PC1 Setting up FFB in PCARS and disabling masking forces??

Colt Roers · Jan 11, 2015

I have been part of PCARS near the beginning but am just only starting to try and play it..been busy loving AC.
Having said that the FFB is a mess in default config. I have looked in all the forums and can't seem to find a simple, dummy explanation on what all the FFB settings actually mean in real terms (relative adjust gain, per wheel movement, scoop knee, etc.)
It is very frustrating and trial and error for the last 5 hours hasn't gotten me anywhere.
I would also love to know how to turn off the masking forces in game and what exactly mz, sop lateral, fz, etc. all mean in real world terms.
If anyone can help even in the slightest or point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance and happy driving!

DrJustice · Jan 11, 2015

To understand the FFB tweaker parameters, and now also the FFB parameters in the setup screens, I'd recommend reading pCarsFFBGuideTopology3.pdf.

Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz are the forces picked up by the front wheels which acts on the spindle. The spindle arm is connected via the tie rods to the steering rack, and so the sum of these forces propagate to the steering wheel. Fx is the longitudinal force, Fy is the lateral force, Fz is the vertical force and Mz is the self aligning torque.

To permanently control the force effects mask you can make a default FFB tweaker file. It's easy to do and is explained in detail on WMD how to do this, as is the finer points of the FFB system in general. You'll also find complete sets of tweakers for all cars, the ones by Jack Spade being quite popular. You can have a look for yourself in the pCARS Game Controllers sub forum.

martinsalat · Jan 11, 2015

here are the 2 ffb tweaking threads http://forum.wmdportal.com/showthread.php?6198-The-FFB-parameter-tweaking-thread, http://forum.wmdportal.com/showthread.php?7806-Custom-FFB-Tweaking-Files-Post-Yours-Here and a link to the tweaking guide http://forum.wmdportal.com/showthre...INATION-CONFIG&p=738985&viewfull=1#post738985
ninja'd

Colt Roers · Jan 12, 2015

Thank you guys a ton! I will get to reading these posts. So was I maybe reading an older post when the guy was speaking about pulling up a FFB menu while in the sim and alter or disabling masking effects?

David Cordell · Jan 12, 2015

Colt Roers · Jan 13, 2015

David Cordell said:
You still can use the F1(on keyboard) menu to turn off FFb masks but you must add -gold to the launch options in steam. Go to your list of games in steam and right click on Project Cars and choose properties and then click Set Launch Options on the General tab and then type in -gold

Ok that is very helpful! I. Still a bit confused about these ffb tweaked files...are they basically FFB settings in a folder that we will be inserting into the PCARS common files on th c: drive?

DrJustice · Jan 13, 2015

^ Yes, that's exactly what they are. The tweaker files go in:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Project CARS\FFB\

(You may have to create the 'FFB' folder)

You'll find lots of such files here, including Jack Spade's ones.

Edit: I've PM'ed you a tweaker file to control just the force mask (we do not post tweaker files or documentation outside WMD). A tweaker file only needs to contain the parameters that you explicitly wish to control.

Tobias Liesaus · Jan 15, 2015

since a few builds, the FFB is very good out of the box (imo). i dont need any tweaker files anymore...

Stefan Mizzi · Feb 4, 2015

Tobias Liesaus said:
since a few builds, the FFB is very good out of the box (imo). i dont need any tweaker files anymore...

Really!?

I tried it today after a long absence from pCars and was shocked at how little feedback I was getting in my wheel, especially under braking or skidding. Yeah, of course I tried different cars and ffb tweakers to make sure but I could not feel much. It used to feel much better in the past...I really don't understand whats going on there

bmanic · Feb 4, 2015

Copy and paste from one of my posts (these settings are going to be default for most wheels anyhow in a matter of builds but you may want to try them before that):

1) Delete your profile
2) Delete any FFB folder and all the FFB related .xml files you may have installed (like Jack Spade's or somebody else's FFB tweakers)
3) Start the game
4) Calibrate your wheel and pedals (make sure you calibrate the wheel to read exactly 900 degrees of rotation)
5) Go into the wheel settings (the upper middle tab called CONFIGURATION) and make sure you have FFB Strength at 100, FFB damping at zero and remove all dead zones. Set pedal sensitivity as you like it.
6) Go into the lower right corner called Calibrate Force Feedback
7) Find and set the following options:

Dead Zone Removal = 5
Dead Zone Falloff = 10 (should be already set to this by default)

Relative Adjust Gain = 98
Relative Adjust Bleed = 10
Relative Adjust Clip = 96

Scoop Knee = 70
Scoop Reduction = 15

Make sure you exit the menu and then immediately exit the whole controller preferences menu again to guarantee that the settings are saved (they don't always save!!! EDIT: at the moment they are bugged. When you restart pCars you have to set these settings all over again!

