25 replies to this topic

[Hello Lion]

If this game lives up to my hopes and dreams I will, like many of you, want to build a home cockpit, featuring things like overly complicated joysticks, a dedicated computer, some (mostly unnecessary) readout devices, a dedicated seat, and other such things. As well as these basic ideas, my friend and I came up with a few more silly (and not necessarily good or realistic) ideas for ways to add more feelings of perceived "realness" to our cockpits, such as:

A five point seatbelt on the cockpit chair
Internal speakers for music and comms and external surround-sound speakers for everything else
Space heaters that react to your heat gauge


What crazy ideas do you guys have of things you could add to your cockpit?

[Cake Bandit]

How about some motors that make the whole setup sway gently whilst moving?

[CeeKay Boques]

Just putting TrackIr in there. Absolute must. Three screens in their own windows with "spacers" like a Mech. . Space... Heaters... is out of my range lol! I naturally get hot playing... I have the AC on man! I saw a mech pit perched on chicken legs where you had to walk up a ladder to get in it...

[HardDrive]

My First item I would get would be a electric car seat for comfort adjustment, Then add on 2 adjustable armrest platforms like those used for the gameseat. 5.1 surround system with the rear speaker mounted just behind the head a little bit and the sub mounted to the bottom of the seat. Add in a electric actuator from a automatic gate to move the whole chair assembly closer or furter away from the monitors to make it easy to get in and out of. A monitor stand for the tri-monitor system with a sub-panel for some of the "extra" Siatek gauges you can get for extra readouts and optional controls, And possibly some small mounts on either side of the chair for once again some of the many optional controls and gauge panels offered by Saitek.

Now I am not saying I am actually going to do all this but It is something I have been considering. I have the tools to custom build the framework easy enough. Just not sure the wife would let me bring it in the house. Although I can see where playing out in the garage could have some benefits as well.

[Paul Inouye]

Way ahead of you!

http://simhq.com/for...ype/thread.html

[Andrew Harvey]

Paul Inouye, on 14 November 2011 - 04:04 PM, said:

Way ahead of you!

http://simhq.com/for...ype/thread.html

Dear god...it's so beautiful.

[Cake Bandit]

That is the coolest thing I have ever seen, and I've seen mountain winters, documentaries on penguins, artist renderings of the surface of pluto, they don't hold a candle.

[-Teiwaz-]

Check this one out!

http://www.hanskrohn.com/

Blows me away, I would love to have one for Mech.

[Skorpio]

what about a helmet that has headphones and a mic.

Edited by Skorpio, 14 November 2011 - 06:08 PM.

[HardDrive]

I have to say after looking through the links, I feel so much better about my "Simple" Idea.

[Sergei Smirnov]

Motors for "rumble."
Klaxon when hit.
Eject lever.
Cup holder.

[Datum]

A faithful brother to shake my swivel chair in time with the game and punch me when the mech gets hit in the head.

[Grafix TM]

If you are lucky you might be able to find one of the good ole Virtual World Version 3 pods:






OR.....If you have $$$ you might want to invest in the new Tesla 2 pods

[HappySpawn]

Well, if they can do THIS for Battlefield 3, then surely someone can come up with something good for this.

Sergei Smirnov, on 14 November 2011 - 07:28 PM, said:

Cup holder.

BEST! IDEA! EVER!!

[Rogal Dorn]

Daaaaayumn. And I thought I was going overboard for thinking about adding rudder pedals. Now I'm definitely getting a joystick/throttle/rudder setup.

A flight helmet with full comms would be a cool touch. And instead of cupholder just build a drink system like a camelback into the back of your chair with a flexible tube that swings over your shoulder that so you can grab a quick drink whenever.

[Alkero]

mine is just gonna be my bed...with a Breakfast-in-Bed™ table tray with my computer on it ;D oOO!! OOHHHH! i should get one of those medical beds! the ones with hydraulics! ^^

[CyBerkut]

Depending on what hooks / support they provide to us in the software, there are all sorts of possibilities.

Some other sources for good ideas on cockpit building...

The Way I Play. Mostly oriented toward automotive racing, but there are mecha and flight pits too. [Check out Wasp1's mech pit!] Overview thread (one pic of each), leads to separate threads for each build, when you click on the pic:
http://www.thewayipl...php?topic=200.0

Eagle Dynamics (purveyors of LockOn Flaming Cliffs, DCS BlackShark and DCS A-10C Warthog) forums homebuilt cockpit section:
http://forums.eagle....splay.php?f=101

SCSimulations (purveyors of cockpit kits for F-16, A-10, etc. and the excellent Helios [Donation-ware] software).
http://www.scsimulations.com/

Simpits.org Project Blogs:
http://www.simpits.o...pits/?page_id=9

SimHQ's Pit Builder's section (Includes that "Show off your pit" thread referenced in an earlier posting):
http://simhq.com/for...t_Builders.html

GrizzlyT's Comanche Pit web site:
http://home.comcast.net/~timothyboldt/

There's plenty more out there, if you search around.

[PropWash]

Boy, that split 3.0 picture that Crowfoot from DSC took at my place WAAAY back in the day sure makes the rounds.

Anyone think there would be a market for old non-functional 3.0 cockpits for home PC conversion?

I might end up helping someone get rid of some in the near future and wonder if we savel some for hobbyists.

.

Grafix™, on 14 November 2011 - 08:14 PM, said:

If you are lucky you might be able to find one of the good ole Virtual World Version 3 pods:






OR.....If you have $$$ you might want to invest in the new Tesla 2 pods

[HardDrive]

GREAT now I have to go buy a projector......

[GaussDragon]

Paul Inouye, on 14 November 2011 - 04:04 PM, said:

Way ahead of you!

http://simhq.com/for...ype/thread.html

One dude made an elevated mech cockpit with legs, bolted into what looked like the garage door... wow. Some of these are quite complex.