rec.autos.simulators

Last night I was trying to get rid of the arms, and I changed the moving
steering wheel setting from 1 to 0. It didn't do what I expected at all!

With it set to 1, which is the default, I was having a hard time driving. I
noticed that there was a delay between my wheel, and the wheel in the game.

With it set to 0 this delay is gone. The wheel still moves, and the game
looks exactly as before, except the delay is gone, and the car handles
soooooooo much better!!

This took me from not being able to complete 5 laps without going off, to
normal proper driving.

This game is now as good as GPL, IMO.

What I don't understand is what they were trying to achieve with this
setting, and why they shipped the game with the default set like this!!

Also... for a higher frame rate, turn V-sync off.

Also...  I found that having the pit crew on anything but the lowest setting
had a huge frame rate hit, even when out on the track.

R.

Great!  Must try this, I've always felt that there was some delay.

Thanks!
Ash
http://www.siroccoracing.com

Strange... indeed, had a quick try and it doesn't change a thing graphically
(in "cockpit" view, that is), whereas control en response does seem more
direct.

Jan.
=---

Ruddy brilliant... My guess is this setting has something to do
with
smoothing controller input for non-wheel users, in which case
having it
on by default probably makes sense in a strange sort of way. Us
wheel-drivers are probably still heavily outnumbered.

But why, oh why, no documentation on any of this??

OK, it's probably been a while since last time:

In the F1C installation directory, there is a SAVE folder. In this folder,
there is another folder named the same as your player. Inside THAT folder,
there is a file named <playername>.plr . Open the file in notepad, wordpad
or whatever, and you will find lots of stuff EA Sports and ISI obviously do
not want us fiddling with -- so fiddle away!!

It's a setting in the .PLR file, as Per points out, but I don't recall the
exact wording for it. I'll let you know once I get off work tonight.

You asked about the MOMO earlier.... you are using a negative setting for
the Force Feedback strenght in the game, right? -Because all logitech users
should.

Jan.
=---

Yeah, except for original red LWFF users....

It's called exactly what was written in the original message. You want a
line that says

Moving Steering Wheel="1"

and simply change it to "0"

Good tip, Richard.

While I scanned the .plr file for that setting I noticed this one:

"FFB rumble strip pull factor="-1.50000" // How strongly wheel pulls
 right/left when running over a rumble strip. Suggested range:
 -1.5 to 1.5."

At that point I suddenly realised what was wrong with the way hitting a kerb
in the game felt: it felt like hitting a rutt instead(1). Noticing the range
of values, I began to suspect this was another "make of wheel" dependant
setting. Surely the people at ISI wouldn't forget to automatically change
the sign on this setting to be in accordance(2) with that of the force
feedback strength setting (or get their signs wrong)? -Err... yes, they
would actually. To test I set the FFB strenght to 100%(3) in the game --->
bug: no change in this .plr file setting.

So I set: FFB rumble strip pull factor="1.50000" and checked. *Much* better,
but the effect was too pronounced, IMO. So I reduced it to 0.75000, but then
I still had to really steer to stay on flat rumblestrips, e.g. the outside
one towards Coca Cola curve on the Nurburgring. Now it's at 0.50000 and I
think that's a workable compromise.

I also went ahead and fiddled a little with the other settings, the result
of which is below(4) and gives me a convincing ride. These were arrived at
with Overall Strenght at 100%, Spring Effect Strengh at 40% and Damping
Effect Strenght at 40% in the MOMO wheel properties and are only included
FYI. As always YMMV.

So, recent Logitech users need to change the sign on this setting and may
want to adapt its value to taste. Everybody else + red LWFF users must keep
the sign, but may want to adapt this value to taste as well.

Jan.
=---
Rem.:

(1): I tested running into steep kerbs at low speed without steering input
and, indeed, the car would be drawn into the kerb instead of being pushed
away from it.

(2): in this case the opposite of the sign of the strenght setting

(3): I use -100% because of my Logitech MOMO.

(4): FFB rumble strip magnitude="0.50000" // How strong the rumble strip
     rumble is.  Range 0.0 to 1.0, 0.0 disables effect.
     FFB rumble strip freq mult="0.60000" // Rumble stip frequency
     multiplier 1.0 = one rumble per wheel rev.
     FFB rumble strip wave type="2" // Type of wave to use for vibe:
     0=Sine, 1=Square, 2=Triangle, 3=Sawtooth up, 4=Sawtooth down.
     FFB rumble strip pull factor="0.50000" // How strongly wheel pulls
     right/left when running over a rumble strip. Suggested range: -1.5
     to 1.5.
     FFB rumble strip update thresh="0.07500" // Amount of change
     required to update rumble strip effect (0.0 - 1.0)

absa***y amazing!!!! Richard your'e a star. I just can't believ how much
better it is with this setting. I was having loads of problems with turn in
understeer and not being able to catch slide that I thought it was a
combination or poor setups and me being crap. This setting completely
changes the feel of the game for the better, I just can't believe that it A)
not documented and B) not set as default.

I've just spent that last hour going round the N1 and A1 rings and now I'm
just having so much fun with the car when before I could hardly get round
the track.

Some Call Me Tim

(who's now a very very happy racer)

Major improvement - Thanks! :)

Andre

Good tip too, Jan :)

F1C keeps getting better and better now :)

Andre