Force Feedback¶
Pass game rumble through to your pad or haptic mouse, route DirectInput force feedback to wheels and sticks, drive extra rumble from your system audio, and play the rumble stream through bass shakers.
The Force Feedback tab is per pad per slot. Every physical pad mapped to the slot keeps its own Overall, Left, Right, Swap, Audio Rumble, and Constant Force values. Pick a different device in the assigned-devices dropdown and the tab rebinds to that device.
See Impulse Triggers for trigger-motor effects.
The tab appears on every slot type, including Keyboard + Mouse and MIDI, while the selected assigned device is a controller-class device (gamepad, joystick, wheel, flight, or first-person controller), a haptic mouse, or the Razer Sensa row. Select any other keyboard or mouse in the dropdown and the tab hides until you pick one of those again. Keyboard + Mouse and MIDI slots do not send rumble upstream to games, but Audio Rumble still feeds into the same combined-vibration buffer routed to whichever physical device is mapped. Test Rumble fires haptics on the currently selected device only, so you can verify one pad without buzzing the others.
To also play the game's rumble through speakers or a tactile transducer, see Bass Shakers below. The controller's motors keep running. That tab lives at the slot level and has its own settings.
How rumble works¶
Most controllers have two vibration motors:
| Motor | Character | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Left (low-frequency) | Heavy, deep thump | Explosions, collisions, engine vibration |
| Right (high-frequency) | Light, sharp buzz | Gunfire, road texture, UI feedback |
Games blend both motors for varied effects. A wall hit slams the left motor and gently buzzes the right. A machine gun pulses the right motor rapidly with the left idle.
Rumble signal flow¶
Games never talk to your physical controller directly.
- Game sends rumble to PadForge's virtual controller (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, or Extended).
- PadForge reads the left and right motor values.
- Your settings apply: gain, per-motor strength, motor swap.
- PadForge forwards the adjusted rumble to your physical controller.
PadForge applies this on every polling cycle, 1,000 times a second at the default polling rate. DualSense and DualShock 4 pads take it in their combined effect update, about 30 times a second.
The same slot rumble reaches a haptic mouse or the Razer Sensa row assigned to the slot. See Haptic mice and the Razer Sensa row.
Multi-slot rumble¶
When one physical controller is assigned to several virtual slots, PadForge takes the highest motor value from any active slot. No rumble signals are lost.
DualSense haptics played as audio¶
A game that supports the DualSense's haptics over USB plays them through the controller's audio and sends no rumble. On a DualSense (PS5): Full or DualSense Edge (PS5): Full virtual controller, PadForge turns the loudness of the left haptic channel into left motor rumble and the right channel into right motor rumble. Every controller on the slot gets it the way it gets game rumble: through its own Overall Gain, motor strengths and swap, and combined with any game rumble by taking the stronger of the two. Overall Gain at 0% turns it off for that controller. On a real DualSense that a game also writes through the virtual one, PadForge's rumble rides the game's own frames, so the game's writes do not cut it off. When a game hands its rumble back to the haptics, a DualSense that cannot play them gets the converted rumble at once.
Two kinds of controller get none of it, because they play the haptics themselves: a DualSense or DualSense Edge on the slot, and a Steam or Switch controller with Play DualSense Haptics on This Controller on. A DualSense that PadForge cannot send the haptics to, because its audio is unavailable, gets the rumble instead.
