Devices
The Devices tab of Configure > Devices lists everything plugged in as RigReady recognises it. It is where you give devices names, find out which physical device is which, see where each is plugged in and which setups need it, and learn whether HidHide is hiding something from your game.
The list
Game controllers come first: every USB device that Windows classes as a game controller, or that DirectInput lists. Each row shows the name (yours, or the one the device reports, with the reported name in smaller type when you have named it), where it is plugged in ("Port 2 on USB2.1 Hub") with the port numbers from the computer down ("6 › 4 › 2 › 2"), and the vendor and product ID. Chips mark a device that is Hidden by HidHide, one of several identical devices ("3 identical · told apart by serial"), and a device Needed by a setup.
Other USB devices (keyboards, mice, headsets, screens) are hidden until you choose Show. Hubs are on the USB map.
Between the two, Needed by a setup, not connected lists devices that some setup's checklist needs and that are not here, with which setups need them and, when RigReady has seen them before, when and where they were last plugged in.
Opening a row shows its details:
- Name, with Name it or Rename. A name is shown everywhere in RigReady: on the Play screen, in the bindings pages, on the USB map, on the racing pages and in the health check. Leave it empty to use the name the device reports.
- What it is and Used for: the kind of gear, and whether you use it for flight, racing or both. Each list starts with what RigReady reads by itself. See Say what a device is.
- Reports itself as, the manufacturer, Vendor : product, the Serial number or "none", the Instance path Windows uses.
- Recognised by: vendor and product ID; the serial number when there are identical devices; the USB port when identical devices have no usable serial (moving it to another port then changes its identity); or the DirectInput instance ID for a controller with no USB device of its own.
- Plugged into, with how many hubs deep it is. At four hubs the row warns that it is one short of the USB limit; at five, that it may stop working.
- Game controllers: the DirectInput controllers that belong to this device, each with its axes, buttons and hats and its instance ID. A wheel base that Windows lists as two controllers with the same name is explained as built that way, not a duplicate.
- Needed by: the setups whose checklist has this device.
- HidHide, when it is installed: whether the device is on the hidden list.
Under the details: Test inputs opens the input tester on this controller, Show on USB map selects it on the USB map, and for a device with DCS bindings, DCS bindings opens them. A device check in a setup is described under Checks and fixes.
Find a device by pressing a button
Find a device at the top of the page listens to every game controller. Press any button, move a hat, or move an axis a long way (small wobbles are ignored) on the device you want to find. The banner says "That was <name>", the row is highlighted and scrolled into view, and when the device has just one unit the name field opens so you can name it on the spot. Find another repeats; Cancel stops listening.
The same thing is in the command palette (Ctrl+K, "Find a device"), from any screen: it listens for 20 seconds, names the device, and opens it on the Devices page.
Say what a device is
RigReady reads the kind of gear from a device's name, and whether it is flight or racing gear from its maker. A home-built controller, a board that reports only the name of its chip, or gear from a maker RigReady does not know tells it neither. Some names say too little as well: a stick that is not called a stick. Open the device's row and choose:
- What it is: stick, yoke, throttle, pedals, wheel, shifter, head tracker, button deck, display unit, panel, headset, keyboard, mouse or something else.
- Used for: flight, racing or both.
The first line of each list is what RigReady reads by itself, with where it comes from ("Keyboard, from its name", "Flight, from its maker"), or "Not known". A choice is stored at once. Choose the first line again to take your answer back.
What you choose decides two things:
- The picture beside the device: on this page, on the Play screen and in a picture of your rig.
- What a new setup ticks. A wheel, or anything used for racing, is ticked for a racing game and left for you to tick for a flight sim. Gear used for both is ticked for either. A device you say is sim gear is proposed even when Windows does not list it as a game controller. One you say is a keyboard, a mouse or something else is listed with the other USB devices and not ticked.
Setups you already have do not change. Your answer is kept in RigReady's own data folder, for the same device a name is kept for (see Identical devices). It stays on this PC: a shared setup does not carry it.
Identical devices
Several devices of one model are normal on a rig: three MFD frames, two identical panels. RigReady tells them apart by serial number when each unit has one that the others do not share. Some makers give every unit the same serial, often "0"; then the port the device is on is what identifies it, and the row says so. Keep such a device on its port.
When identical devices have no usable serial, Windows also does not say which DirectInput controller belongs to which unit, unless the controller itself reports its USB device. The detail then lists the controllers of all the twins under each of them and says "RigReady cannot tell which of these controllers is this one. Use Find a device and press a button on it."
Names follow the same rule: a name is stored with the model, a unique serial when there is one, and the port as a hint. A device keeps its name on any port when it has a unique serial; a port-identified device keeps it on that port; and a single unit of a model with a single stored name is matched even after it has moved port.
Device history
RigReady records where and when each device was last seen, in its own data folder, whenever the list changes and when it quits. A device that a setup needs and that is not connected is shown with "last seen yesterday 21:14, port 2 on USB2.1 Hub (USB path 6 › 4 › 2 › 2)", both here and on the Play screen, so you know which cable to look for. When another unit of the same model is connected instead, the row says so, and whether the setup wants a particular serial or a particular port.
From the Play screen, Diagnose on a device item opens this page with that device, connected or not, and says which setup and which item it came from. A device is not found goes through what the check can say.
Plug and unplug notifications
While RigReady is in the tray and its window is not on screen, it can show a Windows notification when a device is plugged in or unplugged. Events within a second are told as one notification ("5 devices connected"), and a device that drops out and comes back is told once as "dropped out", with a note that a loose cable or a busy hub can cause it, rather than once for every drop.
The Notifications panel on the Devices page, also in Settings under Device notifications, has four choices: Game controllers (the default; sticks, wheels, panels, and anything a setup needs), Only what the current setup needs, Every USB device, or Off.
HidHide
HidHide can hide a device from every program that is not on its allow list. RigReady reads its state through HidHide's own command line tool and never changes it. The HidHide panel says whether HidHide is installed, whether cloaking is on (and whether inverse mode is on, where the listed programs are the ones that cannot see hidden devices), how many connected devices are on the hidden list, and for RigReady and for each setup's game whether it is on the allow list.
A device check on the Play screen fails with Hidden by HidHide when cloaking is on, the device is on the hidden list, and the game the current setup launches is not on the allow list. The details say to open HidHide Configuration Client and either untick the device on its Devices tab or add the game on its Applications tab. If cloaking is off, hidden devices do not matter and nothing is reported.
When the input tester shows nothing for a device that is hidden, the reason is usually that RigReady itself is not on HidHide's allow list; the panel shows that too.