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OS X Does anyone successfully use a joystick to fly in OS X?

blackxacto

blackxacto

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
1,169
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Middle TN
OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 on an 17,1 iMac.

I miss flying via a joystick. I used to love flying an A-10. I have downloaded several supposedly drivers for using a joystick, but nothing seems to work any longer.

Is anyone successfully using a joystick in OS X El Capitan?
 
MichalM.Mac

MichalM.Mac

macrumors regular
Mar 26, 2006
114
12
blackxacto said:
Do you use El Capitan Capitan? Your stick is made for PC's. Do you use their software to make your stick compatible or do you use some additional third-party software that sits in System Prefs?
Click to expand...

Yes I use El Cap.
No additional softwate needed in this case.
It also works in Freespace 2 based games.
 
Janichsan

Janichsan

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2006
3,057
11,191
I'm using a Saitek X52 Pro and it works absolutely fine under OS X, including El Capitan. Depending on the game, it can become necessary to use third-party software (ControllerMate in my case) to support all knobs and buttons (due to the sheer number of them) but the basic functions work always out of the box.
 
B

Big Bad D

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2007
504
532
France
Also no problem with Saitek X52 Pro further to upgrading to El Capitan. Different software allows use of different range of buttons/controls - but same as it was before El Capitan.
 
Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
blackxacto said:
OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 on an 17,1 iMac.

I miss flying via a joystick. I used to love flying an A-10. I have downloaded several supposedly drivers for using a joystick, but nothing seems to work any longer.

Is anyone successfully using a joystick in OS X El Capitan?
Click to expand...

Buy a new stick...problem solved. ;) (Caveat- I've not played anything needing a joy stick on my Mac in a decade).
 
skyhawkmatthew

skyhawkmatthew

macrumors regular
Oct 1, 2007
241
276
Australia
blackxacto said:
That is exactly my joystick that would not work. How did you get your Mac to recognize the Extreme3D Pro?
Click to expand...

My ancient (the box touts its compatibility with OS 9!) Saitek Cyborg 3D USB stopped working with El Capitan and I replaced it with a Logitech Extreme 3D; it works fine without any drivers for me.
 
blackxacto

blackxacto

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
1,169
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Middle TN
Thank you for your information. Maybe El Capitan has regained the ability to recognize mine. I will try. Thanks again.
 
A

Alrescha

macrumors 68020
Jan 1, 2008
2,156
317
blackxacto said:
How did you get your Mac to recognize the Extreme3D Pro?
Click to expand...

I literally just plug it in. It shows up in System Information on the USB bus. To be sure, OS X doesn't do anything with it, but it's there. X-Plane sees it (and all its buttons) in settings.

A.
 
Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,578
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The Misty Mountains
blackxacto said:
So you want me to buy a new stick, and you haven't used a stick in ten years. Is that logical?
Click to expand...

While I'm not 100% certain, I'm confident MacOSX will recognize most if not all USB joy sticks. Where you lose out with Mac often is the stick manufacturer is to lazy to write programmable software for it, unless you are using X-Plane which includes a control interface which the Mac can use. Without programmable software, you just remap keys, in game by pressing the appropriate button. Just google "Mac compatible joy stick" to see many options. If you have doubts call up the manufacturer.

How old is your stick? You may have an issue with a dead stick. I have used a stick in the last year but it was on my PC. I've got a collection of 3 sticks (10 years old, or maybe older) that I broke out to test with Elite Dangerous on my PC. Two were recognized by my PC and one was not, it's dead. All worked on the my Mac, last time I tried. Some examples of the many out there:

CH Products Combat Stick:
  • Compatible with all versions of Windows: XP, Vista, 7, 8 and Mac OSX (programming software is PC compatible only)
Elite Dangerous Mac Hardware Discussion

Saitek V.1
 
Last edited:
interstella

interstella

macrumors 6502
Sep 29, 2013
287
166
Suffolk, England
I use X-Plane with a Speedlink Black Widow joystick. It's not very good (for X-Plane, that is) and I really do need to look into something better, particularly as I want to play Elite Dangerous as well. The stick is far too sensitive and it's very difficult to control an aeroplane properly, especially a light aircraft. I fly in real life and use X-Plane for practicing ILS approaches in zero visibility etc but I find myself concentrating far too much on controlling the aeroplane as very tiny joystick inputs result in the plane going all over the place. Not sure if this is a joystick or X-Plane problem. There's no OSX driver and the crude adjustments available in X-Plane just don't give enough adjustment.

I'm thinking of splashing out on the Saitek X55 but it's a lot of money if it doesn't do what I want.
 
Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,578
26,700
The Misty Mountains
interstella said:
I use X-Plane with a Speedlink Black Widow joystick. It's not very good (for X-Plane, that is) and I really do need to look into something better, particularly as I want to play Elite Dangerous as well. The stick is far too sensitive and it's very difficult to control an aeroplane properly, especially a light aircraft. I fly in real life and use X-Plane for practicing ILS approaches in zero visibility etc but I find myself concentrating far too much on controlling the aeroplane as very tiny joystick inputs result in the plane going all over the place. Not sure if this is a joystick or X-Plane problem. There's no OSX driver and the crude adjustments available in X-Plane just don't give enough adjustment.

I'm thinking of splashing out on the Saitek X55 but it's a lot of money if it doesn't do what I want.
Click to expand...

I too have an older Saitek (X-52?) that worked well in the past, Falcon 4 was amazing, but I don't remember Saitek offering any Mac programming software. Where you come up short without the software is programming macros.
 
blackxacto

blackxacto

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
1,169
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Middle TN
Alrescha said:
I literally just plug it in. It shows up in System Information on the USB bus. To be sure, OS X doesn't do anything with it, but it's there. X-Plane sees it (and all its buttons) in settings.

A.
Click to expand...
Success, my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro works as well in El Capitan. Thanks for the tip.
 
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