Actually, although USB is hot swappable, I would not do it. If using Virpil devices, unplugging them while energized could brick device. Hmmm, would you unplug your 2,000-dollar tv while on? I never unplug anything while PC is on, and pull power cord before disconnecting any devices, including my USB-C hub. Yes, could cause issues, even if only 5VDC, voltage is voltage and amps too.
I appreciate that, however that’s not always up to choice. If I switch off my wireless mouse or headset, or plug either of those devices in to charge then a device connect/disconnect is triggered which causes MSFS to freeze and crash.
At this point I touch absolutely nothing on my PC or MSFS whilst in flight because who knows what will trigger MSFS to crash, even VFR map is completely unstable. Want to check out the scenery to your left and right? Don’t bother, it’ll crash.
But as I say, it’s not always our choice and in those cases where a device battery dies and disconnects, or plugging in a mouse to charge, it would be nice to not suffer an extreme and ridiculous consequence.
The solution of assuring no devices are plugged in or unplugged during flight is not a real solution. As others have said, many of us have wireless keyboards, mice, or headsets that have autosleep features that can’t be turned off. I know for me personally I have a Corsair wireless headset that if I simply take it off my head it goes into a sleep mode, which then causes a CTD. This issue needs to fixed as soon as possible with no exceptions.
I use Samsung Ear Buds + at night flying. If I walk upstairs, the buds lose Bluetooth connection, sometimes having to be re-connected, but the GAME never CTD"s over it, so something else is causing this I think, and since I cannot duplicate your issue, I don’t got clue.
The issue is caused by, as described, USB connect and disconnect events. Nothing bluetooth related since my mouse nor headset use bluetooth to connect. It does not matter what device it is that triggers this. Neither the devices nor the drivers are faulty. Having tested just now, this even happens on the installation process.
Given MSFS is the only game to crash as a result of this, it’s blatantly obvious the issue lies with MSFS and how it handles disconnect/connect events. No amount of reconnecting TrackIR in other games like DCS result in a freeze and/or crash.
I think you actually need to disable power saver for any USB device - this was making my Saitek panels cause CTDs. (I used SPAD next to make the changes for me).
As for for my wireless game controller I use for the drone camera, well it has to stay connected with a cable.
I agree this sim is pretty touchy with USB devices. But I dont know if its the sim, the PC or the OS any more. I’ve had more USB issues since W11 but have always had some for a very long time. Even my old FS PC with W10 did not always recognize all my devices on bootup. I have better luck booting up the PC then switching my devices on 1 at a time. Yes I learned early on, DO NOT reset a usb device with this sim running. Even a USB device such as a Saitek panel that the sim itself does not recognize can cause this sim to CTD.
Seems to me it might be better for the sim to scan for devices when we start the sim and then just monitor the devices it recognizes. Instead, the sim seems to be constantly monitoring ALL usb ports and trying to assign a profile to any port that changes state. Sometimes that actually works but usually it causes a CTD.
This game is totally unusable for me. I must have spent over a day of cummulative time staring at the loading screens - only to CTD a few seconds into flight… if I get that far.
I’m going back to GTA to take out my frustrations!
My solution was to spread out all my USB peripherals on two powered USB hubs.
No more CTD after that.
The strange thing is that I ran everything off one hub for a long time without issues, but suddenly MSFS started to crash repeatedly.
I run 6 powered usb hubs with 27 devices. It took me a while of trial and error to figure out what devices will live together on what hubs with this sim and W11. CTD’s were a thing of the past till this week. now I crash to desktop multiple times a day while flying in this sim. and its only when I run fs2020, all my other sims run fine. just saying ur not the only ones, Im sure they will address it.