Seeking cable pinout for an old joystick.

[stormbind]

Hi,

I have here a cheap old joystick (that connects to the game port) and it never worked properly. It's actually really comfortable and responsive, but POV hatswitch doesn't work.

There are no drivers. It's simply wired incorrectly! Testing shows that the POV actually actually affects throttle control

So I'm seeking the cable pinout for game-port joysticks. The device can be opened so I'm hoping to rewire it and get it working as it should - some 4 or 5 years after I bought it

 

[Crazy Eddie]

You will need drivers of some sort to use a gameport joystick as the original specs are only for two sticks, each with x/y input and two buttons. To add rudder/throttle & hat functions the signals from the joystick B x/y inputs were used. There wasn't a set standard, your stick probably emulates either 'Thrustmaster' or 'CH Flightstick pro', but there were a few others IIRC.
What joystick do you have?

 

[stormbind]

Apparently manufcatured by Logitech and rebadged. I think the company has now closed.

I looked for drivers. There are none available for download. There were none supplied with it either. Years ago, I contacted the company when it was new and they said no drivers were required, just use Windows standard devices.

In Control Panel > Game Controller Devices, the correct item (from list of standard devices) would be "4 button Joystick with POV".

If that device is selected, Windows correctly detects it, and it works but the POV does nothing!

If I select "4 button joystick with POV and Throttle" (which it is not) and then test it, the POV affects throttle control!

You see, it's wired wrongly, isn't it?

 

[Crazy Eddie]

The chances that it passed inspection incorrectly wired are pretty remote I think. As I said, there was no set standard so the problem really is, what sort of joystick is it? If you try to re-wire it it's possible that you'll end up with a joystick that won't work correctly with any driver.
If the hat works the rudders, try using the 'Thrustmaster' settings.

 

[stormbind]

Selecting 'Thrustmaster Flight Control System' did not help. Exactly the same results as selecting '4 button Joystick with POV'

The brandname is Dexxa. A recent search shows they are now sold as Logitech Dexxa joystick. The company website has, unless they moved, gone.

I still have the original box. It claims...

Package contents
4 button joystick with POV hatswitch
Manual

Requirements
IBM PC compatible game port

Nothing else! No driver disk, and as I said, I did contact Dexxa when it was new to query this and they said to use Windows devices. I'm using Creative Labs gameport which works fine with a Saitek Digital 3D Joystick, so I'm sure that's not the problem. It's just a cheapy but I never chucked it out because I like the grip*.

* I noted that Trust currently use the same grip on one of their sticks, but that is USB, so clearly not related.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

That's a coincidence, my current keyboard is a Dexxa.

Dexxa seems to have stopped trading (at least under that name) so no help there, but from what I can gather about general wiring schemes the POV hat usually uses the joystick B firing buttons. If your hat is operating the throttle then it seems to be using one of the stick B x/y pots, similar to a Thrustmaster.
The only things I can suggest is to either try some of the other game controller types, or use the "custom" controller setup to see if you can get windows to recognise the hat.

 

[stormbind]

I have tried everything.

Custom is exactly the same as default/thrustmaster. It doesn't do anything, or it affects the throttle.

 

[stormbind]

Yay! It works as a Logitech Wingman Extreme

Thankyou for making me try harder and not taking it to pieces

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I was wondering if we'd ever get it working.

 

[stormbind]

Actually, I found a problem..

Although I went through calibration and tests work, in games it is now far less responsive than it had been with generic drivers. My F18 crashed into the sea on account of being unable to pull up

Edit: Correction, I had accidentally knocked the lever beneath the base that is manual callibration. Oops