DCS and force feedback PRO-blems

After my saitek X52pro stick malfunctioned (stick doesnt work in y axis), I was trying to find another option to keep flying this beautiful sim. So I decided to keep the throttle section as collective. I decided to try FFB Joystick (while waiting for Logitech G940 Hotas). So first I found on sale Logitech Force 3d pro stick. This stick works fine in BOB2, FSX and FreeFalcon V. But in DCS it doesnt work as it should. I tried every bit of tweaking and axis curvature, FF strenght etc, but i cant make it work as good as non FFB saitek x52pro. Logitech when using trim stays in trimmed position which is good, but it is too sensitive (small movement makes huge movement in y axis). I tried to swap axis for force feedback in DCS, but then the problem is in x axis.

After that i bought also on sale Genius Metalstrike FF stick, which also works perfectly in BOB2, FSX, FreeFalcon V. But when using in DCS the stay in trimed position doesnt work at all.

In producer.cfg if forcefeeback is set to FALSE - i can use trim (it works in game - when using ctrl+shift+enter cheat, the trim keeps stick in trimed postion), but there is no trim function on the stick -ie. it doesnt stay in trim position.

If I set producer.cfg forcefeedback to true - trim doest work in game (it always centers the stick in the game), and also my Metalstrike FF is always centerd.

So to recap - Logitech - trim works, but it crappy in axis sensitivities

Metalstrike - trim doesnt work (only in the game it works, but i have to disable forcefeeback effects on the stick)

Conclusion - somebody has to fix the forcefeedback effects in the game (because both my stick works fine with other games)

P.S.

I will post this with poll so you can vote if you are happy with FF effects in DCS Blackshark

Saitek Evo Force FFB are not working as they should. Also we don't need only Trim hold force but full FBB effects. I am not satisfy at all with FFB implementation.

First of all - not all FF joysticks complies to full FF-specification. Especially this can felt when working with vibration-type FF joysticks.

Second - only FF effect implemented in BS is trimming mechanism as it works in the real aircraft. It's successfully used with MS FF2 and Saitek Evo Force joysticks AFAIK.

Logitech Force 3D Pro has limited FF support, that's why it do not work correctly in BS.

dragony, thanks for chiming in. I have a Saitek Evo FFB. As I have posted in the past, after tweaking it to settings that some others have recommended, I got it to where it will hold a trimmed position. However, I will concede that it is a very weak hold. The stick itself is capable of exhibiting strong force, but we aren't seeing anything like that being applied to holding the stick in the trimmed position. A very small amount of pressure on the stick will jostle it out of the trimmed position.

If you have information on some people getting more solid results with the Saitek Evo FFB, can you tell us how we can accomplish the same?

Thanks!

MSFFB2 here, works like a charm.

dragony, thanks for chiming in. I have a Saitek Evo FFB. As I have posted in the past, after tweaking it to settings that some others have recommended, I got it to where it will hold a trimmed position. However, I will concede that it is a very weak hold.

If I'm remembering it correctly, there was recommendation to turn off spring, use no curvature and 100% FF. But looks like you're already did it.

It would be nice to say - what force needed to move it from trimmed position? Take note, that force must be similar to force needed to move stick from central position (untrimmed). Another thought - maybe your hand a little too heavy? ;)

I have indeed done those things.

I haven't measured it with an instrument. I know that leaves us in 'subjective' territory. FWIW, I can say that it is holding the trimmed position with *far* less force than what the stick is capable of (as in, for instance, the force exhibited while testing it via control panel tests). If it were just me, I would discount it as an isolated case, or some sort of heavy-handedness on my part. However, if you do a search of the forums, you'll find that I'm not alone. In fact, I was pretty much portraying it as, 'this works, it just isn't as strong as you would like'. I'd say that is still a fair assessment, but it is peculiar. It would be nice if either E.D., or Saitek, came up with some means for us to make it stronger in the sim. This seems to be potentially even more important now that the Saitek X-65 FFB HOTAS is out there on the horizon (as well as Logitech's G940 being on the scene now).

Since the existing test routine can already make the stick utilize heavy force, I have to think that there must be some software solution to get the desired behavior in DCS:BS. I realize this has been an issue for only a small subset of DCS:BS users, but the number of FFB users is obviously about to go up (probably significantly), and whatever is discovered / developed may help more people.

There is FF tuning button in DCS input setup, gotta look there for all FF related settings. Too bad this is all help I can give on this issue, because I have plain old Saitek X-52 without FF :)

It's successfully used with MS FF2 and Saitek Evo Force joysticks AFAIK.

That's not true, FFB on Saitek Evo Force is sh*t. You have to disable the spring and all kinds of stuff to do it, and then the controller moves to easy and it's hard to make precise movements.