Shift lights math question

Hi,

I am very interested in racing games but I don't know much about cars or engines in the real world so I hope you will excuse me if this is a silly question.

Is there a magic formula for using RPM & MAXRPM for shift lights??

I am using SimTools and Game Dash to feed RPM data from rFactor2 into my Arduino MEGA where I want to use that information for a LED bar and shift indicator.

I assume there is no formula because of how extremely different the engines are. I am guessing that the games handle the UI gauges with "per car/engine configuration" so the UI can be accurate for every configuration - even if the car was upgraded or the engine's configuration changed.

How are you calculating the optimal RPM for shifting in your DIY dash boards?

I have seen examples where this is configured manually everytime with a potentiometer. I whish there was a way to extract this information from the game.

see if here helps http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/arduino-dashboard-almost-complete.3332/

Hi,

thank you. Yes this is quite helpful when it comes to the Arduino side of things. I have that pretty much covered now.

The real brain tease for me is how the "shifting point" is calculated. Should a shift light blink at the cars "maxRPM"? Is that how it works in real racing cars?

I wonder if all the information for this is already in the games ( for the in game dashboard ) and the plugins could retrieve those values. Then we could make or shift lights and rpm leds match the game perfectly

I have a feeling that I am missing something - or misunderstanding how the whole thing works in real life cars.

Best

there is data in nearly all games that could be found, but its just that. Finding it. I know with the rfactors, simbin titles, dash data is easy to get , hence a few digital displays and other programs that can be used to display data onto a seperate screen, like a tablet.
The codemasters titles, are being investigated to find data out of them as well. Apparently even Dirt Showdown could have a dash plugin as well.
As for accuracy of digital dash with actual game graphics, not sure. The fellas get it close. I know with my dash in race07, I set the rpm shift with the actual display in game, then I only pay attention to the shift light flashing in front of me. I dont look to the side to check how accurate it is. It seems just about spot on.

Hi,

yes you are right - the shift light is the most important thing - and now I know that the SimTools rFactor2 plugin reports "ShiftUp" that can be used to flash that light.

I have also mentioned it to the developer of that plugin that he could maybe add the MAXRPM to his reported values ( because it is available ) and then we could very easily create an accurate representation.

But thank you very much for your help. This community is very helpful it seems!

When I have created the button box and dash I will most certainly create a report on how it turned out and share the process/code.

Best

With my dash setup I got around this issue by including a button control or pot control in the code allowing me to set the shift point to anywhere in the rpm range I wanted , all done live with no code editing. A simple fix till these values become usable straight from the game plugins, think Rfactor's are the only ones set like that at the moment.

Yes eaorobbie, your solution with button control is really good to set shift point, but would be cool if the Arduino can identify which car your are driving and there fore you would end up with dynamic shift point between shift points and cars.

Actually some of the games export the engines max rpm to a plugin , we have not set this in some of the plugins we have set up (think rfactor is the only one we have done to test it) , we too are learning how we can make this work better. Assetto actually reports the car and track to the GameDash.

I actually prefer to set my own, 15 years of playing them , developed my own style (lol , its not fast, but its me). But having both options is the key then the user can choose what they like , Im not here to go "use this only" , my aim to make it so the user does what they want, if they are happy , I'm EXCITED !!!.

Thanks for the suggestion , I do agree on the concept.