Manual sequential w/o clutching on a pad ?

[jd.loret]

Hello everyone.

The game option is really messy with the gearbox setup, there is just no presets for the gearbox (full auto, seq, H...). I can't figure out how to properly change that.
I play on pad now (I travel I can't afford to carry a whell with me), and I'm only interrested by a simple setup : seq geabox on a xbox pad (LT and RT beaing my shifter on any game when I play with a pad). How do I implement that simple thing ? I spent hour on it and still searching...
I don't want to see my car shifting by itself nor I want to deal with a clutch.
I can't assign a clutch pedal at all : I run out of free buttons on my pad.

[CN877]

I’m on mobile so I can’t have a look through BeamNG settings and help you out much, but have a look through gameplay options for anything such as an automatic clutch. I’m sure there would be an option somewhere.

[Jasper4980]

You can enable clutch assistant under options>gameplay>clutch assistant. The game will operate the clutch for you when you are setting off and shifting.
Pressing 'q' on your keyboard switches the game between realistic and arcade gearbox mode. Realistic allows you to shift by yourself, but clutch assistant will operate the clutch for you.
The default gearbox mode can also be set in the options menu, but I forgot where that is located...

[Nadeox1]

The game's settings regarding the gearbox (in Options > Gameplay) can be reduced to this:
Arcade : The game takes care of changing gears for you
Realistic : You take care of changing gears

Realistic then opens up to more settings, which allow you to set assistant for things like:
- Clutch (ie. the game manages the clutch for you)
- Throttle (ie. the game cuts the throttle when changing gear)
- Gearbox Safety (ie. changing gears at wrong time, risking to damage the gearbox)

For what you want to do, you need to set to Realistic Mode, and keep the Clutch Assistant enabled.

As for the buttons, those are entirely configurable from the Options > Controls menu.
You need to look for the 'Shift Up/Down' bindings, under 'Vehicle' category.


You will notice more bindings for gears there, those are for other kind of devices (example H-Shifter and so on)

[jd.loret]

thanks for your answers.

Still messing around with a manual car.
Nothing works, when I use realistic gearbox + auto-clutching, nothing happens when I want to change gear, the car stay stuck in 1st forever.

Basically, nothing works the second I set realistic gearbox. (car stuck in 1st or N, can't shift gears up or down when LT and RT are properly affected...)

I tested all combinations possible (all 8 of them, by reseting the M car at every change), none of them work at all. The game clearly expect the player to have a whell with an H gearstick to engage the gear properly (basically in button terms it translate by a constant press of the gear involved, what I can't do, and why I want a seq gearbox in the first place) and the 3 pedals including the clutch pedal I just can't set on a pad by lack of buttons....
The game clearly lack either a "transmission mode" or "gear lock" function at some point beacause leaving the game handling the clutch pedal doesn't solve much problems if the game expect a constant input to engage the gears (what isn't doable unless you have a full set with whell + pedals + gearstick).

On the other hand, that kind of trivial thing is set in 2s in a simulator like project cars. (in witch you juste have an single option line for the gearbox : full auto, seq w/o clutch pedal, seq with clutch pedal, H with clutch pedal), you set, it works, that's it. 'm just saying it cuz it's the kind of settings someone used to sim racers will expect in the setting panel rather a lots of independants settings to check one by one.

I know this game isn't final, but an essential part of the game is clearly missing on the control side since the shifting is not doable at all without a physical gearstick to keep the gear ratio constantly engaged.

[stenyak]

Do the following:
- Go to Options > Gameplay, choose "Realistic" gearbox behaviour.
- Enable the three assistants: Clutch, Throttle, Gearbox Safety. They are all already enabled by default, but make sure.
- Go to Options > Controls > Vehicle, and bind whatever buttons you want to Shift Up and to Shift Down (if they aren't bound already; they should be for the most common controllers out there).
- Close the menu.

That's it, all cars you spawn from now on should have the right settings so you can shift manually.

[CN877]

^^ also make sure to try it in safe mode, just in case a broken mod is somehow messing with things.

