Guys. I think I have discovered the Problem. Please beware this post will Be LOOOOONG.
I do not believe the issue is with specific USB devices but rather what we will be referring to “null” controller profiles, or profiles in MSFS that have no “assignments”
The way you create a “null” profile is to copy an existing profile already in MSFS, using “preset manager”, then clear all assignments.
Problem is, this new “null” profile will almost always cause a CTD if you try to select it. or Save it as your current profile and then try to restart MSFS.
So how to fix. First of all we need to find the offending profile.
You can go to my earlier “fix” in this thread for how to identify the profiles in the MS store version.
If you have steam, you have a little bit easier time because I believe those profiles are located in your Steam directory under \userdata \ YourSteamID \ 1250410 \ remote. The input files are more clearly labeled like inputprofile_XXXXXXXXX.
An offending profile looks like this when opened in notepad:
Your “Axis” assignments will vary depending on the device that you are loading.
The profile is missing button assignments. And as such will fail when selected, or if it’s already assigned and saved. The trick is to add the appropriate button assignments so that it won’t CTD. This is crucial if you want your rudder/throttles (which might not have buttons) to work, OR if you are simply using a Null profile for use with FSUIPC, or like me, have two controllers plugged in that might conflict.
Here’s what I did. I opened up one of the ones that wasn’t crashing (and had a single button assigned) and looked at the differences and played with some of the xml tags and found that this works and WON’T CTD. Also it really doesn’t have any button assigned, but it does have the assignment tags MSFS is looking for. The “highlighted” sections are what I pasted in. The Context, Action, and Primary Tags have to be present. The Primary Tag is blank, so no button is assigned. But MSFS is happy as long as it see’s a valid Context section and Action section with a Primary assignment of blank. If you simply add the “tags” with no data, then MSFS will overwrite them or erase the profile. So this edit will ensure that MSFS won’t overwrite the profile, delete the existing tags, or delete the profile all together.
So that’s it. Edit the offending profile and add the highlighted items, and you’ll be good to go.
You can now use this modified “null” profile for whatever you need. Rudder/FSUIPC, etc…etc…
This is definitely a PITA, and some of you will want to wait on Asobo for an official fix. And that’s fine. I get it. It became a pet project for me and I didn’t want to stop investigating until I found something that works