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Apologies for the wrong forum. Can a mod please move this to the correct one?

vladstamate wrote:

Hi all, I will be getting a nice Saitek X52 HOTAS for my birthday (together with a complete Elite Dangerous from Steam - side not: I will also pair that with HTC Vive for a nice VR space encounter experience:) ). But I was wondering if said HOTAS can be used in DosBOX for playing say Wing Commander games.

I did a bit of research and it seems (at least according to GOG forums) that is indeed possible although somewhat tricky. Although you might not be able to use all the buttons (since well, I presume WC uses only 1 button) you can at least map them to keys.

Does anyone have first hand experience with the X52 in DosBOX and if yes, what games have you successfully played?

If you can map the X52 axis into generic DirectX joystick axis, then yes, you can use it in DOSBOX. It depends on your X52 software.

Me, I'm using CH Fighterstick, CH Pro Throttle, and CH Pro Pedals. The CH software can map your physical controllers into a virtual DirectX joystick (or two virtual DirectX joysticks, or more). I typically map my physical devices into a single "virtual stick" with four axis: X, Y, Z (throttle), and R (rudder); then I could easily use it in DOSBOX or Windows games.

Of course, if the said DOS games doesn't support multi-axis joystick, then you better map the throttle and rudder into keystrokes instead of Z and R axis.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Me, I'm using CH Fighterstick, CH Pro Throttle, and CH Pro Pedals. The CH software can map your physical controllers into a virtual DirectX joystick (or two virtual DirectX joysticks, or more). I typically map my physical devices into a single "virtual stick" with four axis: X, Y, Z (throttle), and R (rudder); then I could easily use it in DOSBOX or Windows games.

Of course, if the said DOS games doesn't support multi-axis joystick, then you better map the throttle and rudder into keystrokes instead of Z and R axis.

Ah, thank you. This is good information. Such a long chain though 😀

Actual HOTAS -> Virtual DX joystick -> DosBOX translation -> Game

vladstamate wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Me, I'm using CH Fighterstick, CH Pro Throttle, and CH Pro Pedals. The CH software can map your physical controllers into a virtual DirectX joystick (or two virtual DirectX joysticks, or more). I typically map my physical devices into a single "virtual stick" with four axis: X, Y, Z (throttle), and R (rudder); then I could easily use it in DOSBOX or Windows games.

Of course, if the said DOS games doesn't support multi-axis joystick, then you better map the throttle and rudder into keystrokes instead of Z and R axis.

Ah, thank you. This is good information. Such a long chain though 😀

Actual HOTAS -> Virtual DX joystick -> DosBOX translation -> Game

It is for CH devices. I've never owned Saitek X52 before, but I assume it works the same. Again, consult your stick manual and/or software.

Okay, so for CH control devices, it's like this:

When you have a CH Fighterstick, CH Pro Throttle, and CH Pro Pedals, you basically have four physical axis distributed on four physical devices: the CH Fighterstick has X and Y axis, the CH Pro Throttle has Z axis, while the CH Pro Pedals have R axis. However, CH Control Manager always encapsulates those physical controllers into virtual devices, because virtual joystick devices offer greater flexibility, for example.

- the CH Fighterstick, CH Pro Throttle, and CH Pro Pedals can be represented by one virtual joystick with four axis: X, Y, Z, and R. This is the configuration I use more often with newer games than DOS games running in DOSBOX, actually.

- the CH Fighterstick, CH Pro Throttle, and CH Pro Pedals can be represented by two virtual joysticks with two axis each: X Y for joystick 1, and X Y for joystick 2. If I recall correctly, I use this configuration to play Dynamix's A-10 Tank Killer v1.5 in DOSBOX, because the game support throttle and rudder on the second joystick.

- the CH Fighterstick, CH Pro Throttle, and CH Pro Pedals can be represented by one virtual joystick with two axis: just a standard joystick with X and Y axis. What happens to the physical axis of the Pro Throttle and Pro Pedals, you may ask. Well, the physical axis of the throttle and pedals are translated into keystrokes instead of virtual joystick's axis. This is actually the configuration I use most often with DOS games running in DOSBOX, because DOS games rarely support Y axis and R axis. Yes, most DOS flight sims control throttle and rudder through repeated keystrokes, like = key to increase throttle and - key to decrease throttle, or series of keys, like 1234567890.

- there are also rare instances when I assign those CH physical devices into odd configurations. An example is Gunship 2000 in DOSBOX, when I encapsulate the CH controllers into a single virtual joystick with X axis, Y axis, and R axis but without the Z axis. That's because Gunship 2000 only support either throttle or rudder pedals at the same time, but not both. So, after setting the physical controllers as such, then from Gunship 2000 's configuration utility (in DOSBOX), I set up the game to use joystick and rudder, but not throttle. Instead, I translate the CH Pro Throttle's sliding movement into multiple "SHIFT"+"=" to increase throttle (ten times), and "SHIFT"+"-" to decrease throttle (ten times), then I'm good to go.

Note: the four CH devices mentioned above actually have more than four physical axis together, because CH Fighterstick has slider control, while on CH Pro Pedals you can also press the pedals with your foot as well as rotating them; but those are the axis I usually disable, so let's just say four axis for simplicity).

Well, that's what works for CH devices; translating them into virtual DirectX control devices. However, I don't know how Saitek X-52's control software works. It should be noted that different products may have different control scheme. Logitech Gaming Software, for example, is nowhere as sophisticated as CH Control Manager. You can only assign keyboard buttons to joystick buttons, but you cannot encapsulate physical controllers into virtual DirectX controller --at least not that I know of. I'm not sure if you can encapsulate a Logitech Flight System G940 into a single joystick with only two axis, while mapping its throttle and pedals into keystrokes. And this configuration (single, two axis joystick with throttle and pedals mapped into keystrokes) is most-needed for DOS games running in DOSBOX. And that's why I didn't buy G940 on the first place. That's why I stick with my CH stick, throttle, and pedals (no pun intended).

IIRC, for Saitek (I have an X52 Pro), you should check out their SST configuration software when you want advanced setups.

http://www.saitek.com/manuals/SST_Manual_En.pdf

Last time I played with DOSBOX was on a WinXP 32bit setup. This was also using CH Pedals, and linking Direct Input settings.

So has the OP been able to use the X52 with DOS games in DOSBOX?

I just got it, 2 days ago. Been playing X-Plane, Elite Dangerous and X3. Next thing I will try is DosBOX, and I will report here. I have some problems installing it's software in Windows 10 (keeps giving me errors) but the drivers are ok.

Pardon the necro, but this seems to be useful; a universal joystick remapper to remap your physical stick into one or more 8 axis, 32 buttons virtual joystick.

No, I need to apologize. I had forgotten to update this. I still have not tried any Wing Commander ( I promise to do it before the weekend) but neither Descent or Descent 2 (Demo) work. Somehow they refuse to even see a joystick. "Jane's Combat Simulation" works however.

Now this is unlikely there is a problem with DosBOX and more likely that somehow my X52 setup has some issues. Elite Dangerous (and X3) work fine however.