230 replies to this topic

[Foust]

I have started on my simulator and decided that I would keep a work log here.

To start I needed a way to interface the simulator to the PC. Several options exist and I ended up deciding on the teensy++ usb development board, using GenericHID to assign axis and buttons. Inexpensive and really flexible.



That's a mini USB port at the top. This thing is small.

A bit of playing around with configurations and I have this now in my windows devices.



At this point I did a little happy dance. (sorry no photos, I was dancing)

So next (tonight) I decided to make with a prototype control panel. I spent a fair bit of time over on the viperpits forums lurking in the worklog threads, drooling really. Those guys are astounding craftsmen. I took a cue from them and build the panel with backlighting in mind. This prototype has an aluminum back plate with the graphic placed between two layers of plexiglass. (Also no backlighting at the moment)








And there it is. I have some to-do's and some lessons learned. First those silver screws in the corners have got to go. They will be replaced by black hex centered screws. The aluminum back plate is not square, I will have a metal cutting blade for the radial arm saw for the next panels. Next on the drilling of the holes, I neglected to drill the corner mount holes on the first pass. Those holes are the key to indexing the plates. Another issue I had was the center plate. It need to be drilled out large enough to allow the nuts on the toggles to rest inside. When I drilled through all three layers at the same time, I did not have a good center anymore to open up those holes. So I guessed. Some of them are off, but they were large enough that I had some flexibility.

Now for the last bit of fun for the evening I decided to wire it up to the controller and make it do something cool.

After I made that work I may or may not have giggled like a little girl.

More to come as time and resources allow. I have several other panels designed, however I am a bit limited on what I can design given the slim amount of information I have on what will and will not be a function in the game. (Nav, commander interface, targeting, damage displays, etc. etc.) Now if someone (PGI) wanted to get me some more details (PGI) I could get a bit more detailed in my designs. (Shameless information beg, I know.)

Constructive comments and questions welcomed. I will do my best to ignore my real job and answer during business hours. Or maybe not, I got to fund this thing somehow.

EDIT: GAH had to fix the video link.

Edited by Foust, 29 July 2012 - 06:48 PM.

[Foust]

Tonight I brought the joystick that I played MW2 and up with back from the dead and into the age of USB and hall effect sensors.

Following a guide from DOC flyer I rebuild the slide pots into hall effect pots.




Sadly I failed to get pictures of the pots with the hall effect sensors attached, I spent way to much time swearing at the wires I had to push back through the shaft of the joystick...
And I had to complete that process 3 times.

Then it was onto the wiring.


And connected to the DB25


Everything placed neatly into the base.


Completed. In hind sight I should have tried to scrounge up a black DB25, but I had this one in the old box-o-wires and got to it.


I connected the the X and Y axis to the Teensy++ and calibrated. Then I flip the wires for X and Y, to the correct spots and success. The joystick works. I am seeing some floating, but I also have 5 additional axis showing on the device and nothing connected to them. Im hoping that once I get those connected my floating will go away.

If I had to do this over again, I wouldn't. I would take a second job long enough to save up the money for a Thrustmaster Warthog. I really like that stick, but I don't care much for the throttle. Split and LOADED with controls is great if you dont plan on having control panels for everything, not when you just want your forward and back and 2-3 buttons.

I also have some other cool things worked out, but I need some more panels completed to really show that off.

More to come.

Edited by Foust, 25 July 2012 - 07:59 PM.

[Gendou]

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

Updates? Any photos of the voice recording hardware attached to the Reactor Online switch?

[Foust]

There is no hardware for the voice recording. I'm using xpadder to handle the toggle to momentary problem, and autohotkey to trigger the sounds. I had originally wanted to make this a purely hardware based solution, but hardware = money. I have a hard enough time convincing the finance board (my wife) to let me spend what I have already, let alone the "I need to place another Jameco order" conversation.

I will have another demonstration ready once I get the sensors and weapons panels built.

[Ethenyl]

Can't wait for your next batch of pictures !

I wish I had the same electronics skills... Bah... you can't be awesome in every field.

