Attention PDPI L4 users!

Ken MacKay posted this link in an above message: http://simracingmag.gameloft.com/articles/tweaking/00q4/niels1.shtml It explains how to adjust the Windows registry to fine tune the PDPI L4 for your particular controller pots. By following the instructions, I found my settings were WAY off. I always new something was wrong, and suspected something like this, but I never knew how to fix it. I don't understand why there was never any info in the PDPI documentation about it. It took close to an hour to get it dialed in perfect with all the necessary re-boots, but WOW, what a difference. Especially in the brake pedal. Before I got a max raw number in GPL calibration of 66 for my brake pedal. Now it is 246. The difference in brake pedal feel is amazing. Much, much more controllable. The steering was a lot closer initially, but now that it is almost perfect, the car seems more stable. I ALWAYS have had a hard time holding an exact line like near the edge of the track on a fast straight. Now I think the car is more stable, it doesn't want to wander as much. These other links of his are very interesting also. If you have a L4, you need to check this. I only wish I had done it sooner. -Tony-

Here is the other link: http://www.gplonline.com/tech-talk/hardware-tech.htm

I found this article the other day via a usenet search. My question is this... the values that I get for my accelerator and gas pedals are roughly 87-180 (approx range of 100). Obviously this is less than the theoretical limit of 255, but it would seem to me that I'm simply not using the full range of the pot therefore my values are smaller. That is depressing my pedals doesn't turn the pot sufficiently to generate a larger value. Is this correct, or do I need to sit iin front of my PC for an hour trying to get a larger range of values? "Tony Jester" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:Fjjq6.5682$[email hidden]... > Ken MacKay posted this link in an above message: > > http://simracingmag.gameloft.com/articles/tweaking/00q4/niels1.shtml > > It explains how to adjust the Windows registry to fine tune the PDPI L4for > your particular controller pots. By following the instructions, I foundmy > settings were WAY off. I always new something was wrong, and suspected > something like this, but I never knew how to fix it. I don't understandwhy > there was never any info in the PDPI documentation about it. It tookclose > to an hour to get it dialed in perfect with all the necessary re-boots,but > WOW, what a difference. Especially in the brake pedal. Before I got amax > raw number in GPL calibration of 66 for my brake pedal. Now it is 246.The > difference in brake pedal feel is amazing. Much, much more controllable. > The steering was a lot closer initially, but now that it is almostperfect,

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> the car seems more stable. I ALWAYS have had a hard time holding an exact > line like near the edge of the track on a fast straight. Now I think the > car is more stable, it doesn't want to wander as much. > > These other links of his are very interesting also. > > If you have a L4, you need to check this. I only wish I had done it

sooner. > > -Tony- > >

There are only two ways to 'fine-tune' yer PDPI: either edit the Registry or change the pot values by changing the pot itself. (You *might* be able to run a variable shunt across the pot, like the trimmers on a CH FlightStick, but I haven't tried it.) Editing the Registry, altho tedious and dangerous, like defusing a bomb, is probably preferable. But even if you don't have exactly the right binary values in the Registry, it doesn't neccessarily mean you're not 'seeing' the full range of the pot's resistance, it merely means the increments are not as fine as they could be. That is, with coarse values, the resistance will change more jumpily as you twist the pot...but the PDPI's built-in anti-jitter will smooth most of this out. --Steve Smith AndrewS <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:i4lq6.9502$[email hidden]... > I found this article the other day via a usenet search. My question is > this... the values that I get for my accelerator and gas pedals areroughly

