Difference between revisions of "SimuCUBE firmware releases"

• USB descriptor was tuned to make device compatible with Linux.
  • There will be no official Linux builds or support.
  • We aim to add a wiki page to explain how to work with Linux.
• Descriptor changes caused changes in FFB effects that are used by mainly older games:
  • Re-tuned DirectInput Friction and Damping effects to utilize all parameters.
  • Re-tuned DirectInput Spring effect to utilize all parameters.
  • Re-tuned DirectInput Sine Wave to work correctly in some situations where it did not work correctly.
  • Re-tuned DirectInput Triangle Wave, Square Wave, and Sawtooth effects to work correctly.
• FFB Device Gain set by the game does not affect bumpstops anymore.
• Individual gain parameter of the effects are now respected as per USB Physical Device standards.

Changes and fixes - Safety

• Remove game-generated torque when bumbstop is deemed to cause unsafe torque jolt. This could happen when user changes FFB parameters from True Drive while the wheel is turned to be near the bumpstop, and a game is running. This fixes possibility of a runaway wheel in these situations.

Other changes

• Added a button to put the Simucube into the Firmware Upgrade Mode. This facilitates easier firmware downgrade; click button and launch earlier Simucube Configuration Tool release and it will prompt a firmware installation. Note that you could loose all profile settings when downgrading.

Note: Please download and install Microsoft's Visual Studio 2019 Redistributable package (64bit version) from Microsoft's server if you get msv dll errors

• Added a workaround for Raceroom Racing Experience bug (wheel spins on game exit).

Note: Please download and install Microsoft's Visual Studio 2019 Redistributable package (64bit version) from Microsoft's server if you get mscv dll errors

Simucube Wireless Wheels

• Fixed an issue that could cause wireless wheels buttons to stop registering in games in some very rare situations.

Bumbstops

• Changed bumpstops to avoid issue where the bumpstop force could be overcome by game-generated FFB in some cases.

First-time setup

• Fixed an issue where there was no Next -button visible in the firmware upgrade wizard when the device was detected in Simucube Firmware Upgrade Mode (e.g. on first-time setup).

Convenience feature

• Simucube Configuration Tool window size and position is now saved and restored automatically.

Qt update

• Built with Qt 5.15.2

Note: Please download and install Microsoft's Visual Studio 2019 Redistributable package (64bit version) from Microsoft's server if you get mscv dll errors

• Issue with wrong center offset with non-absolute encoders is fixed.

Forget all wireless wheels

• Added function to forget all previously paired wireless wheels and tidied up the UI for this.

Bumbstops

• Bumpstops begin at exactly the same angle that is indicated in the user interface. (old behavior was to be at 100% torque at that point, so bumpstop began earlier.)
• Bumpstops are not affected by the constantly operating filters on the servo drive.

Qt update

• Built with Qt 5.15.1

• Fixes too high battery consumption on some Simucube Wireless Wheels. Bug was introduced in 1.0.23.

• Fixes additional device hangup issues after upgrading from supported firmware, but with unsupported device save data (user did not press save settings at least once in 0.11.x or 0.50.x versions).
• Fixes desktop centering spring
  • Desktop centering spring strength has also been increased.
• Fixes broken Re-enable torque button when a wireless wheel is disconnected via the 1h idle timeout.
• Fixes some minor wheel centering issues with non-absolute encoders.
  • [CEN] Require Software Enable must be turned on in the servo drive settings. Simucube firmware will automatically do it before saving settings to flash, thus all outdated DRC files can still be used as the parameter will be automatically changed to servo drive.
  • If there were troubles with center point, please save settings to flash at least once in this firmware version, and then it should work correctly after a power cycle.

Other changes

• Removes "connect to any wireless wheel" functionality after additional feedback and considerations.
• No torque cutout on wireless wheel disconnection via power off, connection issue or paddless pressed over 5 seconds.

• Fixes device hangup issue on selecting old profiles or when importing old profile ini files.
  • If you device hangs up after 1.0.22 firmware update, keep e-stop pressed in at device power-up, then use this version to update.
• Issue also affected some imported profiles from files that were exported with previous software versions.

• Built with Qt 5.14.2 - the software should scale better on high-DPI displays.

New filter

• Static Force Reduction Filter

Bumbstops

• Bumpstop rework, including safety and ease-of-use changes
  • Bumpstop will disable itself automatically if there is any possibility that a profile switch or parameter change could induce any torque.
  • Bumpstop will automatically re-enable itself when wheel returns to inside the bumpstop range (with some margin).
• Bumpstop effect has been simplified. All bumbstop settings have 100% power, and there are three well-tuned settings (soft/medium/hard) available.
• Bumbstop setting is now a per-profile setting.

