Controller Profile Export & Import Question

[Mad Dog 7.62]

I am a little confused on controller profile exporting and importing. When I export my controller profile, am I exporting it for all modules or just the one I am in? Do I need to export seperate profiles for each controller ie joystick, throttle, pedals, or do they all go together? Does the controller actually have to be plugged into that machine at the time of export or import? Thanks for any info. I am installing a fresh copy of DCS on a new machine and I would like to keep all my profiles but not sure quite how to do it.

[silverdevil]

all controller profiles are per AC. being that HOTAS etc are different in each AC. no two AC are alike.

[Art-J]

Profiles are created for each aircraft and each single USB controller within, i.e. you go to controls settings page, click on controller column, then "Save profile", then repeat for the next controller, and for the next one, and for the next etc. (that procedure saves relevant separate .diff.lua files where assignments are stored).

 

When restoring on a new machine you repeat the process, but this time clicking on each column and loading profile from previously saved .diff.lua file, then the next one etc.

 

All devices must be plugged in on both old machine and new one, otherwise they're not visible in controls settings page and there's nothing to click on.

[AstonMartinDBS]

If you want to save all input settings for all modules just backup the whole directory %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\DCS\Config\Input\

 

Or backup the complete %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\DCS\Config\, if you plan to migrate to another PC.

[Art-J]

^ The problem with that approach is when he installs Windows on his new PC, the system will most likely assign new USB device IDs to his controllers, and thus his old diff.lua files (which contain old USB IDs) from the backup will not be recognized at all. So loading these files (profiles) manually one by one is still going to be required.

 

You're partially right, though. No need to save profiles manually. Copying the whole Config/Input folder somewhere to the new PC (and loading files from there) will be faster.

[AstonMartinDBS]

Are you sure that Windows assigns the Device IDs random? If so it's maybe easier to adopt the backed filenames to the new generated Device IDs - depending on the amount of installed modules.

[Art-J]

Yes it does, been there, done that, when switching to new PC myself.

 

Re. your idea, If​​​ user knows a way to find the new IDs somewhere and to rename all the backup files accordingly, then he can do it indeed. After all it's all about matching new file names with old content.

 

I would hazard a guess, however, that for average guy with average PC skills loading the profiles within the game might be more simple solution. Click on the column, click "load", navigate to file, double click; then again and again. Doesn't take that much time, actually.

[mkiii]

If you start with a fresh install on a new machine, and let DCS create new sets of files in the Joystick folder, they will automatically have the current IDs appended once you exit and they are saved. You could just copy and paste these filenames if you really had to.

 

I think it would certainly be a whole lot quicker to just copy all your old files and  just reload for each controller, than to laboriously copy / paste / rename all the files, for all your modules.

Edited December 7, 2020 by mkiii

[Noluck]

I suggest that ED writes a function/program to backup *all* user data into an archive that is related to their own modified and personal files for their DCS setup, joystick, controllers etc.. Of course, only official files, config's etc.

That way you can re-install your DCS setup by running the 'archive manager'. Sort of like performing a Winblows restore point or user backup.

 

Just a thought.

 

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Edited December 10, 2020 by Noluck
wordsmithing..

[mkiii]

Well they sort of do, since all your user configs are external to the Install, and a simple copy/paste can deal with that, and most of the rest has to be dealt with using OvGME or similar, but no matter what, you always have to mess around with control settings. Its as if the system was designed to use a single 4 button stick and nothing else. Having every controller be assigned pitch, roll and yaw as well as POV quickviews every time is getting tedious in the extreme.