Hardware & Technical The Joystick discussion thread

[Styggron]

I have an old Thrustmaster Afterburner II in the attic... last time I tried it out it didn't work like I wanted it to... I might have to get a new one.

Although the only stick Elite should be played with is this one:

That's the one I have except it is in a black case. A heavy duty Joystick from the 80s. This is what I use still I hate modern joysticks they have way too much give. I mainly use mouse and keyboard anyway but with ED I will be using (for the first day) my original Atari 2600 / C64 joystick that I played ELITE with back in 1985. Yes it still works perfectly. After that back to keyboard for me.

Yes I bought USB adapters for the 80s joysticks work. I love it.

 

[alan]

Pfft. You lot with your modern "centering" joysticks. In my day we played Elite on the BBC Micro with these babies: http://wouter.bbcmicro.net/pictures/hardware/bbc_joysticks/index.html

Let's see support for these. I kicked ass back in the day.

(First post...wheeee!)

I'll see you your old style joysticks and raise you with this

http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/8bit_Upgrades/Voltmace_Delta14.html

 

[Torben]

When I wanted a joystick for Elite on the beeb, I ordered a dual-axis potentiometer from Maplin, mounted it in a bit of drainpipe and two jam jar lids, put a button in another piece of narrow plastic pipe, and wired it all up myself to a connector. I held the joystick part between my knees and used my left hand to steer while I held the fire button in my right hand.

If I needed to fire out of the rear view I just turned the joystick part around.

Up hill both ways, etc.

I also made my own beeb-joystick from a dual-axis pot and a good push-button. I also used the trick of turning the joystick up-side down when looking backwards, extended to turning it sideways when firing out the side windows. The box was rectangular, so it was easy enough. Main problem was that the fire button was placed differently.

I would definitely prefer an analogue joystick to a mouse or an on/off joystick (like the one you get get for the C64). The "Maus" mouse interface for the Arch was rather limited.

 

[SerialX]

I just ordered a Thrustmaster t.16000m. I have never used a joystick before, so I figured I'd get a relatively cheap one to see whether I like playing with one.
From what I read, this one is a bit limited with regards to buttons, and the throttle is apparently not very good, but the accuracy of it is supposed to be really good.
Looking forward to see how it will work.

 

[Memnoch]

I always used the Competition Pro 5000 joystick back in the day.

I still have a couple of those. I knew them as the Kempston sticks, that I used on my ZX Spectrum. I believe these were an earlier iteration of that stick, if not the first.

I think I also have one or two Quickshot sticks. Now these were sturdy beasts.

 

[Slopey]

Ahhhh - happy days.

I had a Quickshot II, then a Warrior - fantastic sticks - still got them in the garage somewhere with some of the miggys/speccys.

The Competition Pros were too stiff for me, I settled on a garish 80's pastel coloured Crusier which had adjustable tension.

Just perfect for Alien Breed!

 

[Slopey]

- Do both non-pro and pro version have leds built in all over the stick and throttle?

Yes - the X52 is blue, the Pro are red.

- How do you anchor the 2 parts to your table? Do they have suction cups? Or are they heavy enough to operate without anchoring?

Suction cups, but they've got a bit of heft - don't usually move for me - I took the suckers off.

- What are the most important differences between the pro and the non-pro version? (from user perpective)

The Pro has stronger centering and for some people a heavier/better feel. It's probably built slight better than the plain 52, but I prefer the original (for the blue lights!).

The Pro also has a better MFD which if used with FSX and some other addons can allow you to view comms frequencies etc in addition to current mode. whereas the plain 52 just shows the current mode you're in (3 sets of button mapping).

If you're not playing one of the supported games the pro doesn't add much beyond the different feel.

 

[Faerie]

Currently using a Mad Catz F.L.Y. 5 in Oolite. As someone mentioned in a previous post, the spring is a little heavy for fine maneuvres but that can be fixed. Hoping that ED can be configured to use not only pitch & roll, but also yaw. (Oolite can't, so far as I can see)
It has more buttons than you can shake a stick at so I will set it up so's I can control as many flight & weapon systems as possible with it.

 

[sharpshifter]

Ahhhh - happy days.

I had a Quickshot II, then a Warrior - fantastic sticks - still got them in the garage somewhere with some of the miggys/speccys...

Wow that brings back memories! I'm sure I've still got a couple of Quickshots in the same box as my Amiga 500+ and many 100s of games. Out of all the ones I played though, Frontier was (and still is) my all-time favourite.

I remember many moons ago when my local PC World had a Sidewinder joystick hooked up to Flight Simulator (possibly 98) in the shop - it felt amazing, I didn't expect that much fluidity and control, and I'm sure it didn't auto-center either which was magical to me at the time. Sadly I couldn't afford it.

