MSFS Controlprofile Backuptool

Hi together :slight_smile:

Ive developed a little Backuptool for Control Profiles. I know, they are usually very safe in the cloud. But it still happens that people lost a lot of time due to corrupted profiles.
That made me build this app, mostly for myself but i tend to share it with others. Why not. It can be also used to share profiles i guess.

For this i would look for a few more people who are interested to try it out.
Its my first app for Windows since ages, so i would be happy to get some feedback from users with different systems.

The app has following features:

  • make a Backup of all your profiles with one click (actually a bit more for the first time, since one has to set his profile folder first)
  • find all your profiles and easy open the folder containing them. On Steam they are all in the same folder but on Store/Gamepass every folder contains 1 preset only and the folders have cryptic names.
  • Revert a current profile to the backup profile

Like said, if you are interested, let me know and i will send you the app.

It will be free anyway so please only PM me if you really have a bit time to report back. You wont be the first to test, i just need 1 or 2 more before i post this on flightsim.to or something.

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Where can the app be found???

I will post the link here either tonight (EU central) or tomorrow. I want to make one more test and also that interested people fully understand how it works, before using it. :slight_smile:

Yesterday I had a strange problem we my controllers:
Got a Thrustmaster TCA Sidestick and Quandrant some days ago.
Tested on A320. Excellent
Tested on a C172. Excellent.
Changed some buttons on a copy of the default profile. Excellent
Changed from Pilot Buttons to Captain buttons position. DISASTER.
New profiles showed up, could not recover anything. Had to reinstall the original drivers and redo the work.
I will check it again and make some tests but a tool like this would be fantastic.

Cloud save folder? Local save not cloud save :wink:

The idea is okay but it’s not for me. I always make backups manually because I trust myself more than external programs and cloud services :smiley:

Control Profiles are part of the cloud saves, at least for Gamepass and Store Users. :slight_smile: They are in a folder that is getting synced with the cloud. So i called it cloud save folder.^^

The reason i made it is that for those parties userbase, there is no visible clue on what is a profile and what not.

We have 20+ folders with letters and numbers, with files inside that again only have letters and numbers. So if one has a lot of profiles, one has to open dozens of folders and files in editor, to see where the control profiles are.

They may are called 2BBAD45174D54B8FABBC4C4E186949B5 with files insde like 4D3DFA1FEA254970AD703341CDB79AE9. No file ending, nothing.

The app does it with 1 click.
Not only that, you can see the names of the profiles (as they show in Sim), as well the folder its in.

But of course, only few people will find use. Thats why i mentioned it was more for myself, because it was faster to build app, compared to reset over 20 profiles again.

Im fully with you, i even want that as few people use it as possible in fact. Especially if they never have had a problem with it or are not fully sure what they do.

PS: the app has 2 functions. Better said 3.

  • help identify control profiles for gamepass/store users
  • backup them easily
  • revert to a backup profile

So there are parts where not really a lot can go wrong. Its only the revert function that has to be trusted. Of course one can do that part manually too.

“Changed from Pilot Buttons to Captain buttons position. DISASTER.”

What you mean with pilot to captain buttons? :slight_smile: I have that hardware too.

What i had one time, with the Boeing version, that double profiles showed up because i had rudders plugged into the yoke first, then into throttles. That messed things up too quite a bit.

Seems one can share profiles in msfs 2024 easier, that will be nice.

swap top buttons on sidestick. Right to Left hand.

Hi :grinning:
I’ve been looking for such a tool for a few years. Please let me know how I can have my hand on it.
Kind regards,

Ah is see. I’ve never tried that yet. It can be wonky yes,. overall.
I have no driver installed for the A320 Combo, it works without the same.

I’m afraid the tool might not help with such cases, because one can only revert single profiles that already exist. Driver battery issue are out of reach :frowning:

Hello :slight_smile:
Ive really hestitated to post it and still do. But i think it should be ok now. Ive really done quite a few things to make sure ppl understand how it works/prevent wrong usage. But they have to read, that what makes me a bit scared tbh. Only thinking about myslf here, i rarely read readme files. But you have to here.

Only use the reverting as last resort if you lost your profiles. That rarely happens, so there is nearly no reason to use this app for anything but creating the backup for such a case.

Steam users please read the last part/disclaimer carefully. Dont use the app if you dont understand that you are a test subject more or less ^^

There is a readme included, PLEASE READ IT carefully before you use the app.
This readme will show you how to find the profile folder and explain other important things.

There are some things you HAVE to understand (this wont make reading readme obsolete btw!):

  • Always only revert the profile via this app. If you have created a backup with this app, it will copy all files in its original form into a single folder you choose. You cannot simply use one of those files and put it back into the profile folder for technical reasons. It will surely not work on Store/Gamepass MSFS like this (because the way how cloudsync works), not sure about steam.

  • The Sim has to be CLOSED when reverting a profile

  • This means you have to select a current profile in the app and then the backup profile you want to bring back in the next step/section. The revert button will then write the contens of the backup file into the current/selected profile. So in the end its a content swap, not anything else.

I have added various safety mechanisms but the end user is responsible, please understand that. I check for following things:

  • if the scanned file has XML content with DEVICENAME tag the app counts it as profile.So in theory other games profiles can be shown if you have selected a wrong folder. This is especially for Steam users, where the Sim probably only has numbers and letters in the folder name in Steam. MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT FOLDER.

  • i check also if you select 2 different hardwares when you are reverting a profile. Like you have a Yoke profile selected but intend to overwrite it with a Throttle profile.

  • i make sure you cannot backup into the chosen original profile folder since this can mess things up. Still make sure you are outside any MSFS folder whn backing up profiles!

  • a copy of the original file is placed into the chosen backup folder with the extension .OLD.

  • as a last check, when reverting i make a copy of the original file you have chosen and put it with file extension .OLD into the backup folder. So eventually you have more files in the backup folder than in the original, just keep this in mind if you wonder why.

PS: I dont think anyone should use this if hes not really into how things work. If you are a new user or dont know much about folder structures and WIndows overall, please be aware you use it at your own risk. If someone is following the readme, everything will be good. But if someone just blindly does things, maybe not.

Important Disclaimer:
The actual revertion of a profile in Steam HAS BEEN UNTESTED!

Me and multiple people tested it for Gamepass/Store version and someone has also tested the overall flow of the app with steam files. But i dont think he actually reverted an existing profile, only testing files i gave him.
So im not sure what the steam cloudsync says, if it finds a profile created outside the Sim.
But since it works for Store/Gamepass MSFS i would assume it does on steam as well.
Maybe you will get a popup or something, asking you if you want to use current or cloud saves? I guess just dont use it until someone tried it. I cant, i dont have it.

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