# Overallocation Warnings If you're seeing overallocation warnings in the Debug Log, it means your simulator is being asked to move multiple axes beyond their combined capacity at the same time. --- ## What Is Overallocation? The **Overallocation Factor** manages how your simulator handles simultaneous extreme movements on multiple axes. Every simulator has physical limits — its actuators can only extend so far. When your motion profile commands large movements on several axes at once (e.g., full pitch and full roll simultaneously), the available actuator travel must be shared between them. ### How Scaling Works With an Overallocation Factor of **1.0**: - If **only one axis** is at its maximum, the simulator uses its full range for that axis. No scaling occurs. - If **two axes** both request full travel at the same time, each is scaled down to approximately **50%** so the total stays within the simulator's physical limits. - If **three axes** all request full travel simultaneously, each may be scaled to approximately **33%**. The scaling is **proportional** — axes requesting more motion get scaled down more than axes requesting less. ### What It Looks and Feels Like When overallocation scaling kicks in, you may notice: - **Sudden reduction in motion intensity** during dynamic moments (e.g., going over a curb while turning hard) - **Motion feeling "compressed" or "squished"** when multiple things happen at once - **A break in immersion** where the simulator seems to "hold back" briefly These effects are most noticeable on **quadpost** and **seat mover** simulators where actuator travel is more limited. Linear hexapods with longer actuator travel are less affected. --- ## Why It Matters Occasional overallocation during extreme moments (like crashes or aggressive curb riding) is acceptable. But if overallocation is happening frequently during normal gameplay, it will noticeably degrade your motion experience. The goal is to tune your profile so that overallocation **rarely or never** occurs during typical driving or flying. --- ## How to Fix Overallocation ### 1. Reduce Gains In the **Profile Editor**, lower the **Gain** on the axes that contribute most to the overallocation. Typically the biggest contributors are: - **Heave** — Vertical motion from bumps, acceleration, and terrain - **Pitch** — Tilting forward/backward from braking and acceleration - **Roll** — Tilting left/right from cornering Start by reducing the gain on heave and pitch by 10–20%, then test again. ### 2. Increase Smoothing Add more **Smoothing** to the dominant axes to prevent sharp simultaneous peaks. Even a small increase (5–10 units) can significantly reduce the chance of multiple axes peaking at the same time. ### 3. Set Input Limits In the **Profile Editor**, set **Input Limits** on individual axis contributors to cap extreme telemetry values. This prevents extreme events from pushing multiple axes to their limits simultaneously. ### 4. Adjust Sim Config Dimensions If your sim config dimensions don't accurately reflect your physical hardware, overallocation calculations may be off: - If configured travel is **too small** compared to reality, the system thinks it has less range than it does, leading to more frequent overallocation. - If configured travel is **too large** compared to reality, the system may command positions beyond your physical limits. Go to the **Sim Config** tab and verify that all dimensions match your actual hardware. ### 5. Adjust the Overallocation Factor The Overallocation Factor can be adjusted in the **Sim Config** tab for supported simulator types: - **Lower values (e.g., 0.8)** — More aggressive scaling. Overallocation engages earlier and reduces motion more. Better for safety but reduces intensity. - **Higher values (e.g., 1.2)** — Less aggressive scaling. Allows more combined motion before scaling kicks in. Risk of actuators reaching physical limits. - **1.0 (default)** — Standard behavior. Scaling ensures actuators stay within their configured travel limits. For detailed information on the Overallocation Factor, see [Overallocation Factor](../sim-config/overallocation-factor.md). --- ## Monitoring Overallocation ### Debug Log Open the **Debug Log** dock and set **Log Verbosity** to **DEBUG** in Settings to see overallocation warnings. The log will show when overallocation occurs and which axes are affected. ### Audio Notifications Enable the **Axis Overallocation** audio notification in **Settings → Audio Notifications** to hear a sound each time overallocation occurs. This is especially useful while tuning — you can make adjustments and immediately hear whether overallocation is still happening. ### Chart Visualizer Use the **Chart Visualizer** dock to monitor axis positions during gameplay. If you see multiple axes regularly hitting their limits (flat-lining at the top or bottom of their range) at the same time, overallocation is likely occurring. --- ## Tuning Goal The goal is to tune your motion profile so that overallocation warnings **do not appear** during normal gameplay: 1. Enable **DEBUG** log verbosity. 2. Enable **Axis Overallocation** audio notification. 3. Play your game for several minutes of normal driving/flying. 4. If you hear the overallocation sound or see warnings in the log, reduce gains or increase smoothing on the dominant axes. 5. Repeat until overallocation only occurs during extreme events (crashes, aggressive curb riding). For a comprehensive tuning workflow, follow the [Motion Tuning Guide](../motion-tuning-guide.md).