Insteon a bad choice for gamers

Quixote

Member
I've just discovered (after ripping nearly all of my hair out and throwing my computer out of the window) that all of my problems with my games are not, in fact, due to problem with any of my drivers, or a faulty directx installation. They are caused by my Insteon USB timer. Simply plugging the damned thing in completely disallows me to play any games. They will not start at all, rather giving me an error message referring to a file called dinput8.dll, which is related to direct input devices (such as some joysticks), and is part of DirectX.

Apparently the folks at Smarthome don't see this as a big deal and have instructed others to simply disconnect the device whenever you want to play games. So I guess it's now a choice of lighting control or entertainment, which sucks, but would suck even more if you want to dim the lights when your playing on a projection screen, or if you happen to be playing when your automation software is supposed to turn on your lights on a timer. It's bad enough that my roommate has to listen to the warzone going on in the living room, but now the lights cannot be controlled either. Just great.

Anyway, that's enough complaining from me. Just wanted to give everyone a warning in case you were thinking of switching, or if you have had similar problems and are at your wits end.
 
From what I have seen it's only a problem when using other directx (direct input) usb input devices such as a joystick.

I have games that do not use a joystick that work just fine with the powerlinc installed.

I'm not sure what the precise technical issue is but I have done some directx and direct input programming and it may be a more complicated issue with directx. It's not that uncommon.
 
Quixote,

Thank you for the feedback. In regards to your concern the webpage clearly states:

"Using PowerLinc USB & PowerLinc Controller with DirectX Input Devices
It is advised that you unplug your PowerLinc when playing games that use Microsoft's DirectX system while using USB input devices like joysticks."

I have had the same luck as johnnynine when gaming and have not had to unplug my USB PLC, everything works as it should.

--Edit to correct spelling.--
 
Actually, I have no joysticks attached to the machine yet. The USB devices that I am using are as follows:

-USB-UIRT (infrared device)
-ATI Remote Wonder I
-Belkin USB Bluetooth Dongle
-Z-Board Merc USB Keyboard (no device specific drivers installed)
-Logitech G7 Cordless mouse charger & receiver
-Triplite UPS
-USB Insteon Timer/controller (sometimes)
 
Quixote said:
Actually, I have no joysticks attached to the machine yet. The USB devices that I am using are as follows:

-USB-UIRT (infrared device)
-ATI Remote Wonder I
-Belkin USB Bluetooth Dongle
-Z-Board Merc USB Keyboard (no device specific drivers installed)
-Logitech G7 Cordless mouse charger & receiver
-Triplite UPS
-USB Insteon Timer/controller (sometimes)
Wouldn't matter sir. As a former games programmer myself, I can tell you that games can still be impacted if the game uses the DirectInput component of DirectX, regardless of whether you have a joystick plugged in or not. Most games that are using DirectInput also use it to communicate with a mouse. DirectInput enumerates all devices that it thinks are input controllers, and I'm guessing the device drivers for the PLC cause it to appear as such a device.
 
That why I run a seperate Homeautomation server.... I could not imagine playing FEAR on the same system that was controlling my lights and music. With the prices of a decent computer so low it doesn't make much sense. Add a KVM switch and share the monitor, keyboard and mouse if you want.... but keep the PC seperate.

IMHO

John
 
I can see that there is a wealth of information regarding this problem here. Would any of you more seasoned veterans know of any possible solutions, aside from changing my directX files or unpluging the device? Perhaps there would be a way of patching a file to ignore that "input device"? Sorry if I'm grasping at straws...

Thanks!
 
jwilson56 said:
That why I run a seperate Homeautomation server.... I could not imagine playing FEAR on the same system that was controlling my lights and music. With the prices of a decent computer so low it doesn't make much sense. Add a KVM switch and share the monitor, keyboard and mouse if you want.... but keep the PC seperate.

IMHO

John
I may end up doing that, but only for the lighting. The rest of my automation (mostly security and HTPC stuff) has to be on my main system, since I can't afford another UPS and all of the other stuff that I would need, plus the media pc is in my living room with the rest of my entertainment system. That would be a last resort though, because I'd rather not have my automation system span 2 machines. I like everything centralized. My second machine hopefully will only be used for downloading/uploading (torrents, etc) to reduce the load on my main PC.
 
Xpendable said:
I can tell you that games can still be impacted if the game uses the DirectInput component of DirectX, regardless of whether you have a joystick plugged in or not. Most games that are using DirectInput also use it to communicate with a mouse.
This also includes the keyboard. I don't know that the games I play use directx input for keyboard input but I would assume they do as it's a fairly easy interface to get all kinds of keyboard information. (they definately do use directx for the 3d renderering though)
 
The answer should not be use another computer.

It should be we (smarthome) know there is a problem and will fix it.

I use my Zwave interface on my computer playing battlefield 1942 :)
 
Another tidbit of information.

I use an external USB 2.0, 500GB hard drive for backups.

If I try to do a backup with a USB 2414U connected I consistently get 'delayed write failed' errors. I'm using a 2.6Ghz P4 with 1.5GB of ram and a 512Mhz FSB. I'm guessing the computer is fast enough as I have actually had a backup going while burning a CD on another USB 2.0 drive. No problems there.

The PLC seems to be a bit of a USB resource hog. This was actually a very minor complaint for my use (once I figured out the problem). It is yet another thing in the HA world to be aware of though.

Ken
 
Has anybody seen this problem with the serial version of the Powerlinc (2414S)? If not, this is a good reason to stay with the plain old trusty serial interface (if you have the available ports).
 
johnnynine said:
This also includes the keyboard. I don't know that the games I play use directx input for keyboard input but I would assume they do as it's a fairly easy interface to get all kinds of keyboard information. (they definately do use directx for the 3d renderering though)
Yep, I forgot to mention that. I always felt that DirectInput was very easy to use, so I always used it in my own stuff, even if I was doing all my rendering through OpenGL. I'm sure not every game uses it, but I bet more do than not.
 
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