Awesome ! Not for me, for my abilities, but great
Hardware & Technical The 'official' flight gadget thread! Let me show you its features!
- Thread starter lysan
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Awesome ! Not for me, for my abilities, but great
Hehe. ^^ I believe you, since I've had the experience of starting out with a X52 Pro, realizing I wanted something more solid and it all kind of escalated from there. TrackIR, CH HOTAS replacing X52, requires pedals leading to the MFG Crosswids purchase, all being not well suited for desk use "out of the box", resulting in converting the desk into a kind of "on demand" sim 'pit with extruded aluminium profiles, finally resulting in the upgrade to triple monitors, which is a bloody terrific experience.
Still, you're right. The peripheral hardware will serve me for some time to come, but getting barely 30 fps in DCS or downgrading DCS' visuals to Il2 1946 levels (exaggerated) to get a smooth framerate experience hampers enjoyment more than a few missing analogue inputs on the throttle. Not to mention that I suspect Virpil and VKB will take another couple of years to iron out their throttles' teething troubles.
The PC upgrade will however hurt a lot more than upgrading the throttle. I'm looking at CPU + GPU. That'll require a new mainboard, new RAM and whatnot. I'm essentially looking at a new PC build and it'll turn out a lot more expensive, even without the currently inflated prices due to the crypto currency mining craze. No idea what my wife would say, but she's put up with these escapades so far.
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Well, my X-55 throttle just keeled over... [sad] (Quelle surprise!)
Usual thing, wires split under both levers. I'm working up the courage to start soldering even as we speak- those wires are tiny!
The good news is my long haired admiral is really keen to buy me a replacement! [heart]
Bad news is the VKB is still a fantasy and it could be months before Virpil start shipping their throttle.
I've chanced my arm and asked Saitek support if they'll sell me a new wiring loom, but I'd be very surprised if they do. Why bother, if it forces me to buy another HOTAS?
So I'm going with Plan A- bodge a repair now, hang on/keep tinning wire until VKB release their throttle and see if I can save up enough to buy a "VKB-Sim Gunfighter Pro Mk.II ‘Modern Combat Edition’ w/ MCG PRO Grip" s-stick and grip to go with it. Catchy name- not!
Plan B is the same, but with Virpil kit. I'm not sold on the Virpil desk mount system. It's great for regular gamers, but I've spent a lot of time, effort and cash on my simpit; I want the HOTAS to match my rig and sit in the right places, not look and feel like I've just tacked it on. Still, if VKB can't sort their EU web site out it might be the better option.
Usual thing, wires split under both levers. I'm working up the courage to start soldering even as we speak- those wires are tiny!
The good news is my long haired admiral is really keen to buy me a replacement! [heart]
Bad news is the VKB is still a fantasy and it could be months before Virpil start shipping their throttle.
I've chanced my arm and asked Saitek support if they'll sell me a new wiring loom, but I'd be very surprised if they do. Why bother, if it forces me to buy another HOTAS?
So I'm going with Plan A- bodge a repair now, hang on/keep tinning wire until VKB release their throttle and see if I can save up enough to buy a "VKB-Sim Gunfighter Pro Mk.II ‘Modern Combat Edition’ w/ MCG PRO Grip" s-stick and grip to go with it. Catchy name- not!
Plan B is the same, but with Virpil kit. I'm not sold on the Virpil desk mount system. It's great for regular gamers, but I've spent a lot of time, effort and cash on my simpit; I want the HOTAS to match my rig and sit in the right places, not look and feel like I've just tacked it on. Still, if VKB can't sort their EU web site out it might be the better option.
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Hehe. ^^ I believe you, since I've had the experience of starting out with a X52 Pro, realizing I wanted something more solid and it all kind of escalated from there. TrackIR, CH HOTAS replacing X52, requires pedals leading to the MFG Crosswids purchase, all being not well suited for desk use "out of the box", resulting in converting the desk into a kind of "on demand" sim 'pit with extruded aluminium profiles, finally resulting in the upgrade to triple monitors, which is a bloody terrific experience.
Still, you're right. The peripheral hardware will serve me for some time to come, but getting barely 30 fps in DCS or downgrading DCS' visuals to Il2 1946 levels (exaggerated) to get a smooth framerate experience hampers enjoyment more than a few missing analogue inputs on the throttle. Not to mention that I suspect Virpil and VKB will take another couple of years to iron out their throttles' teething troubles.
The PC upgrade will however hurt a lot more than upgrading the throttle. I'm looking at CPU + GPU. That'll require a new mainboard, new RAM and whatnot. I'm essentially looking at a new PC build and it'll turn out a lot more expensive, even without the currently inflated prices due to the crypto currency mining craze. No idea what my wife would say, but she's put up with these escapades so far.
Just kiss her and tell her you love her, and it will all be alright!
you have to mean it of course My PC is build around a now old MOBO X79, 32GB RAM slow 1800 GHz with a 1080 GPU.
