I'm trying to understand this whole "Thrustmaster Combined" thing. Its only briefly touched on in the manual. There's the Virtual HID device, Warthog Joystick/Throttle, and then when you run a script it all seems to get combined into a "Thrustmaster Combined" virtual joystick. After using TM stuff for years, this approach makes sense, assuming I'm understanding how its working.

Unfortunately the first game I'm trying to run this with is crashing. Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries. I do play real Sims , but I have been craving Mech combat lately and wanted to start with something easier to learn the TARGET programming script with. I've been programming TM joysticks for 15 years, and have ALWAYS used the /U /M /D, /U /N /T format so its been a bit daunting to change the way I think while writing programs. I'm liking TARGET so far now that I'm getting the hang of it.

Anyway, if I select the Thrustmaster Combined joystick in game, it immediately crashes. If I don't run a script and select just the Warthog Joystick, its fine but then I cannot program the joystick. I know that if this is a program issue, its not likely to get resolved since the game is effectively EOL. But I keep thinking its something like maybe the number of DirectX buttons or something is causing this older game to freak out. In the old days, I'd have simply hidden most of the DirectX buttons and Axes and strange joystick behavior goes away.

Anyone have any ideas.

There is a way to configure your virtual joystick, but it is not so straightforward.
You need to change a line (174) in target.tmh:

Here, you can change the number of buttons (now it is 32), or enable/disable axes, by placing 0 or 1 in this structure.

Nice! I had a feeling there would be some way to manipulate the number of buttons/axes (there always has been with Thrustmaster gear). Thanks!

Unfortunately the more I mess with it, the more I think that MW2 doesn't like the Thrustmaster Combined driver/whatever it is exactly. I'll try it later to see for sure.

I may have to go back to the Cougar for that (although its a bit stiff for fast action type games). The downer is that after spending a couple of weeks crash learning TARGET, I'm starting to really like it because it's so much more versatile than the old script ever was... I don't want to go back to old TM script anymore

I know that the Cougar works in TARGET, but if the Thrustmaster Combined is what is crashing the game, I'll have to stick with older Foxy file and TM download method with MW2... or move on to a real SIM. Guess I'll find out.

Thanks again!

NSlikster, what version of Mechwarrior are you playing ? (you say "Mechwarrior 4" in your first post but "MW2" in your last)

If it is Mechwarrior 4, I recall the game was know to have problems when the joystick had a specific number of buttons, like 32. So maybe use Nicu's suggestion but use "30" instead of "32".

Also, you might want to investigate this : www.mektek.net.


FT

Oops. That would be a typo. I meant to say MW4 (i.e. Mechwarrior IV). I'm hoping that Nicu's suggestion works. I too think the button count might be the issue. I recall reading the same thing somehwere about the button count and I can see the crash report showing 32 buttons and 9 axes for the "Thrustmaster Combined" joystick info. I plan to try the suggestion after work tonight.

Thanks for the mektek link. I'll definitely check that out.

Well, thanks everyone. Reducing the number of direct x buttons definitely solved the problem. I went straight to 24 (that number seemed familiar to me from the Era in which MW4 came out). Sure enough, loaded right up and the Warthog worked great.

Thanks again. Consider this thread answered.

Hi NSlikster,

Sorry to necro an old thread but do you think you could share your profile, and instructions on how to get it working, for MW4?

My old X52 worked fine (because it was indeed one joystick) but, like you, I find that it will not work with my newer Warthog HOTAS. I know nothing at all about programing profiles so I almost fell down in relief to find your post here.

Thank you,

David

EDIT: Added direct link.

PropNut, might want to check my thread here about TARGET, as I talk about setting profiles with DirectX buttons.

Thanks Greg, I will take a look at it. A link would have been helpful but I am sure I can find it, but anyone checking this thread in the future might have trouble.