Solution for pesky "joysticks scrambled AGAIN" issue

[TWC_Flug]

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.

---

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:

• devreorder.zip

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 ]