It can run everything I throw at it, so you don't need a super expensive PC build, just good enough to run a top of the line GPU.
Force Feedback Yoke
[video=youtube;STh0SSwWij0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STh0SSwWij0[/video]
[video=youtube;aMRwEUq8uko]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMRwEUq8uko[/video]
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Just kiss her and tell her you love her, and it will all be alright!
My PC is build around a now old MOBO X79, 32GB RAM slow 1800 GHz with a 1080 GPU.
It can run everything I throw at it, so you don't need a super expensive PC build, just good enough to run a top of the line GPU.
Yeah, I'll do it at some point, once prices for the components aren't ridiculously inflated anymore. But I'll be probably doing it one after another. Would be interesting to know what bottlenecks my PC more for the triple screen, CPU or GPU.
Of course where else would you place it
Well, depends... If I were building a new house (and it looks like we are), it'll be a dedicated play room. The kids are getting a "toy pit". Basically, a sunken section of the floor, with stairs (that are actually drawers for toy storage), and a pit large enough to play in, build stuff, and have fun, but small enough to be out of the way (about 4sqm). The simpit will likely be in the same room. This will mean I can "supervise" the kids, whilst flying in ED or DCS.
In theory...
Z...
I'd be doing a VR headset, or a large curved screen (the ONLY use for a curved screen in a domestic setting is as a monitor).
I think you'll find HMD's will develop quite well in the next 12 months...
Z...
Now that you mention it, VR headsets may have more applications, but could still be considered flight gadgets for the purpose of this thread, right?
But no, I've just build the triple screen setup and the VR headset's advantages aren't enough for me to go for one just yet - not even for the Vive Pro. The horizontal viewport is more limited than on the triple screens, the framerate requirements pose an additional burden on the hardware, I can't use my mouse+keyboard as easily wearing one and older games don't properly support them in the first place. On top of that, the most important advantage of the VR headsets for me, headtracking, I've already been enjoying thanks to TrackIR.
I'll get one eventually. But the prospect of spending as much on high(er) end PC hardware in the coming year or two thoroughly sours me on the idea of getting a VR headset on top anytime soon. Also the immature nature of VR headsets tells me, that aiming for a HOTAS upgrade after the PC upgrade rather than a VR headset will be a much more lasting investment than a VR set. I'd probably want to upgrade a VR headset again within two years, since the next generation will have again improved considerably.
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DP but whatever. Virpil's throttle is apparently entering production. Release scheduled for the end of 2018.:
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Something to keep in mind as Elite player: The first release of the throttle will apparently lack the thumbstick. I'd wager we won't see the thumbstick version in 2018 then. This is what someone from Virpil said on reddit:
vpc_virpil said:The first version will not have an analogue stick.
We will follow up with an analogue thumbstick version shortly afterwards
Ha - beat me to it! Looks quite promising, just waiting for the thumbstick version to be shown....
Z...
The rep on the DCS forums reckoned the difference will be about a month - I'm not counting on that, but if it's within 6 months, I'll be pretty happy. My CH Pro throttle is doing the trick for now, but I'd like a proper throttle that I can use with DCS and ED as one unit, the Warthog throttle sucks for ED, and the CH Pro throttle sucks for DCS...
Z...
I reckon that their end of 2018 plan may again turn out to be ambitious and resolving the teething troubles might then take into 2019.
There's just something I don't get with Virpil - their attachment to sticking less versatile inputs on their devices than they could and imo should. The T50 stick has just a button on the thumb rest. Why? I don't care if Russian fighters also only have a single button there, the "high-end" sticks we're familiar with, namely CH Fighter stick and Warthog have a 4 way hat there. If they'd have wanted to cover both bases, a 4way clickable hat would've emulated both. Since they went for the button, their stick is not a straight upgrade anymore. That leads to such fantastic contraptions.
The same goes again for their throttle. What looks like all 4way hats due to their texture, are in fact 2 4way and 2 2way hats:
I see no reason not to go for 4way hats. Virpil representative on reddit answered this to a complaint that this doesn't match the Warthog's throttle in functionality:
Remember - there already exists a throttle for the A-10C, we're trying to do something different
Meh... Doesn't affect me directly, but really, I consider the unintuitive lack of inputs unnecessary annoyance.
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I'd agree with you there. It makes no sense to not use 4 way hats and give more control at the fingertips. I have pretty much gone to using the Warthog grip on my T50 base, as I find it a better grip to use - purely due to the 4 way + push hat at the thumb. If the VIrpil had that, it would be my grip of choice.
The MCG, of course has this, but has two analog sticks, where I'd ave preferred at least one of those to also be a 4 way hat, I can't imagine how I'd use 2 x analog sticks on a grip.
As always, never a single perfect solution...
Z...
You can configure them as button presses if you want. The software is crazy powerful.