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DIY Simulators. Simracing, Flight simulators and more
This works way better than I expected. This is a static image test for a HUD on my home cockpit using a dead cheap beamsplitter made of plexiglass and a smartphone.  This works by placing a smartphone (or really any kind of fitting display) below it. The beansplitting characteristic allows some of the light to pass through and will mirror whatever is on the phone display below it. The image is inverted though so a HUD mode requires an already mirrored display mode. There are apps for this but since I use HTML for all my GUI stuff I can probably just use CSS for this task. Most of the work was finding out how to get Firefox to do fullscreen (which can be requested via JS _from a user interaction_ - so it has to be some sort of clickable element) and get it to keep the display always on.  A more advanced build would use a beamsplitter glass. This thing here is "designed" for cars and is according to the review a really bad product because it doesn't work well with day light or likes to slide around. All problems my desk does not have, of course, so I got this on a whim to see how it would look and I'm mind-blown with the result already 🤓 What do you think? Originally noted at https://beko.famkos.net/2024/09/06/15629330/
cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/21415025 > It has been a while that I tried Star Citizen. With the new Neuralnet Tracker plugin (AI haha) for OpenTrack we get head tracking without annoying IR LEDs or reflecting stripes just by reading the webcam video feed. This is apparently fast enough to try head tracking without a dedicated head tracker nowadays. And all that on a Linux PC. Took some fiddling but the concept still works. What a time to be alive. > > Demo: [https://makertube.net/w/groS1wpAhP8XYE75vJwX32](https://makertube.net/w/groS1wpAhP8XYE75vJwX32) > > HowTo: [https://simpit.dev/systems/opentrack/](https://simpit.dev/systems/opentrack/)
github.com
@fk_tech shoved my nose on Monocoque today, which appears to become an alternative to Simhub: Cross Platform device manager for driving and flight simulators, for use with common simulator software titles. It supports e.g. bass shakers, tachometers, simlights, simwind through USB and Arduino serial. And it works on Linux PC: [https://github.com/Spacefreak18/monocoque](https://github.com/Spacefreak18/monocoque) See a demo on [https://www.youtube.com/live/GVghB4aMEmY](https://www.youtube.com/live/GVghB4aMEmY) by @fk_tech I also jumped into their Matrix room (`#simracer:matrix.org`) and they seem like a friendly bunch too. Mebbe worth to keep on the radar. Edith says: Shorter videos to get the gist: * https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TznEHQ4lPZM * https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t27kFte_fIE
www.youtube.com
Found this on my daily YT journey for home cockpits and I can get behind that channel slogan :D Pretty wild how much know-how is laid out there. Extra kudos for using FreeCad instead of Fusion360.
tube.tchncs.de
cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/18462516 > I implemented a proof of concept to add the FaceTrackNoIR (or OpenTrack) protocol into FreeSpace 2 Open on Linux PC. Apparently only TrackIR and FreeTrack (both Windows only) are supported so far. Still needs some fine tuning but I'm really happy with that single day coding frenzy considering that I didn't touch C++ in years. > > I never did create a merge request so far. I'm still going to but it's really low priority for me rn :-/ > > This is a demo of the implementation with Diaspora: Shattered Armistice, a BSG mod for FreeSpace 2 Open. It's also on YT should you fancy that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRB8lRV1m54
tube.tchncs.de
I had the chance to play Flight Of Nova (https://flight-of-nova.com/) for the first time today. This was on my wishlist for quite some time now. Dived in blind and had no idea what to expect. 3 tutorial missions later: Oh boy… this is hard. I can see myself sinking many hours in this. Anyway, as usual, my focus is on interfacing with my home cockpit (or simpit) and while there is no ship telemetry [yet?] I was able to get it running just fine via Proton and with my DIY headtracker using OpenTrack. Hats off, seldom that I see a game that detects my joystick just fine, has great ingame calibration, offers me a windowed mode and a bunch of ultra width resolutions without having to resort to hacking config files or use gamescope to resize it ❤️ Head tracking is, as usual, TrackIR only so far (I guess the native Linux PC version does not have UDP in place here but I couldn’t check due Steam refusing to download another version today). Anyway, you can see me fooling around with the buttons and do an A+ crash landing in the end – sunny side up 😆 Not too shabby considering that this was my 3rd landing at all.
