Switching order of controllers in Windows XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Big Normy
  • Start date Start date
B

Big Normy

Hi, I've been looking through old posts on this issue, and haven't seen
anything lately...

the bottom line is this -

I had a Thrustmaster Dual Power 4 game pad, and bought a Logitech
Rumblepad later - I like the Rumblepad better, and want to consider it
my "first string" controller.

But if I go into say, Nba Live 2005, and go to choose controllers, no
matter what I do, the thrustmaster is on the top of the list, and the
logitech is on the bottom.


All the old posts talk about choosing Preferred device in the control
panel. By running DxDiag, I can see that setting something as the
Preferred Device assigns it Controller ID 0.

But I also see that the order of the Controllers, as recognized by most
games, is the same as the order listed in the game controller control
panel, and is completely unrelated to which device is "controller id 0"
and "preferred device."

For example, I set the logitech as preferred device, and plugged in the
thrustmaster and also a gamepad pro.

In the control panel they are listed as:
Thrustmaster
Logitech
GamePad Pro

dxdiag lists them as:

Thrustmaster - controller id 1
Logitech - controller id 0
GamePad Pro - controller id 2


Obviously there is a separate controller id that is recognized by the
game when ordering controllers, and is recognized by the control panel
when listing controllers in a certain order.


The list could be looked at more like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 0 ("preferred device")
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2


by editing the preferred device, I can change the listed controller ID,
which is completely irrelevant as far as the game is concerned, and the
true controller ID is the same. If I make thrustmaster the preferred,
it would be like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 0(preferred device)
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2

or I could change it to
[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 2
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 0 (preferred)
if I wanted to.


But all this changing has nothing to do with the true way DirectInput
orders the controllers and how games recognize their order. Surely
there should be a way to edit the registry to fix or reset the id's that
directinput gives?


Ultimately in the games it's just an aesthetic issue, but it's kind of a
matter of principle now..
 
Does it seem that we all have problems....

Try this. switch the controller cords. Put Logitech as a Preferred device.
 
Setting devices as the Preferred device only works for gameport devices. USB
devices don't use controller ID's, they use a different unique ID given to
it by DirectInput. It is up to the game how to expose these devices once
they are enumerated by DirectInput. It is sometimes possible to open Device
Manager and remove the two devices, then unplug the other devices leaving
the preferred device and then Scan for Hardware changes allowing the system
to rediscover the preferred device. Then plug in the others. This however
isn't guaranteed to work in getting one device to be discovered before the
other.

Joshua Smith
OpenGL Test Lab
Microsoft
-----

Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

mydogisalab said:
Does it seem that we all have problems....

Try this. switch the controller cords. Put Logitech as a Preferred device.
Big Normy said:
Hi, I've been looking through old posts on this issue, and haven't seen
anything lately...

the bottom line is this -

I had a Thrustmaster Dual Power 4 game pad, and bought a Logitech
Rumblepad later - I like the Rumblepad better, and want to consider it
my "first string" controller.

But if I go into say, Nba Live 2005, and go to choose controllers, no
matter what I do, the thrustmaster is on the top of the list, and the
logitech is on the bottom.


All the old posts talk about choosing Preferred device in the control
panel. By running DxDiag, I can see that setting something as the
Preferred Device assigns it Controller ID 0.

But I also see that the order of the Controllers, as recognized by most
games, is the same as the order listed in the game controller control
panel, and is completely unrelated to which device is "controller id 0"
and "preferred device."

For example, I set the logitech as preferred device, and plugged in the
thrustmaster and also a gamepad pro.

In the control panel they are listed as:
Thrustmaster
Logitech
GamePad Pro

dxdiag lists them as:

Thrustmaster - controller id 1
Logitech - controller id 0
GamePad Pro - controller id 2


Obviously there is a separate controller id that is recognized by the
game when ordering controllers, and is recognized by the control panel
when listing controllers in a certain order.


The list could be looked at more like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 0 ("preferred device")
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2


by editing the preferred device, I can change the listed controller ID,
which is completely irrelevant as far as the game is concerned, and the
true controller ID is the same. If I make thrustmaster the preferred,
it would be like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 0(preferred device)
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2

or I could change it to
[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 2
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 0 (preferred)
if I wanted to.