Anyway back on topic I can't fault the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. Great build quality and stability for ~£30.

 

[Penthux]

That's the one I have except it is in a black case. A heavy duty Joystick from the 80s. This is what I use still I hate modern joysticks they have way too much give. I mainly use mouse and keyboard anyway but with ED I will be using (for the first day) my original Atari 2600 / C64 joystick that I played ELITE with back in 1985. Yes it still works perfectly. After that back to keyboard for me.

Yes I bought USB adapters for the 80s joysticks work. I love it.

That's a Competition Pro 5000... a.k.a. Speedlink SL-6603 joystick. They're still available today with a USB connector. So, no converters or adaptors required.

Voila!

 

[Slopey]

Anyway back on topic I can't fault the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. Great build quality and stability for ~£30.

LOL - yup, got one sitting here - that's my go-to stick when I just want something reasonable for Oolite/Evochron without getting the X52 out It tends to live in my case too - I take it around the world with me when I'm on business - never found a good "travel" stick unfortunately.

(There's no way I could play any space game now without a twist stick - a competition pro would drive me bonkers!).

 

[Styggron]

That's a Competition Pro 5000... a.k.a. Speedlink SL-6603 joystick. They're still available today with a USB connector. So, no converters or adaptors required.

Voila!

Fantastic. Can I still get a non limited edition one just a standard one ? I do have lots of spare C64 Joysticks but I'd like a NEW one if I can get one.

[EDIT: Hang on hang on. Is this a real usable joystick or one like you plug into the TV and have 33 built in games etc? It looks like it can be used as a real joystick.]

 

[Styggron]

I still have a couple of those. I knew them as the Kempston sticks, that I used on my ZX Spectrum. I believe these were an earlier iteration of that stick, if not the first.

I think I also have one or two Quickshot sticks. Now these were sturdy beasts.

Exactly what I have although for my one on the top diagram the joystick "stick" is metal so quick strong.

 

[Zieman]

[EDIT: Hang on hang on. Is this a real usable joystick or one like you plug into the TV and have 33 built in games etc? It looks like it can be used as a real joystick.]

That's a real usable joystick, with USB connection. PC recognises it as one, and it works like a charm on emulator(s). Well, I've tried it only with CCS64, but there it works flawlessly. You can even configure each button's function separately, so it has more possible functionality than traditional Competition Pro 5000 .

 

[zmurf]

Tac2 FTW!

I use this adapter.
http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=70

... works really well..

 

[Technotica]

I too have a Cyborg Evo Force, but I can't really recommend it, without force feedback enabled it doesn't center automatically so you have to keep it centered by hand very precisely or increase the joysticks deadzone if you don't want to drift to a side or roll. I had a Sidewinder way back when and that I found vastly superior

 

[Voyager_NL]

Yes - the X52 is blue, the Pro are red.



Suction cups, but they've got a bit of heft - don't usually move for me - I took the suckers off.



The Pro has stronger centering and for some people a heavier/better feel. It's probably built slight better than the plain 52, but I prefer the original (for the blue lights!).

The Pro also has a better MFD which if used with FSX and some other addons can allow you to view comms frequencies etc in addition to current mode. whereas the plain 52 just shows the current mode you're in (3 sets of button mapping).

If you're not playing one of the supported games the pro doesn't add much beyond the different feel.

Thanks Slopey for your input... yesterday I shelled out the cash and ordered a 52 Pro It should be delivered today or tomorrow so I will get a year of practice in OOLITE, HAWX and maybe some FlightSimX. I'd like to see if I can do some driving wiht it as well

 

[OSH]

I'm playing original Elite under CCS64 emulator with my old trusty QuickShot Python via USB interface. Works brilliant.

 

[Slopey]

Thanks Slopey for your input... yesterday I shelled out the cash and ordered a 52 Pro

Good stuff. The Saitek keymapping software is really good - you can make up multiple profiles for any particular game, and then assign any key combination to any button on the stick. You can also assign macros, and there's a shift, giving you double the assignable buttons (3 modes, but with shift for dual assignment on each control).

Note that it's best to REMOVE all button assignments from inside a game first to avoid conflicts. Then start with an empty profile, assign buttons in the game as necessary, then assign more buttons as keystrokes.

It can get very confusing if you just jump in and find out that you have a button mapped to both a function (in the game) and a keystroke (in the profile).

LOMAC:FC was always bad for that!

 

[robo]

What a blast from the past this thread is, I'd even had forgot I had a Quickshot until I saw a pic in here of one of them.

As for the Competition Pro's, I couldn't get with them, was it just me, but I found the buttons used to stick on them & I tried a few as well, maybe as a young whipper snapper, I was too hard on the buttons.

In the 80's I did find a excellent replacement to the Competition Pro, a sturdy little blighter with good buttons, the Zipstick: