Custom control panel

smartroad

smartroad
Having started to play ED one of the things is remembering all the keys that I use and what they do on the keyboard. I have been playing around with the Arduino's for a while and know that there are a few that can simulate a keyboard (I have one attached to an emulator for quick save and menu controls).

Something I would love is to build a console with a load of buttons that can be mapped to ED. However I am having problems finding the buttons I want cheaply. I'd like the panel to look somewhat like this (although probably not a straight grid like this one):

XKeys80Panel.png


I have found on DigiKey a load of buttons (Like this one) but they are REALLY expensive.

Anyone know of somewhere that sells clear topped, preferably illuminated, buttons? I'd need about 35! I am in the UK.

I could probably use cheap tactile switches and 3D print a defusing cap, but would need the clear cover for the top.

Any help/suggestions would greatly appreciated :D
 

Teiwaz

T
I have a couple of Cougar MFDs. They cost like $80 for 2, and that's 28 illuminated buttons per panel. Then I spent a bit more on supplies, and made a lightbox to sit them in front of:


Lightbox is simple. It's just a sheet of light-scattering plexiglass with a strip of LEDs along the bottom, masked and spraypainted to keep the light form coming out where I don't want it to.

Now I can just print out inserts on transparencies, to have a bunch of labelled, illuminated buttons for any game I want.
 

Rickenbacker

Rickenbacker
I really, really want to build something like this, but don't have the budget for it at the moment. I was thinking something with big, clicky toggle switches and push buttons, though, maybe controlled through an Arduino card... Anyone built anything like that?
 

ddrooster

D
so whats up with using industry standard MMI touchscreen where you can assign virtual buttons to tasks
or do you realy like lil keyboard pressy things
 

Iain M Norman

Iain M Norman
Rickenbacker said:
I really, really want to build something like this, but don't have the budget for it at the moment. I was thinking something with big, clicky toggle switches and push buttons, though, maybe controlled through an Arduino card... Anyone built anything like that?
Click to expand...

I've been wondering about something like this:

BU0836Apcb.png


http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836A/

It's a usb joystick controller with 8 axis and 32 buttons supported. Well that would make for a handy little controller. Could slap 8 rotaries on it as well as 32 keys. :)
 
Last edited:

VR Mr Teatime

VR Mr Teatime
Iain M Norman said:
I've been wondering about something like this:

BU0836Apcb.png


http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836A/

It's a usb joystick controller with 8 axis and 32 buttons supported. Well that would make for a handy little controller. Could slap 8 rotaries on it as well as 32 keys. :)
Click to expand...

I've been using Leo's stuff for years in my GT Racing Simpit setup and for self-building I would recommend his components.

I've been thinking recently of building a full HOTAS from scratch specifically for E-D to replace my aging TM Cougar HOTAS - especially the throttle, which whilst fine for flying say an F16, could be better for the FA Off and "thrust vectoring" controls E-D uses (thinking along the lines of a combination of throttle and MMO style mouse). Luckily I have a 4 axis CNC mill/router and a 3D printer I can have a go at prototyping something on (when its not making other stuff).
 

LCplCombat

L
Mr Teatime said:
I've been using Leo's stuff for years in my GT Racing Simpit setup and for self-building I would recommend his components.

I've been thinking recently of building a full HOTAS from scratch specifically for E-D to replace my aging TM Cougar HOTAS - especially the throttle, which whilst fine for flying say an F16, could be better for the FA Off and "thrust vectoring" controls E-D uses (thinking along the lines of a combination of throttle and MMO style mouse). Luckily I have a 4 axis CNC mill/router and a 3D printer I can have a go at prototyping something on (when its not making other stuff).
Click to expand...

Have you been able to confirm that the BETA Client recognises inputs from the Bodnar board?
 

timbow

timbow
LCplCombat said:
Have you been able to confirm that the BETA Client recognises inputs from the Bodnar board?
Click to expand...

I can guarantee it does! My CH F-16 Fighterstick was an old Mac ADB (Mac's precursor to USB). The ADB controller was replaced with a Bodnar board. Works perfectly. To build a control panel you'll need to understand switch matrices and the use of diodes in them (not too difficult).
 