But all this changing has nothing to do with the true way DirectInput
orders the controllers and how games recognize their order. Surely
there should be a way to edit the registry to fix or reset the id's that
directinput gives?


Ultimately in the games it's just an aesthetic issue, but it's kind of a
matter of principle now..
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
The whole concept is screwed up enough it's easier to just plug in only the
device you want to use and leave the others unplugged.

Between MS's obtuse API's and every game having to "figure it out as best we
can" it's no surprise a lot (if not most) have "issues". Even MS's own games
don't deal with the issue properly, e.g. try FS2004 with couple of
controllers attached, you'll find out what I mean..

For some reason I doubt Vista will improve the situtation given even XP is a
step back from 9x in what a user can do, e.g. 9x at least allows one to
designate 1,2,3 ... rather than just "Preferred".

P.S. little prog to set id#'s as you want, do a google seach for "JoyIDs".

Big Normy said:
Hi, I've been looking through old posts on this issue, and haven't seen
anything lately...

the bottom line is this -

I had a Thrustmaster Dual Power 4 game pad, and bought a Logitech
Rumblepad later - I like the Rumblepad better, and want to consider it
my "first string" controller.

But if I go into say, Nba Live 2005, and go to choose controllers, no
matter what I do, the thrustmaster is on the top of the list, and the
logitech is on the bottom.


All the old posts talk about choosing Preferred device in the control
panel. By running DxDiag, I can see that setting something as the
Preferred Device assigns it Controller ID 0.

But I also see that the order of the Controllers, as recognized by most
games, is the same as the order listed in the game controller control
panel, and is completely unrelated to which device is "controller id 0"
and "preferred device."

For example, I set the logitech as preferred device, and plugged in the
thrustmaster and also a gamepad pro.

In the control panel they are listed as:
Thrustmaster
Logitech
GamePad Pro

dxdiag lists them as:

Thrustmaster - controller id 1
Logitech - controller id 0
GamePad Pro - controller id 2


Obviously there is a separate controller id that is recognized by the
game when ordering controllers, and is recognized by the control panel
when listing controllers in a certain order.


The list could be looked at more like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 0 ("preferred device")
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2


by editing the preferred device, I can change the listed controller ID,
which is completely irrelevant as far as the game is concerned, and the
true controller ID is the same. If I make thrustmaster the preferred,
it would be like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 0(preferred device)
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2

or I could change it to
[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 2
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 0 (preferred)
if I wanted to.


But all this changing has nothing to do with the true way DirectInput
orders the controllers and how games recognize their order. Surely
there should be a way to edit the registry to fix or reset the id's that
directinput gives?


Ultimately in the games it's just an aesthetic issue, but it's kind of a
matter of principle now..
Click to expand...
 
Setting devices as the Preferred device only works for gameport
devices. USB devices don't use controller ID's, they use a different
unique ID given to it by DirectInput. It is up to the game how to
expose these devices once they are enumerated by DirectInput. It is
sometimes possible to open Device Manager and remove the two devices,
then unplug the other devices leaving the preferred device and then
Scan for Hardware changes allowing the system to rediscover the
preferred device. Then plug in the others. This however isn't
guaranteed to work in getting one device to be discovered before the
other.
Click to expand...

Ok, that makes sense. So does anyone know how to change the default order
that DirectInput changes enumerates the IDs? Because it seems obvious that
DirectInput decided that the Thrustmaster has seniority and should always
be assigned top rank; I would think that information would be in the
registry somewhere.

Removing them through the device manager was something i wanted to try, but
it says they can't be removed through the device manager.
 
Thank goodness I finally found someone with the same problem! This has been
extremely frustrating and I feel your pain. All I can say is e-mail any and
every company you can think of that might have some kind of clue about the
problem (especially Mocrosoft) and hopefully the problem will be fixed
(wishful thinking?). The following is what I have sent to Microsoft, Dell,
Belkin (Nostromo speed pad), Saitek and Ch products.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
OK here goes.

-I have a saitekX52 joystick, CH Pro rudder pedals and a nostromo N52
speedpad (all USB). I am using Windows XP (2 Dell computers- 1 home and 1
professional [XP service pack 2]). The controller which I want to be
controller ID # 1 is of course the joystick, but it is seen as controller ID
# 0 in directX (version 9.0c).

