SimXperience Motion Sim Series Q+A Thread

Hey guys, I'm hoping someone can throw a bit of light on my problem. I've installed Simvibe, gone through all the automated stuff and the only sims it can find are iracing and rfactor. iracing works great and I don't have any problems but when I launch rfactor through sim commander I can't get past the garage screen. The mouse pointer is visible but I can't click on anything and need to reboot the pc to get it going again.
With my other sims I need to manually place them in the software but anything running the rfactor engine has the same problem.
Any ideas and thanks if so.
 
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With Pleasure m8. Yes my original setup has been totally coverted over to Simvibe and very easy at that, and yes they now run through my second onboard sound device.

Originally, the shakers are Y split from my main sound card to the 5.1 amp.

All you now need to do is simply remove the Y split and use the second sound card for the amp/shakers ect.

But let me know where are you at. do you have shakers already setup up and working..yes/no?
Do You have two sound cards in your comp at this point, It could be an on board sound device plus an independant one like I have ect.

a closeup shaker on the side of the seat
View attachment 34081
Thanks for your reply mate,Ive ordered another 5.1 sound card and am looking for a 4 channel amp my sound at the moment comprises a Z906 500w Logitech 5.1 running from the current sound card for the main surround sound and a Aurora 500w bass shaker amp and 4 Aurora bass shakers, 2 on rear of seat and 2 on floor boards near pedals which really shake the sh**t out of everything,so I would probably like to run 1 more on the shifter and 1 under the dash so that there is some vibe coming back through the steering wheel and maybe another 2 on the sides of the seat.
What do you think.?
Shane.
 
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@shane, Everything you are doing looks the go and I can't see any setbacks that you may discover. At the time when I was looking for an amp I was lucky and found a Sherwood 500w 5.1 amp at JB's on special picked it up for $136 bucks as you can see in my videos, so it pays to do a quick browse around.

That shaker under the dash would be interesting, however I just wonder, as you can see the vibration is quite pronounced even though you may tone it down, I seem to think a constant vibration coming through to your hands which may travel through to your arms may be a bit too much, I mean see how you feel the vibration on the floor through you feet and heels, Do you think you may feel a bit num at the end at your hands. I guess you have to try it out first and see how the feedback is. As you know I have four shakers on the floor pan and geezz thats pretty heavy as I do feel it coming up to the steering as well.

One thing for sure it was a test at first but proved to be well suited and thats the four shakers on my seat. I used the example as I would sit in my car and focused excactly what part of my body was making contact with the chair. I found the two rear shakers were best situated closer to my lower back, as I call it situated at the kidneys, and the other two at the side of my thighs, this is to say that you have a body hugging race seat, and I just remembered that you have the same seat VELO. Shane that works a treat and works very well.

Over all you'll be in for a treat once you get it all together I'm sure. I just finished a 1 hr race at surfers paradise with OutlawsRacing, Had it all going strong, Motion, Sound and vibration, man I tell you in Simvibe adjusting the bumps and vertical spikes ect I felt the road surface like never before, never have I felt these effects prior to simvibe. It was down the sraight give it a go, you'll grin ear to ear.

Anyway's catch up soon...any prob's be sure to write.
 
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Hey Vito

I would love to get my hands on some shakers, do you know if this VAF have any more for sale? I am in SA this weekend. I ordered two buttkickers from Pagnian but would not mind more of these little buggers on my sim.

Your setup is stil an inspiration mate, awesomeness!
 
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Sure, all chassis mode.
And I'm loving it...still tweaking here there but just driving lots of tracks so to get an overall picuture...Having said that I came across a vibration never felt before, It was on Longford track and Barbegello....all four shakers on the floor produce this vibration so real like metal scraping the road...at first it scared me to the point I thought I broke an actuator, however slowed down so as to identify it and then it went away..lasted about 3 to 5 sec's. The only thing I can put it down to was the under floor was scaping the road surface during this hard right hand lock on the side of the track. Same occured at Barbegello and again at a hard turn where the car would be leaning ect..or it could be the front spoiler scraping the surface, but I tell ya real metal feel/vibration..This Simvibe has made me adjust my motion down...the sim just feels in unison now...an absolute joy to ride.:thumbsup:

cheers
 
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Hey Vito

I would love to get my hands on some shakers, do you know if this VAF have any more for sale? I am in SA this weekend. I ordered two buttkickers from Pagnian but would not mind more of these little buggers on my sim.

Your setup is stil an inspiration mate, awesomeness!

Thanks Bert, I'm sorry for the late reply, I'm not sure m8 what their stock levels are I hope you will be succesfull in getting some though....But please sing out if you don't make it down there....as maybe I should buy up heaps as I'm sure the community would want them at some stage...we should secure some for future purpose.
 
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Hi everyone, Looks like lots of interest in the Simvibe and many want to get in on it....that's good...as you won't be disappointed.

