All Discussions > Steam Forums > Help and Tips > Topic Details
jimdirt_ 2 Apr @ 3:10pm
Does anyone make a actual Joystick that is X Input for PC ?
I have a old Microsoft Sidewinder 2 Joystick (not a Xbox Controller but a actual Joystick/Flightstick) , I play games like MXGP and MXvsATV using the Joystick as I find it 1000% better than any Controller , I have been using a Joystick since Motocross Madness came out (and I still have that game) , however , I am currently forced to use things like WoJ Emulator and X360CE Emulator to make my Joystick somewhat function like a Xbox Controller , since Microsoft as well as the majority of game manufacturers all got lazy and instead of making a PC game a PC game , everything has to be Xbox compatible using XInput (X Input) , so none of the games recognize my Joystick without a Emulator that really doesn't function that great

Now before anyone says , just use a Xbox controller , I have one and I HATE using it on PC games , a Joystick is 1000% better in every way to play Motorcycle games or for Flight games and I DO NOT WANT TO USE a Controller ... Period !

As mentioned , I have tried about 7 different Emulators and I only got 2 of them (mentioned above) to actually work at all , and of the 2 , 1 sort of works and the other mostly doesn't work for mapping the buttons and some games recognize one emulator functions , but not other games , which is why I have 2 Emulators going to play 3 games so far , I can get them to make the bike turn usually , but to control the Clutch , Throttle , Front Brake , Rear Brake , is iffy at best (I use the Trigger for Throttle and the buttons for Clutch and Brakes or any other function I want to use , like for tricks , etc. , 99% of don't work at all , basically I try to map a key to Clutch and it looks right in the Emulator , but in the game it changes the camera or sends me back to the menu , (basically I am trying to map the 5,6,7,8 buttons to A,B,X,Y button functions , even when I clearly remapped it in the game itself , but it functions differently when I try to play than what it says it is set to)

I just ordered from Newegg a Joystick that "Google" said was XInput for PC , its the Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flightstick - Xbox Series X/PC , $120 + tax later and I then find out from the manufacturer that the Joystick while in PC Mode only uses Direct Input , NOT XInput , so basically I am going to have to return it as soon as I get it and get a Refund , but in searching Google (Google has become Dumb due to AI) it mostly brings Xbox Controllers when I search specifically for a Joystick with XInput or for a Joystick period , it usually brings up 60 pages of Xbox Controllers for PC , and I have to search every single page in hopes I find a actual Joystick listed and usually they DO NOT use XInput , because Google AI can't differentiate between a Joystick and a Controller , but then most people I run into think the same as Google and think a Controller is a Joystick because it has 2 paddles , ITS NOT A JOYSTICK ! , a Joystick is a Joystick/Flightstick and a Joystick is NOT a Controller

So what I am trying to find out from someone who actually found one or has one , or knows of one ... is there a Joystick that uses XInput (X Input) for PC specifically ??? , so my games will recognize it as a Xbox Controller so I can map my games to the Joystick and play my games like they should be played .... I can sort of play , but its minimalistic functions with the Emulators , they just don't work like they should and getting help from the people that make the Emulator software , is almost none existent , I have posted in their forums , but have yet to get a reply

Oh on a side note , I did try contacting some of the game Manufacturers , like Rainbow Studios who make ALL the MX vs ATV games and they basically refuse to make their PC games Joystick/Direct Input compatible (MX vs ATV Unleashed was Direct Input , but every MX vs ATV game after that one is XInput), because as far as I can tell , they like Microsoft and everyone else anymore , are lazy and its easier to make everything the same so they don't have to make a separate game for PC and one for PlayStation or Xbox , so they are ALL Xbox/XInput , and basically no one uses Direct Input anymore , you will only find that on Pre- 2008 games... and for some reason , I am really having a hard time finding a actual Joystick that uses XInput , even though it has been the main function since about 2008 in Windows and games , so its confusing that ALL Joysticks do not use XInput for PC specifically , or at least none of the one's I have found so far , or they do but only in Xbox Mode , in PC mode they are Direct Input as mentioned in the one I found listed above

Anyway , hopefully someone has found a Joystick/Flightstick that uses XInput .....