-I am able to map it how I want it in the game I play the most (World War II
online) because this game has the ability to recognize multiple joysticks.
(the game sees the joystick as joystick 3 not 0) But if I have to reinstall
the game for whatever reason or put it on another computer, I have to go
through the mapping process again. This wouldn't be a big deal if this was
the only game I played.

-In a few other games I have played, the joystick is not recognized unless I
unplug the speedpad and rudder pedals (which I do not want to do). These
games only recognize the controller which is seen as controller id # 1 at
that particular time. I have tried using the advanced button in the control
panel > game controllers window and setting the joystick I want to use
(preferred device for older programs), but THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!! When I
run dxdiag the joystick controller id is 0 (seen in World War II online as
joystick 3) the rudder pedals' controller id is 2 (joystick 2) and the
nostromo is id 1 (joystick 1) if I unplug the nostromo, the rudder pedals are
seen as joystick 1 and my joystick is seen as 2.

-I want to set up the controllers how I want them, NOT how directX sees
them. I do know that you could modify controller ids in windows 98, but XP
does not seem to give you this option. In the seemingly countless hours I
have searched the web looking for a solution, I have found similar questions
but no satisfactory answer.

-I have tried unplugging and re-plugging them in different orders to see if
directX would reassign different id’s but this did not work.

-So the only way I can use my joystick with games that don't recognize more
than 1 controller is to unplug the pedals and nostromo (which I do not want
to do). I thought that I might need to reinstall the operating system, but
the same thing happens on my new computer. (XP professional) I know that the
preferred device thing should fix everything but I would just like to know if
it is possible to modify the controller id's (hopefully easily) in windows XP.


Thank you,
JG
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
-Microsoft told me to contact Dell or use their fee based help.
-Dell told me that they support only Dell hardware not software issues but
they would also be glad to take my money for a fee based phone call.
-CH Products said that XP does not allow you to change controller id's PERIOD!
-Belkin said that the prefered user device option was the only thing that
they knew of.
and I am still waiting for a response from Saitek
(I have sent Microsoft and Dell each an e-mail asking: if my issue is not
resolved, will I still be charged for the phone calls)
So like I said before, email everybody and maybe microsoft will fix their
poor controller programing.



pjp said:
The whole concept is screwed up enough it's easier to just plug in only the
device you want to use and leave the others unplugged.

Between MS's obtuse API's and every game having to "figure it out as best we
can" it's no surprise a lot (if not most) have "issues". Even MS's own games
don't deal with the issue properly, e.g. try FS2004 with couple of
controllers attached, you'll find out what I mean..

For some reason I doubt Vista will improve the situtation given even XP is a
step back from 9x in what a user can do, e.g. 9x at least allows one to
designate 1,2,3 ... rather than just "Preferred".

P.S. little prog to set id#'s as you want, do a google seach for "JoyIDs".

Big Normy said:
Hi, I've been looking through old posts on this issue, and haven't seen
anything lately...

the bottom line is this -

I had a Thrustmaster Dual Power 4 game pad, and bought a Logitech
Rumblepad later - I like the Rumblepad better, and want to consider it
my "first string" controller.

But if I go into say, Nba Live 2005, and go to choose controllers, no
matter what I do, the thrustmaster is on the top of the list, and the
logitech is on the bottom.


All the old posts talk about choosing Preferred device in the control
panel. By running DxDiag, I can see that setting something as the
Preferred Device assigns it Controller ID 0.

But I also see that the order of the Controllers, as recognized by most
games, is the same as the order listed in the game controller control
panel, and is completely unrelated to which device is "controller id 0"
and "preferred device."

For example, I set the logitech as preferred device, and plugged in the
thrustmaster and also a gamepad pro.

In the control panel they are listed as:
Thrustmaster
Logitech
GamePad Pro

dxdiag lists them as:

Thrustmaster - controller id 1
Logitech - controller id 0
GamePad Pro - controller id 2


Obviously there is a separate controller id that is recognized by the
game when ordering controllers, and is recognized by the control panel
when listing controllers in a certain order.


