Joysticks. A question for BIS.

[Paco454]

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]

LOL you're going to get banned, dude.

[[DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy-]

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 (http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=64;t=54137;hl=joystick+or+multiple+joysticks)

[Ruckus]

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

[Rg]

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

[Max Power]

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. (http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=64;t=54137)

[[DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy-]

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


thanks for posting the link, again....

[dob]

-Ziggy- @<hidden> 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 http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/pistols.gif

[Paco454]

Thanks for the support. I certainly didn&#39;t mean any harm. By the way is that Ziggy from Westcoast WCCSQUAD.COM

PACO454

[Max Power]

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


thanks for posting the link, again....
NP http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif

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

[Paco454]

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&#39;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&#39;t think it&#39;s unreasonable question to ask. The response, "is yet not present in ArmA" is little vague don&#39;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]

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

[Paco454]

yes and then some...


PACO454

[Paco454]

I&#39;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&#39;t answer the question only leaves more lingering questions. I ask again to please respond.

PACO454

[Frederf]

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

http://www.simhq.com/cgi-bin....057;p=1 (http://www.simhq.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=140;t=000057;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]

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&#39;t remember what it was called, and it was really obscure. Something some hobbyist programmer posted on a website somewhere. I&#39;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]

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. http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/pistols.gif http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/whistle.gif

[Nathman]

I&#39;ve got an x-52 and a set of the new Saitek rudder pedals, but can&#39;t seem to get the pedals to work with the demo. Any suggestions?

[Goldenwings2002]

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&#33; http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/sad_o.gif

[Frederf]

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]

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&#39;ll let you know.

PACO454

[Frederf]

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&#33http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif but I don&#39;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 --&#62; Virtual Axis A
G25 Axis Y --&#62; Virtual Axis B
X52 Axis X --&#62; Virtual Axis C
....

And so on.

[ColonelSandersLite]

This isn&#39;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 &#036;14 on it, go to http://www.franknstik.com/

I&#39;m not going to try it since I&#39;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&#39;s slightly OT, the reasons I flat chose CH over everything else:
1: Durability. I&#39;ve seen several 10 year old ch sticks that still work like new, even with heavy use.
2: I don&#39;t care about force feedback (don&#39;t like it) so the lack of force feedback CH products isn&#39;t an issue.
3: Full featured stick programming software wich lets you merge controllers for multiple controller support in games that otherwise won&#39;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&#39;re actually a lot cheaper in the long run.

I generally wouldn&#39;t reccomend going this route for people that don&#39;t have a gaming life beyond ARMA/OFP. If you&#39;re into flight sims, this is where it&#39;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&#39;ll *last*. I don&#39;t really reccomend the fighterstick over the combat stick though, as you&#39;re just getting 3-4 extra buttons at a cost of like 50 dollars.

[Paco454]

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&#33http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif but I don&#39;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 --&#62; Virtual Axis A
G25 Axis Y --&#62; Virtual Axis B
X52 Axis X --&#62; Virtual Axis C
....

And so on.
Ok I&#39;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&#39;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&#39;s it doesn&#39;t function, it&#39;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&#33;&#33; The community has runout of options, and by the way, a game with no options is "GAME WITH NO OPTIONS&#33;&#33;&#33;"

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

PACO454

[Rg]

Ok I&#39;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&#39;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&#39;s it doesn&#39;t function, it&#39;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&#33;&#33; The community has runout of options, and by the way, a game with no options is "GAME WITH NO OPTIONS&#33;&#33;&#33;"

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

PACO454
I absolutely want multiple USB device support. I can&#39;t believe it wasn&#39;t incorporated into ArmA from the start.

[Max Power]

AGAIN I ASK BIS TO PLEASE RESPOND ON THE QUESTION: WILL YOU OR CAN YOU CODE INTO ARMA, MULTI JOYSTICK SUPPORT&#33;&#33; The community has runout of options, and by the way, a game with no options is "GAME WITH NO OPTIONS&#33;&#33;&#33;"

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

PACO454
That rhetoric there is just priceless. It sounds like you&#39;re on your soapbox with arms flailing around... just hillarious.

[ColonelSandersLite]

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&#39;t assign X or Y axis to 2 differnet sticks at the same time which is what I need

I agree that it&#39;s foolish that BIS didn&#39;t include multiple stick support. Hell, mechwarrior 2 Dos did this...

