Lack of 6DOF Function in MiG Alley (patched)

[carybrown66]

I'm reposting this from another forum, in case anyone needs this tidbit of information. I found this out while exploring "Combat Flight Simulator 3" but it also applies, for me, to MiG Alley.

Hopefully, I can save some other users a headache or two...

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Okay....

Here's what I've found out tonight.

The suggestion to try "SmartClose" was... interesting. I don't have any interest in "smart closing" things... I'd rather do it manually. But it did get me to thinking.

My first thought was "virus scanners" but as it turned out, this had nothing to do with the problem.

My second thought was "other game controllers" like, say, the Saitek driver or Logitech Wingman drivers that I have installed for a gamepad and a racing wheel respectively. But neither of those had any effect.

I kept turning things off and back on. Nothing had any effect. But if I shut ALL of the startup items down, it did help.

Hmmmm...

The culprit on my system is Logitech Setpoint, the driver for my MX-1000 Laser Mouse. The version of Setpoint I'm running is 3.1.116.0.

It appears that there's a conflict between Setpoint's communications protocol and the TrackIR's "special" protocol for running with Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3.

SO... I only need to shut down my mouse driver... the basic mouse functionality remains, but I lose all my special button functionality, etc... and I can use my TrackIR4 in this program.

WHY is this an issue, I have no idea.

But the guys in the NaturalPoint software group should be able to track this down, now that they know the key "conflict" issue. (FYI, my mouse is connected to the PS2 mouse port, not to a USB port.)

In order to test this, it may also be necessary to have (1) the program installed on a second or latter hard drive (as is the case in mine), though I don't know if this is, in fact, in any way related.

But it's clear that the way that SetPoint is communicating and the way that TrackIR is communicating in it's "special way" with CFS3 are in some fashion interfering with each other, and evidently the mouse driver is winning the fight.

Now that I know this, I can take the "quick fix" of killing my mouse extra functionality during the game and just restart the SetPoint applet once done. But that shouldn't really be necessary...

Gentlemen, I'd love to hear if this is a common thread we all have, or if the problems being seen are related to other hardware that, perhaps, is using the same "non-standard communication scheme?"

Anyway, I hope that this discovery helps some other people to avoid having to screw around with all the hassles of "reinstallation" or even "complete OS reinstallation."

It's a communication protocol conflict, plain and simple.

EDIT: MORE INFORMATION
The exact same situation applies with "MiG Alley." But there's a bit more information there, as well.

MiG Alley is a game that plays fairly well once you get past the code limitations. There is a nice fan-made patch set that allows it to run and to give 6DOF functionality.

There are issues with getting the program to run in XP in larger-memory configurations. In order to do this, you need to create a special compatibility fix using the Windows Compatibility Toolkit and set up a "global memory lie" fix. But once set, the game runs nicely and looks good.

By default, the patched "MiG Alley" runs in pan/yaw mode for the TrackIR. This is interesting... when it was set up that way, the TrackIR worked perfectly fine alongside the Logitech SetPoint software.

In order to allow 6DOF functionality with the patched MiG Alley, you go into a text file and set an entry for 6DOF from "off" to "on." However, after doing that, I lost all my TrackIR functionality!

In other words, the basic 2DOF functionality worked just fine in conjunction with the Logitech driver, but the 6DOF did not. Shutting down SetPoint allowed full function of the TrackIR within MiG Alley.

SO... whatever "bug" is present that's causing the conflict between SetPoint and TrackIR is specifically in the 6DOF portion of the TrackIR implementation.

Other games which, so far, have proven to be trouble-free include the following:

Falcon 4.0 (SP4 w. BMS)
Falcon 4.0 Allied Force
IL2-Sturmovik/FB/PF (combined install)
Lock-On (w Flaming Cliffs)

Games I have not tested yet (but will within the next two days):

F/A-18 (patched)
FS-2002
FS-2004
FS-X
Orbiter
X-Plane

I'm curious... it's apparent that both MiG Alley and CFS3 use the same "alternative interface." Do any of the above-listed programs also use that "alternative approach?"

[VincentG]

Thanks for the input....