I for a long time had a wooden attachment to my Ikea Poang chair that I attached my wheel to. It became quite cumbersome to climb in and out of the chair like a canoe. So Finally I added a new shelf so the chair is free.
Note, not mine. Similar to mine. In fact totally down my alley :D
This was a fun build. I got to utilize a old xbox 360 controller and a LED touch light. Stay tuned ill have a build video soon.  
Got the TM R383 Mod wheel all mounted and everything is working. I'm doing more driving than debugging which is a sign that I think it's near done. The OpenFFBoard has shift register support so with no modification to the wheel other than a coily cable I was able to get all the buttons working. I designed some adapters to mount to an ebay QR (highly recommend this one called "For Racing Simulator Simagic Moza 70mm Steering Wheel Quick Release+Wheel Base" on ebay) which is rock solid. I was all ready to machine the adapter flanges out of metal but I put the prototypes on to check the fit and they were so rigid there's no point in taking the time to do it. It feels easily just as solid as my real car. Kindof amazing considering the threads are even printed into the PLA, no heatserts or anything. Feel free to let me know if you want the FreeCAD models, I suspect at least the 70mm wheel side adapter would be compatible with other TM wheels too. I use the RT FreeCAD branch so they won't work in normal FreeCAD unfortunately. It's running at about 14Nm right now, I don't have a thermister on the motor coils so I'm trying to be a bit conservative however I'm pretty sure 14Nm peak is way way more than I need personally. The motor and supporting hardware should technically support about 22 but I don't think I'll ever push it that hard. 14Nm is scary enough.
YT suggested this one to me and I absolutely love it. A whole cockpit on a budget made from cardboard: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09GdiFmaHq0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09GdiFmaHq0) It's for civil aviation, unlike my own, and features some very neat ideas - like the fans in the ceiling, or [non functional] "fuses", for more immersion. It always impresses me how far dedication and skill go.
A quick test, without a wheel attached to the spindle, of the openffboard running on Linux in BeamNG.drive. It took a while to get here as I'm not very knowledgeable with motor drivers but it seems to work so far. Next step will be to fabricate a bracket to mount it to my rig. Since this video I have mounted a wheel and done some driving. The feel is pretty good, the motor is only 6NM which in DD land is a little on the low side but it's incredibly smooth. Hardware: OpenFFBoard (purchased assembled) [Project Link](https://hackaday.io/project/163904-open-ffboard) [Github Link](https://github.com/Ultrawipf/OpenFFBoard) ODrive S1 Baldor BSM90N-1150AFP (ebay auction for untested motor, was about 50USD shipped) 48v 10.5A power supply
I have been working on it for the last 6 months adding a little bit here and there. I run a logitech g29 with pedals and shifter and a diy handbrake. I created a foam board canopy hood to help with immersion.