However, using frankenstick, since you say it works, create a device with multiple axis. Then, assign every axis you want to every control. What I mean is say you assign the stick X axis to X and the wheel axis to z, assign both x and z to the same function. Arma does support that (I think, 99% sure anyways).

[Quenaelin]

I would like to see multiple joystics support also. I have three controllers which I use. Saitek P2500 for walking/running, Saitek X35 for flying, Logitech MOMO FF Wheel for driving. Mostly I use Saitek P2500 which is most convinient and has force-effects also. Saitek controllers are very programmable you can even program mouse axis to any controller axis. But it would be better if game supported multiple controllers natively, then forcefeedback effects would work also http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

[Paco454]

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&#39;t assign X or Y axis to 2 differnet sticks at the same time which is what I need

I agree that it&#39;s foolish that BIS didn&#39;t include multiple stick support. Hell, mechwarrior 2 Dos did this...

However, using frankenstick, since you say it works, create a device with multiple axis. Then, assign every axis you want to every control. What I mean is say you assign the stick X axis to X and the wheel axis to z, assign both x and z to the same function. Arma does support that (I think, 99% sure anyways).
Yes I tried that. I can assign the axis to whatever I want, but it doesn&#39;t function correctly with each stick half working, some buttons work and others do not. As I mentioned it&#39;s a total hit and miss deal. I think the problem is it&#39;s polling the joysticks as if there serial ports when their USB. I don&#39;t think it supports USB very well at all.

In any case, I tested with FrankNstik to reach this goal. G25 to steer which requires X axis and Y axis for gas&#92;brake. I require those same axis for flying. When I setup I get only half an axis working and only a few buttons respond and thats just in windows game controller panel and it lags very bad eventhough I set it up to poll at 10ms.

In the above mentioned response from BIS, they claim it will use the controller with the most button&#92;axis. Eventhough I set the virtual stick up with more axis and more buttons than the Saitek X52,(X52 which has the most button/axis than my G25) the game still went for the G25 eventhough the virtual (most button/axis) stick was in joystick ID#1, X52 (second most buttons/axis) in ID#2 and the G25(third most button/axis) in ID#3. I used JoyID to set and located the joystick ID&#39;s. Changing the joystick ID&#39;s had no effect. PPjoy will not allow me to set x axis to 2 sticks at the same time, therefore it&#39;s no good to me.

We need a tool simular to FrankNstik that has support for USB, then we might be able to use it. However given the way ArmA picks the joystick it wants to use when you have more than one stick installed, will be hit and miss. I ask again for the community to step up and ask the question. "BIS, WILL YOU OR CAN YOU CODE INTO ARMA, MULTI JOYSTICK SUPPORT&#33;&#33; The community has runout of options, and by the way, a game with no options is "GAME WITH NO OPTIONS&#33;&#33;&#33;"

P.S.
Plaintiff1, your last response, spam aimed at me, doesn&#39;t reflect the subject matter of the thread, ie multi joystick support and I ask, if you wish to comment please stick to subject matter of the thread.

PACO454

[KeyCat]

Ok I&#39;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.
Paco454, try to be patience&#33;

Don&#39;t you think BIS deserves a break over the holiday just like everyone else? Judging from the responce Armored_Sheep gave us a couple of weeks ago I think they are already on it, maybe not in next patch but probably not to far into the future...

Remember that more "important" things like dedicated server/CTD/performance/major bugs/etc. probably have priority over this...

/KC

[MichaelCHProd]

ColonelSandersLite - Thanks for the plug brother http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif

[Shadow]

That rhetoric there is just priceless.  It sounds like you&#39;re on your soapbox with arms flailing around... just hillarious.
Be polite or dont post at all.

[Paco454]

Ok I&#39;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.
Paco454, try to be patience&#33;

Don&#39;t you think BIS deserves a break over the holiday just like everyone else? Judging from the responce Armored_Sheep gave us a couple of weeks ago I think they are already on it, maybe not in next patch but probably not to far into the future...

Remember that more "important" things like dedicated server/CTD/performance/major bugs/etc. probably have priority over this...

/KC
Amored sheeps response was, shall i say, telling me what I already know, "that the game only supports one stick". I&#39;m not asking for them to act on it right away, only to ask if they will include multi joystick support. Thats all I&#39;m asking.

I agree, that more "important" things like dedicated server/CTD/performance/major bugs/etc. should have priority over this, however I don&#39;t thinks unfair to ask if they will include multi joystick support in the future. And yes everybody should have break over Xmas and New Years and so I don&#39;t expect a response until into the new year.

