WTF!?: Added controller --> All wheel, pedals, etc., settings destroyed in all games!

R8pilot · Jan 5, 2021

Hello Forum Members,

For my new fly / drive rig, I finally got my wheel base, pedals, shifter, hand-brake, flight-stick and throttle running in the many various games I have that use them. It took hours to work out the problems, but finally everything is sweet and stable! Yay!

Then, for some other game, I plugged in a generic (Logitech) controller. Works fine too.

Ominous music begins, but only the audience hears it so far ...

So then I went back to Automobilista 2, and ...

Boom! ALL setup settings in ALL games are completely gone, and I have to start setups from scratch in ALL of them! (OK, at this point I have to let out a small primal scream of frustration: WTF!?)

All controllers (wheelbase, etc.) remain perfectly visible in Windows 10, and both the controller and the Simucube base are visible in Steam. It's just that the settings, again in ALL games, were somehow wiped.

Well, now I'm kind of paralyzed, since I don't know what happened or what may make it happen again, and I want to "fix" it, whatever it is, before I try again. Removing the controller did nothing to improve the situation, though presumably it was too late for that.

Can anyone make sense of this, or describe how to prevent it in the future?

Thank you.

AccAkut · Jan 5, 2021

there's something random about the order HID inputs are sorted, at least Content Manager for AC has an option to "cerment" controller assignments regardless of what extra controllers are plugged in. Could be that that generic Logitech one (Wingman gamepad?) got priority 1. Or could be that the games have automated profiles for it and prefer that t your custom setups.

blekenbleu · Jan 5, 2021

Here is a bit of information:
"In Windows 2000 and later operating systems, a new physical device object (PDO) is created when a USB device is moved from one port to another.
If the hardware reports a unique USB serial number, a new PDO is not created.

To reuse the same PDO and to ensure that the device experience is unchanged
whether the device is reinserted into the same port or a new port,
hardware vendors must store a serial number on their device."

This is confounded by device object information being cached both by Windows and applications. In theory, those cached values should be updated any time Windows
enumerates USB or when apps which cache such values relaunch.
There are circumstances when even Windows' cached values can be stuck and wrong...
If you happened to own multiple devices with the same (or no) VID, PID and serial number,
then applications would be unable to automagically identify and reconnect same devices.

FWIW, my system appears to have at least one USB device with no serial number
and perhaps two indistinguishable USB hubs,
according to the devcon.x64.exe utility bundled with ViGEm.
Too often, I also must reconfigure game devices after plugging or replugging USB devices.

Jan 9 update: migrating from Samsung Odyssey+ to HP Reverb G1 provoked Assetto Corsa losing AccuForce connection.

R8pilot · Jan 16, 2021

I think the problem was introduced when I added the controller to Steam's controller panel. I suppose it somehow usurped priority over the wheelbase.

Removing the controller changed nothing, but removing the entry in Steam's panel did. Some games then promptly remembered their wheel/pedal settings (but others remained forgetful).

I was wondering if the issue was partly due to the controller being very old. Like I didn't need to add the wheelbase to Steam's settings, but the controller did require manual addition.

But anyway, I think I'll dedicate the rig to driving / flying only, and equip an older computer I have with the controller. I don't need to be seated in a cockpit to use that anyway.

Thanks!