If this game has NO JOYSTICK SUPPORT... Then there is NO way for this Space Sim junkie to play it.
This quote is from a friend of mine:
A Flight Sim WITHOUT joystick is nothing more than a 3 Dimensional Role Playing Game!
You should NOT have to find programs like Joy-Mouse just to play a game that SHOULD have built-in Joystick Controls.
Implementing Joystick Controls in Microsoft's DirectX via their Software Development Kit is pretty easy... See this article from Microsoft:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb206283(VS.85).aspx
See this one:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="directx+sdk"+joystick&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
And this actual sample with source code available:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/directx/joystick.aspx
The DirectX SDK's have had plenty of Joystick Control sample programs over many many years.
Most games are written in mostly in C/C++/C# these days with some speed critical code rewritten in Assembly for purely speed reasons!
So if the developers left out Joystick Controls... it must be because they totally forgot to allow something so obvious that even a young child could see it!
I've developed software for almost 31 years... there is not a valid reason to NOT code in Joystick Controls in a Space Simulation... it just doesn't take that much to do and doesn't add very much in executable file size!
It would be similar to telling a modern Jet Fighter Pilot that they must fly their multi-million dollar aircraft with ONLY a Mouse. No Joystick, No Throttle Controls, No Pitch and Yaw Controls of any kind. I just don't see that as viable in the "Real World"!
DOH!
I would have purchased Freelancer... but WAIT they screwed people that like to fly using Joystick Controls by leaving that out!
I'm now 51 years old, My mouse skills are pretty good for someone my age... but there is NO WAY that I can control a Space Sim with only a mouse and keyboard.
My joystick is used purely for the steering mechanism and I use all other functions on the keyboard.
P. S. Emulating a joystick via an external mechanism / external program is a poor methodology because you don't get the accuracy or as good a response for the Joystick Controls you would have if ACTUAL code is used for the joystick inside the executable program.
SIGH!