72 replies to this topic

[Mchawkeye]

Iron Horse, on 28 December 2011 - 01:53 AM, said:

I will "like" this thread if you consider adding a high-BTU space heater that turns on behind you every time you overheat!

Or you could just output your PCs exhaust fan into the cockpit....I get the feeling the amount of time people will be spending on this game, PCs are going to be warming up everywhere...

[Hayden]

Mchawkeye, on 28 December 2011 - 02:04 AM, said:

Or you could just output your PCs exhaust fan into the cockpit....I get the feeling the amount of time people will be spending on this game, PCs are going to be warming up everywhere...

This.

[CaveMan]

It seems to me, that building a truly successful simpit would require a fullscreen, no-cockpit view in-game.

Otherwise, you're going to have all this hardware around you, and then you'll be looking at a screen with hardware in front of the pilot's view. Kind of defeats the purpose of a full-immersion cockpit.

The question then is, how do you allow such a view for simpit builders, without creating a "cheat view" for regular players?

[S3dition]

How would it be cheating? It's exactly the same as the default view, it just doesn't show any cockpit details.

[Mchawkeye]

yeah, I'm not sure how that is cheating either.

some sims (MSflightsim I'm looking at you) let you shift cockpit instruments onto separate screens, so you can have your pilot view and your instrument view completely separate.

in some respects, Caveman is right. it's just that sometimes you gotta make the best of what you got; part of the reason I'm waiting for at least the beta test is to see how I can work out integrating the virtual cockpit with a real one.

[MilitantMonk]

Please post some walkthroughs! I'd love to see how to build one along with everyones ideas!

[S3dition]

MilitantMonk, on 28 December 2011 - 07:13 AM, said:

Please post some walkthroughs! I'd love to see how to build one along with everyones ideas!

I added a good tutorial link on the first post.

[CaveMan]

S3dition, on 28 December 2011 - 06:20 AM, said:

How would it be cheating? It's exactly the same as the default view, it just doesn't show any cockpit details.

Default cockpit view has the cockpit frame blocking part of your field of view. A no-cockpit view does not have this disadvantage.

What remains to be determined is whether not being able to see your head-down displays cancels out the benefit of not having the cockpit frame reducing your visibility.

[S3dition]

CaveMan, on 28 December 2011 - 10:32 PM, said:

Default cockpit view has the cockpit frame blocking part of your field of view. A no-cockpit view does not have this disadvantage.

What remains to be determined is whether not being able to see your head-down displays cancels out the benefit of not having the cockpit frame reducing your visibility.

Do you know this for a fact? Have you seen in game screens of the cockpit that we haven't? 0.o

As for the cockpit frame, that's nit picking. It's blocking what, 50 pixels?

There is no doubt that a sim pit offers an advantage, though far less than that of real simulators. But the number of people with sim pits for this game isn't going to create a huge population of overpowered players. The advantage is slight, and actually far less than someone who turns off smoke and terrain details while others have them enabled.

[Mchawkeye]

I agree with S3dition. the cockpit frame isn't that much of a muchness, and i;m sure having all the controls spread out instead of on in a wee compact keyboard will provide it's own challenges....

[CaveMan]

S3dition, on 28 December 2011 - 10:55 PM, said:

Do you know this for a fact? Have you seen in game screens of the cockpit that we haven't? 0.o

As for the cockpit frame, that's nit picking. It's blocking what, 50 pixels?

Look at the preproduction art for the 'Mechs and the hunchy cockpit that have been posted. In the Hunchback you can't see to your right, that's a known deal (unless they use the side monitors as video panels), and in a 3D environment with realistic head movement you could lose up to the right third of your view to that BFG that's sitting next to you, depending on FOV.

The Catapult concept art indicates (based on the pilot's head position shown in the art) that the pilot would have real difficulty looking downhill. The Jenner has no side windows. The Dragon has the cockpit largely submerged into the hull with the torso cutting off much of the off-axis view. This is not gonna be MW2 where the cockpit frame is a couple bars around the edges of the screen.

It is an issue. I'm not saying it's a gamebreaking one.

[Kaemon]

Honestly I'm going to wait for this - http://www.gizmag.co...ces-2011/17416/

So in theory (eventually) you'd be able to wrap yourself in a monitor 'bubble', and use the game graphics as your cockpit.

[LonSuder]

Jezus Christ !! And i was allready happy with my 6-button mouse ..
Never see this before , talk about hardcore gaming ! Great !
Very impressive !!

