F1GP - Analogue Sticks Question
 

So I love playing Micropose F1GP and I noticed the analogue stick option and decided to try this out. I wasn't able to configure this option at all.

The controller I was trying to use is a playstation 1 controller with analogue sticks which I use to play the game normally but the game doesn't seem to recognise the playstation stick even if the analogue button on the controller is switched on.

Is there something else I need to do in order to use this fucntionality or will it simply not work as intended because of my choice of controller?

I looked into this naturally before posting and found others have got the option to work, albeit using an Xbox controller with sticks. I also discovered a little tool on Aminet called https://aminet.net/package/driver/input/AnalogJoystick but after installing it I noticed my sticks on PS1 controller don't do anything here either.

Could be some sort of driver I need installed? Or is it even possible the sticks aren't really analogue? Would really like to enjoy F1GP with the analogue option as well as some Doom.

If anyone has any experience at all I would appreciate any knowledge that can be passed on - thanks.

Your PSX adapter probably doesn't support analogue mode.

Shit!

Agreed, if you are using the psx to db9 adapter then the analogue stick just acts like a digital joystick. Nice idea though...

Yep, it's a shame, but it appears that these adaptors only support the analogue sticks in digital mode. A missed opportunity perhaps, but on the other hand, emulating the analogue input would make the adaptor more elaborate, and therefore more expensive.

For what it's worth, I played F1GP with an old-style analogue joystick and it was brilliant.

Yeah I know, shame, I was looking forward to the luxury of using the pad :crying

For what it is worth mentioning, this guy's PSX adapter is the best I have seen, it allows you basically to configure the buttons to be any way you want or else you can just use the pre-set modes of 2 button pad/stick, 1 button joystick, CD32 pad, and then there are crazy options for like continuous fire and then like a super crazy fast rapidfire. Then you can save the setting to be like that at startup. Good adapter.

Anyways back to the point, so I spied another adapter that allows PC analogue joystick to be used with Amiga. Might this work like how you have experienced in the past?

Yeah, the extra complexity, size and cost probably isn't worth including for 90% of people who would never use it.

I built my own adaptor in the past, it was pretty straightforward since the Amiga's input is already set up for analogue controllers. I added a couple of capacitors to increase the sensitivity a little, but other than that it just wires the correct pins up and works. So if the adaptor you saw is the same idea, then it should work just fine.

Aside from F1GP, many flight sims support analogue control and it makes a huge difference for them.

Upon further investigation, yes this guys adapter seems to work as intended as he lists all the Amiga games that benefit from using analogue, so I guess that is the selling point and not simply just allowing you to use a pc joystick on an Amiga, it's providing the analogue capability.

I've also spied a two button joystick that is analogue as well so I must just check out if his adapter supports the two buttons as well, then that will be a handy little setup.

I would ask you how to build that adapter but right now my soldering gear is all in storage and accumulating the parts might be a paint so it would just be easier to buy it for £6.

Any joysticks to recommend?

In theory up to 4 buttons can be supported so I would hope they're connected - I know I used 2 buttons with F1GP for changing gears up and down (might have needed F1GP-Ed for that feature...)

I think I built mine based on a schematic in one of the Amiga magazines back in the day, but there are also documents on Aminet for doing it too. It's pretty straightforward, but for £6 I probably wouldn't bother :)

My stick was a fairly generic one with 4 buttons and that's about it. I'm not sure if it was this one, but it was similar. There were certainly better sticks on the market, but it did the job well enough.

Maintenance wise are they easier to look after? Since it's potentiometers, I know a wee spray of servisol 10 always sorts out crackley pots in my guitars.

That's about it - there's a manual centre adjustment for each axis on most sticks of that era - unlike modern controllers they're literally just the two pots, and you need to adjust them to get the full range of movement. But they can usually be easily replaced too if they've had a hard life.

Sounds fantastic :great Will track down a stick and gets this adapter then.