I guess I'm just a lucky one, as I have FSX on a WIN8 system, and since I've configured my controls with FSUIPC I've had no problems.  I also fly the PMDG 737NGX series with FSUIPC controlling my yoke and pedals.  Still no problems.

 

I'm with Doug Miannay by saying I don't understand all of this either, but for sure, FSUIPC is working for me.  Hope everyone gets it figured out.

 

 

Happy flyin' to all...........Rod

I deleted my original post content... turns our Microsoft Compatibility Center website shows FSX as 100% compatible with Windows 8.0, so showing 100% compatibility with Windows 8.1 is likely meaningless with regard to the joystick problem.  Bummer. 

 

While the FSUIPC tweaks appear to work for many folks, it still feels somewhat like a hack, and furthermore is not "encouraged" by PMDG for their products.  I don't claim to understand all this, but seems to me the surefire fix is to go back to Windows 7 (or earlier).  Also a bummer :(

 

I don't know how they can say that; I've been reading in other places people have called into MS and got the runaround saying FSX isn't compatible with W8, not to mention several people already have tried to run FSX on win8.1 preview and have said it doesn't work at all (unless 8.1 preview has been fixed since then? I'm less inclined to believe anything until I see the real thing) Microsoft's clock is ticking so fast I might not upgrade to 8.1 at all soon enough.

I think that the 8.1 issues were partially due to the nVidia driver which has since been released.  Anyway the 8.1 build is a preview version and pretty old (May) so I will give the RTM version a try when it is released.

 

Thanks

Anyway the 8.1 build is a preview version and pretty old (May) so I will give the RTM version a try when it is released.

 

Thanks

 

It appears General Availability for Windows 8.1 is October 18.  It will be nice if it's fixed and just works without having to tweak FSUIPC.  Again, not at all opposed to working through FSUIPC, but it just feels like a workaround, which normally represents a less-than 100% solution.  I may be wrong, but we'll see soon enough.

This was probably mentioned above, but I just learned that disabling "pause on task switch" within FSX stops the lost joystick issue when clicking on second monitors. Well, it has for me so far anyway.

Edited to remove post.  Though I discovered a consistent workaround, but it failed after about 3 hours.  Back to the drawing board.

Edited September 5, 201312 yr by dmiannay

This was probably mentioned above, but I just learned that disabling "pause on task switch" within FSX stops the lost joystick issue when clicking on second monitors. Well, it has for me so far anyway.

 

I don't use pause on task switch, and by your statement I'm not supposed to have this problem

 

 

Edited to remove post.  Though I discovered a consistent workaround, but it failed after about 3 hours.  Back to the drawing board.

 

We've been there already sadly as you found out :( this too works for me for awhile and eventually I do have to shut down the sim to get it all back /sigh

 

We've been there already sadly as you found out :( this too works for me for awhile and eventually I do have to shut down the sim to get it all back /sigh

 

I did one other thing that appeared to work well for the last hour of my flight.  It's worth a try anyway  Here are the steps:

 

1. Go to "Devices and Printers"

2. Right-Click on your joystick icon in the "Devices" section and select "Properties"

3. Select the "Hardware" tab in the "Properties" dialogue

4. Double-click the "HID" entry under "Device Options" (a second "Properties" dialogue opens)

5. Leave all these dialogue windows open, then ALT-TAB back to FSX and see if your joystick works again.

 

I left the dialogue windows open for the remainder of my flight and had good results; but must continue testing over a much longer time frame to verify it works consistently.

Edited September 5, 201312 yr by dmiannay

I did one other thing that appeared to work well for the last hour of my flight.  It's worth a try anyway  Here are the steps:

 

1. Go to "Devices and Printers"

2. Right-Click on your joystick icon in the "Devices" section and select "Properties"

3. Select the "Hardware" tab in the "Properties" dialogue

4. Double-click the "HID" entry under "Device Options" (a second "Properties" dialogue opens)

5. Leave all these dialogue windows open, then ALT-TAB back to FSX and see if your joystick works again.

 

I left the dialogue windows open for the remainder of my flight and had good results; but must continue testing over a much longer time frame to verify it works consistently.

 

Bah!  It was all rubbish  

 

I sure do hope Windows 8.1 fixes this issue, but I'm not optimistic.

 

 

Bah!  It was all rubbish  

 

Cheer up, this thread isn't called the Megathread for nothing. The only fix that works for most people is either FSUIPC4 or another app (Linda, Don't Lose your Joystick, FSXAssist) that takes control of the joystick from the sim. And even that approach isn't 100% guaranteed.

Guys,

 

FSX Assist 1.8 is out and it claims to fix the dropout problem. Here is a quote from the change log:  

 

Change Log

    Build 1.08
    1) Chg - Removes the FSX stop sign error message during an FSX crash recovery.
    2) Add - Adds functionality to retain FSX controller connectivity to prevent the infamous Windows 8 controller dropout behavior."

