Please fix joystick ID issue

[GunSlingerAUS]

Hey guys

 

I love this game, but there's one massive issue - the way it detects joysticks. It's an issue that existed with ROF and still exists with IL2 BOS - if I change any peripherals on my PC, my joystick IDs change, and all my IL2 BOS binds no longer work. There's no way to manually change joystick IDs with Windows 8, and it randomly assigns IDs depending on what's plugged in. I only have a set amount of USB ports, so every time I swap my G940 for my racing wheel, all my IL2 BOS binds get broken. I then have to spend another hour to rebind everything, which is ludicrous.

 

This is a huge issue, especially for beginners who won't tolerate such a problem, yet games like DCS don't have this problem, as they detect the joystick differently. I'm begging the devs at 777 to finally getting around to fixing this - here's a far more detailed explanation of the issue that was posted on the ROF forums. In the meantime I'm shelving this game, as I don't have an hour to set up my G940 HOTAS every time I want to play:

http://riseofflight.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=353&t=24560 

 

[kestrel79]

I also swap between sticks and wheels. What I find that works best is to plug them into the SAME usb ports each time. I have mine mapped out on a post it note so I remember what goes where. It usually has an easier time of reading the sticks and button boxes I have then after playing with my wheel.

[39bn_pavig]

Being able to somehow rejig which stick corresponds to which ID would be an awesome thing. 

 

If you have issues though, someone at ATAG gave me a link to this: http://airgroup51.net/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=09e506505bba7e42a1f9efa9ceff9383&action=dlattach;topic=2435.0;attach=2966 

JoyID lets you renumber your HID devices on the fly, or make their IDs stick. Worth a try.  I would much prefer to have it in game though, because hacks are hacks.

[FuriousMeow]

I have changed ports frequently without any issue. If it was a game issue, everyone would experience it. However, it would appear to be a local configuration as only a few experience it.

[GunSlingerAUS]

I also swap between sticks and wheels. What I find that works best is to plug them into the SAME usb ports each time. I have mine mapped out on a post it note so I remember what goes where. It usually has an easier time of reading the sticks and button boxes I have then after playing with my wheel.

 

I've tried this, and it's to no avail. Sometimes Windows 8 changes up the controller ID regardless of which port and the order I plug into ports 

 

Being able to somehow rejig which stick corresponds to which ID would be an awesome thing. 

 

If you have issues though, someone at ATAG gave me a link to this: http://airgroup51.net/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=09e506505bba7e42a1f9efa9ceff9383&action=dlattach;topic=2435.0;attach=2966

JoyID lets you renumber your HID devices on the fly, or make their IDs stick. Worth a try.  I would much prefer to have it in game though, because hacks are hacks.

 

Thanks for the link, as I spent days trying to find a download of that application. I finally found it last night, but sadly it doesn't work with Windows 8 or above. I've tried running as admin, as well as in Windows 7 mode, yet changing the IDs of the stick/throttle/pedals via the application isn't mirrored by Windows' controller IDs. For example, I changed the main joystick to ID2, but IL2 BOS still detected it as ID1.

 

I have changed ports frequently without any issue. If it was a game issue, everyone would experience it. However, it would appear to be a local configuration as only a few experience it.

 

I believe it could be a Windows 8 problem - can I ask which version of Windows you're running? 

 

Thanks for your responses, but as pointed out in the post that I first linked to, there is a way to build games that avoids this issue without the user having to jump through so many hoops. Setting up a HOTAS kit is one of the most daunting things for flight sim beginners, so letting this problem remain is going to cause newbies to give up. 777, are you going to look into the method of controller identification at this link, http://riseofflight.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=353&t=24560  as it appears the way you're doing it now isn't optimal? 

[GunSlingerAUS]

Hey Devs, it'd be awesome if you showed some more interaction with your community. Just sayin' 

[Grancesc]

That happens also on my PC. I'm using Windows 8.1. I've tried several things to avoid it but without success.

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

This is not a game issue but an OS issue.  Once the OS recognizes your joystick as Joystick_1 or Device_1 or whatever and you input button presses into the game based on that device, the game will have no idea that the device has been disconnected/reconnected and assign a new device number by the OS.  What you see in the game are DirectX assignments.

 

There are a couple of ways around this however.

 

Some joysticks have their own profile software that comes with it.  I used to use CH Control Manager for my CH Pro Throttle.  The software recognizes the specific device, i.e., the throttle, regardless of DirectX device name assigned by the OS and it assigns its own name that is passed to the game.  So, when assigning buttons to actions in the game, instead of seeing joystick_O button1, you see Joystick1 button 1.  Now this may not seem very different, but if you disconnect/reconnect a device and the OS reassigns its DirectX name, the CH Control Manager still sees it as its own throttle and continues  to send button presses with the same name, Joystick1 button 1.  I believe Saitek software does the same thing.

