Saitek Joystick Problems

[kirbysiville]

Hi I'm Back again.
Thanks Loki for the advice to swap the axis in the VS config file, it worked well.
Now though I've had another problem crop up, I'd spent most of last weekend trying to alleviate but unfortunately I couldn't. So once again I must ask for assistance.
My X45 has become troublesome once again. Now I get a diagonal roll, (top left to bottom right),l whenever I go to space, it seems to happen only when the X45 is hooked up. If I move the mouse to the bottom left of the screen it slows the roll down a bit. And if I press the up arrow + left arrow + delete keys in unison it stops the roll all together. Oddly enough once I switch on auto drive it straightens out and flies right, but starts to roll once again as soon as auto disengages. If I start Vs with the "no joystick option" there is no issue. And strangest of all, if I use my Logitech Freedom 2.4 instead, there is no issue as well.
This has had me going all weekend, I've even went and reloaded the drivers packages for both joysticks a couple of times. I also went and uninstalled the svu copy and reinstalled with the 0.5.0 stable edition with the same problem coming in with each fresh install. I also used the logitech reset utility as well as nuke usb from saitek in order to try to reset the joystick settings within the system. I am at a loss for the time being. I have a feeling it has something to do with the bindings still and the way they are described in the VSconfig. file. The X45 is a 4 axis joystick with throttle X-left/right, Y-forward/aft, Z-twist/roll-pitch-yaw, and then throttle. I've seen some example configurations in the wiki that I'm interested in experimenting with but I thought I'd share this issue with Y'all first and see if this has not cropped up in some form or other elswhere and has been already resolved.

[loki1950]

That sounds more like a calibration problem since it only happens with the X45 try the control panel calibration utility if the X45 doesn't have a dedicated one. i know i sometimes have trouble with the throttle not reaching zero on my Wingman Force 3d.

Enjoy the Choice

[MC707]

hmm that used to happen to me when I had my joystick plugged in without me noticing. I don't use my joystick because it is a hell of complicated (compared to other games). Mine is not an X45 but that still happened to me. Oh, I recommend you to stay in svn - for some reason, it is more stable than the stable version

[loki1950]

Then i looks like your joystick needs calibration too much different under Linux KDE has a GUI for joystick calibration but Gnome users have to use the command line as there is no official one that i know of.

Enjoy the Choice

[kirbysiville]

Interestingly enough it was a problem with calibration. Saitek has changed their calibration utility recently. Now all you need to do is push left/right a couple of times, then up down a couple of more, and then twist the rudder and the throttle and sequence the spin nobs, and that is all it needs apparently. NOT.
The old utility had a square that you spun the joystick through and made sure you hit all four corners to set the X & Y axis correctly, seems that's what was needed.
I read your post earlier Loki and thought about it a bit, I had actually calibrated several times throughout the weekend, (go for the easy fix first), but that hadn't helped. So today I decided to try out Babylon Project and see if I got the same effect there. I couldn't get my stick to work there at all. So I went into their options utility and they had an option to calibrate your joystick built in. It was the older style calibration utility, it fixed my stick in Babylon, so I went to check out Vega Strike and I was working there too. So I guess it was that I needed to hit all four corners to calibrate correctly.
And Yes I'll probably end up going back to current subversion a little later, I didn't mention it earlier but the reason I'd stopped was that VS 5.05 handed me my first BSOD since moving up to W-7.

[loki1950]

I didn't mention it earlier but the reason I'd stopped was that VS 5.05 handed me my first BSOD since moving up to W-7.

We do seem to have that rep that and a good check of your video drivers.Glad you got the calibration right now to add support for all the buttons The article on the wiki http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/media ... Saitek_X45 should be a good starting point.

Enjoy the Choice

[MC707]

And Yes I'll probably end up going back to current subversion a little later, I didn't mention it earlier but the reason I'd stopped was that VS 5.05 handed me my first BSOD since moving up to W-7.

ahahah dude are you telling me theres the famous BSOD in W7? BSOD is one of the reasons I switched to Linux.

[kirbysiville]

Yes the feared BSOD still rears its head on occasion. Remember though it tells you of a critical breakage of some coding that can irreparably damage your operating system. It is much maligned and misunderstood, and usually detested when it appears, but it is a safety tool with usable information. This time it told of an memory conflict with VS 0.50 so this time it came in handy. A message is sent to M$, remember this is a test build of this OS.
As to you running to Linux over a little bit of blue well I'll light a candle for you and leave it in a window so that you may find your way home some day. Actually I've got Unbutu Gutsy Gibbon on a machine I keep in the Garage, as well as Open SUSE and Solaris 10 running together in dual boot on another in my workshop. They are fun to play with but still kinda crude over all. And I've been able to lock up Linux on occasion as well, if it's electrical it's inherently unstable.
Thanks again for the advice Loki, as usual your spot on. I'm gonna move back to the svu soon and I'm considering setting up server 2008 on a spare system. If I were to set this up as a game server for Vega Strike what would Y'all think would be a good size for the Hd. I've available a wd 20gb, a seagate 60gb, and up to 2 wd 250gbs' I'll wait to hear some input before I decide to do this.