 

Anyone tried this? Cost is $12.95. It might be worth it to get rid of the problem.

Guys,

 

FSX Assist 1.8 is out and it claims to fix the dropout problem. Here is a quote from the change log:

 

Change Log

Build 1.08

1) Chg - Removes the FSX stop sign error message during an FSX crash recovery.

2) Add - Adds functionality to retain FSX controller connectivity to prevent the infamous Windows 8 controller dropout behavior."

 

Anyone tried this? Cost is $12.95. It might be worth it to get rid of the problem.

I may get this program and try it out. I need to do some more research since it seems to launch fsx. I am an avid Air Hauler user and Air Hauler must be the program to launch fsx.

 

 

Guys,

 

FSX Assist 1.8 is out and it claims to fix the dropout problem. Here is a quote from the change log:  

 

Change Log

    Build 1.08

    1) Chg - Removes the FSX stop sign error message during an FSX crash recovery.

    2) Add - Adds functionality to retain FSX controller connectivity to prevent the infamous Windows 8 controller dropout behavior."

 

Anyone tried this? Cost is $12.95. It might be worth it to get rid of the problem.

 

Interesting. I'll wait until some other people can test it and see what results they get before thinking about buying it.

I may get this program and try it out. I need to do some more research since it seems to launch fsx. I am an avid Air Hauler user and Air Hauler must be the program to launch fsx.

It's entirely possible to use Airhauler with any third-party launching program.

 

You must set Airhauler to wait for WideFS to launch, which causes Airhauler to create a .FLT file for your flight. You then use any third-party launching program or launch FSX on your own, and load that flight. When the flight is loaded, you then go back to Airhauler and choose to start monitoring.

 

This is well-documented on the Airhauler Forum, this forum, many other forums, and most importantly of all, in the Airhauler manual.

Interesting. I'll wait until some other people can test it and see what results they get before thinking about buying it.

I've been using FSXAssist for awhile now, and although I am a Windows 8 user, I have not experienced any controller issues while using FSUIPC.

 

As far as FSXAssist is concerned, I use it upon every launch.

 

Here's the features taken from the FSX Assist readme webpage: http://skypilot.biz/home/documents/readme.html

Features

• 1) FSXAssist online help (this page).
• 2) The FSX.exe and FSX.cfg paths. Automatically detected or user selectable. FSX.exe path blinks if FSX is running.
• 3) Buttons to select the FSX.exe or FSX.cfg paths if not auto detected. Either may cause reinitialization if changed.
• 4) Automatic or custom selection of the FSX OS priority.
• 5( Automatic or custom selection of the FSX Affinity Mask.
• 6) Automatic or custom selection of the addon Affinity Mask.
• 7) Binary display of the Affinity Mask settings (red indicates a core overlap between FSX and any addons).
• 8) Automatic or custom selection of addon OS Priority (red indicates a conflict).
• 9) List of the exe.xml and other addon applications. Select one to 1-drag to a different load position, 2-set it to load before or after FSX.exe or 3-remove it.
• 10) Button to add an application.
• 11) Button to remove an addon application. Note: if the application is a registered exe.xml executable it will be marked as DISABLED in the exe.xml file and removed from the addon list.
• 12) Button to set an addon to load before (B) or after (A) FSX. Note a W indicates an exe.xml app that loads with FSX and so it cannot be changed.
• 13) FSXAssist run options. Uncheck the Close On Load option to enable FSX crash detection.
• 14) Button to restore the original FSX configuration settings (saved during FSXAssist initialization).
• 15) FSX configuration persisted settings (changes to these will prompt for an FSX reload if running).
• 16) FSXAssist notification messages.
• 17) Button to run FSXAssist with the current configuration.

I cannot recommend it enough, and the author continues to update it and is a swell guy!

 

Forgot to mention they have a support forum here at AVSIM where you can ask any questions and get information pertaining to the joystick "fix": http://forum.avsim.net/forum/612-the-skypilot-support-forum/

Well I've been using Win8 for a few weeks and have been using it for hours now that the 777 is out. I lose joystick when task switching as you guys have been describing. The way I've been able to enable it is by switching between fullscreen and windowed a few times with Shift+enter.

Sometimes one toggle will do, other time two or three.

Let me know if this works for you.

 

I've also been getting FSX freezes where is reports not responding. Thing is I can still hear it flying, (777) but then view is frozen. If I wait about 10 minutes (becuase I can't quit it, using Alt F4 or the task manager) it comes back and I continue to fly. Both times it has happened I've had the REX wx engine running and 777 (I've only flown the 777 for longer than an hour so far) so I'll try without REX next time. Anyone seen anything similar?