Mobile Driving/Flying Cockpit with Motion and Tactile ( Build )

[RCHeliguy]

I just added a bit of offset to the back of the brackets(0.2mm), and put some UHMW tape on the back of the CM2 base so it might slide into place better and release without my loosening the bolts. Also removed -0.1mm from each front side of the brackets so the brackets won't rub on the main mount body walls. That should help reduce friction a bit more.

I think this is good to go. I shared files for both a static and quick release mount, the counter weight mount along with the STEP and Fusion 360 file so people can adjust the counter weight for different weight grips.

Printables

www.printables.com

I'm comfortable that the weight of the base/stick/grip will be plenty to keep this planted.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I am seriously mulling over the Slaw RH Rotor pedals.

One of my issues with these pedals has been lack of access to the centering spring, that I remove when in Helicopter mode. Since I will have an adjustable damper on this, it would require a lot of disassembly to reach that spring.

What I realized is that that the part that the damper mounts to, that bolts in place with 4 bolts, is separate from the dust cover and I could leave the rear of the pedal mechanism open. Or I could 3D print a partial enclosure if I really felt like it needed it. But the internals are interesting enough and well finished enough that I think I would be fine with them showing.

Otherwise it fits between the frame of the SimLab P1 chassis with a bit over 20mm clearance on each side. Their last set of pedals would not fit submerged.

However I will need to make these pedals quick release since they are taller than what I have.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I rotated my Tactile channels so that stereo would give me the TST-429 and BK-CT under my seat, and tested the SimShaker sound module and it worked. So far I've only tested it to verify the signal came through.

What's funny is that I purchased this software in 2017 and never set it up. I've probably mentioned in this 3.5+ year build thread at least 3 or 4 times that I need to get this setup.

I got an email from Andre on March 3, 2018 saying that I purchased a license but never sent him an activation string so he could give me a license key.

So I finally sent him my Activation string. The website says it may be 3 days before I get a response, unless he decides this has been too long and I need to pay again.

Sigh... Anyway the ball is officially rolling.

Edit: Andre responded right back! All set.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Gave SS for Aviators a quick run in the Huey in DCS. It does add to the immersion and has a MUCH more realistic helicopter feel for the rotors out of the box without adjusting a single thing compared to the D-Box engine effect, but I'm happy to be this far.

When I have time, I'll try out the weapons fire etc.. Then I'll need to get setup for jets. There are default settings for Piston engine planes, jets and helicopters.

Helicopters typically have one or twin jet turbines running which are very smooth. The feel of the rotors is much more pervasive than the engine and the SS for Aviators does give you that chop/chop/chop feeling under conditions that line up very well with what is happening, so that is a big plus already.

 

[RCHeliguy]

SS for Aviators senses each aircraft you open and creates a profile for each one that it will automatically load when you pick one in game.

The helicopters felt better OOB. I'll need to turn some of the effects down for jets and planes.

 

[metalnwood]

You get one hell of a shock when you get a SAM, you dam near jump out of your seat.

 

[RCHeliguy]

You get one hell of a shock when you get a SAM, you dam near jump out of your seat.

Is that a missile launch or getting hit by one?

 

[metalnwood]

getting hit by a manpad or such when you had no idea one was around gets me every time

 

[RCHeliguy]

getting hit by a manpad or such when you had no idea one was around gets me every time

So no warning in time to send out some chaff/flare ?
I guess some advanced aircraft have missile detection and others do not.

 

[metalnwood]

Depends of course, but you're gonna get hit and not know it was coming sometimes and your heart is going to jump lol.

 

[Mr Latte]

Nice prints for those components.

Regards SSW assuming the "Flight" version works in the same way as the "Race" version. Keep in mind Mark that the SSW developer focused his effects on Dayton Pucs as those are used in the seat pad hardware being sold.

So it is very likely many of the effects will use frequencies within the general operating range of budget transducers. What this means is you won't get the low bass from the hardware you have, ahh but you can.....

Assuming nothing has changed. SSW applied "WAV" files for effects instead of generating real-time tone generation in the way Simhub or Simvibe use.

From memory, their was a quick guide on how to do this and effects were quite basic but you can see the effects within Audacity and create new effects in Audacity (building tones as WAV) to replace the default ones used.

