Ran through all of the joystick types, trying timed=true/false for each. No change. Timed=true actually makes the drift stutter instead of a constant, but it's still not playable for me. Tried unplugging the unused HOTAS throttle and that didn't change anything either.

Totally baffled here. At this point I'm just chocking it up to old vs. new compatibility stuff, but it seems as if others are using similar setups without issue, so I really am at a loss.

Worked for me perfectly - old USB MS Sidewinder joystick had drift until I did this. Thanks!

Very strange.

By the way, have you tried mapping the throttle using Target?
From what I hear it has the same functionalities of the CH Products control manager, you should be able to map the speed presets to the throttle, there isn't even a need to "merge" the two peripherals as the throttle should essentially send keyboard strokes to the game.

My Xbox Gamepad has really bad drift, no matter how much calibration I perform on it. It seems like the only way to fix that is to crack the case on the controller and clean the analog stick ball (which I can almost guarantee will screw up the entire controller, knowing my luck) or to replace it (which may not even help, many gamepads have drift from the factory).


Meanwhile, my T-Stick X has absolutely no drift, but I can't aim for crap with it. I've tried tightening and loosening the tension, and just can't find a spot where my aim with a joystick is equal to that with a gamepad (even with the gamepad's annoying drift). It might have more to do with that my computer isn't really set up for a joystick, so I either put it on the keyboard tray (which kills my wrists, and doesn't even help my aim) or between my legs (which moves around too much on the chair cushion, and I'm not about to sit on a board).

I'd be perfectly satisfied playing all these games with a gamepad if the drift on the left analog stick wasn't so bad.

If it's the Dos version, the calibrationscheme assumes the joystick has square axislimits, which joysticks commonly have because its the most sane thing to do as you make use of the complete range of the axis. However practically all console gamepads have circular axislimits for some reason and this makes it hard to calibrate it properly in games like X-Wing. What I did when I played it with my X360 controller is to window X-Wing (Alt+Enter), bring up the windows gamecontrollerpanel and click properties of your controller, this allows you to see if you're hitting the corners of the calibration method and maybe it solves the problem.

Another possibility is that the pots are worn. If you have erratic joystick behaviour in other games as well this probably is it. As a last measure you could try a can of potcleaner (if you have it), otherwise you might as well get a new one in case it doesn't work anyway you lost money on both a can of potcleaner and a new gamepad.

What I have noticed is that flying 90º up or down makes the damn ship start drifting like crazy.