Simucube 2 True Drive software feedback thread

Simucube 2
1527

That’s pretty much true though, it is old and obscure. Still an amazing game :smiley:

In the end I don’t understand some of the critique. It confuses me a bit that most of it falls into a generalization of x was promised (dunno if thats true) but isn’t there yet, or there have been little updates past year compared to others. Both say little about the current state of TD but more about expectations that are rightfully/wrongfully maintained. In the end to me it feels like TD works fine and I’m not sure what features are broken or blatantly missing.

For me TD works fine, gives me plenty of tuning options and I don’t necessarily need an ever continuing search for bigger better faster in the ffb department seeing the current state of feedback. It would be cool, absolutely but knowing it’s a game of diminishing returns I understand it’s not the biggest priority at this stage where the feedback and tuning opportunities are already at a very high standard.Bug fixes, yes of course. I might be wrong though, Im no expert and looking at Mikas replies there might be more in the pipeline long term now that they have rewritten the baseline to make it more future proof. It might be there are huge gains still to be in made, would be a nice surprise :slight_smile: Let’s just say that compared to my Fanatec experience I’m very pleased sofar.

As for actual feedback on TD, yes I would also like / understand the wish for an offline only option (before registration) eventhough I wouldn’t use offline mode myself. And some sort of introduction profiles would be awesome (in the sense of here are some test profiles giving different results, ffb is personal so we stimulate you to experiment yourself). I think shared setups is great, it acknowledges that there is no 1 right setup and stimulates users to try different setups from others to see what kind of ffb fits their style.

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1528

No plans doesn’t mean that it would not be a good idea. However, the benefit of doing it must be known when committing to such effort. Also it would add complexity to end user experience, as there is no way to detect automatically when a non-wireless wheel is changed.

Auto ULLM would need to get somehow information on the internal operation of the game’s physics engine. Without making True Drive some type of automatic debugging or spying tool, it is not possible. But it is possible to calibrate optimal ULL setting for different games, to be implemented with a dropdown selector or something. But then people would complain that the setting slider is removed…

Well, everyone is doing these kinds of things. Your browser is doing it for the browser manufacturer, and also to third parties via cookies. Our technical device data collection is opt-in, and also it doesn’t have any user identifiable data. Recently, we removed the profile settings data as we can just analyze how Paddock is used, when we need such data.

This was not the reason. The real technical reason was to get real data on how much power is used by sim racers using the devices, which then enabled us to optimize the device design.

And, regarding Richard Burns Rally’s test function: Yes, its still unknown to us what it actually is doing, and we don’t have RBR installed at our office. But bumpstops were reworked after that video was made.

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1529

All the discussions here read a bit like Paddock being used as an excuse to re-discuss old points.
It doesn’t surprise me either, since such discussions usually occur when software is revised. As a software developer, I can, unfortunately, speak from experience.

But instead of just saying what is bad, it would certainly be better and more constructive to discuss certain points with suggestions for solutions.

I haven’t had my Simucube for long, but I understand why some here defend the Classic Interface.

So please excuse me if I raise certain points that may have a long history I don’t know.

Access to force feedback settings
In True Drive Classic, settings could be adjusted much more quickly than is now the case with Paddock.
However, the problem could be solved quite easily in which the Online Profile is not the default tab.
Furthermore, it would be more convenient if when I click on my profile, I would be taken to the old Classic setting. Maybe extended with some online features like description and in-game settings. Although I have to say that a description and game settings are practical anyway.

Settings
To make settings a little more transparent for beginners like me, it would be helpful if all parameters had an explanation of what exactly this parameter does and how it affects the behavior. Long store short. Maybe it’s possible to add the explanation from the user manual to the software. :thinking:

Online profiles
It would be great if a few filter settings could be saved, such as the selected game. That way I wouldn’t have to set the filters every time I look at what’s new when I started True Drive. :slight_smile:

It would also be great if the online profiles were accompanied by a point indicating which type of steering wheel was used to create it. Since, for example, the diameter is very relevant.

@designamk1 Maybe you can support me here if I got your point correct and make Paddock more enjoyable for you.

I can confirm that. I tried a few profiles before Paddock and could not understand at all how you can drive in such a setting. :rofl:

You all are doing a great job @Mika and I am really happy to be a Simucube owner. :smile:
I also like that I can be part of such open discussions.

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1530

The end goal is not to show the native Windows dialog for tuning settings, but instead allow tuning via the sliders that are visible on the online page. We need to work out the page layout to be just a bit more compact and figure out a way to scroll the page into its correct position automatically, etc.

Yes, this is planned. However, we do not want to “hard-code” the explanations into the application. They would be difficult to maintain, too much work. Instead, we have a project where we will publish the PDF user guide as a modern web page which can be updated more easily and which is not limited to physical page layouts. A button next to a slider would pop up a web browser window (either computer default or integral to True Drive) that would open directly on the correct position of the user manual.

