New driver version 200 and CSW firmware 53 - UPDATE

Thomas JackermeierThomas Jackermeier Member, Administrator
edited July 2014 in Blog
-UPDATE-  Please connect your Fanatec devices and power on before you install the driver.


Time to upgrade your wheel. The new DRIVER brings a lot of new features and the new firmware for the ClubSport Wheel does not only support the new Universal Hub but also brings several improvements in the force feedback.

Driver v200 (for all Fanatec wheels):
  • Now shows the
    firmware version of our wheels (CSW, CSRE, CSR, GT3V2, GT2, PWTS) in the
    “update” tab of your device.
  • The driver can carry a
    new firmware for the CSW directly and the updater for the CSW is included as
    well. It will start automatically if you set the CSW into bootloader mode.
  • Automatic detection if the your CSW has an older firmware installed than the one which is
    included in the driver.
  • New firmware for CSW
    (V53) included!
  • The driver also
    contains both firmwares for the CS USB Adapter and asks you which mode you want
    to use (handbrake or shifter)


  • In the update tab you
    can start the FW updater to change the firmware from handbrake to shifter and
    “vice versa”
  • Handbrake bar for CSP
    added (if handbrake is connected directly to the CSP)


New functions of firmware 053 for CSW (ClubSport Wheel Base):

  • Improved wheel centering after boot up
  • "Center bump issue" has been improved significantly. More improvements will have other negative side effects so this is the optimum.
  • New rims added
  • DPR, SPR and FOR max. settings are now set to 150 (%) to avoid overclocking

Download Driver v200 with CSW Firmware 053

32 Bit

64 Bit

«13456

Comments

  • Frans BrinkFrans Brink Member
    edited July 2014
    Link fixed.
  • edited July 2014
    The download link is broken and the link to the firmware is not available on the CSW downloads page yet.

    Edit: Ah just found the firmware update exe

    To all those who need help here's what to do:

    [EDIT by MOD: This instruction was leading to some problems. Therefore it is better not to follow it]

    2. Open zip and run msi file
    3. Install driver
    4. Go to the installation directory (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Fanatec\Fanatec Wheel)
    5. Open FwClubSportBaseUpdater
    6. Follow on screen intructions
    7. Enjoy the new driver and firmware 

    Edit: I have just had to manually set the center after installing the new firmware but now it is saved and center is correct at every start up. 

    To set the center: 
    1. While on press the tuning button 
    2. Centre the wheel 
    3. Press the 2 joystick buttons simultaneously 
    4. Exit tuning menu and restart CSW
  • So this driver also works for the CSR wheel?

    "Improved wheel centering after boot up"

    I hope this will be fixed also for the CSR wheel, i use FW756...
  • edited July 2014
    Completely forgot about the manual lol
  • Klaus ThonKlaus Thon Member
    edited July 2014

    Maybe pressing the center-knob of the "Playstation-Button" on top of the Hub together with pressing the "Funky-Wheel-Knob" causes the same Effect - but I can´t verify this - Hubs are still in delivery...

    The Link at the Download-Page (which works, btw.) offers a couple of Driver 200 with the Firmware 053. The Link above (which is broken) seems to offer a couple of Driver 200 with Firmware 057. Typo or infact two different choices?

  • Read the manual!
  • Are the new drivers fixing the button bindings on the CSR wheel that have been screwed up since the first CSRE/CSW wheel drivers?
  • Thomas JackermeierThomas Jackermeier Member, Administrator
    Sorry for the confusion. Just fixed the broken link.
  • I've just updated, the firmware installed fine but the driver hasn't installed. I click on CSW properties and it's the generic Windows calibration, No one has mentioned it so am I doing something wrong, though I can't see how?
  • Richard - I've got the same problem.  Everything seemed to install OK and I've updated the firmware OK but no Fanatec driver control panel.  Using the 64bit version.
  • Fixed my problem by re-installing driver with the wheel switched on, I had it off the first time.
  • Since I have installed the new driver/firmware my clubsport shifter doesn't work properly anymore; it keeps mixing up 1st & 3rd gear... I did re-calibrate it correctly and several times, it just selects the wrong gear every third or fourth time, any suggestions?

    In the panel it shows 5th and 7th in the same spot (7th), but 5th gear works fine in-game...