Simucube Wireless wheel image management

• By default, wheels/wheelimage.png is loaded.
• If a wireless wheel is connected, a short-named wireless wheel png is loaded from /wheels directory.
• Some default wireless wheel images are supplied with the software.
  • User interface tooltip will say which file is being tried to load.
• Right-clicking the wheel image in the PC software, the Driver is able to map/unmap wheel images to individual wireless wheels.

Changes and fixes for Wireless wheels

• Automatic Simucube Wireless Wheel idle disconnect - wheels will disconnect after 1h of inactivity to optimize battery life. Activity is monitored through wheel turning 10 degrees or more. Also the disconnect is not allowed to happen if there are FFB effects in use.
• Brief display of wrongly showing 2.56 V for wireless wheel voltage when connecting a wireless wheel is fixed.
• Wireless wheel scanning is not required to be started/stopped. The confusing buttons in True Drive been replaced with clear list and restart scan -button.
• Some button numbering fixes for some wireless wheel models. Users may have to remap buttons.

Wireless wheel automatic connection changes

• Simucube now now connects automatically to any found wireless wheel.
  • The previously available options "connect to previously connected wheels" and "no automatic connection" are also available, if needed.
  • Default setting is optimal for home use, but other options might be required for simulator lounge or LAN event use.

Other changes and fixes

• Reduce Configuration Tool CPU consumption when the window is not the active foremost window.
• DirectInput Sine effect / Spring effect strength sliders affected each other.
• DirectInput Spring effect now follows the effect's magnitude parameter
• Drivers can set password protection for profile settings. This feature is especially useful for commercial sim operators - if a password is set, visitors can't make unwanted adjustments.
  • After unlocking locked profile settings, they can be relocked again.
• Wheel centering code has changed. Users must set a new center point after this firmware update.
• Filter scales match now the scales on the Simucube 2 products.
• X12 Lower inputs work correctly in encoder mode.
• Profile export functionality: Drop-down menu selection for exporting all the profiles, or just the current profile.

Known issues

• When using index point indexing mode, the correct center point might only save once after each servo drive restart. Workaround is to save the center point always just after system power-up.

• Fixes potential hang at start of the Configuration Tool. No other changes, no firmware update.
• Also included a fix for sometimes missing firmware update wizard buttons on the first page of the update wizard.

• Some games (RaceRoom, but maybe others as well) support only 32 buttons. We have added a selector on whether to use the X12 hardware buttons or the Wireless Wheel buttons as buttons 1-32.

Bug fixes

• Firmware does not crash anymore when detecting 0.10.x version flash data
• Firmware upgrade is not possible if a 0.10.x or earlier version is running. Instead, suggestion to update to 0.11.2 is shown.
• Firmware does not crash/hang if IONI servo drive initialization fails.

Note

• Launching update when Simucube is in Firmware Update mode already, did not work in 0.50.4b release. This affected fresh installs of Simucube firmware. 0.50.4c release fixes this, no changes to firmware.

IMPORTANT NOTE It is recommended to set up Simucube 1 with version 0.11.2 first, and then upgrade to this version. There are some bugs in this version that might prevent successful install from scratch..

For others users, we recommend waiting a bit until we have more extensively tested this version.

WARNING This version is not successful in directly updating 0.10.x or earlier versions at all. Please update to 0.11.2 first, and remember to save settings at least once, for the update to 0.50.3 to work properly..

Improvements

• Wheel animation in the UI is smoother due to internal restructuring of the configuration tool
• More internal restructuring to enable more efficient development
• Much more stable torque update rate to the servo drive, results in smoother force effects
• Rewritten and restructured Connection Manager code in the Configuration Tool, resulting in more stable communications with less traffic required on the USB bus.

Other changes

• Official support for Simucube Wireless Wheel system
• Various stability improvements in firmware and in Configuration Tool
• From this release onwards, old Simucube 0.10 and earlier profiles are not converted to new settings data format anymore. If upgrading from <0.11.0, please backup your profiles and other settings.
• Built with later Qt version, the app should scale better with high DPI displays.
• Fresly built and tested bootloader file. Remains 100% compatible with originally released Simucube bootloader.
• Desktop centering spring is simplified with only one slider to control its strength and on/off instead of 3 different controls.
• Damping, Friction and Inertia filters running on IONI drive have been changed to only make it possible to set 0-10.0% range. This matches the scale to the one that can be set via Simucube 2 True Drive software.

