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No Joystick control in Combat F S Europe ( 1998 ) with windows 10 O S


westmoors

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I have posted many times on many sites about the loss of joystick control on Combat Flight Sim Europe ( 1998 ) but also on the other Microsoft 2002 2004 games and add ons from Just flight that no longer work now 10 is installed.

Most suggestions on getting a joystick to work have failed, you may be lucky and have one that does work without alteratio but this is quite a rare thing.

 

I wondered if like myself if you have several games that no longer work now you have had to change to Windows 10 . I may have a possible solution but need some confirmation.

 

Does anyone know if it possible to add an external hard drive to your computer which is installed with Windows 10, install Windows 7, 8, or XP operating systems in the external drive, then install one of the old games in the same drive and see what happens.

 

Obviously if it does work it opens up the possibility of getting back more such as F S 2002 and FS X ( that does not always work well with 10 ) and also re use the Just Flight add ons such as Battle of Britain memorial flight, Dam Busters, and airport updates to name just a few which are probably gathering dust in the loft !

 

And just for the cost of an external drive , perhaps even just a U S B, it could be a way of playing some of these very excellent games. again. Ken

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I have posted many times on many sites about the loss of joystick control on Combat Flight Sim Europe ( 1998 ) but also on the other Microsoft 2002 2004 games and add ons from Just flight that no longer work now 10 is installed.

Most suggestions on getting a joystick to work have failed, you may be lucky and have one that does work without alteratio but this is quite a rare thing.

 

I wondered if like myself if you have several games that no longer work now you have had to change to Windows 10 . I may have a possible solution but need some confirmation.

 

Does anyone know if it possible to add an external hard drive to your computer which is installed with Windows 10, install Windows 7, 8, or XP operating systems in the external drive, then install one of the old games in the same drive and see what happens.

 

Obviously if it does work it opens up the possibility of getting back more such as F S 2002 and FS X ( that does not always work well with 10 ) and also re use the Just Flight add ons such as Battle of Britain memorial flight, Dam Busters, and airport updates to name just a few which are probably gathering dust in the loft !

 

And just for the cost of an external drive , perhaps even just a U S B, it could be a way of playing some of these very excellent games. again. Ken

I have now been told that while it is possible to install a second operating system,it would have to be part of the main drive of the computer, (machine within a machine )it is not a very good way and would probably not work well enough anyway. Ken

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  • 11 months later...

Microsoft changed the hardware addresses for joysticks during one of their OS changes - I think Vista. I found an explanation and fix that you can do if you have a hex editor:

 

Explanations:

In Windows 95 To XP, the game searches for joystick name in regedit at key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\Joystick\OEM\..."

 

but in Windows XP (or 64 bits systems) (Example: Windows 7 - 64 bits) The key is not in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" but in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER"

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\Joystick\OEM\..."

 

Then just patch the EXE file game to read in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" and not in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE"

The ASM instruction is "push 80000002" to request on "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" (hexadecimal values=6802000080)

and "push 80000001" to request on "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" (hexadecimal values=6801000080)

 

Follow Simple Steps to patch properly (Change Only 2octets):

 

Download Hexadecimal editor (example freeware: http://mh-nexus.de/en/downloads.php?product=HxD)

 

Open the EXE Game file "COMBATFS.EXE" with the hexadecimal editor

 

Search for hexadecimal values and enter "6802000080" (CTRL+F -> Hexadecimal Values -> 6802000080, F3 To search next)

 

Normally you have 3 results (Me at offsets: 1141, C60F, C6BD) (Don't Select And Change The 1st result)

 

Select the 2nd result (Me at offset C60F) and replace "6802000080" by "6801000080" [Just replace 02 by 01]

 

Select the 3rd result (Me at offset C6BD) and replace "6802000080" by "6801000080" [Just replace 02 by 01]

 

Save the EXE game file "COMBATFS.EXE" (in hexadecimal editor)

 

Delete the config game file "COMBATFS.CFG" (if exists)

 

Start the Game...

 

Joystick And Configuration Menu Works Fine NOW

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