It&#39;s an important issue to me and others and thats why I&#39;m fighting hard for it.

Back when OFP first came out they removed manual fire in a patch they released, and I fought long and hard to have it back. In the end we got back manual fire but I had to fight hard for it.

This is great game, with a great furture and I will fight hard for this feature because it&#39;s an option no game should be without given the technology we have today. Thank you for your response KC

PACO454

[Capt.Marion]

I can see your problem. Mine is that the "increase/ deacrease thrust" doesn&#39;t work with the throttle on joysticks... at least not on my saitek aviator... Damn, I had just gotten it to work with FSX, too. And of course, the demo crashes when you change control settings...

[GAU-8]

wondering if the sensitivity adjustment to the multiple controllers axis/sliders (like the mouse allready has ) could be added into the game options. (if/when multi controllers support is doled out of course)

[Forrest_Gump]

Yep .. im having same problem &#33; http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/band.gif

[andersson]

I have CH hotas so combining rudders, throttle and stick is no problem for me. But I would like to have a steeringwheel also...

Im gonna follow this thread to see if someone finds a solution. Tired of googling the subject..

edit: maybe I have to do some hardwarework and rebuild a ch produkt into a wheel, to bad they are so expencive...

[Mr.Peanut]

My hope for ArmA, way back in the old wish list thread, was that controller sensitivity be allowed to have different settings for different vehicle classes.

[teaser]

it&#39;s ridiculous that this oversight is still present from the original OFP, you&#39;d think they&#39;d have realized that a big segment of potential players are sim fanatics as well with multiple controllers. ranting aside, the only real fix is to buy all CH gear and use the program manager to combine them into one, for steering+flying nothing beats the virtual pilot pro (http://flyawaysimulation.com/article341.html) in terms of flexiblity and ease of use.

[GAU-8]

"point and click" is always going to be a basic function, but with the advances in gaming and technology, one should have known eventually multi inputs are going to be the norm. i was surprised that BIS didnt move forward on this. hell they incorporated track-IR in the game.. and that im sure wasnt as "necessary" by the public. glad i have one, and glad they did act though&#33;

im sure it will get fixed, just going to to take time.

technically, isnt ARMA a "stop gap
" until game 2..? i&#39;d hate to wait that long to see progress, but if we cant get it then, im sure they will have it in game 2.

[Baddo]

Back when OFP first came out they removed manual fire in a patch they released, and I fought long and hard to have it back. In the end we got back manual fire but I had to fight hard for it.
Thank You&#33;


My hope for ArmA, way back in the old wish list thread, was that controller sensitivity be allowed to have different settings for different vehicle classes.
Now that could be a very good thing to have&#33; Sounds like it wouldn&#39;t even be hard to do, just more work for BIS if they care to do it. If not for ArmA, then for future products they should consider it. There is a danger that you could ruin the different feeling between a light vehicle and a heavy vehicle then, though. If you, by adjusting controller sensitivity differently for different vehicle types, achieve a feeling that a heavy vehicle has the same inertia as a light vehicle then that&#39;s away from realism, but it would be the players&#39; decision then, of course.

Best Regards,
Baddo.

[EL Presidente]

hey Paco454 I think you can help me. Since no one have answered my topic My Webpage (http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=64;t=56743) And I guess you have tried joystick in ArmA - Is it easier to fly a chopper with a joystick ?

[Paco454]

Yes it is. It&#39;s great since they fixed it in the new patch except for rudder control which "banks" instead whipping the tail around. Nevertheless, driving with the joystick is no fun and even worse with the mouse and even worse with the keyboard.

Mentioned earlier in this thread was track-ir which I own one and must say, it works great in combination with heli&#39;s. Still waiting on word if BIS will add multi joystick support to ArmA. I have emailed them and of course this thread. At the moment the subject is moot, like pulling teeth and consquently I&#39;m very dissappointed that BIS has refused to give the community an answer on the subject. Since I&#39;m a paying customer, I find this lak of attention to the issue "unacceptable".

PACO454

[CANavar]

Multiple controller support is a must in my opinion as well.

Hope to see it in the next patch.

[Squelch]

Hi all,

From memory, OFP had multiple input device support. I was able to use wheel and pedals for vehicles, and joystick for aircraft.(I think multi controller support was included in one of the later patches)

The axes ran in parallel (which sometimes caused problems when one controller was not centered) Being able to map all of the relevent functions and controls to the right controller is a gosend, and really adds to the immersion.

