Thrustmaster Warthog TARGET Software Issues on New Windows 10 Machine

[pilotwannabe1]

For the last several years, I have been using the Warthog with the TARGET software to assign keystrokes to the various switches on the joystick/throttle, on my 11 year old Dell XPS Windows 7 machine.  All was well.  Last weekend, my new flight simming machine arrived with Windows 10.  Both joystick and throttle are recognized by the system, but when I try to load a profile with the TARGET software (latest version of software and drivers), I get the following message:

*******************************************************************
Mapped plugin module "C:\Program Files (x86)\Thrustmaster\TARGET\Plugins\sys.dll"
Physical USB HID devices managed by script!
Currently plugged USB HID devices[2]:
1: "Joystick - HOTAS Warthog" - "USB\VID_044F&PID_0402&REV_0100"
2: "Throttle - HOTAS Warthog" - "USB\VID_044F&PID_0404&REV_0100"
USB HID device "Throttle - HOTAS Warthog"(USB\VID_044F&PID_0404\6&2AF6C4ED&0&2) selected
Script stopped!
Error: (internal) cannot associate a filter with the selected USB HID device "VID_044F&PID_0402"

Runtime Error: STOP request received while running main on line 8 in "C:\Users\Rushad\AppData\Roaming\Thrustmaster\TARGET\Scripts\Il2-1946.tmc"
Error: Script run timed out!
*******************************************************************

Googled for solutions and found these suggestions:
(1)  Uninstall software and drivers and reinstall in a particular order with the joystick/throttle connected/disconnected at various stages
(2)  Install an earlier version of the software/drivers
(3)  Make changes to the registry using REGEDIT

I've tried (1) and (2) with no success, and do not have the skill set to attempt (3).

Has anybody here experienced this or have any suggestions?  Are there alternative methods to assigning keystrokes to switches without using TARGET?  I know there's FSUIPC, but I believe that it is only for FSX/P3D. This is quite a bummer.

Appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Rushad

[mgeiss]

I use AutoHotkey, works like a charm for me: https://www.autohotkey.com/

It's free and extremely flexible, but it has it's learning curve (just like TARGET)...
Here's the basic doc page about remapping joystick buttons and axes for a start: https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/RemapJoystick.htm

[brian747]

Or as a paid-for alternative....   

I have never used the TARGET software with my 'hog, I've always used a combination of Hardy's USB assignments and then added JoyToKey (shareware, $7 US to register, available from https://joytokey.net/en) to turn other unused hardware buttons into keystrokes.

For an overview, see https://joytokey.net/en/overview

You can also find details of mappings with my 'hog in Appendix 4 of "Getting started with PSX, Part 1" (available from the miscellaneous downloads page). My mappings have changed slightly since then, but as an example you might find the description helpful.

Back to JoyToKey: in summary, the current version includes these improvements:

Support up to max 50 joysticks (previously 32 joysticks)

Support up to max 128 buttons (previously 32 buttons)

Enhanced an execution of an external program to be able to —
pass command parameters
specify the starting working directory

In the button assignment window, added navigation buttons to go to the next and the previous assignment.

In case JoyToKey is started when no controller is connected, JoyToKey tries to automatically detect devices until one controller is connected. From this version, users can change this behaviour such that JoyToKey continues the auto detection until two controllers are connected, or completely disable this auto detection feature. For more details, please refer to this page.

Recent releases includes the following changes:

Single click a task tray icon to refresh joystick connections

When you connect a new joystick to the PC, you can just click the task tray icon to get it recognized (either left click or right click).

Supported multiple screens for the absolute movement of a mouse cursor.

Supported additional key-code emulations such as the volume control (up / down / mute), media control (prev / next / play / stop), and SCROLL_LOCK key.

Changed the default key emulation code for arrow keys, R-Alt and R-Ctrl, to fix some compatibility issue with recent Windows 10. In case it causes a problem for certain old games and you want to use the old key code, in the button assignment window, please select an equivalent key (from right-click menu) which is labeled as "for DirectInput".

Ability to re-process the key emulation event when the same key continues during the processing of Input1-Input4 sequence (Keyboard 2).

By default, when processing the sequence of key emulation through Input1 to Input4, if the same key assignment continues, it's emulated only once. This behaviour can be changed from "Options" tab by enabling the following checkbox: "Re-process when the same key continues in sequence"

It does what it says on the tin.     

