I have actually had success using a program called devreorder to deal with the issue. It runs whenever Windows runs.
Hmmm, i didn't have any luck with that. Does it have a GUI finally?
Admittedly I find once i get my three encoders and one wheel into place, windows stops changing the order each boot. But when i reconfigure things it's be nice to be able to re-order the devices.
On my main cab I would say yes for the most part it has worked fine. It does not have a gui at all. And yes if I unplug something or accidentally turn off one of the ports on the USB hub Windows goes and screws things up for sure and I end up having to rework things from time to time. Fortunately this doesn't occur very often (i.e. I move anything around etc) at this point.
I do agree with Howard_Casto that this is still a problem. It is a Windows issue which is annoying as hell and you would think would be a simple fix at the OS level.
At least for me with the driving cabinet there will be the wheel (g29) and the pedals and shifter will be attached to it. The only other USB items that will be attached to the computer will be a receiver for a KB/mouse and that's it so I don't expect too much trouble there. Of course it would be great to have what Howard is working on as I would definitely prefer a different shifter and perhaps even pedals at some point but as we know that would be multiple USB items which may or may not be an issue.
Again if I was 100% convinced that a full Fanatec set up would work properly with old school arcade games I would pony up the funds for that instead of the 29.
My project is continuing though. Cockpit is complete and ready. I am still working on games/PC but moving a long. I have lots of games on the PC now and running/launching from LB/BB which is good. Games are playable via KB but not wheel yet as I haven't cracked it open. Hope to get the cockpit in the house next weekend and once in the room I can mount the wheel/pedals/shifter etc and get to work on game configs with the wheel. As I understand it this will take a bunch of my time since I need to do every game one by one and test and tweak many times over (unfortunately). I wish there was a database/spreadsheet out there where someone had a list of the games and decent starting point for settings/configurations but such is life.
Appreciate all the comments and advice folks.