly impossible to install the SGE software on a system with DirectX 6.1

Although it is a bit of a hack, I was able to extract the temporary setup files from the SGE version 3 installer and install it on Windows 98SE without having to install DirectX 7.0, I am using DirectX 6.1 on Windows 98 SE. I connected the X36 via the game port and it works correctly. Even on the game port connection, both the stick and throttle are auto-calibrated, requiring no further calibration or setup.

I also found some more versions of the Saitek driver CD-ROM over at the Internet Archive.
GD12: Contains profiles and the manual for the X36, as well as SGE version 3.0, according to the aforementioned SGE version page.
GD06: This one looks very interesting, because it contains drivers, profiles, utils and manuals for the X36, but pre-dates DirectX 7, containing an early version of DirectX 6.0 from 1998. After reading the PDF manual inside the CD-ROM image, it refers to both DirectX 6 and the X36 with both the USB and game port connections. So, this manual is targetted at the X36 digital stick, and not for the earlier X36 analogue version.

I'll next test it out on Windows 95 with DirectX 6.0 and see if it continue to works.

I used the X36/X35 for analogue gameport, Stick & Throttle combo way back when it was new, but not nowadays; I can probably dig out the box to see if I still have the installation software, but it is likely an early version of it. I do recall a number of updates I had to install for various games while I used it, but these are on some older PC:s in storage now, unsure if they are operational.

Archive.org has archived saitek's dl's page from 2000.

The X36 USB driver is at least linked there.

Driverguide has the driver for the non usb x35, but who knows. It's driverguide.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000302105740/ht … iles/files.html

HOWEVER, it seems Archive.org failed to collect the actual download files.

Driverguide also claims to have x36 hid drivers.

https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … ZiSEPT&frmist=1

(X35 non usb)
https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … s4%2Fm&frmist=1