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"new-lg4ff", a “much more complete” new driver for our Logitech steering wheels
leillo1975 Nov 26, 2019
First, I don't know if this subforum is the correct place to post this, but if not, feel free to move it to another section.

Probably many of you know that it is possible to use certain steering wheel models to play our favorite driving games on Linux, and actually Logitech is the brand that currently have better support, and is the only one that besides mapping axes and buttons, also has support for Force Feedback.

This support, which has made us enjoy car games, was incomplete and only implement constant force, the most common effect of Force Feedback, present in most games. This situation caused that in some games this feature did not work, especially in ETS2/ATS or many games with Wine/Proton.

Since then, several developers had tried to include more effects in the driver, achieving advances, but finding problems that made them stop the development. Because of this, berarma , that many of you will know as the creator of Oversteer, decided to retake the work already done and give it its own focus. Tired of seeing how the support of his steering wheel was not on a par with Windows, he decided to work to try to make it easier for developers to port more driving games to Linux.

Previously to start the development of the driver, he created a utility called FFBTools, which allowed to collect the Force Feedback logs in Logitech wheels, as well it correct some bugs with workarounds in some games with Wine/Proton, games such as Project Cars 2 or Dirt Rally 2. With this tool he collected valuable information that helped him to better understand the work of the FFB in the games, to then use it in the new driver.

During weeks of hard work, multitude of hours of coding and testing, he has come to a pretty complete and functional version of the new controller, which, in addition to the constant force, includes the following:

-Support for most of the effects (except inertia) defined in the Linux FF API. (Constant, Periodic, Spring, Friction, Damper, Rumble...)

-Asynchronous operations with real time effects management.

-Limits the speed of data transfers to the device with some latency.

-Combines accelerator and clutch (designed for flight simulators).

The new driver has been tested with a multitude of video games, getting that natives such as ETS2 or ATS, the Force Feedback works without any plugin; and that games that need Wine or Proton to be executed acquire this precious feature with results similar to Windows.

We have been helping in the driver testing process in its different stages and we can confirm that the following games are now supported:

- Euro Truck Simulator 2 (native, without plugin)
- American Truck Sumulator (native, no plugin)
- RACE 07 and all its expansions (Wine/Proton)
- Automobilista (Wine/Proton)
- rFactor 1 (Wine/Proton)
- rFactor 2 (Wine/Proton)
- KartKraft (Wine/Proton)

The new driver could only be tested in the Logitech G29, but it is designed to work also in the Logitech wheels with GNU/Linux support (DFGT, G25, G27...), so berarma, its author would appreciate you to try it and leave feedback on the issues.

The installation requires compiling the code, but the process is quite simple and you have information on how to do it in the project page. In the future berarma will try to include this code in the kernel as well as the current driver or "pack it" for easier use. Now you just have to plug in your steering wheel and enjoy your favorite car games!

This post is a copy of the original on r/linux_gaming.

Last edited by leillo1975 on 26 November 2019 at 3:00 pm UTC
leillo1975 Nov 27, 2019
If you have problems ask me. There are a issue with the last proton (4.11-8). FFB is broken in some games. Is a known problem and will be fixed in the next proton version.

Last edited by leillo1975 on 27 November 2019 at 12:24 pm UTC
leillo1975 Dec 25, 2019
Quoting: leillo1975If you have problems ask me. There are a issue with the last proton (4.11-8). FFB is broken in some games. Is a known problem and will be fixed in the next proton version.

This problems are fixed in the last Proton Versions (4.11-10

... and this is important. Berarma has just released a new version of its driver, 0.2, called "Merry Christmas"
berarma Dec 26, 2019
Hi.

Please test the latest version and report any problems since we'd like this module to become the default in Linux.

Thanks.
skyrrd Dec 26, 2019
First thanks for your efforts.

I don't play many racing games, so I only have an old logitech driving force pro (which is still very nice btw) but I'll give it a try as soon as I have some spare time
leillo1975 Feb 7, 2020
Yesterday, this driver and configuration utility, have been updated with a lot of new features that complement each other. First we're going to start with "new-lg4ff", the driver , that reaches the 0.3 version (aka "Bye Bad Clipping") and which comes with the following changes:

-Adjustable conditional effects level balance. It's possible to change the level of the spring, damper and friction effects for a more balanced FF.
-The default levels for these effects have changed. Now they play at a lower level so the results are closer to the Windows driver and FF in games should now feel the same.
-Wheels with RPM leds can use them to monitor the final FF level in real-time and avoid clipping.
-It's also possible to monitor the final FF level from other applications using a SYSFS entry.

In addition, the "Oversteer" configuration utility reaches version 0.4 (aka "Catching up"), and as you can see in the following details, comes with a lot of coding work:

-The user interface elements have been rearranged for more clarity and a modernized style.
-User interface controls that correspond to unavailable settings are left disabled.
-Added application icon for the desktop.
-Steering wheel tests integrated into the application. No need for external applications.
-The wheel range can be modified using the buttons in the wheel. The buttons can be configured.
-Added overlay window that shows the wheel range over the game screen.
-Changing compatibility modes is faster now.

The following features are also available when using the new-lg4ff module:

-Combine accelerator and clutch in the same axis. Useful for flight simulators.
-Adjustable conditional effects levels: spring, damper and friction.
-Real-time monitoring of total force effects applied using the wheel leds and/or the overlay window.
-Adjustable global force feedback gain that gets combined with the gain set by applications.

Last edited by leillo1975 on 7 February 2020 at 5:10 pm UTC
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