No it doesn’t. You can easily use your built in sound card with Sim Hub since you are using an USB headset . You are missing a lot without using a proper tactile software as Sim Hub which benefit from the ful telemetry of the Sim.
You bought it and it wasn't working plus the tech was overwhelming like you mentioned. Your going now so just enjoy the extra immersion Hopefully you can feel some engine, rumbles and contact. I agree with the others that it isn't the most optimal way but it can be technical to get there. Even if you get the sound card stuff sorted: You have to figure out what effects you want? How many is too many? Test like crazy and adjust the levels until your satisfied. That profile may need adjustments with your other favorite car. All of this combined with learning the simhub interface. maybe if someone makes you a simple profile it is a start.
Let me try to answer some of the questions that have been raised about how I have my headphones and Buttkicker amp connected to my computer. I'm currently using a simple set of wired headphones, which connect to my computer via a USB connection (not shown in the image below). I currently have the output cable from my Buttkicker amp connected to the headphones socket in the front of my PC: I used to have it connected to the green 3.5 mm socket on the rear of my PC, but the rep from Guitammer had me move it to the microphone socket. He didn't explain why, and I didn't ask. Here's a picture of the back of my Buttkicker amp: Here's what shows up on the Sound Output screen when I open Shaket Bass Shaker in Simhub: And here's what's on the Effects Profile screen: When I test the effects I have selected, I get mixed results. The gear shift gives a nice jolt through the chassis, the intensity of which I can adjust by moving the intensity slider up and down. But the Road Impact effect test only works for the front left, not for the other three corners. And when I went back to run the tests again after trying to run rFactor2 (described below), none of the tests are working. When I tried running rFactor2 with Simhub active, I got vibration through the chassis, but it had very little connection to what's happening in the game (completely useless, not to mention supremely annoying, in other words), the gear shifts don't respond, and I'm not getting any sound out of my headphones. I closed down the beta software Guitammer sent me before opening rFactor2. This is similar to my last experience with Simhub, where I finally gave up after many hours of frustration, and trying to get help from the Simhub forum.
I understand it can frustrating Couple things that may help.... There is a plugin that needs to be turned on in rf2 for sim hub to work For me at least, I have to have some auto calibration on for road impacts to work
@Andrew Nagy I'm surprised the SimHub forum wasn't able to resolve, but as always I think the communication is a factor (and it would always be easier in person). Your photo above for example, that's a headphone jack - not a microphone. My very untrained eye wonders if having your headset selected in the ShakeIt configuration is correct, but again if I were in front of your PC I'd happily play around with different options and try to work it out - without having a buttkicker myself I can only guess. If you're happy with what you have for now, stick with it. If you want to try and get SimHub working later with proper telemetry, commit to doing it that way for a time and give information and photos showing exactly what you're doing - I'm sure someone can work it out.
Hi, i have been reading your post and i am running a pretty similar configuration with a Buttkicker with SimHub and a usb headphone for audio with no troubles at all so i will try to give a help here. I am not an expert but can only share what i know from my experience. I have my BK connected in the green output of my soundcard at the back of the computer (try that again instead of your headphone output). My headphones (HyperX cloud2) for audio are plugged in a usb port on top but they have a dedicated soundcard built in. You need a dedicated sound card to run your BK seperate from your audio or use the supplied splitter. Like for me and for what i read through your post (and picture) is that you are running 1 buttkicker only. Configure SimHub (sound output) to a mono channel (1 BK). Are you starting rF2 normal via Steam with SimHub in the background running or do you start rF2 via SimHub? I always start SimHub (select correct game profile) and start my software (rF2 / DR2.0) in the games tab of SimHub. You can configure to show only the software titles you are using. Is SimHub licensed or do you use a free version? The free version is limited so that may reduce your experience (i don't know for shakers).
Hi again. I'm guessing here that the beta software creates a faux sound card so you can direct audio output to it so it appears as an input device. Firstly in SimHub disable the Plantronics headset - you don't want that active for this. I'd also suggest you disable the ButtKicker option and turn on the Headphones ( High Definition Audio Device ) option - this I would expect to drive both the front panel socket and the green sound card output. Now turn off all the effects except for Road Impacts. Now start rF2 from the SimHub menu so you know it's running. SimHub should show it's connected. Drive the car and you should feel something through the ButtKicker. As @paco_vercetti has suggested try setting the output to use mono If this doesn't work enable the ButterKicker option and disable the Headphones option. Retest. If the ButtKicker software IS a faux sound card then it's likely to prevent other applications from accessing the sound card directly. I have a PC that uses software called Voicemeeter that completely takes over the audio system so you can't access the audio hardware without passing the output through it. If the ButtKicker software does the same thing then it may well be stopping audio output from the game to your headphones. So to test... if you fire up YouTube and play a music video does it play through your headphones OK? SimHub must be running for the plug-in to be able to do it's job. If it shows as Disconnected when rF2 is running then the plug-in isn't loaded.
Wow, that's a lot of things to try. I closed Simhub, re-opened the Guitammer beta software, and thankfully, it still works - it transmits the virbations from the rumble strips very well, but is pretty limited otherwise, but at least it's better than having no tactile feedback (other than the force feedback through my direct drive wheel base). I have been running RF2 via Steam with Simhub in the background. I have in the past tried running RF2 from within Simhub, but it didn't work at all - I got no response from any of the effects, and I don't think I was getting any sound through the headphones. At the next opportunity (hopefully Thursday night), I'll try the suggestions you guys have offered (disabling the Plantronics headset and Buttkicker and turning on the High Definition Audio Device option on the Sound Output screen, etc.). One question: how exactly do I set the Sound Output to use mono? I'm at work, so I don't have access to Simhub at the moment. Thanks.
Hey, it works! Following the recommendations of trichens and paco_vercetti, I'm able to accurately feel road impacts, engine vibrations, and shifts, AND the audio also woks, which had been a stumbling block in the past. So nice to have people who know what they're talking about (which is pretty much everybody I've encountered on this great forum) so willingly, and patiently(!), help me out. I did run RF2 through Simhub, and I also had Guitammer's software running simultaneously (I forgot to shut it down before starting up Simhub, but decided to leave it on, and just turn it off if things weren't working). I will next try turning Guitammer's software off to see if it makes any difference. One thing I noticed is that the intensity of vibrations generated by the Buttkicker for the different channels as a function of the setting on the intensity indicator varies quite a bit. In other words, a very low setting of engine vibrations (20% or so) generates plenty of vibrations through the chassis (which is OK, because the Radicals I drive translate A LOT of vibrations through their chassis as well), while it requires 100% intensity to feel much during the gear shifts. The road impacts are somewhere in between. For those who have used the Buttkicker or similar device with Simhub, could you share the channels you like to use? One thing someone on the Simhub forum told me was to be conservative about the number of channels I select. I tend to agree, because several of them do seem redundant. Thanks again for everybody's help. I will play around with the channel settings to optimize the experience, but it's nice to have this thing finally working!
Does SimHub show that it's connected at the top of the window? It may be that it's not detecting that rFactor2 is running. There are some trouble-shooting notes on the SimHub website that may help.
Hi , have a question for the guys that are using simhub. With the cars that are using the new tyre model , does wheelsslip and wheelslock stil work?? For me none of the cars that use the new tyre model have a working wheelslock and wheelsslip,other effects i have no issues. Works with other cars so curious to now if other people have issues as wel. Greetings
for me the buttkicker works very well and since I don't want simhub that consumes too much I share my configuration in case it helps someone
