WC3 Blues

[Wolfman]

Alright WC3 installs fine and all is good, untill it comes to the joystick, I've got drift to down-right, USB Wingman Extreme, please if anyone can think of a way to solve this let me know.

 

[Mystery muppet]

Well, I don't know how well WC3 will work with a USB-joystick, but have you tried the alternative joystick routine on this site? It worked for me, but that was an analogue gameport-thing with a CS Flightstick Pro-fetisch.

 

[CoachMark]

The Wing Commander game series is essentially a failure when it comes to joysticks. With the exception of Prophecy/Secret Ops, when they finally got it right, all WC games have joystick problems. Privateer 2 is the worst, but WC 3 and 4 are particularly bad. Both 3 and 4 react the same: before applying the joystick patch, the games are unplayable for most sticks, after the patch, the performance is upgraded to "Poor." Use an analog or digital stick, use the game port or USB, use 2 button, 3 button or 4 + button - it makes no difference. You begin to push forward on your stick, your ship goes down. You begin to pull back on your stick, your ship goes down....then up! The same effect occurs with left-right movement. It is as if the center of the stick is irrepairably off, and it makes flying slower-turning ships in WC 3 particularly hideous, as you will pitch up at 1/2 the speed you pitch down. When flying a Longbow you must roll to get an enemy directly below you, then pitch down to get him - you will have no chance pitching up. The jitter produced by the defect makes autosliding strafing runs quite difficult in WC 3 & 4, and makes success at the nightmare level virtually impossible. Yor are forced to play these games at the Hard or Ace levels, where they are often too easy. We have experienced this using four different joysticks, three different operating systems and two different computers, so the problem is not on our end. It makes no difference whether you use DOS or Windows versions, although you can add " -dead_zone=.1" to your path/run statement, which will cut down on the effects of the problem somewhat (DOS or Win versions - this works). As for WC1, 2, Privateer, Academy and Armada, they all have various problems. Don't use the Saitek 2000 (the largest selling analog joystick of the last two years) with them - you'll turn at half maximum speed. We use the Raider Pro 2-button stick with these DOS games. It is very limited in scope, but at least you can play the games - even P2! If you have the Kilrathi Saga then your digital stick will probably work OK, but with WC 1 & 2 only - 3 has the above problems.

Origin spent $10 Million on WC 4 and released a game with defective joystick controls! This no-doubt hurt the sales of Prophecy and P-Gold (where the joystick performance is absolutely awesome) and probably contributed to the series' ultimate demise.

 

[Ghost]

I didn´t have problems with the joystick in any WC game, an analog cheaper 2-button Quickshot.
And yes of course, the (your) problem with the sticks hurt the sales of WCP and WCP gold.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

As for WC1, 2, Privateer, Academy and Armada, they all have various problems. Don't use the Saitek 2000 (the largest selling analog joystick of the last two years) with them - you'll turn at half maximum speed.

Yeah, it's a shame that Origin didn't use Garriot's time machine to travel into the future and determine what the best selling analog joystick ten years later would be when they were developing Wing Commander 1.