Mini-update.
The shorted pins on a VGA cable are nothing but trouble, so until I can build my own cable with 2-male connectors and a 16-core cable, I botched a temporary solution.
Stripped 2 CAT5 cables (8+8=16) and stuffed them in the connectors mirroring eachother.
Looks like shit, but the flight stick working like a dream now. I'll buy the stuff tomorrow.