Any actual help or knowledge of what Joysticks would work in XInput mode for a PC (that part is the main issue) would be appreciated then I can look them up , see if it's what I need and upgrade from my old Sidewinder 2 and using a Emulator that barely does what I need .. Thanks .. Jim
< >
Showing 1-9 of 9 comments
RPG Gamer Man 2 Apr @ 3:27pm 
I do not know any flightsticks, but i do know that Logitech F310 plays xinput and dinput both.

You can look at it here:

https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/gamepads/f310-gamepad.html

I do not use it anymore because it messes up pinball games i do to play tournaments with other people.
Last edited by RPG Gamer Man; 2 Apr @ 3:28pm
#1
jimdirt_ 3 Apr @ 11:25pm 
Originally posted by RPG Gamer Man:
I do not know any flightsticks, but i do know that Logitech F310 plays xinput and dinput both.

You can look at it here:

https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/gamepads/f310-gamepad.html

I do not use it anymore because it messes up pinball games i do to play tournaments with other people.

Thanks for the reply , however as I mentioned I HATE Controllers , I only want to play with a Joystick on my PC , I have a Xbox Controller , as mentioned , I just won't use it , I hate it and how it works , even buggy with the Emulator a Joystick is still 1000% better than any Controller will ever be for PC motorcycle games (and Flight Simulators or flying games) , I will take a Joystick any day over a Controller , which is why I am looking for a actual Joystick

I am in contact with one of the Joystick Manufacturers right now trying to convince them to make a Driver or Firmware for their Joystick to be X Input compatible in Windows (Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flightstick) , the one they have is only Xbox compatible in Xbox mode , with a Xbox , , and Direct Input compatible in PC mode , I told them that most game manufacturers stopped supporting Direct Input in 2008 , and went strictly with XInput ..... as did Microsoft , since they own the Xbox , and Roccat should add XInput to the compatibility of their Joystick

Hopefully they listen ...., anyway , yeah , I'm not interested in a Controller , but thanks for the Reply ..... Jim
#2
RPG Gamer Man 4 Apr @ 11:04am 
Sorry, i am unsure where to get flight type joysticks. I know there were some in the past, but currently i am unsure.
#3
jimdirt_ 4 Apr @ 4:01pm 
Originally posted by RPG Gamer Man:
Sorry, i am unsure where to get flight type joysticks. I know there were some in the past, but currently i am unsure.


No worries , Yeah , I am having a hard time finding one that uses X Input , you would think it would be common , I will just keep searching and hounding the Joystick Manufacturers to make one ...
#4
smokerob79 4 Apr @ 4:45pm 
no i would never think this would be common.....joysticks are old tech that everyone moved away from.....real flight sims use direct input
#5
jimdirt_ 4 Apr @ 5:21pm 
Originally posted by smokerob79:
no i would never think this would be common.....joysticks are old tech that everyone moved away from.....real flight sims use direct input

Not everyone moved away from , only the younger crowd , because they want everything the same to make it easy ... and a Joystick IS Direct Input

Just because a Joystick is old tech , doesn't mean that what is newer is better .. (for what I use it for), I am also most likely much older than you are so what I prefer would be different , because of what I started gaming with and got comfortable with (I'm 65 going on 66 in about 4 months)

