There is a value that Dinput writes in the registry that keeps track of
how hard the forces should be applied to a device. The range of values it
takes is from 0 to 10000. If the driver has told Dinput to set the force
level at the default (10000) then the registry key is deleted. This is why
the key might not exist on your system. You can try monitoring this key and
see if the game is setting it to a low value.
If it does you can set it to 9999 and then remove yourself from the
permissions to modify the key. That should stop
the game from changing it. I haven't tested this though so I don't know that
it is going to work.
1. Open the Registry editor
2. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResources\Joystick\Dinput.dll\CurrentJoystickSettings
3. In the right pane of the editor right click and create a new "DWORD
value".
4. Make the name of the value Joystick##FFConfiguration, replacing the "##"
with the same number as seen in the Joystick#Configuration key. If you have
more than one joystick device this can be tricky, but in your case it is
almost sure to be 1. e.g. Joystick1FFConfiguration
5. Right Click the Joystick#FFConfiguration and choose Modify.
6. Set the value to something between 0 and 10000 Decimal. Depending on the
device values lower than about 2500 may not be felt at all. 10000 is the
default and represents 100% force strength. 5000 is probably a good point to
start. That would be 50% strength.
7. Try your game to see if the force level is better for you. If so close
the editor.
Joshua Smith
OpenGL Test Lab
Microsoft
