There were GamePort - USB dongles for the SideWinder series of Microsoft controller, but I don't know whether they are universal.

might be able to install a SB card with a game port. then use it soley for the game port.

Come on, use google or in that case just look at Amazon... There are a couple of hits for "gameport usb"....

It might work if the controller were supported by generic device drivers...which it doesn't.

huh?

http://www.usb-port.com/rm203.html

I gave up years ago trying to find a USB adapter for my Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro v1. The proprietary nature of what it did over the gameport made it impossible to emulate the force feedback part without custom a custom USB conversion.

I read a rumor years ago someone was trying to make one, but that was abandoned.

Most USB-gameport converters are "generic" ones. They support two 2 axis 2 buttons joysticks, and they convert them to USB HID devices... that's fine for gamepads with 4 buttons, but not for joysticks that decode the signals (i.e.: Microsoft Sidewinder, most Logitech Joysticks and most joysticks with more than 4 buttons).

Think about that before buying.

cdoublejj wrote:

might be able to install a SB card with a game port. then use it soley for the game port.

This was my idea. Probably cheaper to pick up a used PCI sound card with gameport anyway. You don't need a rare or top of the line model, just a generic one with basic gameport functionality and you can get those for a few bucks.

If the whole "plug an old soundcard into the computer" thing works, I could probably just use my old computer's soundblaster 16.

Problem with that being that it fits into an ISA slot... and a lot of computers don't use that anymore....

So the problem with a Gameport -> USB converter would be that I would only have four unique buttons and a D-pad, right?

Hammerhead has 12-14 buttons, I don't think that would work. It's also not a generic device, it relies on specially made device drivers for it

http://www.falconfly.de/hammerhead.htm

A modern PC would need to use the USB variant instead, and you're better off with finding that than converting the gameport version to a failure anyway

I know these exist because recently i bought a converter that converted old PC game pads that used the gameport into USB.

basically it had a slot for the gamepad and on the other end was a usb port.
It even had a swith for PC Gamepad,Steering Wheel,or Joystick.

If i remember correctly I got this from The Source/Radio Shack.

then when i used it i didn't need to install any drivers since it was USB

Okay, better question:

Is there such a thing as an "extension cord" for Gameports?

Here's the new situation: My old PC is fixed, so I can play either DOS games or Windows games. For Windows games (emulators mostly), I greatly prefer the Hammerhead. But for DOS games, you pretty much have to use the Gravis Gamepad.

I only have one gameport though, and its in back of the computer. So its a hassle to switch them out.

Any suggestions?

Install another gameport, install the usb2gameport adapter...

EdmondDantes wrote:

Is there such a thing as an "extension cord" for Gameports?

Of course. It would probably go by "DB15 extension" or "DA15 extension". You could even get a manual switchbox if you really wanted to.

EdmondDantes wrote:

For Windows games (emulators mostly), I greatly prefer the Hammerhead. But for DOS games, you pretty much have to use the Gravis Gamepad.

Have you tried SDWRGMPD already? Might be worth a shot.

There's still no such thing as a USB gameport adapter that allows all the functionality of an actual gameport on a PCI card, right?

I need to get a new motherboard and I'm actually sort of tempted to stick with something with a PCI slot so I can keep using my old gamepads. (I gather there's no such thing as a PCIe card with a gameport either, right?)