'SimShaker - Wheels' support thread

[=Andre=]

Here you can get help with "SimShaker - Wheels" issues and questions.

SimShaker - Wheels is a mediation software between a supported car simulation game and Gametrix JetSeat or well known Buttckicker hardware to provide immersing event driven vibration FXs (special effects).
Currently supported PC titles: iRacing, Assetto Corsa, Automobilista, rFactor 2, DiRT Rally, Project CARS, Project CARS2, ETS2, ATS, F1 2016/2017 and RRRE.
Currently supported console titles: F1 2016.

 

[Mr Latte]

Seems simple to use, I'm keen to play around with this to check out the effects, enjoyed the brief moment I had with it thus far but will be purchasing in the near future and support your progress.

Its excellent you provide a demo working for 20 mins for free.

I did find, testing with the biggest Buttkicker LFE that some of the current sound samples are very strong and a bit overbearing with the lowest frequencies. Using only between 5-10% volume to keep it at a reasonable level. I know from reading, you based the samples on the most popular BK Gamer unit, which in turn then should work pretty well with the following:

Buttkicker Mini Concert
Buttkicker Mini LFE
Buttkicker Mini LFE/SE
Buttkicker Gamer *(Tested Model)

Keen to look into playing around with or testing/generating custom WAV files. So will follow the guidelines you give and other input you can place here. All these effects are quite cool to be able to play around with and see if the community can help create/generate their own as well.

The fact that you're actually willingly, enabling and supporting "community effects generation" is refreshing and nice to see you not rely on "automation" based tuning controlled by internally set parameters to determine the output for all different tactile/shakers. Being able to generate effects listed below, to better suit individual units own characteristics and performance abilities, including the users personal preference, is welcomed and should be possible.



In time will share my own settings I used for early tests and look forward to others maybe doing the same.

 

[=Andre=]

Thank you sir!
I would just add that demo period is up to 6 times by 20 minutes.

 

[Mr Latte]

Thanks for your help via PM Andre

I have to say some of these effects feel PURE BRILL!!!
SimShaker Wheels is off to a good start...


Using Audacity For Self Tone Creation
It didn't take me long to get to grips with using Audacity to create my own (Tones HZ) and then directing them to work on the appropriate output channels. It's actually very simple to do and quick as well. So currently trying some of my own options to see what I can come up with for my own personalisation. Yet it is easy to go through as offers a superb HELP page.

For anyone trying the SimShaker Wheels Demo your own default tones settings should work well on most people's tactile.

Here is a quick overview (just based on early impressions) and some feedback from a good few hours testing with Assetto Corsa: So far I have stuck to testing 2 Channel only. Will report back on different settings I use but have found my two different makes/types of units require very different settings. (BK LFE & Clark TST 429)


Wheel slip *****
This is great to feel what the tyres are doing, too much steering angle in a corner, or too many revs spinning up the tyres it comes across very well. It actually makes you pay attention to your oversteer/understeer and throttle control.

Acceleration / Lateral *****
Great sensation when pushing into a corner at high or increasing speeds, this feels bliss and very satisfying for high adrenalin.

Acceleration Longitudinal *****
This works well coming out of slower corners and putting on the power, blends in superbly with the above effects too.

Deceleration Longitudinal *****
Another excellent effect, piling on the sensation with increased braking. Noticeable, especially after a fast or long straight and braking late into a slow 2nd gear corner. I like this quite strong as it adds to the excitment with a good working frequency.

Gear Change *****
Does what it is meant to. Feels good to me.
Easy to create a different sensation with some fine tuning of tones in Audacity.

Damage ***
Nice action with other cars but not always consistent in its usage when hitting various track barriers walls etc.

Bump Effects ***
I have found the Bump effects sensation to be a bit less satisfying so far and while its working just not getting as much detail as I'd like (in AC at least). I tried various settings and different tones, it just seems lacking in detail compared to other effects so far.

Engine Beat **
While working well enough and a nice addition, isn't for me as essential, I'd prefer something more in relation to engine rpm or speed based engine detailing than a repeating beat increasing in tempo. Although others may enjoy it more than I do.