    I'm driving iRacing on Win7 64bit with CSW Pedals and wheel.
  • Since I have installed the new driver/firmware my clubsport shifter doesn't work properly anymore; it keeps mixing up 1st & 3rd gear... I did re-calibrate it correctly and several times, it just selects the wrong gear every third or fourth time, any suggestions?

    In the panel it shows 5th and 7th in the same spot (7th), but 5th gear works fine in-game...

    I'm driving iRacing on Win7 64bit with CSW Pedals and wheel.

    The back where you plug your shifter into the club sport wheelbase try switching from the second shift plug to the first shift plug and recalibrated and it should work.
  • Looks like nice work, Thomas. Any word on bringing the "center bump" and other improvements in driving feel to the CSR Elite in one last firmware update?
  • Fixed my problem by re-installing driver with the wheel switched on, I had it off the first time.
    Thanks Stephen, I'll give that a try.
  • Armin HabermannArmin Habermann Member, Administrator
    Edit: Ah just found the firmware update exe

    To all those who need help here's what to do:
    2. Open zip and run msi file
    3. Install driver
    4. Go to the installation directory (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Fanatec\Fanatec Wheel)
    5. Open FwClubSportBaseUpdater
    6. Follow on screen intructions
    7. Enjoy the new driver and firmware 

    Hi Stephen,

    thank you for your message. It is unnecessary to perform the update like this. Please just install the driver and it will tell you everything that is necessary to update the firmware. You will not have to search for the updater or anything like that.

    All the best,
    Armin
  • edited July 2014


    Hi, nach dem update habe ich kein FFB mehr "iRacing"

    Hat sich erledigt! Treiber und Firmware neu instlliert.
  • John LomaxJohn Lomax Member
    edited July 2014
    DPR, SPR and FOR max. settings are now set to 150 (%) to avoid overclocking

    Omg Thomas, what the hell is this ? Are you kidding ? This is clearly changing the specs of the wheel, which is not acceptable...

    You told us the ffb motors failures were due to a motors design flaw, and that there will be no more dead motors because this flaw was fixed, so why limiting FOR now, if not because the motors still die ? And how can even your customers not wonder if the engine flaw even existed now we see you have to take further measures to prevent motors failures ?

    How can you call this "overclocking" when this is a feature you designed ? The fact it was your designed feature means the ffb motors were meant to be robust enough to handle it without failing, which obviously seems not the case.

    Using FOR above 150 is NOT overclocking, it is using the wheel as it was designed and you have customers who bought those specs. Calling it overclocking now is trying to persuade people this was not normal use, which is false.

    It is nowhere mentionned FOR would be an overclocking feature, neither that it would be unsupported or subject to be limited at Fanatec discretion. This is what the video manual says: "FOR: is the ffb signals are too weak they can be amplified by 4 times by using a value higher than 100%". You can change the video now, because this is not true anymore as you just changed the specs and have limited a x4 amplification to a x1.5 amplification, more than 2x less than what the wheel was sold for...

    Overclocking means raising the power beyond the initial specs, which FOR won't do, and you know this. Even at FOR 400% you will still have the exact same peak force (FF 100). What limiting FOR will do on the other hand is limiting the average stress on the motors (and this is where Fanatec will save RMA costs).

    As racing game designers (esp. in sim world) design their ffb signal according to the (small) available force range (dynamic range) to allow brief peak ffb effects without saturation, limiting the FOR setting as you just have done is an indirect way to limit the ffb strengh (and I refer to something equivalent to lowering FF here).

    Because when a developper keeps room to be able to have brief peaks, this means 90% of the time the ffb effects will be weak (= as if running with a very low FF setting). And this is what the FOR setting was meant to adress. It was your feature allowing to make such a ffb to be stronger, as if the developper did not keep this room for unsaturated brief peaks, and you advertised the wheelbase with this !

    Using that feature was not making you using the wheel out of the specs. A given game ffb signal used with FOR 400 was possible to do the exactly same by the game developper if this was his design choice. So whatever we feed an amplified ffb signal (using FOR) or the exact same signal coming from a default game ffb, the wheel motors have to be designed to handle it.

