Phantom Xbox Controllers on Startup

[fennelda]

Hi there,

I'm struggling with an issue that I see has come up numerous times in the past, and I wonder if there's a solution? If I start FSUIPC before launching MSFS, it detects my 3 controllers perfectly, as seen in the JoyScan.csv file. However, if I let FSUIPC launch with MSFS, I get 3 extra phantom Xbox controllers added, which all seem to copy the GUID of one of my real controllers (see attached file).

When this happens, one of my controllers appears missing when MSFS finally launches since the [JoyNames] section is messed up. Curiously, if I then close FSUIPC and launch it again, the JoyScan.csv file confirms that only my three controllers exist again, and the FSUIPC7.ini [JoyNames] section rebuilds itself without issue. Does MSFS somehow "create" artificial controllers during the startup sequence which FSUIPC is detecting?

Any advice much appreciated!

David.

FSUIPC7.JoyScan.csv

[John Dowson]

14 hours ago, fennelda said:

I'm struggling with an issue that I see has come up numerous times in the past, and I wonder if there's a solution? If I start FSUIPC before launching MSFS, it detects my 3 controllers perfectly, as seen in the JoyScan.csv file. However, if I let FSUIPC launch with MSFS, I get 3 extra phantom Xbox controllers added, which all seem to copy the GUID of one of my real controllers (see attached file).

That is interesting! I also used to have the phantom xbox controllers issue but I haven't seen this for a while. I will need to go over the old posts on this subject to refresh my memory...

However, if it is due to FSUIPC7 trying to connect when MSFS is starting-up which is seems like, then could you please try with the latest version of fSUIPC7, 7.4.11. With this version, please tune the DetectToConnectDelayAuto parameter, as described here: 

Once you have done that, please try again and see if these phantom controllers have disappeared, If not, try increasing the , DetectToConnectDelayAuto parameter again by 5 (seconds) each time, to see if you can arrive at a value where these controllers disapear.

John

[fennelda]

Hi John,

Thanks for your help - I have done as you have suggested but it doesn't help. It would appear that the detection of the controllers is done before the attempts to connect via simconnect, at the moment when FSUIPC is launched by the sim, so delaying the simconnect request makes no difference.

I can "solve" this problem by removing FSUIPC from the exe.xml file and launching it separately from the sim, either before or after MSFS has loaded. If there's nothing you can do, I might create a batch file which launches FSUIPC and then MSFS instead of the exe.xml method, but it's not really an ideal solution! Is there any way to encourage HidScanner (or whichever method you use to poll the controllers on the system) to "ignore" these phantom controllers? Or maybe even to delay the controller detection until later in the startup process?

Edit: I've attached the relevant files below, in the hope that they reveal something important! This is what happens when I leave FSUIPC to launch with the sim. If I then close FSUIPC from the taskbar and relaunch it, the FSUIPC7.ini will "heal" itself, however the [JoyNames] "A" controller sticks around - doesn't cause an issue though!

FSUIPC7.ini FSUIPC7.log FSUIPC7.JoyScan.csv

[John Dowson]

9 hours ago, fennelda said:

Thanks for your help - I have done as you have suggested but it doesn't help. It would appear that the detection of the controllers is done before the attempts to connect via simconnect, at the moment when FSUIPC is launched by the sim, so delaying the simconnect request makes no difference.

Yes of course - I should have realized that, sorry.

9 hours ago, fennelda said:

I might create a batch file which launches FSUIPC and then MSFS instead of the exe.xml method, but it's not really an ideal solution!

You can use the MSFS.bat file for this. This was the old way that FSUIPC7 was started, and there shou;d still be lines in that file to start FSUIPC7 although they will be commented-out. You can uncomment them and move them to before the start of MSFS.

Maybe this is a Steam issue... Could you check your Steam Controller settings - what does that look like? All my settings are off, except for Guide button focuses Steam, and I do not have the Xbox Extended feature Support Driver installed.

Please check that, and I will review your files and check the other posts on this issue to refresh my memory. Quite busy at the moment so it may take a few days before I get a chance to look into this again.

