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THIS IS ONLY FOR THE SIDEWINDER PRECISION PRO, no other Sidewinder!
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If you post further reviews, please put that header in so people will know. This item really shouldn't need further reviews, it's a ridiculously simple adapter that only works with one specific joystick, not all Sidewinders.
I'm not aware of any commercial product that will make the other joysticks work. If you search "3DP-Vert grendel", there is a do it yourself microcontroller project for it, and other info. It is supposed to work for the Sidewinder 3D Pro, Precision Pro, and Force Feedback Pro, I haven't built one yet to check.
Update:
For clarity, for Gameport to USB, there are 3 possibilities:
1. Simple connector pinout adapter. That's what this is, it will ONLY work with something with a USB controller already built in on the midi pins. Very few things have this, read the list later in post.
2. A USB Gameport adapter with gameport electronics inside. Some of the other Sidewinders will work with this, but only in analog mode, since this type doesn't understand the digital communications and most if not all aren't fast enough to do it going through USB.
3. 3DP-Vert as mentioned earlier. This isn't a normal gameport, it understands the digital communications for the sticks it works for and talks to them that way, then translates to the USB. Completely different from the normal gameport #2 type. I'm working on my own version of this type device, and may support other digital gameport devices, that's why I've been looking at all of these controllers. (3DP-Vert could conceivably read normal joysticks too, I haven't looked at it fully. But it's key function is that it can read the digital sticks, most other gameport-USB adapters won't have the programming to do that.)
Technically, this adapter will work with another product or two, here's a list of some:
Joystick Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro
Gamepad Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro
(old gamepad, not even worth getting this for, buy a newer better pad)
Joystick Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital 3D
But again, if your Microsoft joystick says anything other than Sidewinder Precision Pro on the bottom this adapter will not work, maybe not even the earliest versions of that one.
With this update, the info here is fairly complete now..
Older info:
This isn't for any other Sidewinder product. Ordered one for me, since I have a Precision Pro on the way without adapter. There may even be an older version of Precision Pro that this won't work for, I haven't determined that yet. Look up Microsoft Sidewinder on Wikipedia, the Precision Pro came out as USB was getting popular, and was redesigned to work on USB as well, by hooking up the 2 unused midi pins to the USB data pins. The USB part is IN the joystick, this is just a wired cable. Their other gameport force feedback and controllers do not have these electronics, their digital communication was through other pins and not USB format. If your Sidewinder is anything other than a Sidewinder Precision Pro, it won't work! No surprise that some of the 5 star reviews say they happen to have just that stick. The 3D Pro Plus looks basically the same, but won't work either, totally different joystick. If what you have says anything other than "Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro" on the bottom do not get this!
The average Belkin CS person isn't going to be well versed in old minor products like this, so of course they don't know. Works 5 star for some, because they have the correct joystick. Doesn't work for others, not because they don't know how to make Windows work, but because it will never work! This was the last gameport MS joystick, and it came with it's own adapter they just get lost, so keeping this in mind isn't a priority for Belkin..
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Reviews with images
Requires modding your MS Sidewinder Precision Pro, wire passthru, USB circuitry is in the joystick itself.
I bought this thinking it had a circuit that would convert a DB15 legacy analog joystick/gamepad to a USB HID Joystick, but it turns out that the USB circuitry is already in the Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick (and some of the early models didn't have USB). This contains no circuitry and is only a wire pass-through connection -- that's why it won't work with other joysticks. To make matters worse, it lacks a critical connection that puts the joystick into USB mode. You have to tie pins 2 and 7 together, so in order to get it to work, you *must* mod the connector or the controller itself. Had I know this, I would've just cut off the DB-15 connector (the interfaces for this aren't supported anymore anyway) and soldered on a USB connector per these instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Transform-Your-15-Pin-(Gameport)-Microsoft-Sidewinder-Precision-Pro-Into-a-USB-JoystickAs it is, I opened the bottom of the joystick (6 screws, 4 hidden by the rubber feet, dont' force it open), found the pins that corresponded to pins 2 and 7 on the connector and soldered those together as shown in the picture.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2007
With the pins C11/C12 joined, MS Sidewinder works PERFECTLY with Win 10 and MS Flight Simulator 2020
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2020Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2022
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2021
Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Doesn't work for the first rev Sidewinder PRecision Pro
Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2022
