CLOD Support of MS Sidewinder Joy Stick

[jcole]

Does CLOD/DW support MS Sidewinder force feedback joy stick? I searched but couldn’t find any references to it. When I hook up my unit, the program crashes about half the time. Works fine with my Thrustmaster 16KM, but would like to use the MS Sidewinder if I could. Thanks. 

Mod, if I missed posted to the wrong area please move

[Josp]

1 hour ago, jcole said:

Does CLOD/DW support MS Sidewinder force feedback joy stick? I searched but couldn’t find any references to it. When I hook up my unit, the program crashes about half the time. Works fine with my Thrustmaster 16KM, but would like to use the MS Sidewinder if I could. Thanks. 

 

Hi jcole,

 

I use a MS Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 joystick in Cliffs of Dover without any bigger problems. And I know about other people who use it too.

 

The only issue I'm aware of is that force feedback effects can be lost temporarily sometimes. This is a known problem which has not been solved so far.

 

I don't think the crashes you mention have something to do with some joystick type. I guess it is something else. Have you read the Getting started guide? If not, I recommend doing that. There are many troubleshooting hints there.

 

Josef

[jcole]

Josef — Thanks for your response. Correlation is not necessarily causation, but when I was using my MS Sidewinder FFB I experienced lots of games crashes. I kept a spreadsheet to document my crashes, hang up, blank outs, etc. Over a four month span, 58% of my flights crashed or had some interruptions in game play. I had Buzzsaw here and other members try to help analyze the problem without much success.  On a whim, I switched over to a Thrustmaster 16KM that I had but not yet used. After switching sticks last year I have had no, repeat, no crashes,flight interruptions or issues at all. None. Everything else in the system was the same. I’d like to get back to using the MS FFB stick, so that is why I asked. Your experience indicates that the system will handle the Sidewinder, so that a positive. I may try to switch back just to see what happens. —Cole 

[Josp]

It is really a very strange issue. I believe your statistics data but still think it must be more than just a joystick type.

Is your Sidewinder working fine in other games on your PC?

Do you have a possibility to run Cliffs of Dover with your Sidewinder on another PC? Or in other Windows version?

I wish you good luck in solving this problem.

 

Josef

[BOO]

@jcole  A looooooong time ago I did a guide on living with the Sidewinder in CloD but that centred on solving the disconnects easily and fixes to resolve the autocannon bug. It may still be on the ATAG dowloads pages. I ended up ditching the stick when i played BoS more as the disconnect in BoS were insufferable and meant game reboots.  

 

I seem to remember the sidwinder wasnt a fan of USB3.0. I think i also had more success using USB2.0 ports from a header on the board over anything else but that was in the absence of a powered hub. It worked fine with Win 10 at the time.  Sadly the issues people encounter with the Sidewinder do not seem to share a lot of commonality. 

 

Best of luck

[OBT-Mikmak]

MS Sidewinder FFB 2 works correctly in Cliffs Of Dover on my side.

Maybe have a look at Windows USB power management ("disable" on my side).

[jcole]

3 hours ago, OBT-Mikmak said:

MS Sidewinder FFB 2 works correctly in Cliffs Of Dover on my side.

Maybe have a look at Windows USB power management ("disable" on my side).

Thanks. I’m not familiar with Windows USB power management . Where would that be?

[Josp]

Hi jcole,

 

there is a chapter called Power Management of your USB ports in the Getting started guide. It describes how to disable the USB power management.

 

And as BOO wrote above, the Sidewinder FFB 2 joystick is a USB2 device so it is better to plug it in a USB2 port if your PC has some. A warning here - reconnecting your USB devices can cause that your axis assignment is lost and you may need to create it again.

 

Josef

[jcole]

Josef, and all — thanks again. I’ll give this USB2 a try as soon as I can and let you all know of my results.

[BOO]

@jcole a few threads of a similar nature around games various report a reduction in crashes using a powered usb hub but those are not Clod specific. Id try the power management first before shelling out on more gear. 

[Red_Von_Hammer]

Yeah all FFB sticks work in Clod, the MSFFB2 was my primary go-to for years and it works in CloD as already detailed here.
The G940, Wingman, etc, also work.
The more expensive options work as well, I'm currently using the VPForce Rhino base, which I can happily report works in Great Battles, CloD, 1946, DCS Red Baron 3D, CFS, European Air War, etc.
A friend of mine, Gunfreak here on the forums, uses the Brunner FFB base, which has software available to extract FFB Telemetry from all FFB-compatible games, so it also works in CloD & all the other sims.

The primary issue, as already pointed out, is FFB cutting out when, one way or the other, you're forced to either alt+tab or using Steam via the Shift+Tab function, then you have to pull G's to get the FFB back.

You can also use Fedit to greatly reduce the gunfire FFB effects, and increase buffeting (in before James May) and airflow effects:

On an off-note (and I guess this is where it gets dicey given lack of direct relevance) I wish they'd fix the issue of FFB cutting out, and I wish Great Battles had FF files, for each plane, so we could adjust each planes FFB to suit our taste.
A lot of the GB planes just don't feel right for me personally, I'm not saying they aren't historically exactly right, but I'm not feeling the G's in the cockpit on account of not being able to afford a P-51 or a Sopwith Camel, etc, so I wish I could individually adjust the FFB for that specific aircraft

[LLv34_Flanker]

S!

 

Adding to this. Does CloD support FF for pedals? Friend has Brunner FF pedals.

[Red_Von_Hammer]

On 10/16/2023 at 7:34 PM, LLv34_Flanker said:

S!

 

Adding to this. Does CloD support FF for pedals? Friend has Brunner FF pedals.

Well he has the pedals, at that point he might as well just try it and Great Battles, and let us know?

[LLv34_Flanker]

S!

 

He tested, no effects. So seems no support at the moment.

[Dawson]

On 9/24/2023 at 8:39 AM, jcole said:

Does CLOD/DW support MS Sidewinder force feedback joy stick? I searched but couldn’t find any references to it. When I hook up my unit, the program crashes about half the time. Works fine with my Thrustmaster 16KM, but would like to use the MS Sidewinder if I could. Thanks. 

Mod, if I missed posted to the wrong area please move

@jcole I use a Sidewinder FFB2 and had frequent crashes on my previous computer though nothing since I got a new one a year ago. Both PCs run Win 10. Sometimes I'd go several weeks without a crash then I'd have multiple crashes in the same session.

 

Your experience of stable play with other sticks is interesting. I wished I'd tried that at the time.

 

This ATAG post by another player described my problem. No solution was found. https://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32345

[Dirt_Merchant]

The below applies to GB - i have not tested ffb in CLOD.

 

Here to add that I too experience FFB dropping out after i alt tab once or twice - It would be nice to have some way for force a re-initialization mid-flight (preferably with a keybind). If we cant get this bug permanently squashed at least give us some lever to pull to workaround it.

 

@Red_Von_Hammer are you saying that the FFB cuts out for you on the rhino too? but that it comes back with snatching on some g forces?

 

the ffb effects do not return when i lose them with the msffb2 - i am forced to then startup and run simffb to even get a centering force from that point (until the game crashes lol).

Edited January 21, 2024 by Dirt_Merchant

[Dawson]

13 hours ago, Dirt_Merchant said:

Here to add that I too experience FFB dropping out after i alt tab once or twice - It would be nice to have some way for force a re-initialization mid-flight (preferably with a keybind). If we cant get this bug permanently squashed at least give us some lever to pull to workaround it.

 

This is a good idea. In CloD it could be as simple as a keybind to call the SPRING.ffe effect from {steam install location}\parts\core\FF.

 

Link to another recent FFB discussion:

 

Edited January 21, 2024 by Dawson

[Red_Von_Hammer]

On 1/21/2024 at 5:02 AM, Dirt_Merchant said:

The below applies to GB - i have not tested ffb in CLOD.

 

Here to add that I too experience FFB dropping out after i alt tab once or twice - It would be nice to have some way for force a re-initialization mid-flight (preferably with a keybind). If we cant get this bug permanently squashed at least give us some lever to pull to workaround it.

 

@Red_Von_Hammer are you saying that the FFB cuts out for you on the rhino too? but that it comes back with snatching on some g forces?

 

the ffb effects do not return when i lose them with the msffb2 - i am forced to then startup and run simffb to even get a centering force from that point (until the game crashes lol).

Yessir, correct, I usually get it back when it snags again.