Maybe I should get another one, but I remember some games, like CPR and
Midtown Madness were extremely rough on it, and within just a few days I
noticed and ever slight jiggle and took it back...
Or maybe I should get a LWFF.........................................
Or a TSW?
I want to play GPL and N2 (maybe N3)... I JUST WANT TO PLAY MY DRIVING SIMS
DAMNIT! THEY'VE BEEN SITTING ON THE SHELVES FOR MONTHS!
/me cries
Most good FF wheels, such as the Microsoft FF Wheel, are actually more
sturdy than you might think. I've been using mine for many months and have
had it rattle from here to hell and back, but it's working just as well as
the day I bought it.
You can also reduce the feedback effects, to put less pressure on the wheel
AND yourself, if you require.
Or best of all, you could get accident damage insurance on it. Then you can
use it as often as you like, for as long as you like and if something does
go wrong you can get an immediate replacement. It's actually quite a comfort
having a warranty on it. I too would be a little pessimistic about using it
if it weren't for the three year warranty I have on it.
Best regards,
The Phoenix
How do you get insurance on it ?
Only bad problem with MSFF is that it looses calibration, specially if you
are very sideways and hard for the car(just by forcing it to turn)...I lost
it yesterday twice in one lap at Ring...and I can't drive few corners
"perfectly" at Spa just because of it. I like to hear if other MSFF users
has as much problems with it as I have?
Nope, no problems what so ever.
In my time, I have had as many as 5 or 6 wheels from a number of
manufacturers. None lasted more than a few months. I bought my MSFF last
July and it is still going strong and without the slightest hint of
distress. Sometimes the pedals creak a bit and there is a little play on the
steering shaft but otherwise, it was money well spent.
MS
PS this wheel is used for at least 2-3 hours per day and I tend to be pretty
heavy-handed with it.
i also have MSSFF and love it, it is very sturdy and acurate, never needs
any attention,
just turn on the machine and go go go for hours and never need anything ,
but some "game " so i can get around
i love this thing, after retiring my T2 and breaking 2 NEW TM Force GT's ,
(JUNK)
This MS wheel is the "STUFF"
Hi Marko, I've had it go on me a few times, it always seemed to happen when
the machine was struggling to keep the framerate up and always online
usually with a bad connection to the server.
It seems that the CPU hit is quite large when the latency / quality is poor
and because of that the gameport is not polled thus missing positional data,
it hasn't happened in a long time since I went to ISDN and upgraded my sound
and graphics card.
Thats my theory anyway ;)
--
Ian Parker
UKGPL League
http://members.xoom.com/ukgpl/index.html
http://www.ukgpl.com
--
Nope, never had it.
---
Antti Markus Peteri
15 miles. your dim light shines from so far away
- Soul Asylum, Promises Broken
On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 11:31:31 +0200, "Marko Viitanen"
>Only bad problem with MSFF is that it looses calibration, specially if you
>are very sideways and hard for the car(just by forcing it to turn)...I lost
>it yesterday twice in one lap at Ring...and I can't drive few corners
>"perfectly" at Spa just because of it. I like to hear if other MSFF users
>has as much problems with it as I have?
Yes, I've experienced the same thing with GPL and MSFF. Once in a
while the wheel looses the calibration, forcing me to turn the wheel
from side to side couple of times until the calibration resets. This
usually happens when spinning off, crashing or making very quick
movements with the wheel. Very frustrating during intense
racing/hotlapping. Escpecially Rouen with Ferrari seems to be one of
the most troublesome circuits; then again it just might be me who's
turning the wheel in unnecessarily insane fashion 0:|
Experimenting with I/O latency times (BIOS) seemed to help a bit
(better with larger values). I thought at first that the wheel is
somehow broken, but as I haven't experienced similar errors in no
other sim/game, maybe there's something wrong with
GPL/MSFF-combination.
My system: ABIT BX6, PII 392 MHz, 128 MB, V2 12MB, SB Live! Value
(wheel connected to gameport), GPL 1.2, two other controllers
connected in USB port, etc.
***********************************************
Tuomas Koskela
(remove EISPAMMI? when replying)
WWW: http://cc.oulu.fi/~tkoskela/
***********************************************
Hmmm... this is similar enough to the system I've been using with GPL
(Abit BE6-II/Cel550/256Mb/V3/SBLive), so could it be that you just have
a faulty wheel? OTOH, if that BIOS tweaking really had some effect...
Like you, I'm using GPL 1.2.0.1. Sidewinder Software's version is 3.02.
My MSFF is now almost 12 months old, started using FF in GPL immediately
when 1.1 became available and I've never had the displeasure of
experiencing the anomaly you described, not with DX6, nor DX7(a).
Have you experienced the problem in several games or just in GPL? Or
tried the wheel with some other system? If it only occurs when quick,
almost "***" steering movements are involved, a game like Rally
Championship should be *really* disastrous. I'm just trying to
understand if there's a clear pattern here. There was some discussion
about this problem several months ago but IIRC no real conclusion was
reached.
---
Antti Markus Peteri
15 miles. your dim light shines from so far away
- Soul Asylum, Promises Broken
It certainly might be the case. The wheel has been repaired
previously, when one of the plastic cogwheels inside broke up. During
the repair period I installed GPL 1.1->1.2, DirectX 6.1->7.0(7.0a) and
changed the gameport (previously SB AWE32 PnP; by the way the frame
rate improved about 15% when switching to SB Live! gameport), and then
the calibration errors came, so I really don't know what to blame
here. I suppose it's the wheel itself. On the other hand, the period
of guarantee is over, so I guess I just have to live with this until I
manage to broke the wheel for good...
Just a little bit; too minor improvement to solve the problem
entirely.
Yes, but only a couple of times. The problem happens about 95% of all
cases with GPL. And only when FF is turned on.
No I haven't, unfortunately.
No problems with RC.
The most annoying thing is that there seems to be no clear pattern
here. Sometimes 5 laps in the Ring with no problems, and then a single
lap in for example Mosport or Rouen, and the wheel loses the
calibration. The problem seemed to lessen with DirectX 7.0a; maybe
this have something to do with decreased CPU cycles, or something, I
don't know.
BTW, is there a way to remove/reduce wheel centering force in GPL?
Only a few games seems to have as strong centering force as GPL.
Tuning the core.ini FF parameters seemed to offer no help.
***********************************************
Tuomas Koskela
(remove EISPAMMI? when replying)
WWW: http://cc.oulu.fi/~tkoskela/
***********************************************