Issues?
Did find when the car is spinning out of control the wheel slip was VERY strong. This effect I was running at a lower setting to the point it could be felt over others but in this type of instance, it was overbearing. Not sure if its related to the effects of 4 wheels with wheel spin (car out of control) being output over 2 channels when only 2 channels or 1 channel is active?

Get Stuck In Guys
Excitingly look forward to your continued work and will continue tests. Really well done on your efforts thus far with this. In general, anyone with a tactile configuration needs to check it out. Also look forward to people giving their own feedback and impressions.

*Perhaps add a clearer download link to the first post, some images and I think you will get more people involved or wanting to give this ago. I bet they will be impressed when they do like I was.

 

[=Andre=]

Hi Mr Latte,
thank you for the detailed feedback and tips.

Regarding your "wheel slip was VERY strong" remark.
I agree, some effects may become overwhelming, when dealing with bass-shakers. I'm trying to add a kind of compressor to reduce high peaks and prevent that. Unfortunately, that feature doesn't work well yet. I will pay my attention to that.

 

[Mr Latte]

Ref Assetto Corsa:
I also noticed with wheel slip effect, that it seems to produce a strong energy output when braking or acceleration are applied @ 95% to full depression. Very noticeable with braking coming to a stop = BUZZ.

Deceleration can create a nasty sounding click/crunch on my TST units again possibly related to gain settings and when high % of brake is applied. Will look at these scenarios on my LFE units to see if its an issue with them or more related to the TST models operation. Not sure but feel it may be issues with possible gain/distortion too and some additional filtering is maybe needed.

Comments from others would be good as Im wondering if any of these are happening with anyone else?

 

[PicoBp]

Ref Assetto Corsa:
I also noticed with wheel slip effect, that it seems to produce a strong energy output when braking or acceleration are applied @ 95% to full depression. Very noticeable with braking coming to a stop = BUZZ.

Deceleration can create a nasty sounding click/crunch on my TST units again possibly related to gain settings and when high % of brake is applied. Will look at these scenarios on my LFE units to see if its an issue with them or more related to the TST models operation. Not sure but feel it may be issues with possible gain/distortion too and some additional filtering is maybe needed.

Comments from others would be good as Im wondering if any of these are happening with anyone else?

That sounds more like the acceleration/deceleration effects, not wheel slip. Try turning everything to 0 except what you're testing, one by one.

 

[Mr Latte]

That sounds more like the acceleration/deceleration effects, not wheel slip. Try turning everything to 0 except what you're testing, one by one.

Please note all my testing will be in reference to AC so not sure if some things will be limited to specific titles? I share here findings in hope to discover issues and have them improved or fixed. I am not attacking the software or the developer. If reporting of such issues is not wanted here then I'd appreciate to be informed to do such elsewhere or via private communication. Whatever pleases is good enough for me.

As for using effects, yes I have been evaluating effects one by one.
I can assure you its effects 8 & 9 (Wheelslip Left/Right) I get a rather severe peak to the output upon stopping. Others I am sure can test and give their own feedback.

See here, full revs from "N" and selecting 1st Gear, nice felt wheelslip in action.


Now compare, when full brakes applied and comes to a stop.


Reverse Gear, coming from full revs in "N" very different to 1st gear in the top image


Above Using:

• Focusrite 18i8 multichannel low latency audio interface.
• FL12 Studio DAW
• Fabfilter Pro Q2 Plugin & others.

As I alluded to earlier prior to using my own audio DAW and plugins for monitoring.
For me I have found using "Wheel Slip" this example of excessive output occurs with:

• Reverse Gear
• Car spinning out of control (all 4 wheels sliding)
• Coming to full stop

 

[Mr Latte]

Further Testing / Tweaking

Andre, in response to my Bumps/Buffets overview.
I have found much better response for Bumps/Buffets by generating a 50Hz tone with only 0.1 dB rather than 1.0 as used by default. Of course placing these files 4/5 into the "Customised" folder to override the default WAV files.

I then apply between only 5%-10% Gain and 50% Sensitivity within SSW controls and this feels much better on my units. This still feels strong especially on the BK-LFE model running on a Behringer inuke DSP 1000 amplifier set to 12oclock volume position (approx 1/2 volume).