 

The other way to overcome the OS name reassignment issue is to use keyboard character assignments to the buttons on the Joystick or throttle.  There are a couple ways of doing this.  You can use the software that probably came with the joystick/throttle or use a third party software to accomplish the same thing.  I finally dumped the CHCM and now use Total Game Control.  This allows me to assign multiple keystrokes for an game action (more functionality of the device), set delays between characters (as BOS has issues with this) and write a description of exactly what the assignment does in the game.  Separate profiles for each game are available. 

 

The downside of even using these approaches is that if you are forced to reinstall the game you will still need to reinput the button assignments.  What I did to avoid the reinstall problem, was to simply use the IL2 BOS default keystrokes.  There is still some small cleanup of views, etc. but it is minor.

Edited October 9, 2014 by VR-Stick

[CaK_Rumcajs]

This is not a game issue but an OS issue.  Once the OS recognizes your joystick as Joystick_1 or Device_1 or whatever and you input button presses into the game based on that device, the game will have no idea that the device has been disconnected/reconnected and assign a new device number by the OS.  What you see in the game are DirectX assignments.

This is not exactly true. Each USB device has its unique GUID. Any SW can identify HID devices by their Windows IDs or by GUIDs. HID devices also have human readable names that are usually pretty unique. One usually doesn't have connected two identical joysticks to one machine. On top of that the game coud easily come with its own numbering of devices and allow people to assign their devices to appropriate slots. Simply put there is a range of options that would easily overcome these Windows ID problems. None of them is implemented and its not rocket science. That's all.

TBH i've created my own software based on vJoystick virtual driver http://vjoystick.sourceforge.net/site/ to get rid of these mapping problems. There is also a software called UJR Universal Jostick Remapper http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/89279-ujr-universal-joystick-remapper-using-vjoy/?do=findComment&comment=565573 which can solve these problems. And there are probably other solutions.

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

This is not exactly true.

 

Thanks for the added info.  Although you may be right, neither ROF nor IL2 1946 have that ability.  Are you aware of a flight sim that does?

[FuriousMeow]

I believe it could be a Windows 8 problem - can I ask which version of Windows you're running? 

 

Windows 7 with the latest updates, so that would appear to be the underlying difference. Some kind of issue with Windows 8 or 8.1.

 

Although I'm not sure why that would matter considering RoF and BoS rely on DX for peripheral integration, not some separate specially developed wrapper or hook to manage peripherals in a special way.

[CaK_Rumcajs]

Thanks for the added info.  Although you may be right, neither ROF nor IL2 1946 have that ability.  Are you aware of a flight sim that does?

No I'm not aware of a flight sim that would address this problem. That's why people have to rely on third party solutions. But because I myself have created such mapping software I know it takes maybe one day to develop such functionality. Really it's a simple Dictionary<Int32, GUID> that does this mapping plus very simple GUI.

[TexRoadkill]

DCS lists the controllers by name and doesn't care what ID they are on. Works perfect.

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

No I'm not aware of a flight sim that would address this problem. That's why people have to rely on third party solutions. But because I myself have created such mapping software I know it takes maybe one day to develop such functionality. Really it's a simple Dictionary<Int32, GUID> that does this mapping plus very simple GUI.

 

 

DCS lists the controllers by name and doesn't care what ID they are on. Works perfect.

 

Thanks guys.  When I first got into IL2 Pacific/1946 and had this issue, I thought it odd this problem existed as it was a pretty time consuming task to remap all.  That is why I migrated along the path I laid out above.

 

Another issue I brought to 1CGS attention upon initial early access release was the inability to assign multiple DirectX button presses to one game action.  I have a button assigned as "Shift" which I would use in conjunction with another button to increase the functionality of my throttle.  This was always available in the old IL2, ROF and CloD.  One more reason I had to change my mapping approach for BOS.  To the best of my knowledge they have not "fixed" this issue.

[SRF_kaltokri]

That's the third time I must reasign all my key and I have a lot (Warthog and CH Panel).

And it is the only Game I have this problems!

Every time I add a controller all my bindings are useless.

Please fix it!

 

Kal

[kestrel79]

I know I hear ya, I like to keep the same general layout for all my flight sims simiar. Gear bottons, flaps, views, ect all the same for the most part in each sim. Frustrates me when I can't do that. Takes some long to get everything right where you need it.

