Solution for pesky "joysticks scrambled AGAIN" issue

About every day on Teamspeak I hear someone complaining that "Windows rebooted and all my joysticks were scrambled--I had to completely re-do my CLOD setup." Or "my force feedback stopped working!"

The problem is that Windows randomly scrambles the order of your joysticks once in a while, but CloD setup requires keeping the same joystick associated wit the same number. And Force Feedback goes only to ONE joystick--the first Force Feedback joystick it encounters in whatever order Windows presents them in.

And, here is the solution--in five easy steps:

1. Download devreorder here:
   
   devreorder download page
   
   
2. Exit CloD & any other game/program that might be accessing joysticks. Copy the dinput8.dll file (X86 version) from the download .zip to:
   
   SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core
   
   
3. Copy the sample devreorder.ini file from the download .zip to:
   
   SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover
   
   (this is the same directory your Launcher.exe is located in.)
   
   
4. Edit devreorder.ini to list your existing joysticks in the order you wish to see them CLOD. Instructions are found within the devreorder.ini file.
   
5. Re-start CloD and enjoy . . .

Note: By "SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover" I mean the directory where your Launcher.exe file is located. This can be in different locations depending on where you have chosen to keep your Steam Library. You can find where your Steam Library is by going to Steam/Settings/Downloads/Steam Library Folders. The default location is usually something like c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover

That is the short version! Below is the full story of what this is, what it does, resources for getting answers, sample devreorder.ini file, etc.

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Today I lost all force feedback from CLOD because I'd installed another joystick driver that has forcefeedback, and that new joystick driver just happens to be first on CLOD's list--meaning that all force feedback went to the WRONG joystick.

So that put me on the warpath. And I think I have found the solution to this annoying problem. The solution allows you to re-order your joysticks any way you want, keep them in the same order time, and hide any joystick you like from CLOD. Even better, you can make different lists of joysticks/different orderings that will show up for different games.

The utility is called "devreorder" and you can download (with instructions) here:

• devreorder home page
• devreorder download page

Discussion with the developer here.

I went through the whole process to install the new dinput8.dll in both system32 AND sysWOW64. However, I would very much NOT recommend that approach for most people.

Instead, for most games, you can just copy the new/improved version of dinput8.dll to the same folder as your game's .exe file. (Same directory as Launcher.exe in the case of CLOD.) Launcher.exe is a 32-bit program so you need the x86 version of dinput8.dll. Just copy it to the same directory that Launcher.exe lives in.

However, that didn't work.

Bu then I had a bright idea and copied the same dinput8.dll to several of CLOD's subdirectories:

SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\bob
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\IL2DCE
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\TEFCampaign

[UPDATE: Further experimentation showed that the correct directory for dinput8.dll is SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core]

I put a devreorder.ini file in the same directory as Launcher.exe (SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover). I've zipped that sample .ini file and attached it to this message--click here to download:

• Attachment 26013

And--it worked! My joysticks are ordered the way I want them, and it seems to work every time CLOD starts. I just moved the offending forcefeedback joystick driver (vJoy) down to the bottom of the list in the devreorder.ini file.

So, two points:

• You could do this too--it's a pretty painless way to solve the joystick scramble problem permanently.
  
  • Download the devreorder .zip file
  • Copy the x86 version of dinput8.dll to the SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core directory
  • Edit devreorder.ini to list your joysticks in the order you want them & place that .ini in the same directory as your Launcher.exe (SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover)
• Does anyone know which subdirectory is actually the effective one to put dinput8.dll into? I would guess \parts\core - but it's hard to say without painstakingly testing every single combination . . .
  
  [UPDATE: Further experimentation showed SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core is indeed the correct directory. However, the correct location for devreorder.ini is the same directory as Launcher.exe - SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover ]
  

A report from a DangerDog The option of setting the entire system to use the standard profile for all games causes TIR to fail on startup with a DLL error - DO NOT USE THIS OPTION!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flug

But then I had a bright idea and copied the same dinput8.dll to several of CLOD's subdirectories:

SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\bob
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\IL2DCE
SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\TEFCampaign

I put a devreorder.ini file in the same directory as Launcher.exe (SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover). I've zipped that sample .ini file and attached it to this message--click here to download: . . .

