DirectInput effects

Hi all,

We are thinking about doing a round of fine tuning for DirectInput effects, as they seem to have been neglected for too long.

I will be adding to this list of things to check/fix, but please comment/edit the wiki post below.

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Effect implementations

Friction effect

  • may cause the wheel to turn in some cases
  • scale could be better for adjustment
  • in Dirt Rally 2 with Friction at anything above 50% wheel pulsates (making small back and forth movement) with beeping sound when in game menu

Sawtooth effect

  • has wrong implementation (didn’t work correctly in Raceroom when it used that effect)

Square wave effect

  • might also have wrong implementation (causes the non-working effect in City Car Driving)

Other things:

  • Not published what titles are using canned DirectInput effects.

    • Should Simucube make & keep up a list? Remember that it is work that will be taken out of other development efforts.
      Opinion:
  • if you start a project to reanimate those fine-tuning direct filters you should at least make a list based on information coming in. It doesn’t make sense to invest work time in something you don’t know where it is used and how much it is used. IMO the decision to work on this project (or not) should be based on this very list. If you know there are only
    2 or 3 simulations have implemented it, and these are very old or unpopular simulations, you also know if it is worth spending resources.

  • It’s very annoying to set an exact number with the mouse.

    • Please suggest another method below
      Suggestion:
      • offer to use mouse wheel to
        increase/decrease by 1 step
        equals 1%.
  • It is not easy to know if I have to check out at last page if an effect is active or not.

    • Normal user should not really care, default should be fine to use
      Question:
    • is there a way to have back the
      balloon system, where one was
      instantly seeing if an effect is
      available and also properly working
  • di effects retained after the game is closed (eg. AC with di damper)

    • this is a game issue - game does not send “clear all effects” command.

EDITED June first 2022
The following fine tuning effects are working in WRC9 and 10:
•Damping
•Feather (CORRECT NAME IS SPRING)
TD only shows circles when in edit mode! See attached photo

Edited June 8th 2022
Mouse wheel is working for DirectInputEffects. Once an effect is clicked with the mouse the slider can be moved through mouse wheel

Effects are showing up correct when available (balloon indicator empty and available/active in both WRC 9 and 10 and Assetto Corsa (balloon indicator filled).
Effects are working as expected within the scale given.

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Hello
For SC1 also ?

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Yes, if we find anything concrete to improve, then these will go on SC1 as well.

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about time. thanks Mika

Yeah, at the moment there are some accumulated comments on the effects, but little to no data on what is actually going on and what is wrong with them. I was hoping we can get a sort of “bug list” on the post above, everyone can contribute to it.
image

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Cool!
I will make time to test GIMX Device again and try to document some issues.
Wreckfest (old FFb implementation) and AM2 arcade emulaor are on my list of unsuported effects too

EDIT:
Forza emuwheel too, but if I remember correctly the problem lies on Friction Effect, as you stated, some weird phase issues and wheel turning itself when Friction enters in to play

I split the wiki post to two parts - effect implementation improvements and other fixes. Please try to remain objective there.

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Is this something we can help out on?

I would love to get DirectdInput Effects working on old SimBin/gmotor games such as GTR2, GTL, Race 07, etc. as they can provide great extra forces to improve the experience and provide more information to the driver (eg. brake vibe, ‘rolling tyre feel’ steer vibe, etc.)

Right now I have to run the whole ffb on Low level or else weird forces end up in the wheel (eg. tap another car or wall and your steering alignment goes to the left or right - it’s not damage, it’s weird ffb).

Every other wheel out there doesn’t seem to have a problem with these. I don’t understand why it’s an issue with SimuCube.

What do you need from us to make these work?

Some improvements are a work in progress. We need beta testers at some point.

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Count me in when you do

This sounds like the jolt effect. Haven’t tested those games in the last years with the SC2, but the jolt effect was annoying even with the CSWv2. I always turned it off in the .ini file (scale at 0), or at least greatly reduced it. Back in the day they had predefined profiles for the available wheels on the market, where those canned effects blended perfectly. For the direct drive wheels, I’d imagine, the default settings would be really out of sync. I have P&G and GTL installed, and that’s a good incentive for me :slight_smile: to try them with SC2.

It won’t be a wasted effort IMO. The effects are part of the specification, so it’s important that they function properly. Especially the constant effect and the various periodic effects are actively used by the sim developers. ISI/S397and R3E are using periodic effects, while others are using mainly constant, and some both. For example Reiza (AMS2) started using recently a periodic effect in addition to the main constant effect, etc.
I agree that the condition effects are not that important for the sims (most sim racers turn them off anyway :slight_smile:). But they are used in the more mainstream titles.

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Yeah, we are now improving both the USB interface and the implementing some things differently on the effect side, but lets see when we get a first beta ready. Most likely first beta will be just for the USB interface to see if it improves detection of the device in Linux and whether or not the effects still work the same with those changes, before actually going on to changing effects.

Hi all,

Does anyone know a game that uses DirectInput Spring effect these days? Even ETS2 seems to have moved on from that.

Codemasters games when on Pause and menu, iirc

Wreckfest disabling new FFB

I am quite sure WRC 9 and 10 do. But let me check out


From WRC 10!

Allright. Does the current Simucube 2 implementation of that effect work correctly, i.e. the wheel pulls towards the center?

I activated both only to show you that they are active and working. I never use them. I remember I asked you to what the “spring” effect is pointing to, for what exactly it would be for.

I can test it for you. I’m pretty sure WRC 9 has the same settings,so most likely they are also active in 9.

Please tell me what the effect should do. I can then tell you by tomorrow

Spring effect creates an artificial always-on force that always tries to center the wheel

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