Playing with a joystick
SouthernGorilla
United States Join Date: 2017-07-26 Member: 232057Members
United States Join Date: 2017-07-26 Member: 232057Members
Friend of mine gave me an ancient MS Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick a few weeks ago. I had to get an adapter to connect the gameport cable to a USB port, but the stick itself was USB-ready from the factory and even shipped with an adapter originally. Even with the adapter I had to make a minor internal tweak to the joystick to get the computer to recognize it since the generic adapters are not identical to the factory originals.
Then I had to install JoyToKey to fool Subnautica into thinking the joystick was a mouse. But the end result is that I can now fly my Seamoth with a joystick like a proper game.
Just a few random thoughts on the subject;
1) I still have to sort out the mapping. I'm not entirely happy with the way I have the buttons organized.
2) The mouse (trackball in my case) still works better for walking and dealing with menus.
3) I need to check out other software besides JoyToKey since it doesn't recognize the Z-axis twist on this joystick.
4) Scooting around with the joystick is so much more intuitive and enjoyable.
5) The joystick doesn't have enough buttons to effectively replace the keyboard. I don't know if I can map button combos to other functions or not. There is a button that was originally a "shift" button to double the available buttons on the stick. I can use that if JoyToKey accepts combos.
I highly recommend giving it a try. It really is so much fun.
Then I had to install JoyToKey to fool Subnautica into thinking the joystick was a mouse. But the end result is that I can now fly my Seamoth with a joystick like a proper game.
Just a few random thoughts on the subject;
1) I still have to sort out the mapping. I'm not entirely happy with the way I have the buttons organized.
2) The mouse (trackball in my case) still works better for walking and dealing with menus.
3) I need to check out other software besides JoyToKey since it doesn't recognize the Z-axis twist on this joystick.
4) Scooting around with the joystick is so much more intuitive and enjoyable.
5) The joystick doesn't have enough buttons to effectively replace the keyboard. I don't know if I can map button combos to other functions or not. There is a button that was originally a "shift" button to double the available buttons on the stick. I can use that if JoyToKey accepts combos.
I highly recommend giving it a try. It really is so much fun.
Comments
I have a much older joystick though, the MS sidewinder forcefeedback 2
Maybe once I get this thing sorted out I'll upgrade to something better. Seems the wife and I are slowly becoming hardcore gamers.