Virtual Joystick wrapper

[mhe-at]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a software that would allow me to wrap several joysticks into one big virtual device in windows. I know this is not necessarily something that FS9 or FSX need, but several other older flightsims lack support for more than one joystick, which makes using rudder pedals next to impossible. Since I have enjoyed the advantages of FSUIPC (payware version) for quite some time now, Pete's name immediately comes to mind when thinking about heavy input device wizardry.

I know there is a program called PPJoyJoy, but its two biggest problems are, that it doesn't support more than 16 Buttons in the created virtual device (which is especially painful given the fact that a hat, of which the X52 for example has 3, already counts as 4 indepentend buttons each) and that it just won't work on Vista64 due to the fact that it has been created at a time where you hooked up your input device via gameports. It is not actively maintained or developed at the moment, so the problems won't go away by just waiting for a new version.

Pete, is there any other software that would allow me to merge my Saitek input devices into one virtual device, enabling me to use this virtual device for other sims that support only one stick as well?

If not, would you be interested in developing such a thing (I really have no idea how much work that would be, just asking)? I'd definitely pay for such a software if it's quality was on par with the other modules discussed in this forum. I think there might be a market for that, as many people are trying to find a solution for this problem, just look at all the communities for Freespace 2 SCP, Falcon 4.0 and the older flightsims offered by Good Old Games. Being able to use my rudder pedals and stick as a combined device in any game would be really really handy.

So what does the master think about that? ;)

Greetins from Austria

Martin

[Pete Dowson]

Pete, is there any other software that would allow me to merge my Saitek input devices into one virtual device, enabling me to use this virtual device for other sims that support only one stick as well?

Not that I know of, no. Note that one Joystick device is limited to 8 analogue axes and 64 buttons in any case. The older interface I use in Windows supports only 6 analogue axes and 32 buttons.

If not, would you be interested in developing such a thing

No, not at all I'm afraid. To fool an application program (game, whatever) into thinking it's a genuine device it would need to be written as a Windows Driver. That's an area I'm never getting into. I did it with VXDs in the old 16-bit (windows 1 through to Win98) days, but today's 32 and 64 bit operating systems are another story, and I don't want to get involved in any of it. Sorry.

You might want to talk about it with Bob Church -- in the CH Hangar.

Regards

Pete

[mhe-at]

Not that I know of, no. Note that one Joystick device is limited to 8 analogue axes and 64 buttons in any case. The older interface I use in Windows supports only 6 analogue axes and 32 buttons.

Well, I didn't know that there are limits like these in effect, it makes sense though. Thanks for the information. I can live with 8 axis devices I think. ;)

No, not at all I'm afraid. To fool an application program (game, whatever) into thinking it's a genuine device it would need to be written as a Windows Driver. That's an area I'm never getting into. I did it with VXDs in the old 16-bit (windows 1 through to Win98) days, but today's 32 and 64 bit operating systems are another story, and I don't want to get involved in any of it. Sorry.

You might want to talk about it with Bob Church -- in the CH Hangar.

I see. Thanks again, I'll give the CH Hangar a try then. Perhaps it would be possible to make an open payware version of the functionality already contained in the CH drivers.