FFXIV and Controller/Gamepad Intermittent Loss of Control Issues (NOT RESOLVED)

[Nutz]

This is sort of a dual Windows/ FFXIV problem. You can fix it by figuring out what is making the device manager refresh and fixing it (I personally have managed to do that on 1 of 2 PCs running the game, both of which were exhibiting the problem -- one still is). It really shouldn't be that way though and the problem can be amazingly tedious to diagnose properly.

As nexen observed in the topic you linked (final post), the problem seems to arise from FFXIV checking for a new controller whenever the device manager refreshes (most games don't do this apparently though I don't know the reasons either way). It will unload your controller and reload it with whatever settings were present when you started that session. Most likely the controller was already configured, but you'll notice that if you start the game with a bad configuration (as wireless controllers will do if you turn them on after starting the game), calibrate in the settings menu, and then play, the controller will revert to the 'bad' settings the first time the device manager refreshes.

Most of the information is unfortunately useless to players who are powerless to fix the problem and SE doesn't seem to be getting around to it anytime soon. Most likely something radical like reinstalling Windows would fix the issue, at least for a time, but that's a huge hassle and shouldn't be necessary. Best case scenario (probably) this problem is absent from the DX11 build set to be released alongside Heavensward, though I suppose it's possible that SE addresses it specifically even for DX9 users.

[Rufalus]

Best case scenario (probably) this problem is absent from the DX11 build set to be released alongside Heavensward, though I suppose it's possible that SE addresses it specifically even for DX9 users.

Yeah I was looking forward to that DX11 build in case it leaves any lingering issues behind lol, also the new version of Windows coming out. Hoping DX11 FF XIV on Win10 works perfectly.

[gn0s1s]

Steps I have already gone through in attempting to troubleshoot this:

1. Purchased new Dualshock 2 controller. Issue persisted.
2. Purchased new PS2->PC adapter (two different ones). Issue persisted.
3. Figured the issue might be with the kind of adapter in general since PS2 is pretty old, so decided to purchase a PC-compatible controller. Bought Razer Sabertooth. Love it, mostly, but issue persists.
4. Have disabled USB Power Management, first by unchecking all the the appropriate boxes in the Device Manager and then disabling it entirely in the Power Management settings. Issue persists.
5. Have continued playing with Device Manager open on second monitor, to try to catch which device is apparently causing it to refresh. No luck so far. Have removed all other USB devices including mouse and keyboard, issue persists.

If you have experienced this in any other game, please post which one.

For developers, if your eyes chance upon this post, Nutz mentions nexen from the other thread and describes what I also think is happening:

As nexen observed in the topic you linked (final post), the problem seems to arise from FFXIV checking for a new controller whenever the device manager refreshes (most games don't do this apparently though I don't know the reasons either way). It will unload your controller and reload it with whatever settings were present when you started that session. Most likely the controller was already configured, but you'll notice that if you start the game with a bad configuration (as wireless controllers will do if you turn them on after starting the game), calibrate in the settings menu, and then play, the controller will revert to the 'bad' settings the first time the device manager refreshes.

SQE please fix this, don't let a Device Manager refresh interfere with the game's connection to the controller or force the game to refresh its own controller settings. Other companies get around this, you can too!