I believe this is DirectX related, with options for multiple input devices being built in. It&#39;s up to the developer whether it&#39;s implemented and handled.

I wish to register my vote for this to be included in future.

Given what I&#39;ve read about controller setup issues elsewhere on the forums, a comprehensive setup utility, built in, or external would be nice.

[Maximus_G]

Hi,

multiple control support in the game would be an ultimate solution for the troubles that we flight-simmers have here.

But i&#39;m pretty sure that this option would require a certain (and not that small) amount of programmer&#39;s and testers&#39; work.

It would be WAY easier, however, to put the joystick&#39;s ID in a cfg file. Arma would still use just 1 game-controller, as before, but we users could simply select 1 of our joysticks to be used by the game.

It would be a simple and good solution, we even could combine our multiple controllers in a virtual one, using a program like PPJoyJoy. I hope it will happen http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

[Paco454]

Forget PPjoyjoy Frankinstik ect.., been there done that, simulates serial ports with polling. Extemely bad with USB, furthermore, even with, as armoredsheep explained the game will use the stick with the most buttons and axis&#39;s by default, you could have 40 axis and hundred buttons as the virtual joystick and the game will still default to a USB stick, even if the virtual joystick is assigned to ID#1.

Most people use USB joysticks as this is the norm nowadays, however some may have luck with the above programs if their sticks are serial, even so, the game may still default to another stick besides the virtual one created.

Nevertheless, USB multi joystick support is needed for this issue to be resolved and I again ask BIS to please respond with a "Yes Or No", will you add the feature to ArmA?

PACO454

[GAU-8]

i dont think OFP had multi inputs before, even in a patch (but i may be clearly wrong here, and dont know)

ive always had rudder pedals, and a HOTAS for all my sims. trying the two controllers at the same time never worked in OFP for me. i could get the HOTAS to work...or only the rudder pedals. but not both at the same time. it might RECOGNISE different controllers that became plugged in later on, like "HOTAS...../ joystick...../steering wheel. but wouldnt regonise 2 at the same time.

if i am wrong , id love to see how. ill drop ARMA like a bad habit.

[CANavar]

Maximus,

Button/Axis assignments would still be a problem if we were able to choose which joystick to use. Lets say you want to fly and selected your stick ID. What if you also have a wheel with axes/buttons assigned for driving?

What we need is a) A true multicontroller support OR b) If option a proves very difficult (and I simply dont know why this has been a problem for BIS since OFP times) like Maximus suggested, ability to choose controller ID in game but with additional support for multiple key settings. This way, you can choose a controller and key assignments for that controller as well.

Why use joysticks when everyone&#39;s using mouse n&#39; keyboard? If you want to play with sticks, sand and pads then wait for the console release. http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif

[andersson]

I would be satisfied if you could have multiple devices even if they shared the same axis... That way you can just keep the wheel centered when you use the stick and vice versa.

But ofcourse true support for multiple devices are preffered....

@<hidden>:..... why not use joysticks...? The feeling when flying a helicopter isnt there for me when I use mouse+keyboard compared to hotas. I would also like to have a wheel when driving so that I only use the mouse+keyboard when I´m soldier.

[Espectro]

I can see your problem. Mine is that the "increase/ deacrease thrust" doesn&#39;t work with the throttle on joysticks... at least not on my saitek aviator... Damn, I had just gotten it to work with FSX, too. And of course, the demo crashes when you change control settings...
Hmmm...

It works here, just had to manually assign them. Same with pedals (I have a twist joystick for that).

Anyway, I cant believe the game can&#39;t get input from multiple devices...?

[Espectro]

Edit.

I found this program (which is free), that should be able to create a virtual joystick and you can assign different axes from different inputs (also USB).

I have hosted the file on our webby:

http://www.armedassault.eu/files/joy.rar

You need winrar from rarlabs.com to unrar it.

Cheers

This is an example of how to make it work posted by some1 else on the simhq boards:

From what I can tell, It&#39;s an all-purpose driver for homemade joysticks/controllers you plug into your parallel port, but it also serves our purposes by being able to act as a virtual parallel port joystick. In the PPJoySetup folder, run setup.exe to install the driver. When it completes, run "Configure Joysticks" from the new start menu subcategory. A blank configuration window should pop; click on the "add" button to make the utility look like this:

http://members.shaw.ca/coxswainballs/mixer1.png

Select "Virtual Joysticks" from the Parallel Port dropdown box, confirm everything and exit the utility.