    Limiting the FOR feature through a firmware update is just an aknowledgment from Fanatec this is not the case, IOW an acknowledgment the motors are not robust enough to deliver the ffb strength the wheelbase was designed for, and this not even talking about the FOR amplification feature, as a game could send the same ffb signal as an amplified one.

    So yes, I'm upset by this change, and by the fact nobody here yet seems worried by this limitation of the specs. Would you guys accept the 260 horsepower turbo car you just bought was limited to 170 the 1st time you go to the garage, because the manufacturer decided to limit the turbo to almost nothing because using the turbo at its full designed potential is now "considered overclocking" ?
  • edited July 2014
    The bug with the mouse settings not being applied after a system reboot with the wheel on is still present. It has been there in all released drivers since it has mouse emulation.

    I've sent Armin an e-mail about that when I first found it (when it was introduced in May last year, in one of the alpha versions) and also to Fanatec Support (in December) but never got a reply, so I don't know if that is a known situation.
  • Armin HabermannArmin Habermann Member, Administrator
    @ António

    Thank you for your message. Please submit a support request with your problem description and documentation of the issue and mention that it should be forwarded to me. I did not get your previous message and I will take a look into it asap.

    Thank you very much!
  • @ Armin

    Does it have to be through support request or do you want me to e-mail you directly like I did when testing the drivers? It might be faster.

    I will start writing the text and then I can send it one way or the other.

    Regards
  • Since I have installed the new driver/firmware my clubsport shifter doesn't work properly anymore; it keeps mixing up 1st & 3rd gear... I did re-calibrate it correctly and several times, it just selects the wrong gear every third or fourth time, any suggestions?

    In the panel it shows 5th and 7th in the same spot (7th), but 5th gear works fine in-game...

    I'm driving iRacing on Win7 64bit with CSW Pedals and wheel.

    The back where you plug your shifter into the club sport wheelbase try switching from the second shift plug to the first shift plug and recalibrated and it should work.
    Thanks Tony! The shifter had always been in the first input before the update. I calibrated the shifter both ways yesterday, didn't work. But when I gave up yesterday night I left it in input #2. So today I re-calibrated it in input #1 again and now it seems to work, I drove 20 minutes without missing a gear! :-) I hope it stays that way. Maybe yet another restart of my computer repaired some issue, I don't know exactly why it seems to work now.

    Best Wishes and thanks!

    Fabian
  • Marek LaulMarek Laul Member
    edited July 2014
    DPR, SPR and FOR max. settings are now set to 150 (%) to avoid overclocking

    Omg Thomas, what the hell is this ? Are you kidding ? This is clearly changing the specs of the wheel, which is not acceptable...

    You told us the ffb motors failures were due to a motors design flaw, and that there will be no more dead motors because this flaw was fixed, so why limiting FOR now, if not because the motors still die ? 
    There seems to be something totally wrong with you. Generally maximum settings are 100 and this is how it was in the beginning and how it should be because of people like you. It was changed in later firmware update to overclock it over a hundred to give you something extra, because some games give weaker signals. So they still let you overclock it 1,5 times if you think game signals are too weak and this is something other manufacturers don't do as far as I know. (so, you should be thankful they offer more than others in that department). It was about time to lower this value, because some people, probably like you, think that if it is possible to turn up the force values 4 times than generally meant to be the maximum, it is OK to run so all the time. Of course it cooks up your motors faster.

    I don't see anywhere on CSW or Rims page, where it says that you can turn those settings up four times over the maximum. So, they are not changing any specs that were promised. They can change their firmware any way they want.

    Cars also let you change gears almost any way you want, but that doesn't mean that it is totally OK to change from sixth to first while driving like 250+ km/h or drive all they long with first gear revs in the limiter.
  • Hello all, does this update apply to using a PS3 ?
  • edited July 2014
    @John Lomax

    Obviously it was an overclocking function to make it work 4x higher than the normal usage, that's why it could be set up to 400(%). That is not a normal usage.

    With every game I tried, the motors were clipping well before the 400 if the game's FFB was set correctly, some even before the 200, so using it always at that settings didn't deliver any FFB other than a simple clipped force that countered turning the wheel.

