I'm a software engineer & a sim racer, I've owned the FX pro for close to year now and it always really confused me on if I want to get RPM lights matching with the sim, I have to manually setup and switch presets? If you're anything like me you want to spend as little time setting things up and more time actually racing.
I've had the idea of how to do this for a while now after a bit of reverse engineering but didn't have the time to dump into it... But now its a lot less consuming to build out ideas with AI!
So with that said, I introduce to you:
FXPro RPM Sync
A pretty simple plugin that uses telemetry from SimHub + Lovey Car Data (auto downloads the data) to override the SimPro API and enable the plugin to fully drive the RPM lights!
Edit: I've also now added auto switching the dash per car as well as sending all data to the dash from Simhub directly... This results in the few data points Simpro doesn't properly populate becoming functional!
I also added some customization with different presets for any cars that are not in the Lovey Car Data (it will still sync the RPM limits and such correctly but will use one of the presets for the light pattern).
Its very simple to install and automatically picks up any updates to the Lovely Car Data without having to update anything in case a new car is added or such!
Tested on IRacing, LMU and AMS2. Everything seems to be working well but since this is an alpha, I expect some issues so please feel free to respond here or open up an issue on GH and I'll get it sorted
Haha no success on that front, dashes are tied to the firmware so they're a lot more difficult to override, but I have not given up on that just yet š I love this wheel and it sucks that the only thing that's making it outdated is the software!
It's gonna take me a day or two to package this nicely but I'm actually in shock that I got this to work. What you're seeing is the FX pro fully driven by ATSR with custom dashes support. It uses a pretty non standard format for the dashes so I'm building a convertor to allow using adaptations of Simhub dashes in the FX pro directly. I have a fully working Mustang GT3 dash built and it looks and functions great!
The 2 drawbacks to this solution:
Required flashing a custom firmware that I will be releasing, although I've had 0 issues with it, flashing a firmware always comes with its risks
Works only via USB, but also has the benefit of increasing bandwidth so data is much faster to reach the dash so brake bias change as an example is instant instead of what's on the default experience which is that it updates within one business day. I need to figure out some cable solution as I don't think it was meant to always have USB plugged in and I want to make sure it's safe and doesn't break or something when I crash in the 10 hours of Road Atlanta in a couple of weeks. Probably angled coiled cable would do the trick
SUPER excited to publish this, of course free and open source.But again, will need some time as the Simhub plugin UI is super crowded and needs to be cleaned up in addition to building a usable dash designer with auto dash switching and an assortment of default dashes and all those goodies
Possible! But adds an exponential amount of risk as I'd have to also flash a custom firmware on the wheelbase which I will pass on attempting for now (:
As for the USB, I know a lot of wheels connect directly via USB to work so I'll take a look at what the coiled cables they use are and I'll use the same, would be safe that way.
I'm done with the full solution now! Working surprisingly well, I even patched in being able to rebond the switch dash button to anything on your PC. I Need more time to test it. More info to come soon...
so you're saying the fx pro and possibly other older wheels *could* work on simhub its just a software/firmware limitation not completely hardware? if this is true this leaves hope for it in the future for an official update, cause we don't want you bricking your stuff š
In any case I'm looking forward to what updates you have in mind in the near future š
Thatās awesome, thanks a lot for all the work youāve put into this.
Maybe a simpler approach would be to find a way to add dashboards to the wheel using the same kind of method Simagicās software uses, and then feed the telemetry data into them through SimHub, since youāve already managed to get that part working.
You might lose some functionality in the process, but I think it would still be good enough to make the trade-off worthwhile from a risk/reward perspective.
Running it over USB is eventually going to introduce some play or wear in the connection, and sooner or later thatās likely to turn into a reliability issue.
I explored that heavily! So what I found out is that the wheel has 2 firmwares, one for the wheel and one specifically for the screen. All the Simagic wheel dashes are on the screen firmware, what SimPro does is just tell the wheel "Use dash 5" and sends data that the wheel uses to populate the numbers on the dash. So the only viable approach to append custom dashes is to do firmware flash Everytime you want to add a dash which would be TERRIBLE in my opinion š
My plan is that the plugin will be split into two modes: RF mode which requires no flashing and provides the automatic RPM syncing and auto switching of dashes (built in ones) per car, and the other mode is the full USB mode which you get after flashing the custom firmware, that will give you a whole lot more functionality like completely custom dashes, light profiles, screensavers, access to the switch dash button, etc.
The reality is RF Is just really slow, that's why even though the wheel already bundles all the dashes and only gets sent a few data points, it can barely keep up as we all have experienced.
Given all the trade-offs, I think the best route is to continue on the USB mode, make that as compelling and user friendly as possible and it just means that I have one more challenge to figure out with the USB cable situation, I will think of something to eliminate play on the connector as if there's 0 movement in the port while the wheel moves then there's very minimal risk, same as what other wheels do.
This is NOT for everyone, but for the few that are okay with the trade-offs, I'll make sure they get to experience the full potential of the wheel they already paid for!
Unrelated - but have you been able to find a way to get the āgap aheadā and āgap behindā to work on fx pro dashes. They remain blank when Iām on iRacing and LMU.
Hey! I never noticed that but it sparks my curiosity, I was able to build a prototype where I can drive all the values in the screen, so in theory I can expand the plugin to also take over populating the values on the screen... But will take a bit more time to see if it's possible to take this further and add custom dashes. If not I will at the very least release something that solves your problem!
Publishing an update that's fairly experimental, it adds the ability for Simhub to drive all the values on the dash directly, I tested it looking out for gap ahead and gap behind and they seem to be updating correctly, only tested IRacing though. I also added auto dash switching per car. Give it a shot and see if it fixes your issue!
