Windows Vista

[daniel_k]

My name is Daniel Kawakami.

I've managed to create a "Gameport support pack for Vista".

The pack was meant for Creative gameports, but works on any gameport, from any vendor.

It works on Windows Vista 32-bit only, also known as x86.

The files in the pack are property of their respective owners (Creative Labs, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation). I only take credit for the research and modifications.

Use this pack at your own risk. Neither me or any of the companies listed above are responsible for any damage to your computer or loss of data which results from the use of this "pack".

IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DISABLE UAC (User Account Control), OTHERWISE YOU MAY HAVE ALL SORTS OF ISSUES, EVEN IF YOU FOLLOW THESE STEPS THROUGHLY.

Connect your gameport controller and follow the steps below. It's easy and once is done, you can use your gameport controllers just like you did on Windows XP.

1) Installing the gameport driver

Open the Device Manager and locate the gameport device:

Double-click it to open its properties. Select the Driver tab and choose Update Driver:

Choose Browse my computer for driver software, as shown below:

Now click on Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer:

Choose Sound, video and game controllers:

Click on Have Disk...: 

Locate the folder where you extracted the pack and select the Gameport folder.

The Creative Game Port will be listed, click on Next to install the driver.

Don't worry about the warning message, the driver will work just fine, so allow the driver to install.

The gameport driver was successfully installed!

If this driver does not work, use the Microsoft driver in the Gameport_MS folder.

2) Installing the Gameport Devices control panel extension:

Locate the folder where you extracted the pack and open the ControlPanel folder.

Right-click the Install.inf file and select Install.

Let the installation proceed:

Open the Control Panel and choose Classic View. Locate the Gameport Controllers icon and double-click it.

Open the Gameport Controlllers and give permission to continue, when asked to.

Now click on the Add... button:

And choose the correct model for your controller. Click OK to continue:

Windows will prompt you to install a new hardware. Select Locate and install driver software:

In the window below, choose Don't search online (this window may not be shown  if you previously configured Windows to always search online for device drivers):

Select Browse my computer for driver software, as shown below:

Locate the folder where you extracted the pack and select the Controller folder. Click on Next to proceed.

Click on Install this driver software anyway, we know it works :

Your gameport controller is now installed and functional.

You can use Vista's Game Controller control panel extension to calibrate your controller, as it does not require elevated privileges.

However, to install or remove gameport controllers, you must use the Gameport Controllers control panel extension.

 

If you reboot your computer and the controller is not recognized, open the "Gameport Controllers" applet at least once. 

 

 

The installation process sets ADMIN privileges for the current user only. If your computer has multiple accounts, you need to right click

ControlPanel\AdminCPL.inf and select "Install" on every single logged user account.

 Download:

Filename: Gameport_Vista.exe

File size: 5.71 MB
CRC32 hash: 4D4D8BEB
MD5 hash: B72ADD33C2E36EA18A7ACEEDA228F9D6
SHA-1 hash: FD88BB117A0919040CE1EADFB572A86B48EFAFEC
 

Mirrors: RapidShare

Message Edited by daniel_k on 07-07-2009 10:11 AM

[Eck]

Oh boy, this has got to be the greatest candidate for a sticky I've seen in a while!

Great job!

Any idea if midi will work using this? I've gone USB for gamepads but it's nice to see that if I wanted to use my old Sidewinder's they'd work.

Now if Creative will release a Soundfont Manager, along with many other things of course, we'd start seeing things looking up.

I really hope this is allowed to be distributed. It gives back a nice service for those who like their old gamepads. See, in the Linux world this would be rewarded but in the Microsoft world they might see it as unlawful use of their proprietary files. That is so stupid. Instead they should take it, refine it, and release it as an operating system update after testing for and fixing any possible problems it might possibly cause.

[daniel_k]

Thanks!

I'm not sure if the MIDI port will be detected by a related software as I don't know how a software detects that port.

