ffbclip with Fanatec CSW 2.5

JoshOz · Oct 27, 2020

Hi there,
I recently upgraded all my sim equipment to Fanatec and have a question regarding the force feedback strength in AC.

I have the ffbclip app and use it to set ff strength on a per car basis. Due to the increased torque coming from the CSW 2.5 wheelbase, I’m trying to set the force feedback for each car as best I can. My question is about how ffbclip works when you first start driving. When I first start I usually set the force feedback quite low, around 45-50 but when I first start driving the steering feels very strong and heavy but then lightens up as I drive. The problem with this is I’m not sure if this is just how the ffbclip is supposed to work or if it’s something else causing it. In other words, is this normal behaviour?

Can someone please offer me some info about setting force feedback in AC on per car basis in regards to ffbclip and whether this is the best way? Is there a better way?

Thanks,
JoshOz.

Pfalzdriver · Oct 27, 2020

Sounds like you are using FFBClip with dynamic FFB. Myself I'm using an quite old version of FFBCLip, v4.3.3, with the settings as shown in the picture.

JoshOz · Oct 27, 2020

Pfalzdriver, I know the setting you are referring to and I’m definitely not using it. I have tested with dynamic force feedback and I never use it. One way of describing the issue is like if your car had super grippy tyres then all of a sudden they were worn out and your steering could slip around a bit. Not the best analogy but that’s all I can think of. I know from reading the ffbclip info page there are three figures that represent what the app is doing and it sounds like the app does some calculations to control your force feedback. Maybe that’s all that’s happening.

Pfalzdriver · Oct 27, 2020

Sorry, never examined such a behavior myself, and I'm using the CSW2.5 since ... no clue. At least a couple of years.

But personaly I dont let FFBClip run for a very long time. Maybe one or two laps at a GP-track. After that I either have a proper force feedback strength, or I'll adjust it manually. But in 99% of all cases it fits.

The only thing I could think of would be the enhanced understeer effect. You dont have that one active, dont you?

JoshOz · Oct 27, 2020

Pfalzdriver said:
But personaly I dont let FFBClip run for a very long time. Maybe one or two laps at a GP-track. After that I either have a proper force feedback strength, or I'll adjust it manually. But in 99% of all cases it fits.

Pfalzdriver, would you mind expanding on this comment. I have ffbclip running all the time with the option 'run in background' selected. I thought this was required???

Also, I don’t have the enhanced understeer effect selected.

Pfalzdriver · Oct 27, 2020

So you're running the newest or one of the latest version. The option "run in background" was introduce with afair v5.1 or something like that. With my pretty old version, v4.3.3 as I already wrote, the app doesnt need to run all the time. As soon as the strength goes static, time to disable the app.

The set of apps shown on that picture of mine is the ones I use to setup a car, except the render stats. No clue why this one was active. During a race I use a complete different set of apps, and FFBClip isnt active within this set.

Maybe you should save your current version of FFBClip and give the old version a try. I had to reinstall AC from scratch a couple of weeks ago and accidently installed the newest version of FFBClip. I didnt liked it at all, so I went back to v4.3.3.

replicaz1427 · Oct 27, 2020

What is your understeer setting on?

JoshOz · Oct 27, 2020

Thanks for that response and info Pfalzdriver. So as it turns out, if I disable ffbclip and just use the default force feedback app (Kunos) things seem much better. From this experience it appears as though ffbclip does some dynamic feedback trickery even if dynamic is set to OFF. I think I'll leave ffbclip disabled for now and see how I go. Hopefully this will help to normalize force feedback a bit.

JoshOz · Oct 27, 2020

replicaz1427 said:
What is your understeer setting on?

Hey replicaz1427. I've got the understeer setting switched off. Is that the only setting for understeer and how much difference do you think it makes to steering?

