The InterAct PC Raider Professional is what I still have laying around. It was THE generic game controller of the 90s. Even has auto fire. 😜 I personally prefer gamepads for most types of gaming. Playing platform and scrolling shooter games with a joystick is ugh.

I remember those Raider sticks! Wow! I think I may even have used one of those on a friend's system before I got my own.

This was my 1st stick that I used on my own PC, a 486SX/25. I can still remember playing Air Power and Red Baron with it. Good times...

(Sorry for the hotlinking)

KT7AGuy wrote:

Procyon wrote:

By the way does anyone have experience with getting gameport joysticks to run on new computers?
I want to give my FFB Pro another shot. 😀

I have one of those RockFire adapters. It works fine with just my Flightstick Pro and the non-pro pedals, but not with my throttle. I'm stuck with the Flightstick's built-in throttle axis when using it. Since your Sidewinder FFB is dependent upon drivers for full functionality, I assume you'll have problems as well. I know that some gameport versions of the MS Sidewinder Precision Pro came with a USB adapter, so you might try one of those. I also found this page about making an adapter for the Precision Pro.

Thanks for replying, I think the easiest and cheapest would be to get a usb adapter. I was thinking of getting a soundcard with a gameport, but I don't think it is as future proof as an adapter.

Procyon wrote:

Thanks for replying, I think the easiest and cheapest would be to get a usb adapter. I was thinking of getting a soundcard with a gameport, but I don't think it is as future proof as an adapter.

AFAIK, your last chance for a gameport is with the Audigy 2. With those, the gameport comes as a secondary slot bracket that attaches to the card with a cable. Be aware though; Win7 has no support for gameport devices anymore.

This exact predicament is why I'm slowly putting together a legacy XP box with a SoundBlaster Live SB0220.

KT7AGuy wrote:

Procyon wrote:

...This exact predicament is why I'm slowly putting together a legacy XP box with a SoundBlaster Live SB0220.

The best way to go if XP compatibility is not an issue, in fact XP was a great platform for running many late W9x games in general. A USB adapter should work too though I have no firsthand experience. I was tempted to go that route a few times but always found it easier to fall back on a retro rig if I needed to.

tincup wrote:

The best way to go if XP compatibility is not an issue, in fact XP was a great platform for running many late W9x games in general. A USB adapter should work too though I have no firsthand experience. I was tempted to go that route a few times but always found it easier to fall back on a retro rig if I needed to.

What's really great is that I planned my current rig with the intention of eventually retiring it as a future XP legacy box too. I don't currently have an Audigy 2 with a gameport adapter, but I'll pick one up someday. At that time, the world will tremble before the fearsome power that will be my ULTIMATE legacy XP box:

ASUS M4A77TD (It has solid caps! Woohoo!)
AMD Phenom II X2 560 (3.3ghz)
EVGA 560Ti
4gb of RAM
Audigy 2 with gameport adapter

Muahahahahahaha!

But really, that's probably best left to a different thread so we don't get too far off-topic... 😉

Hmmm... same here. Just last weekend for fun I re-assembled the parts iof my previous main XP machine into a new compact box: Asus M4A79XTD EVO, AMD Phenom 555BE/4-core unlocked/@3.8/stock voltage, 2x HIS 5770/1mb crossfire, 4gb PC1600, Cooler Master 360 case... but no gameport adapter... yet. Though so far I've had satisfactory results with USB controller for most older games that can still keep up with the rig. I reserve 'gameport' for my P1 and P3 rigs at the moment...

tincup wrote:

Hmmm... same here. Just last weekend for fun I re-assembled the parts iof my previous main XP machine into a new compact box: Asus M4A79XTD EVO, AMD Phenom 555BE/4-core unlocked/@3.8/stock voltage, 2x HIS 5770/1mb crossfire, 4gb PC1600, Cooler Master 360 case... but no gameport adapter... yet. Though so far I've had satisfactory results with USB controller for most older games that can still keep up with the rig. I reserve 'gameport' for my P1 and P3 rigs at the moment...

It is interesting (and encouraging) to see how similar our ideas of an "Ultimate XP" system are... I'm looking forward to the next few years to see how others build their (soon-to-be) legacy XP boxes.

Did you cram all that stuff into a Cooler Master Elite 360? If so, I'd really like to see some pics of how you managed all that. I've got one of my KT7As in one of those cases and it was a very tight fit to get everything together correctly. I really like the case alot, but assembling everything was a challenge and my options were somewhat limited due to its compact size. Now that I have it all together though, it is a very attractive compact mid-tower case.

KT7AGuy wrote:

...Did you cram all that stuff into a Cooler Master Elite 360? If so, I'd really like to see some pics of how you managed all that.

My plan is to update my rigs soon with pics in the System Spec section -haven't uploaded pics yet on Vogons so need to practice that. I don't want to hijack this controller thread 🤣, but yes I like the 360 quite a bit and have used it 3 or 4 times. Well vented for it's size so with patience you can really pack it in. Just need a 'shorter' PSU [6" max] that doesn't hang over the mobo..

Another vote for the Gravis Analog Pro here. Make sure you get the pro version though, the normal Analog doesn't have a trigger.

An update:

I bought a gameport-usb adapter to make my MS Sidewinder FFB Pro work, but it doesn't work.
Apparently I do have to have a pci card with gameport to make it work. =(

Procyon wrote:

my favorite was the original Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro.
These things were made to withstand the armageddon and the apocalypse at the same time.
I'm still hoping to get it working someday on my regular PC with the help of a cheap soundcard with game/midiport.

