Hardware & Technical Volair Sim Cockpit/3 Monitors/Interchangeable Setups

[Brian of Ardagh]

I've decided to invest in a true cockpit for gaming to include ED on the PC and Xbox as well as racing/driving on the Xbox. Once I have things figured out I'll post some pictures but for now I've ordered and received the Volair Sim cockpit along with the armrests. I custom built a PC for ED a few years ago and recently upgraded to an EVGA GTX 1070 FTW video card and also bought the Xbox One X when it came out. I play ED on both the PC and Xbox and use racing simulators on the Xbox. What I haven't liked is not having a single unified gaming location, or at least something with some easy interchangeability. I had my PC at an "L" desk and the Xbox across the room with a wall mounted monitor, it was always a bit of a pain switching between the two. The PC setup wasn't too bad, I used the MonsterTech mounts for the HOTAS. I'll probably be selling those, I have plates for the Saitek X56 and the Thrustmaster Warthog. I also have some CH Products pedals that I'll sell, I hated them from day one, couldn't stand the clunky banging and spring noise.

Starting with the Volair Sim cockpit I'm planning on 3 monitors, the Xbox only supports a single monitor so the main middle monitor will be a 42" HDTV for the Xbox and ED. For now the 2 side monitors will be 24" 1920x1200 HP monitors I already own. In ED they will support a variety of apps and webpages for information purposes; I'm thinking EDDiscovery on one monitor, webpages and/or Crunchyroll on the other. The Volair Sim monitor mounts are just barely wide enough to support the 42" TV and 2 24" monitors but they will fit. If ED supported 3 monitor setups like some flight simulators I'd consider a unified desktop with 3 similar sized monitors and use a laptop or iPad for the informational displays.

The biggest difficulty will be supporting the variety of controllers I'll want to use interchangeably.

For ED on the PC I'll have a HOTAS, currently the Saitek X56, a TrackIR, a wireless keyboard and wireless trackball and an Xbox headset with mic. I also bought a Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS and the MFG Crosswind Pedals for future use once I've figured out how I want to configure them. For ED on the Xbox I bought the Thrustmaster T.Flight One and I will want to change between the PC HOTAS and the Xbox HOTAS. I'll be buying additional side mounts to permanently mount the different joystick and throttle setups.

For racing on the Xbox I have a Logitech G920 wheel, pedals and shifter. The cockpit base plate is predrilled for the racing pedals but switching to the MFG Crosswind rudder pedals will require a custom setup. I'm hoping to buy a 2nd base plate which I can use to mount the rudder pedals and just switch out the base plate. Rather than use the provided bolts I plan on using pins that than be pulled quickly.

If all goes well I hope to use the Logitech steering wheel to drive the SRV as well, although I won't be using the racing pedals but the rudder pedals should suffice.

And, yes all of this is a lot of money. Normally I don't bother telling my wife if I buy things, I handle the finances. In this case though I did, since it was expensive, she said I was worth it so it was okay.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

I may have to block you in the future![big grin]


you most likely have, But tell your wife. That you think she's' the best thing in your life.[heart]

Thanks, I do tell her that, just about every day.

Although, I guess it sounds like I went out and just bought all this stuff recently. The Volair cockpit was just ordered but most of the rest of the stuff was bought gradually over the last few years. We decided to treat ourselves to the new Xbox One X consoles, we pre-ordered one for each of us for Xmas. We play a lot of ESO together, she's got about 300 more hours playing it than I do.

I will have to spend a bit more though, I need to buy a few more mounts from Volair so I can attach a few of the devices. I also bought a 27" 2k monitor from NewEgg, to replace one of the 24" ones I'm using on the cockpit. They were having a sale, $100 off, so I couldn't pass it up.

 

[Bill Clement]

Congrats on the new simpit, Commander! It's probably the best purchasing decision you'll ever make. Whether it's immersion or just ergonomics, the improvement over a desk is astonishing. And unlike all our fancy electronics, the pit will last indefinitely.

-Bill, very happy and satisfied owner of a Pagnian Next Level Flight Simulator Cockpit.

 

[Forcit]

Will be very nice. Good with a rig that can hold all the equipment that you will be using without having to remove and put back all the time.

I was thinking about getting something that moves a bit and stumbled on to Dof Reality, looking like some good functions for not a terrible high price. But time will tell. So much other stuff I need to get first.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Congrats on the new simpit, Commander! It's probably the best purchasing decision you'll ever make. Whether it's immersion or just ergonomics, the improvement over a desk is astonishing. And unlike all our fancy electronics, the pit will last indefinitely.

-Bill, very happy and satisfied owner of a Pagnian Next Level Flight Simulator Cockpit.

That looks like a pretty nice cockpit, a bit of a step up from the Volair Sim.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Will be very nice. Good with a rig that can hold all the equipment that you will be using without having to remove and put back all the time.

I was thinking about getting something that moves a bit and stumbled on to Dof Reality, looking like some good functions for not a terrible high price. But time will tell. So much other stuff I need to get first.

All I can say on the DOF Reality is wow! It's not cheap but it looks worth it.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Over the Memorial Day weekend I was able to assemble most (maybe 1/2) of the cockpit, I don't yet have the gaming equipment or monitors mounted. Mounting the seat wasn't easy, had to install the machine screws and nuts upside down, the nuts are listed as captive once dropped in to the sliders but aren't, the flange is too large. So you have to drop the machine screws through the top of the seat sliders and attach the nuts from the bottom. A socket wrench is useful here.

I'm waiting for some accessories at this point before I can finish or at least make progress.

My replacement 27" 2k monitor will arrive tomorrow so I can steal my 24" display from the desk. I measured out how far the 2 24" monitors will be and at 32" from my eyes they are readable although playing while wearing my computer glasses will help a lot.

I've asked Volair if they can sell a spare rudder base plate, looks like they might, waiting for a sales order and confirmation. I'll then order that and extra side mounts for different attachments. I've also ordered longer DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB extension cables as well as some 6 mm quick release pins. The pins should allow me to quick mount the two different base plates with the choice of rudder and racing pedals. My only concern here is if the pins are too loose the plate will shift while playing, I might have to come up with some workaround.

One difficulty is changing USB cables from PC to Xbox, it wouldn't be an issue if all of my games were on the PC but needing to switch between PC and Xbox complicates things a little. What I plan to do is run a single cable per device if the device is interchangeable and then short USB extension cables to the PC and Xbox, that way I only have to switch the USB cable from PC to Xbox USB extension cable. The most complicated cabling will be the steering wheel, shifter and pedals. I want the shifter and pedals to be removable while leaving the steering wheel in place, normally the pedals and shifter connect to the steering wheel and the steering wheel requires separate power. The Logitech G920 will work with a PC, I'm not sure if it will work with ED though, I haven't tested this.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Okay, so I got the 43" center monitor mounted but my measurements were off and the 43" is too wide to accommodate the 24" monitors side by side. I could attach a wall mount to the cockpit monitor mount and make it fit but I think the 43" is too large given the 1080p resolution and the closeness of the monitor, especially using it with the Xbox. I find it's just not comfortable to play that close, oddly enough the 43" was fine when playing ED on the PC at even closer range.

I've decided to buy a 32" 4k monitor as my center monitor, this should work well with the Xbox and PC. That isn't the best 4k monitor in the world but it's affordable and has internal speakers. I usually play with headphones on both platforms but there are just times when speakers are useful.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since I last posted about this project! It took awhile to get the 32" 4k monitor as well as the extra pedal plate but I've run into issues with my proposed all-in-one design idea.

I have pictures I'll post soon and go over the design issues at that time. For now I'll just mention that one big issue was that, with certain Xbox games, the location and position of the center monitor in the cockpit was less than ideal. We decided it was time to buy a 65" 4k TV for the living room, after that I got my 50" 1080p monitor back in my office. For the Xbox I've decided to only use the 50" monitor and I'll skip playing ED on the Xbox. I had planned to play driving games like Forza 7 on the Xbox with the cockpit in driving mode but a better choice will be to play those games on the PC under Windows 10.

All of this means the design for the cockpit is simplified as I will only need to switch it from flight to driving on the PC, no need to also deal with the Xbox.

I'll post again soon with details of the challenges I've run into with mounting and modifying parts of the cockpit to work with my setup. I'll have some photos posted on imgur to go along with the post.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

So I've been able to upload some photos that will help explain what I'm doing with my Volair Sim cockpit. It's currently a bit further along than the pictures make it seem, part of the delay is getting the right parts/hardware/etc. to make the changes I want.

Here's a basic side view of the cockpit, I have since attached the armrests:

Spoiler

One issue I've run into is that the central monitor's VESA pattern is about 3/4 of the way up on the back, not centered like most monitors. As you can see in the photo, this puts the central monitor much lower than the 2 24" side monitors. I thought I'd be okay with this but my neck arthritis limits my range of head movements. I'm going to buy 2 articulating wall mounts from ErgoTron and mount them on the cockpit monitor arms, this will give me a lot of flexibility in the location of the side monitors. I can then lineup the monitors more easily as well as pull them up or down as well as closer to me.

Here's a close up of the monitors:

Spoiler

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Another change I made to the Volair Sim cockpit was that I wanted to quick change the pedals from flight to driving, this meant buying a 2nd pedal base plate. One problem here is that the machine screws and nuts used to mount the pedal base plate are very inaccessible once installed, to get around that issue I used 1/4" quick release pins in place of the machine screws. That caused an issue with the plate being loose and banging in use. To solvethis problem I found a way to put rubber bumpers where the plate meets the frame.

