Joysticks. A question for BIS.

[Paco454 0]

Seems I ticked off a few moderaters with my intial post which got locked because of a poorly worded title (My mistake, I eat crow). I would like to make clear, I intended no insults of any kind and wish to keep on the subject at hand, which deals with joysticks and ArmA. So let's bury it get on with it.

Condition: I have 3 Joysticks connected to my PC

1) Logitech Wingman FF

2) Logitech G25 FF Racing Wheel

3) Saitek X52

The game only supports one joystick in ID# position 1

There seems to be hierarchy as to which one actually uses ID#1

A small program called "JoyIDs" allows me to change the ID#'s however eventhough I can tell it to assign a stick to ID#1 the game will still use that stick who's hierarchy, for what ever reason, is higher than the others. The only way to force a stick to been seen by the game in ID#1 is to remove all sticks accept one joystick which is then defaulted into joystick ID#1.

Question: Is it possible to make the game support and allow the use of more than one stick, so that I may use the X52 for flying and the G25 for driving? I have to disable the other two sticks in the device manager. I'm forced to use mouse and keyboard for driving and it's difficult. Can this be looked into to see if this important issue can coded into the game to allow joysticks ID#1 and ID#2 or even ID#3 to be used simultaneously, as with most, if not all major games made today have implemented? This is really good game with great support, worthy of this type of device support.

I'm sure others would agree. Can this feature be implemented, given a fair amount of "BEGGING", time, support and coffee?

Thankyou,

"Begging on my hands and knee's"

P.S. Please delete my previous thread and response to being locked. I'd do it myself but you've locked it.

PACO454

[max power 21]

LOL you're going to get banned, dude.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

your not helping with your spam post there plaintiff.

I for one am very interested in a discussion about this topic. If there is a thread already dedicated to this, perhaps a mod may direct us to it. thanks

*EDIT*

search for Joystick or multiple joysticks reveals many threads, one in particular mentions your question, but no answer.

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....ysticks

[Ruckus 0]

I don't know what the problem might be....Seems to be a valid question to me. Interested my self.

[Rg 0]

I am also interested in this. Please don't lock. We need an answer/fix.

[max power 21]

How was that spam? He's going to get banned if he keeps rehashing a question that is already addressed in a thread that is months old! The topic of multiple controller devices is already covered in another thread!

Right here.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

that thread hardly discusses multiple controllers. It only mentions it.

thanks for posting the link, again....

[dob 0]

-Ziggy- @ Dec. 21 2006,06:44)]that thread hardly discusses multiple controllers. It only mentions it.

thanks for posting the link, again....

not baned lol just post locked or less u r hard

[Paco454 0]

Thanks for the support. I certainly didn't mean any harm. By the way is that Ziggy from Westcoast WCCSQUAD.COM

PACO454

[max power 21]

-Ziggy- @ Dec. 21 2006,06:44)]that thread hardly discusses multiple controllers. It only mentions it.

thanks for posting the link, again....

NP

But the mention is in the title.. therefore what?

[Paco454 0]

Seem to have found a limited response but nothing more,

Support of multiple Joysticks is yet not present in ArmA. ArmA just selects the stick with the biggest ammount of buttons/axes.

Will ArmA eventually have support for multiple Joysticks? Is it a future concideration, is it the works or is it never going to be supported? I'd really like to know where BIS stands on the subject. A simple "yes" we are going to include it or, "no" were not going to include it, would at the very least let us gamers know where we stand. I don't think it's unreasonable question to ask. The response, "is yet not present in ArmA" is little vague don't you think?

I concider the subject important as it would make the game so much better, after all thats the idea right, listen to your gamers, fix all the bugs and make it better product. This is great game and the lak of this feature is hurting it IMO. I really hope this feature can be added.

PACO454

[frederf 0]

Have you tried setting the "preferred device" in the Game Controllers section of the Control Panel?

[Paco454 0]

yes and then some...

PACO454

[Paco454 0]

I'm still waiting for a proper response from BIS. Yes or NO?

Since I bought the game I expect an answer from BIS.. Please respond. The current response doesn't answer the question only leaves more lingering questions. I ask again to please respond.

PACO454

[frederf 0]

This seems a way to combine multiply physical game controllers into one logical controller:

http://www.simhq.com/cgi-bin....057;p=1

File link to drivers: http://members.shaw.ca/coxswainballs/joy.rar

EDIT: Hmm, seems to be designed for parallel (game?) port joysticks only, not USB. Might be a false alarm.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

You know, I actually found something on the internet that did this about a year or two ago, and worked for USB sticks.

For the life of me, I can't remember what it was called, and it was really obscure. Something some hobbyist programmer posted on a website somewhere. I'm going to try and remember the name of it, and do some searches to see if I can find it.

The only reason I posted this, is so that it may jog someones memory. I think there a quite a few other flight simmers floating around here, so someone may know.

[GAU-8 0]

your request for multiple stick/HOTAS/wheel is not new, but i also think it should be adressed in an upcomming patch.

at the bare minimum a second control device should have been implemented. people have been asking about this issue for years.

because "twisty stick" just feels so wrong, flying a helo/jet when you got rudder/gas/brake pedals underneath your feet, but arent recognised

gone are the days of -2 axis/6 button controllers- for the PC. we arent console gamers, who use th same controller year after year.