They are quite tough. I'm in the middle of a project to get my friend's Sidewinder FFB Pro working with Windows 7, somehow he managed to do this to it (I disassembled the handle):

Some hours of gluing later and it's back in one piece though.
My current plan is to use the force feedback version of the 3dp-vert project. 3dp-vert a build-it-yourself adapter for specific Sidewinders, and the FFB version is specifically for the FFBP. I'm still trying to build it, my computer sees the joystick and sometimes centers too but the axes and buttons tend to freak out a bit. There's also a Vista gameport driver (download here, forum link isn't so good) on the creative forums. I've heard it works with windows 7 (so probably windows 8 as well), but is more difficult to set up on 64-bit systems if possible at all. Also people haven't had much luck with FFB support with that driver. I will probably try it out later on my spare PC.

osterac wrote:

They are quite tough. I'm in the middle of a project to get my friend's Sidewinder FFB Pro working with Windows 7, somehow he managed to do this to it (I disassembled the handle):
Some hours of gluing later and it's back in one piece though.
My current plan is to use the force feedback version of the 3dp-vert project. 3dp-vert a build-it-yourself adapter for specific Sidewinders, and the FFB version is specifically for the FFBP. I'm still trying to build it, my computer sees the joystick and sometimes centers too but the axes and buttons tend to freak out a bit. There's also a Vista gameport driver (download here, forum link isn't so good) on the creative forums. I've heard it works with windows 7 (so probably windows 8 as well), but is more difficult to set up on 64-bit systems if possible at all. Also people haven't had much luck with FFB support with that driver. I will probably try it out later on my spare PC.

Wow, how did he manage that? 😳
Where I live they can be bought cheaply (gameport versions). http://www.marktplaats.nl/z.html?query=micros … 41HV&distance=0
I have heard of selfmade converters though I'm hesitant to try my hand at it, not only for the risc of frying my PC, but also for the parts which are hard to come by.
Though I have to say this one looks particulary interesting as it also allows for adding trimming controls.
For now I'm very happy with my new Thrustmaster T.16000M though, it has amazing accuracy and is very durable, a major improvement over my previous Logitech Force 3D Pro, which was honestly..... crap.
Drop a message if you got it working though. 😀

Well I got the adapter working tonight, yay!
I was playing some rollcage, the little light on the adapter's circuit board lights up whenever there is a force feedback event. Force feedback was working well. So well, in fact, that the joystick handle snapped off halfway through. I don't think I cleaned the thing well enough prior to gluing it - the glue is in one piece, it just came loose.

I've been always a keyboard/gamepad die-hard due to the gaming genres I like so I saw little appeal in analog PC joysticks. My first home PC came with a horrible Genius joystick which I never used and promptly lost, and back in the 90s it seemed like 75% of the people I knew which owned a home PC had some sort of analog joystick sitting on a shelf collecting dust, I guess retailers just gave them away. They almost always used suction cups which didn't hold jack on your standard computer desk and the calibration knobs were a joke. The people I knew who were into flight sims and stuff had better gear, so I didn't see the point of these cheapo analog joysticks, gamepads would've been much more useful. Now I probably have a box full of them sitting around somewhere, thanks to people giving them to me over the years. 😵

The first time when I really started using a controller for some PC games was back in the early 2000s when I found out you could connect console gamepads to the parallel port. I wired up a pair of knockoff SNES controllers and I used them until they broke (which wasn't very long) but I still preferred gaming with the keyboard. As years went by I shifted from PC gaming to console gaming, and eventually got my hands on a Gravis PC GamePad and a Gravis GamePad Pro USB, and I have to say I've been thoroughly enjoying playing the PC platformers of my youth with a gamepad. 😀

osterac wrote:

Well I got the adapter working tonight, yay!
I was playing some rollcage, the little light on the adapter's circuit board lights up whenever there is a force feedback event. Force feedback was working well. So well, in fact, that the joystick handle snapped off halfway through. I don't think I cleaned the thing well enough prior to gluing it - the glue is in one piece, it just came loose.

Very nice. 😀

As for repairing, can't you replace the broken part with a metal pipe or something?
I don't think glueing can fix that or you must have very strong glue, like two component epoxy glue.

Procyon wrote:

can't you replace the broken part with a metal pipe or something?

I thought about that, but the wires run through the center of the pipe, and I'd either have to cut them and re-connect them or de-solder them from the board. I'm using PC-7 epoxy and some fiberglass cloth for extra body.

133MHz wrote:

I saw little appeal in analog PC joysticks

I know what you mean. Playing a game with a joystick is more work than a gamepad, and unless it's a flight sim, you usually don't do any better. If the joystick is force feedback however, that adds a little extra fun even if it makes the game more challenging.

osterac wrote:

I thought about that, but the wires run through the center of the pipe, and I'd either have to cut them and re-connect them or de-solder them from the board. I'm using PC-7 epoxy and some fiberglass cloth for extra body.

You can still try the metal pipe fix if glueing doesn't work, desoldering a few wires shouldn't be too much of a problem for someone who can make a usb converter. 😉

133MHz wrote:

I saw little appeal in analog PC joysticks

An analog stick was the only way to enjoy X-Wing, nough said. 😀

The last joystick I got into were the old Logitech Wingman Digital 3d.

Older ones I liked were the Atari era Wico Command sticks, Gravid Gamepads, Thrustmasters in the DOS era.

My "biggest" game controller is also my most unique: it's an exercise bicycle called TimeRyder Interactive Bike from Life Gear which has a multi-plugged connection cable that lets your pedalling control the speed/direction of characters (or cars or planes) for three different systems: PC, SNES, and Genesis (and of course, with various converter cables, that list can expand to several *other* systems like Atari, C64, Amiga, etc). It's rarer than the famously scarce version of "Exertainment" cycle that could only control SNES games like the SNES Mountain Bike Rally/Speed Racer cart.

I should use it more often... 🤣