First post, by BaronSFel001
- Rank
- Newbie
AKA my tribute to Great Hierophant whose "Unique PC Hardware and Game Support" post is still one of my best go-to references for decisions on my retro build. I considered posting a comment on his site instead, but putting this much information as attachment to a 6-year old blog post seemed less feasible.
First, some history. It's fairly well-known that the CH Force FX (basically their F-16 Combatstick minus throttle and plus the obvious) introduced true force feedback to the world of game controllers (at least on the PC; consoles are another story). While it was a relatively-rough application that required a spare serial port and external power supply in addition to the gameport, CH broke the levee and soon enough we had the Sidewinder FFPro which took a different approach that eliminated the need for RS-232 (it generated force commands through the MIDI pins in the gameport which joysticks normally did not use, rendering impossible the ability to utilize an external MIDI module alongside a Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro), the Logitech Wingman Force which was the first to go USB (with serial as a DOS-compatible fallback), and a variety others which varied in quality. What wasn't as well-known is how the three specific models mentioned here varied in their application compatibility.
Force Feedback in computer game controllers is a product of Immersion Technology's I-Force protocol. They licensed their API to several controller makers including such familiar names as Thrustmaster and Gravis, though at least one press release reveals a sort of love-hate relationship with Microsoft over Immersion believing the house of Bill Gates had ripped them off by independently-developing the technology used in Sidewinder Force Feedback devices but that they were forgiven by making I-Force a part of DirectX (https://www.wired.com/1997/06/joysticks-jerk- … uzz-and-evolve/). This divide in technology was part of what revealed the key points of difference.
The other part is still on Logitech's FTP; look in the Joysticks folder and you'll find two versions of the README for their Wingman Software. Both include a section stating that Logitech Force Feedback devices use I-Force 2.0 in conjunction with DirectX and give a list of titles known to be incompatible due to their use of either I-Force 1.0 or something referred to as "Microsoft's own proprietary 'Visual Force Factory'" (which another search revealed to be the name of the sensation editor while the protocol itself is merely "Sidewinder Force"). This is likely not exhaustive as we'll see later:
ABC's Monday Night Football 98
Air Warrior II
Bug Riders
Descent II
Die by the Sword
Extreme Assault
Fighter Duel SE
Interstate 76
Jet Fighter III
Rocket Jockey
Sierra Ski Racing
SODA Off Road Racing
Trophy Rivers
Unnecessary Roughness '96
Spearhead
As API standards are prone to merge, it is confirmed that by the time I-Force 2.0 was out it was fully-assimilated alongside DirectInput thus any Force Feedback title past that point (which by my informed estimate was in the latter half of 1997) should be compatible with any device whether from Microsoft or the competition. Before then developers were going their own ways which meant that, for example, you could forget about Force Feedback in Descent II if you happened to be using a Sidewinder FFPro. The Immersion entertainment products list (pulled courtesy of the Wayback Machine) flags these titles as incompatible with Sidewinder:
ABC's Monday Night Football
Air Warrior II
Descent 2
Fighter Duel SE
JetFighter Full Burn
JetFighter III
Rocket Jockey
Space Rocks 3D
Unnecessary Roughness '96
We see the lists are starting to match up. I think "not compatible with Microsoft Sidewinder" is a fairly-safe presumption of being exclusive to I-Force 1.0. As for Sidewinder Force, that's solved too in the same list by these titles flagged as "Only Supports Microsoft Sidewinder":
Beast Wars Transformers
B.F.R.I.S.
Bugriders
Cyber Strike 2
Dead Reckoning
Die by the Sword
Ed Hunter
Expendable
Front Page Trophy Bass II
Front Page Trophy Bass II Deluxe
Front Page Sports Trophy Rivers
H.E.D.Z.
Interstate 76
Microsoft Baseball 3D
MotorCross (sic) Madness
Powerboat Racing
Recoil
Shadow Master
Thunder Brigade
Test Drive Off-Road 2
Tiger Shark
That accounts for all of Logitech's list and then some save for Extreme Assault, Ski Racing and Spearhead which the Immersion list has but without incompatibility flags; what the significance of that is I haven't a clue. Anyway, until I stumbled across some of this and went on to do the research I was thinking my Force Feedback needs would be covered with a Sidewinder, but now I know to think more carefully. Since I may only get interested in one or two of the games on Logitech's incompatibility list I'm thinking I'll be good with the original Wingman Force if I could just find one in good shape for a decent price; thoughts would be appreciated on this as I'm very familiar with Sidewinders but have heard mixed reports about Logitech's build quality in the gameport-to-USB transition years.
I hope this information benefits others making some of the same considerations. Again, thank you to Great Hierophant for such a great (am I overusing that word?) information repository. I'd be honored if you'd find a use for this information and perhaps expand on it with the help of the other vintage gaming veterans here.