)

Oh and make sure your Logitech Profile FFB strength is set to 100% or less.. NOT the common community setting of 107%. If the FFB is too strong for you now then use the Logitech Control panel to lower the overall strength! Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT lower any FFB forces in pCars.. not the strength one and not the tire force one.

Then select a known good car, like the Atom 500 v8 and drive it on a track that is known to have complex track details.. like any of the laser scanned tracks or Besos or Watkins Glen.

There is a bug that causes the Calibrate Force Feedback parameters to reset when you start pCars again!! You need to set them every time you restart the game! <this bug has now been fixed and will probably be in build 926>

bmanic · Feb 4, 2015

Also worth noting:

I usually set most cars FFB like this (in the car setup menu):

Spindle master scale = 36 (defaults to 26 which works well if all Fx,Fy,Fz and Mz are at default 100)
Fx = 46 (it actually becomes a value of 45.99)
Fy = 56
Fz = 48
Mz = 100

Stefan Mizzi · Feb 4, 2015

Thanks mate, I'll give them a try tomorrow, I really hope they'll work

Stefan Mizzi · Feb 5, 2015

OK, that's much better thanks! However I had to open f1 menu and enable Force Mask for Braking as otherwise when I brake I dont get anything transferred to my wheel.

Something else which I could never fell in pCars is when skidding....for example, let say your going fast into a long corner, I dont feel that force in my wheel, or lets say when drifting....I feel nothing. I also tried to smash myself into a wall and my wheel did not react when hitting the wall.

Do you get all these feedbacks in your wheel?

bmanic · Feb 6, 2015

Yes I get all those forces. Not sure why you are not getting them. What wheel are you using? Also, I don't recommend using the F1 menu any more. It's pretty much obsolete.. besides having to run the -gold command just sucks in general because you get the silly popups and breaks/errors.

Also, which car are you driving? The FFB fidelity varies wildly from car to car (unfortunately!). I think Doug Arnao is still tweaking the spindle arm angles for many of the cars and in my opinion he has gone in the wrong direction with some of them.. so the spindle arm angle is a really important FFB parameter that you can find in the car setup menu (but only in the main game menu! Not while at the track! It's the last option in the FFB tab in the car setup). A good place to start is with a value ranging from 1000 to 1700. Basic rule is this: If the wheel feels too "tight" in the middle and you lack detail or wheel goes limp while turning you need to increase the value. If the wheel is too loose in the middle and the wheel gets progressively heavier the more you turn lock to lock then you need to decrease the value.

Stefan Mizzi · Feb 6, 2015

I have a G25 but the thing is that I dont have the same issues with other sims. Maybe pcars needs special settings for G25...

I tried the car you mentioned above. If you get those missing feedbacks then it must be something with my setup.

bunK · Mar 17, 2015

Where are my pcars profile and ffb settings located?

Andrej Svajger · Mar 17, 2015

Usualy in your my documents\Project cars folder, mine is in C:\Users\Andrej\Documents\Project CARS\profiles\default.sav

roman76 · May 7, 2015

DrJustice said:
To understand the FFB tweaker parameters, and now also the FFB parameters in the setup screens, I'd recommend reading pCarsFFBGuideTopology3.pdf.

Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz are the forces picked up by the front wheels which acts on the spindle. The spindle arm is connected via the tie rods to the steering rack, and so the sum of these forces propagate to the steering wheel. Fx is the longitudinal force, Fy is the lateral force, Fz is the vertical force and Mz is the self aligning torque.

To permanently control the force effects mask you can make a default FFB tweaker file. It's easy to do and is explained in detail on WMD how to do this, as is the finer points of the FFB system in general. You'll also find complete sets of tweakers for all cars, the ones by Jack Spade being quite popular. You can have a look for yourself in the pCARS Game Controllers sub forum.

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