Need help getting Logitech game pad working.

I just picked up a few cheap games since like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. To play this and NOT have to rely on my keyboard, I bought a Logitech F310 game controller. It's suppose to work right away once I plug it in....but like most things that have to do with computers, it didn't. A bit of googling revealed that I need a program from Logitech called Profiler, so I could map keystrokes to the Xbox like controller. Before you ask I'm saving for a PS4 so I don't want to spend $50 for an Xbox controller just to play a $5 game I got from a dump bin at Walmart. I have tried installing this Profiler software several times now, but for the life of me, I can't find where it installs to! It doesn't even give an option to tell it where you want it to install to even! Will any log files tell me this? Oh, btw...when I go to device manager, Windows 10 doesn't see the controller. Not sure what to do now...<Sigh>

I don't sit around expecting other's to do work for me. I've continued to research this issue. One thing I tried was flipping the switch on the back of the controller to direct input. As soon as I did this Windows 10 recognized it! But I still can't find this damned Profiler program in order to assign buttons on the controller to keystrokes. This is SO frustrating! I've been so wrapped up playing Borderlands 2 on my PS3 I forgot what it was like to play a FPS game on a computer. Game is running fine, just hate using the keyboard!

While I'm thinking about it, I had also bought Need for Speed: Most Wanted. I had seen a video of it, and thought it'd be cool to play, only the game programmers it seems dropped the ball when it came to controllers. I don't mind loosing the $5 I paid for that, but can anyone recommend a really good racing game? Just for yucks, I'd really like to find Podracer from the late 90's. My wife and I LOVE that game, but I had it running on Windows 98SE. What are the odds I could get it to run on Windows 10 if I could find a copy?

The odds on getting Podracer to run are probably slim to none. It's most likely a 16 bit game if it is from that vintage, and it will not install on Windows 10. I also probably uses an archaic form of copy protection that Microsoft unilaterally deactivated in September of 2015.

Sad to say, even if you find a copy of it, you're out of luck. Though you could try Grand Old Games (GOG). They may have a version ported to a modern copy of Windows. They carry a lot of older games that you just can't get anymore. It's worth a shot.

Now, as for the Profiler service (App, or whatever they call it), you could try looking in %username%\AppData\Roaming\Logitech\... to see if it is there, or %username%\AppData\Local\Logitech\... Note that you will have to show hidden files to be able to see the AppData folder

Turned out I needed to turn flip a switch on the back to direct program mode and download the 64 bit version, and it works now.

I tried setting it up as a 360 controller, and it wouldn't work. As soon as I flipped it to direct input, Windows 10 recognized it and I was able to get it to work (sort of) with Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Further research I found that Need for Speed has issues with just about all controllers including the 310, as well as many of Logitech's wheels. Ironically the PlayStation store had it on sale for $1.99 so I installed it on my PS3 and deleted it off my computer. For Call of Duty, it's a matter of sitting down and getting the proper keystrokes setup so it works the way I want it to. Oh....and I wasn't able to get the Profiler to work until I installed the 64 bit version, that's about the only "mistake" I made that I can see.

Side note: Any games you can recommend I can get through the Windows store? Preferably free ones, I just started working and funds are still tight.

I'm an old time gamer for sure. I remember in the late 70's my cousin and I over at an uncle's house on Christmas eve playing a "computer game" on the uncle's old Tandy that had two cassette drives for data. Learned how to program on a Commodore 64 and/or Pet depending on which was open at my high school's computer lab.

My friends and I played 1000's of hours of AD&D where you had to use dice, graph paper, lead figures and a whole hell of a lot of imagination. I love strategy games, as we played Risk (combined like 4 games worth of pieces), and many of the Avalon Hill games like 'War of the Roses' and Heart's of Iron (I have this on Steam now). I also love simulations games. At one time I had just about EVERY submarine simulation around at the time.

I was also heavily into flight sims as well. Games like Lucas Art's "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe" . "Comanche" a heli sim, and my all time favorite, "Descent" Descent copy right has been bought out and an indy gaming company is trying to develop a modern version of this now...I can't wait! I made friends of mine nauseated when I flew around in that game!!! Of course it helps when you own a Thrust master gear at the time. (Stick, throttle and pedals)

Now back to current life. I've replaced the Thrust master gear with Saitek stick and throttle. Sadly I don't have any flight sims to use them with. Not that my laptop could really handle the graphics and such to make it worth while. While I want to play a game or two, I have to keep my system's resources to working, as I work from home. One of the reasons I have to stick with Windows 10, as I'm bouncing between Edge, Chrome and Firefox depending on company and work being offered.

Since I have to watch what I'm loading onto computer, I've restricted myself to.... Dungeons and Dragons Online, Silent Hunter 4, Command Modern Air and Navel Operations (from the creators of Harpoon), Civilization V, and now Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. On the PS3 my 13yr old daughter and I bonded over Borderlands 2, and I picked up Need for Speed: Most wanted yesterday for $1.99, and the first 3 Assassin's Creed games too.

This may seem like a lot, but when you work from home like I do, it takes up the majority of your time. Either you're working a contract job, looking for your next contract, or improving your skills so you can get higher paying contracts. Even though most of the US has had a very mild winter, like we had here in St. Louis, in another month or so when the weather is really "nice", it'll be time to break out the fishing poles, bikes and other outdoor activities. Gaming will be the last thing on my mind then....but when I do game, I want it to work right.