In racing games is it common for the frame rate to drop considerably when
force feedback is activated?
All of my racing games slow down to almost a crawl when I switch on Force
feedback. Normaly they fly along. I have read that if you switch your
soundcard to single mode DMA then it should help but do not know of a way to
do this. Does any one have any other suggestions or is this a common side
effect of using FF.
I have a Soundblaster Live 1024 and an Interact V4fx steering wheel.
Ian
I've seen exactly the same problem with my Sidewinder FF joystick, Diamond MX300
sound card, and Diamond Voodoo2 SLI. Sports Car GT, Need for Speed, Nascar 3,
etc. all slow way down. The only game it doesn't seem to affect is Midtown
Madness.
Quoted text (12 lines)
> In racing games is it common for the frame rate to drop considerably when > force feedback is activated? > All of my racing games slow down to almost a crawl when I switch on Force > feedback. Normaly they fly along. I have read that if you switch your > soundcard to single mode DMA then it should help but do not know of a way to > do this. Does any one have any other suggestions or is this a common side > effect of using FF. > I have a Soundblaster Live 1024 and an Interact V4fx steering wheel. > Ianforce feedback is activated?
All of my racing games slow down to almost a crawl when I switch on Force
feedback. Normaly they fly along. I have read that if you switch your
soundcard to single mode DMA then it should help but do not know of a way to
do this. Does any one have any other suggestions or is this a common side
effect of using FF.
I have a Soundblaster Live 1024 and an Interact V4fx steering wheel.
the problem is your wheel. it is well known to be very slow. a better choice
would be the logitech LWFF.... no slowdown problems then.
i had a V4 myself- for about 15min.... it's pretty terrible.
I don't know how strong your CPU is, but generally spoken: FF needs a lot of
CPU cycles. Some wheels need more, some less, but your processor will always
have more work with FF than without.
CU
Zolli
Maybe with that wheel it is. I see no slowdowns with my Logitech
Formula Force USB.
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>In racing games is it common for the frame rate to drop considerably when
>force feedback is activated?
>All of my racing games slow down to almost a crawl when I switch on Force
>feedback. Normaly they fly along. I have read that if you switch your
>soundcard to single mode DMA then it should help but do not know of a way
to
>do this. Does any one have any other suggestions or is this a common side
>effect of using FF.
>I have a Soundblaster Live 1024 and an Interact V4fx steering wheel.
>Ian
The common denominator with the above posts is the Microsoft technology. the
MS Sidewinder FF, Saitek R4, and the Interact V4 all "require" using the
standard gameport as the interface. It uses DirectInput to send the FF
effects through the Midi-channel.
Now to condense the explanation as much as I can;
The SG uses a protocol to shut down ALL interrupts and all other processes
during data transfer. This means that while the wheel is being polled, and
the FF effect sent, the entire computer is crippled. So the puter has to
wait sometimes half of each second to grab the positional and FF information
from the wheel. This leaves only half of your CPU's resources at times to
process graphics, sound, etc. When you only have half the CPU resources to
do these processes each second.... you are only going to get half of the
performance (ie... your framerates drop). It's a problem with the SG, and is
an example of MS rushing the sidewinder to market in an attempt to be the
first wheel manufacturer with FF. They were the first, but they paid a hefty
price in performance by doing so....
The USB wheels/sticks are unaffected since the USB interface doesn't shut
down interrupts to perform its duties... it has it's own interrupt.
I have written some tech papers on this very subject at:
www.rs2league.com/tech_talk/tech_talk.htm
you can grab a more detailed analysis of this "5041 Bug" there.
Cheers,
Shumi
www.rs2league.com
> In racing games is it common for the frame rate to drop considerably when
> force feedback is activated?
> All of my racing games slow down to almost a crawl when I switch on Force
> feedback. Normaly they fly along. I have read that if you switch your
> soundcard to single mode DMA then it should help but do not know of a way to
> do this. Does any one have any other suggestions or is this a common side
> effect of using FF.
> I have a Soundblaster Live 1024 and an Interact V4fx steering wheel.
> Ian
Thanks!!
That has explained a lot to me. The thing is I love the feel of the V4
wheel. I just hope that a USB converter or some other solution comes up. USB
conerters have come out for printers so hopefully they will apear for
joysticks/wheels.
Thanks again.
Ian
I see 3-4fps drop in N3 with a MSFFW if I have FF turned on.
FF sucks in N3 anyway, so it's no great loss not to use it.
-larry
"Zolli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:7tm3a1$ou8$[email hidden]...
> >In racing games is it common for the frame rate to drop considerably when
> >force feedback is activated?
> >
>
>
> I don't know how strong your CPU is, but generally spoken: FF needs a lotof
> CPU cycles. Some wheels need more, some less, but your processor willalways
> have more work with FF than without.
>
> CU
> Zolli
>
>
>FF sucks in N3 anyway, so it's no great loss not to use it.
>
I don't see what "sucks" in the N3 FF.
Sure, it isn't Viper or GPL and for my taste it is not strong enough, but it
really is not bad.
Did you already run Watkins Glen?
When you lift the throttle to get a better entrance into turn 2, it just
feels great.
I don't want to miss it.
CU
Zolli
