Recenter my Disabled FFB Joystick

[JB_BigBossLucas]

This is my first post here, recently and FINALLY was able to buy my IL-2 BOS copy hooray!

 

I was wishing this simulator so badly, I was able to build my own DIY head tracker following these instructions, and it worked like a charm, I managed to adapt this 3DOF apparatus with to achieve a 'Pseudo 6DOF', and it also worked as planned, needless to say, that all these preparations were made in order to wait for Halloween Sales and FINALLY!!!!! buy my brand new BOS.

 

The spinning plane on the hangar view was just sooo perfect, perfectly balanced FPS vs level of detail of the rotating IL2 almost made me cry, at that point all my fears about having a low-end computer for this simulator had vanished.

 

I tried a free flight in order to adapt the keybindings to my accustomed settings, I'm flying in the virtual world since MSFS 2.0, the FPS was so good that I dared to level up a little my graphics settings, I was feeling very comfortable with those +40 FPS with that level of detail, cool flight.

 

I was ready to test my Head Tracker, so I plugged my device, made some adjustments, hoped into a Bf-109 to feel some power, and ...

 

I almost vomited! what a laggy mess when I turned my head around, no way to put my graphics settings so low to get rid of it, I was ready to divorce my wife and the game.

 

Looking forward in this forum, I was able to finger point at the face of the guilty in the stage...

 

NOOOO, My dearest friend of flights, my partner, and brother of several miles of virtual flying, .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's right my beloved Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2

 

Well, I followed all the instructions given by many people in this forum but nothing worked for me (substantially enough to enjoy the simulator), but unchecking the mighty FFB feature, the result...

I wonder if some Viagra can help my poor MSFFB2 now, it is the perfect example of erectile dysfunction.

 

So here is my question, please help...

 

 

Is there a way to run some external program to RECENTER the spring of my joystick while having the FFB unchecked in the simulator to be able to fly again at a decent FPS?

 

 

Thanks a lot, excuse my English, I barely spoke my own language, and every tip will be appreciated.

 

Your friend

 

BigBossLucas

[sniperton]

Welcome on board, Big Boss!

I guess EDTracker is OpenTrack-based, isn't it? I have a DIY IR cap with OpenTrack AND MSFFB2, and I rarely experience any issues. WIN 10 Pro, i3-6500 and GTX 1050 Ti, MSFFB2 plugged into a self-powered USB 2.0 hub.

Do I understand correctly that your game runs fine when FFB is on, but head-tracking is off?

 

PS. You may try this: https://github.com/x360ce/x360ce/issues/142

Edited October 31, 2017 by sniperton

[Dutch2]

Do I read this right

You want to disable the FFB and a centerspring effect?

 

Because that is possible by changing in the register! Only it is no FFB only the centerspring effect.

[JB_BigBossLucas]

Welcome on board, Big Boss!

I guess EDTracker is OpenTrack-based, isn't it? I have a DIY IR cap with OpenTrack AND MSFFB2, and I rarely experience any issues. WIN 10 Pro, i3-6500 and GTX 1050 Ti, MSFFB2 plugged into a self-powered USB 2.0 hub.

Do I understand correctly that your game runs fine when FFB is on, but head-tracking is off?

 

PS. You may try this: https://github.com/x360ce/x360ce/issues/142

My game runs fine as far as I don't use my head tracking device combined with FFB enabled, in fact it only stutters when looking around, if I look straight to the front I don't see any lag, but as soon as I turn my head it stutters horribly, there are plenty of discussions about this topic, but the only workaround is to disable your FFB killing the joystick.

 

Maybe your Great Titan GPU corrects the issue, my rig...

 

Win 10 PRO, AMD FX8350, 16GB RAM DDR4, Saphire R9 380x 4gb DDR5

 

I will try that "Force Test" showed in your post, and I let you know if that solved the issue.

 

Thanks a lot!!!

Edited October 31, 2017 by JB_BigBossLucas

[JB_BigBossLucas]

Do I read this right

You want to disable the FFB and a centerspring effect?

 

Because that is possible by changing in the register! Only it is no FFB only the centerspring effect.

 

 

YES!, How do I achieve that?

 

As I said, right now, the only way to correct the stuttering problem (big frame drop) when you use this kind of joystick combined with ANY head tracking device is by disabling the FFB checkbox here:

 

 

But when you disable it, this FFB joystick gets just too loosened to fly, the centering of the joystick is done via servomotors turned on.

 

I read somewhere but I can't remember exactly where there was an external program to turn on your joystick servos to recenter the spring, obviously yo loose the (FFB) effects in the game, but I don't mind as far as I'm able to fly again, with my Headtracking device.

Edited October 31, 2017 by JB_BigBossLucas

[sniperton]

It's a CPU-related issue. Your GPU is slighly better than mine, and you have two times more RAM than I do. You have an AMD which sucks in comparison to mine (http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6500-vs-AMD-FX-8350/3513vs1489), but I don't think it's the culprit. Or is it?

