Game Disabling USB Devices on Startup?

[NotDad8675309]

I have always seen and heard the Windows sound that a device is being disabled every time I click Play in Steam to launch Planet Crafter. However today it actually disabled my keyboard that I couldn't play no matter how many times I exited, restarted, whatever. I have a USB hub plugged into a 49" Dell UltraSharp monitor that draws power via the USB cable going from the monitor into my tower. This is the only game that I have seen that does anything with USB devices on startup and I don't understand what it's doing or why it's doing it. Any devs have insights about what is happening and why? This behavior seems unnecessary yet it has legitimate impact.

[prtmh]

Don't know if this has anything to do with it but in the options there is a setting to disable controllers. Maybe the game see's your hub and thinks its a controller ?

[flint74]

Originally posted by NotDad8675309:

I have always seen and heard the Windows sound that a device is being disabled every time I click Play in Steam to launch Planet Crafter. However today it actually disabled my keyboard that I couldn't play no matter how many times I exited, restarted, whatever. I have a USB hub plugged into a 49" Dell UltraSharp monitor that draws power via the USB cable going from the monitor into my tower. This is the only game that I have seen that does anything with USB devices on startup and I don't understand what it's doing or why it's doing it. Any devs have insights about what is happening and why? This behavior seems unnecessary yet it has legitimate impact.

Just quickly trying to wrap my head around the connectivity here. Some questions and observations:

Is this a U4924DW monitor?

You have the monitor and computer connected for video via the dedicated (powered) video USB-C connector on the monitor?

You have a separate external USB hub connected to the monitor either via a USB-A 3.0 or USB-C connection?

You have your keyboard (and presumably mouse) connected to the external hub, or are they directly connected to the monitors own USB ports?

Other than keyboard and mouse, what other USB devices are also plugged in, either to the monitors own ports or to the external hub (if there is one) ?

- - -

Issues with wired keyboards (and mice) randomly disconnecting/reconnecting either upon game startup, or even worse during gameplay, is actually not that uncommon unfortunately.

Most times, and most especially on Windows PC's for some reason, it can be traced back to the way the OS itself handles USB devices, particularly if, over time, you tend to swap in/out lots of different USB devices and only have a limited number of USB ports to work with - this can eventually lead to USB devices no longer being recognised by the OS when they are plugged in.

Another common source of issues comes from conflicts with other plugged in, but currently unused devices, hence the common suggestion (as prtmh mentioned above) to unplug a controller if it's not being used for that particular game as this can stop keyboard and/or mouse from working. As prtmh also mentions, there's an in-game option to 'disable controller', this would be worth trying.

By all accounts USB hubs, whether powered or unpowered, seem to be particularly susceptible to random problems like this, to which the standard test, where possible, would be to plug the keyboard (and mouse) directly into the computer and then run the game to see if they are still affected.

In the case of powered hubs, particularly ones that are themselves powered by USB rather than directly from mains power, these can occasionally struggle with too many devices plugged into them at once, the test in that instance would be to unplug devices from the hub one by one and see if/at what point the hub and any remaining connected devices start working normally again.

[prtmh]

Yeah, years ago I was using a wired USB controller and had odd problems in some games and switched to bluetooth controllers and haven't had a problem since. USB is weird sometimes but still better than the old 9 pin serial ports. :)