http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18424
--- Comment #16 from david.dljunk@gmail.com 2010-12-31 18:50:50 CST --- (In reply to comment #14)
It's not that I'm being dismissive (nor derisive) of IL-2 ; it is indeed a great flightsim that redefined the genre -- all I'm saying is if the USB HID isn't being seen in linux, I don't really expect to see it in OSX either with the same wine tree. Likewise, there can often be disparity between game vendor releases, the Flatout titles being a good example ; I don't know of anyone that's managed to get the gog.com release(s) running in OSX ; Steam versions work fine (and have a different setup GUI with more screenmode support) - it just throws another variable into the fray...differnt versions may use different methods...(unlikely, but possible)..
Some apps actually seem to have defined presets built into them, and use the HID if it happens to be connected -- Rockstar's GTA-3 series tend to do this. YMMV here depending on controller device VID/PID...
I do concur that most complaints tend to be coming from that sector of older apps, many of which were coded/existed before USB became mainstream. You mention Descent/Freespace, I *think* I recall them working with gameport connected HID but not USB (same caveat applies, must be /dev/js0), and the MegaRace series and a few other racing sims of that circa fit in here too.
This would be a little OT here and somewhat missing the point, but the observation must be made that my experience regarding these older app titles, that were indeed coded for the gameport device, is that they do still seem to work just fine in wine (linux) with a gameport connected HID appearing at /dev/js0. Be it a puristic view or whatever, but that would be Wine doing an outstanding job of accurately running the win32 app/game, 'just as it worked in Windows back in 199something'...it's just not particularly useful as legacy gameport support falls to deprecated hardware status (if not already there), with USB in it's stead. Either way, what we're effectively asking for is that some win32 app recognize and work with something it was never designed/coded for. More so the case in OSX obviously...I doubt it'd even have the old gameport device driver...or am I wrong?
Best I can figure it, the current situation is one of USB HID input actually working in OSX more or less 'as expected' (Flatout2, Volvo the Game, KartRacer all seem to work with USB HIDs), but when it comes to older apps/games it could be the simple case of lacking necessary hardware support. Like I say, if Windows users can do it, I'd have to suspect 3rd party drivers at work, as likely there's no gameport present in that case, either. The win32 drivers might possibly create a virtual gameport device in the normally assigned I/O range for gameport, and feed/eat the USB data to that virtual device concurrent with dx-input ; perhaps the Windows driver layer itself facilitates this..{shrug}...
This....is what I meant by 'confusion' concerning this bug ; it's not really the case of OSX lacking USB input support ; it is an equally shared situation with both linux and OSX, in that we can't communicate with older apps/games coded for the 'traditional' gameport device, with modern USB based HIDs.
If you try the GOG version of Red Baron 3D, the joystick also does not work in Wine-OS X. However, I believe Rens got Red Baron 3D working for Linux and seemed to suggest that everything worked in his Linux Wine tests (its in AppDB and he has a website about it). Red Baron 3D is an older game, however this seems to be an instance of a game working in Linux, but not in OS X. Perhaps you can try it out yourself if the joystick works in Linux if you're not adverse to getting Red Baron 3D (which is a great game btw - even Red Baron 1 is worth the price of GOG's admission).
For completeness sake I'm using a Logitech Extreme 3D pro. I can also verify that the Logitech joystick works in Windows 7 with Red Baron 3D even before adding the Logitech specific drivers and that the joystick works well in other Mac OS X application. I even use it to play Red Baron 1 under DosBox (Boxer frontend) and the joystick works there. So I would say there are some compatibility issues with Wine-OS X when it comes to USB HID devices.
Anyway, thanks for taking an interest in this!