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1531

ULLM is one of those filters that I dont mind to lose if It is automated or calibrated “InHouse”, no ones knows how It works, we work with it by testing and thanks that It is 20 steps only…

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1532

Explanation: if a simgame isn’t capable to send ffb info to the Simucube in an acceptable timeframe (or fast enough) ULLM is fastening this so that the Simucube potential isn’t wasted. If your tube provides water but only very slow then adding a help to speed up would be ULLM, so to say. Think I know what it does😂 and the 20 is not defined officially afaik. Could be %, power (not force!), Compress ratio like MP3, filtering out some details to speed up. Assume is company secret (protect what you achieved in years or it get copied within seconds)

1533

Really? You can speed up servo but if entry Signal is delayed, you can’t do much to solve It, just fake the signal.

Im just pointing out that Thanks God only 20 steps are available to test and find the sweet spot, imagine a Slider with 100 steps, you need one whole day to figure out your best ULLM

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1534

Never thought much about it, but I assumed the ULLM to be a simple predictive algorithm.

I didn’t play with it myself, so if it is such an algorithm, I don’t also know how much it could potentially cause exaggeration in the final output.

I can easily be 100% wrong in my assumption.

The reconstruction filter, I assume also has a predictive algo in it, and I have felt this to produce exaggerated output, as far as I remember.

It could possibly be the same algo, but used in both places. The order in which the filters/algorithms are applied has not been posted anywhere, I think.

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1535

Thank you, you are very kind, but I would have preferred an answer from Mika. Don’t I deserve Granite’s attention anymore? I have to be satisfied with your answers. Thanks again

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1536

It is for the large portion of potential customers and new Simucube 2 racers that are looking at the extensive settings list with no idea what to do. And we have customers and potential customers that do not want to tune any settings, they rather just try different ones. The profile sharing feature enables all this, and eases the sharing of profiles for everyone as people do not need to screenshot-share their settings anymore.

And the other reason, as explained, was to leverage the web technologies and move large amount complexity away from firmware and PC software to a modern web application.

There has not been any outrage from this apart from a handful of (always the same) people on the forum. If this becomes a real larger issue, then we must reconsider.

Is there a single simulator that you play on your own computer right now that would not require an internet connection to install?

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1537

Mmm just all games released before PS3, are this games old? Yes
Are this games Obsolet and not played anymore?
No

SC2 is a PC wheel base, not PS4-PS5 wheel that only works with contemporary games. Thats the very reason the competence is one step ahead, they know how Microsoft Midtown Madness games works, going through Midnight Club, GP4, RBR, GTR…

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1538

That small minority also known as the ‘Grumpy Gang’ :joy:

Poll

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1539

surely that’s not a nice way to call the most active guys on the forum.
and as you can see here above, 71% isn’t the definition of “a handful of people”.

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1540

Looks like the second option was the winner one

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1541

The poll was flawed, as it was published after initial arguments, which caused group think and people to vote based on just the arguments that were presented in the posts that happened directly before that.

1542

I’m fairly sure % won’t be much different if the poll was made today

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1543

That’s a poor way to try and explain away why you completely ignored the result and went down a route that was already predetermined way before that poll was announced. You quickly shut down the poll and the thread once you realized it wasn’t going to go the way you had expected.

There certainly wasn’t any group think from me. I didn’t like it then and still don’t.

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1544

I just listed some things that would be missing from the offline mode to make it stand on its own as a minimum product with no online interaction at all.

Missing features:

  • profile creation
  • renaming of profile

Other non-important things

  • ordering of profiles (order would need to be separately saved… unlikely that we would implement that)

And after we scrap the old windows dialog to tune settings, the todo-list would include

  • a local version of the web application that shows tuning sliders and allows to adjust settings.

and the end result would be that we would have offline mode with separate Windows application functionalities and separate offline version of the profile editing web application to maintain for Simucube 2 and also for our future new products. Almost duplicate of all the features, exactly the thing we want to avoid…

1545

I think it’s naive to pretend online requirement would be a showstopper to not consider SC as a wheel for someone. I think you most likely need internet connection to get one in the first place.

My personal preference at this point when I have more or less satisfying settings implemented in my wheel is that I don’t really care. If it’s online, that’s fine, if it’s offline that’s fine too. If I started to tweak my wheel now, I would definitely have preferred online.

Also customers who actively participate in manufacturer forums are “certain kind of” customers, they may or may not be typical customers in every sense. I think Granite has other ways too to get customer feedback than just these forums, through their resellers for example.

Anyway, for me dismissing online requirement is more of a luddite way of looking at things, if/when implemented well, no one would care in this day and age if it needs occasional internet connection or not.

1 Like
1546

ULLM is helping also when a profile uses different filters together (damping, friction Aso). Each filter is adding some latency. Using a filter is nothing but adding or removing or adjusting the incoming signal and that is done by processing. The amount needed can cause latency. ULLM acts between the Simucube and PC and the goal is to lower the latency from active filters.