Dakar 18

Dakar 18

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How to manually configure your Steering Wheel
By Bigmoon Entertainment
This guide is intended to explain how any device (Steering Wheel, shifter, etc) can be manually configured to work on "Dakar 18".
With this plan we intend to:
1. Support as many steering wheels / pedals / shifters / handbrakes as we can by default
2. Achieve a simple and robust way of allowing any other devices to be configured by the user
3. Allow users to share their configuration presets with others (even with us in case you would like to see it in the official game)
4. Allow default and custom device presets to be fully customizable in the game settings (remove the need to edit text files)
   
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1. Introduction
Considering the existence of numerous different equipment configurations, a new feature was added in "DAKAR 18" to support the creation or modification of device configurations such us Steering Wheels, Shifters, etc.
For this, the user now has direct access to the configuration file (.json type) for each device.
It is also expected the users to share these files with other members of the Dakar game community.
2. The two ways to config your device
Go to %appdata%\Local\Dakar18Game\Saved\SteeringWheelConfigs and you will find a list of .json files. One file per configuration. All these files were tested at Bigmoon with the respective device.
You can now change the configuration or even use one of them as a base for your new device.



Using this manual configuration system, you have two ways to set up your device:
  • Copying from other device and change the Vendor Id and Product ID to match yours (see point 3)
  • Create your own from scratch (skip point 3)
3. Define your Vendor and Product ID
DAKAR18 detects the Vendor and Product ID of the connected devices, so you will need to identify your new configuration with both ID's and introduce them in the respective .json file.

However to identify your vendor and product id you will need to:
  • Go to "Device Manager" -> "Human Interface Devices" -> Right-click on the device you want to set up and select "Properties"



  • In the new window, go to "Details" tab



  • Select "Hardware Ids" and you will see a few values



  • The value that matters will look like this: "HID\VID_143A&PID_D232" and the one we want has PID in it. This means that Vendor ID is 143A and Product Id is D232
4. Configure Axis and Keys
Now is time for you to configure the Axis.
To minimize the frustration because it will be a "trial and error" thing, you should use the configuration file more like the new device and start from there.

Each time you want to check if something is working you need to open the game and check if it really works. We are working towards making this much easier in the next patches and all in-game.
  • "Enabled" -> If the Key values are to be read or not
  • "Key" -> The name of the Key you want the game to read
  • "Inverted" -> If the values read are inverted
  • "Offset" -> Adds the value you enter to the real values (Used mostly to Throttle and brakes if on their idle state sends "1" as a value. In this case we want to invert the Key and offset it with "1")
  • "Multiplier" -> Multiplies the real value with this

There are some specific Key names that you need to settle:
  • "Gamepad_LeftX" -> Steering
  • "Gamepad_LeftTriggerAxis" -> Brake
  • "Gamepad_RightTriggerAxis" -> Throttle

Look for the other Axis names since all have the name "GenericUSBController_Axis1" and it can conflict with the values you entered (If you put Steer on Axis1, other inputs can make the car steer not be correspondent to your wheel movement). Disabling a Key you're not using is also a valid way to ignore their values.

After axis are configured, we move on to the buttons. If you're configuring a pedal you can skip / delete this part of the file.
5. Configure your Steering Wheel buttons
You can just copy paste this to your file:
"Buttons":
[
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button1"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button2"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button3"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button4"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button5"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button6"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button7"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button8"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button9"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button10"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button11"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button12"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button13"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button14"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button15"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button16"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button17"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button18"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button19"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button20"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button21"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button22"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button23"
},
{
"Enabled": true,
"Key": "GenericUSBController_Button24"
}
]
6. Test and Enjoy
And that's it, after this we have configured a device to make it usable in-game.

We will make it possible to do this directly in game settings soon, meanwhile feel free to try this method to make your steering wheel / pedals work.

Some questions or doubts that you have, just contact us.

See you in the Dunes!

BIGMOON ENTERTAINMENT
24 Comments
VladRosenthal 20 Aug, 2024 @ 8:01am 
A.1 how to break your pc, basics...lmao
robdisco82 23 Apr, 2023 @ 12:14pm 
2023, well as a swindled purchaser of this title i feel swindled cause i read this b4 I bought the game. I thought I was in the game cause i had a fanatec And that they were going to release the next parts of the err ummm "plan" but im left waiting. This is the number one reason I never buy games form this or affiliate game associates.
Dank Scorpio 25 May, 2022 @ 7:51am 
So Bigmoon, what happened to parts 2, 3 and 4 of your plan?
carnut 16 Jul, 2021 @ 2:30am 
Sorry Im not a PC expert. Im also not here to do the developers work. Ive paid for the game but it does not automatically pick up my Logitech wheel and pedals like ALL my other games. Please fix the game so I can actually use it!
jonalfre 12 Apr, 2021 @ 5:25am 
My MS Sidewinder FF Wheel is detected by the game.
All settings were done.
But soon I started, the car turns right.
There is no way to drive.
Please, someone could help me?
Thanks.
dcblack337 16 Jan, 2021 @ 10:48pm 
Doesn't work for my ancient Logitech Wheel/Pedal controller. The Logitech is "read" by the game (along with my flight stick and game pad - both old Logitechs) but I cannot map the buttons, wheel and pedals. As soon as I get out of Options, the game defaults back to the keyboard. After reading Discussion Posts like this one, trying everything, I asked for a refund but request was refused because I spent more than 2 hours trying to get the game to work. Grrr. Now that I'm stuck with the game at least tell me how to get it to run. BTW: at the same time I bought this game I bought 2 other "driving" games of a later vintage and they both work fine with my good old Logitech Wheel so it's not the controller - it's the game. My guess is that my wheel isn't on the
supported list which I didn't see until today. Thanks in advance for your help.
Karl Steeg 19 Nov, 2019 @ 12:31pm 
nope..

this doesnt work.
my Custom Arduino pedals are not detetcted by the game.
IIVIIVV 7 Oct, 2018 @ 7:19pm 
Hi everybody

I have a question

Dakar 18 With this last Update v.07 is detecting and working very well with the FANATEC periphals like CSW V.2.5, CS PEDALS V.3, CS SHIFTER V.1.5 and CS HANDBRAKE V.1.5 ???

The Force Feedback works perfectly with Fanatec CSW v.2.5????

I need to know this for buy Dakar 18 and if not no buy it.

Thanks for your suggest.
IIVIIVV 7 Oct, 2018 @ 7:17pm 
My input peripherals of Fanatec are CSW Base V.2.5 with the Porsche steering wheel, the Pedals v.3, the Shifter v.1.5 and the HandBrake v.1.5. With WRC 7 my peripherals are recognized and work perfectly. They also work with pCars 2 and The Crew. I tell you what happens in my case. When the game starts, start with the tutorial that I do not follow. When the driving starts I go to the menu and in options I look for control and there I reset everything. After resetting all the peripherals such as CSW Base v.2.5 and the Pedals V3 are recognized but not working as they should but the buttons can not be assigned and the default configuration does not work well. The pedals v3 are detected but the clutch does not work, the accelerator and the brake are inverted and do not work as it should, I tried to assign them and the game does not stop. The Shifter and HandBrake are not recognized.
[-RRP-] TeamCrevette 7 Oct, 2018 @ 12:18am 
and my WMR app start everytime when i launch game ...