Flight Simulator 2004: Known game controller issues (823631)

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General game controller issues

If you have two joysticks installed on your system, they may cause stuttering in Flight Simulator 2004. Remove the joystick that you do not use from the list of joysticks in the Game Controller dialog box in Microsoft Windows to solve the problem.

The joystick may also be uncontrollable or cause the plane to spin. The throttle may also only respond about 50% or half way. To resolve these issues, follow these steps:

1. Remove any software for the joystick.
   
   Leave the joystick plugged in.
2. Start the computer in Safe Mode, and then remove the joystick listings and any ghost listings from the Device Manager.
3. Remove a Gameport Joystick if one is listed in Devman.
4. Delete all the sub-keys (not the key itself) that are located under the following registry entry. In Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), look for the following registry entry:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResources\Joystick

   Subkeys will appear as FIXEDKEY and Msjstick.drv#### where # is equal to a number 1-0).
   
   In Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows XP, look for the following registry entry:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResources\Joystick\Dinput.dll

   Subkeys will appear as CurrentJoystick Settings and JoystickSettings.
5. Delete and .cfg files that are related to the game, for example--devices.cfg devices2.cfg combatfs.cfg fs2002.cfg fs2000.cfg.
   
   Note When you are working with multiple versions of the software (fs2k and fs2k2), completely remove all versions of the game first.
6. Unplug the joystick.
7. Restart the computer in Normal mode.
8. Plug in the joystick and continue to install a generic driver.
   
   Let Windows search for a driver. Only choose to search the Windows driver information database.
9. Reinstall the game (if you removed the game).
10. Start the game.
    
    The joystick should work.
11. Now re-install the joystick software.
    
    The game should continue to work.
12. Reinstall other versions of the games that you want.

For more information about general game controller issues in Flight Simulator 2004, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: You may also want to update your game controller drivers to their latest version.

If certain actions or buttons on your game controller are not working correctly, you may have to reset the default device settings in Flight Simulator 2004 or rebuild the Devices Configuration File for Flight Simulator 2004.

Reset the default actions

To reset the default actions that are assigned to the game controller, follow these steps:

1. Start a new flight in Flight Simulator 2004.
2. On the main screen, click Settings.
3. In the Controls box, click Assignments.
4. On the Buttons/Keys tab, click Reset defaults.
5. On the Joystick Axis tab, click Reset defaults.
6. To check whether the default events are selected for your 4-axis game controller, verify that the Axis settings for each event match the settings in the following table:
   
   

   Event	Axis
   Elevator axis	Y
   Ailerons axis	X
   Rudder axis	Z
   Throttle axis	Slider

7. If the default event is assigned to an axis, but the event behaves in reverse (for example, up instead of down, or right instead of left), click to select or clear the check box under the Reverse column for that axis.
8. Click OK.

Rebuild the configuration file

To rebuild the FS2004 configuration file, press and hold down CTRL+SHIFT as you start Flight Simulator 2004 and start a new flight. Continue to hold down CTRL+SHIFT until the game is in Cockpit view.

Note When you rebuild the configuration file, some of your settings may change.

Download and install the most recent drivers for your game controller

Contact the manufacturer of your game controller for information about how to download and install the most recent drivers for your game controller. Contact information is located in the "References" section of this article. If this does not resolve the issue, continue to the next method.

Hardware-specific game controller issues

Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2

When you use a Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 joystick on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows 2000, you must have the Sidewinder 4.0 driver for the feedback to work correctly. If you do not have the Sidewinder 4.0 driver, when you click the Forces tab in the Game Controller dialog box in Windows, the forces stop functioning until you quit and restart Flight Simulator 2004. The Sidewinder 4.0 drivers are available when you purchase a Sidewinder 4.0 product.

For more information about how to replace your Sidewinder 4.0 driver CD, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: