sidewinder pad on Virtual On PC

[vipermk2]

Hi all

I cant get my sidewinder with the old gameport connection to work on virtual PC 2007. I got win 98 installed on it and I do I have a soundcard working with the old gameport in xp mode. The thing is, even with all the sidewinder software installed on the win98 side, it doesnt recognise being on in win98. works ok in xp. I havent started messing around with the setting in device manager in win98. it might be possible to change the drivers for the gameport if thats a good idea in win98?
bit of lol moment, the pad works in xp but it wont work with virtual on. however, virtual on works on in virtual pc with win98 but the pad doesnt respond as being available in control panel. I know the sidewinder has a button to turn it on or off, its on
The reason why I am trying to get the pad working was, i was really comfortable with the pad back in the days when it was installed on a real win98 pc and I never found it jarring to play. cause there was enough buttons to configure everything on the pad including shoulder buttons. plays really slick if I recall correctly.

Any help will be great

[MentholMoose]

I don't think you can pass-through gameport devices to VMs in VPC, and I haven't heard of doing it in any other hypervisor (e.g. VMware Workstation, Sun VirtualBox). If you have a USB controller you can try that (I'm not sure about VPC, but you can definitely pass-through USB devices in Workstation and VirtualBox). If you really want to use the SideWinder, try setting up joy2key on the host and mapping SideWinder buttons to keyboard keys. Once that's done, map those keys in the game in the VM.

[vipermk2]

Thanks very much for the info
I been trying to get even a normal usb joypad to work through VPC but doesnt seem like I gonna get my virtual on gaming
Not sure where I move on from here? I got VOOT on the DC which is awesome but I gotta get some workaround with the joypad business. And the other is, VOOT on the 360. But I loathed the PC. it felt complete. I am not sure how badly I want this to get working. I could make a small factor PC, install win98 and build another PC for just having VO but that sounds over kill. Whats the ideal way of playing the original virtual on without having to buy a arcade? trust me I would but dont have the space or money -_- How was the virtual on, on the JAP ps2? good port?

[MentholMoose]

Thanks very much for the info
I been trying to get even a normal usb joypad to work through VPC but doesnt seem like I gonna get my virtual on gaming

Did you try the joy2key idea I mentioned? If that doesn't work and you can't get your USB controller working through VPC, give VirtualBox a try. It is free and I know for a fact that you can do USB pass-through.

How was the virtual on, on the JAP ps2? good port?

From what I've heard from hardcore OMG players, it is pretty much arcade perfect.

[vipermk2]

Did you try the joy2key idea I mentioned? If that doesn't work and you can't get your USB controller working through VPC, give VirtualBox a try. It is free and I know for a fact that you can do USB pass-through.

I know about joy2key and I use it in XP but I havent gotten to that stage unless I get the usb joypad working, I cant map anything yet

just been busying installing virtualbox for the last few days. There were a few teething issues installing a OS on virtualbox. most of those issues are common traits in VB apparently I am stumped on getting the USB to work though. I have enabled it in the VB options. Now, there is an optional 2.0 usb extension add-on to install which I have but from here, it gets confusing. Do I have to add a filter to get the usb working in VB?

this is the error message I am getting every time I try to select the usb icon on the bottom of VB:

Result Code:
E_INVALIDARG (0x80070057)
Component:
HostUSBDevice
Interface:
IHostUSBDevice {173b4b44-d268-4334-a00d-b6521c9a740a}
Callee:
IConsole {515e8e8d-f932-4d8e-9f32-79a52aead882}

I tried googling the message but not making much sense

[MentholMoose]

I know about joy2key and I use it in XP but I havent gotten to that stage unless I get the usb joypad working, I cant map anything yet

Does the pad work on your XP host? If so, try setting up joy2key on the host and see if the inputs are sent to the VM. If that works then you wouldn't need to get the USB pass-through working.

I haven't used VirtualBox on Windows recently. When the VM is running, is there a "Devices" menu? On Linux you just navigate to Devices > USB Devices and select the USB device to pass-through to the VM. If that doesn't help I guess you could check the USB support section in the manual.

[vipermk2]

I know about joy2key and I use it in XP but I havent gotten to that stage unless I get the usb joypad working, I cant map anything yet

Does the pad work on your XP host? If so, try setting up joy2key on the host and see if the inputs are sent to the VM. If that works then you wouldn't need to get the USB pass-through working.

I haven't used VirtualBox on Windows recently. When the VM is running, is there a "Devices" menu? On Linux you just navigate to Devices > USB Devices and select the USB device to pass-through to the VM. If that doesn't help I guess you could check the USB support section in the manual.

Sorry for the late reply, Yeah I just tested the usb with the joy2key and it does work I just open a txt doc file in win98 and the buttons correspond to the letters
However, the problem I cant seem to get pass now is virtual box is stuck in 16 colours and not 16bit. there doest seem anything wrong in device manager in win98. the options to change the resolution and colours are frozen even with the joypad working, it wont load the game without setting it to 16bit. I been searching for some time and it is tiring searching and trying all the recommended help. i.e., increasing video memory, enabling 3d and 2d acceleration

I report back my progress to help out anyone else getting the same issues as me.

[MentholMoose]

Did you install the guest additions (drivers) before turning on 2D and 3D acceleration? If so, try uninstalling and reinstalling the additions.

[vipermk2]

Did you install the guest additions (drivers) before turning on 2D and 3D acceleration? If so, try uninstalling and reinstalling the additions.

Hi MentholMoose. I got high fever a few days ago and got really sick. not sure if I got it from attempting to fix virtual box lol I got a clean save state of my virtual box which hasnt been messed around with. whats happening is, I did try what you suggest and the error message I am getting is,
"the virtual box guest additions cannot be installed on this version of windows" in my case, my copy of win98. annoyingly, its almost impossible to then uninstall cause it thinks its half installed and it gets the same error message as before. I did do a google search on this and it doesnt look like much on the subject or possibly downgrading my version of Virtual box???

[MentholMoose]

I guess Windows 98 may not be fully supported or tested on VirtualBox. I would just delete that VM and create a new one, and use the right settings before installing the OS.

[vipermk2]

heres my sit rep so far:
I got it working in 16bit mode with the correct res from this post:
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9918
it is really really fiddly but works. I used the SciTech Display Doctor version 7 beta drivers. and I didnt need to install the guest additions but seriously, the guest additions would have helped a lot in this case. thats if, it worked in win98

Great. However, (-_-) I cant get any sound even with that tutorial post. there is the obvious check sound enabled box in the VPC setting but, wont work even checked. I might try saving my current VPC and start updating my directx files and hopefully that might get it working. I report back if I get the sound working.

[MentholMoose]

Well at least you're making progress. Sorry I can't help more, I have not touched Windows 98 in 10 years and never used it in VBox. Is Win98 the newest OS that PC OMG supports? Are you using the original 98 or 98 SE?