[warner2]

The KA-50 in the video in the OP is absolutely awesome. Good stuff.

[Nav]

I have been giving this some serious consideration lately. I'm glad that other on here are also planning to do the same. I too hope that individual information screens can be 'detached' and displayed on separate smaller touch screen monitors, which can be used as real MFD's within the game. Can't wait to see some of the Simpits that come out of this!

Time to start some research....

Edited by Nav, 17 January 2012 - 04:45 AM.

[Morashtak]

The links here make me want to start ordering the plywood now.

Will start simple myself - good chair, desk, joystick and add to it as the money is available.

Would like to end up somewhere in the range of 1/4 enclosed with full HOTAS and a couple of gauges running off an API. Three screens would be the cherry on the icing on the cake.

EDIT: Certainly not going to go full out that I'll be buying this F-4 Phantom ejection seat to install in a simpit. Crikees!

As for "cheating" using full screen/no cockpit graphics; some people are going to keybind everything to their gazillion button mouse and turn down the eye-candy even on their super rigs. Having an option for sim cockpit owners to turn off the in cockpit view is not going to be a game breaker except for those few that spend countless hours sharpening their skills. And they are going to be tough as nails regardless of graphic settings.

Edited by Morashtak, 17 January 2012 - 01:32 PM.

[CyBerkut]

A lot will come down to what PGI makes available to us.

Since at least one developer has a Logitech G940 HOTAS & Rudder pedal set, it seems likely that we should have a decent set of key binds available to us, for starters.

If they make a "clickable" cockpit for each mech in the game, and support TrackIR (or perhaps even other head tracking systems) then a touchscreen could give you a means to forgo making physical switch panels if that seems too daunting or too inflexible.

If they make subsystem displays/controls available as windows/panels that can be moved/resized, all sorts of cool possibilities arise.

Some potential resources of note:

- Touchbuddy, as previously mentioned. An excellant program for making touchscreen controls. Sadly, the last time I checked, the author was not making any new updates to it. Still, it can be useful as it stands.

- Helios. http://www.scsimulations.com/ Currently it has interfaces (gauges, etc) available for DCS Blackshark, DCS A10C, some Falcon F-16 variants, etc. It could be extended to other sims. It basically accomplishes what Touchbuddy did, and then went further along. It is also designed to interface to actual hardware switches, gauges, etc., so there is a LOT of potential there.

- Leo Bodnar's BU0836 boards. (Several variations). These have inputs for axis as well as buttons/switches/rotary encoders.

- byrdling's B256A13 board http://forums.eagle....ead.php?t=80201 He doesn't recommend using them for a primary joystick/throttle/rudder input, but I wouldn't necessarily rule that out, either. Lot's of button, etc. inputs.

Eagle Dynamics forums sim pits section: http://forums.eagle....splay.php?f=101
Sim HQ forums pit builders section: http://simhq.com/for...t_Builders.html
The Way I Play forums: http://www.thewayipl...forum/index.php
Viper Pits forums: http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php

[S3dition]

CaveMan, on 29 December 2011 - 07:19 AM, said:

Look at the preproduction art for the 'Mechs and the hunchy cockpit that have been posted. In the Hunchback you can't see to your right, that's a known deal (unless they use the side monitors as video panels), and in a 3D environment with realistic head movement you could lose up to the right third of your view to that BFG that's sitting next to you, depending on FOV.

The Catapult concept art indicates (based on the pilot's head position shown in the art) that the pilot would have real difficulty looking downhill. The Jenner has no side windows. The Dragon has the cockpit largely submerged into the hull with the torso cutting off much of the off-axis view. This is not gonna be MW2 where the cockpit frame is a couple bars around the edges of the screen.

It is an issue. I'm not saying it's a gamebreaking one.

Eliminating the cockpit does not mean eliminating everything out side of it. All it means is that you don't see the interior display. Anything else would obviously still block your view.

I'm seriously entertaining the idea of some android tablets for the MFD's. Some have some good power and high quality screens for a low price.

I think the difficult part is figuring out how to position the monitors like canopy windows, since I'm not a fan of TrackIR.

[John Clavell]

Remember, try not to simulate the ambient heat aspect too much and for too long. It can lower your sperm count!

[Ranger207]

I'd love to get one of these, but I've got to get a computer first...
On a related note, my local Air Force museum has about 6 two-person F-15 and 2 four-person KC-135 simpits all hooked up to play FSX together. My Boy Scout troop did it once, and boy was it fun.