PC Controller losing connection intermittently

[Darneltia]

Greetings fellow Eorzean,

We apologize for the inconvenience. Please respond with the following information so we can better understand the concern:

Platform? (Steam/Windows/Mac)
Which controllers specifically did you try? Provide makes and models
When using wired method, did you disable any bluetooth options to avoid interference?
Do you have multiple controllers or other 3rd party devices hooked up the machine?
Did anything change in the computer's environment that may have contributed to the problem?
Try running a clean boot on the machine to see if that may help (disable any programs that may be interfering with the game such as discord if applicable)
Wired or wireless connection:
Internet Service Provider:

We look forward to your response back.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

[danakate]

Well I found the solution to my problem and the same might be associated with others as well. For some reason, (I still don't know the EXACT reason), Device Manager kept refreshing about once per minute. I figured this was a default "failed attempt" and was retrying to connect to something. My "temporary fix" was to disable "SSDP Discovery" and "UPnP Device Host" in the Services app in "ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools". I also disabled the recovery as that was the underlying issue plaguing Device Manager. To do this just find the two things in services, right click, properties, and disable under "Startup" on the first tab, and disable the recovery options in the "Recovery" tab

This completely disables plug n play so you may want to keep that in mind for the future

EDIT: Alright so I went to sleep last night and when I woke up, it started doing it again. One app that I disabled last night was McAfee Web Services but for some reason, it was running and re-enabled the recovery options (on it's own). I disabled them and stopped the app and all seems fine again.

Disabling those services didn't work for me. I play using a PS4 controller wired with the plain Windows version of FFXIV. Your suggestion did have me poking around more in the Device Manager, though, and I found an entry for "Wireless Controller" under the "Sound, video and game controllers" heading (attached a screencap). I disabled that and so far haven't had any controller cut outs. I want to do some more testing, namely turning back on other stuff I've disabled to see if it's just the one thing that has to get disabled, but mostly I'm just happy the random disconnects have stopped.



Edit: Well, nuts, I was in the clear for nearly 2 days and then the disconnects cropped up again. There goes the latest theory, boo.

[tyjomi]

I've had this same problem ever since I got back into the game right as endwalker came out. I have always played this game with controller and never had these issues before, but none of the solutions that I've found here, on Reddit, or online have worked so far. It's so frustrating to be doing something in combat and then my character just stops randomly for 2 seconds. If anyone finds an actual solution, I hope it'll work for me as well. I suppose I should also mention that I play using the Windows launcher, not from Steam

[GVelde]

I had this issue, posting what I had to do to solve it here in the hopes that it helps you guys too..

I play with a ds4 and i've had this issue in the past - buying a new cord to plug it in solved it at the time. Fast forward a few months..and after a computer reboot the issue reared it's ugly head again, so I set out to figure out how to fix it. After searching this issue and finding a shocking amount of people also experiencing it online, a common theme was popping up - device manager refreshes. The big culprit with these is usually a device disconnecting and reconnecting(often USB), so I found a piece of simple software online called usblogview which you can use to see usb devices disconnecting/reconnecting.

Sure enough when I had this software open and tried to play ff14 with my ds4 I immediately noticed my USB-SERIAL CH340 was dropping and reconnecting on a normal basis, so I went into device manager and tried disabling this function (as far as i know it has something to do with my in case lighting system) and the moment I disabled it my problem was immediately gone and I once again enjoy interrupt free gamepad play.

[tyjomi]

I've attempted your method to no avail. For some reason, USBlogview is not picking up the random disconnects, or "refreshes", while I'm playing the game. I'm not sure if there's a specific setting that I don't have on that's not allowing them to be picked up

[ThePoke]

I am also encountering this.

Platform? Windows
Which controllers specifically did you try? 8BitDo Pro2 in X-input mode.
When using wired method, did you disable any bluetooth options to avoid interference? Yes.
Do you have multiple controllers or other 3rd party devices hooked up the machine? Not multiple controllers, many other 3rd part devices such as audio interface, mouse, keyboard.
Did anything change in the computer's environment that may have contributed to the problem? Not that I am aware.
Try running a clean boot on the machine to see if that may help (disable any programs that may be interfering with the game such as discord if applicable) issue has persisted for a week across multiple reboots and environments (computer has moved)
Wired or wireless connection:
Internet Service Provider: Comcast.

Additional info: I had https://gamepad-tester.com/ open on another screen during gameplay and it did not encounter any dropped inputs while FF14 became unresponsive as the same time. Because of this, I am not inclined to believe it is the controller's fault.

[Stevie100]

Same issue since ENDWALKER launch, controller just randomly disconnects for no reason. I’m running the windows client on Windows 11. Tried both wired and wireless and tried all fixes minus the usb blog view which I might try tomorrow if I have the time. Tried multiple controllers and all have the same issue.

Out of interest what version of windows are people here on? I think this might be a windows 11 issue I’m yet to hear a user have this issue on Windows 10

[GVelde]

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you. At least you've ruled out USB devices refreshing your device manager to be the issue. Could be something else doing the same thing. If you have device manager open at the same time as the game windowed, and while you try to play with your gamepad the device manager window blinks randomly then it's definitely refreshing and the issue is likely whatever is causing that, difficult to hammer down exactly what does that though.

[Zholi]

Same issue since ENDWALKER launch, controller just randomly disconnects for no reason. I’m running the windows client on Windows 11. Tried both wired and wireless and tried all fixes minus the usb blog view which I might try tomorrow if I have the time. Tried multiple controllers and all have the same issue.

Out of interest what version of windows are people here on? I think this might be a windows 11 issue I’m yet to hear a user have this issue on Windows 10

I'm on Windows 10 and I've been having this issue since Endwalker.

There's never any "USB sound" associated with the dropped connection. I'm using a dualsense controller and sometimes the indicator light will show as charging for a split second before it reconnects. It really looks like the game is losing connection with the controller rather than the controller losing connection with the PC.

[SeriousMcNofun]

This same issue has been happening to me as of 12/30/2021. Controller stops being read by XIV for a few seconds every couple of minutes or so. This does not happen with any other game. It is only XIV. Please do not tell me that this is my fault. I have tried every fix possible and it seems a lot of other people on this thread have too. This is the fault of the developer and it needs to be fixed. I know you don't need my sub, but I can't in good conscience keep paying for this game if this issue isn't addressed.