WinWing Orion 2 ("T2 THROTTLE II") - 4 devices? SImAppPro? MESS!

[sergio.e.samayoa]

I finally got a WinWing T2 Hotas plus F16 joystick.
The hardware seems OK and I just did some quick flights.
After initial excitement I went to the controls configuration and... surprise!

HOTAS is 4 times!

I figure that perhaps I need SimAppPro so I installed but when it starts simply hanged!

I finally got it not hang at startup, it updated to new version but then the freaking program opened for few seconds then exit. I decided to rollback to previous version, uninstalled but when I try to install again it failed. I tried again but now the installer does nothingf.

What a MESS!

I tried "Customer Service" but is totally user unfriendly and unresponsive!

BOTTOM LINE:
Look like I'm on my own. Lucky seems that I can configure from DCS finding in which of the 4 devices the desired button is, slow and unfriendly but at lest I can.
THE QUESTION:
What is you own experience with such device?

Additional info:
Forget about complaining to any government agency, I'm in 3rd world country :(

[Insônia]

Direct input API only supports 8 axis per device. it supports up to 128 buttons per device. But a lot of games can only recognize 32 per device.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/ee416842(v=vs.85)
It's a Microsoft thing, Users or OEM cant do too much about it. When it has too many axis and buttons, it must be separated. Or it has to lose functionalities.
A separate modular design is the correct approach, imho. allows users to combine with different devices. 

[Troll Norris]

Direct input is much better than Xinput which is default for Xbox and which is mainly pushed by Microsoft. Advantage is the full PnP support. Everything else is disadvantage. As Insônia have written, even the DirectInput API has its own limits.

[Xupicor]

"T2 HOTAS"? What's that?
I've got the Orion 2 throttle base + F15EX grips and it's still seen as a single device. (It has, surprise, 8 analog axis.)

I'm looking at Winwing webpage and don't see any T2 products.

[sergio.e.samayoa]

Publicado originalmente por Xupicor:

"T2 HOTAS"? What's that?
I've got the Orion 2 throttle base + F15EX grips and it's still seen as a single device. (It has, surprise, 8 analog axis.)

I'm looking at Winwing webpage and don't see any T2 products.

Is Orion 2 but manuals refer as "T2 THROTTLE II".
I think there is a incompatibility between my rig and SimAppPro, that program never worked well and now refuses to install :(

Check "Start up app" in Task Manager and see that SimAppPro is started there.

[Insônia]

Publicado originalmente por Xupicor:

"T2 HOTAS"? What's that?
I've got the Orion 2 throttle base + F15EX grips and it's still seen as a single device. (It has, surprise, 8 analog axis.)

I'm looking at Winwing webpage and don't see any T2 products.

T2 is Orion 2. their internal name maybe
Isnt SimApp can change dials between axis and buttons? App can change between combined mode or 4 devices mode:
https://i.imgur.com/gEniaxa.png
he has problem with software.

[sergio.e.samayoa]

Publicado originalmente por Insônia:

T2 is Orion 2. their internal name maybe
Isnt SimApp can change dials between axis and buttons? App can change between combined mode or 4 devices mode:
https://i.imgur.com/gEniaxa.png
he has problem with software.

Thanks man, that seems to be an explanation of why I see 4 devices and not 1.
However, from where you get that image?
I cannot find it in the manuals from WW!

[IceWolf9362]

Sorry if it not the right place to ask, but I want to order
Winwing Orion2 HOTAS MAX
and
PTO 2 Panel of Take Off.
Is it easy to configure these with DCS or can I get the same problems like sergio.e.samayoa?
Thank you for your answers!

[Gunfreak]

Publicado originalmente por IceWolf9362:

Sorry if it not the right place to ask, but I want to order
Winwing Orion2 HOTAS MAX
and
PTO 2 Panel of Take Off.
Is it easy to configure these with DCS or can I get the same problems like sergio.e.samayoa?
Thank you for your answers!

I have, super tarus, super libra, orion 2 f16 hoats, the original take off and combat panel. And I've never had a problem. Don't even need sim app pro unless you want firmware update or in my case adjust the force sensing settings on the f16 stick.

Each one shows up in dcs as its own thing.
I can have my super tarus throttle, f16 throttle, my virpil collective and both my sticks connected at the same time. No problem.

[IceWolf9362]

Thank you Gunfreak. That helps a lot!

[Xupicor]

I have the Orion 2 throttle, Hornet UFC + the accompanying panel and Take Off panel v2 and also didn't have any problems. The software works for me, but I don't bother with it much (nor did I bother with the manuals, lol) -- the 32 button mode AFAIK to split the device into multiples so that software that doesn't see more than 32 buttons on a device is enabled to use all the inputs (Older IL-2 versions, etc).

Sergio -- did you reinstall Windows recently? Maybe some stuff like .NET libraries or VC++ libraries aren't installed? Can't think of the reason why the software wouldn't work for you (or why the devices would be split by default) -- I'm on Win11 and it's fine over here. The software gives you quite a few customization options with Orion 2.

[sergio.e.samayoa]

Publicado originalmente por IceWolf9362:

Thank you Gunfreak. That helps a lot!

EUREKA!
I managed to clean up everything and installed, as user, SimAppPro 1.10.x
It wonk work, immediate exits.
I uninstalled 1.10.x, installed 1.9.x (I had to restart the computer BTW), opened the program, wait for about 2 minutes with "Program not responding" but finally the device show up but seems that it was on "4 x 32" mode, I switched off (thans @Insônia for the hint) and now it appeared as one in DCS.

BOTTOM LINE:
- Seems that the device was shipped in "4 x 32" mode and was the cause of all my problems.
- Looks like version 1.10.x have a problem, perhaps with "4 x 32" mode, I will stick to 1.9.x
- The HOTAS and the stick looks and feels good, at least for me because my previous HOTAS is Thrusmaster 16000
- Hopefully it will continue to work without any further problem.

[Xupicor]

Good to see you resolved your issue. Strange that they would ship it in 4x32 mode. QA issue, I guess. Can you let them know that the 1.10 version of the software didn't work for you? I see in the changelog that they fixed a lot of stuff in software, but obviously there's more to work on if it was such an issue on your PC.

Yeah, WinWing hardware is pretty neat. Hope you don't have more issues and can enjoy it fully. ; )

[sergio.e.samayoa]

Publicado originalmente por Xupicor:

Can you let them know that the 1.10 version of the software didn't work for you?

1.10.20

Note that the installation mess was caused by auto-update:
I let SimAppPro 1.9.29 to update then it resulted on both 1.9.x and 1.10.x in the "Add or Remove Programs".

[Gracey Face]

Publicado originalmente por Xupicor:

Good to see you resolved your issue. Strange that they would ship it in 4x32 mode.

Do they not normally do that? Not owned one, but it seems like it'd be the default since it has better compatibility.

[Xupicor]

Mine wasn't set as 4x32 and I doubt they'd do that. Newer software doesn't have much of a problem recognizing 64 or 128 input devices.