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Customisable force feedback
(17 posts, started )
Customisable force feedback
I've noticed that some people on various forums have said they can't feel kerbs and grass on LFS. I run FF at about 80 on my DFP and can feel them a bit. If I turn the FF up I can feel them more, but the steering becomes way too heavy. It would be good to be able to adjust the steerring weight and bump feedback separately, or at least move the emphasis a bit more towards feeling the rough stuff. It would also help on the Rallycross tracks which feel too smooth IMO.

(PS - If it's already possible and I'm just being a numpty, could someone please tell me how! )
The strength obviously controls how much force you feel but the ffb in lfs is generated by calculating the force from the front wheels this giving accurate ffb. So i don't know if it can be changed in any way.
Also I am not to certain on how smooth or rough the kerbs are in lfs.
The rallycross issue is just down to the tracks being far too smooth in the first place.

As stated, due to the way FFB works is LFS, it can't ever be adjustable. There's simply nothing to adjust (other than overall strength).
#4 - col
Greboth is right, there are no 'canned' FF FX in LFS, all the feedback comes from the front wheels... if the tyres, shocks, suspension setup work together with the angle of the car with respect to th curb mean that hitting the curb doesn't cause twisting force in the front wheels, you won't feel the curbs (think about it).
In a real car, you would also feel the bumps through the seat of your pants as the car vibrated vertically - in lfs you only feel stuff that imparts a lateral turning force on the front wheels....
That is of course the way it should be - anything that is turning the fronts for you is somthing you need to know about to help you drive... other stuff is less useful, so would just get in the way.
Maybe if you developed a Force Feedback cushion, you could get Scawen to output vertical forces on the car that your FFCush can use... until then, just enjoy the great LFS FF as it is

Col
Ok, so what I really want is bumpier kerbs!

Points taken, gentlemen. I certainly do enjoy LFS very much, it's the best driving sim out there by a country mile. I'm just thinking that but if the kerbs are bumpy enough to make car vibrate visually, then surely I should be able to feel that vibration through the wheel. No? Maybe the ff motors aren't sensitive enough to render it.

Frex do a feedback cushion I believe. A vibrating cushion! The idea of it sounds rather perverse. I've also seen advertised force feedback headphones. Whatever next.
Quote from Hammerdown :I'm just thinking that but if the kerbs are bumpy enough to make car vibrate visually, then surely I should be able to feel that vibration through the wheel. No?

Not really.

Yes, you can see the car vibrate (even more so if you make slight adjustments to the "head movement under force"), but that vibration is strict up/down movement of the whole car. If you were in a real car, you could feel the vibration in the wheel, simply because it would vibrate up/down relatively to your position. However, FF wheels cannot vibrate up and down, only left and right. LFS does not send any forces to the wheel that aren't there (there is no left-right movement just because you drive straight over bumps), and this is why you feel nothing even if the car shakes heavily.
#7 - col
Quote from Hammerdown :I'm just thinking that but if the kerbs are bumpy enough to make car vibrate visually, then surely I should be able to feel that vibration through the wheel. No? Maybe the ff motors aren't sensitive enough to render it...

I'm not sure that you understood what I was saying

It doesn't really matter how bumpy the curbs are, if your direction of travel is perpendiculuar to the curb ridges, and you are not turning (not much anyway), the curbs just make the wheels vibrate vertically... this doesn't make the wheels twist, so it wouldn't try to turn the steering either... that means you won't feel it through the wheel !

If you approach the curbs at 45º, particularly if you are also turning at the time, you will be much more likely to feel the bumps (assuming there are bumps on that curb .

Personally, I feel the bumps when I expect to , and don't when I don't - it all seems right to me.... my wheel is the old Logitech Wingman Formula Force 'old red' it only has about 180º turning circle, but the Force feedback is cable driven - much better than any geared or belt system I've tried...

I have the force turned way down, but I still feel curbs if I hit them at an angle so they 'grab' the wheel that hits them.
i agree with col here, i have the gameport msff and i use about 30-50% force and i can feel everything, any more force and its just nuts, the whole desk shakes and the monitor keeps jumping, kinda realistic
turn the main force slider of your dfp up to ~103-105 and see if it helps
I think it would be nice to simulate adjustable power steering. Nothing canned about it.
And what would that achieve? Less FF feel in a little different way than simply reducing FF strength right now? Would be a waste of time, IMO.
Quote from Shotglass :turn the main force slider of your dfp up to ~103-105 and see if it helps

I'll try it some time, but I've got a dodgy shoulder at the moment!

I understand what you mean, col. I'm trying to think if the wheel jiggles over rumble strips in real life, or whether I'm just imagining it. Maybe more kerb noise would do the trick!
I agree, "tyre impact sounds" would be a good improvement.
Quote from Hammerdown :I'll try it some time, but I've got a dodgy shoulder at the moment!

It's best to keep the profiler setting at around the 103% mark, and then reduce to your tastes within LFS. This is because LFS reduces the for linearly, while the driver reduces forces more at the center, so excessively reduces feel when driving in a straight line (this is to make the limits of FFB technology on shitty wheel less obvious but ends up just making things worse, especially on 900 degree wheels).
I think I catch your drift (so to speak! - been doing a lot of that today on the XRT, Blackwood reverse ). You mean set the Logitech control panel wotsit to 103% force and then set LFS to whatever feels right? Why 103% out of interest? I think I've got it 100% at the mo, which seems logical.
The Logitech drivers have a built in non-linearity of the forces, meaning they artificially reduce/dampen the forces around the centre of steering, in order to prevent wheel oscillation. Apparently setting the force slightly above 100% in the profiler gets somewhat rid of this behaviour.

Setting it to 150% is not recommended, as this does the opposite of <= 100% behaviour, meaning it exaggerates the small forces at the centre. This then leads to funny mystery forces, like your wheel violently shaking due to LFS' engine vibration
Just tried it, and yes it does feel a bit more 'connected' in the straight ahead position. Thanks.

I'll have to try it on 150% sometime when I'm bored, just for a laugh!

Customisable force feedback
(17 posts, started )
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