Bug fixes

• New 0.11.x firmware set up the endstop ramp angle to be 0, which resulted in erroneus torque calculation (always 0 at any angle). This value was also showed in the user interface as 1 degree, until user changed it at least once.
• 0.11.x Configuration Tool set all unused effect parameters (for futureproofing) to uninitialized values, so if a new effect is developed, they have random settings. This firmware will automatically reset them to 0.
• Directinput Effects: Sine effect gain slider used affected both Sine and Spring effects.
• Directinput Effects: Smoother Friction and Damping effects
• Smoother endstop effect damping
• When approaching bumbstop, the highest of (bumbstop, torque command) to the direction of wheel center will be selected as the torque command, instead of bumbstop force and its value always being the dominating one of these. This makes it easier to set up without an extra notch feel at bumbstop.

IONI firmware

• Compatibility update in SimplemotionV2 API to make IONI compatible with some Simucube 2 developments.

• Again there was too high CPU consumption in the tool. This has been fixed.
• Some old titles did not work properly when Simucube was not sending HID reports at all. Now Simucube will send reports at a slow rate when idle.
• Some minor tidyups that should not be visible for average users.

Bug fixes

• non-working bootloader .dfu file with originally released 0.11.1 release has been replaced with working file.

Known issues

• When installing this firmware to an empty device or when migrating from MMOS, FFB and endstop effects are missing.
  • Workaround: Set bumbstop effect ramp range to higher than 1 in the Configuration Tool. It can then be changed back to 1 if user wants that.

• USB data rate has been reduced when idle, which potentially fixes some issues with HTC Vive (FFB missing) and some high CPU utilization issues in Dirt Rally and some other games.
• X12 Button inputs: Encoder processing has been improved, with configurable support for 1:4, 1:2 and 1:1 (1 full gray code cycle per detent) modes.
  • However, this is limited in such a way that only one type per X12 port is supported.
  • This means that some encoder boxes such as SimuBOX 3e from PenguinRC is now supported.
• Minor fixes to drive initialization.
• Initial firmware-level support for potential upcoming hardware feature is included in this build.
• Bootloader has been updated, and it will now clear one additional error flag when programming. No occurrences of this error has ever been reported to us. Users do not need to update the bootloader, but this version is recommended for new builds.

Bug fixes

• Analog Axis configuration dialog did not set Y axis pin value setting to the device.
• It was impossible to change profile values if user started Simucube with e-stop pressed.
• It was possible to make the system hang in an infinite loop, making Simucube unresponsive in some cases when user switched to IONI USB mode.

Known issues

• Bootloader .dfu file does not flash correctly. This is fixed in a new 0.11.1b zip file as well as 0.11.2 release.
• When installing this firmware to an empty device or when migrating from MMOS, FFB and endstop effects are missing.
  • Workaround: Set bumbstop effect ramp range to higher than 1 in the Configuration Tool. It can then be changed back to 1 if user wants that.

• If the game-settable steering angle is in use via the API (Assetto Corsa Content Manager has added support for it), there is an indicator label for this in the UI, next to the steering angle on profiles tab.
• Settings data format has been changed completely. All previous profiles, hardware settings data and analog axis settings are converted to the new format on the first start. On first Save-button click, the settings are written to new format to the SimuCUBE flash. After this point onwards, downgrading to a previous version will result in loss of all settings and profiles.
  • Maximum number of profiles is 100 (previously 500), and only the first 100 profiles from the previous settings data format will be converted and the rest will be deleted.
• X12 Input Options
  • Encoder support to the X12 Lower and X12 Upper ports has been added, with a dialog to setup the feature.
  • Shift button support to Pin 7 of the X12 ports. When selected, the 7th pin combined with any pins 1-6 will give additional button interface to PC.
  • Shift button will also shift encoder outputs so that it will be possible to have effectively 6 encoders and 6 buttons + shift button on the SimuCUBE X12 connectors.
• Update rate for the SimuCUBE User Interface DirectInput values is increased from 20 Hz to 1000 Hz, so that there is some chance that the UI will see encoder inputs changing.
• Support for 800x800 px wheelimage.png file has been added. This will be fine-tuned further in the future.

Safety improvement

• If user returns from IONI USB Configuration Mode while wheel being rotated a large number of degrees off-center, then SimuCUBE won't immediately apply wheel centering and/or bumbstop effect. Also a warning popup dialog will be shown.

Bug fixes

• When user returns from IONI USB Configuration Mode, the initial position value which is a reference in regards to the wheel center point, is not saved to that wheel position.
  • Wheel will now maintain center point when returning from IONI USB Configuration Mode, unless the drive is restarted in that mode and there is no absolute encoder in use.
• If user sets new permanent wheel center via the reset center -button, then that setting is not forgotten after changing any other setting.
• The centerpoint setup dialog will also close automatically after user presses the set permanent center button.

