Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 Drivers

hey everybody,

I'm desperately looking for drivers for my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 so
that it works with Vista.
I called Microsoft Support several times, but they simply told me that my
product is not in the "life cycle" anymore...
Is there ANY workaround? I don't wanna spend big bucks on a new joystick
(btw if I had bought a logitech 2 years ago, I could still use it today).
Are there maybe some unofficial, fan made drivers ? Or can I use the XP
drivers?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Julian R.

"Julian R." <fs2002@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:OCkrFSkiHHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> hey everybody,
>
> I'm desperately looking for drivers for my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 so
> that it works with Vista.
> I called Microsoft Support several times, but they simply told me that my
> product is not in the "life cycle" anymore...
> Is there ANY workaround? I don't wanna spend big bucks on a new joystick
> (btw if I had bought a logitech 2 years ago, I could still use it today).
> Are there maybe some unofficial, fan made drivers ? Or can I use the XP
> drivers?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> Julian R.
Have you tried installing the drivers in XP compatibility mode? It may be
worth a shot. I was able to get an older "no longer supported" Visioneer
scanner going that way.

Hi

There's something going wrong with your system, I guess, if you use a USB MS
FFB2 joystick. My Sidewinder FFB2 USB has been recognized and operates
flawless on nativer drivers since Vista Beta last year, both 32- and 64-bit
versions. I even dropped a Saitek Evo FFB because it couldn't operate as
good as the Sidewinder... I run Vista Ultimate 64-bit and FFB2 works great
on Flight Sim X, LOMAC and IL-2 1946 (Forgotten Battles). No xtra drivers
installed.

Edric

"Julian R." <fs2002@gmx.net> escreveu na mensagem
news:OCkrFSkiHHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> hey everybody,
>
> I'm desperately looking for drivers for my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 so
> that it works with Vista.
> I called Microsoft Support several times, but they simply told me that my
> product is not in the "life cycle" anymore...
> Is there ANY workaround? I don't wanna spend big bucks on a new joystick
> (btw if I had bought a logitech 2 years ago, I could still use it today).
> Are there maybe some unofficial, fan made drivers ? Or can I use the XP
> drivers?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> Julian R.

Mine works fine - Vista does recognize it with is own Vista drivers and I
use in FS X and many other games.

"pvdg42" <pvdg42@newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
news:uJTmVYmiHHA.3412@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> "Julian R." <fs2002@gmx.net> wrote in message
> news:OCkrFSkiHHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> hey everybody,
>>
>> I'm desperately looking for drivers for my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 so
>> that it works with Vista.
>> I called Microsoft Support several times, but they simply told me that my
>> product is not in the "life cycle" anymore...
>> Is there ANY workaround? I don't wanna spend big bucks on a new joystick
>> (btw if I had bought a logitech 2 years ago, I could still use it today).
>> Are there maybe some unofficial, fan made drivers ? Or can I use the XP
>> drivers?
>>
>> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>> Julian R.
> Have you tried installing the drivers in XP compatibility mode? It may be
> worth a shot. I was able to get an older "no longer supported" Visioneer
> scanner going that way.
>
>

hi,

thank you for all your replies
All of a sudden, it works...I just plugged it in and Vista installed the
drivers.
However, Force Feedback does not work and what bothers me most is that the
back-to-center force is disabled in all my games even if I disable force
feedback)
Any help?

"EdricBF" <ebfilho@msn.com> wrote in message
news:eD6404miHHA.4844@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Hi
>
> There's something going wrong with your system, I guess, if you use a USB
> MS FFB2 joystick. My Sidewinder FFB2 USB has been recognized and operates
> flawless on nativer drivers since Vista Beta last year, both 32- and
> 64-bit versions. I even dropped a Saitek Evo FFB because it couldn't
> operate as good as the Sidewinder... I run Vista Ultimate 64-bit and FFB2
> works great on Flight Sim X, LOMAC and IL-2 1946 (Forgotten Battles). No
> xtra drivers installed.
>
> Edric
>
> "Julian R." <fs2002@gmx.net> escreveu na mensagem
> news:OCkrFSkiHHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> hey everybody,
>>
>> I'm desperately looking for drivers for my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 so
>> that it works with Vista.
>> I called Microsoft Support several times, but they simply told me that my
>> product is not in the "life cycle" anymore...
>> Is there ANY workaround? I don't wanna spend big bucks on a new joystick
>> (btw if I had bought a logitech 2 years ago, I could still use it today).
>> Are there maybe some unofficial, fan made drivers ? Or can I use the XP
>> drivers?
>>
>> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>> Julian R.
>

You see? Something is wrong and it is not related to drivers for FFB2. I
mean that everything should work natively. Force feedback should be there...