Rumble settings¶
| Setting | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Gain | 0–100% | 100% | Master vibration strength. Scales both motors. 0% disables rumble. |
| Left Motor | 0–100% | 100% | Low-frequency motor strength. |
| Right Motor | 0–100% | 100% | High-frequency motor strength. |
| Swap Left and Right Motors | On/Off | Off | Flips which physical motor receives the left vs. right signal. Use when rumble feels backwards. Not shown for a haptic mouse or keyboard, or for the Razer Sensa row, which play the stronger motor whichever side it is on. |
| Fold Trigger Rumble into Main Motors | On/Off | Off | Sends each trigger channel to the body motor on the same side. Shows only on a pad that rumbles but has no trigger motors, where impulse trigger data would otherwise go unfelt. |
Steering Angle Rumble¶
The Steering Angle Rumble card adds continuous feedback as the selected virtual stick axis moves away from center. It works with a non-FFB wheel mapped to a virtual Xbox or PlayStation controller. Select the wheel in the assigned-devices dropdown, enable the option, and select the virtual axis used for steering.
| Setting | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Steering Angle Rumble | Off | On / Off |
| Virtual Axis | Left Stick X | Left Stick X/Y or Right Stick X/Y |
| Motor | Split by Direction | Split by Direction, Left Motor, Right Motor |
| Strength | 50% | 0-100% |
| Center Deadzone | 2% | 0-25% |
With Split by Direction, negative axis movement drives the left, low-frequency motor and positive movement drives the right, high-frequency motor. The two motors sit in different places and spin different weights on most pads, so the same angle can feel different on each side. Left Motor or Right Motor puts both directions on that one motor, so a turn of the same size feels the same either way. Intensity rises linearly from the edge of the center deadzone to the chosen strength at full travel. Center adds no rumble. Games and other enabled effects can still vibrate there.
The cue follows the final mapped output, including curves, inversion, layers, macros, and the combination of assigned sources. Each physical device keeps its own settings. Overall Gain, motor strength, Swap Left and Right Motors, and trigger routing apply afterward, as they do to game rumble. With Swap on, the picked motor swaps too. Game rumble and the steering cue combine by taking the stronger value on each motor.
This produces vibration rather than steering torque. Native Logitech, Fanatec, and Thrustmaster wheel writers, Fanatec pedals, and devices reporting native constant-force support keep their existing feedback and get no steering cue. Extended, Nintendo, Keyboard + Mouse, MIDI, and VR outputs get no steering cue. It reads the stick axes of an Xbox or PlayStation virtual controller only. Physical motor placement depends on the device.
The steering-lock pulse remains a separate option for a brief cue at full lock. Ordinary wheel-axis mappings can use Steering Angle Rumble without enabling Winding, Angle to Axis, or Motion Lean.
Test Rumble¶
Click Test Rumble to send a short vibration pulse. Confirms the device supports rumble, PadForge is forwarding correctly, and your current settings produce the effect you wanted.
If several physical devices share a slot, the test pulse only fires on the device you are configuring.
Live motor activity¶
Each motor (Left, Right) shows two stacked bars in real time as games send rumble:
- RAW (cold color): the rumble the game sent to the virtual controller, before this device's gain, strength, swap, constant force, trigger routing, or audio rumble touch it. It includes haptics played as audio.
- OUT (ember orange): what the selected physical device receives.
The gap between the two bars is what this device's own settings did to the game's command. At defaults, with no audio rumble, constant force, or trigger routing, they match. Each bar has its own percentage readout. Left is the low-frequency motor, right is the high-frequency motor.
Use the bars to:
- Watch which motor a game favors and how hard it pushes.
- See what your strength and swap settings deliver to the selected device.
- Confirm audio bass rumble is firing when you expect.
Haptic fallback¶
Some devices (racing wheels, arcade sticks, flight sticks) have no rumble motors but support haptic force feedback. PadForge detects them and translates rumble into haptic effects.
| Priority | Strategy | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Left/Right effects | Two independent vibration channels, closest to dual-motor rumble. |
| 2nd | Sine wave effects | Periodic vibration. Slow oscillation for the heavy motor, fast buzz for the light one. |
| 3rd | Constant force effects | Steady force matching the stronger motor. Less nuanced but still usable. |
No setup. If a device supports neither rumble nor haptics, vibration is skipped.
Directional forces¶
For haptic devices, PadForge preserves force direction instead of collapsing it to one value.
- Joysticks with two or more haptic axes receive true 2D directional forces. A leftward force pushes harder on the left side.
