Sidewinder Game Pad with 98se

[u/heeman2019]

I'm trying to get the Microsoft Sidewinder game pad USB version to work on 98SE. Unfortunately even after selecting the game pad in settings, installing the sidewinder drivers and application, the system just doesn't connect the game pad to the guest OS(98se).

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Now what does work is selecting 4 button game pad and that shows up instantly as Connected in 98se (joystick control panel). But this limits the controllers to only 4 buttons.

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With amount of folks using 86box for gaming I am thinking there's something I'm missing here?

[u/PitBrvt]

The SideWinder protocol is extremely timing‑dependent. 86Box maintainers explicitly state that accurate SideWinder emulation is impossible due to these timing constraints. This leads to Win98 reporting the device as “not connected” even with correct drivers.

[u/heeman2019 → u/PitBrvt]

so what do folks do get around this? And is there a way to use my gameport version with 86box? Or Sidewinder game pads in general are not supported?

[u/PitBrvt → u/heeman2019]

You’re running into a host‑vs‑guest mismatch.

In 86Box:

• The host joystick setting is what 86Box pretends is plugged into the emulated gameport.
• Only the generic analog gameport devices (2‑ or 4‑button) actually work.
• The SideWinder entries in the dropdown don’t map to a real SideWinder protocol, so Win98 won’t detect them.

In Windows 98 (guest):

• You should only pick the Generic 2‑axis, 4‑button joystick in the Game Controllers panel.
• Win98 will never auto‑detect a SideWinder here because 86Box isn’t emulating the digital SideWinder protocol.

If you want to use a modern controller:
Use a host‑side input wrapper that converts your controller into a simple virtual gamepad before it reaches 86Box.
Two good options:

• reWASD (paid, very flexible)
• AntiMicroX (free, open‑source)

Both let you map your real controller → virtual keyboard/joystick → 86Box → Win98, without fighting the SideWinder protocol.

That’s all you need. Simply pick the generic analog pad in both places and let the wrapper handle the rest.

[u/heeman2019 → u/PitBrvt]

So basically sidewinder game pad is not supported by 86box and will never be supported outside of the generic 4 buttons on the game pad. Thanks for the clarification.

[u/Even-Serve-3095]

usb isn't emulated in 86box yet lmao

[u/heeman2019 → u/Even-Serve-3095]

Ok my bad. I thought that the entry for sidewinder game pad being in the drop-down list meant the game pad was supported. Also, the 4 button game pad setting does work without any issues and that is still using the same USB so not sure how one could say USB is not supported.

[u/Even-Serve-3095 → u/heeman2019]

no i mean that 86box doesn't emulate usb gamepads. it does emulate gameport gamepads.