With these settings "High Values" feel good but "Lower Values" can feel a bit lacking. With increased settings then the "High Values" may become overbearing. So still seeking to find more ideal settings espically for improved "Low Value" Bumps/Buffets.

I am also trying 50Hz @ 0.3 to see if it helps with "Lower Values" but this feels strong with "High Values" if Gain is at 10%. So with 50Hz WAV 0.3 I am using gain between 5-10% looking for a sweetspot.

Can you confirm the main differences in using 5% Vs 50% Vs 100% Sensitivity!
How would we best try to boost lower values and still control the higher values?

 

[=Andre=]

Guys, you can play with settings and .wav samples as you please.
I think I could help to share some of your best presets and file collections along with SimShaker, if you'd like that.
I have little resources to go into every try. I'm sorry.

 

[Mr Latte]

Can you comment more on the "Sensitivity Threshold " slider for "Wheel Slip" & "Bumps Buffets" in how it is altering the output in layman's terms for these effects.

As example: 5% 50% 100%

Stil finding on my own config that "low values" are not so well represented in tactile sensation.
Increasing the output for them helps but then it has a tendency of making "high values" being too strong.

Not sure if possible for future revision if you can do something to either alter or let the user alter manually the scaling in how small-large values are output? I suppose ideal settings may vary for tactile compared to the Gametrix KW-908 product?

 

[PicoBp]

Can you comment more on the "Sensitivity Threshold " slider for "Wheel Slip" & "Bumps Buffets" in how it is altering the output in layman's terms for these effects.

As example: 5% 50% 100%

From how small of a force should the effect range be initialized. The smaller the number, the bigger the range where effects will be generated. Any force below the set threshold will be ignored.

 

[Mr Latte]

Thanks @PicoBp

So, as I was feeling more with 5% to say 50% or 100% to confirm, this then filters the range of the effect.
While not a crossover it is trimming the activity point of what is the "lowest value" used?

I would love to see, rather than a single "volume" scale, possibly one for applying our own amplitude to "Lower" and "Higher" values. The reason being the energy that different tactile/kickers have with specific frequencies can be very different.

The current scaling between the smallest to the biggest value isnt quite ideal with the two high-end brands/models I have tested with. I can't speak for others with popular models like the ADX / Aura Pro / BK Mini Series etc but hope this thread starts getting more feedback from others on their own experiences.

I also assume different cars by their own physics models will alter the low/high values? Is this correct?

 

[=Andre=]

Stil finding on my own config that "low values" are not so well represented in tactile sensation.
Increasing the output for them helps but then it has a tendency of making "high values" being too strong.

Not sure if possible for future revision if you can do something to either alter or let the user alter manually the scaling in how small-large values are output? I suppose ideal settings may vary for tactile compared to the Gametrix KW-908 product?

I think the Compressor (peaks limiter) option that I have in plans will be useful in this context.

 

[=Andre=]

From how small of a force should the effect range be initialized. The smaller the number, the bigger the range where effects will be generated. Any force below the set threshold will be ignored.

That's right.

 

[Mr Latte]

I think the Compressor (peaks limiter) option that I have in plans will be useful in this context.

Very much appreciated, look forward to it and future updates.

 

[Mr Latte]

I tried this earlier today..
Requires VERY different levels of GAIN needed.

This cheapo USB card must have a rather low SN Ratio compared to the Asus Xonar DGX or other good internal cards. I made sure it was properly configured.

Working fine in Stereo but for me it crashed with 6 Channel Mode (using recommended ASIO software/driver) but will look more into this in future to help beta/test. I'm aware your still working on 6 Channel mode too.

Willing to do any tests required...

 

[=Andre=]

I would be interested to see details regarding the crash with 6 Channel Mode.
We have very little experience with that yet.

 

[cra16y]

Hi Andrei
i have had the seat a while now and it has worked fine from the very first day but today it has stopped working.there seems to be no power getting through to the control unit.i have tested the plug adaptor which works fine and done the firmware reinstall but there is still no led light on the control unit and a not conected message on the software.
any help would be much appreciated.

 

[=Andre=]

Hi cra16y,
the seat is under 12 months warranty of manufacturer. Please contact me via PM, providing your order number, and we will sort the issue out.