Since it's introduction I have had a few emails requesting my config regarding my setup so as best as I can i put together some pics and words hoping it will guide you. Please feel welcomed if you require more questions to be answered, but also please note I am not familiar with the Audio world or it's tech talk like ohms v impedence ect...all I did was learn as I went and researched various sites for knowledge.
This link was at the time to learn about Y split cables http://home.comcast.net/~davemats/bass_shakers.html However with simvibe this is no longer needed but you'll see other useful info..like wiring of bass shakers and amps .

This link was to educate myself on the Ohms v Impedence tech talk..still don't comprehend it much though but it was direction for me at that time http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm

This link was about the tactile transducer (bass shaker) itself..lots of good stuff going on in there worth getting the backround knowledged of your equipment ect http://www.baudline.com/erik/bass/tactile_faq.html

Ok on to my setup...For the sound as you know I have a Logitech Z5500 sound system, this unit plugs into my PCI-e Sound card (Creative X-fi Titanium soundcard) as you know the cables should all macth up according to colours ect..easy... pic below
P1030215.JPG

Next is the onboard sound card. Note: mine provides, six audio jacks,which support 2/4/5.1 and 7.1
P1030221.JPG
At first I had trouble getting simvibe to work. For a 7.1 config take NOTE: the SIDE speaker out jack(grey), REAR speaker out jack (black) and CENTRE/SUB speaker out jack (orange) connections are used. On a 5.1 card follow the simvibe instructions it only uses 2 connections Green and Black ..ethier way these cables head off to your amp...
P1030205.JPG
On the back of the amp (which mine is a 500w) I have an "external in" inputs, meaning..outside source..in this case from the PC onboard sound card to the amp. (Note I have not tried optical or other methods) Because of the distance from the PC to the amp I split/divided the 3.5mm Stereo cable,extended and attached jacks to suit the amp, (I picked up that knowledge from a flight sim operator, did not think you can cut and rewire those cables, turns out for me that you can, same goes for extending USB cables)
Now, if you are using 7.1 you should end up with 6 inputs at the amp..apply these as per your amp...ie: SurrR,SurrL,Centre,Sub,RearR,RearL.
If you have a second sub woofer, Note: the logi Z5500 has it's own as you know, once you get an amp you now have the option for a second sub. I have one in the front of the sim 180w and the other at the rear 100w. The rear sub gives that extra dimension and depth with the shakers...boom..boom..Lol. This sub needs to be an active sub, picked up from Cash Converters $35. and by the way, this now gives you further options, not tried it but there are 2 more connections on the active sub for speakers and shakers, potentially 4 more shakers are possible.Note in the pic the preamp straight to the woofer.
P1030208.JPG
The next pic is the Shaker connections
P1030201.JPG
Now you'll notice the amp states 6ohms front and surround. At this point I can only talk about what I learnt through research and trial and error. The bass shakers I understood them to be at 4 ohms, at first I read that these shakers tend to get a bit warm. As I was playing at my very first configuration with the volume up a bit, my shakers were getting a bit over the "hot to touch" mark. The links above is were I learnt abit about ohms and impedence ect and how to adapt them to my amp with an output of 6ohms. This is where I picked up by placing them in series, hence the 8 shakers. It proved to be worthwhile as I can spread the vibration across many sections of the sim. Once placed in this config the shakers now just reach a natural warm state with the volume up at a desired level. The amp was also getting quite warm hence you can see from my video's a fan was placed to cool this down, I still use it but really not required.
Interestingly, the nineth shaker comes from my centre speaker connection from the amp to the second subwoofer and from there to my gear stick, yet only requires one to be in line as it does not get hot at all...tech boys out there may be able to explain this...through trial and error this provided the best feedback. From the Amp to the stick it was quite mellow in operation..can't explain it.
So I guess if you acquire an amp that states 8ohm speaker output you should be ok attaching only one shaker per connection....another explanation for the tech's out there. But if your shakers are getting way hot after short use, you'll need to place a second one in series...Now I don't know how all this applys to buttkickers..only to these below
P1020843aa.JPG

I hope I have helped some way in getting your system up and running. It's possible I may have left some detail out that you may be curious about, but as I said before Your enquiry is always welcomed.

Overall, and this is no plug for simvibe, but I truly beleive it's a must have for the slighty serious simracer. It just complements the fun and excitement you expect to recieve from your chosen racing game.

Catcha ya all on track
regards
Vito:thumbsup:
 
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Thanks for that Vito.

Would you be able to give a step by step setup of the simvibe software?

Under sim device manager I have two options, chassis and extensions which both activate the transducer when I click on it. I could add an extra output mix called Simvibe Chassis and that is where all or any other settings end. When I click on the Simvibe Chassis tab it is blank inside.
Also in game I get no vibration through the transducer.

From other reviews on the software I notice quite a few extra settings which I do not have.
 
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Hi Bert, firstly have you seen the instruction video
http://simxperience.com/Portals/0/Videos/SimVibe - Adding To An Existing Sim Setup/SimVibe - Adding To An Existing Sim Setup.html
Also how many shakers are installed in your setup.?
I'm not 100% certain, but I think only one mode at a time can be used, Chassi or Extention.
I chose Chassi cause of my quanity of shakers, plus have a 5.1/7.1 onboard sound card.

