by Rob Tidrow
The first task in getting a game card to work with Windows 98 is installing the new piece of equipment into your PC. A game card is an adapter you install in your computer that enables game software to work with a joystick plugged into the game card. Many sound cards, in fact, have a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)/joystick port included. If your sound card does have this port (see the sound card documentation or look on the card itself), you won't have to bother installing a separate game card. In fact, after you install the sound card, you might have very little (or no) work to do to configure Windows 98. If you have a Plug and Play system and the card is Plug and Play compatible, for example, Windows 98 does all the work necessary to configure your new game card. In this section, you learn how to install your game card into your PC and how to recognize whether your PC and card are both Plug and Play compatible.
TIP: Before you start to configure a new game card or joystick, be sure that you have any relevant documentation handy. You might need to supply information included in the user manual. Also, be sure that you have any floppy disks or CD-ROMs supplied with the device; Windows 98 might need software that is supplied on these.
The steps necessary to install a new game card into your PC follow. Be sure to check the documentation provided with your game card for specific installation instructions:
Game cards are identified and configured for use in Windows 98 through the Add New Hardware Wizard. The Add New Hardware Wizard in Windows 98 automates most of the work you had to complete in Windows 3.x and MS-DOS to set up a new game card. This wizard is located in the Control Panel folder.
When you run the Add New Hardware Wizard, select the Sound, Video and Game Controllers option from the Hardware Types listbox, as shown in Figure 31.1. Refer to Chapter 5, "Installing and Configuring New Hardware and Software," for specific instructions on using the Add New Hardware Wizard.
FIG. 31.1 Be sure to select the Sound, Video and Game Controllers hardware type when installing your game card.
If your game card does not work properly after installing it under Windows 98, you can perform some basic troubleshooting procedures to get it working. In many cases, the conflict is a result of Windows not enabling the device, a hardware resource being allocated improperly or not at all to your new game card, or a device driver conflict. The following sections discuss these issues in more detail.
The following steps show how to use the game card Properties dialog box to enable your game card:
FIG. 31.2 Use the game card Properties dialog box to modify the card's configuration.
CAUTION: When you enable your new game card, it may disable another hardware device--namely, any with which it is currently conflicting. Be sure to check to see whether the device you're disabling no longer is needed.
After Windows 98 restarts, if your game card is still not working correctly, you can run the Hardware Troubleshooter to help diagnose and fix the problem. Follow these steps to use the Hardware Troubleshooter from your new game card Properties dialog box:
FIG. 31.3 Any device you remove must be reinstalled before you can use it again under Windows 98.
NOTE: After Windows restarts, if your new game card still does not work, check the game card Properties dialog box; make sure that the Disable in This Hardware Profile check box is not enabled (refer to Figure 31.2).
Another change you can make to get your game card working is update its device driver. Use the following steps to update your game card driver:
FIG. 31.4 The Driver page for your new game card.
FIG. 31.5 You can have Windows search for a new game card driver or instruct Windows to create a list of drivers residing in a specific location.
FIG. 31.6 Windows 98 will look for a new driver in various locations, including the Internet.
NOTE: If Windows locates a driver that matches the one already installed for your device, you'll see a wizard screen recommending that you keep the current location. You can click Next to finish the Upgrade Device Driver Wizard or Back to install a specific driver, as discussed in the following steps.
FIG. 31.7 Windows 98 shows a list of manufacturers and models that might match your installed game card.
TIP: The Models listbox displays the keyboard models compatible with your hardware. Make sure that the Show Compatible Hardware option is selected. If the keyboard you want to set up is not on the list, you should select the Show All Hardware option. The list changes to show all such keyboards.
After you configure your new game card, attach a joystick (or other gaming device, such as a game pad) to the connections available on the game card. Joysticks are hardware devices used primarily for games. Your game card (or your sound card, if your game adapter is part of a sound card) has a 15-pin D-shell-type socket into which you can connect the male end of the joystick cable.
After you attach a joystick to the game card, you're ready to calibrate it to work with Windows. In Windows 98, the Joystick applet (which was introduced in Windows 95) in the Control Panel has been replaced with the Game Controllers applet. This applet enables you to configure and test game controllers (including joysticks and game pads).
NOTE: PC game pads are similar in function to joysticks, but they resemble game pads used with game systems, such as SEGA Genesis and Nintendo 64. You can use the information presented in this section to set up and calibrate many game-pad devices. You should consult your game-pad manual or online documentation for additional instructions for your specific game pad, however.
Connect your game port (which is a 15-pin port on the back of your computer), and attach your joystick's game-port connector to it. Next, install the joystick software based on the instructions accompanying the joystick. Reboot Windows 98 to finish the installation process.
After Windows 98 reboots, use the following steps to calibrate your joystick using the Game Controllers applet:
FIG. 31.8 Use the Game Controllers applet to calibrate your new joystick.
TIP: If your joystick does not appear in the Game Controllers listbox, click Add to display the Add Game Controller dialog box (see Figure 31.9). Find the type of joystick you want to set up in the Game Controllers listbox and click OK.
FIG. 31.9 The Add Game Controller dialog box enables you to add a new joystick.
FIG. 31.10 Use the Test page to test your game con-troller's functionality.
FIG. 31.11 The Calibration dialog box enables you to set your joystick's center position, range of motion, and point-of-view hat.
TIP: To remove a game controller, select the controller name and click Remove. The Remove Controller confirmation box appears, asking whether you are sure you want to remove the selected controller. Click Yes to remove it.
NOTE: Microsoft manufactures a line of gaming devices called SideWinder; it offers the SideWinder Standard and SideWinder 3D Pro joysticks and the SideWinder game pad. These devices are designed to work well with Microsoft games developed for Windows 98. Many users find that these products do not work perfectly with games produced by other manufacturers, however. Some of the problems range from users having to recalibrate the joystick each time they reboot the system to Windows 98 not recognizing the game card when playing certain games.One of the best ways to get information about a specific problem you are experiencing with these products is to join the Microsoft Hardware Products newsgroup at
microsoft.public.microsofthardware.productsYou also can read the Frequently Asked Questions page for SideWinder 3D Pro at
http://www.microsoft.com/HardwareSupport/SideWinder/content/faq/
Windows 98 enables you to set a specific port driver for a game controller. This capability is handy if your joystick or game pad requires a specific port driver that Windows does not set up automatically. Also, you can assign a game controller an ID, which certain games use to identify your game controller.
To set the ID and port driver settings, follow these steps:
FIG. 31.12 You use the Advanced page of the Game Controllers dialog box to set controller IDs and port drivers.
FIG. 31.13 You use the Change Controller Assignment dialog box to assign new controller IDs.
TROUBLESHOOTING: I use the Microsoft SideWinder Game pad device under Windows 98, but I cannot get it to work with MS-DOS. Why not? The Microsoft Gamepad is designed to work with Windows 98 and sends digital-signal values to the joystick port. These digital signals are interpreted by a device driver in Windows 98. These drivers do not exist for MS-DOS. There is no word from Microsoft as to whether it will release updated drivers or terminate-and-stay resident (TSR) programs to work with MS-DOS.
© Copyright, Macmillan Computer Publishing. All rights reserved.