Thank goodness I finally found someone with the same problem! This has been
extremely frustrating and I feel your pain. All I can say is e-mail any and
every company you can think of that might have some kind of clue about the
problem (especially Mocrosoft) and hopefully the problem will be fixed
(wishful thinking?). The following is what I have sent to Microsoft, Dell,
Belkin (Nostromo speed pad), Saitek and Ch products.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
OK here goes.

-I have a saitekX52 joystick, CH Pro rudder pedals and a nostromo N52
speedpad (all USB). I am using Windows XP (2 Dell computers- 1 home and 1
professional [XP service pack 2]). The controller which I want to be
controller ID # 1 is of course the joystick, but it is seen as controller ID
# 0 in directX (version 9.0c).

-I am able to map it how I want it in the game I play the most (World War II
online) because this game has the ability to recognize multiple joysticks.
(the game sees the joystick as joystick 3 not 0) But if I have to reinstall
the game for whatever reason or put it on another computer, I have to go
through the mapping process again. This wouldn't be a big deal if this was
the only game I played.

-In a few other games I have played, the joystick is not recognized unless I
unplug the speedpad and rudder pedals (which I do not want to do). These
games only recognize the controller which is seen as controller id # 1 at
that particular time. I have tried using the advanced button in the control
panel > game controllers window and setting the joystick I want to use
(preferred device for older programs), but THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!! When I
run dxdiag the joystick controller id is 0 (seen in World War II online as
joystick 3) the rudder pedals' controller id is 2 (joystick 2) and the
nostromo is id 1 (joystick 1) if I unplug the nostromo, the rudder pedals are
seen as joystick 1 and my joystick is seen as 2.

-I want to set up the controllers how I want them, NOT how directX sees
them. I do know that you could modify controller ids in windows 98, but XP
does not seem to give you this option. In the seemingly countless hours I
have searched the web looking for a solution, I have found similar questions
but no satisfactory answer.

-I have tried unplugging and re-plugging them in different orders to see if
directX would reassign different id’s but this did not work.

-So the only way I can use my joystick with games that don't recognize more
than 1 controller is to unplug the pedals and nostromo (which I do not want
to do). I thought that I might need to reinstall the operating system, but
the same thing happens on my new computer. (XP professional) I know that the
preferred device thing should fix everything but I would just like to know if
it is possible to modify the controller id's (hopefully easily) in windows XP.


Thank you,
JG
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
-Microsoft told me to contact Dell or use their fee based help.
-Dell told me that they support only Dell hardware not software issues but
they would also be glad to take my money for a fee based phone call.
-CH Products said that XP does not allow you to change controller id's PERIOD!
-Belkin said that the prefered user device option was the only thing that
they knew of.
and I am still waiting for a response from Saitek
(I have sent Microsoft and Dell each an e-mail asking: if my issue is not
resolved, will I still be charged for the phone calls)
So like I said before, email everybody and maybe microsoft will fix their
poor controller programing.



"pjp" wrote:

> The whole concept is screwed up enough it's easier to just plug in only the
> device you want to use and leave the others unplugged.
>
> Between MS's obtuse API's and every game having to "figure it out as best we
> can" it's no surprise a lot (if not most) have "issues". Even MS's own games
> don't deal with the issue properly, e.g. try FS2004 with couple of
> controllers attached, you'll find out what I mean..
>
> For some reason I doubt Vista will improve the situtation given even XP is a
> step back from 9x in what a user can do, e.g. 9x at least allows one to
> designate 1,2,3 ... rather than just "Preferred".
>
> P.S. little prog to set id#'s as you want, do a google seach for "JoyIDs".
>
> "Big Normy" <normoline@yahoo.com.jaundice> wrote in message
> news:Xns96CD295E013Fchakdaddy@207.115.63.158...
> > Hi, I've been looking through old posts on this issue, and haven't seen
> > anything lately...
> >
> > the bottom line is this -
> >
> > I had a Thrustmaster Dual Power 4 game pad, and bought a Logitech
> > Rumblepad later - I like the Rumblepad better, and want to consider it
> > my "first string" controller.
> >
> > But if I go into say, Nba Live 2005, and go to choose controllers, no
> > matter what I do, the thrustmaster is on the top of the list, and the
> > logitech is on the bottom.
> >
> >
> > All the old posts talk about choosing Preferred device in the control
> > panel. By running DxDiag, I can see that setting something as the
> > Preferred Device assigns it Controller ID 0.
> >
> > But I also see that the order of the Controllers, as recognized by most
> > games, is the same as the order listed in the game controller control
> > panel, and is completely unrelated to which device is "controller id 0"
> > and "preferred device."
> >
> > For example, I set the logitech as preferred device, and plugged in the
> > thrustmaster and also a gamepad pro.
> >
> > In the control panel they are listed as:
> > Thrustmaster
> > Logitech
> > GamePad Pro
> >
> > dxdiag lists them as:
> >
> > Thrustmaster - controller id 1
> > Logitech - controller id 0
> > GamePad Pro - controller id 2
> >
> >
> > Obviously there is a separate controller id that is recognized by the
> > game when ordering controllers, and is recognized by the control panel
> > when listing controllers in a certain order.
> >
> >
> > The list could be looked at more like this -
> >
> > [True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
> > [True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 0 ("preferred device")
> > [True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2
> >
> >
> > by editing the preferred device, I can change the listed controller ID,
> > which is completely irrelevant as far as the game is concerned, and the
> > true controller ID is the same. If I make thrustmaster the preferred,
> > it would be like this -
> >
> > [True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 0(preferred device)
> > [True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 1
> > [True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 2
> >
> > or I could change it to
> > [True controller id=1] Thrustmaster - Controller ID 1
> > [True controller id=2] Logitech - Controller ID 2
> > [True controller id=3] Gamepad Pro - controller ID 0 (preferred)
> > if I wanted to.
> >
> >
> > But all this changing has nothing to do with the true way DirectInput
> > orders the controllers and how games recognize their order. Surely
> > there should be a way to edit the registry to fix or reset the id's that
> > directinput gives?
> >
> >
> > Ultimately in the games it's just an aesthetic issue, but it's kind of a
> > matter of principle now..
> >
> >
>
>
>