Gamepad -> USB converters ... do they work?

[bigmoe]

Anyone use ever use one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3072224244&category=3677 with a MS Sidewinder gamepad hack?

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[tom61]

It won't work with a MS Sidewinder, only the old four button pads.

[CthulhuLuke]

Do you know that from experience or just because its a gameport Tom?  I would think it would just transfer exactly what was going from the gamepad to the usb in a special driver, but maybe not.  If it just transfered directly from gameport to USB, it would do sidewinders perfectly, but if it only had 4 button input, that'd suck

[JustMichael]

Well the item's description says, "Supports conventional analog game controllers." so I would bet it doesn't support the sidewinder. The sidewinder transmitted the joystick's info (buttons down, joystick position) to the pc via the midi port (same connector as the gameport).  This is totally different from the way old analog joysticks worked.

[tom61]

Do you know that from experience or just because its a gameport Tom?

Many have tried it, it doesn't work.

 I would think it would just transfer exactly what was going from the gamepad to the usb in a special driver, but maybe not.

It shows up as a USB gamepad. It decodes the resistor values then sends the USB HID command that means the same. Which is why it has a switch for gamepad/joystick/wheel.

[bigmoe]

It shows up as a USB gamepad. It decodes the resistor values then sends the USB HID command that means the same. Which is why it has a switch for gamepad/joystick/wheel.

I received this response from one of the sellers:

"It won't support that b/c MS SIDEWINDER is a digital controller."

It made sense to me that it won't work once I remembered that the pad needs a special driver, so there is something more going on than simple resistor decoding.

[Dripht]

I've seen a few of these questions around the internet and I'm starting to wonder why you'd want to "convert" a gameport sidewinder to a usb one in the first place?

[Tiger-Heli]

I've seen a few of these questions around the internet and I'm starting to wonder why you'd want to "convert" a gameport sidewinder to a usb one in the first place?

Just off the top of my head:

1) Gameport sidewinder is probably a fairly easy (or well-documented) hack with lots of buttons
2) Many (most?) new motherboards no longer have a gameport.

FWIW.

[Grasshopper]

I think it would be better to hack a Playstation pad and use a Playstation to USB converter with that.

Alternatively, you could hack an Xbox pad. They are based on a slightly modified USB interface. I learned recently that all you need to do to use an Xbox pad with a PC is to make/buy an adaptor cable and download a driver from the internet.

[Mr. Dude]

They make a super joy box for PS2 and XBOX pads and I was thinking of trying it.  I'd love to be able to play games like Halo and Unreal Tournament with an Xbox pad.