Force Feedback Joystick Coming soon

Berniyh, I am confused at your response on this. You own a Brunner don't you? Does it fall forward when you let it go (assuming it has no hand sensor or you have disabled it)? Perhaps only if you have the stick spring force set really low, but even then, if it falls, it should be really minimal. I am curious to know.

What if you smack it (again with the hand sensor disabled)? Does it go into oscillation. A G940 (which will oscillate itself to pieces) or MS FFB2 (which will usually damp itself out in a couple seconds), both have horribly unacceptable oscillation because there is no PID loop involved (just the P part of it). Their solution was to add hand sensors (or maybe the lawyers required it), but that is also unacceptable to have the stick go limp just because you let it go. But a Brunner or Gauss should not have these problems because they should have good motors, no backlash in the gimbal/drive system, and because they are using the kind of servo loops that I am talking about. They would have to. And if they don't, they aren't worth the price.

I think I hear you saying you are concerned (rightly so) that trying to solve these issues might add some aberrant force feeling (a bad feel in the stick - a bad "force profile"). Is that the concern? If so, don't be concerned. I don't know how I can say it better without writing another book. Again, I do this kind of thing for a living. A basic PID loop can achieve what I am talking about without any weird feeling or force profile. In fact a PID loop isn't a force profile - there is no profiling involved (i.e. custom curved force profiles). Just equations that achieve a specific goal (spring force which I guess is the force profile, but this is just a linear F = P * X force, damping, and holding accuracy), but are limited in their implementation so the only thing the user feels is smooth spring force application and maybe some intentional hydraulic or friction feel (which is what simFFB does).

Compare that to a G940, where we feel horrible bounces in the force as the software fights to deal with its loose gimbal and gears, and sometimes even fights us (and the gear mesh and motor pole feeling is just horrible too). But that is due to slop, horrible motors, and bad software (which free41's patches helped improve a lot). A PID loop would not fix a G940 because the bad motors and gimbal slop are too much to fix in software alone. But on a good mechanical design, the end result of a proper PID loop is improved feel, not a ruined feel. The Gauss and Brunner should have that improved design.

Berniyh, I am confused at your response on this. You own a Brunner don't you? Does it fall forward when you let it go (assuming it has no hand sensor or you have disabled it)? Perhaps only if you have the stick spring force set really low, but even then, if it falls, it should be really minimal. I am curious to know.

Yes I have a Brunner and no it doesn't have a hand sensor.

afaik there is no algorithm implemented in the Brunner to prevent it falling of, so it does of course.

how much depends on the force profile, which is expected.

The problem here is that if you trim the stick and then put your hand off the stick even small movements will cause the aircraft to run out of a stable position (how quickly depends on various parameters including the aircraft itself).

Unless there is a mechanism specifically preventing this (and there isn't) it will always happen, it doesn't depend on the torque capability of the base (which was the original question I responded to).

In the end if you're happy to use rather pronounced forces you can definitely set up the Brunner (also the Gauss) such that the fall off will be minimal, but you have to consider higher moving forces. At least for a heavier stick.

Personally I'm using the Brunner with the Warthog stick and I'm also using rather low forces since I'm rather after sensitivity and precision.

In my case the stick will fall off quite a bit, but that's ok for me since I just keep my hand on it. The trim for me is there to relax the hand and to have more precise control around the trimmed position (meaning that the forces on my stick are tuned for precision rather than feedback).

What if you smack it (again with the hand sensor disabled)? Does it go into oscillation. A G940 (which will oscillate itself to pieces) or MS FFB2 (which will usually damp itself out in a couple seconds), both have horribly unacceptable oscillation because there is no PID loop involved (just the P part of it). Their solution was to add hand sensors (or maybe the lawyers required it), but that is also unacceptable to have the stick go limp just because you let it go. But a Brunner or Gauss should not have these problems because they should have good motors, no backlash in the gimbal/drive system, and because they are using the kind of servo loops that I am talking about. They would have to. And if they don't, they aren't worth the price.

You can definitely setup the Brunner (and also the Gauss) such that it will happen.

I do also own an OSW (Simucube 1 with Lenze servo) and you can get oscillations there as well.

This is not about the motors, instead it's a rather basic issue with such feedback devices. It's also not about price but setup and software, basically how you interpret the signal.

If you just pass on the FFB signal to the controller without any kind of filtering, every feedback device will start oscillating at some point.

To better understand it, compare it to the situation where you put a microphone in front of a speaker that puts out the sound the microphone records.

I'm pretty sure you know what would happen, you're starting to hear very loud noises.

This is very similar, because what you created is a feedback loop.

The solution to this problem obviously is to separate the microphone and the speaker such that the microphone doesn't record the speaker anymore.

Unfortunately such a solution is not possible in case of our feedback devices because input and output are bound to each other by definition.

To prevent such things to happen you have to add filtering and post-processing to your signal.

e.g. a very common way is to add damping to your axis. If there is enough damping then there will be no oscillation.

The problem here is that for obvious reasons damping also kills feedback.

So in the end there is a trade-off between direct and defined feedback and preventing oscillations.

There are advanced filters that can result in a better trade-off, but in the end you will always wash out some of the feedback as well if you reduce the oscillations.