Now run PPJoyJoy from the other folder, and that should bring up a joystick mixer utility. Use this to assign inputs from your various devices to axes and buttons on the virtual joystick. Here&#39;s my mixer window, and I&#39;m combining inputs from a Saitek X45, PS2 Dual Shock controller and an Xbox Steel Battalion controller + pedals.


http://members.shaw.ca/coxswainballs/mixer2.png

Just leave the mixer window open/minimized while you&#39;re playing your game and everything should work as one controller. Unfortunately, I haven&#39;t found a way to bind the hat (It might be possible, but I haven&#39;t used this program much). There&#39;s other programs you can use that do this such as Frankenstik, but it costs money, and as far as I can tell, it installs the exact same drivers my method does (It told me if I wanted to overwrite the newer driver file I have with an older version that Frankenstik has). Maybe you can do extra stuff like bind the hat or macro with it, I don&#39;t know.

[Frederf]

Why use joysticks when everyone&#39;s using mouse n&#39; keyboard? If you want to play with sticks, sand and pads then wait for the console release. http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
Woah. I don&#39;t know how much EA&#39;s marketing dept. paid you to say that but it&#39;s not enough. This isn&#39;t BF2 and this new age philosophy in making games designed for only a keyboard and mouse even when a joystick option makes 10x more sense because the average user is too stupid-or-lazy to go and buy one and plug it in is offensive.

PC Gaming has always used a variety of hardware input. This is one of the major distinctions between consoles and PCs.

Consolers don&#39;t even know how to aim or play games properly. Why teaming up with them by buying a control? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif

[Rg]

Consolers don&#39;t even know how to aim or play games properly. Why teaming up with them by buying a control? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
Wtf? I&#39;m not sure I quite understand you clearly, but I guess you don&#39;t understand that we want to use a joystick to FLY, not control our soldier. Same thing goes with driving. If you play a racing sim, you really want/need a wheel and pedals. Same thing goes with a flight sim, you need a joystick. So what are you talking about? Some people want to use a wheel and pedals for this game (For me using a wheel and pedals for this game just doesn&#39;t seem necessary due to the horrid driving model. I may give it a try though, just for the hell of it, but I&#39;m not expecting much. I may use a PS2 controller if it works better then a mouse, but I at least HAVE to have a joystick to fly. BTW, good job on the flight model BIS), so what does this have anything to do with console gamers ? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/crazy_o.gif

[Paco454]

Edit.

I found this program (which is free), that should be able to create a virtual joystick and you can assign different axes from different inputs (also USB).

I have hosted the file on our webby:

http://www.armedassault.eu/files/joy.rar

You need winrar from rarlabs.com to unrar it.

Cheers

This is an example of how to make it work posted by some1 else on the simhq boards:

From what I can tell, It&#39;s an all-purpose driver for homemade joysticks/controllers you plug into your parallel port, but it also serves our purposes by being able to act as a virtual parallel port joystick. In the PPJoySetup folder, run setup.exe to install the driver. When it completes, run "Configure Joysticks" from the new start menu subcategory. A blank configuration window should pop; click on the "add" button to make the utility look like this:

http://members.shaw.ca/coxswainballs/mixer1.png

Select "Virtual Joysticks" from the Parallel Port dropdown box, confirm everything and exit the utility.

Now run PPJoyJoy from the other folder, and that should bring up a joystick mixer utility. Use this to assign inputs from your various devices to axes and buttons on the virtual joystick. Here&#39;s my mixer window, and I&#39;m combining inputs from a Saitek X45, PS2 Dual Shock controller and an Xbox Steel Battalion controller + pedals.


http://members.shaw.ca/coxswainballs/mixer2.png

Just leave the mixer window open/minimized while you&#39;re playing your game and everything should work as one controller. Unfortunately, I haven&#39;t found a way to bind the hat (It might be possible, but I haven&#39;t used this program much). There&#39;s other programs you can use that do this such as Frankenstik, but it costs money, and as far as I can tell, it installs the exact same drivers my method does (It told me if I wanted to overwrite the newer driver file I have with an older version that Frankenstik has). Maybe you can do extra stuff like bind the hat or macro with it, I don&#39;t know.
This program is useless for ArmA at least for me.

