DescentBB

Just got my new Dell which came with a Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS. Processor is Pentium D 830 with dual core processing 3.0Ghz, 800FSB. It didn't come with the little gameport dongle but it did have the pins for connecting one. In Device manager Creative Game Port is listed. I purchased a game port dongle from Creative and plugged it into the soundcard. Attached my MS Sidewinder Pro. Went to Control Panel/Printers and Other Hardware/Game Controllers. Clicked Add, selected Microsoft Sidewinder (Auto Detect). It came up with Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro but under status it is listed as not connected. I tried switching from 1 dot to 2, Rebooting etc. Any ideas? Help!

I'm afraid that's what happens with Microsoft stuff. Whether it be Microsoft joysticks in Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Works documents in Microsoft Word. Things just stop working so you will be forced to upgrade.

For me (I have a similar setup with a 3D Pro connected to an audigy game port) sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It usually does not work right after I boot up into Windows (which hardly ever happens anyway). But after a while it will show as connected. And once it's connected it stays as connected. I put a link to game devices in control panel on my desktop to easily check before I bother to start D3.

It's just something to do with a timing issue with the old 3D pro on new hardware that Microsoft can't be bothered to fix.

/end biased post.

thou shall be denied!

You could just wait until Grendel's 3D Pro gameport-to-USB converter is finished and buy one of those.

Xamindar your right, after a while it did show connected. Weird. Thanks for the post.

Drag your Control Panel Game Controllers icon into your startup folder, so that it gets launched automatically when you boot up - this seems to work for me. Or try wiggling the cable a bit

Tried putting it in the start up menu but alas.....this is really frustrating. It said OK once and now I can't get it to do it again and I really want to play Descent with this joystick. Wah!

When I tried it w/ a game port: once I saw it connected, I never opened the control panel again. Instead I hopped into D3, start up a level (usually a saved game), point the nose to the wall and wait. After warming up a bit (1-30min) it usually caught on. Once it's working it'll stay that way until the next reboot. In the long run I'd suggest the converter -- plug & forget

Microsoft seems to be willing to blame it all on static buildup:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... -us;320554

They are referring to USB ports, but if static buildup can cause this type of problem, it could be just as relevant to gameports. You might give their "solution" (unplugging and plugging in BEFORE startup since this is a gameport device and not hot-swapable) a try.

Not sure what did it but having it in the the Startup menu seems to have fixed it most of the time. I also followed the instructions on the Microsoft site. Thanks for the advice folks.