0.11.0b

• This updated zip file contains Configuration Tool that uses a lower update rate for the wheel animation and button input parsing, as the new high rate caused too high CPU consumption. Please use DIView or Pointy's Joystick Test to evaluate e.g. encoder functionality.

Known issues

• When installing this firmware to an empty device or when migrating from MMOS, FFB and endstop effects are missing.
  • Workaround: Set bumbstop effect ramp range to higher than 1 in the Configuration Tool. It can then be changed back to 1 if user wants that.

• Wheel centering fixes
• Opening and not making changes in the analog axis configuration dialog does not falsely make the "unsaved settings" indicator to go green.

New features

• It is possible to save steering center permanently also via the Reset Center dialog

Known issue

• If user does any other changes after clicking the new permanent center button, the new center point is reset to the old one. Close and relaunch the configuration tool after clicking the button.

Bug fixes

• Configuration tool did not prompt to update firmware in some situations where update was needed. This resulted in a hang in the Tool. This is the fix for the known issue in 0.10.1 version.
• Motor configuration wizard correctly sets Absolute Encoder mode.

Changes

• Minor other user interface tidyups.
  • Degree symbol has been added as allowed on the profile names.
  • If user selects a DRC file, then the balloon selector enables that automatically.
  • Configuration tool searches for the usual files that it should always find from the directory where it is launched from, and messages the user and closes down on error.
• Firmware has been built with a fresh TrueStudio project&build configuration. This should not result in any changes.
• Firmware&Tool package now includes a bootloader dfu file, that can be used to empty the whole microprocessor and start completely from scratch, should something ever go wrong.

• Lowered Maximum Motor Current value does not get saved to IONI drive by mistake when user clicks clear commutation sensor settings button in the Motor Configuration Wizard
• Motor Configuration Wizard restarts drive when user changes the settings, so the wheel will be at correct angle rather than -360 degrees at start.
• Some text indicator changes/improvements in the Motor Configuration Wizard to make the Commutation sensor setup page more clear.
• Unconnectable IONI drive (too old firmware, or disrupted IONI firmware update) caused the firmware to hang up in a loop. This prevented further communication with IONI drive also with Granity.
• Configuration tool prompted to update firmware in some situations where update was not needed.

Known issues

• This version of Configuration Tool can hang/freeze upon start when updating from 0.9.x version. Please use 0.10.0 version to update to 0.10 series first, then use this version.

• Automatic setup of commutation sensors for all serial data encoders (BiSS B, C, SSI etc..) will show up in the Motor Configuration Wizard
  • The separate dialog to do this has been removed.
  • If user sets up commutation sensors or they are previously set, a new indexing mode "Automatic Commutation" will be selected, and wheel will always be at correct position at startup with no phasing needed.
  • This new mode will overwrite whatever the user selected as the indexing mode in the wizard.
• Changed package format for the status packets from/to the Configuration Tool
  • Previous Configuration Tool versions will not work at all with this firmware version.
  • This allows for some future expansions
• User can select to use or to not use the USB stack reset functionality.
• User can select to use or to not use the USB suspend functionality.
  • These are to get some data on whether the recent problems some users have had, are due to these features or due to changes in the Spring 2018 Windows 10 feature update.
  • There are debug events, visible in debug event log, for these now.
• Dropdown for DRC file selection as well as hard-coded filenames for profile export/import has been replaced with a file selection dialog.
• Configuration Tool language can now be selected manually via a dropdown menu on the Advanced -tab.

Bug fixes:

• IONI firmware update to 10707, fixes overvoltage fault issue with some motors.
• DRC File uploading has been fixed.

Opensource release

• This version will form the basis of the upcoming opensource repository.

New version information

• Note, that downgrading from this release to a 0.9 series release will cause you to lose all hardware- and profile settings data in SimuCUBE, and the wizards etc. will have to run again. Settings stored in IONI drive are not affected.

Known issue

• This firmware version could hang up if user has unconnectable or too old firmware in the IONI drive.

• IONI firmware update to 10706, fixes centering issue with SinCos encoders
• Fix for IONI drive going to fault when using index point based indexing

• Directinput Friction effect works again
  • It has also been adjusted so that the effect output goes through a slight damping effect.
• USB FFB fixes, including an unverified fix for F1 2017 has been implemented - needs wider testing

Improvements:

• USB disconnect mitigation, which was introduced in 0.9.8, caused unwanted disconnections for some users. This has been implemented a bit differently in this version to not cause those disconnections.
• Updated French translation
• Added Italian translation

New features:

• Automatic setup of commutation sensors for BiSS-C encoders via a separate dialog.
  • This feature is not yet complete.
  • If you to try it, you must run the Motor configuration wizard after performing the commutation sensor dialog. "Automatic Indexing" must be chosen. After enabling this feature, SimuCUBE will always have to be started with the wheel exactly at center.
  • Future development is to not require starting at center, i.e., SimuCUBE can be set up to not require phase search and will be immediately usable after startup.