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> 87-180 (approx range of 100). Obviously this is less than the theoretical > limit of 255, but it would seem to me that I'm simply not using the full > range of the pot therefore my values are smaller. That is depressing my > pedals doesn't turn the pot sufficiently to generate a larger value. Is > this correct, or do I need to sit iin front of my PC for an hour trying to > get a larger range of values? > > > "Tony Jester" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:Fjjq6.5682$[email hidden]... > > Ken MacKay posted this link in an above message: > > > > http://simracingmag.gameloft.com/articles/tweaking/00q4/niels1.shtml > > > > It explains how to adjust the Windows registry to fine tune the PDPI L4 > for > > your particular controller pots. By following the instructions, I found > my > > settings were WAY off. I always new something was wrong, and suspected > > something like this, but I never knew how to fix it. I don't understand > why > > there was never any info in the PDPI documentation about it. It took > close > > to an hour to get it dialed in perfect with all the necessary re-boots, > but > > WOW, what a difference. Especially in the brake pedal. Before I got a > max > > raw number in GPL calibration of 66 for my brake pedal. Now it is 246. > The > > difference in brake pedal feel is amazing. Much, much more

controllable. > > The steering was a lot closer initially, but now that it is almost > perfect, > > the car seems more stable. I ALWAYS have had a hard time holding anexact > > line like near the edge of the track on a fast straight. Now I thinkthe

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> > car is more stable, it doesn't want to wander as much. > > > > These other links of his are very interesting also. > > > > If you have a L4, you need to check this. I only wish I had done it > sooner. > > > > -Tony- > > > > > >

"Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:Dkqq6.234242$[email hidden]... > There are only two ways to 'fine-tune' yer PDPI: either edit the Registryor > change the pot values by changing the pot itself. (You *might* be able to > run a variable shunt across the pot, like the trimmers on a CHFlightStick, > but I haven't tried it.) Editing the Registry, altho tedious anddangerous, > like defusing a bomb, is probably preferable. But even if you don't have > exactly the right binary values in the Registry, it doesn't neccessarily > mean you're not 'seeing' the full range of the pot's resistance, it merely > means the increments are not as fine as they could be. That is, withcoarse > values, the resistance will change more jumpily as you twist the pot...but > the PDPI's built-in anti-jitter will smooth most of this out. > > --Steve Smith I went back and reread the article and made the suggested changes to my registry. I didn't get the "perfect" range of values, but I did manage to fine tune the range from ~100 to ~220 for my pedals. I've always had a fair amount of jitter with the pots on my pedals. The amount of jitter varies depending upon the time of day, lunar cycle, etc, but after I did the fine tuning the jitter has vanished. Which is very odd. -Andrew

Andrew, You shouldn't have *any* jitter with a range of 100-220 (mine, currently, is abt. 70-240 w. the wheel; abt. 15-190 w. the pedals) and a PDPI. When you look at the Test screen in Windows, do you see any jitter w/o moving the wheel or pedals? Do you see any jerkiness when you move the wheel/pedals smoothly from one extreme (lock-to-lock, or none-to-full throttle) to the other? In GPL, you have to select the Windows joystick driver (.vxd) in order to see the benefits of the PDPI, not the Papy driver (which shows much larger #s). If it still jitters, try moving the connector around (one port to the other) or moving the slider switch. Let me know how it works out. --Steve Smith > I went back and reread the article and made the suggested changes to my > registry. I didn't get the "perfect" range of values, but I did manage to > fine tune the range from ~100 to ~220 for my pedals. I've always had afair > amount of jitter with the pots on my pedals. The amount of jitter varies > depending upon the time of day, lunar cycle, etc, but after I did the fine > tuning the jitter has vanished. Which is very odd. > > -Andrew

I wasn't clear about the range of values that I'm now receiving. I've tuned all my pedals to be approx 15-250. Previously they were something like 80-180. So I've doubled the range that is being reported by the PDPI, DXTweak. GP3 and GPL. I've always had jitter even with the PDPI, after 'fine tuning' it has completely disappeared. When I received my PDPI a year ago, I was dissapointed because it didn't solve my jitter problems. Now it appears to have been a pot-wheel issue. Maybe when toying with the pots I, managed to alleviate some stress on the shafts that was causing the jitter. I've recalibrated my wheel in GPL and GP3 and both are rock steady. The funny thing about GPL is that I've never noticed that the PDPI card has done much for frame rates. On the other hand, GP3 benefits greatly. I think that Papy has done a better job in balancing how the gameport is polled. That being said, I'm not sure how much control Direct Input allows for polling the gameport. -Andrew "Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:dGvq6.210037$[email hidden]... > Andrew, > > You shouldn't have *any* jitter with a range of 100-220 (mine, currently,is

