@wolfshark: You need at least WINE 1.3.19 (or 20?) to get good FF. I'll see if I can patch the LTWC to add support for Formula EX.

@MikeB: Great news about the patch. As for the separate axes for other devices, I've been thinking that introducing some userspace interface to the Logitech kernel driver might be a good idea. It would allow us to replace the descriptors only if user wants to, I'm afraid we're gonna have to do that for more wheels than just DFP. It would also allow us to get the LEDs on G27 working.
Enjoy your vacation, you sure deserve it!

It was wine-1.3.19, updated it to 21 and now it's much better!!!
The FF is working as it shoud be, but the center spring is way stronger and i feel almost nothing, but it's working. Now the most important thing for me is to remove the spring, separate axis - later.
Thank you MadCatX, i hope you succeed with the patching. If you need me to output something, just ask me here or on PM.

Mint 9 AMD64 2.6.32-30-generic kernel

sudo ./ltwheelconf -l

Quote :

Scanning for "Driving Force": Found "Logitech Formula Force RX", release number 2100, 046d:c294 (bus 3, device 2, address 2)

I did some testing with autocentering and this worked for me with DFP in the fallback mode. (run as root)

If you add udev rules mentioned here, it should create a /dev/input/DF symlink which works for me too.

Chain post (chazoom)

At least my DFP accepts the native autocentering force command in fallback mode, so you might want to try the attached patch. Apply it against latest git version of LTWC and use "sudo ./ltwheelconf -w DF -a 0" to disable autocentering.

Aplied the patch and compiled again, but it's the same here.

Quote :

sudo ./ltwheelconf -w DF -a 0
"Sorry, do not know how to set autocenter force for Driving Force. Please try generic implementation using --alt_autocenter."

Tried again:

Quote :

sudo ./ltwheelconf -w DF -b 0 --device /dev/input/DF
Wheel autocenter force is now set to 0.

But still nothing happens

Quote :

sudo ./ltwheelconf -w DF -b 0 --device /dev/input/DF
Wheel autocenter force is now set to 0.

Still nothing - the annoying spring is still there.

Big mistake actually - the FFB is stil crap, it snaps at some point when turning left and it is heavy all the way when turning right.

I might clean install Ubuntu 11.04 on another drive and give it a try - it has a newer kernel. Haven't reinstalled my Mint 9 since it first came out.

When you apply the patch, you've got to run "make clean" and build again, sometimes the binary just won't rebuild. Can you try it again with the native autocentering command?

Quote :

sudo ./ltwheelconf -w DF -a 0
Autocenter for Driving Force is now set to 0 with rampspeed 0.

Yes i had to make clean. Now the center spring is gone. Till i get to the game where it switches on again The same problems apply - center spring + sudden snapping turning left, and when i drive i don't feel FFB, just some jerking from time to time

This is certainly weird. Do you have the source for the kernel you're currently running on your computer? If you do, can you check out file "drivers/hid/hid-lgff.c"? Is there "{ 0x046d, 0xc294, ff_wheel }" entry in dev_type devices[] array? Can you see this

in that file?

Perhaps you should consider update to Mint 11 which has 2.6.38 kernel, that one worked fine with WINE 1.3.21 for me.

I will consider an update to be 100% sure that the cause isn't the kernel. I will try to do it today, and tomorrow if i am not too busy will test it. (i have to backup first)

Just for the record, I checked the sources of 2.6.32 and there doesn't seem to be anything that should affect FF. Maybe you can rename the .wine directory and try it with fresh WINE config? Especially if you have some native dlls installed, it might have screwed up something. You can also generate a WINE bugreport like this

No, it is still wierd. Made the debugging though. It's... well - long Had to compress it. But don't loose your time here. It's a good reason to update to Mint 11.

Ok - some progress. I installed Mint 11 and ran into similar problem. I set the center spring to 0 and it works till i start the game. When I start the game the center spring goes on immediately and when i start the race my wheel goes crazy. I barely hold it and when i play i feel that the FFB might be working properly but it's interfering with the spring and things go out of control.

Could it be that the FF is actually inverted, so when the car is driving in a straight line, the wheel tries pulls you aside and when you turn, it moves in the direction if the turn instead of resisting it?

No - definately there is a center spring and it makes my wheel behave a bit mad. I can film it if it will help.

Can you try your wheel in another game like VDrift? VDrift has a pretty crappy FF, but it should at least feel somewhat correct. You might have to modify ~/.vdrift/VDrift.config file to point VD to your wheel.

If it works there, it's a WINE issue. If it doesn't, something is wrong in the kernel. BTW are you sure you have the latest WINE 1.3.21? Ubuntu by default installs 1.2 branch which is not patched so I guess that Mint might do the same.

You are right, again. It was 1.3.15, so i updated it to 21. when i was with 15 i recorded a video an uploaded it to youtube to show the problem. With wine 1.3.21 now the wheel is not "crazy" but still has center spring - you wiil see the problem in the video - i remove the spring, everything is fine, but as soon i enter the game the center spring returns. The FFB is working now - when i "drift" i feel the steering wheel whant to steer into the turn, but it can't because of the center spring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxplPp8CYv0
I really have to sleep now - its almost 1AM and i have to wake at 8AM. I will shower and then check the forum last time for today.

Have you tried reducing force strength in LFS? Mine is set to 60 and FF feels fine. Right now I can't think of anything else...

Yes - played with that a bit - from 0 to 100 but the center spring is very strong and it screws everything. I also have Windows and i know how the wheel should be behaving, and there i have no center spring "effect"

It's normal that wine triggers autocenter, at least over here as soon i start LFS autocenter gets disabled, and when i close the game, its reenabled. Could you please try one more time starting LFS without removing autocenter before, now that you have a correct working wine?

Of course - i tried countless combinations, but with no luck. Wine doesn't have any FFB options, i was hoping to find some reg keys that are responsible for the center spring, but no luck.

This is rather confusing. I compared the WINE log with what I get and I don't see anything that would suggest where the problem might be.

If you use --alt_autocenter with LTWC and it doesn't work (are you absolutely sure you're passing it the right event file?), then I guess that Formula RX doesn't accept the default way of disabling autocentering that's now used in Linux drivers. Are there any errors in dmesg when you run the command? Do other games that use FF behave in the same way?

Update:
It's possible that I found a bug in the force feedback driver for Logitech wheels. Do you know how to patch, compile and install the kernel in Mint?

Is there any other game that i can test with except Vdrift?
p.p. Oh god, i know how to but i really don't have the time for this. Is that the only chance?
The next two weeks are nightmare for me, i don't have time for anything.

I can't be sure, but it appears that the way FF driver in the kernel isn't entirely correct. If you can disable autocentering with

but not

it's most likely a kernel bug. I checked the commands that are sent to the wheel and they differ a bit. I suspect the Formula RX from interpreting the command in a different way which makes the bug surface.

<techtalk>
Command to control autocentering looks like this (it's in all HEX btw):

which is what LTWC sends. Commands for full autocentering and no autocentering force then look like this:

Kernel driver assumes the 5th byte to be always 80, so if the Formula RX uses thy 5th byte only to set the autocentering force, it can't be disabled. WINE of course uses the kernel driver to control FF, so even if it tells the driver to disable autocentering, the driver gets it wrong.
</techtalk>

You are totally right -

Quote :

sudo ./ltwheelconf -w DF -a 0

works and removes autocentering (at least when you are not in LFS).

Quote :

sudo ./ltwheelconf -b 0 --device=/path-to-device-event-file

Does not remove the autocentering - i tried js0, event0/1/2/3/4 but it doesn't do it.