[Malkkar ZI]

You, sir, are inspirational!

Oh how great it would be to enclose yourself in a cockpit for round after round of MWO goodness!

I just hope that we can "break-out" elements of the cockpit and place them into discreet screens. Step two would be convincing my wife that I "need" to build a MW pod.

- Malkkar ZI (G94790)

[CyBerkut]

A Suncom stick conversion to Hall Effect sensors... Nice!

I'm looking forward to where this ends up. (It never really ends, though...)

[Foust]

Thanks for the positive responces, it makes me want to buy more switches.

And I have to since I completed another panel.



Oh and it does fun things to...

Edited by Foust, 29 July 2012 - 06:46 PM.

[AlexEss]

Looks like a very cool project. I wish you the best of luck and hope to one day have enough room to build a pit my self.

[Foust]

And tonight, after much tribulation is the third panel in the set. Fire Control. Please note that the group assignment switches are just suspended with tape since I have not got my perf board in.



I have a video that shows this and the other two doing things that make me very happy in the pants, but first some thoughts on this particular panel.

First, I failed to account for the amount of filing that I would have to do to try to clean up those miserable square holes. (What a brilliant idea THAT was) The end result I think will look much better than a round panel mount switch, but at what cost? WHAT COST?

Time really, cause the square top switches are far less expensive.

Second, I am not really satisfied with this panel. I feel like it is either missing something or needs redesigned into the half height panel. Does not seem to be enough going on to justify the full height.

Maybe I'm just over thinking it. Maybe its late and I'll like it more in the morning. Then again, maybe Im right and this thing is aweful and I should scrap the entire project.



I know the audio is a bit weak in this video in particular, but you get the idea.

And yeah I know the begging is shameless, but a guy spending a ton of time building this sort of thing has got to try. Right?

[Skrapheap]

Wow. Very nice. Actually you may want to look into Mind Inc.'s technology, as you may be able to adapt it as a kinda of "neural helmet".

http://mindtechnologiesinc.com/

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

Foust, on 28 July 2012 - 04:10 PM, said:

Thanks for the positive responces, it makes me want to buy more switches.

And I have to since I completed another panel.



Oh and it does fun things to...

"This video is private"

Foust, on 30 July 2012 - 08:35 PM, said:

And tonight, after much tribulation is the third panel in the set. Fire Control. Please note that the group assignment switches are just suspended with tape since I have not got my perf board in.



I have a video that shows this and the other two doing things that make me very happy in the pants, but first some thoughts on this particular panel.

First, I failed to account for the amount of filing that I would have to do to try to clean up those miserable square holes. (What a brilliant idea THAT was) The end result I think will look much better than a round panel mount switch, but at what cost? WHAT COST?

Time really, cause the square top switches are far less expensive.

Second, I am not really satisfied with this panel. I feel like it is either missing something or needs redesigned into the half height panel. Does not seem to be enough going on to justify the full height.

Maybe I'm just over thinking it. Maybe its late and I'll like it more in the morning. Then again, maybe Im right and this thing is aweful and I should scrap the entire project.



I know the audio is a bit weak in this video in particular, but you get the idea.

And yeah I know the begging is shameless, but a guy spending a ton of time building this sort of thing has got to try. Right?

Again, "This video is private."

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

So i have that software you mentioned in a video response and the start up sequence chopped up to fit 4 keys. reactor, sensors, weapons, and the whole clip.
Toss in a spare keyboard and the test is good. Now to convert the keyboard to momentary toggle switches.
Currently i have it like this.
Numpad7::SoundPlay, C:\Users\..\Desktop\MW2 sounds for cockpit\REACTORONLINE.WAV
Numpad8::SoundPlay, C:\Users\..\Desktop\MW2 sounds for cockpit\SENSORSONLINE.WAV
Numpad9::SoundPlay, C:\Users\..\Desktop\MW2 sounds for cockpit\WEAPONSONLINEALLSYSTEMSNOMINAL.WAV
Numpad5::SoundPlay, C:\Users\..\Desktop\MW2 sounds for cockpit\STARTUP.WAV

Edited by ORIGINAL SteelWolf, 30 July 2012 - 11:35 PM.

