Joysticks

Fitzy · Post by **Fitzy** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 10:08 pm

What are some decent joysticks for a reasonable price? I haven't bought one in 8 years and that was for a Mac

I'm reasonably certain we got a Best Buy gift certificate for Christmas so my wife and I were thinking of getting into flight sims (and the old X-wings if I can find them still for sale). We don't need anything real fancy, just nice.

Incendiary Lemon · Post by **Incendiary Lemon** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 11:23 pm

You want to find a copy of the X-Wing Trilogy, it includes all but the third multiplayer themed title. The included editions of X-Wing and Tie Fighter are upgraded for Win95, a bit more attractive and Winxp friendly. Some do prefer the dos versions for their dynamic music system though.

X-Wing Alliance the last of the series has a peristent mod community that has been adding updated versions of the models, try the following Link.

For a decent durable joystick try Saitek's budget offerings, 45$ will get you a refurbished HOTAS setup (Seperate throttle and stick.) You certainly don't need to spend as much, I get by on my 8 dollar disaster.

Fitzy · Post by **Fitzy** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:03 am

Incendiary Lemon wrote:You want to find a copy of the X-Wing Trilogy, it includes all but the third multiplayer themed title. The included editions of X-Wing and Tie Fighter are upgraded for Win95, a bit more attractive and Winxp friendly. Some do prefer the dos versions for their dynamic music system though.

X-Wing Alliance the last of the series has a peristent mod community that has been adding updated versions of the models, try the following Link.

For a decent durable joystick try Saitek's budget offerings, 45$ will get you a refurbished HOTAS setup (Seperate throttle and stick.) You certainly don't need to spend as much, I get by on my 8 dollar disaster.

Thanks, I didn't know the X-wing series was around. I had the collectors edition on my old my Mac and it's probably the game I played more then any other ever.

I'll check out Saitek's joysticks. We don't need anything real fancy, durable is good though

Kestrel · Post by **Kestrel** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:50 am

You probably will want one with a twist "rudder". If the game doesn't use it, it's not a hindrance, but it really comes in handy in the flight sims and in games like Mechwarrior.

Huw the Poo · Post by **Huw the Poo** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 1:53 am

I couldn't be happier with my Saitek Cyborg Evo. If it's still too expensive, I've always heard great things about its predecessor, the Saitek Cyborg 3D USB Gold.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:25 am

Check Radio Shack. They have the ST290, which is almost identical to the Evo, for about $30.

Kyosho · Post by **Kyosho** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:54 am

I'm a cheap gamer. I've got a Saitek ST90. It's basically the crappiest joystick they make. It only has three buttons, and a throttle. To make up for that, it has two gimmicks.

First gimmick: The throttle is actually two buttons that you push up or down, and you can see where your throttle is at by looking at the LED lights. There are four of them, one click lights up one LED, another, two, etc. 1=24% throttle, 2=50%, 3=75%, 4=100% You can hold it in as well to get more a more precise amount of thrust in your games, if need be. But of course, I've had no problems just using the four settings.

Second gimmick: The bottom is actually a tripod, and you can fold them up into a [supposedly] more compact position for storage.

It works surprisingly well for such a cheap piece of junk. Though I do miss my old Microsoft Precision Pro, for the twistability. Some day I'm going to buy an expensive joystick with tons of buttons, Z-axis (that's what it is called, right?), force feedback, and all the other bells and whistles. But not a separate throttle. I hate those, because joysticks take up enough desk space as it is.

Huw the Poo · Post by **Huw the Poo** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 1:48 pm

Yeah, too right. If I need my joystick, mouse and keyboard for a game I have literally no spare room left on the desk.

As someone who used to play on 8-bit computers, I'm frankly astonished by the size of joysticks these days.

Zitterbacke · Post by **Zitterbacke** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 3:03 pm

The Cyborg 3D USB Gold had connection issues under XP. I had them on two different Mainboards, now it only happens occasionaly. Check their forums about this issue. It's crap if you join a Onlinegame, have the rare opportunity to get a plane only to recognise you haven't had checked your Stick in System-Properties...and therefore it's not working...

The Joystick is very good mechanically, and if they had fixed it by a new driver (if it wasn't a failure in the USB-Chip design) it has my recomendation still. A friend had this issue, too, btw.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:25 pm

Saitek does indeed make excellent sticks, especially for their price point. They're also very durable. I used an X-36 digital for about 4 years with no problem until I just upgraded to an X-52.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:28 pm

I almost replaced my joystick serveral times, but XWing vs Tie Fighter was the last thing I bought that needed it and I just couldn't get into that iteration of the series.

So I will watch this thread and maybe buy a joystick and see if I can get any of the old XWing games to work on XP. I haven't tried them in years.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:42 pm

>>Some day I'm going to buy an expensive joystick with tons of buttons, Z-axis (that's what it is called, right?), force feedback,

You can skip force feedback...a fad that never really caught on, added tremendous bulk and price, and was never really accepted by the flight sim community at large as far as I can tell.

Save your money and get this instead: http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/pro ... rview.html

Kyosho · Post by **Kyosho** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:34 pm

No force feedback? Hrmm. Well, you know, I don't play a lot of flight sims. Mostly stuff like MechWarrior. Doesn't MW4 support it? I actually have no idea. Oh, and I'd also be playing BF:1942. Anyone know if it supports force feedback or not?

Though having less bulk to it does sound good. Hrmm.

As for those head-tracker things... No thanks. A little too weird for me. My head traditionally doesn't move at all when gaming. Except randomly for comfort. I'd like to keep it that way.