Joystick x52 Pro Axis 8 not recognized by EM

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:49 am

Well, I've been at it for hours.... Had my setup just right, everything working perfectly...yesterday. Today, for some unknown reason, EM stopped seeing an input from axis 8 on my three-day old Saitek x52 Pro.

The Saitek Controller Driver 'test' tab shows perfect range and response from axis 8 (Saitek calls it 'Y Rotation' - it's the rotary control on top of the throttle surrounding the 'E' button. But EM does not see it at all. All of the other axes are detected by EM, no problem. I want to reinterate - yesterday Axis 8 worked fine in EM. Today - nothing (but only in EM). I'm stumped. I have step-by-step removed and reloaded the Saitek driver at least 10 times (Vista 64-bit, latest version - I grabbed a copy two hours ago from their website to double check. I am not running their 'Smart' software.

I did try the new 1448 EM build (I had 1428), but switched back thinking that may have been part of the issue. I also thought maybe my Logictech G13 gamepad may be it, so I removed and uninstalled it as well. No difference.

The only other possible change I can think of is a Windows Update???

Has anyone ever run across this issue, and what is the fix?

Post by **Vice** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:59 am

Axis 8 is working fine here for me (I use it for energy control), so I'm not sure what the cause might be. Have you tried switching device inputs at the top of the configure controls menu just to see if it gets picks up on a different device ID?

Dingo · Post by **Dingo** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:20 am

axis 8 on x52 pro works for me too

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:24 am

Good Morning, Vice -

It was working fine for me, too - yesterday. Now, selecting 'Configure Controls' in EM brings up the slider bars, and you can see the responses of the various axes. I see nothing from axis 8, regardless of the function assigned, or no function. The rest are all there, of course. (I was using it as a steady horizontal strafe - makes cleaning those arrays a breeze).

Anyway, running the axis control configuration doesn't help - there is no movement on the slider during the 'test joystick'... just dead.

I saw via a search you had a little stand-alone basic routine to check joystick response. I don't suppose you have a similar tool for Axis 8?

What gets me is external to EM everything I can try tells me the blasted thing is working fine.

Post by **Vice** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:31 am

Could be something went quirky with the device as that's about the only explanation I can think of. But that kind of sudden split behavior after nothing has changed isn't really explainable, haven't run into that before that I can recall.

By the device input ID in the configure controls menu, I meant have you tried swapping the device ID's using the arrows at the top of the menu to see if the axis input responds on a different device ID?

Edit: Forgot to answer the question about the test program. The test program uses the same input system as the game, so it would provide the same results.

[Edited on 6-18-2011 by Vice]

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:34 am

Good idea - didn't think of that - will try it in a few minutes. Just remembered the worthless Saitek Driver CD had a demo of flight sin x on it. Am loading it now, to see if Axis 8 wants to play in a different application.

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:51 am

OK Vice, let's both scratch our heads. I checked device two, and went ahead and selected 'No Axis Control' for each axis, to be safe. Then went back to device one, re-ran the assignments, no change. 8 is still dead (before and after assignments).

But it works fine in Flight Sim X! It sure doesn't look like hardware -
do you use a separate file to save the joystick info?

Maybe I should change the config to mouse control, then back to Joystick???

Post by **Vice** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:54 am

Probably going to be a matter of trial and error. stickt.sw saves the device ID's and axis channels, but if there's not response from the device in the axis menu, the problem must be something else.

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:04 am

Time to Punt...

What are the minimum files I need to preserve in order to completely reinstall the game but (hopefully) keep my fledgling pilot profile?

On second thought, I'm going to try a complete wipe and reinstall with build 1428... back to square One. I've only got a few hours flight time in anyway...

Is there anything I should do besides run the uninstall? I'm assuming, of course, that my registration will still work.?

Post by **Vice** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:21 am

My guess is that reinstalling the game won't change anything (it would merely put the same binary and media files back in the same place). If the game doesn't respond now, reinstalling it shouldn't change the behavior as the problem is likely not with the game or its configuration files. But if it's a step you want to cover, backup all the files that have a '.SW' extension (the pilot profiles use 'pilotX.sw' filenames).

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:43 am

I did (saved my entire sw3dg directory, in fact), and you're right, no change. Would sure like some wisdom from on high right about now....do you have any?

I certainly not a programmer (not since the good old CP/M days, anyway) so I'm at a loss on how to proceed from here... I don't understand how MS Flight Sim X sees the axis, but not EM. For that matter I can't figure out what made EM stop seeing the axis.... maybe
this is a puzzle in the quest..<grin>

Windows update threw a slew of security and miscellaneous updates at me yesterday, do you think there is any chance they have a part to play in all this?

Post by **Vice** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:49 am

If that's the only thing that has changed on your system since this began, that would certainly be a place to start. You could try rolling back the updates to check for changes, then reinstall them as needed. Just for the record, what specific driver versions have you tried with your X52?

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:08 am

I only have Driver Version 6.2.2.4 Vista/W7, 64-bit

Not using their 'Smart' software, although I tried it to see if it would make a difference...

Possum One · Post by **Possum One** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:29 pm

A quick update...

While I still don't know why it's doing it, I eventually figured out there is some sort of interaction between the joystick and gamepad drivers. Once I completely removed all traces of the gamepad software, the Saitek drivers are happy again.

So, no more gamepad for now....