[MC707]

Yes the feared BSOD still rears its head on occasion. Remember though it tells you of a critical breakage of some coding that can irreparably damage your operating system. It is much maligned and misunderstood, and usually detested when it appears, but it is a safety tool with usable information. This time it told of an memory conflict with VS 0.50 so this time it came in handy. A message is sent to M$, remember this is a test build of this OS.
As to you running to Linux over a little bit of blue well I'll light a candle for you and leave it in a window so that you may find your way home some day. Actually I've got Unbutu Gutsy Gibbon on a machine I keep in the Garage, as well as Open SUSE and Solaris 10 running together in dual boot on another in my workshop. They are fun to play with but still kinda crude over all. And I've been able to lock up Linux on occasion as well, if it's electrical it's inherently unstable.
Thanks again for the advice Loki, as usual your spot on. I'm gonna move back to the svu soon and I'm considering setting up server 2008 on a spare system. If I were to set this up as a game server for Vega Strike what would Y'all think would be a good size for the Hd. I've available a wd 20gb, a seagate 60gb, and up to 2 wd 250gbs' I'll wait to hear some input before I decide to do this.

Well, BSOD might be useful to save hardware components, but tell me: why isnt a BSOD in Linux? Shouldnt Linux save hardware components too? Also, you didn't light a candle for me, for Linux lit the sun when it showed up

Anyway, about the game server... that would be awesome (if you have the bandwidth and server power, of course). I personally don't think the size of the HD will matter as long as you have a bunch of gigs free, make sure to defrag the hd and most importantly, make sure the speed of the hd is high enough. 7200 RPM is probably perfect. Say, a good 10000rpm would be good, too hehe JK. Now seriously, I wouldn't recommend a 15000 RPM nor a 10k RPM, as Ive heard it doesn't significantly improve performance. (in fact, the size-performance ratio is terrible - check this)

I hope you get to Enjoy the Choice (TM) someday (ask Loki for the meaning of that).

[kirbysiville]

Well have fun with unix's poor daughter, if I wanted to do most of my own packaging and subunit configurations in command line, I'd have stayed with DOS 6.22
As to why Linux doesn't "have" BSOD is that when it something goes wrong it simply freezes itself and nothing can be done with it until it is rebooted and then You've got to manually root out the problem child instead of having diagnostic tools built in to help. Great for hobbyists and junior coders, but totally lacking in fit and polish.

PS: You know I'm totally pulling Your chain? Yes?

[loki1950]

There are tools lots of them just most of the good ones are cmd line based and baffle the newbie refugees from windows land,besides to really administer a windows network the cmd line still rules there as well.Have had my share of hard and soft freezes and kernel panics but i started in computers with punch cards when all there was the naked cmd line so there not that scary.

Enjoy the Choice

[kirbysiville]

Know where Yer' coming from, I got my start with a Commodore Vic and then went to a 64 then a 128. Actually thought it was the coolest thing when Commodore came out with its suitcase SX-64 and its 5" color screen, "All In One Portable Unit."
Then I finally moved into the Intel side of life with the 386 and never went back.
In order to get anywhere with commodores you had to know BASIC and ASSEMBLY and then there was DOS as well, I also tried to learn FORTRAN but got too busy going to sea to keep up with it.
Also there are at least a dozen flavors of Linux sitting inside or around several machines out in my shop.
"Have I legitimized myself enough here yet?"

Understand Please I'm not Bashing Any Ones OS, (just his enthusiastic retreat from a little blue on his screen).
But if I did raise some hackles then let me apologize now for stepping on y'alls pink bunnys, my aim is not to alienate any one here, but to make friends and have a little fun.

[loki1950]

No offense taken i have a pretty thick skin trolling thru a 20 pages of hexadecimal for an error in a IBM 360 core dump will do that for one my first computer language was Forte a precursor of FORTRAN that was adopted in to it.Followed by several assembly dialects and high level languages common at the time(pre micro-processor)

Enjoy the Choice

[kirbysiville]

Computers are, and always will be a hobby for me. If I were ever to take them seriously they'd stop being fun and become work, and we all know what a dirty little four letter word "work" is.

[loki1950]

For sure a very dirty word but unfortunately it has a few other four letter words associated with it like cash and taxes that are even worse Yeah still a hippy holdout I am.

Enjoy the Choice

[kirbysiville]

I'm just a broken old salt, entertaining the kiddies with humorous anecdotes and off colored tales of my adventures in most of the seedier portcities underbelly's around the world.

[MC707]

Understand Please I'm not Bashing Any Ones OS, (just his enthusiastic retreat from a little blue on his screen).

BSOD is one of the reasons I switched to Linux.

Don't worry, no offense taken. Like this famous quote says

"Don't take yourself too seriously. No one does."

I tend not to take anybody seriously. Anyway, I'm dropping this topic - I'm not trying to convince anybody of switching to Linux. I'm happy with my OS and if you are happy with Windows, so be it.

[kirbysiville]

actually the topic was problems with a saitek product, we just diverted our attentions a bit.

By the way the X45 is working fine now, and with that I think I'll drop back into the "Vers" for awhile.
TTFN