New to FS2004 Jumpy stick???

I just recently bought FS2004 and I just looked at this group so forgive me
for not knowing if this has been addressed before.

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.

Thanks,
Andy

"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

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

"Andy L." wrote in message
link.net...
I just recently bought FS2004 and I just looked at this group so forgive me
for not knowing if this has been addressed before.

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.

Thanks,
Andy

Likely calibration issues is all that is wrong. I have a Logitech
Extreme3D Pro
and love it for FS2004. Nice throttle and tons of programmable buttons.
If
you're looking for a change, I recommend it.

"Andy L." wrote in message
link.net...
I am using a fairly old joystick (read: cheap) and is plugged into the
gameport.

Ahh, okay. Well, then just as I suspected...my troubles have nothing to do
with yours.

That said, you'll still want to verify the joystick calibration. Once
you've done that, if you are still having problems, you may still be dealing
with some kind of hardware-related issue. Either a gameport with a bad
connection, or possibly some kind of configuration conflict (IRQ).

It's hard to know for sure, since no one reading this except you has the
ability to actually use the joystick to see what the symptoms are. But I'd
say that generally, you should be able to use the joystick to smoothly
control the airplane, and if you can't, there's something wrong that you
ought to be able to find and fix.

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.

A game controller should work just fine with USB 1.1. It's not a
high-bandwidth device.

Pete

In article ,
says...

"Andy L." wrote in message
link.net...
I just recently bought FS2004 and I just looked at this group so forgive me
for not knowing if this has been addressed before.

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.

Thanks,
Andy

Likely calibration issues is all that is wrong. I have a Logitech
Extreme3D Pro
and love it for FS2004. Nice throttle and tons of programmable buttons.
If
you're looking for a change, I recommend it.

I've got the same joystick It seems to be acting digital instead of
analog. Is that true, and if so is there a way to change that.
Otherwise, I really do like it.

--

Epi

------------
In the tradition of the Yugo, Bosnia has come out
with a new car. It's called the Bozo.
------------
http://www.curlesneck.com

Andy L. wrote:
I just recently bought FS2004 and I just looked at this group so
forgive me for not knowing if this has been addressed before.

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.

Thanks,
Andy

You should reduce the sensitivity. It will not affect the field of travel. A
lot depends on your joystick. If you have been playing shoot-ups then you
may not have the realistic stick which is best for FS2004. Go to alt. games.
microsoft..flight-sim for more detailed help on this. Sure it has come up
before but what the heck, we are nice patient guys in the FS world!

I use an MS Force Feedback USB stick which works well with Win XP.


--
Cheers
Quilljar


Try 'Living With Technology' magazine
http://www.livtech.co.uk

"Epi" wrote in message
k.net...
I've got the same joystick It seems to be acting digital instead of
analog. Is that true, and if so is there a way to change that.
Otherwise, I really do like it.

--

Epi

It's digital, no analog ability, sorry.

Andy L. wrote:
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.

The traditional joysticks use an analog-to-digital chip and, depending
on the quality of your sound card (they're usually embedded into the
sound card chipset), the quality of the control can be very hit-or-miss.
Also, the whole calibration procedure (suggested by someone else) is
designed to make up for electrical and mechanical differences between
joystick.

Do you have any other joysticks that you can try?

Alternatively, a cheap USB joystick might just solve the problem
entirely. Also, USB joysticks get very little benefit from doing the
calibration procedure, since the analog-to-digital unit is inside the
joystick and was calibrated to match the potentiometer when the joystick
was built (or maybe the "calibration" is done when joystick was designed?).

Analog joysticks are a throwback from the '80s. The joystick ports were
fun to play with, though, I was but an electronics-minded adolescent... :-)

-Luke

I did get a $29 Logitech joystick from Target and that works worlds better
than my old one.

Thanks for all the input,
Andy


"Luke Scharf" wrote in message
...
Andy L. wrote:
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.

The traditional joysticks use an analog-to-digital chip and, depending on
the quality of your sound card (they're usually embedded into the sound
card chipset), the quality of the control can be very hit-or-miss. Also,
the whole calibration procedure (suggested by someone else) is designed to
make up for electrical and mechanical differences between joystick.

Do you have any other joysticks that you can try?

Alternatively, a cheap USB joystick might just solve the problem entirely.
Also, USB joysticks get very little benefit from doing the calibration
procedure, since the analog-to-digital unit is inside the joystick and was
calibrated to match the potentiometer when the joystick was built (or
maybe the "calibration" is done when joystick was designed?).

Analog joysticks are a throwback from the '80s. The joystick ports were
fun to play with, though, I was but an electronics-minded adolescent...
:-)

-Luke