Automobilista 2 Custom Force Feedback - Overview & Recommendations

Update:

* Fix engine enhancement bug that made it never be active.
A comment: The engine enhancement actually makes the engine quiet when going faster where the default keeps engine on. So it's an advantage for any wheel to have this enhancement enabled.
* Fix road details bug that made it noisier than it should have been.

This should help the ones having experienced noise lately.

Custom ffb file attached "Unfortunate Circumstances":

 

Big curbs will almost rip the wheel out of may hand...on my lowly wheel using plain old Default. This has always concerned me. If you aren't feeling curbs, isn't there something fundamentally wrong (prior to any custom file tweaking) when a bunch of us with cheap or semi-cheap wheels can feel them appropriately?

 

Just to check we are on the same page, by kerbs I am talking about the typically red and white edges to the track with a slight saw tooth profile (usually) and not big sausage kerbs that are meant to prevent you cutting the corners.

 

Oh OK. I think that a lot of people are making a fundamental error due to some games adding fake sawtooth effects to all curbs. The sausage kerbs are brutal and you can feel that through the wheel and see the reaction of the car. Actual sawtooth curbs feel exactly like sawtooth curbs to me and you get the sound accompaniment. The rest of the curbs, raised and flat, have no sawtooth--they're just painted stripes on flat or slightly raised surfaces. As expected, thet feel like nothing or close to nothing. The only thing most of those should have is a relatively more slippery surface than asphalt when wet.

Can you not feel the sawtooth curbs (there are a bunch of variations of these, of course)? Do you try driving really slowly to gauge the effect? If it's universal, it's FFB. If it's one or two, they may be missing the programming for the sawtooth edge. Evan a few sausages were missing their digital profile in the early days--you could drive right through them as if it was flat track.

 

I've looked closely at them and the effect is definitely weaker than I would expect in a number of places. Not only that, it seems to lessen the effect in some instances when the load on that side of the car increases where you would expect the opposite. There are a few corners around Donnington that seem to behave like that, where the apex has more kerb effect than the corner exit despite kerbs looking the same.

But yes, the kerb effect in the custom file is a fake effect that uses the kerb variable provided. It doesn't seem to have any refinement or variation other than how much you are on a kerb so it is pretty much an all or nothing with no accounting for how severe the actual kerb profile is.

 

Nope. With the default profile there is barely the slightest tingling from my wheel when running over most curbs. Very glad this profile added them, even if it's canned, as I personally found it very annoying.

 

This would suggest a problem. Let's pick a corner or two at Donny to test. Where is the car not still leaning away from the curb (or has returned to level) at turn exit, but is still on the curb? I can't think of any. I know at Coppice you might clip the inside curb at apex and then hit the outside curb at turn exit. I haven't paid attention to whether they are identical to each other in shape/configuration, but a single curb would be a better test (because most tracks use different curb types throughout the lap--they're not all the same, even ones on opposite sides of the same corner).

 

Yeah i think it comes under configuration settings, where all the deadzones are etc...

 

Yet they all sound the same in AMS 2. So even if curbs were working properly in terms of FFB (which they're not for many), the buzzing audio should be removed from curbs that are in fact smooth or have a different pattern on them. That would certainly help reduce the disconnect which occurs when you hear something you can't feel.

 

Update:

* G-series settings by @John Hargreaves used when selecting that wheel type.
* Fixed comment on engine enhancement to be in the right place.

Additional suggestions for values by wheel type are welcome.
G-series user: Set the wheel-type at the top in the file as described.

Custom ffb file attached "Gee, you're special":

 

Would it be possible to get a "clean" version without all the controls and variables for different wheels? Just the standard stuff, as it was before?

 

Arghh

We could possibly arrange it so these wheel type values are all overrides in a specific section and would only be used if you actually select a wheel type. Then you just can delete that whole section always, would that work?

 

As I said before, single file solution is the road to ruin

 

Don't worry about it mate. I don't want to make more work for you guys or myself, so I've decided not to mess with the FFB any further. I've got a profile which feels good, so that'll do.

To be fair, I said earlier that I think both approaches are a waste of time and a road to confusion. A single file with explanations left for the end-user to modify would have been my personal approach.

 

One example is Goddards. Inside kerbs are very noticeable and then when you exit the kerbs on the outside going on to the straight are very light even though they look pretty similar.

Another one is the inside of Redgate compared to the outside exit kerbs.

And then you have the Hollywood kerbs where as you are pretty quick and max cornering grip the inside wheels should be pretty unloaded yet the kerbs here feel as harsh as anywhere.

 

Hi @NuScorpii Unsure whether it's important, but the Kerb enhancement segment in the recent custom files being shared by yourself and @Karsten Hvidberg (from Kerb Your Enthusiasm onwards) have an imbalance between right & left for the F[L|R]_bump_sharpness values. Perhaps these should be aligned?

 

Good idea,

I happen to agree one file makes life simpler(for ourselves). But we'll see, jury's still out.

Made some changes so the file is now based on default values at the top instead & then no wheel type is selected by default.
Then only if you set a wheel type will it override those specific values as set up for it. I think it's a good compromise.
Will be included next update, no need for one right now.

 

Right you are! There are a few errors looking at it now, must have messed up on a merge along the way. I have a new feature to publish so will fix the issues here too.

 

the amount of work these guys have put in , for free, is sort of insane. you deserve a season pass or something for sorting everyone out.

 

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