IONI Firmware update 10705:

• Improves stability and some rare unexplained hickups in 10702 and other previous versions.

Known issues

• After the F1 2017 fix was made (it was a real bug in the firmware), the RaceRoom title does not work after the May 8th RaceRoom patch. However, on the RaceRoom forums, people have reported FFB and VR issues on other wheel systems too.
  • We are waiting for RaceRoom developer's comments and fixes before changing the SimuCUBE firmware.
• Wheel does not center correctly sometimes, and will show some degrees off-center with SinCos encoder. This is due to a bug in the 10705 IONI firmware. Please update IONI firmware to 10706 which fixes this issue. 10706 will be included in the next SimuCUBE firmware release.
• Index point indexing can cause IONI drive to fault when searching for the index point. This will be fixed in the next SimuCUBE firmware release.

Bug fixes:

• Wheel centered inconsistantly sometimes when using the index point indexing mode, and sometimes also in the automatic mode. This has been fixed.
• USB issue fixes
  • Sometimes, SimuCUBE's USB stack got stuck, making it still visible in game controllers, but no inputs being registered. Also the Configuration Tool would show as Disconnected.
    • Workaround for this problem is in this release.
    • If USB is stuck, then de-init, pause for 1s and then re-init the USB stack.
  • On some systems, the PC will not start if SimuCUBE is on in a state where it is sending HID (position) reports to PC.
    • Workaround for this problem is in this release.
    • If a SUSPEND or RESET command is sent from the USB stack, then pause all report updates too for 15 seconds.
  • These workarounds are experimental, and could cause other issues. That why this release will undergo a bit more testing with some well-known beta testers before public release.
• Some DirectInput effect strength sliders caused the effect to be reversed if the percentage was larger than 127. This has been fixed.

Improvements:

• Improved DirectInput damping effect calculation. Now it reacts to Positive Coefficient included in the effect in a more controllable way.
• Desktop centering spring has now an integrated, non-user adjustable damper effect, as well as a strength value that sets how fast it increases the force, and saturation setting that tells the maximum force that can be used.
• Desktop centering spring will always have its 100% force applied at +/- 450 degrees, regardless of user's steering angle preset in profiles. Previously they were interconnected.
• Bumpstop damping effect has been improved slightly. There is now an additional, non-user adjustable low pass filter for the signal for this effect.
• Added a small deadzone for the clipping LED. Previously it was lit when the value was at -16384 or +16384, now the limit is <-16300 and >16300.
• If user has unsaved settings, a new page in the motor configuration wizard asks the user if he wants to save them, or reload the last saved settings before doing the wizard.

Ioni Firmware Update:

• Please read IONI firmware changelog here: IONI firmware releases

Translations:

• Includes French translation by Stef Bord.
• If you don't want to see translation and your Windows is in French, delete the qm file from translations directory. An User Interface for selecting language will be added in the future.

Known issues

• Confirmed: DirectInput Friction effect does not work.
• Unconfirmed: DirectInput Damping effect makes wheel oscillate. If you find this bug, please report the motor you are using as well as encoder CPR on our forum.
• Confirmed: SimuCUBE USB disconnects while driving. If this happens to you, please report on our forum.
• Confirmed: Supplying a new DRC file via the Motor, Encoder and Center Point wizard does not work. If this happens to you, please report on our forum. Please also supply a debug log.

Bug fixes:

• The last page of the firmware update wizard should not sometimes disappear behind the SimuCUBE Configuration Tool main window anymore
• Not all DirectInput effect sliders were set to 100% for new profiles
• Spring effect values were not included in export/import functionality

Improvements:

• Lots of minor User Interface tidy-ups
• Whitelisted some more OEM brand banners.
• Analog configuration dialog has been reworked to be much more logical in regard to the deadzone settings and when axis invert is used.
  • This is all done on the user interface, and values are automatically converted to match the values that previously had to be input there.
  • Instead of putting min and max values into the dialog, user must now input deadzones from 0 (the low deadzone) and from 65535 (the high deadzone).
    • Example 1: user had previously typed 100 and 60000. These are automatically now shown as 100 and 5535.
    • Example 2: user had previously typed 200 and 50000 and axis inverted. These are now 15535 (65535-50000) and 200.
• Firmware reads back 32-bit encoder position as the last item after...