I have

Logitech G25
Saitek X52
Logitech Wingman FF (unplugged)

Situation: This program although it appears to be able to assign x and y axis to my G25 for driving and x and y for the X52 for flying, the game still see&#39;s the G25 as the default joystick. Eventhough I can assign the virtual joystick to ID#1

Conditions:

Virtual Joystick- 8axis 16 buttons--ID#1
G25- 8axis 23 buttons--ID#16
Saitek x52- 14axis 34 buttons in 3 modes, 2 POV,
Throttle hat, Mouse x/y axis--ID#15

By all rights according to armored sheep&#39;s response that "the game defaults to the joystick with most buttons and axis&#39;s", it should by default, use the X52 because it has the most axis&#39;s and buttons but it doesn&#39;t. The game picks the G25. I must assume the information provided by armored sheep is wrong and incorrect.

Therefore the utility is useless for me because the G25 is being defaulted by the game.

It may work for those who have less buttons/axis&#39;s on their controllers but for those like myself the program is useless with ArmA.

Nevertheless I&#39;m back to square one, looking for and asking, with all due respect as a paying customer, will you "BIS" please acknowledge whether or not, with a simple "yes" or "no" will you add multi joystick USB support to ArmA.

I&#39;d like to remind BIS the only information it has provided to us, the paying public was by armored sheep which simply stated the obvious, that ArmA only supports one joystick at a time and the additional information about which stick it chooses seems to be incorrect, leaving the community with only one piece of useful but not really useful information, "The game only supports one stick "which as everybody knows", "we already knew that". So in effect, BIS has failed to respond on this issue and in my view, with anything seemingly remote enough to indicate any real intelligence on the subject. The word "conspicuous" comes to mind.

I think I should rename the the thread to "Polly wanna a cracker?" It&#39;s like pulling teeth.

PACO454

[Espectro]

Hmm....

Have you connected your G25 to an USB2 port?

Tried changing usb ports?

I&#39;m just guessing here, as you said we really don&#39;t know much.

Consolers don&#39;t even know how to aim or play games properly. Why teaming up with them by buying a control? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
Wtf? I&#39;m not sure I quite understand you clearly, but I guess you don&#39;t understand that we want to use a joystick to FLY, not control our soldier. Same thing goes with driving. If you play a racing sim, you really want/need a wheel and pedals. Same thing goes with a flight sim, you need a joystick. So what are you talking about? Some people want to use a wheel and pedals for this game (For me using a wheel and pedals for this game just doesn&#39;t seem necessary due to the horrid driving model. I may give it a try though, just for the hell of it, but I&#39;m not expecting much. I may use a PS2 controller if it works better then a mouse, but I at least HAVE to have a joystick to fly. BTW, good job on the flight model BIS), so what does this have anything to do with console gamers ? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/crazy_o.gif
There&#39;s no need for a joystick and such crap when we all got the superiour mouse and keyboard combo. Or do you need a gun to control your weapon too? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif

[Rg]

Wow, from a comment like that, I guess you either don’t play racing and/or flight sims, or if you do, you must not take them seriously.

[Maddmatt]

Consolers don&#39;t even know how to aim or play games properly. Why teaming up with them by buying a control? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
Wtf? I&#39;m not sure I quite understand you clearly, but I guess you don&#39;t understand that we want to use a joystick to FLY, not control our soldier. Same thing goes with driving. If you play a racing sim, you really want/need a wheel and pedals. Same thing goes with a flight sim, you need a joystick. So what are you talking about? Some people want to use a wheel and pedals for this game (For me using a wheel and pedals for this game just doesn&#39;t seem necessary due to the horrid driving model. I may give it a try though, just for the hell of it, but I&#39;m not expecting much. I may use a PS2 controller if it works better then a mouse, but I at least HAVE to have a joystick to fly. BTW, good job on the flight model BIS), so what does this have anything to do with console gamers ? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/crazy_o.gif
There&#39;s no need for a joystick and such crap when we all got the superiour mouse and keyboard combo. Or do you need a gun to control your weapon too? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
So you play flight and race sims with a mouse and keyboard? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/icon_rolleyes.gif

Quote[/b] ]So you play flight and race sims with a mouse and keyboard?

Race sims are console games. On the PC we got more interesting games which require a large exchange of input/output data.

