hidgamemap.sys has issues that needs to be addressed ASAP

[sherisdoppel]

Recently, I've been getting freezes on controller related apps or a few games with native controller support.
After an incredible amount of extensive testing, I found out that one of the "devices" from the Device Manager showed up as hidgamemap (which I found multiple instances of it) that was responsible for it:



All of my connected devices are already blacklisted on reWASD. There are only two controllers I use for reWASD and they are not connected (nor it was one of the responsible devices).

When I open "Game Controller" window (part of Windows), it would freeze for 5 ~ 20 seconds before it becomes responsive for only a few seconds then keep freezing again.
This is the window I'm talking about:



Playing a game called "AVGN Adventures" can also freeze at every menu transitions (or death) due to this. Some other apps also tend to freeze as well.

I have about 9 hidgamemap devices, and only one of them caused it. I disabled it on Device Manager and I stopped getting freezes across games and apps.

So, what exactly was that one hidgamemap device that reWASD decided to filter through?
Well, I can tell you it was a USB DAC that had nothing to do with controllers. It's a DAC I use for my headphone amp and my speaker system.
reWASD's driver has no business with such devices and should not interact with it. It's a mistake that can happen to a lot of developers. I've seen some keyboard software (Corsair) that comes with these "gaming keyboards" doing the same thing.

As an additional test, I disabled all of hidgamemap devices and it seems to have also improved some game's performance issues. It looks like more there are of hidgamemap devices, more it is taking microseconds of it.

Please update it so things like this can never happen. Thank you.

[Star-Lord]

Hello,
Thank you for your post.

1. The Hidgamemap is not a device - it is a filter driver that reWASD uses. If you disable it you break reWASD. The driver is assigned in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contr ol\Class\...\ LowerFilters) which is an all HID classes common registry. So, the hidgamemap assigns as the filter driver for different HID devices classes like mouses, keyboards, controls, etc. However, the driver doesn't assign to unsupported devices class, let say an audio class as reWASD doesn't support audio devices and doesn't affect them.

You mentioned that you have 9 HID devices. Each of these devices has a Hidgamemap filter driver as mentioned above it's assigned as a filter for different device classes, so 9 devices = 9 Hidgamemap filter drivers instances.

I wouldn't recommend disabling all devices as you do not know which device is. It is better to check the driver's stack at first to understand what other drivers besides the Hidgamemap driver are active (Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers then select the appropriate device - > Properties - > Hardware - > Properties - Details - > pop down menu - Device stack.).

So, regarding the USB DAC device, how is this device reported itself? Open the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers - > Properties - > Hardware and check how many Device Function to use see?

Also to better understand the connection tree, open the Device Manager - > find this particular device and sort by connection (View -> Devices by connection) to see completed devices tree.


2. "When I open "Game Controller" window (part of Windows), it would freeze for 5 ~ 20 seconds before it becomes responsive for only a few seconds then keep freezing again" - that is a weird behavior as reWASD doesn't affect it at all. It's possible that other installed software (utilities, tweaks, other apps drivers) do an impact.

What Xbox controller is on not joy.cpl screenshot, the physical Xbox, or virtual created? Does it happen repeatedly or from time to time?
Does it reproduce after the PC reboot?

[sherisdoppel]

Hello, thank you for your response. Yeah, I meant it as hidgamemap filtered devices.
I disabled all devices just as a test for a brief moment only. 8 of them are recognizable controllers I use (KB, Mouse, game controllers, etc.) and 1 of them was my USB DAC. I've been using this USB DAC long before reWASD for years.

The controler you see It's a physical Xbox 360 controller, but I only took the screenshot AFTER all of the testing. I only took it to better illustrate which UI I was talking about.
The freezing happens with or without any controllers connected to it at any given time. Right after coldboot, restarts, you name it. Only if I disable that device on Device Manager, it works without any problems.

[Star-Lord]

Hello,

I see. We need to see the driver's stack of the USB DAC drive then. Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Devices and Printers then select the USB DAC device - > Properties - > Hardware - > Properties - Details - > pop down menu - Device stack.Take the screenshot.

And take the screenshot of the Hardware ID in the same pop-down menu to see the device's VID\PID

Also to better understand the connection tree, open the Device Manager - > find this device and sort by connection (View -> Devices by connection) to see completed devices tree.

Thank you.