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SimTools v3 Alpha (Questions, Answers, Fixes, Show & Tell)

Discussion in 'Tutorials and Tips by the Developer' started by yobuddy, Mar 17, 2022.

  1. llluis

    llluis Active Member Gold Contributor

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    Update procedure super smooth! Great work. Just restart to have the update question, confirm and voilà.
    - Interface bug fixed.
    - DLL fixed

    This is the actual behaviour, everything seem working as designed.

    My usecase is my seatbelt is only reacting to negative Surge to tighen me against the seat. It's not loosing up upon acceleration (so zero reaction to positive surge). So, at rest they are at maximum "relaxed" position, then I buckle up and when driving, as I brake, they push me. I would be able to achieve that if the park position was a permanent offset in the axis (I think). Maybe a checkbox in the park configuration "Permanent". :D
  2. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    They only center at start because most games send zeros at start, so if they were not there, they would jerk into position at start. (but u know this I'm sure).
    Have you altered an Arduino sketch to get your seat-belt to use full axis?
  3. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    I think the better way to add a "seatbelt" output into simtools, is to add it as an option to an axis plugin.
    This way there could have an option to turn off a axis direction.

    Options could be:
    Full Output - don nothing, run normally - Centered
    Positive Only - 0 location is now -100% and goes to 100% with the positive inputs
    Negative Only -0 location is now 100% and goes to -100% with the negative inputs

    This way everything would just work I believe.
    Still thinking...
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  4. llluis

    llluis Active Member Gold Contributor

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    I can modify the arduino source but didn't do it. It's standard as 0 to 255 range, 128 being the center.
    Right now I'm driving them with FlyPT mover as I can define the axis range there.

    I may be derailing this thread about v3, sorry.
  5. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    I'll, probably just roll up a new Advanced Axis plugin at some point.
    One that will have a seatbelt output option.
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  6. iLLuac4

    iLLuac4 Active Member

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    I am at first just exploring the options and is there an option for output linear or. rotational?
  7. Tim Palmgren

    Tim Palmgren Maker / Motion Fanatic

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    @yobuddy I have had a few conniptions with the rig which has taken time away from testing, but got another hour or so in and I was hoping you might be able to have a look at the heave output on the DR2 plugin? I vaguely recall there were random issues with the outputted heave values on the 2.x plugin that eventually got fixed.

    It seems that the heave is not really responding to smoothing for me. I currently have it set to 90% smoothing and it is still so rough I have to turn heave completely off in order to be able to run a stage. It doesn't seem to be affecting the other DOF effects to the same extent as I have them roughly where I like them now.

    I have always avoided the intensity slider as I prefer individual smoothing per effect for more control. I will try the AC plugin to see if I am having similar issues with heave there but I suspect it is DR2 specific.
  8. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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  9. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    I think i tuned smoothing down to much, i will take a look tomorrow.

    Could you tell me your smoothing settings for all inputs?
    Maybe I can tell how much to adjust the smoothing filter.
    Or maybe just adjusting the heave one.
  10. Historiker

    Historiker Dramamine Adict Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    A couple of suggestions about vibe settings. Not a bug but something to make things easier for users.

    Click test settings, then move percent used to get feedback. It is not obvious how to stop testing. Trial and error I found to click the x next to percent used. Maybe have a start/stop test settings button instead or one for each.

    A suggestion? To help people set up their chassis transducers correctly it would be a great help to have the images of Aura bass shakers in Vibe setup clickable and play a wav file or such instead of "turn on" which plays two at a time and alternates. That is not really helpful when configuring your rig. The top slider in Vibe setup says Max Volume Front but when clicked it plays both front and back alternately. Is there a max volume back slider planned? A volume slider per transducer would be great, especially for those of us using individual transdercers (Derp: Transducers) for pedals/shifter/RPM as well as four corner chassis (yes I have two SB cards pushing eight transducers....I have...issues...)

    Switching between Dash/Vibe/Motion, you always need to go back home to switch between them? Or am I missing something obvious? Perhaps the plugin image top left could allow you to switch there instead? EDIT: I see this was mentioned before.

    Updated with no problems by the way, great job so far. I am very excited about this.

    Testing today with the Assetto Corsa made by @value1 (ETS2? Soon? :D ) Nice notification flash along the top to let me know that there are new plugin's available, well done!

    Unfortunately I will be gone for a couple of weeks to bicycle across Missouri, but I look forward to returning home to play...er...test further :thumbs


    EDIT: Addendum:
    Adding Axis assignments (a and b) I have to completely close Simtools and restart the program for them to take effect. I tried adding roll, pitch, etc and saving then test settings with no results. Only after closing and restarting Simtools do they work in testing. This is with both Assetto Corsa and LFS plugins.
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    Last edited: Mar 29, 2022
  11. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Yes, i agree.
    The 'X' was just a place holder pic I had on hand until I get back to the GUI.
    I agree this could be better.

    This is so you can adjust the Front volume to match the Rear.
    The tester goes back and forth, so you move the slider until they sound even.

    In my experience the back volume it always lower than the front, so there is no need for a max back volume I think.
    Basically everything is getting adjusted to balance to the rear "speakers".