1. resetting profile or hardware settings to SimuCUBE from the Configuration Tool
2. saving settings to flash

• This will mitigate users loosing wheel calibration when changing settings and at the same time turning wheel very fast.
• Estimated Maximum Torque indicator has been removed temporarily; it might be added back in future version.
• Added an error message if IONI DRC configuration file option was selected by the user in the Motor Configuration Wizard, but the file could not be opened. NOTE: 0.9.7a release replaces the original 0.9.7 Configuration Tool with a version that lets user to upload a DRC file.
• Save settings to flash -button will only be enabled when user has changed some settings. This is to mitigate user pressing the button for absolutely no reason. This change will prolong the life of the SimuCUBE flash memory.
• NOTE: If you use the index point -based indexing on the wheel, you might need to re-run the "Configure Motor, Encoder and Center Point" wizard again to make the wheel center correctly.

New features:

• LED 4 on SimuCUBE board will turn on when the output signal to IONI is at maximal torque value in either direction. This should match MMOS functionality.

IONI Firmware version 1.7.1 included.

• Please read IONI firmware changelog here: IONI firmware releases

Known issues:

• Encoder offset is sometimes read so that the wheel centers somewhat off-center.
  • This is more likely to occur in index point indexing mode, but also happens at any other indexing mode.
  • This issue is under investigation, and it will be fixed.

• CPR value is now correctly read from the IONI drive upon initialization when running the Motor Configuration Wizard. This means, that this version can be used to set up a new system.

Improvements:

• Firmware update wizard will now show a 30 s countdown timer after firmware update has finished. User can't skip this countdown. This is to make sure, that user should not power-off the system at this point, as there could be automatic IONI firmware update running in the background.

• Confirmed issue, where an empty SimuCUBE can't be properly set up using this version - a 0 will be read as the CPR value.
• Workaround if this happens:
  • Install 0.9.5 version of firmware

OR

• • Using 0.9.4, click update firmware.
  • When the wizard says "Found SimuCUBE in Firmware Update mode", click cancel.
  • Then use 0.9.3, flash that version.
  • Do the Configure Motor, Encoder and Center point wizard.
  • Verify correct operation of the system.
  • After it works, you can update to 0.9.4.

- - -

New features

• Branding support
  • Those resellers that want their own logo to replace the Granite Devices SimuCUBE logo on the UI, please send a logo for approval and whitelisting. You should know who to contact by email or on our community forums.
  • Suitable image size: 400px wide and 50px height PNG file with optional transparency.
• All users can replace the wheel image with their own image.
  • Suitable image size: 400x400 px, PNG with transparency set.
  • Place the file as wheelimage.png in the Configuration Tool directory.
• Configuration Tool will detect a SimuCUBE in Firmware Upgrade Mode and shows the firmware prompt automatically.
• Configuration Tool now has new, nice app icon, edited by Sebastian Keijmel.
• Configuration Tool will ask for user to accept End User License Agreement (new version of the license will replace the old.)
• Configuration Tool has indicators for effect usage next to the DirectInput effect sliders.
• Desktop Centering Spring has adjustable minimum force saturation to enable more strict centering of the wheel.

Bug fixes

• The Configuration Tool will not always prompt about unsaved settings on start, even if user did not change settings.
• Regaining communications to IONI drive after Granity mode is fixed.
• Automatic IONI drive firmware update seems to have been broken since at least 0.9.0 version. It has been fixed.

IONI Firmware update 1.7.0

• Please read IONI firmware changelog here: IONI firmware releases

• Configuration tool will export simucubeprofiles.ini again, instead of corrupting VERSION file.

New features:

• Configuration tool will automatically backup profiles to profiles_autobackup.ini when user presses the Save settings to flash -button.

Note: Firmware has not been changed. Just unzip this new version and use it instead of previous versions.

Please take note to get 0.9.2.zip file.

• Infinite length effect, as set by some game titles such as RaceRoom, is now correctly parsed

New features:

• Configuration Tool will now always automatically show a prompt to update firmware if a newer firmware file is found than that found installed in SimuCUBE.
• Configuration Tool will now show a notification dialog and gracefully close, if a too new firmware is already installed in SimuCUBE.

• USB effect duration is being parsed correctly for the currently implemented effects that are generally meant to be changing automatically over time, so timed effects also end at the correct time.
• Please report if any games use timed spring, constant force, constant sine offset or any other timed effects.
  • symptom is a feeling of "neverending effect stuck on".
• Desktop Centering spring has been implemented. It is off by default.
  • Interaction of the centering spring force and the bumbstop effect force has not been optimized and might give funny results.
  • When running the Motor Configuration Wizard, the centering spring is re-set to off. User must manually re-enable it.

