I am using a fairly old joystick (read: cheap) and is plugged into the
gameport. I could go to a USB but currently I only have 1.1. I have been
planning to put a 2.0 card in and then I could use that.

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"Andy L." wrote in message
link.net...
[...]
In nearly all the aircraft I fly the joystick seems to be very sensitive.
The plane jumps around quite a bit. I thought of reducing the sensitivity
but was concerned that I might not have full field of travel when I want
it. I have noticed the same thing on other MSFSs. Do I need a new
joystick or is that just the nature of the simbeast.

This probably has nothing to do with your problem, but I'll mention a
hardware issue I just discovered with my own PC:

I have a PC case with external USB ports. The ports are wired to the
motherboard using slide-on single-wire connectors. The MB comes with a
separate USB plug plate that fits into any available expansion slot
opening, with a single multi-wire plug connecting the ports on the plug
plate to the MB. To use the case's ports instead, I just had those ports
wires attached to the MB instead of the separate USB plug plate that came
with the MB.

Well, the funny thing was that the USB ports worked just well enough for
it to SEEM like it was working okay -- that is, USB devices were correctly
detected, and mostly worked -- but there was still some kind of problem
that was causing erratic data. It wasn't until I started using USB 2.0
devices that the problem was so bad I took time to look into it. Sure
enough, by using the USB plug plate that came with the MB, the problems
went away.

One of the problems I was having was random behavior while using USB game
controllers. My steering wheel controller was the worst, but the joystick
used with MSFS did the same thing you're experiencing: minor movements in
the joystick would result in large changes in airplane control. It wasn't
bad enough to prevent being able to fly the planes, but it was bad enough
to make me wonder if I knew what the hell I was doing.

Anyway, if you have the ability to use a different USB port on your PC
(preferably one directly connected to the MB), try that and see if your
problem goes away.

Of course, you should also check the joystick calibration. Within MSFS,
as well as in Windows, there's place in the controller settings where you
can run the joystick through its range of motion, to ensure you have the
full range of control available to you.

Pete