It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:28 am
- Been thanked: 19 times
It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
What are people using if anything? Curious what works well or.wjat I would need to get a joystick going... I have used my gamepad with the core. But it's not been the greatest and usually get settled drift as well . Would love to hear more about other people's setups.
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:28 am
- Been thanked: 19 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
Try different games. Each game has its own way of configuring the joystick and you have to figure out what that is. I have successfully used my Thrustmaster T. Flight Hotas 4 with Wing Commander, and I think I have to hit Ctrl-J at the first screen where it says Start a Campaign, Continue a Campaign, etc. to get it to use the joystick. I also used the MiSTer keyboard to button mapping feature to use all of the other many buttons on the Thrustmaster. When I press the buttons, it sends keystrokes to the game.Kuro Houou wrote: ↑Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:22 am I ordered a CH Flightstick Pro (will have to use a gameport to usb adapter), hoping that will help as my "new" joysticks don't work. Thrustmaster T.16000. Understand I would never get all the buttons or axis.. but was hoping at least X/Y and 4 buttons would work I have been trying to play Decent so that's my test game... But seeing as the CH Flightstick Pro was built for DOS gaming my fingers are crossed that it will work. Also I am not sure if I should be using 2 sticks or 2 joysticks in the Mister core config.. I have tried both but no success..
I also have a CH Products Mach III that I removed the 15-pin cable from and replaced with an Arduino Micro that I programmed to be a 3-button joystick (since the Mach III has three physical buttons). I have a Rockfire 15-pin gameport to USB adapter, but it doesn't work that well (it doesn't use the whole range of the joystick properly), and the Arduino works perfectly.
Also, be sure to use the MiSTer menu to configure the joystick before using it in the core, and use the input tester utility to test it out. Also, you will probably need to use the Core menu to configure the joystick as well. After this is done, it should work with ao486. You should not need an older joystick.
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:28 am
- Been thanked: 19 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
Also when setting up a Joystick in the initial Mister configuration, do you assign the X/Y axis to the digital up/down/left/right buttons? Or do you asking it to the left and right stick? Or at the very end I think it asks for the X axis... Want to make sure I'm setting it up right.
Last the keyboard remapper is great like you said to use more buttons on the joystick! I was able to use that. Just need to get these axis working...
Also any luck with throttle? Or is that just something that won't work in DOS.. I remember using it in Mech Warrior 2 back in the day on the original Sidewinder joystick.
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
At the very beginning, when it asks to move, I use the analog stick. I hit spacebar for the second joystick question (from what I recall).
Once it starts asking for gamepad directions, I used the hat on the joystick.
Eventually it asks for Analog X and Y and I used the analog stick for that.
Test everything with the Input Tester utility. You can get to the analog testing screen by holding down select or menu or something, (can't remember, but it tells you on the screen).
I haven't tried Descent in awhile, but I think there may be a Calibrate Joystick option in the menu somewhere.
Also, sometimes it seems that the joystick is intermittently detected (or not). Pressing a button on the joystick while in DOS might help before starting the game. Not really sure.
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:28 am
- Been thanked: 19 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
I guess it goes back to my original question.. what joysticks work best with the Mister? What have people had good success with out of the box? It seems like support for Joysticks is still lacking
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:28 am
- Been thanked: 19 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 531
- Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 5:06 am
- Has thanked: 87 times
- Been thanked: 211 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
Example joystick code (Borland Turbo Pascal):
Code: Select all
function JoystickPosition(axisnum : byte) : word;
var count : word;
begin
asm
mov word ptr count, 0
cli { Disable interrupts so they don't interfere with timing }
mov dx, JOYSTICKPORT { Write dummy byte to joystick port }
out dx, al
@joystickloop:
inc count { Add one to count }
cmp count, $FFFF { Check for time out }
je @done
in al, dx { Get joystick port value }
and al, axisnum { Test the appropriate bit }
jne @joystickloop
@done:
sti { Enable interrupts again }
end;
JoystickPosition := count;
end;
AFIK this is the only way to determine a joystick is present on PC.
The original PC joystick interface is an abomination, designed with absolute minimum cost in mind - not performance as the CPU is busy looping waiting for a capacitor to discharge. This is why pressing the old "Turbo" button royally screwed up the joystick calibration.
