Fanatec CSW 2.5 Oscillating on straights and "Notchy" at centre of steering
Laurence McLachlan
Member
Hi,
I'm hoping someone might be able to help as I've had these issues since getting the wheel, but just kind of put up with them, but I'm getting over it/wondering if my times could be faster if I weren't experiencing them (hey, I can dream can't I?? hahaha)
Running a Fanatec CSW 2.5 with a Forumla V2 Rim
Preface:
These issues are ONLY present in ACC/AC - I don't experience either issue in any other driving game - yet I play AC/ACC more than anything else and so I get used to it and then get frustrated that it's there when I come back after playing something else and experience smooth, issue free steering.
Oscillation:
On any straight, while moving at any speed, in any car in either Kunos game, the wheel rapidly oscillates from left to right. I can hold it still, but it sends the vibrations through my wrists and shoulders and as a result, I get fatigued after about 30 -60 mins of lapping.
Here's a video of it hapenning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A6FaF1v5JA&feature=emb_title
Notchy Feeling:
I have this strange "Notchy" feeling in the centre of my steering range that I'd like to try to get rid of somehow. It's only present in AC/ACC - other driving games, it's smooth steering at any angle and in any change of direction.
With the oscillation issue, I could post a video, but this I can only really describe unfortunately, but it essentially feels like there's a deadzone in the FFB in the middle (yet, the game still recognizes and acts on my steering inputs within it) - going beyond it, the FFB kicks in and everything is normal again. It's mostly noticable in chicanes and areas where you need to change steering direction quickly, but you can feel it if you look for it when making a turn from holding it straight. It feels similar to what it would be like if there was 3mm of play on either side of the alignment rail/slot at the connection between the wheel and the wheel base.
Further info:
Given I don't experience either issue in titles other than AC/ACC, I imagine it's something in the game/JSON files/LUT tables perhaps that needs to be edited at my end, but wouldn't have the first idea of where to look, so if there's a fix, if you can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.
Here are my wheel/game settings (Happy to take suggestions on the game settings, aside from the oscillation and weird, notchy spot in the middle, the wheel feels great):
Settings At the wheel:
Sens: (Varies depending on the car I'm driving, but either 900, 540 or 360 across different profiles - for ACC and *most* of AC, it's 900)
FFB: 70% (although, I can run iRacing, F120xx or dirt rally at 100% and the issues aren't present)
Shock: 100
BR ABS: Off
Drift: -5
Force: 100
Spring: Off
Damper: Off
FEI: 100
MPS FNC: (irrelevant, but its set to) Auto
Settings In game:
Gain:100
Minimum Force: 0 (I read somewhere that this has helped people, but it doesn't change it)
Dynamic Damping: 20%
Road Effects: 0%
Frequency: 333
Lock: 900
Linearity: 1
Brake Gamma: 1
Gear debouncing: (irrelevant to this, but it's set to) 50ms
Has anyone else experienced this with a Fanatec CSW 2.5 at all?? Did you manage to fix it at all and if so, how did you go about it??
Regardless of what game, I've run into issues when trying to use fanalabs (and thus, the earlier firmware required for it) or LUT tables with it, so I just ended up deleting everything related to the fanatec stuff and starting fresh and let it install whatever the latest default drivers/firware are at the time - so presumably, it's got whatever is current. If I need to add LUT tables or something, please point me in the direction of an "idiots guide to" with a start-to-finish set of instructions with no assumed knowledge as I'll likely stuff it up and end up having to delete everything and start again - again
Thanks and appreciation in advance.
Comments
You need to turn on the damper in the wheel settings so Dynamic Damping in ACC to be able to work.
uh, there are multiple posts across these forums from Fanatec themselves saying that both Spring and Damping have no effect in ACC on a CSW 2.5, so that is false. You might not be experiencing this and have damping on, but I'd wager that if you turned damping off, you wouldn't notice a difference
With a car standing still, try how heavy is the steering wheel to turn with DPR Off and 100.
That's all well and good, but since when does how your wheel feels when you're stopped matter in sim racing??
Again, It's been confirmed that when running a CSW 2.5, Damper and Spring settings have no effect on the car when driving in ACC
What driver and firmware version do you have? Did you try different ones already?