Cheers,

Brian

[RRVyper]

I've tried (1) and (2) with no success, and do not have the skill set to attempt (3).

Rushad, if you can handle TARGET scripts, you can certainly edit the registry with Regedit, as long as the instructions are clear. And you can Export the key you are editing prior to making changes and Import it if you mess anything up.

Randy

[pilotwannabe1]

Matthias, Brian and Randy,

Many thanks for your most helpful responses.  I shall be looking at both AutoHotKey and JoyToKey and figure out which on works best for me.

Randy, I should have clarified that I use the TARGET GUI and not the Script Editor.  The GUI is just point-and-click which I can handle. 

Thanks,
Rushad

[pilotwannabe1]

Hi Brian,

I ended up purchasing JoyToKey and it works like a charm with PSX - thanks again for the tip.  However, with P3D and X-Plane, I am not seeing the keystrokes associated with a button push come through.  Is it supposed to work with P3D and X-Plane?  The button push comes through, but the key associated with that button is missing.

Has anybody tried this program with P3D (and X-Plane) and does it work?

Thanks,
Rushad

[brian747]

Hi Rushad!

I don't know about X-Plane, but I do know someone that uses it with P3D and it works fine with that. And it's such a simple program (in spite of all its added improvements) that if it works in FSX I can't imagine why it wouldn't work with anything else

My probem is that unfortunately I don't understand your problem: when you say "The button push comes through, but the key associated with that button is missing", what do you mean? Could you perhaps give an example?

If you look at Appendix 4 of "Getting started with PSX, part 1" you will find an example of mappings used with the 'hog. Notice that some controls are assigned using PSX's native USB commands, whereas others need to be assigned using JoyToKey — and these utilise the PSX keyboard commands (described on pages 27 - 34 of Hardy's manual).

Cheers,

Brian

[beat578]

Hi Rushad
If I understand you, you can press the button and see, that something happenes in Prepar. So I wonder if it could be that the Key Combination assigned to the button in Prepar itself could be missing or chaneged from the default to something that's not coded in your program?
I am evaluating such a program myself at the moment and follow those discussions very interested.
Kind regards
Beat

[pilotwannabe1]

Hi Brian Beat,

The problem was solved by starting JoyToKey as administrator.

What I meant to say was that if, for example, I had associated the key G (for cycling the gear in P3D) with Button 1, then, when I pushed Button 1 in P3D, the gear would not cycle.  However, pushing G on the keypad did cycle the gear.  So while the Button 1 push was coming through in P3D, the key G was not.  But now it works just fine with the above fix.

Thanks for your input.

Regards,
Rushad

[brian747]

Hi Rushad!

Glad you got it sorted! Though it works perfectly happily for me whilst not being run As Admin — but hey, this is Windoze, right?        However, I didn't install it in any of the protected "Program Files" areas, but safely in a separate subdirectory of the C: drive that contains individual subdirectories for all my PSX add-ons: if you installed it in, for example, Program Files (x86) (which is probably the default), that could be the cause of your problem?

I've been using JoyToKey for years now, and it's totally reliable at doing what it does — which means that all of Hardy's keyboard commands are assignable to any button (I use it to assign PSX commands to switches on my 'hog throttle and my 'hog throttle base, and also to all the pushbuttons, rocker switches, and toggle switches that are available on the VRinsight TT panel).


@beat578

> "If I understand you, you can press the button and see, that something happenes in Prepar."

Well that would work as well (JoyToKey's function is simply to translate a button push on a HID hardware device into a keyboard command), but I use it primarily to trigger various PSX commands that aren't available directly from Hardy's USB assignments but are available from his keyboard shortcuts (listed on pages 27 - 34 of the PSX manual, as I mentioned above).

You might like to look at the information about assigning HID devices in my Getting started with PSX, part 1 document, downloadable from the Miscellaneous page (http://aerowinx.com/html/misc.html), which discusses the topic in some detail.   


Cheers,

Brian

[beat578]

Hi Brian
Thanks for pointing me at your great Tutorials again. It was a "must read" lecture, but one tend to forget they still around and even mor forget what's in them...
Great Work!
PSX community really is the greatest place to be!
Regards
Beat