Last Change for Top Gun

Thrustmaster support has told me that a gameport to USB adapter won't allow
my basic "Top Gun" joystick to work within Windows XP and my new,
gameport-less computer.

I'd already purchased the adaper before asking Thrustmaster, and yes...no
luck.

Is there perhaps something Thrustmaster isn't telling me...for the purpose
of having to purchase a new joystick?

Has anyone successfully done what I'm attempting to do?


Thanks...

ZW

"Zomby Woof" wrote in message
news:l63%e.18586$tl2.14831@pd7tw3no...
Thrustmaster support has told me that a gameport to USB adapter won't
allow my basic "Top Gun" joystick to work within Windows XP and my new,
gameport-less computer.

I'd already purchased the adaper before asking Thrustmaster, and yes...no
luck.

Is there perhaps something Thrustmaster isn't telling me...for the purpose
of having to purchase a new joystick?

What doesn't work? You ought to, at a minimum, be able to get two- or
three-axis input, and a couple of buttons.

Beyond that, I can well believe no additional features would work on the
joystick. But I can't imagine why NOTHING would work at all.

That said, never tried it myself. But if the joystick works fine with a
regular gameport, and not a USB gameport, then I'd say the USB gameport
wasn't designed right.

Others have suggested that you just get a cheap audio card with a gameport
and install that (disabling all the audio functions, leaving only the
gameport). I think that's a good idea. As would be simply buying a new USB
joystick; a basic one (that is, providing the same functionality you might
expect using the USB adapter) should not cost much more than the adapter.

Sorry to hear that the USB adapter isn't working out. It must work fine for
some people though, otherwise I can't imagine they would stay in business
manufacturing the adapters.

Have you considered contacting the customer support for the manufacturer of
the adapter? It seems to me that THEY are the party who should be helping
you get things to work; I'm not surprised Thrustmaster doesn't have any
suggestions...you're using their product in an unsupported way.

Pete

Zomby Woof wrote:
Thrustmaster support has told me that a gameport to USB adapter won't allow
my basic "Top Gun" joystick to work within Windows XP and my new,
gameport-less computer.

I'd already purchased the adaper before asking Thrustmaster, and yes...no
luck.

At all, or with more than the basic axes?

Is there perhaps something Thrustmaster isn't telling me...for the purpose
of having to purchase a new joystick?

I'm tempted to say yes, because I was told that my CH Gameport pedals
needed a dual-port gamecard and wouldn't run on my XP machine, which is
as good as saying it won't run on any new computer. (Dual port
gamecards were made only for the ISA bus, which has since gone the way
of 8-Track and usenet ettiquete.) To make a long story short, the
pedals worked fine on my Dimension 3000 (though I haven't used them in
months), so CH was wrong on that one. I don't think they were so
concerned with me buying new controls as much as not wanting to get
into a long and involved discussion about control-device mechanics.

However, having confronted your same problem when my gameport-less Dell
arrived earlier this year, I'm forced to concede that TM might be right
on this one. I refer you (for the nuts and bolts) to a helpful post
left by Bob Church as to possible alternatives. After trying a USB
adapter myself (and given BC's presence on the web where control
devices are concerned) his point is hard to dismiss. In short, these
adapters are acceptable for only basic use, and having a stick like the
"Top Gun" means that you're somebody who wants more than that out of
life.

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....9003a100998e0a


I eventually caved in and bought a sound card with a gameport - getting
the stick to work and having no conflicts with my existing sound. The
annoying part however is that companies having chosen to put gameports
on their soundcards don't have them on all of their cards. Meaning if
you wanted to get a SB with a gameport, the entry-level model wouldn't
suffice.

Sorry...left out some details.

In Windows calibration, all 4 buttons and the hat generate a response, but
nothing registers from the stick.

ZW

PS: The title of this post was suppose to read "Last Chance"...



"Zomby Woof" wrote in message
news:l63%e.18586$tl2.14831@pd7tw3no...
Thrustmaster support has told me that a gameport to USB adapter won't
allow my basic "Top Gun" joystick to work within Windows XP and my new,
gameport-less computer.

I'd already purchased the adaper before asking Thrustmaster, and yes...no
luck.

Is there perhaps something Thrustmaster isn't telling me...for the purpose
of having to purchase a new joystick?

Has anyone successfully done what I'm attempting to do?


Thanks...

ZW