In "games" like Halo people will soon be able to fight console gamers in MP Live. Wonder who&#39;s going to win. People who can&#39;t aim? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif

[Maddmatt]

Quote[/b] ]So you play flight and race sims with a mouse and keyboard?

Race sims are console games. On the PC we got more interesting games which require a large exchange of input/output data.

In "games" like Halo people will soon be able to fight console gamers in MP Live. Wonder who&#39;s going to win. People who can&#39;t aim? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
Shows how little you know about games. The best flight and race sims are on PC and are very difficult without the proper controllers. Very few console games can be called "simulators". Name a recent race or flight sim on console&#33;

And I don&#39;t give a damn about crap like Halo http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/tounge2.gif . Mouse and keyboard are best for FPS/RTS games.

And as for gamepads, well they are good for nothing, just a cheap all-in-one attempt.

[maxqubit]

Wonder who&#39;s going to win. People who can&#39;t aim?

If you want to shoot you have to see the other first, so basically it comes down to tactics which has nothing to do with &#39;aiming&#39;

[maxqubit]

And as for gamepads, well they are good for nothing, just a cheap all-in-one attempt.
So basically you deny the fact of 100.000.000 or so gamers who use these &#39;good for nothing&#39; devices? I&#39;d say that is rather arrogant.

And why mouse/keyboard gamers always forget the third &#39;device&#39; being THE DESK is beyond me ... so, yes we have LAN party ... bring your own DESK plz:)

I think the DESK being a good reason why irl you don&#39;t aim with the mouse in a Tank or Cobra or whatever, perhaps you point/click a nuclear device on a map and confirm the &#39;Are you really sure?&#39; button with another click of the mouse but that&#39;s about it.

[Maddmatt]

And as for gamepads, well they are good for nothing, just a cheap all-in-one attempt.
So basically you deny the fact of 100.000.000 or so gamers who use these &#39;good for nothing&#39; devices? I&#39;d say that is rather arrogant.

And why mouse/keyboard gamers always forget the third &#39;device&#39; being THE DESK is beyond me ... so, yes we have LAN party ... bring your own DESK plz:)

I think the DESK being a good reason why irl you don&#39;t aim with the mouse in a Tank or Cobra or whatever, perhaps you point/click a nuclear device on a map and confirm the &#39;Are you really sure?&#39; button with another click of the mouse but that&#39;s about it.
Well I have a desk http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/tounge2.gif . I don&#39;t go to LAN parties anyway. LANs for me are usually at the local internet cafe where they have desks. So I have no use for a gamepad.

[Rg]

Quote[/b] ]So you play flight and race sims with a mouse and keyboard?

Race sims are console games. On the PC we got more interesting games which require a large exchange of input/output data.

In "games" like Halo people will soon be able to fight console gamers in MP Live. Wonder who&#39;s going to win. People who can&#39;t aim? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
I hereby declare shenanigans against Darkninja&#33; http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/rofl.gif

I don’t (IMO) consider any racing games on consoles as “racing sims”. GT4 and the like are the closest you will get on a console, but those still don&#39;t even come close to racing sims like LFS/GTR/GTL/rFactor/nkPRO which are on PC. Although, I do think GTR(2) was converted over to xbox(360), but I don’t know if they dumbed it down or not, but either way, I guess that would probably have to be considered the most realistic racing sim available on a console, since GTR is a realistic racing sim on the PC that was converted over to a console.

But once again, you miss the point. People here want a joystick/wheel/gamepad to FLY and/or DRIVE, not to control your soldier/aim and shoot a weapon (though there might be a few weirdos out there http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif ).

[Paco454]

Quote[/b] ] (Darkninja @<hidden> Jan. 10 2007,15:55)
There&#39;s no need for a joystick and such crap when we all got the superiour mouse and keyboard combo. Or do you need a gun to control your weapon too? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
There is no need for a comment like this and I concider it spamming. The topic of this thread is support for usb multi joystick support and not a spamming thread for those who see no need for it. So if you have something intelligent to post then post. If not don&#39;t bother posting.

PACO454

[Shadow]

Stay on topic. This is not a pissing contest between mouse/keyboard and other input devices.

[Suma]

Question: Is it possible to make the game support and allow the use of more than one stick,
We have this in our plans and hopefully it will be implemented in some future update.

