Filter/Session Issue

Hi,
just a word to say i'm running into exactly the same problem except for the fact that i'm using php session
my filetr checks if some £_SESSION are set² and always send me back to the login page but if, be it on the login page or disabling the filter in the other pages on all the pages i can see all the vars with a simple print_r
this worked perfectly with ci 4.2, i have several tools working on ci 4.2 and running perfectly with exactly the same filters (well, except for the controllers names of course)
funny thing, if i do exactly the same thing as in my fulter on top of mt controller method it works so too bad with ci 4.4.6-0 the question is:m back to ci 4.2 or to the old way, a custom session helper with a mthod called in every controller methd, sounds a little sad...
have a nice day