Advanced Settings

Advanced settings, the settings file and the command line

OpenShaker guide › Using OpenShaker

The Advanced dialog, the settings kept only in the settings file, where settings and logs live, and the command-line options.

The Advanced dialog

Advanced... opens a small dialog of settings most people never need to change. OK saves them and restarts the haptics if they are on. Cancel discards them. If you type something that isn't a number, a "Not a number: ..." box appears and nothing is saved.

Setting	Default	What it does
Forza / Horizon Data Out port	5555	The UDP port Forza sends to. Must match the game's Data Out port.
BeamNG OutGauge port	4444	The UDP port for BeamNG's OutGauge data.
BeamNG Motion Sim port (0 = same as OutGauge)	0	With 0, one port receives both of BeamNG's protocols. Enter another number if you set Motion Sim to a different port in BeamNG.
ACE poll rate (Hz)	200	How often Assetto Corsa EVO's data is read per second. The minimum is 20.
ACE suspension travel scale (m)	0.08	How many metres of suspension movement count as "full" travel in ACE. Changing it changes how strong the road feel is in ACE.
Trackmania Data Sender port	28765	The TCP port of the Openplanet Data Sender plugin. OpenShaker connects to it.
Forza listen address (0.0.0.0 also takes an Xbox or another PC)	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1 accepts Forza only from this PC. 0.0.0.0 also accepts it from an Xbox or another PC on your network. See Playing from an Xbox or another PC. Leaving it empty means 127.0.0.1.
Output channel	Left	Which channel(s) of the output carry the signal: Left, Right or Both. Any other layout set by hand in the settings file shows as "Custom" and is kept. See Shakers, amplifiers and channels.
Check for updates (asks GitHub once a day)	On	Ticked, OpenShaker asks GitHub about 30 s after it starts and then once a day whether a newer version exists. Unticked, it never contacts the internet. See Updating.
Install updates automatically (when no game is running)	Off	Ticked, a newer version is downloaded, checked and installed by itself once there is no supported game running on this PC and no game data for 5 minutes and the window is closed, and OpenShaker comes back in the tray. Needs Check for updates ticked. Setting it here also answers the update bar's question. See Automatic updates.

A few more settings exist only in the settings file. They are listed under Settings and logs.

The settings file

Where things are

• Settings: %APPDATA%\OpenShaker\config.json. The tray's Open settings folder takes you there.
  • Power users can move the folder with the OPENSHAKER_HOME environment variable.
• Logs: %APPDATA%\OpenShaker\logs\.
  • OpenShaker writes two small files there, and no running log: gui_error.log, only when it fails to start or can't reach a stuck copy of itself, and update.log, the last 50 update events (failed checks and updates, automatic installs, and the installer bringing the old version back).
  • File paths in that log can contain your Windows user name, so check it before sharing it.
• The presets' calibration files are part of the installed program and are never changed.

What is saved

config.json holds only what you own:

• your per-game presets (strengths and on/off switches you changed);
• settings you changed from the defaults (device, Master, channel, ports and so on);
• the last profile;
• the Haptics on switch, but only while it is off;
• the update settings, only when you changed them: the check switched off, a version you skipped, automatic updates switched on, whether the update bar's question was answered, and a version whose automatic update failed (while it is being installed, also the version an automatic update is installing).

Calibration levels are never written into it, so updates can improve the presets without your file getting in the way. Keys you add by hand are kept when the app saves.

Settings that are only in the file

These are not in the window or the Advanced dialog. Quit OpenShaker before editing the file by hand.

