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OpenShaker guide

This guide covers OpenShaker, a free Windows app by baddo & Claude. It reads live data from racing games and turns it into low-frequency vibration for a ButtKicker or another bass shaker. The app waits in the notification area (the tray) and plays whenever a supported game sends data.

New here? Start with Installing OpenShaker and read the pages in order; each one ends with a link to the next.

1. Getting started

• Installing OpenShaker: download, the browser and SmartScreen warnings, the one-screen installer, and the first run: amplifier down, the shaker picked by name, Test tone.
• Setting up your games: the one setting each game needs, sharing the game ports with other apps, and playing Forza from an Xbox or another PC.
• Is it working?: the status line, the tray icon's colours, how the preset follows the game, what happens in pauses and menus, and the Demo.

2. Games

• Forza Motorsport: Data Out with the Car Dash format, and what each effect does in it.
• Forza Horizon 5 and 6: one data format, two presets, and how OpenShaker tells the two games apart.
• Assetto Corsa EVO: nothing to set up, plus the older Assetto Corsa games.
• BeamNG.drive: why both OutGauge and Motion Sim need ticking.
• Trackmania: the deep dive - the Openplanet Data Sender plugin, what each effect feels like, tuning from your own drives, and the limits.

3. Effects

• Effects overview: all 14 effects at a glance, the full effect-by-game support table, why some effects are silent, what the strength slider does, and how the mix is kept safe.
• Engine and gears: Engine RPM, Gear shift and Shift indicator.
• Road and suspension: Suspension bumps, Kerbs / rough road and Surface feel.
• Grip and braking: Wheel lock, Wheel slip / slide, ABS pulse and Grip limit warning.
• Impacts and forces: Collisions, G-force rumble, Landings and Turbo & reactor boost.

4. Using OpenShaker

• The main window: every control, top to bottom.
• The tray menu: each item of the right-click menu, and the notifications.
• Presets and strengths: one preset per game, saving, and going back to the calibrated levels.
• Advanced settings: the Advanced dialog, the settings file and logs, and the command-line options.
• Start with Windows, updates and uninstalling: what each of these does and keeps.

5. Your hardware

• Shakers, amplifiers and channels: which outputs and shakers work, the output channel, two shakers, and re-plugging.
• Safety: setting the level, how loud each game plays, and what protects the output.

6. Help

• Troubleshooting: symptoms and messages, their cause and the fix.
• FAQ: short answers to common questions.
• Glossary: the words this guide uses.

7. Behind the scenes

• How it was built: every problem along the way, what was found, and the fix.
• How it was tuned: how the effects were matched to HaptiConnect, "a detective story told in spectrograms".
• Development notes and calibration tools: for working on the code.
• Contributing: how to report, suggest and contribute.

Feedback

Found a bug, have an idea, or want to report how OpenShaker feels on your hardware? Open the feedback page and pick a form: Bug report, Idea / feature request or Hardware / feel report. Questions go in Discussions, linked from the same page. The tray menu's Send feedback / report a bug opens the same page; nothing is attached or sent automatically.