[ulao]

I believe it could be a Windows 8 problem

 

No, my win7 does not work with joyID, I believe it’s because this app was not designed for a 64bit OS. Most all win 8 installs are 64bit some win7 installs are 32.  I emailed the author but no reply, I asked for the source so I could update it and no reply. I'm tempted to disassemble it a reverse engineer the executable.  So need this app working.

[avlSteve]

I'm here again, and not happy about it.  

[avlSteve]

I was able to sort it after switching out the usb connections randomly several times… it finally recognized the original configuration.  Windows 8.1.

Edited March 14, 2015 by avlSteve

[sgtMacnutt]

it takes me like 30 minutes to do this every time anoying

[SharpeXB]

I thought the latest patch to BoS fixed this problem?

[Ride]

I get around this by having a USB hub which has a switch for each port.

 

When I am sim racing I have my wheel, pedals and shifter on and my flight sim stuff off, then when I switch to flight sim I reverse what I have turned on.

 

As long as you start the game up with the same combination of USB devices turned on/off then it will keep the ID's correct.

 

If you started IL2 and say left your wheel turned on then the ID's get screwed up, exit the game, turn off the wheel and boot it up again and all should be fine.  Works for me anyway.

[guidom]

i still have the same problem even on the latest patched version of the game (1.107)

my pedals and joystick will get switched over. throttle usually stays in position 0. i got around this before by making the current.action file read only, but this no longer works since the controller ID problem was "fixed".

now, i can restart IL2, and the controllers will swap around again! without any change to hardware plugging, windows 10 controller ID, or the config files.

it's a pretty crap deal and i can't believe it still hasn't been sorted.

[Skoop]

Yeah the whole control thing needs some serious love.  The devs are probably concentrating on Moscow release, but after that the control mapping system needs a complete make over...this is ridiculous as it is now.  It's even complicated by the fact that your control settings are saved to the master server, I have BOS running on my laptop and home computer.  Whats frustrating is that I can't take my flight gear from home with me on the road, so to remap a different controller for my laptop it saves it all to my account and changes all my settings on my desktop that I don't want changed. 

 

 

Requests:

 

BOS assigns controller specific IDs in game so you can have any type of usb controller plugged in and it will not go with the windows random controller ID.

 

User Profiles, so you can have different control profiles for different computers under the same account.

 

Unique Profiles saved to each plane, like curve settings.  To further elaborate, You set your default controls that are the generic controls that apply to all planes.  Then each plane has a tab where you can go an make adjustments to the control mapping specific to that plane.  This way you don't have to set every key for every plane, just make tweaks with the default as a template.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Skoop

[Sokol1]

It's even complicated by the fact that your control settings are saved to the master server, I have BOS running on my laptop and home computer.  Whats frustrating is that I can't take my flight gear from home with me on the road, so to remap a different controller for my laptop it saves it all to my account and changes all my settings on my desktop that I don't want changed. 

BoS servers don't save your personal configs.

 

Your game is from STEAM:? What you describe sounds like a STEAM Cloud issue.

If yes, turn this OFF, more hinder than help.

[310_cibule]

i still have the same problem even on the latest patched version of the game (1.107)

my pedals and joystick will get switched over. throttle usually stays in position 0. i got around this before by making the current.action file read only, but this no longer works since the controller ID problem was "fixed".

now, i can restart IL2, and the controllers will swap around again! without any change to hardware plugging, windows 10 controller ID, or the config files.

it's a pretty crap deal and i can't believe it still hasn't been sorted.

Hi guidom,

 

I faced the same problem after one od the patches. My Saitek Pedals and Saitek Quadrant swapped almost every time I restarted my PC. Reinstallation of the original drivers from the Saitek page solved the problem once for ever. Hope it may solve your problem as well.

[SharpeXB]

I had this problem after I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10. My joy#s would shuffle almost every time I restarted the PC. This joy# is related to the order you see on the USB Game Controllers list. That order would change constantly.

Then after installing the big November Update for W10 the problem stopped. So the fix for me was somewhere in that update. I think the November Update replaced many drivers on the machine.

I don't have any idea why that fixed it but this problem has not recurred once for me since November of last year.

Edited February 11, 2016 by SharpeXB

[Skoop]

BoS servers don't save your personal configs.

 

Your game is from STEAM:? What you describe sounds like a STEAM Cloud issue.

If yes, turn this OFF, more hinder than help.

Good tip about steam, thanks. I just recently switched my account to steam.

 

With the original installer(nonsteam), I suspect the control mappings are saved along with your campaign progress. When I installed BOS on my laptop, all the control setting from my desktop where there.