I don't have a lot of space where my desk is but wanted a combo space combat and racing rig that was fully rigid except for the seat. The chair sits in a wheel trough with some 3d printed wheel chalks that fit the wheels exactly so it doesn't really move much at all when braking. Everything is running on Linux using a lot of SDL and input device spoofing hacks to get it all recognized correctly in games. I mostly play DirtRally2.0, BeamNG, AMS2, and Overload. Trying to get into Elite Dangerous but it's not really my type of game. Maybe it will be some day though. Also play a little RBR but not all that much. List of gear: T300rs with a R383 Mod wheel - [tmff2 driver](https://github.com/Kimplul/hid-tmff2). I designed a "quick" release ring so it's not a pain to take the wheel off for flight. Heusinkveld Ultimate+ pedals - [protopedal](https://gitlab.com/openirseny/protopedal/) or [xboxdrv](https://github.com/xboxdrv/xboxdrv) depending on the game TH8A shifter - heavily modified to fit in the small space I had and with a 3d printed short throw plate that I designed. It's not ideal, but works for occasional use. Some ebay handbrake - I use xboxdrv for this sometimes if necessary but most games can find it. I also modified it to be mounted under the plate for a bit more space on top. Gladiator NXT EVO Omni Throttle (Left and Right hand models) - These are a pain in most games. I use a winehid hack where I adjust the registry values `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE System CurrentControlSet Enum WINEBUS VID_231D&PID_{200,201} {Service, CompatibleIds}` from xinput to winehid. This works but depends on the bus the device is currently connected to. Looking for a better SDL env var alternative but haven't got it working yet. Acer Nitro 37.5" QHD+ 3840 x 1600 curved display NextLevelRacing "Wheel Stand 2.0" - I made some steel parts for it on the mill to increase rigidity, 3d printed spacers for the adjustable arms to tighten them up a bit since the stock ones are a bit sloppy, and made some extra plates for mounting the sticks and other stuff out of 10mm aluminum plate. VKB UCM-S drop mount brackets for the sticks. I modified these as well to fit under the aluminum plates. The left one is hinged so that it can be folded upwards to get in and out of the chair when the chair wheels are fixed in place. annnd... yes I know the shifter and handbrake are reversed... I like it that way.
A glorified DIY joystick controller with an LCD ('MFD') and plenty of RGB. * DIY headtracker with Opentrack * DIY button box with LCD ("MFD") display * DIY status indicators using a Neopixel * Lots of plumbing with Node-RED * Arduino Mega with a custom Rust daemon for driving the joystick and LEDs * A custom “App” written in React to drive the MFD * …and a Linux PC to power all the crazy 🤪 I did set https://SimPit.dev/ live yesterday where I'm writing up all my collected SimPit clutter of the last 3 years in a more cohesive way. Feedback appreciated 🙃 More to come. (Oh yeah and ads and tracking free cuz I can't stand this ***). I'm kinda blind on the topic by now after hacking away on this page for days so I'd appreciate feedback. Especially if something is broken. Site may be slow af. I'm hosting this in my backyard. Videos are mirrored usually on PeerTube and YouTube though so pick your poison.
I mounted a basically brand new Golf 7 seat on it, which fit with just a few washers and some M8 20mm bolts. If you're in Germany and looking for a seat for your simrig, go look on ebay, the guys I got this one from have like 30+ more brand new seats in stock for €160 each!
DIY Macross inspired SimPit in the making for more immersive Space Pew Pew Fumbled around with the YT app (dead gods hate mobile phones) and… I managed to produce this short: [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BoJHZQpK2Iw](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BoJHZQpK2Iw) What do you think? 🤪 It's the first time I tried something like this 😁 [@diysimulators](https://discuss.tchncs.de/c/diysimulators)
Did some test assembly today. Running out of buttons. I have to salvage my version 1 now which kinda sucks because I won't be able to actually play with it any more 😆 Still very happy with the result 👌 #Macross
Got into flight sims at some point and decided to build a simple button box with the very basics. It's intended mostly for the AV8B harrier, but can be bound to any plane or any sim. Letters are laser engraved on translucent white acrylic that i painted in black beforehand. There are green LEDs behind the panel that backlight the thing. (not bright enough though).
