Thrustmaster MFD Cougar controller with CFS2?

[RichNagel]

Hi Folks,

I just bought the Thrustmaster MFD Cougar Pack set of game controllers ( http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/mfd-cougar-pack ) which I was HOPING that I could use with CFS2. As a user of the old QuickShot MasterPilot eons ago, I was excited to find that there was a modernized version of that piece of hardware.

The Thrustmaster MFD Cougar is a USB device that is recognized in Windows as a 28 button game controller. I can test the buttons in the Windows Game Controllers control panel and they work fine. I've also tried it in several other games (as well as under the DOSBox DOS emulator), and they all recognize the controller buttons without any issues. I've even been able to program buttons using the utilities "AutoHotkey" and "JoyToKey", and they also recognize the controller's buttons. Lastly, I also use the addon module "FSUIPC" in CFS2, and it ALSO recognizes the buttons while in CFS2.

BUT, CFS2 on it's own doesn't seem to recognize the MFD Cougars. When I go into the controller assignments options within the game, they are NOT displayed in the "Joystick Types" dropdown box... hence I can't directly assign the controllers' buttons within the game. I could use AutoHotkey or JoyToKey to manually program the buttons, but you know... that's a PITA.

Any idea of what could cause this? I've never seen a controller that CFS2 wouldn't recognize.