• Does anyone know which subdirectory is actually the effective one to put dinput8.dll into? I would guess \parts\core - but it's hard to say without painstakingly testing every single combination . . .

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OK, answering my own question, the correct answer appears to be:

• input8.dll (X68 version) goes into SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core
• devreorder.ini goes into SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover

So, this provides a really simple and low-risk way to get control of your joystick issues in CLOD.

Simple because all it takes is copying two different files to two different subdirectories, then editing the .ini as you like.

Low-risk because if it doesn't work, all you need to do is delete the two files & you're back where you started.

I'll edit my OP to put a simple outline of the directions up top--now that I know what the directions should be.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DD_Crash

A report from a DangerDog The option of setting the entire system to use the standard profile for all games causes TIR to fail on startup with a DLL error - DO NOT USE THIS OPTION!

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Yes, the idea of replacing files in system32 & sysWOW64 makes me very nervous. Partly because it is complex & harder to reverse, but also because unexpected outcomes like this become more possible. Also, it might work just fine for now but two years down the road some game malfunctions unexpectedly & you might have a devil of a time figuring out the cause & remembering what you did two years previously.

On the flip side, just slipping the dinput8.dll (X86 version) into SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover\parts\core is pretty easy, completely reversible, and will only affect CloD. I'm a lot more comfortable with a tweak like this than messing with system32 & sysWOW64 . . .

BTW, there has been some discussion about what a fix for this issue would look like in CloD (or any other game).

The basic issue is that windows/directx presents joysticks to applications in various orders. The ordering has changed with various versions of windows etc.

So a fix looks like:

- Application should read in ALL available joysticks, whether that is 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, or however many of them

- Application should allow user to override the native windows priority order for joysticks, set their own preferred priority order permanently, and edit this priority order easily.

- It would be a good idea to allow priority for force feedback (and any other special functions of that type) to be set independently of input priority

- Probably a good idea to allow certain devices to be set as "ignore"

Something like a joystick selection screen that lists all available joysticks, allows you to set their assigned number, and allows you to set force feedback priority (or choose the one joystick that receives the FF, whatever) would do the trick.

FYI this is approximately the functionality that this devreorder mod provides.

For one, this is just great and a solution I've been looking for for a long time (IL-1946 supports only the first 4 usb devices it gets presented through DirectInput's enum-function and there was no way to influence which those first four devices should be).

It does not, however, work - if I understand documentation correctly - if you happen to have several identical named devices (e.g. two or three of Bodnar's BU0836A): The order among identical devices is still 'random' (as Windows arbitrarily sets). This is no fault of this solution. There's literally no way (afaik) for a software to differentiate between devices with the same name, same vendor id, and same product id - which are the only identifiers of a usb device (a lack of the usb specs, there's no such thing as an UDID, a MAC-address, or similiar).

Please, prove me wrong.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Artist

For one, this is just great and a solution I've been looking for for a long time (IL-1946 supports only the first 4 usb devices it gets presented through DirectInput's enum-function and there was no way to influence which those first four devices should be).

It does not, however, work - if I understand documentation correctly - if you happen to have several identical named devices (e.g. two or three of Bodnar's BU0836A): The order among identical devices is still 'random' (as Windows arbitrarily sets). This is no fault of this solution. There's literally no way (afaik) for a software to differentiate between devices with the same name, same vendor id, and same product id - which are the only identifiers of a usb device (a lack of the usb specs, there's no such thing as an UDID, a MAC-address, or similiar).

Please, prove me wrong.

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This is why I serialise all my joystick controllers, so every device has a recognizable and different name. You can get Bodnar to do this too, if you order several controllers from him.


Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kendy for the State

This is why I serialise all my joystick controllers, so every device has a recognizable and different name. You can get Bodnar to do this too, if you order several controllers from him.

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Ah! Had I only known before... Thank you for that information. Do you think it's possible afterwards? I ordered four of them (over several years, each separately) ...

I doubt it... The discussion I read was a few years ago, and he was saying you had to buy 10 or more to get special programming. I don't know why he doesn't just automatically do it on all new products, as it doesn't take any longer to program them that way. That was part of the reason I designed my own controller, that and price.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kendy for the State

[...] I designed my own controller [...]

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Not wanting to hijack this thread any further, but this sounds really interesting: Could you point me to a thread where you elaborate on this (how, availability, price ;-)) - or would you open such a thread?

I'm designing a flight control box with 8 analog controls (3 trim and 5 quadrant) and 36 buttons/switches, and I needed a controller for it. Bodnar makes a great product, but his equivalent device delivered from the UK is around $100, and that would make my control box too expensive. I want to sell the thing at a reasonable price, so normal people can afford it, not just us crazy simmers, so I hired a guy in India to design the circuit and write the firmware (it has been way too long since I did any microcontroller work, so I figured it would get done a lot faster this way). Anyway, since I'm still working out the mechanical design of the box I figured I'd go ahead and do a stand-alone PCB for crazy people who want to build their own cockpit controls. You can find it at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7A3ME8...3019316&sr=8-1.
Bodnars design is probably more elegant... His circuit automatically disables unused analog inputs, and I haven't figured out how to do that, so on my board I recommend you jumper unused analog inputs to ground, but it just takes a small bit of jumper wire to do so, so it is no big deal. I incorporated the serial number into the device name, so each controller (if you use multiples) will show up with a different name.


Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

Great. Really great.

Thanks very much for this flug.:thumbsup:

After much trial and error, prior to finding this devreorder fix, I seem to have sorted out the USB problem using VJOY.
A couple of days ago, after reading that perhaps Windows 10 actually fixed this problem in one of their updates, i deleted Vjoy, and then remapped my peripherals and all seems well in CloD.


I very rarely fly IL2 - Sturmovik 1946 now, but still like to climb into the P38. I have 5 peripherals, and as Artist mentioned, it can only handle 4, so would like to try it there.

So this question is about that sim, and not sure if you would have the answer, but doesn't hurt to ask, right?

Wondering if you can tell me where i would put the copy of the x86 version of dinput8.dll (would it be this file?) and the copy of the devreorder.ini file into Sturmovik so i can set up the peripherals there.

Thanks for any help you can give with this.:salute:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by farley

Wondering if you can tell me where i would put the copy of the x86 version of dinput8.dll (would it be this file?) and the copy of the devreorder.ini file into Sturmovik so i can set up the peripherals there.

Thanks for any help you can give with this.:salute:

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I confess, I don't have BoS or 1946 (or any other similar title, except CloD) installed, so I can't say for sure. But just experiment by putting the dinput8.dll into any/all possibly relevant directories & subdirectories. Like literally, just copy & paste the file into every subdirectory where Sturmovik is installed; similarly with the .ini file. If the game is installed through Steam, just figure out which directory steam downloads the game to & then try every subdirectory there. (If the game has a ton of subdirectories, you might be able to eliminate some as extremely unlikely and save some work. But if the game has, say, 20 directories & sub-directories, it will probably just be quicker to copy/paste to all & see what happens. If it has 200 or 2000 you might have to take a different approach . . . )

Then if you get it to work with the 'shotgun' approach, you can systematically delete some of your copies until you figure out which one is the one that works.

That's exactly what I did to figure out the directory for CloD.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DD_Crash

A report from a DangerDog The option of setting the entire system to use the standard profile for all games causes TIR to fail on startup with a DLL error - DO NOT USE THIS OPTION!

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Just copy the original SysWOW64 dinput8.dll to TrackIR's directory. TrackIR is a 32 bit app, although it uses some 64 bit drivers.