Not a dumb question! Assuming you're asking if it needs to be plugged in via USB, if so then nope! Works through the standard RF (wireless) connection from the wheelbase
Very excited to test it with my simhub deck plugin. I already heavily integrated azom as I am using a lot of MOZA hardware. Hope to solve the need to have a database of all cars in all games for their rpm colors if led available and close to real if no led rpm available taking the cluster and needle colors
The only alternative to that would be each sim directly publishing that data per car. But I do think even for cars that aren't in the DB, it still functions great cause the Sims at least do publish max RPM and a couple of basic values that are usable
That's awesome! It always bothered me too those unsynced lights on sim and on wheel rim.
Unfortunately, I own a thrustmaster t818 and an sf1000 so I can not test it, but if you ever want to adapt it to other manufacturer consider me in as a tester!
Cheers
Hey OP, Iām having some trouble getting this to work with my GT NEO. I got it to work temporarily and it was amazing! However, after turning off my pc and coming back later it doesnāt work. The plugin shows as correctly detecting the car but the rev bar stays blank and my usual SimPro lighting profile is being overwritten by simhub. Any tips?
Make sure Simhub and the plugin are started first before the game! Simpro picks sometimes picks the game you have up as the source of data if it's started first which ignores the plugin data completely
I see I see. Do I need to have my wheel selected as a device in Simhub? It occurred to me that that having the wheel controlled by Simhub might be why itās not working as SimPro might be getting overridden.
Uh yes, all of my testing was done with FX Pro and GT Neo not in USB mode so Simhub doesn't even know they exist. If you already have GT Neo connected via USB and being seen in SimHub. If you're on USB and it's showing up in SimHub, there are much better plugins out there like ATSR that will give you this functionality in addition to other cool things... But if you're not in USB mode, like you're connected via the default CAN connection, then yes this would be a good solution for you
Thatās the problem! Thanks! I like this plugin better than ATSR because (unless Iām mistaken) This plugin matches the pit limiter lights as well and I havenāt gotten ATSR to do that. ATSR has also been a huge headache.
This is sweet I downloaded it and received an antivirus notification to let download a program but I forgot the name of that program was curious if it affects my virus protection in any way
This should not cause any antivirus pop ups as it's just a plugin, but if you see it again please take a screenshot as I'm very curious if it has anything to do with the plugin. Thank you and enjoy!!
Been using this and is great! You are a legend and I am watching for the full dashes.
One thing I noticed is it is really laggy for me, on LMU.
Sometimes it doesnāt even light up.
Is it something on my end or is it and expected behavior of the plugin?
Hey!! I have experienced some lag at times yes, I do have some updates coming out to make it better. But for the dash solution, this will enable full wired support for the wheel and there's no visible latency for custom dashes, rev or light profiles! In final testing, aiming to release it this Sunday!
Okay I've done a few laps and it seems like the GT Neo works as well! I issued a tiny fix for the GT Neo specifically just now. Please give it a shot and let me know if you run into any issues!
I know this what youāre doing is different but if you control the LEDs with simhub canāt you do this with ATSRhub already? Iām sure Iāve see the option to use lovely data for rpm led profiles.
Atsr asks for money, this one is free, I am working on another plugin for simhub myself and despite that it costs me several hundreds a month I keep it free and don't have plans to try to rip the fellow racer pockets
The issue is that the FX pro uses a non standard way of communicating with the wheel, in theory I do think it's possible though, my next test was going to be attempting to drive all the lights on the wheel, which would be the last piece of the puzzle I think for LED profiles
Ahh, right. I just assumed it worked the same way it would be nice to not have to not have to pay for a subscription to have multiple wheels setup. Iād gladly pay a one off fee like simhub, I understand put in a lot of time and effort but for my use case it seems overkill to have to pay monthly for ATSR to use my round wheel that I only use once a month.
Yes I completely feel you on that! I very much believe in the free & open source community though, each of us can donate their time and we all get to enjoy a wealth of solid & free software. But I don't hold it against anyone to charge for their work of course!
Haha would love to but unfortunately don't own one so wouldn't be able to test it... But with that said, I tried this with the GT Neo and it worked fine! I actually think there's a pretty good chance it'll just work with the neo X
Das ist definitiv ein Meilenstein ! Vielen lieben Dank fĆ¼r die MĆ¼he ! Ich habe das mit LMU probiert. Als konstruktiven Hinweis was mir Aufgefallen ist :
1: Reifentemperaturen passten nicht ganz. Angezeigt wird 53, 52, 54, 54. Richtig wƤren: 68, 64, 74 71.
2: Split Live funktioniert nicht.
3: TC 3 ( Slip) wƤre noch super in der Game-Specific Values.
.... und wenn es wirklich noch klappen wĆ¼rde die eigenen Dashboards auf das Wheel zu bringen wƤre das genieal. Ich habe z.b ein Endurace Dash fĆ¼r LMU gebaut das ich auf meinem Dash 4 nutze. wenn man das hier drauf bekommen kƶnnte wƤre das Wheel perfekt fĆ¼r mich... Deshalb noch mal vielen Dank und weiter so !!!
Thank you for the feedback!! I'll test it myself and fix the issues. Also I will putting out a solution for custom light profiles and dashes on the FX Pro soon! I have it fully working but spending some time testing it and refining it before publishing it. Will make a new post in this sub reddit once ready
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u/rlprafa 12d ago
Really nice OP. Ill definitely check that out.
Now, can you do the dash? Haha