Analog Joystick for Gunship 2000

[Dust90]

Has anyone got an analog joystick working in Gunship 2000?? If so, what joystick/ adapter, etc are you using.

I can run the game using an analog joystick, but it has to be configured in the game as a digital joystick. It works, but much better play can be achieved with an analog stick.

Thanks

[TCD]

Hi Dust90,

Gunship 2000 doesn't support analog joysticks IIRC So even if you use one you wont be able to have analog controls within Gunship 2000.

[andy]

TCD and Dust90, I'm pleased to say that Gunship 2000 does support analogue control. In fact, I posted a response about three weeks ago in which I stated that it was one of the games that I used way back in the '90s via a PC analogue stick and adapter.

Actually, before heading off for my boxes of manuals, I've searched and found what may be the relevant info at Lemon Amiga. I'm switching between tabs here, so forgive me if my first-draft reply is a little messy! Here goes!

Originally Posted by Lemon Amiga

Controls:

Gunship 2000 can be run entirely from the keyboard, with mouse and keyboard, or with joystick and keyboard. An analog joystick greatly improves the "feel" and realism, and is therefore strongly recommended.

As I remembered, there is a mention of a configuration screen (where you can customise both the controls and in-game settings such as the level of graphical detail or draw distance and so on). Copying and pasting...

Originally Posted by Lemon Amiga

Configuration Screen:

When in flight, Pause the game and press the "C" keys to access the configuration screen. This allows you to alter your method of control, and to set the detail level. Increasing detail may delay screen updates, and is initially set on 'medium detail', which is fine for basic Amigas. If you have a powerful machine, increase the detail level. If you want a faster game, reduce the detail level.

Alt-P pauses, by the way!

If you want the whole text (which is a mix of the for-PC main manual and the Amiga-related addendum), you'll find it here.

Lastly (and sadly), I can't provide any useful info about the adapter that I have, Dust90. It was bought from a now long-gone company, so it's a matter of looking around or getting the soldering iron out and building your own. As someone who played Grand Prix and Gunship 2000 for at least hundreds of hours, I'd say that along with a Microsoft force-feedback wheel that I bought for far more along with Grand Prix Legends in 1998, that little adapter is one of the finest game or computer-related purchases that I have ever made - and ignoring the mechanical machines, I've been gaming since the days of the Pong clones! As one forum member has demonstrated, it could depend on if you were playing Gunship 2000 et al back then or if you like analogue, so I can only recommend giving it a try and reporting your own experiences. That fine control and its extra immersion has to be worth the little effort or money it could cost - just to try it!

Oh, before I go, here are a couple of earlier threads:

One

and

Two!

Post #6 in the second thread has some info on adapters and includes a not entirely correct list of supposed analogue-enabled games - 'supposed', as the list is at least partly incorrect (certainly with regard to F/A-18 Interceptor). I bought Interceptor way back when and as a search through the text provided on Lemon Amiga would support, made no finding of a provision for analogue controls (something which I would have been near-ecstatic to discover all those years ago!).

Okay, it's time for a breather, so...

Happy flying... with fine control!

[TCD]

Interesting information andy Will try to set it up with the analogue stick of my Logitech Rumblepad I wonder if it works with WinUAE...

[andy]

If the appropriate related links are showing for you below this thread and you weren't referring to the rumble , you'll find that last year Toni said that it does work. To add further anecdote, though I can't try the controls at this moment, I do remember sending a friend a very happy e-mail just minutes after I first had a working analogue set-up in F1GP - so it can be done. If I continue to remember correctly, I've used both a stick and an Xbox pad (via Xbox-to-USB adapter). There were no problems beyond occasional user error or having to reconfigure driver settings for the Xbox controller (re-enabling analogue, for instance).

Moving off-topic, is anyone keeping count of the reasons to be thankful for Toni's work, all that has gone into WinUAE and what it has given us in being another way to keep the Amiga and its software going!? So many years beyond those early DOS screens and I still find myself in awe of developments, in delight at each morsel of news and totally grateful both that I have access to Amiga no matter what happens to my 500+ and that someone (some-many?) cares enough to keep things going, all the while making improvements in the emulation and the capabilities within.

Wow!

[Dust90]

Most of the "analog joystick problem" posts that I have found, involve locating an analog joystick for a real Amiga. I have one of those, made by Gravis, but what I need is a PC joystick that works either USB or Joyport(sound card) in Winuae. I read somewhere that Amiga games that support analog controllers expect a data range of 0 to 255 where PC analog controllers output something like 0 to 510(not exact numbers). The Gravis joystick that I have used an adapter to go from a soundcard joystick port connector to the Amiga joy/mouse port. Using the Gravis joystick without the Amiga adapter resulted in the same problems as using a PC joystick - a completely out of control simulation. I keep digging and trying different things, but surely someone has run into this problem before.

[slingshot]

I resurrect this old thread (sorry for that), but is Alt+J works for anyone to calibrate the joystick? Without calibration, only a very small range is usable (like 0-30, where ~15 is the center). A joystick with a 0-255 range is unusable.

[Rotareneg]

There are a couple settings for adjusting analog joysticks in the config file:

input.analog_joystick_multiplier=15
input.analog_joystick_offset=-1

You might try tweaking the multiplier to see if it helps?

[slingshot]

Originally Posted by Rotareneg

There are a couple settings for adjusting analog joysticks in the config file:

input.analog_joystick_multiplier=15
input.analog_joystick_offset=-1

You might try tweaking the multiplier to see if it helps?

Thanks for the info. I can make it work, but I was wondering if the in-game calibration function is broken. Actually all Microprose games I tried suffer from this problem, including F19, F117A and Gunship 2000.

[QuikSanz]

There is no in-game calibration. Old joysticks use a trimwheel on the joystick, won't work with a USB one, no way to zero!

Chris

[TommyTomorrow]

Long time ago I used QuickShot Warrior 5 from pc with my A500. It has trimwheels for X and Y axis. I've used it with an adapter I've made from one of the Amiga Magazines.