The list could be looked at more like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 0 ("preferred device")
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2


by editing the preferred device, I can change the listed controller ID,
which is completely irrelevant as far as the game is concerned, and the
true controller ID is the same. If I make thrustmaster the preferred,
it would be like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 0(preferred device)
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2

or I could change it to
[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 2
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 0 (preferred)
if I wanted to.


But all this changing has nothing to do with the true way DirectInput
orders the controllers and how games recognize their order. Surely
there should be a way to edit the registry to fix or reset the id's that
directinput gives?


Ultimately in the games it's just an aesthetic issue, but it's kind of a
matter of principle now..
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Grey said:
Thank goodness I finally found someone with the same problem! This has been
extremely frustrating and I feel your pain. All I can say is e-mail any and
every company you can think of that might have some kind of clue about the
problem (especially Mocrosoft) and hopefully the problem will be fixed
(wishful thinking?). The following is what I have sent to Microsoft, Dell,
Belkin (Nostromo speed pad), Saitek and Ch products.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
OK here goes.

-I have a saitekX52 joystick, CH Pro rudder pedals and a nostromo N52
speedpad (all USB). I am using Windows XP (2 Dell computers- 1 home and 1
professional [XP service pack 2]). The controller which I want to be
controller ID # 1 is of course the joystick, but it is seen as controller ID
# 0 in directX (version 9.0c).

-I am able to map it how I want it in the game I play the most (World War II
online) because this game has the ability to recognize multiple joysticks.
(the game sees the joystick as joystick 3 not 0) But if I have to reinstall
the game for whatever reason or put it on another computer, I have to go
through the mapping process again. This wouldn't be a big deal if this was
the only game I played.

-In a few other games I have played, the joystick is not recognized unless I
unplug the speedpad and rudder pedals (which I do not want to do). These
games only recognize the controller which is seen as controller id # 1 at
that particular time. I have tried using the advanced button in the control
panel > game controllers window and setting the joystick I want to use
(preferred device for older programs), but THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!! When I
run dxdiag the joystick controller id is 0 (seen in World War II online as
joystick 3) the rudder pedals' controller id is 2 (joystick 2) and the
nostromo is id 1 (joystick 1) if I unplug the nostromo, the rudder pedals are
seen as joystick 1 and my joystick is seen as 2.

-I want to set up the controllers how I want them, NOT how directX sees
them. I do know that you could modify controller ids in windows 98, but XP
does not seem to give you this option. In the seemingly countless hours I
have searched the web looking for a solution, I have found similar questions
but no satisfactory answer.

-I have tried unplugging and re-plugging them in different orders to see if
directX would reassign different id's but this did not work.

-So the only way I can use my joystick with games that don't recognize more
than 1 controller is to unplug the pedals and nostromo (which I do not want
to do). I thought that I might need to reinstall the operating system, but
the same thing happens on my new computer. (XP professional) I know that the
preferred device thing should fix everything but I would just like to know if
it is possible to modify the controller id's (hopefully easily) in windows XP.


Thank you,
JG
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
-Microsoft told me to contact Dell or use their fee based help.
-Dell told me that they support only Dell hardware not software issues but
they would also be glad to take my money for a fee based phone call.
-CH Products said that XP does not allow you to change controller id's PERIOD!
-Belkin said that the prefered user device option was the only thing that
they knew of.
and I am still waiting for a response from Saitek
(I have sent Microsoft and Dell each an e-mail asking: if my issue is not
resolved, will I still be charged for the phone calls)
So like I said before, email everybody and maybe microsoft will fix their
poor controller programing.



pjp said:
The whole concept is screwed up enough it's easier to just plug in only the
device you want to use and leave the others unplugged.

Between MS's obtuse API's and every game having to "figure it out as best we
can" it's no surprise a lot (if not most) have "issues". Even MS's own games
don't deal with the issue properly, e.g. try FS2004 with couple of
controllers attached, you'll find out what I mean..

For some reason I doubt Vista will improve the situtation given even XP is a
step back from 9x in what a user can do, e.g. 9x at least allows one to
designate 1,2,3 ... rather than just "Preferred".

P.S. little prog to set id#'s as you want, do a google seach for "JoyIDs".

Big Normy said:
Hi, I've been looking through old posts on this issue, and haven't seen
anything lately...

the bottom line is this -

I had a Thrustmaster Dual Power 4 game pad, and bought a Logitech
Rumblepad later - I like the Rumblepad better, and want to consider it
my "first string" controller.