[Eck]

Midi will likely need some substitute for the old Multimedia or Sound and Video Controllers control panel applets. Right now there's no way I can see that's built in. Normally one would be able to select the midi in and out ports and the particular midi output driver synth to be used through those control panel applets no longer included in Vista.

Right now the only similar looking control is in the Creative MediaSource 5 player options. You can change the default midi synth through a drop down box from what they list as default, the Microsoft Roland Midi Synth, to the Creative Synth A or B that I guess they have the included soundfont playing.

I have no idea whether Windows Media Player is using the Microsoft Roland Synth or the Creative Soundfont Synth and I can't see any way to control it. We used to do it from the Creative Soundfont Bank Manager. That is part of the Creative cd software that doesn't work on Vista anymore. It used to back in the Beta 1, Beta 2, and Release Candidate 1 days of Vista but no longer. You could install better soundfont files and get pretty fancy sound out of things. They also worked with older games that used midi files to play their music. I've noticed on Vista that if I use Dosbox I cannot get sound out of the mpu-401 selection. On 9x/XP it used to pipe the music through whatever was set as the system midi soundfont or synthesizer. I've also got the Roland Virtual Sound Canvas software with the XP updates and the Yamaha S-YXG50 XP version. I haven't tried them in Vista but I can't see how they would work without being able to set which driver/output Windows should use for midi.

Pretty important stuff if we want to be able to use some nice software such as Voyetra Teach Me Piano, Digital Orchestrator or Record Producer types of stuff. Since I'm not a serious player in that regard I haven't joined the revolution into more complex midi software. I just enjoyed playing my keyboard through my pc, hearing it on the pc speakers and playing around with the sounds through those programs, most of which are discontinued now rather than their spending any money updating them for Vista.

The newer ways are through programs like Cubase, and the like. I used to install that stuff as they would come with Creative cards and some others with the M-Audio Revolution cards. But they were pretty complicated for me and as I wasn't serious I didn't make the effort to figure them out. I just kept mucking about the old fashioned way with the older style of computer midi.

Perhaps your applet could enable the midi in but I can't see any way to set it without the additional driver controls now missing. Plus, with my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro I've been plugging my keyboard into the rear breakout box's midi in and out ports. Again, there is no place to activate or change these in Vista.

Who knows? Maybe this will all get sorted out as time goes by. I do have a Turtle Beach USB Midi connector that an updated Vista driver is available from them. I figure who needs another process running if the plugin is built into the Audigy breakout box? I guess if Turtle Beach made a driver for Vista then perhaps there is a way they have provided to get it to work with their older software. I'm going to wait to see what the Creative driver set comes with if they ever release a new software package.

[fixbug]

Hello,

Great Job ! Thank you very much.
It works great but I only have 4 buttons with this driver and I really have 6 buttons.
Could you help me ?

Pierre (belgium)

[daniel_k]

Using the Gameport Controller control panel, remove the controller.

Now click on "Add..." and the 6-button controller should be listed.

It happens because the device list is only updated when the "Enabler" driver is installed, after you choose a device. I will change this behaviour on the next release.

[Jeph]

Omg! I just can't believe it! At least. Man! Thank you for that great work. Now I'm have fully functional Game Port again! Thankyouthankyou!

[fixbug]

Thank you for your reply Daniel but I don't have any 6-button controller at all.

This is the list of game controllers available :

2-axis, 2-button joystick

2-axis, 4-button joystick

2-button flight yoke

2-button flight yoke w/throttle

2-button gamepad

3-axis, 2-button joystick

3-axis, 4-button joystick

4-button flight yoke

4-button flight yoke w/throttle

2-button gamepad

Two 2-axis, 2-button joysticks on one gameport

In the custom option, the max buttons is 4.

Best regards,

Pierre

[daniel_k]

You are welcome.

About you problem, that's odd.

Unpack and apply the following registry fix: http://braziliantech.googlepages.com/GameportRegFix.exe

If it still doesn't work, you should have missed some installation step.

[fixbug]

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for the fix.

Now, it's ok.

Pierre