"Julian R." <fs2002@gmx.net> escreveu na mensagem
news:eSViht9iHHA.4704@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> hi,
>
> thank you for all your replies
> All of a sudden, it works...I just plugged it in and Vista installed the
> drivers.
> However, Force Feedback does not work and what bothers me most is that the
> back-to-center force is disabled in all my games even if I disable
> force feedback)
> Any help?
>
> "EdricBF" <ebfilho@msn.com> wrote in message
> news:eD6404miHHA.4844@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi
>>
>> There's something going wrong with your system, I guess, if you use a USB
>> MS FFB2 joystick. My Sidewinder FFB2 USB has been recognized and operates
>> flawless on nativer drivers since Vista Beta last year, both 32- and
>> 64-bit versions. I even dropped a Saitek Evo FFB because it couldn't
>> operate as good as the Sidewinder... I run Vista Ultimate 64-bit and FFB2
>> works great on Flight Sim X, LOMAC and IL-2 1946 (Forgotten Battles). No
>> xtra drivers installed.
>>
>> Edric
>>
>> "Julian R." <fs2002@gmx.net> escreveu na mensagem
>> news:OCkrFSkiHHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> hey everybody,
>>>
>>> I'm desperately looking for drivers for my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2
>>> so that it works with Vista.
>>> I called Microsoft Support several times, but they simply told me that
>>> my product is not in the "life cycle" anymore...
>>> Is there ANY workaround? I don't wanna spend big bucks on a new joystick
>>> (btw if I had bought a logitech 2 years ago, I could still use it
>>> today).
>>> Are there maybe some unofficial, fan made drivers ? Or can I use the XP
>>> drivers?
>>>
>>> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>> Julian R.
>>
>

This joystick, because i use it, doesn't work properly on Vista.
U plug it in..windows recognise it and u r able to use it (ie when u
put ur hand around the stick it becomes hard) feedback works but you are
not able to use drivers to set up forces from control panel.
Disable your force feedback from inside the game and you r able to use
it with the joystick just being "hard" all the time

In a few words...Vista sucks


--
Eros

Sidewinder was old and being phased out by Microsoft when xp came out...Why
on God's green earth would you expect it to still work ??...
"Eros" <nikos.uk@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Eros.30etq3@no-mx.tabletquestions.com...
>
> This joystick, because i use it, doesn't work properly on Vista.
> U plug it in..windows recognise it and u r able to use it (ie when u
> put ur hand around the stick it becomes hard) feedback works but you are
> not able to use drivers to set up forces from control panel.
> Disable your force feedback from inside the game and you r able to use
> it with the joystick just being "hard" all the time
>
> In a few words...Vista sucks
>
>
> --
> Eros

And why on concrete and poluted (not green any more) Earth would any
MICROSOFT product should NOT work on later versions of
OS?
Are the products from the same company or not????
Plus this joystick was and is the best product for simers.
I'm just unlucky i can't rip vista off because i can't find drivers for
XP or else they would be long gone from my pc.


--
Eros

Microsoft sold off sidewinder yrs ago when for a while they decided to get
out of gaming peripherals altogether...These days the only Microsoft gaming
products are for xbox or made by somebody else..I had the force feedback
steering wheel which I loved but it also did not work well with
Vista....gave it to my son for his xp machine and I use Logitech's G25
wheel....as far as joysticks I use Saitek's x52 flight system for my flight
sims
"Eros" <nikos.uk@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Eros.30fbbf@no-mx.tabletquestions.com...
>
> And why on concrete and poluted (not green any more) Earth would any
> MICROSOFT product should NOT work on later versions of
> OS?
> Are the products from the same company or not????
> Plus this joystick was and is the best product for simers.
> I'm just unlucky i can't rip vista off because i can't find drivers for
> XP or else they would be long gone from my pc.
>
>
> --
> Eros