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1441
- Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 7:54 pm
- Has thanked: 496 times
- Been thanked: 467 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
Wait...I missed that trick. Do you mean move the joystick (in my case analog stick on Dusalshock) after the core reset, or MiSTer cold boot in general?
I really would love to be able to use it in more PC games, but so far it's really hit and miss, with more of the latter. Been pondering it in Wing Commander yesterday, for example, the mice works (sort of, it's kinda floaty) but the joystick doesn't. Will try this method right now...
CRT SCR$ Project - building a collection of high-quality photos of CRT displays
CRT ART Books - retro-gaming books with authentic CRT photos
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 531
- Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 5:06 am
- Has thanked: 87 times
- Been thanked: 211 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
I discussed this behavior with Kitrinx quite a while ago, and she quickly pointed me at the right bits of code to make the joystick always appear.akeley wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:54 pmWait...I missed that trick. Do you mean move the joystick (in my case analog stick on Dusalshock) after the core reset, or MiSTer cold boot in general?
I really would love to be able to use it in more PC games, but so far it's really hit and miss, with more of the latter. Been pondering it in Wing Commander yesterday, for example, the mice works (sort of, it's kinda floaty) but the joystick doesn't. Will try this method right now...
I think the original intent of the code perhaps was to prevent users with no joystick present from getting stuck because the game demands that they use (or perhaps just calibrate) the controller.
For the past few months I have been testing test builds of ao486 with this behavior disabled. In in addition to myself, Flynnsbit (and perhaps others) have been testing these builds.
I think we both concur that so far this change is only beneficial. Still, the DOS library is huge ( + joystick hardware implementation on the PC is terrible), and If it eventually it is found to break something, then an OSD option will be needed to truly disable the joystick.
Anyway, here are the fix details for the curious --> https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ao486_M ... c5d185af30
.rbf --> https://github.com/MiSTer-unstable-nigh ... 177a73.rbf
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
To get Wing Commander working:akeley wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:54 pmWait...I missed that trick. Do you mean move the joystick (in my case analog stick on Dusalshock) after the core reset, or MiSTer cold boot in general?
I really would love to be able to use it in more PC games, but so far it's really hit and miss, with more of the latter. Been pondering it in Wing Commander yesterday, for example, the mice works (sort of, it's kinda floaty) but the joystick doesn't. Will try this method right now...
Hit Ctrl-J at the first screen where it says Start a Campaign, Continue a Campaign, etc. to get it to use the joystick.
With any game using the old way with ao486, you need to use the joystick in DOS before launching the game and it should work. I am looking forward to trying the new way!
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1441
- Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 7:54 pm
- Has thanked: 496 times
- Been thanked: 467 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
Been trying it out and it does seem to make a difference in some cases, but I also had a lot of hard time trying to get it to work properly in general - but it's hard to say why, seeing as there are so many factors involved. I've just seen there was a "Add option to disable joysticks" change made to the core yesterday, so hopefully a new official release will appear soon. Will put the testing on hold till then.
CRT SCR$ Project - building a collection of high-quality photos of CRT displays
CRT ART Books - retro-gaming books with authentic CRT photos
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
Try it and see. See my post above about how to get it to work with Wing Commander. I would say, "yeah, it should work" but it may not due to not being recognized at the driver level on the Linux side. This was the case with my Logitech G25 wheel until it was added to the Linux Kernel.
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1441
- Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 7:54 pm
- Has thanked: 496 times
- Been thanked: 467 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
CRT SCR$ Project - building a collection of high-quality photos of CRT displays
CRT ART Books - retro-gaming books with authentic CRT photos
-
- Top Contributor
- Posts: 1311
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:37 pm
- Has thanked: 634 times
- Been thanked: 308 times
Re: It’s 2022, What’s the Current State of Joystick Support?
Just a note to self for future reference and to anyone with a Playstation PS3/PS4 Thrustmaster Hotas 4 joystick, in order to get the throttle and other extra axes to work, hold down the PS, Share and Options button when plugging in the USB cable. The light will be green instead of red. Now I can play all my favorite games and the throttle will work. Edit: Just spent some time with it, and this joystick is absolutely brilliant for the Playstation Core, and most likely AO486 which I haven't tested yet. I played Wing Commander IV and it was made for this game. Also, I can finally play Moto Racer and control it much more precisely and not end up in last place all the time when racing. I just wish all the Playstation games worked in analog mode. Many that should don't, such as Star Wars Rebel Assault I and II, but I can play those in AO486.