So for example, in your case. If an effect uses a default 40Hz but outputs this to various channels. You could replace the 40Hz WAV file for your BK channel with a new effect using an octave lower (20Hz) or 2 octaves lower (10Hz).

Likewise for the TST and certain effects you could possibly make better usage of its 60-80Hz range capabilities.

Worth looking into but not sure if there is a community sharing or tinkering with SSW still for advanced tactile.

 

[RCHeliguy]

@Mr Latte That was the next step. For now I'm still adjusting things as they stand for the D-Box, G-Belt, along with the SSA effects.

Also mapping more to my large Button Box.

The longer flight stick helps quite a bit especially in the helicopters. I'm already itching to get a CM3 base with the adjustable friction on both axis. It would really help with the feel.

I did see this very early image. It suggested a lot of things at 20Hz, but I doubt it's accurate today.

In DCS my 2080Ti is running right under 100% around 96-98% pretty consistently pushing my Index at 90fps.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Made a little 5 minute modification today. It's nothing exciting, but it is making my life easier.

Since the rig is now a chunk higher off the ground with the D-Box actuators, stepping into my rig was less then a comfortable situation ESPECIALLY in flight mode where I'm stepping over a collective stick, or flight throttle on one side or my large H pattern shift on the other side.

So I added a step. I already have grab handles, and now I can just rest my heel on the profile and front of my foot on this aluminum plate with grip tape. It makes ingress/egress much easier

 

[RCHeliguy]

What could this be for?

 

[metalnwood]

Don't tell me, I know, its the gun used in the first flash gordon movie.

 

[MarkModdy]

It’s an adjustable damper for your flight pedals?… I see an H and S on the rotary, so I presume that is for hard and soft… or it could just be a sausage meat extractor?

 

[RCHeliguy]

It’s an adjustable damper for your flight pedals?… I see an H and S on the rotary, so I presume that is for hard and soft… or it could just be a sausage meat extractor?

You either almost nailed it or nailed it depending on the time period, present or future.

My current pedals already have a damper on them, but strangely enough you can't order Slaw pedals with the damper they are designed for which happens to be a standard motorcycle damper.

 

[MarkModdy]

So nothing to do with sausage then ?…

That means new flight pedals too then I suspect? In the future or in a different version of the past…

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've been enjoying flight quite a bit. The motion is still underwhelming, but I'm getting enough to make it workable with all the other systems contributing. It's also possible that I'm just getting used to how it feels.

That's the part that makes me completely question how things will feel to someone who gets in my rig cold.

What is harder is qualifying my thoughts on things because there are so many variables and everything has been in such a state of churn.

My initial reaction to getting SSA working was probably a bit too positive, but I was just just happy to have tactile in flight and there is still a lot of room for improvement. I'm also continuing to learn how the D-Box works and how to dial it in better.

I recently erased all my G-Belt settings just by trying to enable SimVibe for a test and I'm having to dial that back in one title at a time. This time I'll make sure to export all my settings from SimCommander. Lesson learned!

I rotated my transducer channels to get two channels working in SSA but I still need to reconfigure SimHub for my driving titles.

So while the results can be excellent when everything is dialed in well, getting everything dialed in well takes time.

The other thing to consider is that because everything works together and different devices reinforce each other, it's not as easy to point to one thing and say it's great or bad because of how a certain situation feels in the sim. It really is a testament to the entire system working together.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Assuming nothing has changed. SSW applied "WAV" files for effects instead of generating real-time tone generation in the way Simhub or Simvibe use.

So for example, in your case. If an effect uses a default 40Hz but outputs this to various channels. You could replace the 40Hz WAV file for your BK channel with a new effect using an octave lower (20Hz) or 2 octaves lower (10Hz).

I have a full blown version of Soundforge with many more bells and whistles, but I downloaded the Audacity and it worked easily as you suggested.

However getting it to loop cleanly takes an extra step.

I'll need to play with it a bit.
Edit: Actually not sure about that. It appears that some of his loops are not clean. I am wondering if I should make them loops clean so there are no instantaneous changes which is similar to clipping.

Went back to Soundforge because it gives me a Spectrograph view of the waveform being created.

I think I'll clean the wave forms so they loop cleanly. I've taken some and bumped them up to 70Hz or down to 20Hz. Still playing.