Sim Tools issues

@noorbeast Yes! I also found your detailed "how to" regarding tuning Sim Tools, which I'll read through again and apply what you shared. Thanks Noorbeast for your shared experience. I've just got home with a genuine Arduino Uno so am about to change everything over and see if this sorts the possible coms issue between SMC3 and my Arduino clone. That's what it's looking like I recon. I think because the settings all dialed down in the SMC3 it was not sending any motor power data to Sim Tools. I'll report what I discover.

@noorbeast here is my findings regarding the SMC3 to Sim Tools Arduino Uno R3 clone problem I started having and how I solved it. Credit to @noorbeast and @Halloween2go for getting me on the track to begin with. I hope this saves anyone some time who may come up against similar problems if using the cheaper Arduino Uno clones. I have also talked a little about what I've learned regarding the relationship between SMC3 and Sim Tools. I am still researching and experimenting with SMC3 utilities to gain a better understanding of it's parameters and how they relate to getting your motion rig moving

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@noorbeast. Spent the most part of two days trying to get my rig moving in game. Everything is working well in the sim tools output testing, but no matter what I try after patching rFactor 1 in game manager I cannot get any movement from the rig when driving in game. Both sim tools game manager and game engine are showing blue when the game is running, so it's definitely patched correctly and sim tools is seeing the game.

I have tried different DOF axis assignment parameters (conservative and radical) in the game engine. High and low intensity settings in the game manager profile editor. Individual axis assignments (one at a time in the profile editor editor axis assignment sliders but nothing I do works in game. I can hear the motors running and the rig remains powered. I know there is power to the motors other wise my front motor levers would sag with me sitting in the rig.

As I say, I've been refining the rig via SMC3 and then output testing in sim tools for a few days now and it's all working manually, but no dice in game. I checked through the in game rFactor 1 settings but there are no adjustments in the game for motion sims, only setting and adjustments for force feedback wheels, pedals etc. Sim tools via the game manager is telling me that rFactor 1 runs with pitch, roll, surge, sway and yaw, so I'm assuming it should just work with those parameters as set up in the axis assignments.

I've followed Halloween2go's tutorial where he patches assetto corsa step by step as he set his sim tools game engine/game manager and his rig just works. I don't have assetto corsa to test at the moment but that's the only other thing i think I could try. Couldn't find a thread on sim tools not working with patched games.

@noorbeast ok sounds like a plan. I was wondering if I needed to point sim tools game manager to some other folder in the rFactor directory. Ok I’ll try that bin32 folder you’ve suggested. Regarding LFS. Where do I download LFS? I have the plug-in but I cannot find the game. When I purchased sim tools pro, I thought LFS was included, but I cannot find it to patch.

@noorbeast thanks for the link!

@noorbeast great news mate. I downloaded LFS demo as you advised and I've spent most of the day playing it and using it to tweak the rig. It worked straight off the bat with the motion platform. Just added the plugin, patched it when in game manager and off we went. The rig is smooth and responsive. Happy as a fat lady on a cupcake.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for both rFactor 1 and Assetto Corsa. Neither are working with the rig.

I looked in the Assetto Corsa game folder where it is located and I couldn't see the plugin anywhere in it's folders, even though I added the plugin via the auto updater in the sim tools main folder location and when the game is running like rFactor 1, both game manager and game engine are blue and confirm I am in game. But no response from the rig when playing.

Can you elaborate on what you where talking about with adding a bin32 folder? Cheers.

@noorbeast I read through that thread but that's for rFactor 2. I'm having issues with rFactor 1. In rFactor 1 there is no Bin32 folder to speak of. There is however a plugins folder and I can see the SimTools_rFactor.dll file in that folder, so looks like game manager has dropped it in there. Maybe I'll try and put it in the main folder and see if that works.

@noorbeast after a bit of fiddling, I’ve got all three games working with the rig. It seems sim tools game manager updater does not like the plugins extracted before dropping them in the updater.

I unpatched assetto and rFactor, then dragged the plug-in files still in their zipped state into the plug-in updater and that was the fix.

Pretty much the opposite to most other mods I’ve ever patched to games, but relieved it’s all working now.

@noorbeast. Off topic but hoping you could point me in the right thread direction, as I’ve been searching today and can’t find what I’m looking for.
Looking for info on running a 12 volt battery in parallel with my power supplies. Hoping someone has done this.