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> abt. 70-240 w. the wheel; abt. 15-190 w. the pedals) and a PDPI. When you > look at the Test screen in Windows, do you see any jitter w/o moving the > wheel or pedals? Do you see any jerkiness when you move the wheel/pedals > smoothly from one extreme (lock-to-lock, or none-to-full throttle) to the > other? > > In GPL, you have to select the Windows joystick driver (.vxd) in order to > see the benefits of the PDPI, not the Papy driver (which shows much larger > #s). > > If it still jitters, try moving the connector around (one port to the

other) > or moving the slider switch. > > Let me know how it works out. > > --Steve Smith

AndrewS wrote: <snip>I've recalibrated my wheel in GPL and GP3 and both are rock steady. The > funny thing about GPL is that I've never noticed that the PDPI card has done > much for frame rates. On the other hand, GP3 benefits greatly. I think > that Papy has done a better job in balancing how the gameport is polled. > That being said, I'm not sure how much control Direct Input allows for > polling the gameport. > What are you running for a system? If GPL is limited by the video card then freeing up the CPU may not make much difference (although I would've thought GP3 would require more from the video than GPL). From my tests, the cpu (cel 400) is the bottle neck on my system so I hoping an L4 we help with GPL until I can upgrade the CPU. Ken

Ken, Where are you planning on finding an L4? Andrew, Good to hear your jitters are calmed. I still think a good PDPI setup beats FF, altho I never got quite used to FF (it can help 'train' you to drive more accurately...if you've the patience). --Steve Ken Mackay <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > > > AndrewS wrote: > <snip>I've recalibrated my wheel in GPL and GP3 and both are rock steady.The > > > funny thing about GPL is that I've never noticed that the PDPI card hasdone

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> > much for frame rates. On the other hand, GP3 benefits greatly. I think > > that Papy has done a better job in balancing how the gameport is polled. > > That being said, I'm not sure how much control Direct Input allows for > > polling the gameport. > > > > What are you running for a system? If GPL is limited by the video card

then > freeing up the CPU may not make much difference (although I would'vethought GP3 > would require more from the video than GPL). From my tests, the cpu (cel400) is > the bottle neck on my system so I hoping an L4 we help with GPL until Ican > upgrade the CPU. > > Ken >

"Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote: >Ken, >Where are you planning on finding an L4? I ordered a new L4 a couple weeks ago from Act-Labs: http://www.actlab.com/pdpi_l4.htm -- " Why bother..." - R. Crumb

Really? That's great! I didn't know Act picked up the torch. I mean, PDPI *is* outta bidness, innit? --Steve Mark Gray <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> "Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >Ken, > > >Where are you planning on finding an L4? > > I ordered a new L4 a couple weeks ago from Act-Labs: > > http://www.actlab.com/pdpi_l4.htm > > -- > " Why bother..." - R. Crumb

"Stephen Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Mark Gray <[email hidden]> wrote in message >news:[email hidden]... >> I ordered a new L4 a couple weeks ago from Act-Labs: >> http://www.actlab.com/pdpi_l4.htm >Really? That's great!

Yeah, I'm having a new rig built & insisted it have a PDPI installed. I'm still digging around for a post someone made to r.a.s. concerning the latest drivers for the L4. >I didn't know Act picked up the torch. >I mean, PDPI *is* outta bidness, innit? IIRC, Act-Labs bought out PDPI about a year ago. Unfortunately, the Tech Support phone number listed at the Act-Labs site is a no go. I was going to give Mike Pelkey (sp) a call regarding those new drivers. Maybe the new drivers were on the CD I received, but I shipped it off to Falcon Northwest before I had a look. Might want to bag a backup L4, Steve. I don't know if they're still building the things or simply selling off the current stock. -- " Why bother..." - R. Crumb