Move to new Windows installation, how to copy settings, in particular controller mappings?

[warmachine79]

Hey guys, I "move" to another Windows installations, it is quite old now; to transfer smoothly, I will be operating both installations in parallel for some time. So, on my old Windows, my DCS is nicely setup, I have my Virpil, my Winwing etc configured for some planes and I do not want to do that all over again. So: how do I transfer my settings? 

[Lange_666]

You can't transfer these one on one because Windows gives a controller an ID number and when you move to another windows install Windows will generate a new ID number for each controller. If they don't match (and they will not) your old setup will not work if copied over.
Road with the most work to use your old setup:
- copy the Input folder to a safe place: C:/Users/Your Name/Saved Games/DCS/Config/Input
- Move to new Windows and re-install everything including your controller.
- Look up the new ID numbers in your new install (C:/Users/Your Name/Saved Games/DCS/Config/Input/ each individual aircraft/joystick
ID nrs look like this: Thrustmaster Combined DX128 {1C96BA10-A7EA-11ee-8002-444553540000}.diff.lua
- Note the ID number for each controller
- Copy over your old configuration
- Replace your old ID nrs in "each" filename for "each" aircraft with the new ones.
- Done (but quite a job).

You can head over to the hardware section of the forum and search there (or on the internet) for a solution with a batch file or something to automate the manual work.
https://forum.dcs.world/forum/70-input-devices/

 

[silverdevil]

11 hours ago, warmachine79 said:

Hey guys, I "move" to another Windows installations, it is quite old now; to transfer smoothly, I will be operating both installations in parallel for some time. So, on my old Windows, my DCS is nicely setup, I have my Virpil, my Winwing etc configured for some planes and I do not want to do that all over again. So: how do I transfer my settings? 

in case it helps, i did this document back in 2021 when i got me current computer.

https://pcwiseman.com/downloads_files/DCS_New_Computer.pdf

 

[warmachine79]

Thanks, the renaming tricked works good. Would this also work when I upgrade my Winwing and Virpils Firmware and they receive some new ID number?

[silverdevil]

1 hour ago, warmachine79 said:

Thanks, the renaming tricked works good. Would this also work when I upgrade my Winwing and Virpils Firmware and they receive some new ID number?

i am not experienced with winwing or virpils. however, the hardware guids will change in windows with a new windows install.

[MAXsenna]

Thanks, the renaming tricked works good. Would this also work when I upgrade my Winwing and Virpils Firmware and they receive some new ID number?

Yes, the trick always work if the peripherals for some reason changes the GUID.
If one has a lot of peripherals/modules, one can use PowerRenamer form SysInterals/PowerTools (Microsoft) to do all in "one go".
Cheers!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[sthompson]

Renaming may not be enough. If you use modifiers you will also need to edit the modifiers.lua files and change the device IDs within those files.

[MAXsenna]

Renaming may not be enough. If you use modifiers you will also need to edit the modifiers.lua files and change the device IDs within those files.

Fair point!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[warmachine79]

Okay, but that is only the case if I use modifiers, correct? I am not aware of any modifiers I use, but if so, does the whole configuration not work or only the respective function that is effected by the modifier combination?

[MAXsenna]

Okay, but that is only the case if I use modifiers, correct? I am not aware of any modifiers I use, but if so, does the whole configuration not work or only the respective function that is effected by the modifier combination?

That I don't remember, but as @sthompson writes. You can just open the modifiers.lua files and check. Easiest way is actually just use Notepad++ and search for the old string through the whole input folder hierarchy, and you can even replace with the new ID. It's a few minutes job.
Tested PowerRenamer for the first time yesterday, as a firmware update on my collective changed the ID. Took a couple of minutes to figure out the best way. That was searching for all files with the old file name, select all, right click and open in PowerRenamer. Paste the string in the "search for" field, paste the new string in the "replace with" field. 20+ files changed in seconds. I can highly recommend this app.
Cheers!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[sthompson]

46 minutes ago, warmachine79 said:

Okay, but that is only the case if I use modifiers, correct? I am not aware of any modifiers I use, but if so, does the whole configuration not work or only the respective function that is effected by the modifier combination?

Only the functions that use the modifier stop working. The mapping for those functions will disappear until you re-enable the modifer mapping. They may show up with unexplained red triangles.

If you don't use modifiers then there will be no device IDs in the modifers.lua files and so you don't need to edit them.

[niru27]

On 11/13/2024 at 8:11 PM, sthompson said:

Only the functions that use the modifier stop working. The mapping for those functions will disappear until you re-enable the modifer mapping. They may show up with unexplained red triangles.

If you don't use modifiers then there will be no device IDs in the modifers.lua files and so you don't need to edit them.

I wrote a script that restores not only restores the keybinds, but also the modifiers. More info in this thread