Key	Default	What it does
audio.api	WASAPI	Preferred Windows audio system
audio.samplerate	48000	Sample rate. If the device refuses it, OpenShaker tries the device's own rate, then 48000, then 44100.
audio.blocksize	480	Audio block size (10 ms at 48 kHz)
sources.<game>.enabled	true	Set to false to stop listening for one game and free its port for good
sources.beamng.host	127.0.0.1	The address OpenShaker listens on for BeamNG
sources.trackmania.host	127.0.0.1	The address of the Data Sender plugin that OpenShaker connects to
sources.beamng.accel_scale	1.0	Scales BeamNG's g-forces. Raise it if collisions never trigger, lower it if they always do.
sources.trackmania.max_rpm, idle_rpm	11000, 1000	Rev range assumed for every Trackmania car. A per-car cars block in the Trackmania profile would override it; the shipped profile has none.
sources.trackmania.damper_range_m	0.2	Suspension travel counted as "full" in Trackmania
game_processes.forza_horizon5, game_processes.forza_horizon6	forzahorizon5.exe, forzahorizon6.exe	Program names used to tell Horizon 5 from 6

Resetting everything

Quit OpenShaker (tray > Quit), delete config.json, then start it again.

Command-line options

OpenShaker.exe

The installed program is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\OpenShaker\OpenShaker.exe. Unknown options are ignored.

Option	What it does
--hidden	Start in the tray without showing the window. Start with Windows uses this. Without a tray, the window starts minimised.
--no-start	Start with the haptics off for this launch only. Your saved switch isn't changed. Useful for freeing the game ports for another tool.
--no-tray	Window only, with no tray icon. Closing the window then quits.
--quit	Ask a running copy to quit and wait up to 10 s. It prints "OpenShaker is not running.", "... has quit." or "... did not quit within 10 s." (exit code 1 when it times out).

Example: "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\OpenShaker\OpenShaker.exe" --quit

Running from source

These tools exist only in a copy of the source code, not in the installed program.

Console runner: python -m openshaker. A drive run can't start while the tray app is running, because they would share the game ports, so use --quit first. (--gui brings up the running window instead, and --list-devices and --test-tone run either way.)

Option	What it does
--gui	Open the window (or bring up the running one)
--config PATH	Use another settings file
--profile PATH	Start with a given profile. Automatic switching still takes over when a game is detected.
--list-devices	List sound outputs as [index] name (audio system, channels, Hz)
--device NAME	Output device
--test-tone SECONDS, --tone-freq HZ	A plain sine (40 Hz by default) scaled by Master, with no limiter. This is different from the window's sweep.
--demo, --duration S	Play the Demo, optionally for a set time
--wav PATH	Record the output to a mono 16-bit WAV
--log DIR, --overwrite	Record telemetry, output and details for a drive. It refuses to overwrite an existing log unless --overwrite is given.
--stop-file PATH	Stop when this file appears
--no-audio	Run without sound output
--source auto|forza|ace|beamng|trackmania	Listen to one game only
--forza-port, --beamng-port	Override ports
--gain 0..1	Override Master
-v, --verbose	Show per-effect levels
--version	Print the version

Notes:

• Help says --device "" means the Windows default, but an empty name is ignored. Use "(Windows default output)" in the window instead.
• With --gui, the --device, --gain and port overrides are saved with your settings the next time the app saves.

Other source tools:

• python -m openshaker.gui --quit quits a running copy.
• python -m openshaker.autostart on|off|status|repair|startmenu manages Start with Windows for a source copy.
  • status warns if the Python used at sign-in would open a console window;
  • repair fixes that;
  • startmenu adds a Start menu entry.
• Setting up a source copy (Python 3.10 or newer, a virtual environment and requirements.txt) is described under For developers in the README; the recording and calibration tools are in Calibration.
• Tuning tools for your own recorded drives, explained in Calibration:
  • python -m openshaker.beamng_check <log> reports which BeamNG protocols arrived, how Motion Sim's axes map onto the car, and how big the bumps, hits and lock-ups were;
  • python -m openshaker.tm_grip <log> and python -m openshaker.tm_tune <log>, each with --apply, fit Trackmania's grip limits, rev range, bumps, crash threshold, landings and surface names.

---

Next: Start with Windows, updates and uninstalling

See also: Shakers, amplifiers and channels · Playing from an Xbox or another PC