Joystick use with Windows 7

[bonobobananas]

Hi there. I used to play Battlezone into the early hours of each morning 13-15 years ago so imagine my excitement when I saw Battlezone 1.5 for download whilst randomly surfing one evening...

Now to the point: I always played with the Microsoft Sidewinder joystick not being too dextrous on a keyboard.

My question: I'm running windows 7 with the 1.5 game version: is there a joystick out there that I can buy that will be compatible with the game and windows 7? I don't want to shell out on a joystick purely for a nostalgia game on BZ only to find it doesn't work.

Many thanks for any help out there

[Ultraken]

If it helps your decision any, BZ 1.5 adds support for the Xbox 360 game pad.

[bonobobananas]

If it helps your decision any, BZ 1.5 adds support for the Xbox 360 game pad.

That is interesting, I didn't realise you could use those controllers on a PC but having looked them up they are USB connected. I may give that a go unless anyone comes up with a compatible Win7 Joystick, thanks

[Ultraken]

The 360 game pad has become the default joystick for PC games since so many PC games also show up on consoles.

[Nielk1]

So you had to implement XInput instead of just DirectInput?

[Ultraken]

Xbox 360 gamepad support is just a control mapping; it uses the same Windows multimedia library joystick input as everything else.

[Nielk1]

I had to get a DirectInput to XInput converter program to use my normal joystick with a game that only works with an XBox controller, hence my query.

[Ultraken]

XInput supports only Xbox 360 controller input. DirectInput supports mouse, keyboard, and (slightly gimped) Xbox 360 controller input. From what I've read, Microsoft recommends using standard window messages for mouse and keyboard or--for the more adventurous--raw input events via WM_INPUT messages (which requires Windows XP or later). The OS defines structures for mouse and keyboard data but joysticks are a lot tougher to wrangle. (I found this article describing how to do it.)

[Nielk1]

That is extremely useful. Thank you.

[HughManatee]

I use a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. It comes with software that you'll need to program for Battlezone, but it isn't very hard. Can program it for BZ in about 1/2 - 1 hr. Last time I checked, Best Buy had it for $34.99 (Logitech suggested retail price is $29.99).

If you have a Microcenter store near you, they had it for $29.99.

The joystick works well once you've got the buttons programmed. Use 2 axis joystick with hat or 3 axis joystick with hat setting in BZ, depending on whether you want to use the joystick throttle lever or not.

[Red Devil]

i wonder if you could make 2 joysticks work like on the arcade version...

[Ded10c]

i wonder if you could make 2 joysticks work like on the arcade version...

Probably better reward-to-effort in using Rise of the Black Dogs with a gamepad.

[Apollo]

Logitech Extreme 3D Pro is not a good stick, after a short time it locks up during dogfights in Battlezone.
Also the fire button is poorly designed (will make your finger hurt after a while), unlike the old sidewinder joystick.

[Ded10c]

It was fine for me, guess your hands are the wrong shape.

[Apollo]

Guess you don't play enough to know.