Tassos · Oct 29, 2020

Try the suggested ffb clip setup at the end of my post settings here:

T300 SUPERB FFB SETTINGS 2020 (with CM)

Hi Guys, After having the T300 for over a year now (which I love), I tried, as all of us, to find a superb FFB feeling to my liking, which is not brutal, but strong enough to feel even the slightest road / track anomalies, or when passing over a curb to feel it quite nicely. I tried all the...

www.racedepartment.com

Indeed as you say the dynamic mode confuses you (goes from hard ffb to soft very quickly) . So try to set it up as I suggest and then play with the ffb slider in ffb clip to adjust per car
(I tend to adjust the majority of the cars, at around 75%). Maybe this will help you. I have a different wheel and this might not help at all, but why don't you try it out?

Deleted member 963434 · Oct 29, 2020

biggest problem is current ffb technology is just too primitive, its early technology and yo never feel same as real thing i tell it for some time now. its just force feedback and yo real steering wheel is not connected to sim car front wheels 100 %. i told abous it in my other thread. yo never get same feel as real life cause whole ffb technology is shieeeet... yo can only match it as close to real thing as yo can, as yo personal feel its good.
current sims gives yo weird forces and oscillations, and too strong forces snapping yo wheel of yo hands. it should be as in real life force to turn the wheel should be around 4,5-6,5 NM force, but when goin over kerbs it should be around 40nm but not snapping wheel of yo hand just vibrating wheel. and we have with current ffb technology force to turn wheel when goin 100 kph 6 nm, but when going 300 kph we have 15 nm thats a big joke xD devs think the faster yo go the harder to turn wheel and its the opposite.
dont think abous ffb too much boy i tell yo, cause either settings yo make it always be wrong cause of how current sims ffb working its all wrong as fo....k

Deleted member 963434 · Oct 29, 2020

its in real life car wit no power steering as i feel its around 15 nm to turn when goin below 15 kph, but when im going 90 kpg it feel like 4-5 nm. and devs think its opposite, when yo goin in sim 15kph yo have force of 4-5 nm but when goin 90 kph yo have 15 nm force thats a big joke i tell yo i drive opel corsa 1999 wit no powers steering

Deleted member 963434 · Oct 29, 2020

faster yo go wheel easier to turn, and oppiosite slower yo go wheel harder to turn, sims have it opposite slower yo goin wheel weaker, faster yo goin wheel trying to break yo arms

Deleted member 963434 · Oct 29, 2020

iv tried ffb clipp app earlier at my older wheel t500rs, now i have dd wheel
but i tried it an it sets 80% at nordcschleife cause force gt so big at fast speed it made me clipping so it lowered to 80%, but at slower tracks it set force to 90% cause turns were slower and i not clipped that much, so yo have different strengts at different track in SAME car thats not how real thing works LOL
in real thing yo have same wheel strengs in car ALWAYS, force not change between tracks WTF? problem is sims devs think faster yo goin wheel become harder to turn LOL so at fast tracks when yo goin real fast force is bigger and clippin and clip app lower that force, but at slower tracks when yo goin slower force not so big so clip app not reduce force so much so yo have giher gain then. and it become at faster tracks yo have bigger force and at slower tracks yo have weaker force in SAME CAR. car is car and shall have same force always, not depending on track. i tell yo sims have so bad ffb. it shuld be yo let yo father drive in sim he drive cars for more than 30 years and he sit in sims and he cant drive lol that made me think theres something wrong wit sims ffb.
only thing yo must do to wait till ffb improved and it simulate real cars correctly, cause current ffb works more like simulating horse drawn carriage than real car xD

Deleted member 963434 · Oct 29, 2020

yo know what i mean simulating horse drawn carriegae LOL?
yo goin fast and yo turn right fast, horse reacts to yo turn and turns, but its feedback yo feel weird oscillations with strong forces trying to snap yo wheel of yo hands, look how jimmy broadbent drive it makes me mad, fo//......ker go straight and he turns wheel right left right left always when goin straight , he trying to catch center but oscillations so big he cant, in real car yo goin 300 kph turn right an release wheel and it straighten, in sims yo goin 200 kph and yo must no turn any way yo just let off wheel and it goes crazy turning right or left and yo crash. there nothing yo can do boy... yo just must wait till devs improve ffb technology cause today its nothing like real wheel connected to front wheels , sad but tue

JoshOz · Oct 29, 2020

Tassos said:
Try the suggested ffb clip setup at the end of my post settings here:

T300 SUPERB FFB SETTINGS 2020 (with CM)

Hi Guys, After having the T300 for over a year now (which I love), I tried, as all of us, to find a superb FFB feeling to my liking, which is not brutal, but strong enough to feel even the slightest road / track anomalies, or when passing over a curb to feel it quite nicely. I tried all the...

www.racedepartment.com

Indeed as you say the dynamic mode confuses you (goes from hard ffb to soft very quickly) . So try to set it up as I suggest and then play with the ffb slider in ffb clip to adjust per car
(I tend to adjust the majority of the cars, at around 75%). Maybe this will help you. I have a different wheel and this might not help at all, but why don't you try it out?

