CH USB Gear Problems

[eskimo2]

I’ve got my new machine running Vista and AH; everything seems to be working well except my CH stuff.
I’ve spent more time trying to get this stuff working than anything else.  I’ve got CH Pro Pedals, throttle and Fighterstick.  I’ve downloaded the Vista compatible Control Manager v4.30V.
My problem basically is that I either have axis controls or buttons, but not both.  

I can download my AH Map in Control Manager and the buttons work in the key test thing.  Everything looks fine in the Controller Calibration except that it considers them Control Manager Device 1, 2 & 3 but when I click Rescan it realizes their proper names.  In the game I either have full flight controls and no buttons or I’ve got buttons but no flight controls.

In the game I’ve tried calibration and mapping the joysticks and inputs, but if I’ve got no input control the number don’t move at all when I move my stuff.

I actually had everything working at once a couple days ago, then it forgot how to work right.  Tonight I got it working again, but ended up rebooting my machine due to an AH download patch problem.  Since then I’ve tried the same things over and over again to get it working but no luck.  I can’t afford an hour of messing around with this stuff every time I want to fly.

I’ve never played around with mapping buttons through AH.  Is that a good way to go?  If you’ve got CH USB gear, what the heck do you do to make it work consistently?

P.S.
Everything is going into a powered USB hub.

[Rolex]

You can map every button and axis directly in AH. As long as you don't need multiple key combinations assigned to your stick.

Just select the controller, press a button, then map a key stroke to that button from the pop up by either right clicking on the highlighted button, or double click the highlighted button to display pop up menu. Click OK after you've set all buttons and hats.

There may be some file management peculiarities going on with Vista, but that is just a guess. I don't know enough about Vista.

[OOZ662]

Originally posted by eskimo2
I’ve got my new machine running Vista and AH; everything seems to be working well except my CH stuff.

I'm sorry.

Manual button setup without any software outside of drivers does sound like the way to go, though.

[Panzzer]

Originally posted by eskimo2
Everything is going into a powered USB hub.

Someone (but I can't remember who) had a problem with a powered hub recently. If your machine has enough usb-connectors, it might be worth a try to plug the controllers directly in. Just a suggestion, I don't know whether or not that would help.

P.S. Good to have you back!

[Roscoroo]

the powered usb hub is to stop deflections in your axis's (potentiometers) voltage  related.

[Xjazz]

Originally posted by Roscoroo
the powered usb hub is to stop deflections in your axis's (potentiometers) voltage  related.

I can confirm this one.

BTW
If you lose your AH stick configuration for some reason, try the PC restart first. This has fixed the 'Disappeared stick config.' problem for me few times.

[Auger]

Xjazz, what do you mean by 'Disappeared stick config'?  Is that a message you get in AH2?  I ask because my CH config will just unload itself once in a while.  I use all of the default AH maps, and map all the buttons to keystrokes with Control Manager.  About twice a week, the LEDs on the stick and throttle will flash, then I have absolutely no controls.  I have to Alt-Tab out and run CH Start to reload the config.  It tends to happen when I'm flying mostly straight and level, but it's a stone cold beeyotch when it happens in a dog fight.  

Hopefully someone knows the fix for this.  It's mostly an irritation, but it would be nice to make it go away.

[Auger]

Oh  and Eskimo, sorry about the minor hijack.

AH2 will see the controllers with their proper names when Control Manager is in Direct Mode.  It will see them as Control Manager Device 1, etc. when CHCM is in Mapped Mode.  If you are programming the buttons with CHCM, you want to make sure that CHCM is in Mapped Mode.  Then go into AH2 and reassign the flight axes to the Control Manager devices.  I believe 1 is the stick, 2 is the throttle, and 3 is the pedals, but check before flying.

CHCM controls the 3 modes (Offline, Direct and Mapped).  There are 3 buttons on the right middle of the button bar to control which mode is used.  Placing the mouse over the buttons will tell you which is which.

[Spatula]

I dont use the control manager, just the CH sticks directly with AH and use the AH manager.
In AH, you can map the mode switch button to switch stick sets. Copy each stick set so you start with identical stick sets, then you can map different buttons to different functions for each stick-set.
As long as in each stick set the mode switch button is mapped to switching stick-sets
Eg:

stickset #1 map button 2 (mode-switch button) to switch to stickset#2
stickset #2 map button 2 (mode-switch button) to switch to stickset#3
stickset #3 map button 2 (mode-switch button) to switch to stickset#1

That way the mode-switch button switches between 3 stick sets (you could do 2 or 4 as well). Make your stick sets identical but vary in minor function. Eg, mine toggles button 1 as fire primary/fire secondary/fire all. You just have to remember which stickset does what...

[Xjazz]

Hi Auger,

I did mean with 'Disappeared stick config' that, when your in game stick config disappear from 'Map Controlls' window.

[Auger]

OK that's different.  Last night it was the worst ever, unloading 3 times.  At least none of them got me killed, although it really tried to while up in a Tempest.  CM Start wouldn't load the config, and I had to go through the fun of loading CHCM, picking the right profile, and loading it.  Good thing the Tempy was pointed up when it unloaded.

[eskimo2]

Thanks guys,

I havn't had a spare moment to do anything AH lately; I'll try mapping through AH when I get a chance.