    Having a slider per transducer would make it so you could lower the overall volume of all speakers and may cause confusion to new users?
    The way its done now, You balance rear vs front, and once they sound good, you balance All speakers vs Individual speakers, and then adjust the minimum volume and your golden.
    This way your left with the maximum balanced volume you can have without lowering the overall volume of the system.

    And there is 3 sound cards available now, so your technically not topped out anymore. lol

    This is just a look and feel thing and will re-visit during the beta stage.
    I'm thinking that the mouse thumb button could go home, and maybe the escape button too.
    But I'm open to suggestions for sure.

    Sweet!

    I actually rebuilt the plugin and can look into ETS2 for you buddy.

    Sound like fun, have a blast man!

    This is only when initially adding the settings?
    I will see if i can make it happen and fix it!

    Thanks for the detailed report, really appreciate it!
    Have a good trip!
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    Last edited: Mar 30, 2022
  12. iLLuac4

    iLLuac4 Active Member

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  13. NjMotion

    NjMotion Active Member Gold Contributor

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    It's a good question from @iLLuac4 since there are quite a few people with this problem. It would be great if SimTools could forward through another port.
  14. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Hi Guys,
    Sorry for the delay, had my niece over, and had uncle duties to attend too. lol

    I'm thinking a relay plugin, as this is something that really only works with UDP games.
    Basically you would change the port address in the games udp settings to send to the UDP Relay.
    And then the relay could send a copy anywhere you want.

    My little test app works great for this, so I see no reason it could not be a addon eventually.
    upload_2022-3-31_13-4-1.png


    The current f1 2021 that is on the repo is using 2018 telemetry output.
    Legacy has not been used for a long time.
    But yea, they could be updated with the newest structures, but with so much to do, and the fact that the plugins output will be exactly the same as it is now, I'll have to come back to it in the beta stage.
    Chat soon!
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    Last edited: Apr 1, 2022
  15. llluis

    llluis Active Member Gold Contributor

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    Maybe just an interface plugin to configure the list of forward destinations? It look like a nice place to have it.
  16. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Yes, but it would be a Addon as it's not doing normal interface api stuff.
    Either way its the same result.
    Take care!
  17. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    I pushed an update that changes the save location of dash setup files.
    Simply un-assign dash interface settings, update, then re-setup dash after update.
    Thanks!
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  18. Tim Palmgren

    Tim Palmgren Maker / Motion Fanatic

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    Ok so I just spent a good 5.5 hours in Simtools with the new AC plugin trying to build a profile. Few things I noted this time around.

    1) The aforementioned problems with settings sticking don't require simtools to be restarted every time. Sometimes it applies, sometimes it doesn't. I haven't seen a pattern to it yet. It is particularly aggravating when trying to tune the filtering functions because you often just don't know if they have actually applied or not, then you overcompensate, later they stick and its gone too far the other way.

    2) Touching on the filtering again, @yobuddy we really need more grunt on those filters. The plugin outputs just don't seem consistent between the effects. EG pitch I can set a max min of 7 / -7 with zero filtering and it still feels filtered even with intensity at 100 and smoothing at 0. Conversely Heave in AC can be savage in some cars and 100% is not enough filtering in the smoothing section to deal with some of them. My 300MM surge axis is also unusable even at 100% smoothing. For the Surge to be tame enough I need to set Intensity to 60 and then all the rest of the effects have way too much smoothing on them. This also seems to vary plugin to plugin. In Dirt Rally 2 the heave is even more savage but here its just the heave that is problematic (again even at 100% smoothing). I don't think you need to go all the way back to the Simtools 2.x level, but maybe halfway there? For some of the effects, you can change smoothing from 0 to 50% and barely feel much of a difference, hence I think this still needs adjustment before we start finalizing profiles.

    I have a similar problem with the Deadzone in the filter section. When trying to set a deadzone for an emulated TL (to stop it triggering before the grip loss), and 10 on that slider also doesn't seem to be enough, 7.5 in Simtools 2.x was generally the sweet spot for most cars.

    I have gotten my head around the tuning centre and see how it parallels the old one, so this area is a bit more straightforward now.

    Still hoping to be able to stay on the Axis screen while starting and stopping the plugin if that is possible to implement, when developing tunes it will be a pretty big quality of life thing...

    Still going to keep tweaking, but I am stuck on making further progress with the smoothing in it's current state. Both AC and DR2 need more smoothing on certain things than I have in the toolbox, and lowering the intensity just doesn't seem like the right move...
  19. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    I'll get this fixed next.

    Don't worry, these are just place holders until I get the next version out.
    I have revamped the washout filters (one for degree input and one for accel) and will adjusting the rest of the filters accordingly.
    We want enough range to cover all of the inputs, but maybe not as heavy as v2.

    I don't remember changing it, but I will take a look.

    w00t!

    You have seen the tune tester?
    We will adjust look and feel more in the beta stage, if we don't have a solution by then, maybe give me a shout.

    I need to finish a few things with the setup plugins today. (adding dash and vibe re-setup screens to it)
    But tomorrow I'll see what all I can get done.
    Take care!
  20. Tim Palmgren

    Tim Palmgren Maker / Motion Fanatic

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