DirectPad Pro stopped working?

[hypernova]

here goes:

about 6 mos ago, I used win98se on an old pc, and had installed DPP5.0 on it, and everything worked fine.  I eventually built a new pc, and tried upgrading to winxp (got the new xp files working,) but for various reasons concerning the OS, formatted and went back to 98se on it.  since then, i have NOT been able to get the DPP files working again on the new pc.  i've tried v5.0 and v6.0.  here's what happens.

I open up the joystick section (gaming options) of the control panel, clicked "add" then "add other" then "have disk".  i find the folder with the DPP files in it, and it installs fine.  however, when i try choosing "directpad pro controller" from the "add" list, i get this message every single time: 
(title bar-"missing gameport or gameport drivers")
message-"your gameport or gameport drivers are not properly configured.  please consult the device manager."

i've tried removing and reinstalling in different folders, including c:\windows and c:\windows\system.   nothing works.  there's nothing wrong in the device manager.

after wondering if the cable was screwed up, i downloaded zsnesdos, and found it to be working perfectly fine.

directx is updated to 9.0c, so that's likely not the cause.  I have an integrated sound MB (asus p4s800) but that shouldn't matter, since it's connected to the lpt anyway.

any ideas?

[_Iz-]

directpad pro requires a gameport driver to be installed (even if one doesn't physically exist on the computer). Dunno why, that's just the way it is. Install the generic microsoft one.