rec.autos.simulators

There is a patch for MGPR2 that strengthens the force feedback in the
game, by modifying the Direct Input file in the game.  Does anyone
know if that could be done in F12K?  It seems rather weak to me.

I think MGPR2 uses i-Force, so you should be able to tweak it with i-force
Studio and change just about everything.

--

Slot
www.slottweak.com
Tweaks & Reviews

Turn the speed sensitivity down to 0. I thought that the FFF was really lame
but gradually I've been turning down the speed sensitivity from 30% as I get
more used to it. When I got down the 0 the FF suddenly starts to work
properly when before you only felt the curbs. Now you can feel the wheel
weighting up and unweighting through the turns . It's now so much better
although it's still nowhere near as good as GPL as Viper Racing. Because it
gets a more twitchy you have to turn down your steering lock from 25% to
something more like 12%.

Some Call Me Tim

Does F12K use i-force as well?  The changes on the MGPR2 patch made
the FF much stronger and (I suppose) more realistic.  Can a regular
guy like me make those changes?  Could you import the MGPR2 patch
over?  

I don't know if F1 2000 uses i-Force studio. I tend to doubt it.
I don't know what the patch is for MGPR2. With i-Force studio, you can
configure FF the way you want it. If you're using a wheel, the i-force
filename you want to modify is whl.ifr. If you're using a joystick, it's
joy.ifr. Not all wheels use i-Force or include i-Force Studio.

--

Slot
www.slottweak.com
Tweaks & Reviews

Some Call Me Tim wrote;

Another problem is the double edged sword of the full force physics
model.   It's so realistic that it can handle variables and inputs beyond
what an F1 driver would experience.  For instance if you hack your
cars *.svm file to get a higher wing angle than the garage menu
allows (such as 20 degrees),  the car reacts just the way it should,
and you get more lateral g's, and you feel more forces on the steering
wheel.   You can make the tires wider or even change the friction (grip)
in the *.veh files and the physics model is so good that just changing
one number changes everything, handling, spins, top speed, fuel milage,
just the way it would in the real world.   If you double the grip of the tires
it's actually hard to drive, at first, but then you get the hang of it, and
the sensation of lateral g's is awesome from the rollbar view.  So the
total range of force your steering wheel is capable of has to be set
to handle a very wide range of conditions.  Problem is, a realistic
setup that can get good speed on the straights and not have to change
tires every 3 laps need only sample a small slice of that range.  So if
your wheel generates a max force of 10. And the max force triggered by
F1 2000 is with, oh, let's say wings at 30 degrees and tires with twice
the grip.   Then when you race with realistic setups your max force
feedback experience is going to be small, like 5 or less.  Only half what
your wheel hardware is capable of.   So what the gamer needs is a way
to manually alter the range that the physics model will output, and
where on the lateral g (and other forces) scale it will match the max
force possible from the force feedback hardware.  Something like, "Set
the lateral forces the car can stick to the road with wings at 10 degrees
and soft tires as causing the max force feedback my hardware can make,
and everything above that will just have to feel the same."  I'm hoping there
is a way to do this in the files, but so far I can't find it.

GPL has something like that in it's core.ini file:

[ Joy ]
allow_force_feedback = 1                        ; Use FF if device has it
force_feedback_damping = 40.000000              ; force feedback damping
coefficient
force_feedback_latency = 0.085000               ; force feedback latency (secs)
max_steering_torque = 225.000000                ; steering torque in N*in
giving max device force

Er, they do have a narrow lock, of course--but 10-12 degrees?!

--DK

Erm...Real F1 cars have a max lock of around 10-12 degrees. They'd be a bit
twitchy with 25 degrees of lock, too. They don't even use that much lock for
Monaco.

R.

Well, what you're saying makes a lot of sense.  However, playing even
the lame Official Formula 1 with my son, I noticed the FF was really
quite good.  We know it's good with GPL, and it's awesome in MGPRS, as
well as DTR and Powerslide.  The same physics you cite apply there.
Other games I have played that are meant for FF sticks can rip the
wheel out of your hand (Battlezone 2).  So, why can't they come up
with something decent for this game?  Shouldn't good FF be mandatory
for any new racing game?  

BTW, I am not knocking the game as such.  I like it better every time
I play it.  It's just kinda disappointing that you can seemingly
adjust everything else except FF response.