g940 firmware update crapped my il2 ffb..

[Artist]

Ok, as far as I understand you do have Forcefeedback - but it feels different from before...
Yes?
If so, this becomes a highly subjective issue. I do not remember to have felt a difference from before when I installed firmware 1.42 ...

Just to make sure:
1. Force Freedback is enabled in IL-2, Hardware, Inputs
2. The stick is connected to power supply
3. You did verify Force Feedback with ForceTest

Artist

PS: Sorry for not posting Logitech GameController's settings: I've physically modded my G940 and run it without Logitech drivers and Game Controller software.

[ph8]

~S

Yes I have tried forcetest.
Yes its plugged in lol
Yes its enabled in IL2

My previous setting where 100%,70%70% no centerspring.

Like i say it was smooth as ever. Limp on the tarmac and progressively stiffer as i build up speed. Limp as I approach stall.

Now its not smooth, feel all the gears, hard to use in the four corners (not smooth thus not precice) and I either have a limp stick or an overly tight stick depending on the settings. Either way it stays what ever i set it to during the whole flight. Others have experienced this since the FW update.

ie (posts on logitech forum):

"332_Sqn HaJa
EDIT: Oh and one thing for me that also has been mentioned is the loss of incremental strength in IL2. What I mean is that it should be "loose" when on tarmac, just mimicking the resistance of cable/pullies and or hydraulics and then stiffen incrementally as a result of wind pressing on the control surfaces. As per 5.09 it's gone or is controlled by an adjustment yet to be discovered by me"

QUOTE------------------------

"Regardless what settings I use, centering force is now more or less constant from center to full deflection. While with original firmware was growing incrementally, being close to zero at center and smoothly growing with stick deflection."



I concur. It's game dependant. In Over Flanders Fields, for instance, control surface forces remain (together with excessive, disorienting delay in the onset thereof) dynamic, while in IL2 the forces are now static throughout all flight conditions, the value being dependant exclusively upon the “spring effect” setting; sitting on the tarmac with the engine off - on a windless day no less - produces exactly the same control surface force as diving at 900 KPH. No setting permutation corrects this. So, depending upon your flight sim of choice, an essential force-feedback feature has been deleted by virtue of the new firmware.



In the end, though, my wildly spiking rudder pedals have long since suggested to me...... Well, duly noted, Logitech.





Cheers, or as it were,





Greg



END QUOTE-------------------


So its not just my system, its the new firmware that is either not interpreting il2 data correctly or totally differently giving me a crappy flying experience, i do it for the fun and immersion and this has really downed me.

Thanks for help m8.

~S Ph8

[Artist]

You made me curious... And I digged into it. Here's my result:

1. Obviously it's not Logitech's fault (this time ), but a rather strong spring-setting within IL-2, which is now correctly interpreted by the Firmware 1.42...

2. This strong spring setting is encoded in the file

<IL2-Directory>/ForceFeedback/spring.ffe

3. This file can be edited with a small tool from Microsoft, called fedit - which was part of the DirectX 8.1 SDK, but is not available from Microsoft anymore.

4. However, I found a copy of fedit here - and take no guarantee whatsovever.

5. With this tool one can inspect the spring.ffe and see that the force is full (10000) on all axes...

6. With this tool one can create a new spring.fee (modifying the original did not work with me - and, for heaven's sake: do save the original to a safe place first!) with very much lower settings...

7. For the many impatient I have attached an zip-archive with a spring.ffe with very low (447) settings (And again: do save the original to a safe place first!). On the runway the stick is as limb as a, a..., well metaphors fail me . In the air, the force grows with speed and is gone on stall...

8. Finally, do not blame me, if something goes wrong!

9. [added later] There's one drawback, however: The ForceFeedback is not properly initialized with a plane standing motionless on the runway (there's just no force to feedback ). So when you start the game and then start a mission on the runway, everything is fine (stick is limb). When you leave the mission in midair (stick is stiff) and then restart the mission on the runway the stick will retain the former FFB (=stiff)... If you had landed properly and parked the aircraft, the stick would have gone limb and would be so on the start of the next mission...

Have fun,
Artist

PS: There's a good post by MikkOwl on G940 and ForceFeedback settings here

[ph8]

~S!

OMG I was so closed to going the fedit way!!! But the cause and effect fw/new fw was so "obvious" to me!

I didn't cus i had to install an old directx sdk on windows 7 and wasn't sure how that would work out (not enough time).

But if you say spring effect is full that rocks, that means essentially that logitechs new firmware is in effect reading the .ffe code as it should unlike before

That is a very interesting discovery and i thank you so much for providing it, I will try it first thing in the morning as it is my much earned day off and will give you some "force"feedback

You da man Artist thank you for your interest in my post!

~S Ph8

[Artist]

Updated my post (9. and PS)...

[ph8]

~S

Well after much tweaking and testing I have gotten it to feel "somewhat" like the old firmware but still no go.

It seems between floppy stick and stiff stick its not very progressive.

If i'm entering a stall at 150 in a spit mk9 it only gets limp at around 30-40kph. Wether flying 200kph or 700kph still feels the same.

The good news is i had this stick RMA'd for the r1 and r2 and rudder spikes. I get to keep the old one and the new just arrived and hopefully it has the old firmware on it.

If that is the case I will have old and new firmware to compare with.

Maybe this way it will be easier to get that old feel back having a reference.

Will keep you updated.

~S Ph8

[Artist]

I found that there are several versions of fedit.exe floating around and at least one of them is kind of buggy: It does write what you configured, but does not correctly read the ffe files... As both versions that I have claim to be "Version 1.0" in the "About"-dialog, you must check the "Version"-tab
in the Fileproperties (mouse, right click):

The buggy version says there: Fileversion 1,0,0,1
My working version says there: Fileversion 5.04.00.2904

Apart from that, the buggy version has a file size of 168,720 bytes and (my) working version has 176,128 bytes

Hope this may help those like me that started swearing loudly and obscenely when reopening the ffe files never showed what had been saved before

However, the file I linked in my post (see above) is the "5.04.00.2904"-version.

Artist