Play a MX game with a real Joystick (I currently am using a Microsoft Sidewinder 2 , but I have to use a Emulator for X-Input) , it will change your mind , I hate Controllers , and for First Person shooter games I use a Keyboard/Mouse (PC) , I have 2 Call of Duty games on my PS2 and I honestly played them 1 time and thought it sucked using a Controller , it literally ruined the game for me , I only play that stuff on PC now and have since the 90's , and would take a Joystick over any Controller for any game that has a vehicle , especially any motorcycle games (road racing or MX) , and I played Microsoft Flight Simulator with a regular Joystick , but I'm not really into flying games , mainly First Person Shooters and Motocross type games (well so far only MX vs ATV series and MXGP series and Monster Energy Supercross series , most of the others suck either visually , physics wise , or both)
Last edited by jimdirt_; 5 Apr @ 11:30pm
#6
jimdirt_ 9 Apr @ 12:48pm 
So I am guessing that there is not any companies out there that make a PC Joystick/Flightstick

(because for some reason when I say Joystick , everyone thinks its a Controller for a Xbox , and its NOT)

that uses XInput (X-Input) to mimic a Xbox Controller that so many games went to now ?? , and I am currently using a Emulator , they don't function as smoothly as a actual Joystick without mimic software would
#7
simon_pickering 14 Sep @ 4:00am 
I'm looking for exactly the same thing, having just tried to use my joystick in Star Wars Outlaws, expecting it might work as it used to in e.g. Jedi Knight, but no. I then fell down the rabbit hole of JoystickGremlin, etc., though these don't seem to do what I want them to (DirectInput -> XInput).

It looks like ViGemBus does this mapping, though I see it's been retired (though apparently still works). I may still give it a go, but it would be nice to simply have a piece of hardware that does what I want (and also in a left-handed setup, which is also not all that common so it seems)

Anyway no useful suggestions from me I'm afraid, but I just wanted to let you know that you're not the only one seeking such a device! :)
#8
simon_pickering 15 Sep @ 2:36am 
I should add that I tried the combination of ViGemBus and UCR (there are other options for this bit, but this one was fine) - this worked in that my joystick then appears as an XBox 360 controller and I can map the controls across to whatever I want (slightly laborious, but fine.)

The downside of this was that in Jedi Survivor, the game appears to expect either a mouse + kb combo, or an XInput game controller and using both at the same time in the menus was almost impossible (mouse clicks were not registered unless a key was pressed simultaneously, etc.) so I gave up on that, and concluded that in fact all I need my joystick to do is work in place of the keyboard.

To do this I found an opensource (was previously shareware) app called Keysticks which allows one to map both joystick buttons and joystick axis motions to keypresses (it is designed to allow mapping of all types of controller inputs to keyboard inputs).

This works well, again a bit of a faff to setup the mapping, but workable. The only improvement I could see is allowing a mapping of a range of an axis to different keypresses - e.g. Y-axis forward is W, great, but full forward could be shift + W for sprint. A minor thing, I may see if there are other similar apps that allow such behaviour.

Before I got the above working, I was wondering about modifying one of those gaming keyboards (with limited keys and a wrist-rest) to have tethered 4-way motion sensing underneath (to handle the WASD keys) using e.g. an Arduino which I think might be quite nice to use (I wonder if such things already exist - I couldn't find anything though).

The other option was to make an Arduino in-line USB gadget to convert from Joystick HID to XInput. This is certainly doable and seems fairly straight forward. I might make one up anyway to see how well it works. The only caveat re usability is that it will also require a way of mapping buttons across (which is easy to do, but still isn't overly interactive - it would probably require the device to be unplugged, have a new text-based mapping config uploaded, replugged, etc.

OTOH, it could be done with a set of DIP switches (though I can't think quite how to make this setup very user-friendly off the top of my head), or simply and easily with some flying leads á la old fashioned phone exchange - basically anything to make it quick and easy to change the mapping when you start using it in a game and realise you need the buttons mapped differently!
#9
< >
Showing 1-9 of 9 comments
Per page: 1530 50

All Discussions > Steam Forums > Help and Tips > Topic Details
Date Posted: 2 Apr @ 3:10pm
Posts: 9
Start a New Discussion

Discussions Rules and Guidelines