Joystick issue

[Gildahl]

I've developed a strange issue lately with my joysticks (Ultra 360s) not working in GameEx menus.  They will work sometimes, say after a reboot, but most of the time they don't work at all.  Mouse/trackball/spinner control in the menus continues to work, and within games the joysticks work fine; however, as soon as I return to GameEx they don't do anything--unless I'm lucky and they happen to start working again. 

First off, I don't think this is a GameEx problem per se, since I've gone back to older versions where I know everything was working fine, and these now exhibit the same problem.  Consequently, I'm thinking that it may be a Windows issue since it did seem to happen after a recent update.  The thing is though, that GameEx is the only software I experience this problem in and nothing else.  Has anyone else encountered this sort of problem?

[tthurman]

Please post your log after experiencing the problem for the first time, like after a reboot on the second GameEx launch (if that's the first time it occurs)

Please also provide your GameEx ini

[Draco1962]

Windows 10 updates can wreck havoc on peripherals and drivers. Knowing the version of the update may help.

[Gildahl]

Windows 10 Pro, version 20H2 with the last update installed on 7/11.

[Gildahl]

I've added my config files here.  It's very strange.   When I start GameEx, there is no joystick control unless I am lucky (menus work with keyboard and mouse though).  This is true in the main menu, and my submenus (list of favorites, for example); however, curiously, in the menu at the game level (Play Game, Marquees, etc.) the joystick works fine.  When I back out of this menu, however, the joysticks stop working again.   This all happens whether I launch a game or not.  In everything else I've tried, such as in games, in the UltraMap config utility, or the Windows game controller utility, the joysticks work fine.  This problem also occurs in older versions where I never had a problem before, so it is pretty baffling.

I'm going to add one other thing too that seems unrelated, but also started happening randomly at about this time, which is that occasionally when I exit GameEx, my mouse pointer does not show up, and I have to use the windows mouse properties to restore it.  Another strange oddity.

CustomMenu.ini GameEx.ini log.txt Theme.ini

[Tom Speirs]

Do ultra 360's work as gamepads or keyboards? I can't remember. Could be power saving,

For the mouse, maybe your cursor hider plugin.

For the theme issue try removing this line:
DisplayBackgroundImage=True

If you want me to investigate the theme further please get it to me.

I wonder if might otherwise be bug with video upscaling. Try turning that off.

Thanks.

Tom.

[Gildahl]

Looks like turning off video upscaling fixes the problem with the background going black on screen having video snaps.  So thanks for that suggestion!  While testing, though, I noticed a secondary issue with the video snaps.  It seems that when I first go into my favorites list, the video snap for the very first game  in the list ("1942" in my list) is not shown.  If I go down to the next game, the video for that one does show, and if I then return back to the first one again the video snap for the first one now appears.  This can be duplicated every time.  

Regarding the U360s, they work like gamepads/ordinary joysticks.   I have all power saving options turned off in the USB settings.

I will try turning off the cursor hider plug-in and see what happens with that.

[Tom Speirs]

Post the theme.

[Gildahl]

If I change the theme to Default-Default it still exhibits the same issues (joystick and first item in favorites not showing video).  

[Gildahl]

Oh, one more thing.  Even though the video snap does not appear on the screen for the first item in the list, I still *hear* it.  So almost as if something's up with the z level.

[Tom Speirs]

okay, no problem, I will try and duplicate the issue.

Thanks.

Tom.