    And FYI, there should have been something wrong with the motors or whatever before, as my first motors burned with me always being 100 or below and only after a month. It was one from the first batch. Now, it has been almost 2 years without any problem and the wheel is still running as good as new, even with extensive hours of usage and most of the time with the BMW rim.
  • edited July 2014
    Hello all, does this update apply to using a PS3 ?
    You don't need the drivers to use it with the PS3, but you will need the firmware update to use the new universal hub and will most certainly change the FFB feel you have with the PS3
  • > Marek Laul >  because some people, probably like you, think that if it is possible to turn up the force values 4 times than generally meant to be the maximum, it is OK to run so all the time. Of course it cooks up your motors faster. I don't see anywhere on CSW or Rims page, where it says that you can turn those settings up four times over the maximum. So, they are not changing any specs that were promised. They can change their firmware any way they want.

    Don't try to give lessons if you don't know what you are talking about. As said multiple times in my 1st post FOR setting DO NOT allow you to turn up the ffb 4 times the maximum. Even with FOR 400 your maximum force will still be 100.

    What it does do it to make a 5% signal become a 20% signal (if set to max, and I never used beyond 250ish, AND with FF NOT AT 100).

    FOR setting acts like as a signal compressor and that's why it is extremely useful to be able to use higher values like up to 400 (not to say that it also does not affect SPR/DPR, contrary to FF).

    And as said, the 400 value IS PROMOTED on the product page (as said, in the video). This was a feature used to promote the base. Given even using it at 400 won't make you go above the nominal force (FF100), if the decision is made to limit it to 150 this means the motors are not robust enough to handle what is advertised. Plain simple.

    The comparison with other wheel allowing no signal compression at all is silly. I don't care other products. I haven't bought those, I have bought a CSW and this one has an online manual promoting a 400% signal compression.
  • John LomaxJohn Lomax Member
    edited July 2014
    @John Lomax

    Obviously it was an overclocking function to make it work 4x higher than the normal usage, that's why it could be set up to 400(%). That is not a normal usage.
    Same as Marek, read my posts again, learn about how this feature and your wheel works, because it is wrong to say it would make your base work 4x high than normal.

    Even "normal usage" means nothing. What is normal usage, a game with a ffb averaging @15% of your wheel nominal power 95% of the time ? Or another averaging @60% of nominal wheelbase power 95% of the time ?

    The latter is still within specs (older games have strong ffb. My microsoft ffb wheel handled them for more than 15 years). So why a 400% amp on the 1st one would change anything ? It doesn't. Same result in both case.

    If there was a problem with the 400% signal compression making the average ffb power being too much for the cheap mabuchi, then:

    1°) it would have pointed a design flaw and would have to be acknowledged as is, instead of trying to hide/twist the reality by talking about "overclocking" for a built-in feature. I'd have been more inclined to forgive if I was told "ok, we are sorry but we have been too optimistic with this feature and must limit it because our motors can't handle that much stress".

    2°) A better compromise should have been offered, to limit the impact of the required restriction to prevent from failures. For exemple, limiting FF when using too high FOR. Something like 200+ FOR limits FF to 90. 300+ FOR limits FF to 80. That would be way better I guess, because we'd still have the full 400% compression feature. 
  • Marek LaulMarek Laul Member
    edited July 2014
    1°) it would have pointed a design flaw and would have to be acknowledged as is, instead of trying to hide/twist the reality by talking about "overclocking" for a built-in feature. I'd have been more inclined to forgive if I was told "ok, we are sorry but we have been too optimistic with this feature and must limit it because our motors can't handle that much stress".
    I don't see a design flaw here, it needs to be limited, because people are using it wrong. Wheel is designed to work with everything at 100 and it should be capable of that that every day of the week. Overclocking was for weak signals, but of course it depends on the person. If you are a Schwarzenegger, you'd probably play every game at 400 and clearly it is not what it was designed for. It had to be reduced, because there are persons who think that if 400 is the maximum, they can use that all the time no matter whether signal actually was too weak to feel or not.

    What games are you playing anyway? I have never used it above 100, because I have not seen a need for it and I have had my CSW about two years now. What racing game is so bad that you'll have to amplify it 3-4 times?

    They should implement better quoting system here, because current sucks.
  • Andrew ClarkAndrew Clark Member
    edited July 2014
    The FW just screwed up my wheel base. No I am not happy at this second The wheel no longer centers at boot up and the rotation seems to be screwed up as well.
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