But if I go into say, Nba Live 2005, and go to choose controllers, no
matter what I do, the thrustmaster is on the top of the list, and the
logitech is on the bottom.


All the old posts talk about choosing Preferred device in the control
panel. By running DxDiag, I can see that setting something as the
Preferred Device assigns it Controller ID 0.

But I also see that the order of the Controllers, as recognized by most
games, is the same as the order listed in the game controller control
panel, and is completely unrelated to which device is "controller id 0"
and "preferred device."

For example, I set the logitech as preferred device, and plugged in the
thrustmaster and also a gamepad pro.

In the control panel they are listed as:
Thrustmaster
Logitech
GamePad Pro

dxdiag lists them as:

Thrustmaster - controller id 1
Logitech - controller id 0
GamePad Pro - controller id 2


Obviously there is a separate controller id that is recognized by the
game when ordering controllers, and is recognized by the control panel
when listing controllers in a certain order.


The list could be looked at more like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 0 ("preferred device")
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2


by editing the preferred device, I can change the listed controller ID,
which is completely irrelevant as far as the game is concerned, and the
true controller ID is the same. If I make thrustmaster the preferred,
it would be like this -

[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 0(preferred device)
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2

or I could change it to
[True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
[True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 2
[True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 0 (preferred)
if I wanted to.


But all this changing has nothing to do with the true way DirectInput
orders the controllers and how games recognize their order. Surely
there should be a way to edit the registry to fix or reset the id's that
directinput gives?


Ultimately in the games it's just an aesthetic issue, but it's kind of a
matter of principle now..
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi klaas. prins,

If you're having a problem with your game controller please post
here or in a seperate thread and we'll be happy to help you. :-)


--
Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Visit my MSN Zone.com and Gaming Help Site: http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits
MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________



