Linda / P3D Lose Joystick on "Save"

[jimspree 0]

Everytime that I create a new mapping / assignment and press "Save", at that exact moment both Linda and P3D lose connection to my joystick and I need to hot plug it. Any ideas of what could be causing this? On the latest version of Linda / P3D / FSUIPC... and a brand new install of all of the above on a fresh Windows 10 setup. Any hints?

[ScotFlieger 280]

Blame Microsoft. I suggest you check your Win10 USB power settings. The latest update has introduced power saving modes than can lead to HID devices (joysticks) becoming disconnected.

Search for Power Options in Control Panel. Make sure you have a high performance option selected, then edit plan settings and click on Change Advanced Power Settings. Under USB Settings set USB Selective Suspend setting to Disabled.

Other options exist by editing the registry but you will need to search for this and such changes are at your risk.

[jimspree 0]

Saw that posted but figured that would rather be a random disconnect. This happens literally every time I hit save. Will give the fix a shot though and report back

[jimspree 0]

Tried the USB power fix and it didn't solve my problem. What is strange is that it only seems to happen to my CH Throttle. My Saitek Yoke doesn't get disconnected at the same time... and it definitely happens immediately when hitting Save in LINDA... So I still suspect this is a software bug. Any other suggestions or ways that I can debug?

[ScotFlieger 280]

Please follow the procedure in the pinned bug reporting thread and send me a copy of the fsuipc4.log and linda2.log. This will allow be to better see what may be going wrong. 

[jimspree 0]

Hi Scot,

Ok, I went through the repro steps, although this time, I found that before I could even do anything in LINDA, the throttle would be disconnected. Essentially I start the sim, and while LINDA is starting up the throttle works. As soon as LINDA finishes loading the joystick no longer works. I'm testing by using axis feedback (the rudder)... so I can see the pedals responding to the axis input while Linda is loading, as soon as it loads the devices stops working and inputs are not recieved by LINDA nor P3D.

V2.9.3 (496)
FSX Default
P3D V3.4.2.2.19868
F-22 Raptor (Defualt P3d)
FSUIPC 4.966c

The logs are here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6r9tbwpqgtxuhn/Logs.zip?dl=0

[ScotFlieger 280]

Thank you for the logs. I will examine them once I can get to my computer. 

If you have device axes disconnecting from Windows, this has nothing to do with LINDA. Have you used LINDA before without this problem? I suggest you try your set up using only FSUIPC4 for both axes and buttons and without LINDA. 

[jimspree 0]

Sure, that makes sense, what is strange is that the startup in LINDA invokes this disconnection and also continues to cause it when triggering the Save command. I'm only a novice C++ developer, but there seems to be some correlation there.

I've used LINDA before without problems, but on FSX, on Windows 7 and on an older version of LINDA. 

I just did an 2 hour flight... and found no disconnects or issues when only directly mapping to P3D. Didn't try FSUIPC button mappings though, but will next time.

[jimspree 0]

Hi Andrew, 

Did you ever look at the logs? I definitely suspect that LINDA is somehow involved in this bug. I also found that when I hit "Reload LUA Engine" that the axis will start working for a split second (while the engine is shut down), then when the LUA engine is restarted, the axis is again not working.

Jim

[ScotFlieger 280]

Hi Jim

I did and have again looked at the log files you sent. There is nothing I can see that is wrong with the start up and closure of LINDA except that no activity is recorded between these 2 events. The Raptor is registered correctly as a FSX Default aircraft. As it has been months since your report on 21 Apr I had assumed that the problem was resolved.

LINDA does not handle any axes so reload the LUA engine should have no effect. There is an issue with Win10 USB power management that can cause devices to disconnect. Are you hearing the USB connect/disconnect chimes? Are the stick buttons being recognised by LINDA (on Joystick page)? If so try using the control panel to disable USB power management.

[KLM149 1]

@Jim:: Look here for power mgt solution. It should have been solved by Windows Update. However ... 
 https://flightsimeindhoven.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/usb-disconnects/

[jimspree 0]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for writing back to me. I think I resolved the issue. The problem was only with my CH throttle in the end. The joystick was not getting disconnected. I kind of gave up on LINDA and then just now came back to debugging.

What I did was install the Command Center drivers for the CH Throttle and put it out of "DIRECT" mode. I didn't want to initially install the drivers, because what is the point of having middleware on top of middleware (Joystick->CH Middleware->LINDA->FSUIPC->P3D)... and the manual said that the driver was optional. After installing the driver, LINDA connects directly to the "CH Product" and not to the joystick, neither does P3D.

While I don't have a deep understanding of HID firmware and how you can influence the generic drivers for joysticks, but it seems like this device only allows one client per driver. In other words who ever grabs the joystick first, has control of the port until it gets released. This could make sense to avoid double inputs to a game that doesn't support detailed mapping, when used with the middleware that CH provides... So the middleware probably grabs the joystick after the OS boots. But, if there is no middleware then it's totally up to the discretion of which app grabs it.

Whereas the middleware driver seems to allow several apps to access it at once. So as soon as I installed it, everyone was happy (P3D / LINDA). Does that make sense? At least that is my hypothesis.

Thanks again! Hopefully this helps somebody in the future.

Jim

[ScotFlieger 280]

Thank you for the update and that you have a working solution. There are several devices that use drivers/middleware. It suggests that CH software provides a better driver than Microsoft. Although LINDA requires FSUIPC to work via IPC, it handles device inputs directly from Windows.