[JB_BigBossLucas]

Interesting finding, did you noticed the big score on gaming that your i5 has?, maybe because of the MSFFB2 old age it 'eats' the CPU, by the other hand as long as I remember my DIY Headtracker emulates a Joystick which is very suspicious to me, I will play  next Thursday, I'll let you know my findings.

 

Going to look for tips and tricks to gain performance for this simulator on the web.

[Grayeagle]

hmm.. dont know if this will help, Win10 has a way to calibrate controllers ..

 

In Win10:

 

Right click 'Start' then click on 'Run' and type in  joy.cpl  and hit enter.

You should get a dialogue box with controllers listed that are plugged in.

 

Select controller you want to check, and click on it's properties button.

Should get a test dialogue box with a calibrate tab.

 

-Frank (Windows ..it's a wonder it works at all)

[Dutch2]

YES!, How do I achieve that?

 

As I said, right now, the only way to correct the stuttering problem (big frame drop) when you use this kind of joystick combined with ANY head tracking device is by disabling the FFB checkbox here:

 

 

But when you disable it, this FFB joystick gets just too loosened to fly, the centering of the joystick is done via servomotors turned on.

 

I read somewhere but I can't remember exactly where there was an external program to turn on your joystick servos to recenter the spring, obviously yo loose the (FFB) effects in the game, but I don't mind as far as I'm able to fly again, with my Headtracking device.

Read this, if I well remember it disable your FFB, but it will bring back the centre spring effect. https://www.vistax64.com/vista-hardware-devices/188123-possible-fix-microsoft-force-feedback-2-joystick-self-center-force-disabling.html

[JB_BigBossLucas]

Read this, if I well remember it disable your FFB, but it will bring back the centre spring effect. https://www.vistax64.com/vista-hardware-devices/188123-possible-fix-microsoft-force-feedback-2-joystick-self-center-force-disabling.html

I will try it, thanks a lot!

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

I disabled FFB when I discovered that there was big difference between FFB enabled and not with Stabiliser trim in the German planes. Not sure if it is still present as that was probably 9 months ago now, but I use the following tool to enable centering forces.

 

Its called "ForceTest"

There is a link to it on this page - http://www.fs-force.com/support.php

Not sure if this is the exact site I downloaded it from.

 

Anyway, you start the game - then alt-tab and start this application. Type in values for force pitch and roll, then enable the spring centre checkbox. 

Now you have a centering stick.

Just leave it running in the background while you play.

[JB_BigBossLucas]

Thank you, hopefully with all these solutions, the thread will help more pilots with this kind of joystick, I'm going to try them all today, I fly on Thursdays.

[Bommel]

Google for "simFFB".

[JB_BigBossLucas]

I disabled FFB when I discovered that there was big difference between FFB enabled and not with Stabiliser trim in the German planes. Not sure if it is still present as that was probably 9 months ago now, but I use the following tool to enable centering forces.

 

Its called "ForceTest"

There is a link to it on this page - http://www.fs-force.com/support.php

Not sure if this is the exact site I downloaded it from.

 

Anyway, you start the game - then alt-tab and start this application. Type in values for force pitch and roll, then enable the spring centre checkbox. 

Now you have a centering stick.

Just leave it running in the background while you play.

 

 

Well I tried all your advice,  and finally the better results were achieved with this one, using the ForceTest did the trick for me, obviously, I can't feel FFB Fx, but I can fly with enough FPS to enjoy the SIM.

 

I was on an intercept mission, and this is what happened, I was impressed, hitting an enemy bomber from behind, putting my Yak -1 at just some meters behind, resulting in a rain of debris, important enough to bend my propeller. Oh, how do I enjoy this sim.

 

Thanks for your support guys

[HunDread]

I disabled FFB when I discovered that there was big difference between FFB enabled and not with Stabiliser trim in the German planes. Not sure if it is still present as that was probably 9 months ago now, but I use the following tool to enable centering forces.

 

 

 

What do you mean by that?

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

In a previous patch With FFB enabled in a 109g2 level flight required 80% nose down trim. Turn off FFB and you only needed about 50%. This affected your ability to turn hard at high G as it *seemed* the higher nose down trim impacted the amount of elevator authority.

 

I haven't retested as I'm waiting for a new non FFB stick thus I haven't turned back on FFB so I don't become dependent on it again. There was a whole thread on the issue.

 

I turned off FFB after reading about it and was amazed at the high G turning improvement. It was significant.

Edited December 5, 2017 by =TBAS=Tripwire

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

Some links

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/28917-force-feedback-center-stick-behavior-vs-spring-centered-stic/

 

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/28194-109-trim-different-ffb/

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

For those interested, I just tested again with FFB on, and the issue is still present.

 

With a 109G2

Fly with FFB on and your nose will pitch up without adjusting the trim before you even exceed 400km/h

Fly with FFB off and you will need to exceed this much more before the plane pitches up in level flight for the same default quick mission trim setting.

[HunDread]

Thank you for the information Tripwire