- Racing wheels with one axis receive forces projected onto the steering axis. A rightward force pushes the wheel clockwise.
Directional forces apply to constant, ramp, and all periodic effects (sine, square, triangle, sawtooth up and down). If a device lacks the requested effect, PadForge falls back to scalar rumble.
Condition effects¶
Position- or velocity-dependent forces used in racing and flight sims. Unlike rumble, they react to how you move the controller or wheel.
| Effect | Feel | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | Centering force, stronger farther from center | Wheel self-centering, joystick return-to-neutral |
| Damper | Speed-dependent resistance | Hydraulic steering simulation |
| Friction | Constant resistance in any direction | Road surface feel |
| Inertia | Resistance to speed changes | Heavy steering column or flight yoke mass |
Overall Gain scales condition effect strength. Wheels and force feedback sticks feel these best. Standard gamepads receive them as scalar rumble.
Extended force feedback¶
When a slot uses Extended output, force feedback flows through the DirectInput pipeline.
- Games send DirectInput effects (constant force, sine, ramp, sawtooth, condition effects) to the Extended virtual controller.
- PadForge turns those effects into rumble or haptic output on your physical controller.
- Overall Gain applies to every effect. Left Motor, Right Motor, and Swap Left and Right Motors apply when an effect reaches the pad as rumble. Directional and condition forces on a wheel or force feedback stick use Overall Gain alone.
The Extended virtual controller advertises DirectInput force feedback by default. Toggle Force Feedback off on the Extended config bar (with Customize on) and DirectInput games see a plain joystick with no force feedback instead.
Recognized wheels get native force feedback. When the assigned wheel is a supported Logitech, Fanatec, or Thrustmaster model, PadForge sends these effects to the wheel using its own force feedback instead of a generic haptic, and a dedicated Wheel tab adds rotation range, auto-center, and RPM shift LEDs. See Wheel.
PlayStation pads¶
When the physical device you mapped is a DualShock 4, DualSense, or DualSense Edge, PadForge sends rumble and lightbar together in one update to the pad, whatever the slot's output type. On the DualSense family that same update carries the adaptive triggers, the player row, and the mic LED. A DualShock 4 has none of those. Game rumble and your effect settings arrive in sync, so nothing fights over the device.
On a DualSense (PS5): Full slot, a DualShock 4 rumbles with the haptics a game plays as audio, and a DualSense plays them on its own actuators.
PlayStation pads through a Padix converter¶
PS1 and PS2 pads reach the PC through Padix PSX/USB converter boards, sold by Buffalo as the BSGC101 (one port) and BSGC201 (two ports). PadForge drives the pad's two motors directly: the low-frequency channel sets the big motor's strength and the high-frequency channel switches the small motor on and off, the same split SDL uses for a DualShock 3. Buffalo's driver package is not needed, and installing it changes nothing here, because PadForge never goes through its DirectInput plug-in. The Force Feedback tab appears for the converter whether or not that package is installed.
Haptic mice and the Razer Sensa row¶
A haptic mouse assigned to a virtual controller takes that controller's rumble through this tab, the way a gamepad does, with its own settings on each virtual controller. The Razer Sensa row does the same for Razer Sensa HD devices. Each plays a single strength, taken from the stronger of the two motors. None has trigger motors, so Fold Trigger Rumble into Main Motors shows for them.
| Device | How the rumble plays | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Logitech MX Master 4 | Logitech's own haptic waveforms, sent straight to the mouse over HID++ | No Logitech software |
| SteelSeries Rival 500, 700 and 710 | The tactile handler in SteelSeries GG | SteelSeries GG |
| Logitech iFeel Mouse and iFeel MouseMan | A buzz at the rumble's strength, sent straight to the mouse | The mouse on PadForge's driver, from Play Rumble on This Mouse on the Devices page |
| Razer Sensa HD devices, such as the Wolverine V3 Pro, Kraken V4 Pro and Freyja | The Razer Sensa row on the Devices page, through the Interhaptics engine inside PadForge | Razer Synapse 4 with Sensa HD Haptics, and the x64 build |
On an MX Master 4 and a Rival, rumble strength picks one of three levels: the mouse starts playing at 5 percent, and the level steps up at 33 and 66 percent. The MX Master 4 plays a light, medium or strong pulse, every 250 ms at the faintest rumble and faster as the rumble grows, up to every 80 ms at full strength. A Rival repeats a 30 ms pulse 5 times a second, a 55 ms pulse 7 times, or an 80 ms pulse 10 times.
