limbo696 Posted November 25, 2011 Posted November 25, 2011 I have some pedals from the Madcatz Andretti Racing Wheel system that have very nice action and ones that I have used for flight simulators in the old days. My problem is that even though this system has a dual gameport and USB connection, Madcatz never updated their drivers to work with Windows 7 (64 bit). My question is how do I best get these pedals to work in Windows 7? The pedals use two different potentiometers for the brake and gas pedals. Is there anyway to wire these in series to a simple game port connection which then would run through a gameport to USB converter box/cable so that they show up together on a single axis and work correctly? I realize that wiring the wires from the pedals to a programmable circuit board (e.g., Mjoy 16) would most likely be a solution but I do not particularly want to spend around $40 on a board for something that may or may not work well nor do I think I have the electronic skills or equipment to build one (c.f., http://home.base.be/verlejan/Mjoy16E.html). This solution might be nice, however, to also get my old CH Pro throttle (game port version) working again. Yes, I'm irritated that my old equipment does not work. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Rhinox Posted November 25, 2011 Posted November 25, 2011 Is there anyway to wire these in series to a simple game port connection which then would run through a gameport to USB converter box/cable so that they show up together on a single axis and work correctly? IIRC, gameport has analog interface where each axis value is actually resistance 0-100[kOhm]. So you can not wire two in series. It would be 0-200[kOhm], so your pedals would work only on half way. But I do not see where the problem is. Use simply gameport/usb converter, and you get 2 more axis (in addition to your stick), assign them for brakes. LOFC does not use axis for wheel-brakes, so you'd have to program some macro for it. And I think A10C needs two axis...
PlainSight Posted November 25, 2011 Posted November 25, 2011 Two physical axes can be joined in one virtual by this simple glovepie script with PPjoy emulation. I'm using this in all my sims to convert gas and clutch pedals to rudder. //Combined throttle (Y) and clutch (dial) make virtual joystick x axis. PPJoy6.Analog0 = 0.5*Joystick7.y - 0.5*Joystick7.dial The only problem is in ROF, because the bastard detects G25 input instead of virtual, but that's another story... [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Sokol1_br Posted November 25, 2011 Posted November 25, 2011 (edited) How to wire two pot's in one axis (of USB controller): http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc498/gef_leandro/diodos_stargate.jpg Alternative to build one Mjoy - that work fine, I already build 8 *of then for less than 40 U$ each - buy a Logitech Attack joystick (3 axis) and use his circuit to make your pedals compatible with "Century XXI". * Some of my Mjoys (3, 4 6, 8 axis) - inside a gamport CH PRO Pedal (now USB) http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/695/pedaly.jpg/ The most extensive tread about Mjoy in english: http://www.x-simulator.de/forum/mjoy16-usb-avr-joystick-t726-430.html Sample of gameport pedal covertly to US with Logitech circuit: http://snomhf.exofire.net/gameportPedals.html If opt for buy a USB gameport adapter search for Rockfire... model (some reference in this forum), generic models work bad. Sokol1 Edited November 25, 2011 by Sokol1_br
limbo696 Posted November 26, 2011 Author Posted November 26, 2011 (edited) First, thanks for the helpful responses. I should have mentioned that I will be playing Blackshark 2 (BS2). I also should have mentioned that the Andretti wheel system completely failed to work with the gameport to USB converter because the pedals were detected as digital button press combinations (weird!). I originally planned to use the converter with my old CH Pro Flightstick (gameport version) but the pots are completely shot on it, so I just ended up ordering another joystick which does not use pots (TM 16000). My plan was to directly wire the racing wheel pedal pots to a gameport connector. However, as Rhinox pointed out, this will not work with them simply wired in series. Looks like obtaining or building a circuit board is really the only way to go with getting these pedals to work. I do have another pair of pedals, ACT Labs Performance pedals with separate axes for the gas, brake, and clutch. I originally tried to use these using a two axes solution using the configure axis options in BS2, but I could not get this to work well at all (c.f., http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=52620). BS2 seems to want the rudder to be just on one axis to work well. I do not know if A10C or Lock On work differently. Would assigning say the gas and brake axes of the pedals to the wheel brakes in BS2 really work and act as rudders, Rhinox? I was able to successfully implement Plainsight's solution of setting up a virtual joystick using the PPJOY and GlobePie software, so now I have a functional set of rudder pedals for no cost. Thanks! It took me a few hours to figure out how to do this and here is the basic procedure: 1. Install a virtual joystick with one analog axis using PPJoy device driver (http://ppjoy.blogspot.com/). This is sort of a pain because the driver is unsigned so you need to tell Windows 7 (64 bit) to allow test drivers. Do this by running "cmd" as an administrator and typing in, "bcdedit -set testsigning ON" in the console window. The bad thing about this is that you make your computer more unsecure and you have a test mode build message permanently fixed on the lower right portion of your desktop. 2. Download GlovePie (http://glovepie.org/) and set it up so that the gas pedal and brake (or clutch) work with the virtual joystick above. I found two additional programs that aid in this process. First, use JoyIDS (http://www.wingmanteam.com/latest_software/gadgets.htm#JoyIDs_Utility:) to determine which Windows ID each controller is assigned to. Then you run a GlovePie script written by Lednerg to identify what names your pedals are assigned to (http://glovepie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=808). You then write your own script using a formula similar to the one Plainsight used. Mine looked like this: PPJoy1.Analog0 = .5*Joystick1.yaw - .5*Joystick1.pitch Depending on how the axis is assigned in BS2, you may need to play with the proportions of each joystick axis some. For example, when I set the rudder to be a slider in BS2, I had to bias the left/brake pedal (yaw) slightly more than the right/gas pedal (pitch) for some reason. As a long term project, I may try to get my Andretti pedals working with a circuit board as they have much better action than the Act Lab pedals. One problem with many brake pedals is that they have hardware which creates much more resistance the further the pedal is pressed in. I have trouble geting a 100% depressed value on my Act Labs brake pedal, for example (and the clutch only provided a limited range of values making it useless.) Thanks for the links, Sokol1. The BU0836 http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836/) is another solution and one that could restore my CH Pro throttle to some degree of functionality. Edited November 26, 2011 by limbo696
Sokol1_br Posted November 26, 2011 Posted November 26, 2011 converter with my old CH Pro Flightstick (gameport version) but the pots are completely shot on it,Just FYI - You can buy new pots from CH Products for 9,75U$ each plus ~10U$ postage. http://www.chproducts.com/shop/parts.html But I prefer this option: http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9841/f16hall009.jpg http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5816/f16hall006.jpg Honeywell SS495A1 HALL sensor + super magnet + Bic tube :D, PCB foil, wires. Related:http://tinyurl.com/6srowvs Sokol1
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