Player One USB Controller Switching From Player 1 to Player 2

[aginc81]

I bought two of those usb encoders that are seen as a usb controller in Windows. My player 1 keeps going to player two. I switch the cables to the board, and its fine for a while, but then it goes back to player 2. I've tried swapping the boards too and it seems whatever registers the device as whatever is in the actual cable? Any thoughts? I'm going insane over here.

 

Thanks!

[SuperGario]

I have the same set up and anticipating potentially facing the same challenges when I finally plug it all in. These are the things I would try;
• Plugging each into a different USB header. Player 1 plugged into a rear USB and 2 into a front USB. This may be enough for Windows to select them in the same order each time.

 

• If you can enable and disable each USB controller independently from device manager then I would try and find a way to do this in command prompt and automate it (batch) on startup shutdown for the P2 USB. I think this is a possible solution for Win7 but I haven't tried it. http://superuser.com/questions/429016/enable-disable-windows-7-device-via-command-line EDIT: See my post below

• Put P2 into a USB hub, this may initialise after the on board USB on boot, if not it will definitely be considered a distinct device so the devcon trick should work here.

• Failing that, split the USB and put a switch inline on one of the data lines. Switch it when you have a 2P session but remember to switch it off next boot.

I'd be interested to know if you find a solution.

[SuperGario]

I've been doing some more research and devcon.exe is likely to be a good solution to this if you add each controller to a different USB controller.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544766(v=vs.85).aspx

 

Assuming Windows wil enable P1 and P2 as first and second connections...

 

"Devcon Enable" on startup for P2, you may need to add a TIMEOUT command to prevent it initialising before P1. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544741(v=vs.85).aspx

"Devon Disable" on shutdown, if your computer doesn't shutdown cleanly this could be an issue... https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544722(v=vs.85).aspx

 

Thinking on... if you're clever about it and have enough spare USB controllers, you could disable both on startup and then enable them in the order you want with a timeout in between.

 

The problem is with the USB zero delay boards they have no serial umber so Windows can't tell them apart. This solution may or may not work. I don't use Windows much and I can't think of any other suggestions.

[SuperGario]

Just a quick update: I encountered this problem immediately after setting up my system. P1 and P2 switched around. The solution that worked for me was to simply plug one into a rear USB and the other into a front USB. I've not had a problem since through a dozen or more restarts.