X4 Foundations Combat Training and Hotas Inconsistencies

 I'm not sure if anybody else has had this happen, searched on Google but maybe there's a search term I'm not thinking of.  Anyway, after getting the Hotas - Thrustmaster T.16000M - set up with a good layout, it's been inconsistent with keeping the settings upon reloading the game.

For example, I set the ministick to control the X/Y strafing, and it works fine.  Saved it to the first slot.  Coming back to the game the next day, the ministick sometimes works fine, and sometimes loses the setting.  It works fine mechanically, but I have to go back into the control menu and re-set that button.

It's not always the ministick, that was just an example.  At first I thought it was loading in the original default layout each time, but discovered some of my settings were still there, just not all.  
Then I thought maybe it's because I haven't actually played the game, just been doing the tutorials.  Maybe my custom settings won't store correctly because I keep choosing "New Game", then one of the tutorials?

Short side explanation - I'm over 60, and had Covid a little over a year ago (August 2021).  Covid left me with a seemingly permanent mental fog.  Staying focused, comprehension, memory, took a huge hit and are only partially recovered at this point.  So, it takes a lot more effort to learn, and rather than jump off the high-dive right into X4, I'm running through the tutorials over and over trying to burn the controls into long-term memory.  

Usually I can only handle the concentration for a bit at a time.  Today, I made it entirely through the combat tutorial for the first time.  Have already completed the flight tutorial multiple times.  Will start the advanced tutorial now.  After that, I'll start actually playing the game.  

Back to the T.16000; while the intermittent loadout issue isn't a game-killer, it's been worrisome for the long-term game play.  Having to stop in game to re-set a missing button command messes with immersion.  Last night I saved the loadout to a second slot, hoping it can act as a backup.  Something to reload with, when the random effect strikes.  This morning, on loading up the game, everything was working exactly correctly.  Time will tell, but now I'm thinking something about slot 1 isn't saving correctly.  Saving the loadout to a new slot might have been the fix.  

I hope so, because so far that's been my only complaint about the game.  Having come from Elite Dangerous, I'm used to the general idea of space-flight, with 6 degrees of freedom.  Had to quit Elite after the Covid brain-fog, couldn't keep track of all the commands any more.  Chose X4 because the overall space-flight command set looks simpler, yet the whole galaxy/empire building aspect will satisfy my desire for complexity, while giving me time to think, plan, make decisions... and time to Google anything I can't remember on the spot.

With X4 Foundations, I can still have fun in space.  :^)