VOGONS


First post, by Kahenraz

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What games are there for DOS that have multiplayer capability on the same machine that requires two joystick ports?

This question is in regards to the value of a joystick card that provides one or two (with the one on a sound card disabled) for use simultaneously in a game.

Extra points if there is a single player game that somehow uses two ports at the same time. Is this needed for any HOTAS devices in flight simulators?

Reply 2 of 32, by chinny22

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Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, OMF would be the obvious choices.

Quick check of my games these also had option for 2 joysticks
Micro Machines 2
Rampart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_(video_game)

Other split screen games I have but unable to confirm as no joystick plugged in
Hi Octane
Iron Man Off Road
Skunny Kart
Stunts
Tyrian

Reply 6 of 32, by AlaricD

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Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-27, 16:07:

What is the difference between using two dedicated ports versus a Y cable? How can try joysticks work off of the same port?

One uses two dedicated ports, and the other uses a Y cable.

Two joysticks can work off the same port (with the Y cable) because the 15-pin DSUB connector is a 15-pin DSUB connector; a joystick doesn't use all 15 pins on that connector

Reply 7 of 32, by lolo799

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LewisRaz wrote on 2023-04-27, 16:19:

Settlers 2 had a split screen mode but not sure if you could use 2 joysticks

The first Settlers game also has a splitscreen mode, you can use 2 mice with it, the 2nd player can use either a serial mouse, or a joystick.
I think it's the same for Settlers 2.

PCMCIA Sound, Storage & Graphics

Reply 9 of 32, by wbahnassi

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Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-27, 16:07:

What is the difference between using two dedicated ports versus a Y cable? How can try joysticks work off of the same port?

I believe Y-cable limits the joysticks to two buttons only. My source of info is the Gravis Gamepad Pro, which comes with a Y-cable. When you set it to use it (2 player mode) both joysticks operate in two-button mode only. With one player mode you have 4-buttons available (the standard max supported in DOS?), and on GRiP mode (also 1-player) you have all 10 available.

Reply 10 of 32, by Vic Zarratt

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wbahnassi wrote on 2023-05-14, 12:26:
Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-27, 16:07:

What is the difference between using two dedicated ports versus a Y cable? How can try joysticks work off of the same port?

I believe Y-cable limits the joysticks to two buttons only. My source of info is the Gravis Gamepad Pro, which comes with a Y-cable. When you set it to use it (2 player mode) both joysticks operate in two-button mode only. With one player mode you have 4-buttons available (the standard max supported in DOS?), and on GRiP mode (also 1-player) you have all 10 available.

Technically you can use 8 buttons for a single player in Dos, though the only game I've found so far to support 8 is Duke Nukem 3D.

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Reply 11 of 32, by BitWrangler

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I played around with a dual port card some years ago and that one just seemed to be a built in splitter on the card, 2 axes and 2 buttons to each port. However, I have also come across some single ports that are very single ports, only 2 axes, 4 buttons implemented. I have a dual card hiding somewhere I have not tried because I assumed it was like the other one, and fairly pointless hogging a slot when you could use a splitter if needed.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 13 of 32, by Vic Zarratt

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thisIsLoneWolf wrote on 2023-11-05, 03:28:

Does anyone know if it's possible to use 2 6-button controllers in games like Super Street Fighter II?

Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 inputs are:
Joy1 left
Joy1 right
Joy1 up
Joy1 down
Joy1 button 1
Joy1 button 2
Joy2 left
Joy2 right
Joy2 up
Joy2 down
Joy2 button 1
Joy2 button 2
Street fighter 2 uses Joy2 left and Joy2 up and renames them as buttons 5 and 6, while buttons 3 and 4 on pad 1 would be buttons 1 and 2 on the now disabled pad2.
When using a 6button pad for player 1, only joy2 down and joy2 right would remain for the second player.

I do know that Primal Rage had support for two joysticks, each having a maximum of 2 fire buttons, but players would use the keyboard for attacking instead of those buttons - this works well with digital joysticks like the competition pro xtra, quickjoy topstar and quickshot python5 since it gives the "tabletop" layout of the arcade version, I'm not sure if street fighter2 supports this, but I will have a look for you.

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Reply 14 of 32, by thisIsLoneWolf

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Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-11-15, 06:07:
Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 i […]
Show full quote
thisIsLoneWolf wrote on 2023-11-05, 03:28:

Does anyone know if it's possible to use 2 6-button controllers in games like Super Street Fighter II?

Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 inputs are:
Joy1 left
Joy1 right
Joy1 up
Joy1 down
Joy1 button 1
Joy1 button 2
Joy2 left
Joy2 right
Joy2 up
Joy2 down
Joy2 button 1
Joy2 button 2
Street fighter 2 uses Joy2 left and Joy2 up and renames them as buttons 5 and 6, while buttons 3 and 4 on pad 1 would be buttons 1 and 2 on the now disabled pad2.
When using a 6button pad for player 1, only joy2 down and joy2 right would remain for the second player.

I do know that Primal Rage had support for two joysticks, each having a maximum of 2 fire buttons, but players would use the keyboard for attacking instead of those buttons - this works well with digital joysticks like the competition pro xtra, quickjoy topstar and quickshot python5 since it gives the "tabletop" layout of the arcade version, I'm not sure if street fighter2 supports this, but I will have a look for you.

Thanks.

Does anyone know if more than one gameport be used at a time for 2 controllers with more than 2 buttons each?

Reply 15 of 32, by weedeewee

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Whaaat?