SteelSeries GG drives every tactile Rival at once, so the Rival on the virtual controller with the smallest player number sets their rumble. Clicking the rumble mark of any tactile Rival on the Devices page buzzes all of them, whether or not that Rival is assigned. The motor stops as soon as no Rival is assigned. Two seconds after PadForge stops using GG, GG gets its devices back.
In the x64 build, the Razer Sensa row appears on the Devices page once Razer Synapse is installed. Assign it to a virtual controller like any device. PadForge runs the Sensa engine only while the row is assigned, or while the rumble mark on the Devices page buzzes it. In Synapse, set the device's Haptic Source to Sensa HD Games. Earlier versions sent rumble to Sensa HD devices from a Dashboard toggle. A toggle that was on now assigns the Razer Sensa row to the virtual controller with the smallest player number, if there is one.
A haptic mouse shared over Remote Link takes rumble from the other PC's virtual controllers too. The Razer Sensa row is not shared.
An iFeel mouse buzzes at the rumble's own strength, from 2 percent up, once it is on PadForge's driver. The switch costs Windows the mouse as a pointer, so read Logitech iFeel mice first. The other mice built on Immersion TouchSense take no rumble.
A line at the top of the tab says where the rumble goes:
| Line | When it shows |
|---|---|
| Rumble plays on {0} as haptic pulses, sent straight to the device. Stronger rumble picks a stronger pulse and repeats it faster. | A Logitech haptic mouse, with its name in place of {0}. |
| Haptic feedback is turned off for {0} in Logi Options+, so it plays nothing until you turn it back on there. | The mouse's own haptic feedback is off. |
| Rumble plays on {0} as a buzz, sent straight to the device. | An iFeel mouse on PadForge's driver, with its name in place of {0}. |
| This device has not answered yet. Its rumble plays once it wakes up. | The Logitech mouse is asleep, unplugged or not answering. |
| Rumble plays through the tactile handler in SteelSeries GG. | GG answers, and this Rival sets the rumble. |
| SteelSeries GG drives every tactile Rival at once, so the one on Virtual Controller {0} sets their rumble. | Another Rival, on the virtual controller numbered {0}, sets the rumble. |
| Waiting for SteelSeries GG. Rumble plays once GG runs. | GG does not answer. |
| Rumble plays on your Razer Sensa HD devices through Razer Synapse. | Synapse's Sensa runtime answers. |
| Waiting for Sensa HD Haptics in Razer Synapse 4. Set the device’s Haptic Source to Sensa HD Games in Synapse. | Synapse's Sensa runtime does not answer. |
| Not Available on ARM64 | A Razer Sensa row in the ARM64 build, from settings the x64 build saved. |
The line is empty while PadForge's input engine is stopped, and on a virtual controller that is not live, such as one that is turned off. Only Not Available on ARM64 still shows then.
See Mice, Keyboards and Vendor Rows for the vendor rows and the lighting these devices take.
Novint Falcon¶
A Novint Falcon has no motors of its own to rumble. Its slot's rumble and force feedback become force on the handle, which PadForge computes about a thousand times a second. The tab gains a Novint Falcon section for the Falcon's feel, which button turns rumble into a kick toward you, the kick and shake strengths, the Aim feel's Brace and Preload buttons, gravity compensation and the force limit. The Falcon's Calibrate Reach belongs to the device, so it is on its row on the Devices page. The rumble settings above apply first, as for any controller. See Novint Falcon.
