Is it possible to install old beta driver on win 10?

[polynut]

Hi guy's,

I have found a link with the old beta driver that let you use the 3D mouse as a joystick and when i change the assignment of the buttons it crash with an unhandled exception error.

My goal is to use my space navigator to use player camera since i am disable and have severe RSI issues after 18 years as a game developer.

I know an old driver and specially a beta mean instability but i heard about people using it without any issues.

I know there is a paid program but i don't have 50 $ to spent on this and i'm also aware of vjoy/Sx2vJoy but it seem like a hassle to me.

I also found a few threads about doing it via xml file but the explanations are very confusing for someone who is not a programmer so maybe someone can help me understand how to do it.

I also tried to run it in windows 7 compatibility mod with same result so maybe someone found a way to make it work on windows 10?

[luping]

Why not give it a try? When there's no answer, let the experiment tells the answer. : )

[polynut]

Why not give it a try? When there's no answer, let the experiment tells the answer. : )

Already tries to install but it seem to be incompatible with recent windows version.

[jwick]

Hello polynut,

I wouldn't waste your time trying to get the old beta driver to work.

Indeed the GUI is gone but the underlying functionality is still there in the XML files. All the GUI did was change the XML files. You can do that yourself. Without a GUI it never advanced beyond the minimal state where the GUI was removed, and it isn't tested. Some of the tools that forum users pointed out are really good and way beyond the capabilities of this frozen functionality. 50$ seems stiff. I'd check out some of the others.

I can help you create a cfg for your situation if you like. Let me know what you want to do?
Start off by getting the latest driver installed.

Jim

[polynut]

Hello polynut,

I wouldn't waste your time trying to get the old beta driver to work.

Indeed the GUI is gone but the underlying functionality is still there in the XML files. All the GUI did was change the XML files. You can do that yourself. Without a GUI it never advanced beyond the minimal state where the GUI was removed, and it isn't tested. Some of the tools that forum users pointed out are really good and way beyond the capabilities of this frozen functionality. 50$ seems stiff. I'd check out some of the others.

I can help you create a cfg for your situation if you like. Let me know what you want to do?
Start off by getting the latest driver installed.

Jim

Hi Jim and thank for replying, i use my space navigator mainly for 3D work since i am a game developer but i got sever RSI issue and my right arm nerve got damage so if i could use the space navigator to move the player camera around with my left hand i would be able to play.

I saw a few posts explaining how to make it work with config file but i don't understand it clearly enough to know what to do so any help would be more than appreciated.

[jwick]

The driver can send out anything for each button and axis. We've built-in 3Dmouse, 2D mouse, keyboard and joystick support.
A cfg file (XML) can be created for each application (it recognizes the ExecutableName).

So the first thing to decide is, which type of events need to be sent to the app. Which app do you want to use it with?
After that, there is probably a template file that you can get most of the assignments from.

[polynut]

The driver can send out anything for each button and axis. We've built-in 3Dmouse, 2D mouse, keyboard and joystick support.
A cfg file (XML) can be created for each application (it recognizes the ExecutableName).

So the first thing to decide is, which type of events need to be sent to the app. Which app do you want to use it with?
After that, there is probably a template file that you can get most of the assignments from.

Hi Jim and thank for following this thread, the main use would be a few games where i just want to have the 3D mouse to behave as an analog joystick to move the player camera around since i control the rest of the game via voice command but with voice controlling player camera is almost impossible.

regards Peter

[jwick]

Hi Peter,

While some games will read the device natively, they are rare.

The best approach is to put the device (driver) into joystick mode and map the joystick axes in the game. The game will have the best UI for mapping the actual functionality.

The easiest way to get started is to open the game, while the game is running, open the 3Dx GUI (systray->Open 3Dconnexion Properties...).
Make some change. This will write a cfg file for that game in %appdata%\3dconnexion\3dxware\cfg.
When that game executable is in focus, this file will get loaded.

To make the driver send out joystick events, you need to assign all the device axes (Input) to joystick events (output).
E.g., this maps the 3D mouse translation X axis to the Joystick X axis.

Code: Select all

        <Axis>
          <Enabled>true</Enabled>
          <Input>
            <ActionID>HIDMultiAxis_X</ActionID>
            <Min>-512</Min>
            <Max>511</Max>
          </Input>
          <Output>
            <ActionID>HIDJoystick_X</ActionID>
          </Output>
        </Axis>

You can copy all these from the Standard 3D Mouse Device element in <3DxWinCore Home Dir>/Cfg/JoystickTemplate.xml. You can copy the entire file, but you will have to replace the outer AppCfg element, the CfgProperties and AppInfo sections.

This feeds a joystick emulator we install. There is a chance the game will not find that joystick emulator. Some games just use the first joystick device they find and ignore everything else.