Joystick on Mac

Removing USB Overdrive worked immediately on my Yosemite Macbook Pro (2015). There was a caviat: BEFORE I installed the app, my MBP didn't work at all with my old 3d Extreme stick last used with Win XP. It did not even detect it's presence. One forum suggested USB Overdrive as a way to at least create an interface, so i installed it. It could see the joystick. Unfortunately, my stick still didn't work in my flight sim. Thanks to THIS forum, I deleted USB Overdrive and the joystick worked as if it had been written for OSX 10.10.5 instead of an old MS OS. Why it worked, I have no idea...but it got me flying.

Welcome!

Your post somehow found its way to a low-traffic forum about technical issues with posting in Apple Support Communities. If you tell us what Mac product you have, we can ask the Hosts to move you to a more active and appropriate forum for your product.

I like flight sims and have an older X-Plane version on a geriatric Mac in the spare room. I can tell you that there are very few flight simmers around here...you will probably get a more detailed and faster response in the x-plane.org forums or the X-Plane forums at AVSIM:

http://forums.x-plane.org

http://forum.avsim.net

In the older version I still use (v7.30), the only "goober' with setting up the joystick was if you tried to make the stick less sensitive, bad things starting happening.

Depends on what kind of joystick you're plugging in, but I used one of these to connect a Nintendo NES Advantage joystick. No drivers necessary. Plug it in and use. Worked with any game in MacMAME and a couple others. None were NES games, the software just had to recognize a connected joystick.

Is there anything similar to the game controller setup/calibration in Windows?

Once Apple went to USB, any calibration was pretty much up to individual applications. However, there once was a program called USB Overdrive that helped long ago. I don't know if it was ever updated to work with more recent OSX versions.

Well, looky what I found! It's been updatd to work through OS 10.10 Yosemite:

http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/Information.html

Take a look and see if that might be what you need.

It would still help to know what kind of Mac you have.

You can verify the connection of the joystick (what kind is it?) by going to "About This Mac" under the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Then select "More Info..." and select "System Report...". This will generate an on screen Hardware/Network/Software configuration listing. Click on USB under the Hardware heading and a list of connected USB devices will be displayed. If the joystick is not displayed that is the answer for it's non-rsponse. Be sure the stick is connected directly to the USB port on the iMac and not through a hub. I have the 5K iMac also and am using a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro stick with it. The older Saitek stick that I have would not work at all. Instructions for USB Overdrive can be found here http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/Step.html

Wow! You are the best! I just have read your topic and lose any hope to fly with joystick, but I follow your exemple and what's a magic! It is working!!! Thank you so much and have a good luck ;)