I recently purchased a Space Navigator but am having problems getting it to work with Microsoft Virtual Earth. I've installed the driver on both an XP and Vista machine, with no joy on either.
I've checked the driver is running and can control Google Earth with no problems, but VE just isn't playing ball.
I think I was prompted to install a newer version of the VE 3D control just before Christmas, so it's possibly a new issue? I've only had the Space Navigator for a couple of days though so can't confirm this.
I'd really bought it primarily to use with Virtual Earth, so any ideas or suggestions to help me get to the bottom of this would be gratefully received
Just a bit more info... I've noticed that whilst Google Earth appears in the application list in the 3Dconnexion control panel when it's running, Virtual Earth never appears in the list.
You have to select "3D" view in Virtual Earth to get it working. In 3D-view-mode you should also be able to see the "VirtualEarth" configuration inside the 3Dconnexion Control Panel.
Thanks for the suggestion, but it's the 3D view that I'm having problems with. It's almost like the Space Navigator driver doesn't recognise that the VE 3D control is loaded in memory.
I've just tried an XBox 360 wired controller and was able to control VE with no issues, so I'm reasonably confident it's a problem with the 3Dconnexion side of things.
Which version of 3DxSoftware/OS do you use?
Perhaps a reinstall of VirtualEarth and/or 3DxSoftware could help.
The VE-instance runs as "IEXPLORE.EXE" in taskmanager?
sounds to me like your having the same issue that i have with 3ds max! works fine in something else but doesn't work in another! i noticed the same thing with the application not being in the dropdown list like the working program!
I've tried the install on two different machines now (XP SP2 and Vista), both with IE7 and fully patched from Windows Update.
I didn't select the option to start the driver automatically when the PC boots if that makes a difference, but I can't seem to find anything in the configuration tool to change that post-install anyhow.
The driver must be started before you start your browser.
You can just put the "Start driver" link to the Startup-Folder. Please have a look in task manager and end "IEXPLORE.EXE" before starting 3DxWare, does it work then?
I've now tried with the driver loading automatically at boot, and also ensuring that there are IEXPLORE.EXE instances in Task Manager (or IEUSER.EXE instances on Vista) before restarting the driver, but still no joy. At the moment it's a very attractive but expensive paperweight
Sorry, my typo - I missed out the crucial "no", i.e. there were definitely no instances of Internet Explorer running under any user account at the time the driver was restarted.
You're a star - reinstalling VE using the link you provided sorted it. It's strange as the re-installed version looks to be the same as the previous version, and I was seeing the same behaviour on two different machines. It's now working as expected on both XP and Vista though, so this thread will hopefully help anyone with similar problems in future.
