New T16000M problems with WC1

[Padre de Perritos]

Hello all. This is my first post here. As someone who played Wing Commander when it first came out almost 25 years ago, I was thrilled when I received an email from GOG saying that the games had been re-released, and just as thrilled when I found this site and discovered that there is an active and vibrant community dedicated to these games that, in my opinion, are as to computer games what Star Wars is to movies.
I am trying to figure out as much as I can on my own regarding the WC games I have purchased on GOG. I've learned about and played around with DosBox in the last few days and have somewhat figured out the mapper.map program to make keyboard/joystick configurations.............and here is my issue.
I purchased both a Thrustmaster T16000M and a Logitech Extreme 3d Pro and have played them both with Wing Commander 1, GOG version. Without a doubt, the Thrustmaster is better as far as accuracy of the stick goes. The Logitech joystick just has a larger dead spot and more play in the center and the difference while playing WC1 is very noticible to me. However, it seems that I cannot get the hat switch programmed on the Thrustmaster. I was able to get everything mapped with the Extreme 3D Pro, and I would have gone with that joystick if not for the dead zone/accuracy issues. As much as I have tried, I cannot make the hat switch on the Thrustmaster function while playing in-game. When pressing Control-F1 and setting up the Thrustmaster in DosBox, everything seems to go ok, just like setting up the Extreme 3D Pro. But once I get in the game, none of the hat switch functions on the Thrustmaster will work. But they do on the 3D Pro.
Has anyone else had this problem? Both joysticks have been calibrated in Win 7 64 bit Ultimate, also have tried the Control-J calibration for both joysticks at the WC1 options screen.
Note: I also have a Logitech Trackball USB plugged in. Could this be causing problems? Again......no function problems at all with the 3D Extreme Pro, only the accuracy/dead zone issue, and just the hat switch problem with the Thrustmaster. Would love to use the Thrustmaster, but need to find solution first.
Also, any mapper.map configuration tips would be appreciated...........I'm not trying to get someone else to do my homework for me, but I've Googled and Yahooed and just can't find a fix for this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated and again it's awesome to see this WC community here. Who woulda' thought!

 

[AD]

multiple USB controllers plugged in *can* cause issues. If it's registering as a secondary joystick, they'll often interfere with each other. The easy way to tell is to unplug any extraneous USB controllers and see if the issue goes away. If you unplug them and the problem persists then you know the issue lies elsewhere.

 

[Padre de Perritos]

multiple USB controllers plugged in *can* cause issues. If it's registering as a secondary joystick, they'll often interfere with each other. The easy way to tell is to unplug any extraneous USB controllers and see if the issue goes away. If you unplug them and the problem persists then you know the issue lies elsewhere.

AD, thanks for the reply. I have finally solved the problem. Apparently DosBox has joystick settings specifically for Thrustmaster sticks, and in the DosBox.conf file it is necesary to set the joystick type to "fcs" from "auto". The Extreme 3D Pro was not negatively affected by the "auto" configuration. This solved the hat switch problem and I can now completly configure the joystick how I want it. Per your post I am now disconnecting the usb trackball when I go to play games so as to avoid any potential conflicts. Thanks again for the help, and to anyone who reads this post that is considering buying the WC series and a joystick, in my case the T16000m makes a huge difference in playability. I'm not trying to sound like a commercial for Thrustmaster, but maybe this info will help someone who is trying to decide what stick to buy for these games.

 

[AD]

Thanks again for the help, and to anyone who reads this post that is considering buying the WC series and a joystick, in my case the T16000m makes a huge difference in playability. I'm not trying to sound like a commercial for Thrustmaster, but maybe this info will help someone who is trying to decide what stick to buy for these games.

Oh, I totally agree! I'm pretty comfortable playing the games with a mouse. I prefer it over the old 2 button gravis I used to have. But upgrading to a proper stick and throttle assembly was a night and day improvement when picked up a new stick for WC Prophecy back in the day.