rec.autos.simulators

I guess it does not, at least for GPL and N4: I completely ruined my MSFF
wheel (USB) calibration by fiddling with DXTweak on win98 but the two papy
sims continue to work flawlessly.  This is *not* the case for F1 2001 which
can not even detect my brake pedal anymore.

Note that this is neither a rant against DXTweak or the proposed fix. I just
tried to tweak the controls after reading (a bit too quickly, I admit) the
original post by Pat Dotson and in what future generations will widely
regard as a bad move, I mistakenly set the "center" value for both pedal
axes to zero, while "*close* to the *min* value" obviously (now) means 63-1
= 62.

Guess it is time to clear calibration data and reinstall the wheel, then
*carefully* use DXTweak again.

Must...pay...more..attention...to...warnings (banging head against
keyboard).

OTOH, if anyone from EA reads this (and I know you are, just to get an easy
laugh at us pathetic simmers), PLEASE fix the brain-dead controller settings
logic (huge pedals "deadzone" and 50% sensitivity means linear steering, oh
come on !) spoiling an otherwise excellent sim.  I should not even *need*
DXTweak, damnit.

Xavier.

Neither do I.

You lucky guy.  I wish the changes were _not_  permanent :-/

But, wait... maybe there is something there: it is indeed true that, every
time I restart DXTweak, I get the same default values back (in DXTweak only,
F1 2001 calibration remains broken).   So, maybe in my case it is only
something in F1 2001 that went wrong when I launched it after first fiddling
with the DXTweak values.

Instead of deinstalling/reinstalling the wheel tonight (and the dreaded
Sidewinder 4 software), I will first try to reinstall F1 2001. Anyway, thank
you for your helpful comment.

(to be continued)

Xavier.

"Richard S Beckett"  wrote

Richard, I followed your suggestion and it saved me a reinstall of F1 2001.
Thanks.

In fact, I quickly discovered that the controller axes were not correctly
assigned anymore for my first driver. So, the chain of events was this:

1. Install F1 2001 & patch
2. Define controller in F1 2001
3. Play the game and discover the annoying pedals "deadzone" while using
split axis
4. Read about the fix and download DXTweak
5. Launch DXTweak without paying too much attention to the docs
6. Expertly ruin DX calibration settings
7. Launch F1 2001, realize the damage done
7b. (optional) Vow to always double-check the docs before executing such
programs in the future
8. Try to adjust controller settings in F1 2001, losing the axes assignments
in the process
9. Havoc & despair.

The correct procedure is in fact

1. Install F1 2001 & patch
2. Define controller in F1 2001
3. Play the game to check that all axes are correctly assigned
4. Use DXTweak. My settings for MSFF wheel USB (min/center/max) are

X: 0/511/1023
Y: 0/60/63  (DXTweak default: 0/511/1023)
Z: don't bother
R: 0/60/63  (DXTweak default: 0/31/63)

+ deadzone=2 for X and Y axis (0 everywhere else). Please note that unlike
the calibration settings, the deadzone settings _will_ affect other sims
such as GPL & N4.  I found it very difficult not to crash under heavy
braking in GPL when my X (steering) deadzone is reduced to 0. I am no alien,
however. Please also note that it might be useful to go through the edit
boxes in DXTweak using TAB to be sure that the new values are correctly
written to the registry.  Also leave the checkboxes in front of X/Y, Z and R
checked at all times.

5. Launch F1 2001 and enjoy the drive.
6. Refrain from further fiddling with the control axes in F1 2001 as the new
calibration settings make the pedal axes difficult to reassign.

Now about making the changes permanent.  On my computer (windows 98 +
sidewinder software accompanying wheel), all changes made using DXTweak
_are_ permanent even if when I relaunch the program, it always shows me the
same old (default) values.  In other words, the changes are permanent (still
there after reboot etc.) until DXTweak is launched again .  If your computer
still loses the changes after a reboot, my guess would be that, for one
reason or another, your registry (files) could be read-only.

HTH,
Xavier.

-Larry

Right on :)

Ice D