I found some heavy duty anti-skid bumpers and mounted them on 5/8" square dowels, securing the dowels into the base plate's square reinforcement channels.

Here's how they look before drilling and securing:

Spoiler

and after securing:

Spoiler

and how they work and look when installed:

Spoiler

I had to do this to both base plates which are now tight when installed using the quick change pins.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

This will be my last post for now and it's about mounting the MFG Crosswind flight pedals as well as the Logitech driving pedals that go with the G920 driving wheel.

To start with, the Logitech pedals mount on the base plate with pre-drilled holes, so that was easy. They connect, along with the shifter, to the steering wheel using a DB9 connector, to make that interchangeable I'll need to make or find some DB9 extension cables. The steering wheel will be permanently mounted on the "work table" that can be seen in earlier photos, the pedals and shifter have to come off for flight, the steering wheel stays for SRV driving. The MFG Crosswind pedals serve as accelerator and brake. I might change my mind on the bindings once I've tried it out a bit.

The MFG mounting was a bit more difficult. There were no pre-drilled holes and the pedals are too large to fit easily. I drilled 4 holes in the base plate to match up with 4 countersunk holes in the MFG base. In order to mount the pedals I had to find the right combination of location, spacing and tilt on the base plate. The MFGs have optional spacers and blocks to accommodate different widths. I used block to raise the pedal feet, move them closer to the center and pivot the feet outward at the top. This took a few hours as most combinations were either too close, jamming my legs up or caused the pedal feet to scrape the cockpit frame.

Here's the finished mounting:

Spoiler

Nothing hits the cockpit frame when in use:

Spoiler

The tolerance is tight if the toe brakes are used and the rudder is put to the stops but nothing hits:

Spoiler

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Only a few things to add, I spent most of the weekend trying to figure out all the details of how I was going mount everything, heights and other location things. I came to the conclusion that trying to switch between driving and ED wasn't going to work. If I mount the racing wheel it will block the lower portion of the main monitor. I can't put the main monitor too high as my neck arthritis will make playing a torturous affair. I was also struggling with the location of the Thrustmaster MFDs, I really wanted them in the middle where the racing wheel is.

Getting rid of the racing setup meant I was more free to place things where I need them and not make compromises.

I was waiting for a 12" 1920x1080 monitor and another ErgoTron wall mount to arrive, they came on Friday. I had to do more drilling to mount the ErgoTron arm for the last monitor. I was still trying to figure out how to mount the 12" monitor on the worktable but I had bought a very sturdy table mount that I cannibalized and attached to the worktable, more drilling yay!

The 12" monitor will act as a backing video display for the MFDs, I spent the entire Sunday cutting and trimming some 3mm PVC sheeting to use behind the monitors. I think it looks pretty good. On the display will be two MFD windows using Robert Maynard's journal Status display. I also have to give a shout out to NC Sarg for the ED Inserts thread that started the whole idea.

Spoiler

Now that the 3 ErgoTron arms are attached I have a very flexible display setup and can adjust the distance, height and tilt of all 3 monitors. The Volair Sim cockpit isn't extremely sturdy so the monitors can shake a bit but I don't think I'll mind, it's rather minor. Foregoing the monitor mounting on the chair and mounting them on my wall would have been better/sturdier but I'd rather not go that route and make more holes in my walls. The Volair Sim chair is far from perfect, if you can afford more I'd say go for it.

I still have a lot to do, I still need to get the PC and peripherals connected, configure the Status Display, and program the Thrustmaster TARGET software for the Warthog HOTAS and MFDs. I won't be using Aussiedroid's wonderful TARGET script but his thread is what got me started down this path for the cockpit a while ago. I plan to roll my own, albeit, simpler configuration.

Finally, if you are still reading, I haven't given up on a racing setup. I moved my Xbox One X from the 50" monitor on the wall and onto my desk with the 27" 2k monitor. It turns out that the display has the same apparent width as the 50" 1080 monitor as I'm much closer. I can mount the racing wheel to the desk and while it's no simpit, I can still race. I think I can even mount the shifter to the desk using one of the MonsterTech table mounts.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

I've made a bit more progress in finishing my cockpit. There have been a few setbacks, I keep finding that I'm missing one thing or another, requiring that I order something I need and have to wait. Then there's my health which isn't the best and tends to slow my progress. This weekend I put my hand in a tool draw only to find a razor scraper, slicing my index finger, deep. No stitches but I couldn't do a lot of cable pulling or dressing with the finger bandaged up. It nicked a small vein causing a lot of blood loss but it has healed remarkably well. I cut it on Saturday and after barely 4 days it looks like a paper cut.

