2DOF + traction loss

I had bought Dirt 3 and was not too happy with it. So I mainly played AC. I just bought Dirt Rally; IT'S the BOMB! The forces coming from Dirt Rally (to the sim) are great. The driving sensation is great! My sim creaks and clanks, shudders and shimmies, I'm sooo happy. Now some questions for you guys. Is it imperative that all the forces in axis assignment equal 100%? Can you have more than 100%, less than 100%? Why would you set it up one or the other. Do we tweak the forces in "tuning center" rather than axis assignment? Is tuning center fine tuning and axis coarse tuning? I get the fact that Simtools is very general and all forces and parameters are custom to your (my) sim. I'm not too happy with loss of traction. The car (sim car) wags its tail when it isn't sliding. With the sim powered up and in the game, I can move (easily) the sim in yaw (loss of traction). The pitch and roll axis are tight (motors are fighting back). Have I got just not got it tuned correctly. BTW this effect is noticed in AC also. Thanks James

Axis assignments = Actuator travel. So 100% = full actuator movement. Using less than 100% means actuator won’t use full travel and more means it can attempt to use more travel than is available. So when axis assignments are over 100% total and movement goes over 100%, it doesn’t hurt anything other than the motion is not proper anymore since the actuator stops.

Tuning numbers make each dof stronger or weaker. So if a dof is set to 20% axis assignment for example, lower tuning numbers will make the dof reach its full 20% faster and larger numbers more slowly. So smaller numbers make the motion faster but at the expense of not being able to reproduce as wide of a range of motion that’s coming from the telemetry since the actuator tops out sooner.

Btw, Dirt Rally’s motion is a lot like AC if you like a spasm type of motion. But with proper tuning I personally have a lot more fun playing Dirt3.

Thanks guys; I never could tune Dirt3 to get it like I thot it should be. I think I'll be closer to whipping it into shape now. This project has been so much fun. I even get a case of the giggles now and then.

Well, my phone shoots videos in MP4. I can't seem to upload to forum. suggestions

Must upload videos to sharing site like YouTube first then you post the link to it on this site by using the media button which will embed your video here.

ok, I'm on it

Here is a short video with a friend driving. I have since gone through the setting to make it mo betta.

I have to admit that sometimes when I go to tune, I mainly just drive. So I'm usually in the close enough mode while tuning. However tweaking on the sim is encouraging, it is noticeably better when you start getting close. I'm so happy! I have parts on order to build a hydraulic handbrake with a pressure sensor. I bought a Derek Spear 12bit card to hook the pressure sensor to the computer. More stuff, more fun.

I have to say I rather disagree with this one. Imo Dirts physics are no where close to AC.

I really wasn’t comparing physics other than both AC and Dirt Rally have a lot of vibration to their motion. It may just be my rig too. Since I heave a 300lb platform I require pretty low tuning numbers, which in turn strengthens high frequency vibrations. For comparison my heave tuning number for AC is .2 and for Dirt Rally its 1.45.

Also, if you a hardcore rally driver then you will probably like Dirt Rally better than Dirt3. It requires more concentration on your driving than Dirt3 and you can even work up a sweat. But purely for the fun factor, I love Dirts3 with its buggies, trucks, special hill climbers, etc. Dirts3 is also fantastic when using 3dVision, which gives it a VR look and feel!

Dirt Rally has the Pike's Peak Hillclimb. It's scary, I have had to close my eyes for a few crashes. I think Sebastian Loab must/does have nerves of steel. That 800HP car is very hard to drive fast in the game. What the real thing must fell like. My rig vibrates and shakes also. The tuning is the thing. The trick is: only one change at a time. I'm an old hotrodder and I can dig the tuning. Same thing applied to working on car; one thing at a time. I love the lethality of the tracks in Dirt Rally, it take a lot of concentration to survive! Forgot to tell you guys the good news. I bought a load cell brake mod from Ricmotech for my Thrustmaster pedals. The brakes have a small amount of movement, then is push like hell. This is a great mod, not cheap but worth it (to me anyway lol).

I am now getting a problem with the traction loss. If I smack the wall, or run off a cliff, the traction loss acts like it has a bias in it (traction loss is stuck in one position). Resetting the arduino doesn't fix the problem. Killing Game engine and Game manager usually fixes the problem. Pitch and roll usually don't have this problem. thanks, James

Try increasing the number used for clipping on the offending motor(in SMC3). This will "clip" the peaks or big movements. You can also take advantage of the scaling function in SMC3.

EDIT: decreasing tunning center or pid may also help.

good job and good info!...im doing this too!...here's my project link : https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...f1-seating-style-wiper-motor-arduino-mm.9451/

hope you can share tips and give some ideas..thanks

Thanks for the tips. @lil86 I have a background in building stuff. I have the electrical and mechanical fab/design down pat. I modified Air Force aircraft for testing. More rules than you can count. I can post pictures of my sim's various parts if you need them. I tried tuning center which didn't cure the bias problem, but all that tweaking did get traction loss working well. Thanks for the tip on more tweaking on SMC3. With tons of adjustments I knew when I started this project, that SMC3 was going to need a lot of attention. I'm gonna try adjusting clipping. I don't have any clipping set now. The traction loss is so violent that the sim sometime moves on it's pad. I love it. I have killed millions of dollars worth of race cars. I would probably have some trouble getting a team "ride". Lately I have been doing the quick races in AC. I like the low powered Fiat on the Monza track. But the killer AMG Merc at Spa is a trip. If I had a few hundred thousand to waste I would like to drive one. My self, I have a 1986 Thunderbird sleeper, with a big motor (427 small block( bored and stroked 351W)), big brakes, and good suspension, it's always fun to give the Mustangs, ricers and other folks a "little". lol

Ok, update on the loss of traction problem. Bumping up the clipping is the fix. I'm going to tweak clipping some more and I think that will fix the problem, yeah. So I went off the course in Dirt Rally; wfo in 6th gear, what a wreck. lol

The windsor is a beast to begin with.

Wow!..you have much experience!

Oh yes, I bleed blue. My daddy was the service manager at the Lincoln-Mercury dealer. When I started off, I was too young, to work in the service bays (where I wanted) so I was stuck in the paint shop. What a trip; most of the painters were alky's plus we shot mostly lacquer paint. The fumes made you high anyway. When I got old enough (16) I drove the wrecker, so I knew most of the State Troopers and the city police. I was returned to my father a few times. lol Boy don't you be driving drunk; me, yessir! I'm not too drunk. I might not be able to walk, but I can drive. Only my good luck saved me. Since I'm 55 years older now, I have gotten a little smarter; I hope. This sim project has been an absolute fun time. I read on the forum, figured out what I wanted the sim to do. Then bought the necessary parts. The Game manager and Game engine are just so cool. Then having SMC3 for the servo driver was another great thing. I am holding my breath for v.2. I want to thank all the people responsible for these jewels. later James