Author Topic: Force feedback badness  (Read 159 times)

Offline Chairboy

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Force feedback badness
« on: May 15, 2002, 07:07:09 PM »
Hi there,

I have a force feedback stick and am satisfied for the most part with the implementation of FF in AH, but there is one thing that really annoys me.

When you bail from a plane, your stick will start thrashing around uncontrollably.  When you land, it will continue to try and shake itself to pieces.  

Whatever possessed the developers to make this the behaviour of an FH stick in such a situation?  Or is it an oversight?  One problem this introduces is that it becomes difficult to .ef without getting 'You must be stopped to exit' messages.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline Tumor

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Force feedback badness
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2002, 10:03:43 PM »
take your hand of your stick!!  :eek:

Ya it's annoying but it's not hard to get around.
"Dogfighting is useless"  :Erich Hartmann

Offline Chairboy

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Force feedback badness
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2002, 12:40:48 AM »
That's not...  entirely correct.

You see, my joystick has an optical sensor on the grip that is used to detect whether a hand is on the stick or not, and from that data, whether or not to use the force feedback mechanism.

While I take my hand off the stick, it will keep thrashing from the game until my hand leaves the zone covered by the sensor.  When it finally stops moving, the stick is invariably stopped at one of the extremes on its axis.  Eg, pointed full forward, backwards, etc.  Translation?  For my chute on the ground, it is MOVING.  Seeing as how I cannot .ef when moving without getting the 'You must be stopped to exit' message, I need to sneak up on my joystick from the side opposite of the sensor and surprise it, pushing it to something near the center.  This in itself is a chore, because my joystick, like most force feedback joysticks, does not have a centering spring, so I have to play with it, often for as much as half a minute before it is centered enough that I can .ef

The workaround you suggest, therefor, is unacceptable in any real sense.  Just because my fellow silent FF players and I can do this does not by any means imply that we should.

If I were a more suspicious man, I would guess that the stick is being instructed to act as if the pilot were still in the airplane they have bailed from.  This was the case in early versions of Warbirds where you could actually FEEL your plane hit the ground while you watched it from your parachute.

This should be fixed.  There is no reason for the stick to be programmed to thrash about so violently when a chute is sitting on the ground (or falling peacefull to earth, for that matter).
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline AcId

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Force feedback badness
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2002, 08:34:41 AM »
I had this same problem when I used to use a MSFF2, I got pretty adept at moving the stick without the sensor knowing I was touching the stick. Another method would be to yank the power cord from the stick. The stick will still function normaly providing input to the game but the FF will be disabled as it requires the power connection. This used to be standard practice for me in some situations where the FF actually had a negative impact on gameplay. It did add some immersion in some situations but I found it to be more of a hassle and have since moved on to a more capable X45/CH arrangement. :D

Offline Chaos68

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Force feedback badness
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2002, 10:31:36 AM »
i have the same problem with my "wingman force 3D FF stick"

I just unplug the power cord from the stick and it takes care of the problem.


the other problem i have that i cant seem to fix is i get this message "stop moving your controls so rapid" or something like that and i become a lawn dart. :mad:

any answers on that?

Offline hitech

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Force feedback badness
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2002, 10:39:20 AM »
It's an oversight. Will try get it fixed for 1.10