Constant Force¶
A per-device override that drives a continuous force on the assigned physical device until you turn it off. A toggle plus a 2D grid with signed X / Y sliders. Click or drag in the grid to set the direction and strength of the force vector. The grid origin is centered. The dot's distance from center sets magnitude. The dot marks the side the force comes from: Y at +1 (dot below center) pushes forward, and X at +1 (dot right of center) pushes left.
Override-with-resume rule. While the toggle is on, PadForge keeps applying the configured force as long as no game or program is sending non-zero force to that device/slot pair. The moment a game sends non-zero motor rumble or a force feedback effect, the game's force takes over. Rumble aimed only at the trigger motors leaves the constant force running. The moment the game returns to silence, the constant force resumes. Macro rumble counts as game force here, so a macro pulse takes over the same way, and the constant force resumes once the pulse ends.
Routing¶
- Force feedback devices (wheels, joysticks) receive a real directional force. Single-axis devices (wheels) project the angle onto the steering axis, so the wheel pulls toward the direction you set.
- Rumble-only devices (Xbox-style pads, generic gamepads) get a quadrant motor mapping. The vertical component drives the heavy low-frequency motor, the horizontal component drives the light high-frequency motor, with a half-bleed across so diagonals engage both.
- PlayStation pads (DualShock 4, DualSense, DualSense Edge) route through the same combined update that carries their rumble.
Persistence. Saved per device, per slot. Survives PadForge restarts.
Why it's there. Issue #29 asked for it: a real wheel mapped to a virtual Xbox controller for a game that does not speak DirectInput. The force does not change with the wheel's position, so it pulls the wheel one way and never returns it to center. For a centering pull on a wheel that supports it, use Auto Centering Strength on the Wheel tab.
The Motor Activity meter reflects the constant force when it is the active source. What you see on the meter is what the device receives.
Audio Rumble¶
PadForge can drive controller vibration from any system audio (games, music, video). It follows your system audio output, isolates the bass frequencies, and turns bass energy into motor speed. The result is vibration that pulses with bass-heavy sounds.
This is the opposite direction from Bass Shakers: Audio Rumble turns audio into vibration, Bass Shakers turns vibration into audio.
Audio bass rumble combines with game rumble. PadForge takes whichever signal is stronger at any moment. Audio fills gaps during cutscenes, menus, or quiet gameplay where the game sends nothing.
PadForge follows your default audio output device. Switch from speakers to headphones and you do not need to reconfigure anything.
Turning it on¶
- Open the Force Feedback tab for the slot.
- Check Enable Audio Rumble.
- Play audio. Adjust the sliders while you watch the Level meter.
Settings¶
| Setting | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensitivity | 1.0–20.0 | 4.0 | Bass intensity multiplier. Higher means stronger rumble from quieter audio. |
| Bass Cutoff (Hz) | 20–200 Hz | 80 Hz | Low-pass cutoff. Lower keeps deep sub-bass only. Higher widens the bass range. |
| Left Motor | 0–100% | 100% | Audio-driven low-frequency motor scale. |
| Right Motor | 0–100% | 100% | Audio-driven high-frequency motor scale. |
The Level meter shows current bass energy as audio plays.
Practical scenarios¶
| Scenario | Sensitivity | Bass Cutoff | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Action games without native rumble | 4.0 | 80 Hz | Raise sensitivity if rumble feels subtle. |
| Music listening | 6–8 | 100–150 Hz | Picks up kicks and bass guitar. Right motor at 50% for deeper feel. |
| Movies and video | 4.0 | 40–60 Hz | Isolates deep cinematic rumble (thunder, explosions, LFE). |
| Racing games with weak rumble | 4.0 | 40–60 Hz | Adds engine rumble and collision impacts from the game's own audio. |
| Horror and atmospheric games | 2–3 | 30–50 Hz | Subtle vibration from ambient bass drones. |
Trigger Routing¶
The Trigger Routing card pushes the main rumble-motor strength into the trigger motors, one trigger at a time. It moved here from the Impulse Triggers tab. Each trigger carries its own Source, Mode, Scale, and Activator.