klaas. prins Wrote:
=================
| "Grey" <[email protected]> schreef in bericht
| || Thank goodness I finally found someone with the same problem! This has been
|| extremely frustrating and I feel your pain. All I can say is e-mail any and
|| every company you can think of that might have some kind of clue about the
|| problem (especially Mocrosoft) and hopefully the problem will be fixed
|| (wishful thinking?). The following is what I have sent to Microsoft, Dell,
|| Belkin (Nostromo speed pad), Saitek and Ch products.
|| XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
|| OK here goes.
||
|| -I have a saitekX52 joystick, CH Pro rudder pedals and a nostromo N52
|| speedpad (all USB). I am using Windows XP (2 Dell computers- 1 home and 1
|| professional [XP service pack 2]). The controller which I want to be
|| controller ID # 1 is of course the joystick, but it is seen as controller ID
|| # 0 in directX (version 9.0c).
||
|| -I am able to map it how I want it in the game I play the most (World War II
|| online) because this game has the ability to recognize multiple joysticks.
|| (the game sees the joystick as joystick 3 not 0) But if I have to reinstall
|| the game for whatever reason or put it on another computer, I have to go
|| through the mapping process again. This wouldn't be a big deal if this was
|| the only game I played.
||
|| -In a few other games I have played, the joystick is not recognized unless I
|| unplug the speedpad and rudder pedals (which I do not want to do). These
|| games only recognize the controller which is seen as controller id # 1 at
|| that particular time. I have tried using the advanced button in the control
|| panel > game controllers window and setting the joystick I want to use
|| (preferred device for older programs), but THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!! When I
|| run dxdiag the joystick controller id is 0 (seen in World War II online as
|| joystick 3) the rudder pedals' controller id is 2 (joystick 2) and the
|| nostromo is id 1 (joystick 1) if I unplug the nostromo, the rudder pedals are
|| seen as joystick 1 and my joystick is seen as 2.
||
|| -I want to set up the controllers how I want them, NOT how directX sees
|| them. I do know that you could modify controller ids in windows 98, but XP
|| does not seem to give you this option. In the seemingly countless hours I
|| have searched the web looking for a solution, I have found similar questions
|| but no satisfactory answer.
||
|| -I have tried unplugging and re-plugging them in different orders to see if
|| directX would reassign different id's but this did not work.
||
|| -So the only way I can use my joystick with games that don't recognize more
|| than 1 controller is to unplug the pedals and nostromo (which I do not want
|| to do). I thought that I might need to reinstall the operating system, but
|| the same thing happens on my new computer. (XP professional) I know that the
|| preferred device thing should fix everything but I would just like to know if
|| it is possible to modify the controller id's (hopefully easily) in windows XP.
||
||
|| Thank you,
|| JG
|| XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
|| -Microsoft told me to contact Dell or use their fee based help.
|| -Dell told me that they support only Dell hardware not software issues but
|| they would also be glad to take my money for a fee based phone call.
|| -CH Products said that XP does not allow you to change controller id's PERIOD!
|| -Belkin said that the prefered user device option was the only thing that
|| they knew of.
|| and I am still waiting for a response from Saitek
|| (I have sent Microsoft and Dell each an e-mail asking: if my issue is not
|| resolved, will I still be charged for the phone calls)
|| So like I said before, email everybody and maybe microsoft will fix their
|| poor controller programing.
||
||
||
|| "pjp" wrote:
||
||| The whole concept is screwed up enough it's easier to just plug in only the
||| device you want to use and leave the others unplugged.
|||
||| Between MS's obtuse API's and every game having to "figure it out as best we
||| can" it's no surprise a lot (if not most) have "issues". Even MS's own games
||| don't deal with the issue properly, e.g. try FS2004 with couple of
||| controllers attached, you'll find out what I mean..
|||
||| For some reason I doubt Vista will improve the situtation given even XP is a
||| step back from 9x in what a user can do, e.g. 9x at least allows one to
||| designate 1,2,3 ... rather than just "Preferred".
|||
||| P.S. little prog to set id#'s as you want, do a google seach for "JoyIDs".
|||
||| |||| Hi, I've been looking through old posts on this issue, and haven't seen
|||| anything lately...
||||
|||| the bottom line is this -
||||
|||| I had a Thrustmaster Dual Power 4 game pad, and bought a Logitech
|||| Rumblepad later - I like the Rumblepad better, and want to consider it
|||| my "first string" controller.
||||
|||| But if I go into say, Nba Live 2005, and go to choose controllers, no
|||| matter what I do, the thrustmaster is on the top of the list, and the
|||| logitech is on the bottom.
||||
||||
|||| All the old posts talk about choosing Preferred device in the control
|||| panel. By running DxDiag, I can see that setting something as the
|||| Preferred Device assigns it Controller ID 0.
||||
|||| But I also see that the order of the Controllers, as recognized by most
|||| games, is the same as the order listed in the game controller control
|||| panel, and is completely unrelated to which device is "controller id 0"
|||| and "preferred device."
||||
|||| For example, I set the logitech as preferred device, and plugged in the
|||| thrustmaster and also a gamepad pro.
||||
|||| In the control panel they are listed as:
|||| Thrustmaster
|||| Logitech
|||| GamePad Pro
||||
|||| dxdiag lists them as:
||||
|||| Thrustmaster - controller id 1
|||| Logitech - controller id 0
|||| GamePad Pro - controller id 2
||||
||||
|||| Obviously there is a separate controller id that is recognized by the
|||| game when ordering controllers, and is recognized by the control panel
|||| when listing controllers in a certain order.
||||
||||
|||| The list could be looked at more like this -
||||
|||| [True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
|||| [True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 0 ("preferred device")
|||| [True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2
||||
||||
|||| by editing the preferred device, I can change the listed controller ID,
|||| which is completely irrelevant as far as the game is concerned, and the
|||| true controller ID is the same. If I make thrustmaster the preferred,
|||| it would be like this -
||||
|||| [True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 0(preferred device)
|||| [True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 1
|||| [True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2
||||
|||| or I could change it to
|||| [True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
|||| [True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 2
|||| [True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 0 (preferred)
|||| if I wanted to.
||||
||||
|||| But all this changing has nothing to do with the true way DirectInput
|||| orders the controllers and how games recognize their order. Surely
|||| there should be a way to edit the registry to fix or reset the id's that
|||| directinput gives?
||||
||||
|||| Ultimately in the games it's just an aesthetic issue, but it's kind of a
|||| matter of principle now..
 
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