[Nathman 0]

I've got an x-52 and a set of the new Saitek rudder pedals, but can't seem to get the pedals to work with the demo. Any suggestions?

[Goldenwings2002 0]

Nathman, the reason why your rudder pedals are not working is the reason for this whole entire post topic. The game does not support multiple controllers at once. Only 1 controller at a time. Sorry!

[frederf 0]

When you find something that combines multiple physical USB controllers into one logical one, lemme know. That is gunna be handy for not just ArmA.

[Paco454 0]

Ok I had a look at thius utility. Granted it will combine sticks however this same problem will be there. X and Y axis, ok so I can assign X and Y axis to the G25 but now I have no X and Y axis for flying.

I will test it later to see if I can make 2 profiles at the same time with the same amonut of buttons. Maybe I can fool it. I'll let you know.

PACO454

[frederf 0]

You should be able to assign the same axes to multiple controls? I know you can do this easy with buttons (comes default like this! but I don't know about axes myself. Like if you wanted the G25 pedals to be gas/brake and also yaw pedals in the helicopters.

If you are using this correctly you will have a "virtual controller" that has many many axes and can then assign them to whatever you want.

G25 Axis X --> Virtual Axis A

G25 Axis Y --> Virtual Axis B

X52 Axis X --> Virtual Axis C

....

And so on.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

This isn't the program I was thinking of, or if it is, it used to be free. It claims to be able to create a virtual joystick with USB controllers. If you care to risk the $14 on it, go to http://www.franknstik.com/

I'm not going to try it since I've long since moved to a CH setup and using all ch products allows you to do this very thing with their software.

Although it's slightly OT, the reasons I flat chose CH over everything else:

1: Durability. I've seen several 10 year old ch sticks that still work like new, even with heavy use.

2: I don't care about force feedback (don't like it) so the lack of force feedback CH products isn't an issue.

3: Full featured stick programming software wich lets you merge controllers for multiple controller support in games that otherwise won't let you do that.

4: I like the way they *feel*.

5: They offer a nice variety of controllers that lets me pick and choose what I want for my setup. For example, they currently have 3 different throttles you can pick from.

Sure the controllers are a little expensive, but when you compare their longevity to the spead that the cheap sticks wear out with heavy use, they're actually a lot cheaper in the long run.

I generally wouldn't reccomend going this route for people that don't have a gaming life beyond ARMA/OFP. If you're into flight sims, this is where it's at though. Unless you really insist on force feedback anyways.

Still, even if you are pure ofp/arma, the combatstick 568 is a nice choice. It'll *last*. I don't really reccomend the fighterstick over the combat stick though, as you're just getting 3-4 extra buttons at a cost of like 50 dollars.

[Paco454 0]

You should be able to assign the same axes to multiple controls? I know you can do this easy with buttons (comes default like this! but I don't know about axes myself. Like if you wanted the G25 pedals to be gas/brake and also yaw pedals in the helicopters.

If you are using this correctly you will have a "virtual controller" that has many many axes and can then assign them to whatever you want.

G25 Axis X --> Virtual Axis A

G25 Axis Y --> Virtual Axis B

X52 Axis X --> Virtual Axis C

....

And so on.

Ok I'd like to thank all those who are contributing to this issue, however I not pleased with BIS for not responding to this important required issue/feature.

I have tried the PPjoyJoy and PPjoysetup and the other program FrankNstik and I have not got it to work. With PPjoyJoy you can assign various different axis to various installed sticks but you can't assign X or Y axis to 2 differnet sticks at the same time which is what I need, the G25, for X and Y for steering and the X52 for X and Y for flight control. With FrankNstick you can. However eventhough you can setup the sticks to share the axis's it doesn't function, it's total hit and miss with one button working here and half an axis working there. Not good.

AGAIN I ASK BIS TO PLEASE RESPOND ON THE QUESTION: WILL YOU OR CAN YOU CODE INTO ARMA, MULTI JOYSTICK SUPPORT!! The community has runout of options, and by the way, a game with no options is "GAME WITH NO OPTIONS!!!"

Please respond and let BIS know if you wish this feature.

PACO454

[Rg 0]

Ok I'd like to thank all those who are contributing to this issue, however I not pleased with BIS for not responding to this important required issue/feature.

I have tried the PPjoyJoy and PPjoysetup and the other program FrankNstik and I have not got it to work. With PPjoyJoy you can assign various different axis to various installed sticks but you can't assign X or Y axis to 2 differnet sticks at the same time which is what I need, the G25, for X and Y for steering and the X52 for X and Y for flight control. With FrankNstick you can. However eventhough you can setup the sticks to share the axis's it doesn't function, it's total hit and miss with one button working here and half an axis working there. Not good.

AGAIN I ASK BIS TO PLEASE RESPOND ON THE QUESTION: WILL YOU OR CAN YOU CODE INTO ARMA, MULTI JOYSTICK SUPPORT!! The community has runout of options, and by the way, a game with no options is "GAME WITH NO OPTIONS!!!"

Please respond and let BIS know if you wish this feature.

PACO454

I absolutely want multiple USB device support. I can't believe it wasn't incorporated into ArmA from the start.