LCplCombat

L
timbow said:
I can guarantee it does! My CH F-16 Fighterstick was an old Mac ADB (Mac's precursor to USB). The ADB controller was replaced with a Bodnar board. Works perfectly. To build a control panel you'll need to understand switch matrices and the use of diodes in them (not too difficult).
Click to expand...

The client also needs to recognise the input. The DSD board I have is recognised by other games but not ED Beta.
 
Last edited:

LCplCombat

L
I hope you will forgive me if I said I was glad it didn't work :D

If you raise a ticket, and enough other players do too, they might do something about it.

I would hope that there would at least be support for the Raspberry Pi. How ironic would that be?
 

HoshiQaVam

H
The Arduino Leonardo would be perfect for this. It behaves as a HID compliant USB keyboard, so you shouldn't have any issues with it being detected by ED as it essentially emulates the key presses of whatever keyboard you already have plugged in (and also means you can replace it with your actual keyboard at any point) rather than being detected as an additional joystick.

It's my intent to build an entire dashboard which will be comprised of modular panels, allowing me to switch and change panels as and when, which uses a Leonardo in this way.

As an example for the kind of control panel, the landing gear panel would comprise of;
Landing Gear switch
Landing Gear status LEDs
Reset button for LEDs
Ship Light switch
Ship Light status LED
Reset button for LED

So when I press the landing gear switch, the Leonardo would emulate a keyboard button (i.e. the L key) which would be mapped in ED for raising/lowering the landing gear. The Leonardo (or another micro controller depending on how many panels I go with) would also switch the status LEDs on (lowered) or off (raised), with the reset button to reset the LEDs in case the panel and game become out of sync.

I could then have a whole series of these kinds of panels, limiting it to around 2 or 3 functions per-panel, with each panel maintaining a modular form factor so they can be swapped out. So for example, a Landing Gear panel as above, a Cargo panel (raise/lower cargo scoop, raise/lower fuel scoop, dump cargo), temperature control (raise/lower heatsink, stealth mode), flight control (Flight Assist on/off, Docking computer on/off), Energy management (power to systems, weapons, engines), Radio (quick comms, comms panel), Engines (Hyperdrive/Cruise, zero throttle, 1/4 throttle, full throttle) etc etc.
 

HoshiQaVam

H
As I posted above, it's my intent to create a series of custom built panels, so I decided to put together a prototype for a landing gear control.

The prototype consists of an Arduino Leonardo, a single LED, and a single button. When you press the button, the Arduino simulates the "L" key being pressed, which is mapped to landing gears in the game.

In addition to simulating "L", the Arduino flashes an LED to indicate that the gears are in transition, and will then stay lit when lowered or switch off when raised.

You can see a video of the prototype here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=777xsV39ym8

Obviously there will need to be reset switch for the LED as well, just in case the game and the control panel become out of sync, but the point here is to demonstrate how easy it is to control functions in-game with just an Arduino.
 

Walli

W
this sounds very interesting, I think when I finally put together my ED Tracker I also might investigate that topic.

By the way - does Elite "share" the status of landing gear, light and the like? Because when you would built a button/switch with status LED for the light for example, it pürobably would get confused, because the light is automatically turned off during supercruise.

So when building such panels - is it possible to detect the in-game status of such controls?
That also would be handy for roccat.
 

Rog

Rog
The game currently doesn't signal the status of (say) the landing gear, so an external LED indicator isn't a guarantee of up or down-ness.

I would suggest looking at an Arduino Pro-Micro for an even cheaper option (native USB), maybe coupled with the replacement (free) MMjoy firmware which is purpose built for external game controllers, with more options than you can shake a stick at. Has a nice standalone UI for configuration too.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3899105/1
 

HoshiQaVam

H
You're pretty safe with landing gears since you cant jump with them down so the panel and game getting out of sync is unlikely.

It's things like ship lights which are switched off during hyperspace that'd cause problems.

However, if you have a custom built hyperspace button, the arduino could do a quick check to switch off status lights when jumping.

Where syncing really becomes a problem is system crashes and being killed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom