xmbc sends wrong signals as if different layer is used

[dispalo]

XMBC Version : 2.18.5 and since using XMBC, which is a year now
Windows Version: 10, but customized (lots of features deactivated)
Mouse Information (brand/model): Sharkoon's Drakonia
Computer Information: Ryzen 5 2600x, X470 Gaming Plus Mainboard, 16GB DDR4, GTX 1070Ti
Did the problem occur after an upgrade of XMBC?: Before and after, stays the same
Did the problem occur after a Windows update/upgrade?: Before and after, doesn't seem to make a diff
How long have you used XMBC?: 1 year
What language and keyboard layout do you use in Windows?: german keyboard, german windows, english xmbc

Clear description of the problem: My xmbc setup uses different layers, that changes all buttons on my 11buttons-mouse, including left and right buttons and the wheel. The following bug shows approx every 3 weeks and it happens suddenly and without me knowing why.

Suddenly and as long as I don't shut down xmbc, my mouse sends wrong signals as if a different layer was activated. I can use the "roll"-key to temporarily deactivate xmbc, so that I can restart everything. But I have to shut down xmbc and restart it to have it work properly.

Problem cannot be reproduced, it happens without warning. ONCE I was able to reproduce it. When my Thunderbird email programm wanted to update and windows asked me, if I allow the program to make changings to the system. I did not want to do that at the time and denied. The moment I clicked "no" xmbc showed the following bug. I tested this several times. I cannot test it again, because my thunderbird is not supposed to update. But usually it "just happens".

[phil]

Hi, this is going to be a tricky one to narrow down if it only happens infrequently.
But I wonder if the UAC prompt to update (was it a UAC prompt?) is significant - because when that UAC propmt is shown, mouse hooks are disabled and maybe XMBC is missing something important thats confusing it.

Can you setup a global hotkey to turn on debug logging (like CTRL+D or something) and when it happens next, toggle on debug logging and press a few buttons - then send me the log file? It might help show what the internal confusion is (but of course, it wont catch the initial cause - before debug logging was turned on so it might not be very fruitful).

Regards,
Phil

[dispalo]

Thanks for your answer.

I don't know what you refer to with "internal confusion", but I am pretty sure it's the middle button that is activated. If that is helpful and I am sure it isn't.

I have literally no idea how to go to (windows) debug mode without a restart. Just googled it, but no one seems to mention it.

Originally I was thinking about creating a shortcut to a bat-file that simply restarts xmbc. That would make a time loss of 1.2 seconds and I can live with that. But I can't close the program without knowing the process id, which changes every time I start it. You see, I tried to do a workaround before coming here. XMBC works incredibly well and any sudden weirdness COULD be part of my overly customized windows. So why bothering anyone here. That is what I thought. But I my computer nerdness has its limits.

[phil]

OK, I don't want (and didn't ask) you to put Windows in debug mode! What I meant was for you to setup a global hotkey in XMBC to toggle XMBC debug mode on and off. So when it goes wrong, you can toggle debug mode in XMBC - where XMBC writes lots of relevant & useful (and sometimes useless/irrelevant) information to the log file.

That way, next time it goes wrong, you can hit the hotkey and turn on XMBC debugging - and maybe something in that debug log will point me in the direction of any problem inside XMBC (but maybe it wont help - I wont know until I see it.

Another thing to try, rather than restart XMBC, does disabling XMBC and then re-enabling it "fix" the problem - I suspect it will. You can do this from the XMBC context menu and you can also setup <another> XMBC global hotkey to toggle XMBC enable/disable too (and you can do it from a batch file if you really want to).

XMBC Global Hotkeys
Global hotkeys are setup on the XMBC Settings window using the "Global Hotkeys" tab (you must turn them on in there too before they will work, and another thing to note, the hotkeys only work when the main configuration window is NOT open). Choose a key combo that is not used by anything else. I use CTRL+ALT+D to toggle debug, and CTRL+ALT+E to toggle enabled.

When you have set these up, next time it goes wrong, simply hit CTRL+ALT+D to turn on XMBC's debug logging. Then click a few buttons (that will not work as expected) and then you can send me the XMBC debug log (you can open the log file on the Logging & Updates tab in XMBC settings.

Regarding my comment about internal confusion:
Oh and by internal confusion, I mean XMBC is getting confused (internally). As in, the state of tings as it has remembered is no longer valid or something, because, potentially, the state changed when XMCB was unable to listen to hook messages (such as a UAC prompt).

Regarding restarting XMBC:
You can restart XMBC from a batch file really easily. Just use the XMBC command line arguments <path to exe>\XMouseButtonControl.exe /exit and then run <path to exe>XMouseButtonControl.exe --- But this should not be required if the global hotkey to toggle enabled/disabled also works around the problem.

You can type also run <path to exe>XMouseButtonControl.exe /? to see a popup with all the command line arguments.

Thanks,
Phil

[dispalo]

Uhm... wow. Thank you for all the effort

You gave me a lot to work with and I will write again in 2 days to 1 month when it happened and when i tested everything.