In the end regarding the oscillations the same thing applies as to the fall-off. It's only a problem if you take the hand off the stick and since that isn't something I'd recommend, I'd say it's not much of a big deal.

(Still there are big discussions about this topic on the sim racing forums. tbh, no idea why everybody seems to be so eager to take off the hands in a race car at 300 kph …)

I think I hear you saying you are concerned (rightly so) that trying to solve these issues might add some aberrant force feeling (a bad feel in the stick - a bad "force profile"). Is that the concern? If so, don't be concerned. I don't know how I can say it better without writing another book. Again, I do this kind of thing for a living. A basic PID loop can achieve what I am talking about without any weird feeling or force profile. In fact a PID loop isn't a force profile - there is no profiling involved (i.e. custom curved force profiles). Just equations that achieve a specific goal (spring force which I guess is the force profile, but this is just a linear F = P * X force, damping, and holding accuracy), but are limited in their implementation so the only thing the user feels is smooth spring force application and maybe some intentional hydraulic or friction feel (which is what simFFB does).

And I'm pretty sure you won't find it in this base either.

Edit: also sorry if I told you things with the above that you already know, just wanted to set that straight regarding the oscillations.

afaik there is no consumer FFB device on the market that does not start to oscillate unless you apply some kind of filtering or damping.

Even the most high-end stuff like the Simucube, the Fanatec DD and the Bodnar wheel do that and some of them have been in the business for years and in case of Granite Devices (Simucube) they've also got years of experience with servo drives and feedback devices in industrial applications.

We are already discussing this issue and intend to provide a calibration to eliminate the problem of too heavy joysticks. This calibration is similar to trimming and is handled with a default trim offset. We will continue to try and bring better solutions.

Where does this Gauss F-15C comes from ?

I can't find anything about it...

Where does this Gauss F-15C comes from ?

I can't find anything about it...

It comes from them. They're Gauss.

I am very interested in seeing more of this product;

it is what I've been searching for, have used a MsFFB stick for 11 years now.

Great looking product!

FINALLY!!!!!

The line up photo looks pretty awesome. You can tell which grips are metal from just looking at the shine.

Wow what a lineup!

Very interested in this. In DCS there is an issue at current which has been around since the start and I've been told it wont be fixed. If you use ffb and have curvature set the game will stick on the liner axis as the stick moves and become overly sensitive. The only modual to address this is the gazelle. Hopefully this can be fixed for this setup.

Very good!!!but the price ????aouch!!!!!

Very interested in this. In DCS there is an issue at current which has been around since the start and I've been told it wont be fixed. If you use ffb and have curvature set the game will stick on the liner axis as the stick moves and become overly sensitive. The only modual to address this is the gazelle. Hopefully this can be fixed for this setup.

As more FFB comes out I suspect they will eventually HAVE to either deal with it, or approve a 3rd party mod.

Based on these screenshots, it looks like this isn't a straight "implement the FFB effects that DCS is sending directly to the joystick", but rather something that requires an export lua that reads telemetry data and sends commands to the joystick, separate from the sim. Is this correct? If so, will there be an API that allows us to interface with the joystick's FFB effect, and will it support sims other than DCS?

Based on these screenshots, it looks like this isn't a straight "implement the FFB effects that DCS is sending directly to the joystick", but rather something that requires an export lua that reads telemetry data and sends commands to the joystick, separate from the sim. Is this correct? If so, will there be an API that allows us to interface with the joystick's FFB effect, and will it support sims other than DCS?

No I believe that screenshot is in response to what I said with the issue with ffb curves in the sim and trimming. If that's the case that's fantastic!

@FoxHoundcn, I suggest adding Realsimulator’s F-16SG grip to your list also. It uses the same connection socket (compatible with Thrustmaster and Virpil’s bases) and should be compatible with your base.

DO I SEE THE WORD YOKE THERE!!!!!?

@FoxHoundcn, I suggest adding Realsimulator’s F-16SG grip to your list also. It uses the same connection socket (compatible with Thrustmaster and Virpil’s bases) and should be compatible with your base.

The Realsimulator is an Independent Bluetooth HID. You just pop it on a stick base and it does the buttons as a separate unit. (I think it takes power from the base's Vcc and Gnd pins only) So there's nothing you would need to do in the software here to use it. You use the base for X/Y and the Realsimulator itself for buttons.

No I believe that screenshot is in response to what I said with the issue with ffb curves in the sim and trimming. If that's the case that's fantastic!

Completely correct！

DO I SEE THE WORD YOKE THERE!!!!!?

Yes，But not finished yet

Do we have a date / ETA for the F-15C grip yet? I'm still very much interested!

Can these used with an extension, say 10-12cm or would the force be attenuated too much?

Neat to see this shaping up, the gui looks fantastic and I have a few questions. What is the torque of the motors, as in holding torque and peak/transient torque? Being direct drive, knowing that that would allow anyone with force questions to easily extrapolate how much to expect in their configuration like length of shaft and grip type.

The base seems pretty compact so presumably the brushless drives are external? If so, how big are they and are x/y mounted in the same enclosure?

Do we have a date / ETA for the F-15C grip yet? I'm still very much interested!

Sorry, we can't determine the next batch of production time right now.