How does Windows 98 handle joysticks and control pads?

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dos-man

Does anybody know how Windows 98 handles joysticks and control pads?
I've got USB controllers disappearing, and I don't know enough about
the OS to even know where to start looking.

I'm assuming it uses a combination of DLLs and entries in the
registry. Perhaps it even uses one of the ini files. Any help would
would be appreciated.

dos-man 64
 
dos-man said:
Does anybody know how Windows 98 handles joysticks and control pads?
I've got USB controllers disappearing, and I don't know enough about
the OS to even know where to start looking.

I'm assuming it uses a combination of DLLs and entries in the
registry. Perhaps it even uses one of the ini files. Any help would
would be appreciated.

dos-man 64
Click to expand...

For the Windows 98 machines, these joysticks, controllers, etc., were
essentially analog devices and the emulation was that of an AT keyboard.
For example, directional control was no different from that of the arrows
keypad. IIRC, Thrustmaster worked closely with the flight simulator game
developers to program buttons to relate to specific keyboard characters
for functions, as with their flight sticks and HOTAS controller. In all
likelihood today, the programming may utilize DLL's instead of proprietary
files.
 
For the Windows 98 machines, these joysticks, controllers, etc., were
essentially analog devices and the emulation was that of an AT keyboard.
Click to expand...

While it may be true of many devices at the time, moving
closer to today and USB controllers it is not necessarily
the case.

I would tend to suspect the USB driver, the motherboard USB
/chipset driver or other semi-unrelated USB issues in
general. Win98 really doesn't serve as a very good
isolation as we dont' even know what the hardware on both
ends of the USB cable was, and it IS a hardware group.

We don't even know if the controller was tried on another
system and/or OS, it could be something as simple as the
wire (USB cable) fraying/breaking internally after a lot of
use (based on what info we have thus far).

However to more directly answer the OP's question, the
integration with the OS might be determined by examining the
driver provided for Win98, examining the files and the
associations listed in Device Manager for it. Maybe
something is also listed in the Control Panel for game
controllers but my memory of Win98 Game Controllers
interface is poor in recollecting what info it provides
about specific devices beyond the basic calibration page and
list of enumerated devices.
 
Using win98B?

--http://www.bootdisk.com/
Click to expand...

Is that second edition? Then the answer is yes.
I bought the full version of it years ago. I've been using it ever
since.
My current machine is probably not fast enough to run anything else,
and I heard terrible, terrible things about ME -PD

dos-man
 
While it may be true of many devices at the time, moving
closer to today and USB controllers it is not necessarily
the case.

I would tend to suspect the USB driver, the motherboard USB
/chipset driver or other semi-unrelated USB issues in
general. Win98 really doesn't serve as a very good
isolation as we dont' even know what the hardware on both
ends of the USB cable was, and it IS a hardware group.

We don't even know if the controller was tried on another
system and/or OS, it could be something as simple as the
wire (USB cable) fraying/breaking internally after a lot of
use (based on what info we have thus far).

However to more directly answer the OP's question, the
integration with the OS might be determined by examining the
driver provided for Win98, examining the files and the
associations listed in Device Manager for it. Maybe
something is also listed in the Control Panel for game
controllers but my memory of Win98 Game Controllers
interface is poor in recollecting what info it provides
about specific devices beyond the basic calibration page and
list of enumerated devices.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

The controllers are actually Playstation adapters that let you hook up
PS1 or PS2 controllers to the PC. I don't use anything fancy, just
generally arcade sticks (no analog sticks) with a joystick and some
buttons. I have two of them. I bought them at radio shack. This is
the second time I've had them disappear. After my last reinstate, I
hoped that I wouldn't have this problem again. I have another one from
radio shack that lets you hook up gameport controllers and flight
sticks to a usb port and that one is still working. But the others
vanished. I've tried uninstalling all the drivers, directx 9, etc.,
but nothing is working. I just ordered a new adapter of another make.
Hopefully, when it arrives, it will not suffer from the same problem.

dos-man
 
dos-man said:
The controllers are actually Playstation adapters that let you hook up
PS1 or PS2 controllers to the PC. I don't use anything fancy, just
generally arcade sticks (no analog sticks) with a joystick and some
buttons. I have two of them. I bought them at radio shack. This is
the second time I've had them disappear. After my last reinstate, I
hoped that I wouldn't have this problem again. I have another one from
radio shack that lets you hook up gameport controllers and flight
sticks to a usb port and that one is still working. But the others
vanished. I've tried uninstalling all the drivers, directx 9, etc.,
but nothing is working. I just ordered a new adapter of another make.
Hopefully, when it arrives, it will not suffer from the same problem.

dos-man
Click to expand...

If it is the USB layer that is playing up, buying more hardware won't
necessarily change the nature of the symptoms. A completely different
device, with different USB enumeration information, may work for a while,
and disappear like the rest.

There is a troubleshooting page here, but since your USB was already working
OK, most of it won't apply to you:

http://www.usbman.com/Troubleshooter General.htm

The "Cleanup Device Manager" procedure, is intended to clean out all
the info recorded to date about plugged in USB devices. It is one possible
solution to get sanity back in the USB stack.

http://www.usbman.com/Guides/Cleanup Device Manager Safe Mode.htm

Paul
 
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