Improvements:

• Configuration Tool is built with Qt 5.10 with improved high-DPI / custom scaling factor support.

Bug fixes:

• Firmware and Configuration Tool can manage to configure the system also to an empty SimuCUBE or when upgrading from MMOS
  • UPGRADING FROM MMOS to this or later version: No extra steps required anymore.
• Torque peaking and notch filter will grey out the Attenuation and Center Q Factor values properly again in the UI
• Some IONI drive connection/reconnection issues have been fixed. Please report on our forums if there still appears to be any issues.

Known issues:

• Estimated torque calculation is wrong

Remember to actually update the firmware after unzipping via the Update Firmware -button.

UPGRADING FROM MMOS to 0.9.0:

Please use version 0.8.12 for any new firmware installs when coming from MMOS or a fresh SimuCUBE board. A bug has been found in the initial setup wizard on 0.9.0, which will be fixed very soon.

Important note about upgrading:

• Please activate a profile with 100% strength by using the previous Configuration Tool version before updating. This is to have the correct maximum MMC at the drive when new firmware boots up. This is only required for this version, and is fixed for future releases.
• If you forget to do this, power-cycling the SimuCUBE will also reset the setting to the correct one on IONI drive.

New features:

• SimuCUBE logs firmware state changes and other data into a log, which can be downloaded via "Download Event Log" button on the advanced tab in the Configuration tool.
• In the same tab, user can set logging to include state changes and other basic stuff OR ffb effect creation/start/stop events OR ffb effect calculation results. The latter two types are not yet logging anything, they are reserved as future debugging helpers.
• Following DirectInput effects have been implemented: Sine wave, Square Wave, Triangle Wave, SawtoothUp, SawtoothDown, Spring
  • Sliders to set strength of each of these is available in the UI. Values for the new sliders are random for existing profiles - please adjust them.
  • Each of the sliders has any effect only when a game is setting such an effect to use via DirectInput.
    • You can check which effects games are using by looking at the advanced tab while driving.
• Profiles can be re-ordered via new dialog

Improvements:

• Bumbstop effect damping has been reworked and improved.

• Motor fault codes are read in initialization phase, instead of just checking for success/failure of initialization.
• It is not possible anymore to end up in Operational mode via complex state changes when initial motor settings are not configured at least once via the wizard.
• Added reading of HV Bus Voltage and FOV values if waited for initialization for more than 30s. FOV must be larger than HV Bus Voltage + 2% for the IONI to init. There is an error message explaining this now.
• Improved resiliency against misconfigured IONI drives, such as bus address offset being other than 0.
• Some handling of USB Suspend and RESET commands. It is unlikely that this would solve Computer Hangs Boot -issue.

Bug Fixes:

• Improved timeliness for USB FFB effect command parsing. This bug caused some FFB effects to not always get initialized for some game titles.
• 100% IONI MMC is set to the drive right before going to Firmware Upgrade Mode, so that after the update the correct 100% MMC can be read from the drive.

Known issues:

• Estimated torque calculation is wrong
• Rarely, re-enabling SimpleMotion communications from the USB Configuration Mode fails, and firmware will go into reconnect loop. Re-enabling IONI USB communications and switching back can be used to connect drive.

Bootloader:

• Bootloader has been updated to v1.2.1.
  • Initialize the TXEN pin on the SimpleMotion bus as input, so user can connect to IONI drive via Granity after putting SimuCUBE firmware into bootloader mode.
  • USB control reply sending fix that was also done for SimuCUBE Firmware release 0.8.3. It is unlikely that this bug could affect bootloader, but the fix is copied to bootloader anyway.
  • There is a slight delay before booting out of bootloader mode by command from PC. This is to allow enough time for the Configuration Tool on PC to properly disconnect from bootloader.
  • Bootloader remains 100% compatible otherwise.
  • Users do not need to flash this new bootloader version.

• Device Gain is again calculated correctly. It had been removed by mistake.
• Torque command update rate has been increased to 2500 Hz. Beginning from early version 0.5.0, it was reduced to 1250 Hz, to overcome unrelated issue, which was then forgotten until now.