Here's a photo of the cockpit in the light:

Spoiler

Here's the cockpit with the lights off:

Spoiler

I haven't dressed the video cables for the 3 12" monitors, or the USB cables for the MFD, throttle, joystick or pedals yet, that's the reason for the tangled mess of cables in the picture. I'm running most of the USB cables to a 7 port USB 3.0 hub mounted next to the joystick. Each USB hub has a switch that will let me reset the attached device if needed. Although the hub is USB 3.0, the devices getting attached to the hub are USB 2.0, I don't think I'll run into any issues. The TrackIR will go direct to the PC, I haven't decided on the pedals yet.

Once I've completed the cabling, the next steps will be programming the Target software, configuring the display behind the MFDs, and deciding what information I want on the auxiliary displays. For now they are mostly mocked up so as to show something.

I've also ordered a 3rd party replacement for the slew control on the Warthog throttle. It won't ship until after October but I'm looking forward to finer control over the vertical and lateral thrusters with this device.

 

[Brigetiol1]

Hi,

Looks great! Monitors, monitors, monitors... I have now 5 attached, now tweaking hard because of CPU/GPU usage.

I used TARGET earlier, now I'm using VoiceAttack. TARGET's cool feature was the possibility to control the LEDs and backlights of the MFDs, but I sacrificed this for the more deep-level possibilities of VA. For me the greatest advantage is, that VA can handle event and status variables, and give game related vocal responses, or run different macros depending on the situation.

Keep up with the good work, and watch your fingers!

Best regards!

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Hi,

Looks great! Monitors, monitors, monitors... I have now 5 attached, now tweaking hard because of CPU/GPU usage.

I used TARGET earlier, now I'm using VoiceAttack. TARGET's cool feature was the possibility to control the LEDs and backlights of the MFDs, but I sacrificed this for the more deep-level possibilities of VA. For me the greatest advantage is, that VA can handle event and status variables, and give game related vocal responses, or run different macros depending on the situation.

Keep up with the good work, and watch your fingers!

Best regards!

I spent a good few days trying to balance out my monitors, I ended up with 4 of the 6, the auxiliary monitors, on my GTX 960. All are running 1920x1080p and the GPU is pretty much idling. The remaining 2 are the 4k main monitor and the other 12" running the Status app to provide a display for the MFDs. They are on the GTX 1070 Ti and are running about 50% usage in space, in a station they go to about 80%. I used EVGA's OC app to profile the GTX 1070 Ti and it's running cooler and quieter than stock, especially in the station.

I've considered VA but I guess I'm old school, not really a big fan of talking to my computer. For me Target's main feature is configurable joystick and throttle curves. I want to be able to switch between a 0-100% forward, a -100% to +100% and a -50% to +50% throttle curve when I choose. I'd also like to change the curves for the slew control so that lateral thrusters are limited and vertical down thrust is limited while keeping vertical up thrust full.

The Target software is pretty programmable, not sure if it beats VA but if you haven't seen what Aussiedroid has done with it, you should take a look.

 

[jmp470]

I would look into the Samsung 49” gaming monitor for that setup. I love mine, the only down side is it’s not 4K. But, testing it next to my 43” 4K, I didn’t see a difference.

 

[Brigetiol1]

Hi,

I'll check out Aussiedroid's profile, but I'm afraid a bit, because my favourite military plane is the A10, and there is the possibility to buy its high-end replica Hotas... It is already very hard to resist. If you go with TARGET, I'd recommend to play a bit with the Cougars' LEDs and backlight. I wrote a macro for Take-off in TARGET, and while the ship was prepared for the undocking, there was some blinking and flashing with those lights, it was very immersive! Maybe I will combine TARGET and VA, theoretically it should be possible.

Best regards!

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Hi,

I'll check out Aussiedroid's profile, but I'm afraid a bit, because my favourite military plane is the A10, and there is the possibility to buy its high-end replica Hotas... It is already very hard to resist. If you go with TARGET, I'd recommend to play a bit with the Cougars' LEDs and backlight. I wrote a macro for Take-off in TARGET, and while the ship was prepared for the undocking, there was some blinking and flashing with those lights, it was very immersive! Maybe I will combine TARGET and VA, theoretically it should be possible.

Best regards!

I have the Warthog and yes it was expensive. I hadn't considered using the Target software to blink the MFD LEDs and backlights during undocking, thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it.

 

[Brigetiol1]

Hi,

I have the T16000 Hotas, at the moment, started Elite with a T-flight Hotas X. I prefer to improve things step by step, to make sure, that my money goes to the right place. I am this cautious type . But this way, I have always a 'next step' to dream about .

Best regards!