Under Sim Dev Man, Output Devices, you'll see SimVibe Chass and SimVibe Ext, Tick only the Chassis, deselect Extentions if selected, Look to the right and you should see the F1 car, and you Simvibe Sound card, if not select it. ( repeat above if you just want Ext mode)

Are these the settings you are refering to.?...What are these extra settings you have seen on other reviews?...let me know so I can see where you are up to.

cheers
vito
 
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I have only one installed at the moment, getting a amp tomorrow hopefully and then install the rest. I have seven transducers to install.

I see the F1 car and when I select the green or black dots the transducer vibrates but in game I get nothing. I will have a look at your link thanks m8.

Edit: Your link did the treat thx m8
 
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Ok got the Amp, nice one too, and installed all the transducers. The amp is a 6 ohm/channel like yours Vito. Tried the colour coding of yours from the sound card outputs but could only get green and black outputs recognized by SimVibe, even though windows played all five channels.

So settled for Simvibe chassis only and got the four transducers working nicely. A couple laps into the race I started smelling something! Those babies were so hot I could not touch them. End result is doubling up on each one and hopefully that will cure the heat problem. I knew I should have bought more transducers when I was there in Adelaide. Anyway the order is placed and hopefully in a couple days I will be sorted.

One question though, these transducers have a protruding nut which makes it hard to mount. Are they suppose to be free moving or is the inside suppose to hit the mounting surface? I mounted mine on studs which means it has a nut thickness clearance between it and the surface.
 
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You see, I did miss something out..ha.....Yes you'll find that nut at the base that extends itself past the mounting positions
P1030226.JPG
What I learn't here was at the time they were installed in the theatre, there resting place had a special mount, my understanding plus my research confirmed this mount was of a "Cork" material. I did not look hard enough at hardware ect for that material, but ideally if you find it you need to make a very large circluar washer and that will do the trick.

However.....the rubber mounts indicated to me that the nut must be below the true mounting surface, pending on your material where you are mounting them, a large enough hole for the nut to sit in would be the go. In my case I was testing at the time and not ready to drill holes in my steel floor pan so filled the gap between the nut and the mounts with washers...now that simvibe has confirmed my shaker positions I will finalise this task correctly so as the shakers will sit on those rubber mounts.
So options are,
1) Create a large enough hole in the primary surface, Shaker sits flush with primary surface.
2) Create a disk of solid material square/circle your choice, with enough height to include the depth of the nut and use all mounts to bolt through and down.
On the seat however, it worked out better, My seat as with most race seats have indentations (on the Back) of various nature for strength purposes, I found spots where the shakers sat just right allowing the nut to be in free space but the mounts were all used, In my case it worked out perfect as I wanted them at my kideny position, I wasn't to sure about them at my spine or shoulder blade posi....

If you can bolt the shaker directly to the primary surface and use all mounts, This is the best for transferring the energy of the shaker to your sim....this is what I learn't the most from my doings.

Should you be in location/testing mode I would not be concerned if the nut is directly on the surface,. But once offical, use all mounts for securing.

Yes... you see they get very Hot .....this is mostly due to ethier excessive volume or incorrect amperage, volts, ohms, impedence whatever tech talk it is..Lol........anyway, don't forget to use your amp's abilty to adjust each shaker for best results, like remove all trebel, see crossovers ect, increase decimal bells...like I said before I know not much about audio but through trial & error , reading the amp manual and experimenting I reakon I got a pretty good hit of bass coming through those shakers and this was before simvibe.

Hope all is well
vito
 
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A heavy truck simulator doesn't need much FFB???? Are you serious, heheh. I have driven heavy truck for over 20 years, there isn't a FFB system in existence for the home market right now that even comes close to powerful enough to simulate the forces the driver feels :)
 
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There are times in a truck if you hit something like a large curb the wrong way, the steering wheel can get ripped out of your hands, and if you happen to have a thumb on the inside of the steering wheel at the time it will get broken. The same thing can happen if you get a flat on a front steer tire. With the stiff suspension that is required to be able to handle between 12,000 to 20,000 pounds of weight, hitting a bump or pothole causes quite a bit of pressure. Power steering does help reduce the effects some, but they are still very strong at times.
 
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Vito
At what volume are you running your amplifier?

I had mine on +10 when the amp switched off probably because of over heating.

Mine between 40 and 44. mmmm...this overheating no good.....are we sure we have them shakers in series, and that your wiring is correct....you have a 6ohm output...My amp was pumping very hot air at first, but only when one shaker per output was connected, I placed a fan on top to cool it down, but believed this is not right, then learnt I need two shakers in series to take the load...since then both shakers and amp are very stable with heat issue...none in fact.
At 44 volume for over an hour of play I would say they get just warm and touchable always., and the amp has no prob's.
 
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