Welcome !

About the Nostromo Speedpad N50

The Nostromo Speedpad N50 is a computer gaming device created by Belkin for gamers. This is a left handed device very popular among FPS players : made of 10 buttons, a slider and a directionnal pad for wich of each a Keyboard combo can be assigned.
It has been probably named after the fictional spaceship Nostromo from the 1979 film Alien.

This keyboard/joystick/mouse hybrid aims to be an efficient control method for many video games. It can also be used for any other applications such like cartographic software, control of 3-dimmensional objects in virtual reality applications (chemistry, CAD, architecture...).

The device is currently supported under Windows 95, 98, Millenium, 2000 and XP but, unfortunately, was never supported in Vista.

It is also supported under Mac OS environmen and there exist an Open source initiative in order to provide some drivers for Linux (http://www.jimbomania.com/nostromo/)

Nostromo Speedpad N50 on VISTA : yes you can !

NOVA suite permits to fully use the Belkin Nostromo N50 Speedpad on Windows Vista (32 bits), with its original programming level facilities.

Released under the GPL v3 licence (source code available), the suite is made of 3 utilities :

a Macro List Editor that permits to Create all the Keyboard actions of a game or any application.
a Profiler that permits to bind those actions to each button of the gaming device.
a Game Commander, that uses a particular profile which permits the user to interact with the desired game or application from the gaming device.

NOVA is an acronym that stands for "N50 On VistA"

Key features

No need to install special drivers like those of Belkin, generic Vista drivers are sufficient : plug in your n50, and it will works out of the box !
Since it uses the generic HID drivers installed by Windows Vista, you can still use your Nostromo n50 as a generic Gamepad (please, have a look in your configuration panel, in the gaming devices section :) )
Programming levels (Red/Green/Blue) are fuly supported.
You can map any key or key combination to the N50 (even multimedia keys !)
Its Open Source, realeased under the GPL v3
Software is in english
Tested with a few games like Crysis, Heroes of Might and Magic V, Rose Online Mmorpg, Unreal Tournament 2003, Notepad, Open Office, Paint
The binary zip file comes with a help file in french and a help file in english
A Sample Macro List for the game Crysis is provided.
Your Nostromo Speedpad N50 is still « Hot plug » : the software will not crash if you unplug your device, and the software will detect when you plug it back.

Designed for VISTA 32 bits only !
- It is not supposed to work within Windows XP !
- I do not know if it works for Windows VISTA 64 (try it and tell me,thank you !)
- May be that it works for Windows 7 ! (try it and tell me,thank you !)

Feedback welcome

Please, do not hesitate to try it and give your feedback.

I did my best to provide a first functionnal release. Focusing on the essential, I left apart some programming facilities that could be possible to integrate in the future : I am opened to any of your proposals.

As an individual, it is totally impossible for me to test my software in all possible games or applications : as a result of this, it is evident that in some particular case, the software will not interact with your favourite game, or not like you would like it to.

Please, just tell me and speak about your experience on the forum. It is the only way for me to improve the NOVA Suite.

Of course I did my best to provide a bug free software, but I do not pretend to be the best developper in the world ! Just be aware, bugs can exist : please do not hesitate to give your feedback if you find some !

Sometimes, some bugs are not...bugs. I am thinking here about two behaviours I did not yet implemented in my code :

The commander module should ideally run as single instance, it is not (becarefull to not run it twice : it could give some funny behaviour while in game :) )
The software, in fact does not check in wich OS environment it runs : that means that the program can be run even in Windows 95 (although you will get a very nice error dialog box).
This was done on purpose for the moment : may be it can be used in VISTA 64 bits or even Windows 7, but since I cannot check this at home... I am awaiting for your feedback again.
Only one N50 plugged allowed ! I developped the software from the principle you have only one left hand. :)

Therefore, there are good chances that you will find some other forgiveness, or other "bug" flavours. Again, do not hesitate to leave your comments !

Security for your computer

NOVA Suite cannot be a threat for your computer and won't harm it :

It does not install any driver (impossible to program this in Delhi !) since it uses the generic HID drivers installed by default by Windows Vista nor any invisible resident service.

The full source code is available also for this : you have the garantee of its total innocuity and can compile it yourself (provided you have a Delphi IDE).

In Windows VISTA, if you left the UAC enabled, it is possible that the system ask you if you are sure to run it.

It is possible also that the 3 modules needs to be run with administrator privilege, since it calls the HID stack API of Windows VISTA.

This is a normal behaviour !

About this Sourceforge Webspace

As it is my first sourceforge project, It will take me a few days or weeks in order to have a nice, clean, and fully functionnal sourceforge website.
I will do my best in order to make it attractive, and more complete, just be patient. ;)

Enjoy !

As soon as possible you will find
Some other macro Lists for other games or applications
A X-Mas release : Led animation on startup, in Blue, Red, and Green in order to give it a little X-Mas tree flavour on startup :)
A French version of the software.

Contact

You can write me here : wilfrid.avrillon[AT]gmail.com.

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