Help,
So I to am a New'bie with Flight gear. I have a windows 10 system with a Saitek X-56 Stick and Throttle and are having problems getting them to work.
The Wiki for input_device does not seem to have any detail on how to / where to find the correct info to use. ie Should I look/use the name that DEVICE MANAGER show ? Or what the 'Derives & Printers" tab shows for the game controls found there.
or
I've Loaded Saitek/ Logitech drivers. They all function from OS perspective, Both 'Devices & Printers" and Device Mgr report A-Ok functional status, and tests work fine for axes controls and buttons.
I've spent much time trying to decipher how FGFS detects peripherals like joysticks under Win OS. It does not seem to use the Micro$oft game controller interface. But interrogates the OS device list to search for these controllers.
The 2017.3.1 version of FGFS did not come with a js_demo.exe program. I downloaded one (size on disk is reported as 57,344 bytes, and the MD5 hash value is - ff5bed9219b54629795a680b8c005d2e )
Ive 'massaged' the /data/joystick.xml see below:-
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
To override or add "named" joystick drivers list them in
<js-named> entries with paths relative to the directory where
the joysticks.xml file resides (first example). Such "named"
drivers are only picked up if one of their <name>s matches
the joystick hardware (see output of the js_demo application).
These drivers have precedence over already existing drivers
with the same <name>. (You can also add a <name>default</name>
entry to the driver to make it the default choice.)
The second example shows how to load a driver directly to
position 0. This will then be used for the first joystick on
your system and FlightGear will not overwrite it.
-->
<PropertyList js="">
<!--
<js-named include="Input/Joysticks/Local/X45-modified.xml"/>
<js n="0" include="Input/Joysticks/Local/joystick_0.xml"/>
-->
<js n="0" include="Input/Joysticks/Saitek/X56-Rhino-Stick.xml" />
<js n="1" include="Input/Joysticks/Saitek/X56-Rhino-Throttle.xml" />
</PropertyList>
And the description files, To do this I copied the X52 file and Intend to modify this file for each Joystick. At this stage I'm just trying to get the correct description/ Device name so that FGFS 'sees' or can use the joysticks. Below is the what I've change in the <PropertyList> sections. And these files are located in the [ \FlightGear 2017.3.1\data\Input\Joysticks\Saitek ] directory :-
X56-Rhino-Stick.xml
-->
<PropertyList>
<name>Saitek Pro Flight X-56 Rhino Stick</name>
<name>Saitek X56 H.O.T.A.S. Stick (HID)</name>
<name>Saitek Pro Flight Space Series H.O.T.A.S.</name>
AND
X56-Rhino-Throttle.xml
<PropertyList>
<name>Saitek Pro Flight X-56 Rhino Throttle</name>
<name>Saitek X56 H.O.T.A.S. Throttle (HID)</name>
<name>Saitek Pro Flight Space Series H.O.T.A.S.</name>
this version of js_demo reports no js 0 but does see js1 (the throttle is seen as JS 1).
D:\Program Files\FlightGear 2017.3.1\bin>js_demo
WARNING: JS: Failed to read joystick name from registry
Joystick test program.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joystick 0 not detected
Joystick 1 is "Microsoft PC-joystick driver"
+---------------JS.0-----------------+---------------JS.1-----------------+
| ~~~ Not Detected ~~~ | Btns Ax:0 Ax:1 Ax:2 Ax:3 Ax:4 Ax:5 |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| . . . . . . . . . | 0000 +0.9 +0.9 ^C.4 +0.0 -0.0 -0.0 |
With the above config FGFS.exe does not detect any joysticks.
But If I change the joystick.xml file entries from 'js' to 'js_name'. FGFS then does find the throttle, but no the stick. And js_demo is the same.
Anyone with any X56 help or experience ?
Also I've seen some older posts saying to remove the Saitek (or Logitech) drivers. But why I would want to load and unload drive for each game or sim is bull shit. It should work or it's broken I figure.
Further If I remove the joystick.xml file (ie rename it) FGFS finds the throttle. And also if swap the 'preferred' device in the advance section of the "game controller' item in 'Devices and Printers' section. I can swap the throttle over to Js0 as seen by js_demo.