[jd.loret]

Hi, thank you guys for your answers.

stenyak: I already tested with this specific settings without much success. (I have to swap the gearbox mode to arcade to engage the 1st gear after each car reset even if it's set on arcade mode by default). Of course I tested with both manual and DCT cars without success. Nothing happens when I want to shift with a sequential setup, even with all the clutch assists activated, the car stay in Neutral or 1st gear. I HAVE to switch to arcade gearbox for the clutch to engage otherwise the car stay on its spot forever. On the paper it works but when testing... you just rev your engine in neutral.
Of course I checked if all my buttons weren't double binded, but it's not the case (I basically removed all key bindings excepts the one to control the vehicule, to be sure) so it's supposed to be fine on that side.
I run the game modless for now since I bought it just after the itlay update, so I know I don't have any mess comming from this (...yet).
I basically cross-tested all. I quickly notice what kind of input the game does expect, and you just can't deal with that from a pad with the current game code.
I noticed what happens : the game doesn't considerate the 1st gear comming just after N (in that order : R / N / 1 / 2 / ...) so there is no seq gearbox at all, but when you play on a pad, your options limit only to that. The R and N are indepedant from the rest and this is, to me, the problem (not to have an option to enforce it even if it less realistic, the objective being for the game to be playable, I don't care to have a DCT like setup on a reg. M car since it's what I expect from a pad in the first place).

The game is clearly designed for a whell setup (if you want to drive a manual), I can't get anything out of it from a xbox pad. Too bad, this is the only last big dark spot on this game before being almost perfect.
The truth is I absolutelly HATE auto gearboxes even IRL, it always shifts down way way too late -dangerous isn't it ?- while I just want to minimise using my brake to keep maximum control in curves (even if the final objective is to wreck the car in the end, let's be honnest ^^).
No braking = no risks to bloc whells by braking while you let the engine taking all the frictions in 1st or 2nd gear and you out-rev.

Whatever, I give up on that, I wish to buy a steering whell in the near future, but I really want some advices about what to use for the handbrake since I use it massivelly in rally games (like at every sharp corner) and most of stearing whell sets for PC don't include an handbrake at all (what is for me mandatory actually since my driving style is very drifty).

Last question : the biggest gearsticks on the market seem to support 8 gears (including reverse), what about the concrete truck with 12 gears ?

[stenyak]

Originally posted by jd.loret:

Hi, thank you guys for your answers.

stenyak: I already tested with this specific settings without much success.

I assure you the game should be perfectly playable with a gamepad, it's our most commonly used game controller.
This is not a case of being designed with steering wheels in mind, as we explicitely design with all kinds of controllers in mind.

Could you please add the "Pedals" UI app [1] so it's visible, and record a video of your attempts to shift?
After that, please send a support report [2] and I'll personally take a look at what may be going wrong with your install.

Thanks!

[1] https://wiki.beamng.com/Editing_UI
[2] https://wiki.beamng.com/Support#A_developer_asked_for_a_Support_ID

[jd.loret]

I actually found the problem, I can explain it, but I can't fix it, it comes from the specific keys I wish to use on my pad, the seq gearbox works normally from my keyboard, but not from my pad, every button of my xbox 360 pad works except LT and RT and, of course, only in my specific case (for shifting, it works for anything else, a priori), the game detects the input (from hardware section I can see any pad input normally including thoses damn LT/RT) but ingame nothing happens when I shift with thoses 2.
Shifting from keyboard seems to work normally, I can FINALLY shift. So the problem is somewhere between my 360 pad and the ingame car. Yes, this is a PC compatible version of the pad of course. So basically, there is a bug somewhere in the game code (if it was driver related, I could not be able to see the input from the hardware menu ingame in the first place, on that side the game detects all inputs from the pad, including LT/RT).

My game pad setup is as old as the first dual shock controller from 1997, this is not something I can change now.

Any test I made after that point was with auto-clutching + realistic gearbox.

I need to explain first how I use my pad to explain the pb:
I use this layout on any racing game since GT1 and dual shock 1 (my personal layout that is the historical layout A in GT1 on dual shock 1, basically the oldest analog layout ever in racing games, 21/22 yrs old now, I feel like the last guy in the world to use it, and maybe I actually am...), so if I translate in xbox equivalent button spatial position:
-LB for rear view / mirror
-RB for handbrake
-LT/RT for shifting

(and I throttle/brake with the right stick but this is my preference, this is my own way of simulating the problem of having 1 free foot for 2 pedals)

what happens ingame:
-when I want my normal setup (button for mirror/handbrake, triggers for shifting), I can use the handbrake normally, the rear view, but I can't shift at all fom the pad (and this is not related to the clutch mode in the end), howerver, I can do a sequential clutchless shift with the default keys from the keyboard (Z and X)

If, for testing purpose only ('cause can't deal with it for real gaming, for me this is not useable and I can't keep it), I swap the buttons and triggers for this:
-LT for rear view / mirror
-RT for handbrake
-LB/RB for shifting

Ok, now the most important sentence of this long text:
everything works normally, I can shift with the buttons, and the triggers ARE actually working for mirror and handbrake (weirdly), it's just they don't work ONLY when it comes to use them specifically to shift gears (what I actually want to set up), so my conclusion is there is some issues with the way the game deals with thoses 2 buttons : LT, RT, and for shifting (other functions I tested seem to work normally but there may be other untested issues).