| Control | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Source | None (Off), Left Motor, Right Motor, Max of Both Motors, Sum of Both Motors | Which body-motor value feeds this trigger. None is a no-op, so existing rumble is unchanged. |
| Mode | Off, Duplicate (Keep Main Motor), Redirect (Silence Main Motor) | Duplicate sends the value to the trigger and keeps the body motor running. Redirect sends it to the trigger and silences the body motor. |
| Scale | 0–200%, default 100% | Scales the routed strength for this trigger. |
| Activator | A button picker plus an Activator Mode (Hold / Toggle / Release to Aim / Always On) | Gates when the routing is live. An empty activator keeps the routing engaged in every mode except Toggle, which needs a button to switch it on. |
The Activator Modes: Hold engages the routing while the activator button is held. Toggle flips it on or off with each press. Release to Aim engages while the activator button is not held. Always On ignores the button.
Routing reaches both Xbox impulse triggers and DualSense Adaptive Trigger Vibration. The DualSense path fires no matter what output type the slot uses, so a PlayStation-output slot still gets it. (The earlier Xbox-output-only restriction is gone.)
The Rumble Trigger Override macro action drives the trigger channel directly, with a paired Stop Trigger Vibration action to release it. See Macros.
Each setting row within each trigger (Source, Mode, Scale, Activator, Activator Mode) has its own reset button, and the card has a whole-card Reset.
See Impulse Triggers for game-driven impulse passthrough, audio bass on the triggers, and the steady-force trigger override.
Reset controls¶
Every slider has its own reset button. Reset All restores everything in its section.
- Rumble Reset All: Gain 100%, both motors 100%, Swap Left and Right Motors off, Fold Trigger Rumble into Main Motors off. This top button also clears the Steering Angle Rumble, Constant Force, and Audio Rumble sections below it.
- Constant Force Reset All: Toggle off, X = 0, Y = 0.
- Audio Rumble Reset All: Disabled, sensitivity 4.0, cutoff 80 Hz, both motors 100%.
- Trigger Routing Reset All: every trigger back to Source None (off), Mode Duplicate, Scale 100%, activator cleared, Activator Mode Hold.
Bass Shakers¶
The Bass Shakers tab routes the game rumble and force feedback this virtual controller receives to an audio output as low-frequency tones for bass shakers and subwoofers. Game feedback and Test Rumble play through the audio output. Macro rumble stays on the controller. On a DualSense (PS5): Full or DualSense Edge (PS5): Full virtual controller, the haptics a game plays through the controller's audio drive Low Motor and High Motor too.
Unlike the Force Feedback tab, Bass Shakers settings are per slot, not per device. The tab shows on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo slots, plus Extended slots that advertise force feedback (the Force Feedback toggle with Customize on, or a catalog profile that ships with it) and the Steam Deck Controller (Composite) profile, whose rumble commands PadForge decodes directly. Other Extended slots, Keyboard + Mouse, MIDI, and VR hide it.
Turning it on¶
- Open the Bass Shakers tab for the slot.
- Check Route Rumble to an Audio Output.
- Pick an Output Device. System Default follows the Windows default playback device.
- Play a game that rumbles, or click a voice's Test button.
Turning the toggle off keeps every setting. If the selected output device disappears, audio stays off until it returns, and the status line under the picker says so. Bluetooth audio devices add noticeable latency.
