Axis disappears from a device on start-up.

[Termanater13]

Axis disappears from a device on start-up. I had a similar issue with Whitemagic's joystick gremlin, that issue closed. They have not released an official update yet. I will say solving it is a bit easier as the load order of the devices played a part in that issue. I solved that issue by swapping the dill.dll v1.1 in his install with his dill.dll v1.3, which solved it permanently but had a few side effects that rarely popped up.

Issue is present in 13.49.14(m22) and 13.40.15(m1)

I will note that when I swap versions, the missing axes remain on that version. When I close and restart that version, they will be gone at start-up. Then, when I swap back to the other version, they are back at start-up.

I noticed that the dill.dll used in this version is 1.4 and must be from someone else, as coping mechanisms cause the program to crash.

The current solution is to start joystick gremlin and power on the affected device.

Devices connected VKBsim Gladiator EVO L VKBsim Gladiator EVO R Moza R5 Base (affected device, same device with the issue as the linked issue) Xbox controller

Attached dill.dll debugs from each version: dill_debug_13_40_14_m22.txt dill_debug_13_40_15_m1.txt

[muchimi]

Thanks for posting. dill.dll for GremlinEx is not the same as the original Gremlin, so it will cause a crash because of incompatible DLLs.

Can you please include your system.log log file as that will show, in verbose mode in options (check verbose + joystick verbose in options) - that will show what GremlinEx detected as far as devices g, and what else may be going on in terms of the detections such as a device going offline and backonline.

There are multiple reasons for a device to disappear after a bit - here are some ideas while we see what the log file reports. All the items below have happened to me - I'm not suggesting this may be happening here but symptom wise - looks pretty similar:

• the device ID changes at runtime (in which case is would go away and re-appear but the profile would discard it because the profile looks for a specific ID - ID is defined in the hardware - GremlinEx doesn't do anything with hardware IDs for game controllers or joysticks)
• the USB device goes to sleep due to a power setting (solution - tell the OS to stop powering off the USB devices in device manager, noting that the ridiculous behavior is Microsoft resets that setting if you unplug / plug the device back in)
• the USB device is connected to a USB hub that delivers insufficient power - this strip didn't like my G29 or my older Thrustmaster stick
• the USB device cable is too long (solution: use a booster cable or shorten the cable to under 5' or 1.5m)
• could be a driver issue (ask me how I know - Arduino and Rasberry Pico)
• coding error for some weird fluke (the log file should tell us that hopefully)

Note: USB hub power and cabling issues can usually be ruled out by plugging the device directly into the computer and see if the issue persists. The reason is the computer will deliver spec power. It's also how I learned my old CHProducts hardware wasn't drawing USB spec power (it was pulling more) and needed a very beefy hub. Lots of hubs aren't able to provide full amps to all ports concurrently and sometimes you get a device that draws more than spec, the older ones usually, and that causes problems.

Hopefully one of the above helps!

[muchimi]

One more question: is the hardware swappable - meaning - could it report different axes/buttons after GremlinEx starts?

[Termanater13]

The axes are not changing. They are not showing when joystic gremlin starts up. The only way I can swap out the device is to power cycle the moza wheel, and unplug and plug back in the VKB joysticks. The moza base reports all necessary buttons, axes, and hats needed for pedals and all compatible steering wheels. Attachable steering wheels and peddles don't change what is reported. Other accessories might but I don't have them. I'll submit the log next time I'm at my computer.

[Termanater13]

I got 3 logs. The verbose logs started to throw errors when I power-cycled the Moza r5 base. I also see a lot of spam from the X-Axis from the Moza wheel. It threw an error when I powered off the base, and then when I powered it back on, it threw another error that crashed. I had to edit the config.json to edit verbose to false to keep it from crashing on start-up. Errors were caught in the log.

This is verbose from startup. The z-axis is not showing in the window, but it is visible in MJoza Pit House software and Windows. could not confirm if Z-axis came back due to the crash. system - Copy.log

This one is the crash on start-up. (this one could be considered a different issue.) system-crash on start up.log

Other verbose all, this one is verbose and just joystick. Does not crash. when power cycling the moza base. This one Z-axis is not shown but comes back when power-cycled. system -no crash.log

The VKBs are connected via a USB hub that is powered externally. The Moza r5 base has its own power supply. Only the Moza is directly connected to the PC via a front panel USB port. This setup is only giving me problems with Joystick gremlin.

[muchimi]

Wanted to touch base on this as I've added a bit more verbose output code as to what is enumerated from the direct input layer, and there was a bug fix on the enumeration of devices in the first place that was causing some devices to not be recorded because they were excluded.

I hope this will help with this issue.

One more thing if you could. Assuming that you have HID device hiding disabled, can you see the Z axis in the applet joy.cpl when you call up the device and screenshot that please so I know what Windows is seeing in terms of the sequencing of the axis.

The latest pre-release code base is 13.40.15ex m4 and has the various hotfixes - that is the code that has the additional verbos mode enumeration information.

[muchimi]

Marking this resolved pending additional info.