unfortunately I always used the top buttons for secondary functions and the bottom buttons for shifting (less stressful for my fingers) so the test setup will stay a test setup, I never intended to adapt to it because to me it makes just no sense plus it's very tiresome for my fingers. Is this revealing a bug or do I have a rig specific issue, I dunno, but I made some big progress here, but it definitelly smells like a game code issue to me, because the problem is very very specific, is totally undocumented, and reveals only now on my actual gaming layout but still does look like the way the game manages inputs with an analog travelling for some functions.
I tested as well by trying to put the turning signals (in place of shifters) on my LT/RT pair, and I got the exact same problem : it works from the keyboard, but not from the pad.
So this is why I try to document it a bit. I expect this issue to be reproductible on any clean install of the game if it comes from the game code. It seems the game can't manage an analog trigger as a simple keyboard button.

I use a 360 pad since I can't deal with a xbox one pad with a fragile mini USB connector on the pad side (you know the thing that breaks after 5 minutes of use in the real world), so no, don't expect me to test with an xbox one pad I will never ever buy, for me to have a strong cable molded in the pad plastic is mandatory before having a recent pad.


No worries for FPS I still use the layout from Half Life, past 20 years old thoses habits can never be changed anymore, so after 10 memory cards full of GT1 and 2 garages my racing layout on a pad was definitelly forged.

[stenyak]

If i understand correctly the issue is simple: the shift up/down functions can only be assigned to buttons (or keys). And RT and LT are not buttons, they are axes.

[jd.loret]

To be short this is the problem I got. The game still lacks a filter to convert a full axis to a single button that triggers to a specific user-defined level (percentage). On an xbox pad the LB/RB buttons are placed too high to make it comfy to use as shifters on the long run, so I use them for the functions I need every 5 minutes, not 5s.
Some guys never bough Forza because 10 years of GT using the right stick did the job of making impossible to change by habit. (I never bought Forza just because the first one lacked of control customization and forced the player to use the triggers, what of course I can't manage)
When I'll be back to france I'll get a stearing wheel + pedal + handbrake setup to sort that kind of control issues for all my racing games at once.

[VoidSixx]

Your best option really is to just switch to a more conventional control scheme. A pair of fingers on triggers will give you more control that a thumb on a stick anyway, and having the throttle and brake on one axis is pretty un-natural.

I promise you if you change your mindset and stick with the traditional trigger approach, you'll get used to it.

[jd.loret]

Asking someone to change mindset is like asking to deny freedom of opinion.
No triggers don't give more control, maybe it does with normal hands, I got a load of precision in my thumbs, my indexes can only fully pull a trigger. I don't feel the travelling of triggers while I feel every tenth of millimeter in a stick. I never choose to hurt my hands so often and so badly to the point I lost all sensation in some fingers while I was younger, for life, too bad both my indexes are concerned, some of my fingers are so unsensitive I can't even feel a deep cut opened to the bones. And so, here is why I still use my right thumb like I would use my right leg in a real car. I don't have anymore the pair of fully working fingers you are speaking about. Period.
Sticks are precise enought for stearing, and so it is as well as good to do the pedals job.
And on top of that, I used these fingers to shift gears for 2 full decades... Like in a real sequential car with pads. Not only changing setup will mess my acceleration/braking, but will mess the way I change gears... No way, you can count me amist the 1% of players who just HATE the forza-like default setup you now find everywhere, and for a reason, it has nothing natural for me, it's just a forced setup I could never get used to. It gives me both physical exhaution and then pain in the higher part of my hands, and rubbish performances. If this is not an option for me, it's because I have my own metric ton of problems to deal with.
So what is the point of having a control menu, to you ? Because this is why I play on PC in the first place : to customize what I need to in my specifc case. The game is not finished, my conclusion is "it lacks this function, this function, etc", it's the normal evolution process on any software especially before the v1.0.
Because my "un-natural" setup and my own driving experience allows me to anihilate almost anyone in a serious race despite having 4 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up fingers out of 10, I'll never take the setup of guys who end after me in a race, when the same guys are driving with auto gearboxes, driving assists, etc... because I already tested for myself and I know the difference in term of efficiency and pain in actual use in my own hands, partially impaired hands. My setup allows me to hummiliate other players in a race, as long as I can do what I want to with controls. Why would I change that ?
So of course beamng is not a competitive game yet but with such a physical engine I know it definitelly can go far.


Driving a car on a pad isn't more natural than a steering wheel in the end, I'll leave the pad for kids and build my own driving setup later, witch will include an handbrake lever (mandatory) and an unmovable seat to prevent smashing the wall behind me everytime I engage the clutch.