Output settings¶
| Setting | Options / Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Channel Mode | Mono (All Channels) / Controller Stereo | Mono (All Channels) | Mono plays every voice on all speaker channels. Controller Stereo splits them like the controller: low motor and left trigger on the left channel, high motor and right trigger on the right. |
| Master Gain | 0–100% | 50% | Overall loudness applied after each voice's own gain. Keep headroom so the four voices do not clip when they play together. |
Voices¶
Four voices, one per feedback channel. Each row has an enable checkbox, a tone frequency, a gain, a live level meter, a Test button that plays the tone for 1.5 seconds, and a reset.
| Voice | Default frequency | Frequency range | Default gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low Motor | 40 Hz | 20–120 Hz | 100% |
| High Motor | 80 Hz | 20–120 Hz | 100% |
| Left Trigger | 60 Hz | 20–120 Hz | 100% |
| Right Trigger | 60 Hz | 20–120 Hz | 100% |
The default frequencies are starting points, not measured shaker frequencies. Shaker and amp response varies, so click Frequency Sweep to sweep a tone from 20 to 120 Hz over eight seconds on the low motor routing, note where your shaker responds strongest, and set the voice frequencies there. Stop ends the test tone or sweep.
Reset All on the card restores the output device to system default, Channel Mode to Mono (All Channels), Master Gain to 50%, and every voice to enabled, 100% gain, and its default frequency.
Tips¶
- Start with defaults. 100% gain passes through exactly what the game sends. Only reduce if vibration is too strong.
- Watch the motor activity bars during gameplay to see which motor a game favors, then adjust.
- Lower the right motor for less buzz. 60–80% keeps deep thumps while softening high-frequency buzz.
- Tune during gameplay rather than on Test Rumble alone. Real games use varied patterns the test pulse cannot replicate.
- Audio rumble runs alongside game rumble. It activates when bass exceeds the game's own signal.
- Each device gets its own settings. Tune force feedback per controller on each slot.
- Use Extended output for racing wheels. Condition effects and directional forces are only available through the DirectInput pipeline.
Troubleshooting¶
| Problem | Try this |
|---|---|
| No vibration at all | Check Overall Gain > 0%. Click Test Rumble to confirm the device supports it. |
| Vibration too weak | Raise Overall Gain and per-motor sliders. |
| Vibration too strong | Lower Overall Gain or per-motor sliders. |
| Rumble feels reversed | Turn on Swap Left and Right Motors. |
| Rumble stops intermittently | Check no other software (Steam Input, etc.) is competing for the device. |
| Audio rumble not working | Confirm audio plays through your default output. Check the Level meter. Raise sensitivity if it barely moves. |
| Audio rumble too aggressive | Lower sensitivity or drop the bass cutoff. |
| No sound from bass shakers | Check the routing toggle, the status line under the Output Device picker, Master Gain, and each voice's enable. Confirm the game rumbles at all on the Motor Activity bars. |
| Haptic mouse or Sensa device stays still | Read the line at the top of its Force Feedback tab. It says when the mouse is asleep, when its haptic feedback is off in Logi Options+, and when SteelSeries GG or Razer Synapse does not answer. |
| Wheel FFB feels wrong | Use an Extended output slot, not Xbox or PlayStation. |
| Condition effects feel weak | Raise Overall Gain. Condition effects scale with it. |
Related pages¶
- Controller Slots: create and configure virtual controllers.
- Bass Shakers: the slot-level tab in full, voice by voice.
- Wheel: native force feedback for Logitech, Fanatec, and Thrustmaster wheels, plus rotation range, auto-center, and RPM LEDs.
- Button and Axis Mappings: map physical inputs.
- Stick Deadzones: thumbstick deadzone and response curves.
- Trigger Deadzones: pair trigger adjustments with rumble tuning.
- Impulse Triggers: trigger-motor passthrough, audio bass on triggers, constant trigger force.
- Adaptive Triggers: DualSense trigger resistance, weapon, vibration, slope, and multi-position effects.
- Devices: check rumble and haptic capability per device.
- Mice, Keyboards and Vendor Rows: rumble and lighting on the mice, keyboards and vendor rows assigned to a virtual controller.
- Novint Falcon: rumble and force feedback as force on the Falcon's handle.
- Troubleshooting: wider help with rumble issues.
Last updated for PadForge 5.2.0.