John

[fennelda]

Thanks for the Steam suggestion - I have the same Steam settings as you but after a bit of experimentation I am convinced that it is Steam creating this problem. As well as your suggestions, I also right-clicked on MSFS in the games list, clicked Properties, Controller and then selected "Disable Steam Input". I really felt this was going to work, however I still have the ghost controllers - but I now only have two, not three!

I believe the problem is that in the latest versions of Steam client, Steam Controller support can not be disabled completely. Indeed, in the Controller menu mentioned above, it states that Steam Controller and Remote Play are "Enabled, always required", and from a brief search online it seems impossible to change this setting.

Interestingly, the positions of the "virtual" controllers in the FSUIPC7.JoyScan.csv file seem to determine whether these controllers cause an issue or not. I still now have two phantom controllers in my list, however since they are the top two entries in the list, they do not mess up my FSUIPC7.ini [JoyNames] section.

Thanks for your help John, and no pressure at all - it's not a game-breaking issue, just a slight annoyance!

[John Dowson]

52 minutes ago, fennelda said:

As well as your suggestions, I also right-clicked on MSFS in the games list, clicked Properties, Controller and then selected "Disable Steam Input". I really felt this was going to work, however I still have the ghost controllers - but I now only have two, not three!

Mine is set to Use default settings and I don't have this issue. I have experienced this issue before, but I can't remember what I did, if anything, to stop this.

54 minutes ago, fennelda said:

I believe the problem is that in the latest versions of Steam client, Steam Controller support can not be disabled completely. Indeed, in the Controller menu mentioned above, it states that Steam Controller and Remote Play are "Enabled, always required", and from a brief search online it seems impossible to change this setting.

I also think this is caused by Steam - I will raise a support request with them.

55 minutes ago, fennelda said:

Interestingly, the positions of the "virtual" controllers in the FSUIPC7.JoyScan.csv file seem to determine whether these controllers cause an issue or not. I still now have two phantom controllers in my list, however since they are the top two entries in the list, they do not mess up my FSUIPC7.ini [JoyNames] section.

Ok, that's good as at least your controllers are recognised and acquired correctly. Could you attach a joyscan.csv file for this please. It would also be useful to see a joyscan.csv file from when you start FSUIPC7 without MSFS running, when these phantom entries do not appear. I can then use this to show the difference to Steam support.

Thanks,

John

[fennelda]

6 hours ago, John Dowson said:

Ok, that's good as at least your controllers are recognised and acquired correctly.

I spoke too soon - all three ghost controllers are now showing up again, without any change on my part! And my [JoyNames] section is corrupted again.

6 hours ago, John Dowson said:

Could you attach a joyscan.csv file for this please. It would also be useful to see a joyscan.csv file from when you start FSUIPC7 without MSFS running, when these phantom entries do not appear. I can then use this to show the difference to Steam support.

Of course - I've attached them to this post.

• MSFSNotRunning: Before MSFS is started
• StartWithMSFS: FSUIPC starts with MSFS from exe.xml
• MSFSRunning: Exit FSUIPC from task bar and restart it, without shutting down MSFS

FSUIPC7.JoyScan_MSFSRunning.csv FSUIPC7.JoyScan_StartWithMSFS.csv FSUIPC7.JoyScan_MSFSNotRunning.csv

[John Dowson]

6 minutes ago, fennelda said:

I spoke too soon - all three ghost controllers are now showing up again, without any change on my part! And my [JoyNames] section is corrupted again.

Ok, so probably related to the timing, i.e. what Steam/MSFS is doing when FSUIPC is scanning the registry.

I will report this to both Steam and MSFS and see what they say...

Thanks for the files. Cheers,

John

[John Dowson]

I have added a new ini parameter that goes in the [JoyNames] section that will allow you to ignore a device, which hopefully should help with this issue.
I have attached a beta release below if you could try it. To use this to ignore the phantom Xbox controller, add
    IgnoreDevice=0x28DE,0x11FF
to your [JoyNames] section.

I have only added this to the HID scanning which should be sufficient, but if there are still issues I can look into ignoring in the reg scanning as well.

FSUIPC7.exe

 

John

 

 

[fennelda]

Hi John, just tried that out and it works perfectly! I can see in the log that the phantom controllers are being ignored. Thank you!