VOGONS


First post, by StarfireTBT

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Some dos games have a Joystick calibration screen before they start. In this screen you usually need to move the joystick to the center, top left, and back to center. I have found dos games have trouble recognizing my Thrustmaster T-Flight Stick X, however I have found a program called "Antimicro" which allows me to associate the joystick to either mouse, keyboard, or both inputs allowing me to get around this.
The trouble I run into is while I can leave the joystick in the center or move it to the top left I can't find an option using Antimicro to interpret no movement of the joystick to return to center. This causes my joystick calibration to be severely off. Is there a way to either disable the calibration screen or does anybody either know how to program antimicro to accurately mimic a joystick? Or for that matter does anybody have any alternatives to Antimicro that works better?

Reply 1 of 5, by Rwolf

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Well, I've not been 'infected' by Win10 yet, but there seems to be some hidden controls for calibrating it; e.g. this steam discussion describes how to get access to stick calibration and specifically deadzone setup might affect the drifting issue. https://steamcommunity.com/app/359320/discuss … 62302101122842/

Also a GoG discussion mentions problems with stick deadzone calibration, one user had a TM stick issue that could be fixed by changing some DOSBox stick settings: https://www.gog.com/forum/wing_commande ... k_deadzone

(The Thrustmaster products used to have their own calibration tools, like most other joystick manufacturers, but as I never used Thrustmaster sticks I don't know of those tools usability with respect of DOSBox & Win10.)

I'm not sure if the Antimicro tool has any axis *calibration* capabilities as I have not tried it.
I've used some older similar tools in XP for combining multiple controllers into one virtual device for specific games to see as a single stick. I forget the name of the tool I used in XP, but I found a free tool called 'Vjoy' which is Win10 compatible and available here: https://vjoy.en.softonic.com/
It's use is descibed here: http://theseger.com/projects/2014/12/combine- … le-logical-one/
(A warning! The sourceforge.net page for this software seems to have been infected with malware and is currently down, so be careful where you get it.)

Reply 2 of 5, by StarfireTBT

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That kind of works, thank you. I checked those sources, I don't have any trouble calibrating my joystick to my computer (Windows 10), I also don't really have problems with dead zones as I know how to adjust them, but the link https://www.gog.com/forum/wing_commander_seri … eabfeb199dc1f1f had a post by "Matthew94" about editing what I guessed was a dosbox config file did work. I edited the file EXACTLY as they said to with some issues which I still have questions about

1. I assumed when they mentioned "Timed interval: No " they meant "timed=no" as that was what I found
2. I couldn't find anything in the file called "emulation core: normal"
3. I did set the CPU TYPE to 386 and CPU cycles to 3500 but not the game doesn't seem to move smoothly. I tried setting it back to max and it moves smoothly but it drifts just a little. Is there a way to have both or do I need to choose between having control and having a pleasant looking game?

Reply 3 of 5, by StarfireTBT

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I couldn't find the edit feature for my last post so I will just add to it.

I experimented and changed "timed=no" to "timed=false" and I was able to get the CPU cycles to max so I now the joystick works and I have smooth game play.

1. I still don't know what they meant by "emulation core:normal" but I'm pretty sure I found what they meant by "timed interval"

thanks again for your help. I have been asking this question on I think 4 sites before somebody answered.

Reply 4 of 5, by Rwolf

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The emulation core stuff: I copied this from the help file in the 'D-Fend Reloaded' frontend; it is a setting in the CPU panel, and then found in the [CPU] section in the DOSBox 'yourgame.conf' file specific for your game as 'core=normal' if specifically selected (default is 'auto' which equals to 'dynamic' according to the helpfile).

quote:

Emulation core
In this box you can choose the emulation core you want to use.

Auto: DOSBox will choose the core type automatically.

Normal: DOSBox will execute the game instructions on a virtual CPU step by step. All games should run with this core type but this type will bring a big slow down of the emulation.

Dynamic: DOSBox will try to execute the game instructions directly on the real CPU. This emulation type is very fast but can have problems with some games. Unless you do not experience any problems with a game you should use this emulation type.

Simple: DOSBox will run the game on a virtual CPU core just like "Normal", but the CPU emulation is much more simple (and therefore faster).

:end quote