[EM 2.788] Random control loss with Sidewinder 2 (Windows 7) *FIXED*

[picommander]

Occasionally my sidewinder ff2 loses random controls, most of the time when this happens, only throttle control is affected. Never any other axes or buttons alone. Sometimes (rarely) he loses control completely and - also rarely - he loses his "electro coils", the 2 motors inside that are responsible for feedback stuff and the centering of the stick (strange enough in the latter case he suddenly activates feedback forces for firing my main cannon, otherwise in normal use I don't get any ff-effects in EM). In either cases I need to reload the game, re-plugging (it's an USB-stick) usually doesn't help.

There are no external drivers available for this stick anymore, at least not for Windows 7, but it's supported by windows' own drivers and well recognized. Support is very basic though, no tuning of the feedback forces possible for instance but calibrating (which is pretty much nonsense since the ff2 is a digital stick). EM is the first game where I use this stick again, last time I remember was in Windows 98 and never got any problems. So it's probably a Windows 7 issue, I really don't know.

Something I found slightly suspicious though is on the controller page of EM and the check boxes on the right (for toggling directions): there is usually only one single box for all axes but for the throttle there is a second one here for "afterburner". Kind of confusing, is this meant to be this way (and why)?

[Edited on 21-3-2014 by picommander]

[Vice]

It's probably some kind of defect or driver flaw with the device. It's also possible that you have a loose/damaged connection that is intermittently losing part of the signal and can't restore it until after a restart. I'd suggest trying different USB ports on your system to see if the behavior changes at all.

The afterburner option next to throttle control in the configuration menu lets you activate the afterburner on the axis control itself directly, rather than having to use a separate key or button to engage it. It's an option for throttle axis control.

[picommander]

Thanks for the advice vice (no pun intended ), seems you've got me onto the right track: Has nothing to do with windows or EM, fortunately also not with some hardware issues. Apparently it was a certain BIOS (Asus) switch: "Support for antiquated USB" that I had switched to off (now to auto) since I had no older hardware on my USB ports - since recently. If anything of my devices earns the title "antiquated" then it's my good old FF2. If that wasn't the cause it probably was "EHCI Hand-off" that I also switched from off to on, though I doubt this (I'll take it back, further testing will show).

I'm so glad I can keep this old stick, I love it! As if to celebrate this I finally succeeded in the C.I.M. Mission while testing (killed him twice, dunno why, script failure?). Before that I already persuaded my wife into an approval for a new stick (the quick and dirty method: "how much will it possibly cost, darling?" "oh, a good stick can easily (cool face at this point) be up to 500 € (pale face on the other side at this point)" and then, after a short dramatic pause: "but no, I found one (the X52) it's only around 100, not so bad eh?" but keeping the old one is still the better solution!

[Vice]

Great, glad you were able to pin down the cause and find a solution. Thanks for the follow up.

[picommander]

Just for the sake of completeness: My first guess already was the bullseye:
"EHCI Hand-off" needs to be ON as well (in BIOS, tested this with OFF and lost the stick in the next 30 minutes).
It's running now without any issues for several hours.

For google searchers: it's all about Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 in Windows 7 on ASUS board and BIOS.