Colonial Viper Build has a new video up showing more progress pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfucWaZxjus
Today I printed the 3D plan of version 2 of my Primary Buffer Panel I'm working on for a while in `Wings3D` now. Jumped a lot of hoops to convert STL to SVG only to discover that Wings3D has an export for that built in xD  This is loosely based on a Macross Valkyrie cockpit (the rest of the world may know that as Robotech). It's still WIP and I'm still moving stuff around. The print gives me the opportunity to get a feeling for size and proportions for the first time. Damn… that's huge 🤓
tube.tchncs.de
Yes, No Man's Sky does only support one gamepad. Single digit. This gamer doesn't care. Here have headtracking and HOTAS in NMS. Vanilla. No mods. Thanks `OpenTrack`, `AntiMicroX` and `MoltenGamepad` ❤️ Mebbe I'll do a proper recording someday: https://tube.tchncs.de/w/1NwcNBeyYEagNwZKGVQ21w Wondering about that button box? Didn't use it in this demo but you can find plenty more examples on the channel and more details on my blog: https://beko.famkos.net/category/simpit/ How it's done? NMS does support a gamepad but it also reads/maps all gamepads to a single device. It makes no difference between multiple gamepads! This leaves me with a very limited amount of possible buttons on the HOTAS after mapping that to one virtual gamepad using `MoltenGamepad` (I usually split that one up into _multiple_ gamepads for braindead games). So for additional buttons I used `AntiMicroX` to map the rest as keyboard presses. Doing so I noticed that NMS does "look-around" on the right stick and this is where `OpenTrack` comes into the play. It offers a joystick output (using `evdev`) and that is also just… a gamepad! Needs some remapping though to get pitch and jaw to the proper axis for NMS. This is done via SDL env (basically what Steam does under the hood but boy their GUI for that _sucks_): `SDL_GAMECONTROLLERCONFIG="000022e86f70656e747261636b206800,opentrack-to-nms,rightx:a3,righty:a4,platform:Linux,crc:e822,"` And there you have it. NMS with my trusty old X52 Pro and a DIY headtracker for 5 bucks 🤓 PS: I'm aware that the recording quality sucks. This was very spontaneous with a webcam sitting on my chair. I basically just finished my happy dance that this started working properly and decided to smash that recording button. PC was not even in "gamemode". -- Beko*PlayingGamesTheWayIWant*Pharm
[@diysimulators](https://discuss.tchncs.de/c/diysimulators) My DIY Arduino throttle built with plywood and backyard trash [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MUrbUY5qvY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MUrbUY5qvY)
tinandjar.com
I guess that counts as simpit too: https://tinandjar.com/2023/01/09/feel-game-gun-recoil/ 🤣 Hell of a DIY controller. Also no idea how that monitor survives this onslaught. (https://beko.famkos.net/f/1CMFi)
Kerbal Controller The article "Kerbal Controller - the Basics" [https://www.instructables.com/Kerbal-Controller-the-Basics/](https://www.instructables.com/Kerbal-Controller-the-Basics/) introduced me to a small but awesome [#SimPit](https://social.tchncs.de/tags/SimPit) community on Discord. It's also of interest for people not into [#KSP](https://social.tchncs.de/tags/KSP) as it describes the basics for DIY controllers of any kind very well. The control panel used for demonstration has another bonus going: It's completely modular and can be 3D printed at home. Can recommend 👍 Image by CodaPop, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 [@diysimulators](https://discuss.tchncs.de/c/diysimulators)
2204 drone motor from the video:  Beefy 6374 with ODrive S1:  That one is actually strong for its size. Stronger than any Logitech ;) Had a guy in our discord make a similar one even with tiny pedals. Might add a tiny screen and tiny pedals as well for a full tiny simrig
Primary Buffer Panel Simpit made from cardboard on a budget mainly used to play Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen and plenty of other Space Pew Pew. A glorified DIY joystick controller with an LCD ("MFDs") and plenty of RGB. Project page: [https://beko.famkos.net/category/simpit/](https://beko.famkos.net/category/simpit/) Edith says: Worked better but got the url of the attachment and not of the first link in the message 🤔 Image by BekoPharm, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 [@diysimulators](https://discuss.tchncs.de/c/diysimulators)
www.xsimulator.net
hello all, new lemmy reddit transplant here. thought i'd show off my DIY VR rig. I mostly use it for MSFS but do some dirt rally2, AC, and nolimits2. 6 AC 750 Servos, 50:1 gearboxes FlyPT Mover + OXRMC software VPForce Rhino DIY kit on joystick & pedals Quick <1min changeover to car racing ducted fans for 'air conditioning' or wind simulation mostly in nolimits rollercoasters enjoy!
Hi there [@diysimulators](https://discuss.tchncs.de/c/diysimulators) :) Just noticed that there is a [#simpit](https://social.tchncs.de/tags/simpit) community starting out on discuss. This is right down my alley. Mebbe I should reconsider and add a Lemmy account too 🤔