New joystick/flightstick

[Red Baron]

If i can't get it to work at all i'll just use my old Sidewinder. I just like to have the keyboard between throttle and joystick, it's more comfortable to use for me that way. It feels like there's just one more minor obstacle to overcome too.
The Warthog i'd only consider buyingif i could resell the G940, AND if i was sure it would work for these few games i have.
Once again i was suffering from the delusion that technical progress would actually make things easier than they used to be.

EDIT: Hmm close, i found a forum with a similar problem:

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=27114

"I finally discovered how IL2 and a few other games assign joystick IDs. Now that this is known, is it fixable?

Currently, IL2 assigns IDs to joysticks alphabetically via the Vendor/Device ID. In my case, the list is as follows:

VID_044F&PID_0402 - Thrustmaster Warthog Stick
VID_044F&PID_0404 - Thrustmaster Warthog Throttle
VID_046D&PID_C215 - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
VID_046D&PID_C216 - Logitech Dual Action Gamepad
VID_068E&PID_C0F2 - CH Pro Pedals USB
VID_068E&PID_00FA - CH THROTTLE QUADRANT"

Actually, it's not IL2 itself that assigns joystick IDs, but he's pretty close to a solution.
I'll try his approach and report if it worked.

 

[Red Baron]

Hmm apparently there's no way to change the Joystick order for DirectInput. The VIDs (Vendor IDs) are assigned by the manufacturer, that's why screwing around with JoyIds didn't do anything, and probably why the Virtual Joystick will always end up at the bottom.
Basically on my PC it's:

VID_045E&PID_001B - Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 Joystick
VID_046D&PID_C2A8 - Logitech G940 Joystick
VID_046D&PID_C2A9 - Logitech G940 Throttle
VID_046D&PID_C2AA - Logitech G940 Pedals
VID_DEAD&PID_BEF0 - PPJoy Virtual Joystick 1

The Sidewinder i can unplug as i don't need it, but the Logitech devices *have* to be plugged in for the Virtual Joystick to work.
So PPJoy needs a VendorID between 000 and 045, or the Virtual Joystick will always end up AFTER the Logitech stick. And that will never happen because the PPJoy drivers are not certified (and will never be for 500$ per year), and everything before is probably already occupied by other manufacturers.
So unless anyone knows a way of making Secret Ops use another Joystick than the topmost one of the DirectInput order in Windows7 (and i'm not even sure if this REALLY is the way the game behaves, it's just that it appears so on my PC), this is probably the point at which i should accept that there's no way of using the Logitech G940 Hotas for Prophecy, Secret Ops or Standoff.
Bummer.

 

[Mace]

So PPJoy needs a VendorID between 000 and 045, or the Virtual Joystick will always end up AFTER the Logitech stick. And that will never happen because the PPJoy drivers are not certified (and will never be for 500$ per year), and everything before is probably already occupied by other manufacturers.

You can edit the .inf file for PPJoy's virtual device and give it any vendor ID you want....

 

[Red Baron]

Hehe, ooooookay. Using the takedown /cacls commands i made the PPortJoy.infs (i have two) editable and changed

%Joystick%= Joystick.Inst, PPJoyBus\VID_DEAD&PID_BEEF

to

%Joystick%= Joystick.Inst, PPJoyBus\VID_000&PID_BEEF

and everything else with VID_DEAD for that matter. PPJoy still registers every new Virtual Stick as VID_DEAD.
But i contacted the PPJoy programmer for help, as this is no Wing Commander issue anymore. I don't even think it's a Joystick issue.
Unless anyone knows why i can't change joysticks for Secret Ops that is.

 

[Mace]

But i contacted the PPJoy programmer for help, as this is no Wing Commander issue anymore. I don't even think it's a Joystick issue.
Unless anyone knows why i can't change joysticks for Secret Ops that is.

See this: http://superuser.com/a/127927

Well, then we enter the twilight zone called windows device manager.. if it does show up there, we can still work with it.. Maybe latertoday when I'm home I'll try to set up something similar myself.

- Create a new directory, and put your modified .inf in it, also modify the name it registers under vendor name section.
- In the device manager, look up the virtual joystick, richtclick, and replace/update the driver manually by browsing to your directory and selecting modified .inf .
- Ignore every warning you get, and have it pick the rest of the driver files already present in the system, and best to reboot after installation.
- See if it works now.

Ofcourse, this is an experimental workaround, and really only the developer of PPJoy can be adressing and fixing this, but since his software is free to the public, best to assist him with a little research we did ourselves. I recommend you also send him the link to this thread, if you did not already.

 

[Red Baron]

Hmm could this be coded anywhere else? I only edited the .inf and it didn't work, but if it isn't in a file i can edit with a text editor i'm screwed.

 

[Mace]

Hmm could this be coded anywhere else? I only edited the .inf and it didn't work, but if it isn't in a file i can edit with a text editor i'm screwed.

In the device itself, ofcouse, but the device is virtual, so you can edit it, since it is nothing but a file. But I would prefer to have the developer itself look into this specific issue, and see if he would be interested in adressing it.