I also have a MS Sidewinder FF2. It was one of the first “silent” Force Feedback joysticks out there, if possible to implement support for this device, please do so.
I believe purchasing the FF2 was the best purchase I ever made in the last year’s , bought it on release still using it there is nothing in computer that last so long I believe 
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If you do an Internet search, there are quite a few USER MODS described to make the Sidewinder even better … like increasing the forces …
At least MSFS does recognize and work with the MS Sidewinder !!!
If you plug in a Thrustmaster FF Joystick, MSFS will CTD !!!
I can reluctantly accept that MSFS may not be able to supply “out of the box” support for the Thrustmaster with “profiles”, but MSFS it should NEVER CTD, if a “non-defectove” USB Joysick is plugged in.
You can see that MSFS sees it as a FF Joystick, reads it name and “ID” ( The HEX id of B554 may well be the issue !!), and and gets ready in the UI to accept a default or a new profile for it, and then before it can write a default profile back to the PC, MSFS does a CTD.
It would probably take longer to start MSFS in a Dev environment, that to see what is causing the CTD in a debugger !!!
Its not even so much it cannot support the "old, dated, but still functional) Thustmaster in particular, it’s the CTD when it is plugged in that is the upsetting part.
Is there a Throttle Axis? I can’t find one.
I mapped Throttle 1 Axis, Throttle 2 Axis, Throttle 3 Axis and Throttle 4 Axis to it.
Works for me!
yes I vote for it, force feedback is a must have!
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The XPForce program provides some force functionality (like force adjustments) in MSFS but you need to buy it.
The reason functionality is limited with MSFS is the game seems to only be providing XBOX rumble style feedback to the controller and not much else.
I find FS Playground the most well money spend for FS2020.
Supports greatly Ms Sidewinder FF2.
Due to the fact that supports replay function too is a win win BMO.
Worth to mention based on developers they point out <<Microsoft’s Force Feedback 2 at present>>
So I believe they can support more controllers on request.
I made it. I’m on youtube, if you want to have a look and on ebay. I can’t post links, you can contact me
I own a couple of FFB2’s (I figured early these were to become valuable).
I bought MSFS with the VR upgrade in Dec 2020, FFB was working with no problem whatsoever (lowered the curves somewhat).
FFB2 is the best joystick ever made.
P.S. the rubber has the ‘sticky’ stuff with age, some peel the rubber off with alcohol or something, I apply a generous amount of talcum powder, the stick is whitish for a while but that disappears, as new.
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just using a stick for a few days gets rid of the tacky rubber feel
not quite.
So is this joystick really works with fs 2020? By reading the headline of this post it seems is not fully compatible…
In default FS2020 it works fine but there is no force feedback just anemulated spring action that is rather weak, it basically works like a non-FFB flight stick in the default game.
With XPForce (payware you buy) you get control over stick forces and a lot more FFB effects including alternate trim mode and stick vibrating until you put your gear up etc etc.
However the FFB is not perfect as the game simply does not provide the information controllers need for things like turbulence etc.
The default game does not support FFB (regardless of device), Asobo seem to think of FFB as a gimmick similar to controller rumble on a Xbox controller, however the XPForce addon does enable most of the missing functionality.
Thanks for this information! I was thinking to buy one in eBay but I rather wait a bit until Asobo give some perspective about it!
The FFB2 with XPforce is actually pretty good, just missing a few effects you got in past versions of MSFS.
Do not forget to vote above, as unless we hit the 350 odd votes to make the top 20 this will just get ignored forever.
Yeah I just voted! So do you have at least a force feedback when the aircraft is on the ground?
… and in the air. Alt mode will move the stick with trim though trim is a bit dodgy in MSFS regardless of FFB. The stick does get a bit looser near stall but prob less than it should (it may just be the slow speed triggering that rather than the stall) , it does vibrate when you have air brakes out or gear down at speed. It gets harder to move with speed though again prob less than it should. Turbulence, not so much and I never really tried spins so no idea about spins
The FFB in MSFS is a bit “generic” (rather than tailored to the individual aircraft) and limited due to the way the game works but still vastly better than using a non-FFB spring loaded combat stick.
True, FFB2 is ‘spring emulation’,
but this ‘emulated spring action’ feels better that ANY regular ‘spring’ joystick (I have a TMWH Hotas, and a Logitec G940 HOTAS, and had plenty of joysticks)