Is the notchy feel also when standing still or only when driving?
Is the DRI setting really -5 or is it maybe 5?
I would suggest to not use 100% in-game FFB in AC and ACC as everything above 70% leads to clipping. Its better to reduce in-game gain to 70% and use the base at 100%, this leads to having a similar strength in general but more headroom for details and a more linear behavior.
DPR for sure has an effect in ACC, its controlling not only the resistance when standing still but also the dynamic damper effect coming from the game. if you turn DPR off, it can't send those commands to the base. Dynamic dampening would probably prevent the oscillations from happening. I would suggest touse a DPR setting of 100. Spring on the other hand indeed has no effect in ACC so any setting is fine there.
Regarding AC there is something you can do in the "assetto_corsa.ini" file where you can enable "ENABLE_GYRO=1" which should prevent oscillations as well and adds some realism, its also working over the DPR FFB channel and can be dialed in through that in case the effect is too strong.
If you've enabled DPR again and you are using the dynamic damper on ACC and gyro=1 in AC you also thould be able to use DRI -2 instead of -5.
If people are so sure the games don't address the DPR FFB channel, why are they so into turning them off which then would anyway not make a difference? Its also a bad misconception that some people think a damper would be something bad in general. Its a good thing and its needed, just not too much of it.
Thank you @Marcel Pfister.
I'm using Driver Package V365 and whatever firmware for each peice that the drivers install as updates (Wheel Base:672 MOT Control:22 Wheel:34)
Notchy feel and oscillations not present when stopped in the car.
The Drift setting is at -5 - but both issues present regardless of where that is set.
I've definitely attempted to run the wheel base at 100% and lower it in game (in various combinations/amounts across both Kunos titles), but it didn't remove the oscillations/make them any more bearable, or remove the notchy feeling, but will take the advice on board from if/when I can rectify this.
As for Damper - the "Fanatec recommended settings" post (here: https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/634/assetto-corsa-competizione-pc-fanatec-recommended-settings ) says "*SPR and DPR values have no effect." - that's where I'm getting that idea from - if fanatec recommend it as 0 and say it has no effect, then why shouldn't I believe them...? If that information is outdated, then I stand corrected I guess.
Results of recommended testing in AC after updating the Gyro setting: same issues present.
I adjusted the damper from 0 to 100 and a few points in between - it didn't prevent the notchy feeling or the oscillation, just put more resistance on turning the wheel as I increased it - given I'm currently fighting the vibrations in the wheel and getting fatigued because of it, it's back to 0 for now - the less resistance I have, the better right now. Have not made the same tests in ACC as previously, it's been the same across both games - I can try in ACC though if you think it's worth doing so.
I really would like to get to the bottom of this because I love EVERYTHING else about the products, playing other games and not having to fight to hold the wheel still on a straight in them, yet when I play AC and ACC (which all my league races are held in), I have these issues is really making it hard to even want to practice for upcoming races.
This is really strange Laurence. The fact that it is only happening in AC and ACC suggests that it is not a hardware issue. The behaviour in your video is not normal.
I suggest going to back to v346, and don't use FanaLab or any other software. This is the driver version that the support team often suggests to customers when troubleshooting. Ensure that you install both the base and motor firmware after installing this driver.
If it's still behaving strangely, it's probably worth re-installing the games.
[Fanatec Community Manager]
Thanks Dominic, I'll give those things a go and report back. Figured I'd run the deletions and reinstall of the games a go anyway - it can't hurt to start at this stage on a fresh install - all the mods for AC aren't hard to get back either.
Is there a way to force install the motor firmware posted in the forum post for v346?? I downloaded it, but the driver package is saying the motor firmware is at v22 and warns me that the currently installed version is newer than the default.
After going to driver version 346 as suggested and uninstalling (and removing all traces of the game(s)) then re-installing - the issues are no longer there!!! Doing this even fixed another issue where the d-pad thumbstick didn't control my pit menu in AC.
For anyone else the experiences this and stumbles on this forum thread - I don't know if it was the Driver or the clean install of the games that did it, but if you're at your wits end, then it's worth trying at very least.
Now to practice a heap for tonights race now that I have a completely different feeling wheel...