Years Late But Saitek R440 Force Racing Wheel Support Is On The Way For Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Years Late But Saitek R440 Force Racing Wheel Support Is On The Way For Linux

If you happen to have a Saitek R440 Force Wheel or looking to purchase a cheap and used racing wheel for enjoying the various Linux racing game ports or even the number of games working under Steam Play like F1 2018 and DiRT Rally 2.0, Linux support is on the way...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Saitek-R400-Linux-WIP

[xpander]

The problem is that afaik non of the FFB works with SteamPlay/Proton at least not with Dirt Rally 2.0 or Project CARS 2, while its working perfectly fine in wine-staging. Proton has some gamepad hacks that prevent FFB from working is my theory.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/2366

[timschumi]

The problem is that afaik non of the FFB works with SteamPlay/Proton at least not with Dirt Rally 2.0 or Project CARS 2, while its working perfectly fine in wine-staging. Proton has some gamepad hacks that prevent FFB from working is my theory.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/2366

It all depends on what APIs the games are using, and how exactly they are handling Force Feedback. For me, DirectInput works with FF, but only if you use the old event-based API (devices suffixed with "(event)"), since the dinput lib doesn't have it's FF API implemented yet when using the newer joystick API (devices suffixed with "(js)").

There can be game specific issues as well: GT Legends' FF works fine in all three: wine, wine-staging and Proton. Weirdly wenough, GP Legends doesn't seem to have working FF support, so it somehow must be handling FF devices differently, since both games use DirectInput. I don't know what API Project CARS uses, but it doesn't have working Force Feedback either.

[timschumi]

Since I can't figure out how to edit a post, I'll just write it out in a new one (sorry):

Contrary to what I said earlier, Force Feedback does _not_ work in Proton. I don't know if it's due to the fact that the Valve team added an SDL implementation of the DirectInput API (which does have higher precedence compared to the event or joystick APIs), or due to the fact that I submitted patches for wheel support in later Wine versions only.

I tested a bit with my custom Proton build, which is Wine 4.11 + steam compatibility (i.e. only the neccessary patches to get Steam support and bindings working). There, Force Feedback in GT Legends works as well. Project CARS does seem to do a little bit of Force Feedback, but only if in autocenter mode and the directions are reversed. While driving, it does not work. I could probably look later on how to share that build, if anyone is interested.

[tildearrow]

It all depends on what APIs the games are using, and how exactly they are handling Force Feedback. For me, DirectInput works with FF, but only if you use the old event-based API (devices suffixed with "(event)"), since the dinput lib doesn't have it's FF API implemented yet when using the newer joystick API (devices suffixed with "(js)").

There can be game specific issues as well: GT Legends' FF works fine in all three: wine, wine-staging and Proton. Weirdly wenough, GP Legends doesn't seem to have working FF support, so it somehow must be handling FF devices differently, since both games use DirectInput. I don't know what API Project CARS uses, but it doesn't have working Force Feedback either.

Sorry? I thought evdev was the newer API? (I think it came after mouse/kbd/js)

[timschumi]

Sorry? I thought evdev was the newer API? (I think it came after mouse/kbd/js)

Indeed, it seems like it. I assumed that the joystick-API was the newer one, because the evdev API seemed to have some rather arbritrary limits according to comments in the wine source code (i.e. "Linux only supports FF on Axes X and Y"). A quick search resulted in the fact, that evdev is indeed the newer API.

Sorry for the confusion.

[nuetzel]

Does F1 2017 (Feral's Vulkan port) and Eurotruck Simulator 2 work with it (Saitek R440 Force Wheel)?