• These DirectInput effects and features have been implemented that were not previously implemented: Friction, Damping, Device Gain
  • Sliders to set general strength multiplier for friction and damper have been added into the UI
  • Device gain is being set when a game starts, so no slider for it is required in the UI.
  • Previously exported simucubeprofiles.ini file with these settings missing will load. The DirectInput Friction and Damping gains will be set at 50% for those profiles.
  • Saved setting on SimuCUBE flash memory have 0% setting for these. User must change them manually to some sensible value for each profile.
  • Games tested: Assetto Corsa, Dirt Rally, Automobilista (Pure FFB no effects is supported; effects -settings might not work correctly)
• New Tabbed UI with much more refined looks
  • Tabs!
  • Effect types are shown in the UI, with bolded font for those effects that game is changing actively
  • Button has been added to clear effect memory and reset Device Gain. This is useful when game has crashed and left effects running.
  • Motor fault reason codes are being read and shown directly in the user interface. However, faults are cleared if they ever happen, so the indicator will disappear too soon. Usefulness of this feature is going to be improved in the next release.
  • Confirmation dialog for profile deletion has been added.
  • Lots of other small tidy-ups and fixes

Bug fixes:

• Importing analog axis settings from the .ini file didn't load invert axis -settings correctly.

Known issues:

• Estimated torque output calculation is stll likely wrong.
• When using high forces and having the reconstruction filter at high value, the wheel might go numb and give a feeling of saturated forces. This is being investigated.

• Strength setting of the default profile was not applied at startup.
• Read-only safe profile was applied inconsistently when running the Motor Configuration Wizard
• SimuCUBE Hardware Revision information is now shown in the configuration tool
• Removed unnecessary code and USB debug counter
• Clicking Toggle IONI USB Configuration -button does not reset all motor faults, only the Simplemotion faults.

Known issues:

• Estimated torque output calculation is stll likely wrong.
• When using high forces and having the reconstruction filter at high value, the wheel might go numb and give a feeling of saturated forces. This is being investigated.

• Serious USB issue is fixed. Replies to USB control requests weren't getting sent to PC if SimuCUBE was already in the process of sending a normal HID report. This caused crashes in games.

Known issues:

• Estimated torque output calculation is most likely wrong.
• When using high forces and having the reconstruction filter at high value, the wheel might go numb and give a feeling of saturated forces. This is being investigated.
• Some filter settings do not seem get applied with some user actions.

• Unfortunately, this version will clear all profile settings. Please take note of all your settings.
  • Note: Updates do not have effect on the parameters that are stored on IONI drive, so no new drc configuration files should be needed.
• Precautions have been made to minimize this being required in the future.

New features:

• Profiles can be saved into simucubeprofiles.ini file and imported from that file. Imported profiles are added, they will not overwrite user's profiles. Feature has an indicator for successful loading and saving.
• Force scaling (in percentage) is done by setting MMC on IONI drive instead of scaling the torque that goes to drive. This increases the fidelity. NOTE: To change maximum MMC, upload a new DRC file with new setting using the motor configuration wizard, or use Granity to set new MMC.
• Motor configuration wizard has a field for Motor Torque Constant. If it is set, configuration tool assumes 48 V power supply, reads motor resistance from current IONI configuration, and shows maximum torque value in the UI.

Changes and fixes:

• Analog button debounce time has been increased from 10 ms to 20 ms. Setting for this might be added in the future.
• Analog axis settings import/export now has an indicator for success/failure.
• Analog axis averaging has been changed from average of last 32 values to average of last 32 values but disregarding 4 highest and 4 lowest values to improve signal quality.
• Steering centering offset value was not saved correctly if the index point was sufficiently off-center (more than 65535 counts offset). This was evident on high-resolution encoders.
• Maximum number of profiles has been reduced to 500.
• Game-induced torque could easily overcome the bumbstop effect's torque, making the wheel spin uncontrollably. This has been fixed.
• Damping filter was being sent to IONI with setting of 0.0 % if game set a damping effect. This was unintended, and has been changed for this version. On-the-fly changing damping, inertia and friction effects are not being done currently.
• Improved resiliency against non-communicating IONI drives. This could happen if, for whatever reason, the SMO Bus Address Offset was other than 0, and the drive was still functional when using MMos firmware.
• Improved/fixed some subdialogs to work better with high-DPI displays or when display has a custom scaling factor.
• Enabling IONI USB communication mode does not cause a SimpleMotion error / Fault in the IONI drive anymore.

Known issues:

• USB-related game crash issues
• Estimated torque output calculation is most likely wrong.

• Some profile settings were being set to default when running the firmware update wizard
• Ioni filter parameters are no longer being read to the active profile, overwriting the profile values, when running the motor configuration wizard
• Changed TBW to 1000Hz as default for all new profiles and also for the default read-only profile.
• Minor text changes in firmware update wizard

• Profile can be copied

Bug fixes:

• Profile name did not get applied and saved if only profile name was edited
• Configuration tool crashed if user canceled or finished the Firmware Update wizard

• Working digital button inputs
• Profile management
• Analog settings .ini-file import/export

Bug fixes:

• Settings change by some amount at saving or load from IONI drive.