[Blizz003]

Awesome. So amazingly freakin awesome.

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

I could not resist adding Mission Successful and Mission Failed macros too. As well as Shutting down and Shut down sequence over2ridden.
Last key unused on my number pad is 2. Hmm what sound to put there.

[Foust]

Sorry about the video private thing, should be fixed now.

I split out the all systems nominal sound as well. I have AHK set to wait until all three switches have been flipped before playing the all systems nominal sound. I still haven't built logic into it to record when the switch is flipped off, but that will come. My current script is below.

Now don't laugh to hard, but this part took me 3 hours to figure out. I could make it play the sound, but the checking the switch state was blowing my mind. Then I had that moment where all was made clear and I face palmed because it was so obvious. There is a reason why I don't code.

~p::
RO = 1 ; Sets Reactor Online Variable
SoundPlay, C:\Users\Admin\Dropbox\Mechwarrior Pod\Sound files\Reactor_Online.wav, wait ; Plays the sound
If ( RO = 1 and SO =1 and WO =1) ; Checks the state of the three switches if they are on plays the sound then set the variables back to 0
{
SoundPlay, C:\Users\Admin\Dropbox\Mechwarrior Pod\Sound files\All_Systems_Nominal.wav
RO = 0
SO = 0
WO = 0
}
return
~s::
SO = 1
SoundPlay, C:\Users\Admin\Dropbox\Mechwarrior Pod\Sound files\Sensors_Online.wav, wait
If ( RO = 1 and SO =1 and WO =1)
{
SoundPlay, C:\Users\Admin\Dropbox\Mechwarrior Pod\Sound files\All_Systems_Nominal.wav
RO = 0
SO = 0
WO = 0
}
return
~w::
WO = 1
SoundPlay, C:\Users\Admin\Dropbox\Mechwarrior Pod\Sound files\Weapons_Online.wav, wait
If ( RO = 1 and SO =1 and WO =1)
{
SoundPlay, C:\Users\Admin\Dropbox\Mechwarrior Pod\Sound files\All_Systems_Nominal.wav
RO = 0
SO = 0
WO = 0
}
return

Edited by Foust, 31 July 2012 - 04:49 AM.

[MoonDawgNOR]

Great job!

I used to have one of those sticks, dual-plugged in with the keyboard for some ingenious keybinding
Hope to see your work all mounted!

[ORIGINAL SteelWolf]

Now if someone (PGI) wanted to get me some more details (PGI) I could get a bit more detailed in my designs. (Shameless information beg, I know.)

Yes a shameless plug indeed Have you tried asking founders since all of them are supposed to be in beta now?

[Foust]

I started counting up inputs and came up with 39.

This number bothered me for two reasons. First, because I do not believe that I have all of the available commands that will be in the game I am fairly confident I am missing some. That means I cant layout all my panels, or order all the hardware I'll need etc etc.

Second, windows only detects 8 axis, 32 buttons + 4 way hat on the joystick. 32 + 4 =/= 39.

Crap. So now what? Another encoder? A factory Hotas? Hack a keyboard?

I decided not to panic and wait until I could work with the GenericHID again and see what I could work out.

I stripped most of the buttons out and replaced them with a 8x8 matrix. Filled the rest of the spots with buttons. Programmed the Teensy++.


In theory this should produce 8 axis, 75 buttons. Windows shows 8 axis, only 32 buttons.

By the grace of God, the internet and google I found the solution in a program called SVMapper. This particular application was written to handle a device called MJoy16, another home brew HID interface. The trick to this is though that it will recognize over 100 keys. The caveat is that only the first 32 can be detected as simultaneous presses. I can work with that. SVMapper also will handle the toggle to momentary problem that I was addressing with xpadder, which means I do not have to add a third supporting application.

So for those following along at home:
Teensy++ Loaded with GenericHID
SVMapper to assign buttons 33-75 to keystrokes and handle the toggle to momentary issue.
AutoHotKey to play sounds on key press.

MODS: If the teensy++ link is a no-no, strip it.