{"id":6,"date":"2012-09-26T23:37:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T21:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/?p=6"},"modified":"2015-02-26T23:03:46","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T21:03:46","slug":"2nd-mouse-com-port-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/2nd-mouse-com-port-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Mouse (COM port) in a PC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Windows doesn&#8217;t handle multiple mice by default so the software needs to have it&#8217;s own internal driver that would treat external device as an extra mouse. For example <a title=\"Trine 2 - wikipedia page\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Trine_2\">Trine 2<\/a> utilizes additional mice and keyboards.<\/p>\n<p>This article will focus on older games which use second pointing device connected to the COM port.<\/p>\n<p>Terminology:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>COM <\/strong>&#8211; is the name of the computer port.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Serial<\/strong> &#8211; is a method of transferring data (one bit at a time).<\/li>\n<li><strong>DE-9, DB-9<\/strong> &#8211; is a 9-pin connector type.<\/li>\n<li><strong>RS-232<\/strong> &#8211; is a standard for serial transmission of data trough DB-9, DB-25 connectors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more on these look up Wikipedia.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m aware of three PC games supporting two mice:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Settlers II: Veni Vidi Vici<\/li>\n<li>Serious Sam: The First Encounter<\/li>\n<li>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Practically two.<\/p>\n<p>Old computers (up to about 2005) have 9-pin port(s) included in their motherboards by default.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/old_computer.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12\" title=\"Old computer ports\" alt=\"Porst\" src=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/old_computer-300x138.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"138\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/old_computer-300x138.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/old_computer.jpg 651w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>New computers &#8211; do not. However, on my old computer games mentioned above slow down so I&#8217;m not interested in older machines.<\/p>\n<p>There are USB to DB-9 adapters available which allow to use legacy devices. Such cables are sold under the name <em>USB to Serial Cable<\/em> which I find weird because USB is serial as well.<\/p>\n<p>I got mine cheaply (30 PLN\u00a0\u2248 10 USD\u00a0\u2248 7 EUR). The seller said that there are more expensive advanced adaptors for modems and such but I don&#8217;t need them if its just for the mouse.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/db9_usb_adapter.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-39\" title=\"DB-9 to USB adapter\" alt=\"DB9 USB cable\" src=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/db9_usb_adapter-300x175.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/db9_usb_adapter-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/db9_usb_adapter.jpg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On XP despite Plug &amp; Play I still had to install the drivers to make it work. Win 7 automatically searched for drivers and installed them.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/cd_driver.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-41\" title=\"DB-9 to USB adapter CD driver\" alt=\"CD driver\" src=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/cd_driver-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/cd_driver-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/cd_driver-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/cd_driver-200x200.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Device should be visible in the Device Manager.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/device_manager_com.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17 aligncenter\" title=\"Device Manager Com Port\" alt=\"Device Manager\" src=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/device_manager_com.jpg\" width=\"292\" height=\"113\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In advanced port settings you can change the number of the port (preferably to #1).<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/advanced_com_settings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18 aligncenter\" title=\"Advanced COM settings\" alt=\"Advanced COM settings\" src=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/advanced_com_settings-300x134.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/advanced_com_settings-300x134.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/advanced_com_settings.jpg 635w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mouse for the DB-9 port I got from the Polish <a title=\"Graty z Chaty - Home Junk\" href=\"http:\/\/gratyzchaty.pl\/\">website<\/a> through which people give away stuff that they don&#8217;t need.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/mouse_db9.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-21 aligncenter\" title=\"Mouse DB9\" alt=\"Mouse\" src=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/mouse_db9-300x226.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/mouse_db9-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/mouse_db9.jpg 796w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unplug adapter before connecting the mouse (otherwise the latter won&#8217;t be detected). The device should appear in the list as &#8220;Microsoft Serial Mouse&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/device_manager_mouse.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19 aligncenter\" title=\"Device Manager Mouse\" alt=\"Device Manager Mouse\" src=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/device_manager_mouse.jpg\" width=\"292\" height=\"113\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When enabled it controls the Windows Desktop cursor. This allows to check mouse&#8217;s functionality but for gaming you&#8217;ll have to disable it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"mwm-aal-item\" name=\"configuring-in-games\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Configuring in games<\/h2>\n<p>Details you&#8217;ll find in the other blog posts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"The Settlers 2 - 2nd mouse\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/pc-gaming\/settlers-2nd-mouse\/ \">Settlers 2<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Serious Sam - controller configuration - Faguss' Blog\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/pc-gaming\/serious-sam-configuration\/\">Serious Sam<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"mwm-aal-item\" name=\"third-mouse-button\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Third mouse button<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m not familiar with MS-DOS era computing (I started with Amiga) and I don&#8217;t know how the third mouse button was handled in the old systems. It doesn&#8217;t work for me in the Windows Desktop and in the Serious Sam but I know it&#8217;s technically functional because I&#8217;ve used <a title=\"CuteMouse - open source mouse driver\" href=\"http:\/\/cutemouse.sourceforge.net\/\">CuteMouse<\/a> program to test it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"mwm-aal-item\" name=\"substitutes\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Substitutes<\/h2>\n<p>The main problem is that you need two specific pieces of hardware. I looked up for a workaround but with no good results.<\/p>\n<h5>Mouse<\/h5>\n<p>There are <a class=\"img\" href=\"http:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ps2_db9_adapter.jpg\">PS\/2 to DB-9 adapters<\/a> but they require a special &#8220;combo&#8221; mouse which supports both PS\/2 and RS-232 signalling. They were produced in the early 2000&#8217;s and often had such cables included.<\/p>\n<p>It seems that there is <a title=\"PS\/2 to Serial Protocol Converter\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vetra.com\/327text.html\"> a converter<\/a> which probably would allow to use any mouse but it&#8217;s expensive.<\/p>\n<h5>Port<\/h5>\n<p>Software to emulate COM ports <a title=\"Virtual Serial Ports Emulator\" href=\"http:\/\/www.eterlogic.com\/Products.VSPE.html\">exists<\/a> but I haven&#8217;t spotted any program to create virtual COM mouse.<\/p>\n<p>There was an <a title=\"Settlers 2 second mouse - YouTube video\" href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/kek-wPmfWbQ\">attempt<\/a> from one user on YT. However, he never released anything.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"mwm-aal-item\" name=\"afterword\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Afterword<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;ve already played Serious Sam on 3-player mode (2x Kb+M and Joystick) and it was a blast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Windows doesn&#8217;t handle multiple mice by default so the software needs to have it&#8217;s own internal driver that would treat external device as an extra mouse. For example Trine 2 utilizes additional mice and keyboards. This article will focus on older games which use second pointing device connected to the COM port. Terminology: COM &#8211; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7,5,10,6,9,8],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware","tag-com","tag-mice","tag-multiplayer","tag-serial","tag-serious-sam","tag-settlers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":73,"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":723,"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofp-faguss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}