FFB-Bridge user guide
Everything you need to install FFB-Bridge, connect it to a flight simulator, validate your supported force-feedback joystick, and tune the feel for the aircraft you fly.
Start with Install, then First launch. You'll be in the air with working force feedback in about ten minutes. Prefer offline? Open the PDF manual.
These guides match 1.6.5: Aircraft Library and the Learn about your aircraft action, current Settings and Hardware controls, managed MOZA restoration, AY90 support, helicopter hydraulic loading, simulator connection repair and Flight Check.
Get started
Install
Windows installer, Linux AppImage, or macOS DMG (Apple Silicon). No admin, no drivers to download.
First launch
Safety acknowledgement, the quiet startup preflight, the red review-and-fix dialog when attention is needed, and deliberate arming.
Connect your simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 & 2020
SimConnect setup for Steam, Microsoft Store / Xbox, and MSFS under Proton. Windows and Linux.
X-Plane 11 / 12
Zero-config UDP dataref subscription. Nothing to install X-Plane-side. Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Setup by rig
Hardware
Hardware is the single home for every setting that belongs to the physical stick or yoke.
Helicopters
Set up cyclic damping, force trim and rotor cues in a Rotorcraft profile, then assign the controls you use on your own hardware.
SideWinder FFB2 compatibility
Hardware support, VID/PID, and common name variants.
Selected Logitech sticks
The G940 runs on its own decoded force protocol on Windows, Linux, and macOS (16-bit constant force, native spring, damping channel, and native centering), validated on all three, with the platform driver paths as automatic fallback. The Force 3D Pro and WingMan Force 3D use the platform driver paths; on Linux, sticks whose driver renders no periodic effects get rumble, buffets, and mechanical cues synthesised automatically into the constant-force output.
MOZA force-feedback setup
FFB-Bridge drives supported MOZA bases on Windows, Linux, and macOS without a separate configuration utility or a special saved preset. The base keeps its own MOZA Cockpit-configured feel until you Arm, and gets it back when you Disarm and when you quit.
Windows 11
Raw HID/PID output, DirectInput fallback, SmartScreen, and SAC notes.
Linux
evdev force feedback, udev permissions, and AppImage setup.
The app, page by page
Aircraft Library
Get to know the aircraft you fly. Aircraft Library brings AirframeDB's background stories, manuals, pilot accounts and videos into FFB-Bridge, alongside your simulator.
Dashboard
Live flight information and force-output meters, with simulator identity, Learn about your aircraft, Arm status and profile controls in the persistent top strip.
Tuning
Tuning controls how the aircraft feels. Device selection, physical limits, calibration, and button assignments belong under Hardware.
Profiles
Save a set of tuning values per aircraft. Starter presets included.
Mock Sim
Bench-test the whole pipeline without booting a flight sim.
Support page
Documentation, startup and device health checks, Diagnostics, logs, and support-bundle export.
Diagnostics tab
Runtime metrics, searchable event log, support-bundle export.
Help & tour
Current Support resources, online and PDF manuals, welcome replay guidance, and the right path for health checks or diagnostics.
Settings
General appearance, simulator selection, session safety, controller arming, updates and local diagnostic data.
Report a translation
Send corrections for app phrases from inside the app, and for the website through the feedback page.
Reference
Force effects
Every effect in the force pipeline: what it does, when it fires, how to tune it.
Tuning guide
A practical walkthrough from defaults to a feel you'd fly every day.
Troubleshooting
Stick limp, sim not detected, forces feel wrong. Fixes in order.
Support bundles
What's in one, how to export it, how to send it when you ask for help.
MOZA force-feedback setup
No MOZA Cockpit preparation is needed: you do not have to zero the spring or adjust intensity before flying. FFB-Bridge suspends the base's own feel for the flight and returns it afterwards. Keep the vendor utility closed while FFB-Bridge is running; use it for firmware, calibration, lighting, or other maintenance.
Changelog
What changed in each release, what to expect next.
FFB-Bridge Pro
Pro is a separate app with an open RC2 beta. Confirm your email on the Pro page to receive a 14-day beta license and download links. It adds Live Dashboard, Voice Control, Advanced Tuning, Black Box, Cockpit Web and profile tools. Start with the Pro overview, or jump straight to a feature.
Pro overview
What Pro adds and how to get started.
Install and activate
Install Pro on Windows, macOS or Linux and activate it.
Pro license
Activate, refresh, move to another computer, recover a key.
Live Dashboard
Every force as a live graph, with tuning beside it.
Voice Control
Change forces and ask questions by voice.
Advanced Tuning
Edit how each effect responds across its input.
Black Box
Record flights, review forces and test new settings.
Cockpit Web
Live forces and quick changes on your phone or tablet.
Profile Library
Browse and install community profiles in the app.
Profile History
Restore an earlier version of a saved profile.
Profile Recovery
Private profile copies you can restore on another computer. Preview.
Base settings
Your base's own feel, travel, controls and lights.
Controls
Routing and combining controllers. Coming soon.
Troubleshooting
Fixes for common problems and how to report one.
Drivers and third-party software
Windows drivers, HidHide and the components Pro uses.
Pro PDF manual
All Pro guides in one PDF.
Conventions used in this guide
Windows,
Linux, and
Both chips mark content that applies only to that platform; macOS-specific notes are called out in the prose. Menus and buttons appear
in bold; filenames and keys appear as code. Any procedure that requires administrator privileges is called out with a yellow warning callout — on Linux that's a pkexec prompt; on Windows and macOS there are no such procedures at the moment.
FFB-Bridge runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. macOS support is scoped: it requires Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) and connects to X-Plane 12 with supported force-feedback hardware. See the hardware guide for exact-model coverage. MSFS connects on Windows and Linux only.
This manual matches FFB-Bridge 1.6.5. If you're on a newer build and something's drifted, please tell us via the feedback form.
What's new in 1.6.5
Restored effects in some built-in profiles, including aircraft from PMDG, iniBuilds, FlightFactor and Just Flight. Aircraft-specific control laws and later tuning corrections are preserved.
Improved 94 helicopter profiles with rotor-speed and blade-count data. Vibration responds to rotor load and collective, including in hover; six Dashboard indicators and Rotorsim EC135 V5 cyclic-centering fixes are included.
MSFS: Bridge keeps a pending SimConnect connection while the simulator loads or waits at its main menu, avoiding repeated attempts that exhaust client slots.
Free 1.6.5 requires macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon.