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OS X Logitech Releases Gaming Software for OS X

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saturnotaku

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 4, 2013
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Didn't see this posted in the first couple pages, but some good news for Mac users who have Logitech peripherals. The company has finally gotten off its collective rear end and released some proper drivers/software for OS X.

I have an MX 518 that dates back to the first MacBook Pro I bought in late 2007. It's always required the use of Steermouse in order to get the tracking and buttons set up. Not any more.

Logitech's software is surprisingly well integrated, with profile, button mapping, and macro support, even for a mouse as old as the MX 518. I've found it far easier to work with than the software from Razer (Synapse 2.0 and otherwise) or Cyborg (R.A.T. series). No crashes or major problems so far, and all the game profiles I've created (mostly Steam titles) have worked flawlessly.

Download the software from here.
 
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imacken

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2010
1,232
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Now if only they would start supporting their racing wheels and force feedback, everything would be good!
 
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Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
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Just tried it, works great. Wish it were a System Preferences pane, though. Or at least a way to disable that ugly menu bar icon.
 
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saturnotaku

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 4, 2013
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Cougarcat said:
Just tried it, works great. Wish it were a System Preferences pane, though. Or at least a way to disable that ugly menu bar icon.
Click to expand...

I would contact Logitech about it. Send an e-mail to their support with the request, and maybe create a thread in their forum as well.
 
edddeduck

edddeduck

macrumors 68020
Mar 26, 2004
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The topic should be edited, they are not releasing any gaming software they just updated their existing mouse/keyboard drivers to support some more mice.

They have no plans for drivers for gamepads or wheels at this time (Yes we asked). The pads and wheels work but don't have any official support for things like ForceFeedback or the expanded wheel modes like clutch, H gate gearboxes and 900 degree wheels.

Feral have written a free utility that enables the 900 degree, clutch and H Gate gearboxes on Logitech wheels and if you have an old copy of Snow Leopard their are ways of getting Force Feedback working however their is no official support for anything pad or wheel related.

I tested the utility with F1 2012 & GRID and it works fine although some features like the LED rev counter are not supported (yet).

Edwin
 
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imacken

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2010
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edddeduck said:
I tested the utility with F1 2012 & GRID and it works fine although some features like the LED rev counter are not supported (yet).
Click to expand...
Thanks Edwin, sadly those missing features include FF. Now, if you could get that into FreeTheWheel, we'd all be laughing!
At the moment, we have a choice of 1) extra buttons/no FF/FTW or 2) no extra buttons/FF/no FTW. I choose 2) as driving an F1 car (in a game!) without FF is pointless to me.
As someone else suggested elsewhere, why don't Feral write a FF driver and charge for it? £20? I'd pay!
 
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saturnotaku

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 4, 2013
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edddeduck said:
The topic should be edited, they are not releasing any gaming software they just updated their existing mouse/keyboard drivers to support some more mice.
Click to expand...

Logitech has never released any official software/drivers for its gaming mice on OS X. Their existing software, Logitech Control Center, is for business/productivity products (Anywhere Mouse MX, Marathon M705, etc). There's probably some common code, but the UIs and functionality are completely different.
 
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edddeduck

edddeduck

macrumors 68020
Mar 26, 2004
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imacken said:
Thanks Edwin, sadly those missing features include FF. Now, if you could get that into FreeTheWheel, we'd all be laughing!
Click to expand...

That is not possible without writing an entire force feedback driver stack for logitech devices. As we make games and logitech make devices it would be super awesome if they write their own drivers :)

imacken said:
As someone else suggested elsewhere, why don't Feral write a FF driver and charge for it? £20? I'd pay!
Click to expand...

You're a developer so feel free to write one :) Oh wait... reverse engineering someone else's hardware is not so easy is it ;)

Joking aside it would be great (and a definite thing on our possible side projects list) but it also is a LOT of work so not something we can rustle up on a Friday afternoon. After all our main focus is making kick ass games not writing utilities for other companies ;)

Edwin
 
Pompiliu

Pompiliu

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2012
544
0
Finally. :D
I don't have to boot into windows to change my mouse settings.

gg.png
 
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imacken

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2010
1,232
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edddeduck said:
Oh wait... reverse engineering someone else's hardware is not so easy is it ;)
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm being naive, but would Logitech object to someone else developing a driver for their hardware? After all, I presume it's the cost of development time and licensing that's stopping them doing it themselves. Would they not be co-operative to an extent?
(BTW, I may be a developer, but that is restricted to scientific applications - I know nothing about gaming whatsoever!!)
 
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jedolley

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2009
1,780
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I'm glad they finally did this... I had switched to Razer because of their Mac support, but since I prefer wireless and both their wireless mice have horrible battery life, I went with the Performance MX. This has me considering the G700 or G700s now.
 
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ibidiem

macrumors member
Aug 27, 2005
70
0
Portland, OR
No Application Switcher

There's no built-in option for the application switcher, and setting the keys wont replicate it in any meaningful way.

I.e. I want it to command+tab, then let go of tab and hold command, so I can see what applications are open and switch to the one desired.

This can't be that underused of a function — they built in Mission Control and Dashboard, even launchpad, the latter two which I never use.

Contacted support and wrote on their forums. If I can't get a work around I'll just continue using SteerMouse. Not really sure what all those fine-tune settings really mean, to be honest :rolleyes:
 
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saturnotaku

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 4, 2013
1,978
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Interesting that you can alter the USB polling rate (don't have this capability with the MX 518). Does setting it higher than the default of 125 still cause problems within OS X?
 
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