3d-printed flight-panel design - feedback wanted

[MathCampbell]

Hey all;
I'm 2 years into building a full replica of the in-game joystick, flight panels & throttle; I have a build thread over in PC, ( https://forums.frontier.co.uk/posts/10169955/ ) but it's 6 pages long or so now and this will get buried in the thread, and I was wanting to get a bit more visibility for this one issue:
I'm designing the "button box" you see in-game next to the joystick. My question is this:
Do I change the text from the stuff seen in-game to useful markings, or leave them exactly "as is". The screenshot shows my current design which is what you see ingame, but I could change it to be more realistic eg. LGT for lights, CGO for cargo bay, LDG for landing gear etc etc.
Once the design is done I can get it printed, get the illumination put in, but I can't change the lettering once it's done, so I have to decide now...

Wanted your thoughts...

 

[Maro-Val]

Change the text to what the button will actually do.

 

[Cmdr Snuffler]

Could you 3d print "caps" for the buttons?
You may find when you use the button setup in anger that you want the cargo scoop and deploy hardpoints buttons switched around.

 

[Kaw-Liga PD]

I agree with other Cmdrs, change the text to highlight exactly what each button does in game,,,,very nice work btw

 

[MathCampbell]

Could you 3d print "caps" for the buttons?
You may find when you use the button setup in anger that you want the cargo scoop and deploy hardpoints buttons switched around.

Not really; the switches themselves will be mometary "flick" switches; I have all the hardware ready to install (though I do still need to design the PCB for this one; the left panel has take a lot longer cos it has a screen in it and needs a full computer to drive it)...
The illuminated bits of text are a light-guide linked to the LEDs underneath. They'll probably be neopixels, mostly cos I have a whole reel of them, they're easy to use as they only take one pin, and they're able to change colour etc if I want..
This means, depending on where i put them, I could even later on make the code read the status of the actual in-game thing (e.g the landing gear) and turn that light green when it's down, or the cargo bay red etc if it's open, whatever. That'll be alot of coding and later on, but I want to design the hardwqre now so I don't have to change it later.
But what that does mean is the light guides and the lettering need to be fixed now. If I printed the letters as "caps", the light won't travel properly, not to mention it will massively complicate my build...
Since I've been doing this project for two years as last week, I'm trying to keep things simple where I can. The entire area with the flick switches is one large transparent 3d printed piece; I will spray it black, then the raised areas of text/lines can be hit with a very light sandpaper and voila, illuminated text...

 

[MathCampbell]

OK, consensus seems to be saying change them to be useful...

So what should they be?
We've got 8 flick switches, then the 2 up/down rockers, then 2x 3 button things...
I was thinking the 3 button sets would be an obvious for target wingman 1/2/3, then navlock wingman, lock wingman target then I dunno for the third one...
The wheel is sensor zoom.
The up/down rockers, one could be next target/previous target? Then the other maybe cycle fire group/cycle target subsystems?

The 8 switches would be:
Shield Cell
Chaff
Heatsink
Silent Running
Lights
Landing Gear
Cargo Scoop
? No idea what he 8th should be

 

[Riverside]

OK, consensus seems to be saying change them to be useful...

I'll offer a counterpoint:

You are not building 'just' a game controller for a game, you are building an authentic set of cockpit controls from a fictional universe. Build them as they appear in the game, if you need a reminder of what in-game controls you have actually assigned them to use some removable stickers or a lookup keycard until you know them from memory. You may also decide to reassign them to something else.

tbf that panel looks like circuit breakers for various ship functions to me.

 

[MathCampbell]

I'll offer a counterpoint:

You are not building 'just' a game controller for a game, you are building an authentic set of cockpit controls from a fictional universe. Build them as they appear in the game, if you need a reminder of what in-game controls you have actually assigned them to use some removable stickers or a lookup keycard until you know them from memory. You may also decide to reassign them to something else.

tbf that panel looks like circuit breakers for various ship functions to me.

You make a fair point. I'm torn but I guiess if I make it game-accurate, I can change buttons as I need (based on when I'#m playing and find a button is too far away or I keep hitting that one etc etc), whereas if I make them "useful", if they're the wrong ones it'll be doubly annoying..