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-11-15, 06:07:
Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 i […]
Show full quote
thisIsLoneWolf wrote on 2023-11-05, 03:28:

Does anyone know if it's possible to use 2 6-button controllers in games like Super Street Fighter II?

Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 inputs are:
Joy1 left
Joy1 right
Joy1 up
Joy1 down
Joy1 button 1
Joy1 button 2
Joy2 left
Joy2 right
Joy2 up
Joy2 down
Joy2 button 1
Joy2 button 2
Street fighter 2 uses Joy2 left and Joy2 up and renames them as buttons 5 and 6, while buttons 3 and 4 on pad 1 would be buttons 1 and 2 on the now disabled pad2.
When using a 6button pad for player 1, only joy2 down and joy2 right would remain for the second player.

I do know that Primal Rage had support for two joysticks, each having a maximum of 2 fire buttons, but players would use the keyboard for attacking instead of those buttons - this works well with digital joysticks like the competition pro xtra, quickjoy topstar and quickshot python5 since it gives the "tabletop" layout of the arcade version, I'm not sure if street fighter2 supports this, but I will have a look for you.

The pc does not have joy left, right up and down seperatly .
It has joy X and joy Y

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Reply 16 of 32, by thisIsLoneWolf

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weedeewee wrote on 2023-11-15, 19:47:
Whaaat? […]
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Whaaat?

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-11-15, 06:07:
Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 i […]
Show full quote
thisIsLoneWolf wrote on 2023-11-05, 03:28:

Does anyone know if it's possible to use 2 6-button controllers in games like Super Street Fighter II?

Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 inputs are:
Joy1 left
Joy1 right
Joy1 up
Joy1 down
Joy1 button 1
Joy1 button 2
Joy2 left
Joy2 right
Joy2 up
Joy2 down
Joy2 button 1
Joy2 button 2
Street fighter 2 uses Joy2 left and Joy2 up and renames them as buttons 5 and 6, while buttons 3 and 4 on pad 1 would be buttons 1 and 2 on the now disabled pad2.
When using a 6button pad for player 1, only joy2 down and joy2 right would remain for the second player.

I do know that Primal Rage had support for two joysticks, each having a maximum of 2 fire buttons, but players would use the keyboard for attacking instead of those buttons - this works well with digital joysticks like the competition pro xtra, quickjoy topstar and quickshot python5 since it gives the "tabletop" layout of the arcade version, I'm not sure if street fighter2 supports this, but I will have a look for you.

The pc does not have joy left, right up and down seperatly .
It has joy X and joy Y

Oh right. The X and Y are analog inputs I believe. Lots of joypad calibration stuff in games back then.

Reply 17 of 32, by Vic Zarratt

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weedeewee wrote on 2023-11-15, 19:47:
Whaaat? […]
Show full quote

Whaaat?

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-11-15, 06:07:
Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 i […]
Show full quote
thisIsLoneWolf wrote on 2023-11-05, 03:28:

Does anyone know if it's possible to use 2 6-button controllers in games like Super Street Fighter II?

Unfortunately I don't think it will. The joyport of the pc supports a maximum of 12 inputs without midi hacks and such. The 12 inputs are:
Joy1 left
Joy1 right
Joy1 up
Joy1 down
Joy1 button 1
Joy1 button 2
Joy2 left
Joy2 right
Joy2 up
Joy2 down
Joy2 button 1
Joy2 button 2
Street fighter 2 uses Joy2 left and Joy2 up and renames them as buttons 5 and 6, while buttons 3 and 4 on pad 1 would be buttons 1 and 2 on the now disabled pad2.
When using a 6button pad for player 1, only joy2 down and joy2 right would remain for the second player.

I do know that Primal Rage had support for two joysticks, each having a maximum of 2 fire buttons, but players would use the keyboard for attacking instead of those buttons - this works well with digital joysticks like the competition pro xtra, quickjoy topstar and quickshot python5 since it gives the "tabletop" layout of the arcade version, I'm not sure if street fighter2 supports this, but I will have a look for you.

The pc does not have joy left, right up and down seperatly .
It has joy X and joy Y

Wrong. It does what you refer to as:
Joy1 up Y+
Joy1 down Y-
Joy1 right X+
Joy1 left X-
Joy2 up Y+
Joy2 down Y-
Joy2 right Y+
Joy2 left X-
I have an 8button gamepad that proves this.

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Reply 18 of 32, by weedeewee

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thisIsLoneWolf wrote on 2023-11-15, 19:54:
weedeewee wrote on 2023-11-15, 19:47:

The pc does not have joy left, right up and down seperatly .
It has joy X and joy Y

Oh right. The X and Y are analog inputs I believe. Lots of joypad calibration stuff in games back then.

Yes, the pc gameport pinout describes four buttons and four axis which are analog inputs.

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Reply 19 of 32, by Vic Zarratt

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On later gamepads such as the 6button ones designed for ssf2 and megaman X, those 4 axis analogue inputs are translated to digital keys so buttons 5-8 are compatible with any game that supports a second joystick connected via splitter.
In short, analogue inputs don't have to be analogue, they can be digital buttons as well.

Thing is nobody talks about using an 8button joypad with Dos games and how it can be used with so many games without the need for weird drivers.

Talk about gamepads to a newbie to the scene and the most frequent response given is "Gravis gamepad" (probably the original 1991 model faik) and that guys, isn't giving the best answer - 4 buttons isn't enough for later games like Duke3D

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