[Rg]

Question: Is it possible to make the game support and allow the use of more than one stick,
We have this in our plans and hopefully it will be implemented in some future update.
Thank you for hearing us out. MUCH appreciated http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/notworthy.gif

[Paco454]

YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; I DID IT&#33;&#33; I GOT A RESPONSE&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

"Thank you Suma" for responding to this very important question. There are many people including myself that are looking forward to this important feature.

Again thank you for responding.

P.S. As you now I&#39;ve been some what critical about BIS, I will be less critical and more supportive towards your goals of making ArmA the best it can be. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
PACO454

[Kroky]

YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; I DID IT&#33;&#33; I GOT A RESPONSE&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

"Thank you Suma" for responding to this very important question. There are many people including myself that are looking forward to this important feature.

Again thank you for responding.

P.S. As you now I&#39;ve been some what critical about BIS, I will be less critical and more supportive towards your goals of making ArmA the best it can be. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
PACO454
@<hidden>

In future:

If you want to get an answer from BIS: The quickest way is: Just email them to support@<hidden>

I did this, exactly about the topic (multiple joystick support) and got an answer right on the next morning. (about the same what suma wrote).

[GAU-8]

at least its a start http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/yay.gif ...now for the wait http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

thankyou&#33;

[Espectro]

YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; I DID IT&#33;&#33; I GOT A RESPONSE&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

"Thank you Suma" for responding to this very important question. There are many people including myself that are looking forward to this important feature.

Again thank you for responding.

P.S. As you now I&#39;ve been some what critical about BIS, I will be less critical and more supportive towards your goals of making ArmA the best it can be. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
PACO454
@<hidden>

In future:

If you want to get an answer from BIS: The quickest way is: Just email them to support@<hidden>

I did this, exactly about the topic (multiple joystick support) and got an answer right on the next morning. (about the same what suma wrote).
Why in the world didn&#39;t you tell us, then?

[Paco454]

I do believe I did e-mail them but it wasn&#39;t to the "support" e-mail address. I&#39;m just glad I got a response.

PACO454

[Kroky]

YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES,YES&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; I DID IT&#33;&#33; I GOT A RESPONSE&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

"Thank you Suma" for responding to this very important question. There are many people including myself that are looking forward to this important feature.

Again thank you for responding.

P.S. As you now I&#39;ve been some what critical about BIS, I will be less critical and more supportive towards your goals of making ArmA the best it can be. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
PACO454
@<hidden>

In future:

If you want to get an answer from BIS: The quickest way is: Just email them to support@<hidden>

I did this, exactly about the topic (multiple joystick support) and got an answer right on the next morning. (about the same what suma wrote).
Why in the world didn&#39;t you tell us, then?
Didn&#39;t find this topic before. And didn&#39;t know more people carry about this.

[maxqubit]

Quote[/b] ]So you play ... with a mouse and keyboard?
...
Wonder who&#39;s going to win. People who can&#39;t aim?  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
...
And as for gamepads, well they are good for nothing, just a cheap all-in-one attempt.
I was waiting for this (http://www.army.mil/-images/2007/02/02/2287/army.mil-2007-02-02-091945.jpg) hahahahaha LOL  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/pistols.gif (btw, do you see the desk? The famous desk in the mouse/keyboard/desk thingy:)

[snoofkin911]

Right on dudes BIS need to address this issue and give more support to controllers in general
i for instance have a problem with my thrustmaster ForceFeedback thruttle going reverse

[CANavar]

2001: OFP

2007: ArmA

Another patch...

Same question: Multiple controller support?

[Rg]

I&#39;m wondering the same thing. It wasn&#39;t in the changelog, so I guess we might have to wait a little longer.

[Scrub]

Quote[/b] ]So you play ... with a mouse and keyboard?
...
Wonder who&#39;s going to win. People who can&#39;t aim?  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif
...
And as for gamepads, well they are good for nothing, just a cheap all-in-one attempt.
I was waiting for this (http://www.army.mil/-images/2007/02/02/2287/army.mil-2007-02-02-091945.jpg) hahahahaha LOL  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/pistols.gif (btw, do you see the desk? The famous desk in the mouse/keyboard/desk thingy:)
Hehe, if the landwarrior program ever reaches op status, we&#39;re doomed.. I mean lookit that guy, he&#39;s not pulling up a sat image, or plotting a arty strike, he&#39;s playing &#39;Legend of Zelda&#39; http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/tounge2.gif

It would be nice to have a &#39;reversed&#39; throttle on either the helo or the fixed wing config, though. one or the other would fix my usage issues between the two.