Hey Tassos, thanks for that. Interestingly, since I stopped using ffbclip and just set my force feedback with the stock app, I seem to have a more consistent experience. I don't usually set my force feedback very strong so I wouldn’t think clipping would be an issue. Is that all ffbclip is really useful for, to detect clipping? If so then maybe I’ve been using it wrong all this time because I always had it active with the 'run in background' option. Also, coming from a Logitech G920 to a Fanatec CSW 2.5 is a massive jump for me and the overall force feedback is much more consistent.

JoshOz · Oct 29, 2020

dario993 said:
yo know what i mean simulating horse drawn carriegae LOL?
yo goin fast and yo turn right fast, horse reacts to yo turn and turns, but its feedback yo feel weird oscillations with strong forces trying to snap yo wheel of yo hands, look how jimmy broadbent drive it makes me mad, fo//......ker go straight and he turns wheel right left right left always when goin straight , he trying to catch center but oscillations so big he cant, in real car yo goin 300 kph turn right an release wheel and it straighten, in sims yo goin 200 kph and yo must no turn any way yo just let off wheel and it goes crazy turning right or left and yo crash. there nothing yo can do boy... yo just must wait till devs improve ffb technology cause today its nothing like real wheel connected to front wheels , sad but tue

Wow dario993, you were busy writing those replies! I read all of what you said and I can see how it relates to sim racing. Without getting off topic too much (seeing as my original post is simply about ffbclip), I only drive modern cars with power steering and the closest thing I've driven to a sports car is my VW Golf GTI. I would love to know how steering works in racing cars like GT3 and also high end sports cars going around a race track. I can imagine dedicated race cars have much more raw steering and probably not as easy as a luxury sports cars.
Also, I agree that it seems some sim racers think high levels of force feedback equates to high quality. I don't know why anyone would want to struggle with a steering wheel, either in a game or in real life. I did watch a video on YouTube that describes how force feedback should be firm but not difficult to operate. That’s how I like to set mine.
Anyway, I’ll just use the stock force feedback controller for now and only use ffbclip for detecting clipping.

JoshOz · Oct 31, 2020

Hey everyone,
Following on from my original post, if I wanted to reset all my cars' saved force feedback settings, what file would I need to delete or empty. I noticed when I save my force feedback setting using the default app it reports it has saved the setting to 'controls.ini' (I think?). The reason I’m asking this question is because Fanatec have a recommended force feedback strength setting for the CSW 2.5 in Assetto Corsa and there is a default setting you can set in the force feedback settings within Content Manager. Then when you start with a car that hasn’t been altered it uses this setting. I’m wondering if this might be a good idea. Does anyone know how to reset the force feedback settings and do you think this would be a good idea to try this?
Thanks.

Deleted member 963434 · Oct 31, 2020

JoshOz said:
Hey everyone,
Following on from my original post, if I wanted to reset all my cars' saved force feedback settings, what file would I need to delete or empty. I noticed when I save my force feedback setting using the default app it reports it has saved the setting to 'controls.ini' (I think?). The reason I’m asking this question is because Fanatec have a recommended force feedback strength setting for the CSW 2.5 in Assetto Corsa and there is a default setting you can set in the force feedback settings within Content Manager. Then when you start with a car that hasn’t been altered it uses this setting. I’m wondering if this might be a good idea. Does anyone know how to reset the force feedback settings and do you think this would be a good idea to try this?
Thanks.

its in
C:\Users\[yo username]\Documents\Assetto Corsa\cfg\ file named user_ff.ini delete this file ac make new when yo start