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Troubleshooting

My device is not listed

  • DirectLink for TelemFFB must be enabled (System Settings, System tab, under Integrations), and the status line below it must report an installed DirectLink.
  • DirectLink lists devices that expose force feedback through DirectInput. A device without FFB, or one whose FFB arrives through a vendor driver rather than DirectInput, will not appear.
  • Close other software that may hold the device exclusively.

TelemFFB refuses to enable DirectInput support

The refusal names its cause:

  • The DLL could not be loaded - DirectLink is missing or damaged; the message says where TelemFFB looked. Reinstall DirectLink.
  • The installed DirectLink is too old - this TelemFFB needs a newer build; both versions are named. Install a current DirectLink.

A released DirectLink build runs only from the location its installer recorded when it was installed. A copy of the file placed anywhere else - the TelemFFB folder included - will refuse to drive devices. Run the DirectLink installer; if it is already installed, running it again repairs the recorded location.

My device goes limp when I start TelemFFB

This is by design. Most DirectInput FFB devices apply their own centering spring when no application is in charge. DirectLink disables it when TelemFFB starts and restores it on exit. TelemFFB's rendered forces would otherwise fight it.

No forces in DCS, IL-2, or BMS

The game's forces reach a DirectLink device only through the DirectInput Tap. TelemFFB reports the usual causes on the error line of the effects area while you fly:

  • The Tap is not installed or not capturing the device - set it up on the simulator's page in System Settings.
  • The game was started before TelemFFB - the Tap engages only when TelemFFB is already running. Restart the game.
  • DCS only: the wrapper is installed in FFB-Fix only mode, which captures nothing by design - the warning above blames the start order, but the panel is what says so, reading installed as: FFB-Fix only. Switch to the Tap with Configure Devices...

  • The spring mode is None (Game Managed) while the Tap is capturing - the game's spring never reaches the device, so there is no spring at all. Select Game Managed (DirectInput Tap) to render it, or remove the device from the Tap's configuration.

There is no working arrangement without the Tap for these simulators: DirectInput force feedback is exclusive, so whichever program opens the device first - the game or TelemFFB - locks the other out entirely. The Tap removes that conflict, which is why it is required rather than optional for a DirectLink device.

Captured game effects feel wrong (DCS, IL-2, BMS)

Everything in this section applies to the game's own effects as captured by the DirectInput Tap - it does not apply to MSFS or X-Plane, where TelemFFB generates all forces itself and the spring modes carry their own controls.

  • An effect feels doubled. A captured game effect and the equivalent TelemFFB telemetry effect may both be enabled - the game's gunfire rumble plus TelemFFB's gunfire effect, for example. Disable one of the pair.
  • Forces push the wrong way. Some devices render an axis in the opposite direction to what the game expects. Use the Tap: Axis Corrections and Gain settings: swap the X/Y FFB axes, or invert either axis. The corrections are per aircraft, so a fix for one title never disturbs another.

  • Forces are too weak or too strong. Every captured effect has a gain slider, adjustable from 0% (the effect is disabled) to 200%: the game spring per axis (Tap: X Axis Spring Gain / Tap: Y Axis Spring Gain) and each other effect type - constant forces, periodic vibrations, damper, inertia, friction - in the Tap: Additional Game Effects group. 100% renders the force exactly as the game commanded. The slider handle shows the force being rendered right now; pinned at 100% means the gain is clipping at the device's maximum.

TelemFFB's own telemetry-driven effects, in every simulator, carry their own intensity settings per effect - see the Effects Reference.

Forces on the wrong axis, or pushing the wrong way (pedals, collective, trim wheel)

For a [DI] device in a non-joystick role, the FFB Axis selector beside the device selection decides which of the device's axes TelemFFB drives, and Invert reverses its direction - see The FFB Axis choice.

  • The spring holds an axis that does not move - the wrong axis is selected. Pick the one your feet (or hand) actually move; the list only offers axes the device can render force on.
  • The spring or trim pushes opposite to expectation - tick Invert. Forces and position invert together, so trim holds and autopilot following stay exact.
  • Changes apply when settings are saved, simulator running or not.

This is the device-level control and applies to everything TelemFFB renders. The per-aircraft Tap: Axis Corrections settings above are separate: they correct the game's captured effects specifically, for titles that emit them with a different convention.

The device fights TelemFFB's forces

If the device's built-in centering spring never switched off, every rendered force works against it. The log says whether the handover succeeded; if it did not, check the device driver's own centering or spring setting.

Where the logs are

TelemFFB's logs live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\VPForce-TelemFFB\log. DirectLink's activity is part of the TelemFFB log; the Tap writes per-game logs to the tap subfolder. Help → Create Support Bundle in TelemFFB collects everything.