Jump to content

Custom hardware / simpit repository. For people who take KSP a little too far.


Mulbin

Recommended Posts

damn, looks like I've been slacking with my hardware modding for a while, compared to the awesomeness on this thread!

Inspiration fuel for sure... now I just need to recover the rest of my tools and some of my raw materials/spares and bits, and I'm sure I can pull something together... and should look interesting too :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
This is my project.

http://i.imgur.com/yPk2jyo.jpg

The buttons and switches on the left act as a USB keyboard, so no software is required. The two black mini-joysticks also act as keys IKJLHN for translation control.

For more details see my project thread. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65450-(WIP)-advice-requested-for-custom-control-and-display-console

That looks great! Added to the main post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the biggest hurdles I found is something soooooo silly that you would think it would be easy to find. And what is that? A plus/minus version of the seven segment display for use in a DSKY.

I've found some 14 segment displays that arrived today which are actually bigger than my seven segment displays but the actual character is 0.5mm smaller. Shouldn't be much of a problem though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Captian - would you mind sharing your Saitek X52 settings? I was about to start setting mine up for KSP when I saw your message. I DO have seperate rudder controls but don't think they would be nessesary for KSP.

Thanks.

Sorry for being late as crap with this. I've actually stopped using it for KSP. The reason is with a KSP-win glitch. The x52 has ultra-sensitive sensors that register some ungodly number of positions. win KSP will only register up to so many, and this cap is about a fourth of what an x52 has. As a result, you can push the stick tiny amounts and get full range of motion in the game. This was still an issue as of .22. Untested in .23. I was able to combat it to a degree with a lot of sensitivity lowering in both KSP and in the saitek control panel (plus some dead zone movement and some other things). It is my hope that since HarvesteR has one on his desk, that proper support for high end analog controls is coming soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for being late as crap with this. I've actually stopped using it for KSP. The reason is with a KSP-win glitch. The x52 has ultra-sensitive sensors that register some ungodly number of positions. win KSP will only register up to so many, and this cap is about a fourth of what an x52 has. As a result, you can push the stick tiny amounts and get full range of motion in the game. This was still an issue as of .22. Untested in .23. I was able to combat it to a degree with a lot of sensitivity lowering in both KSP and in the saitek control panel (plus some dead zone movement and some other things). It is my hope that since HarvesteR has one on his desk, that proper support for high end analog controls is coming soon.

By default, the X52 does seem to be way too sensitive, but you can drag the sensitivity sliders on the input settings down so they respond better. Those sliders affect the response curve, so you can have less response near the center, and still max out the axis at full deflection. Sliding to the left will make it less responsive. For the x52, I've found that you probably want it toned down to around 15% or so, except for the throttle axis, which should be kept linear (same for the rotaries).

In 0.23, there was an important bugfix done to joystick indexing, which affected axis mapping when multiple devices were present. That's much improved now, although there are more tweaks to do there still... like everything else.

As for recognizing the buttons, that's something we don't have much control over. Unity will read up to 20 buttons from a single device. The X52, IIRC, has 39 (everything counts, Hat switches, scroll wheels, even the mode switch), so several buttons won't be mappable directly in KSP... That's why all high end devices have profiling software, very few engines are able to read every single button on an input device.

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In 0.23, there was an important bugfix done to joystick indexing, which affected axis mapping when multiple devices were present. That's much improved now, although there are more tweaks to do there still... like everything else.

So fixes WERE made in .23. This is good! :D

As for recognizing the buttons, that's something we don't have much control over. Unity will read up to 20 buttons from a single device. The X52, IIRC, has 39 (everything counts, Hat switches, scroll wheels, even the mode switch), so several buttons won't be mappable directly in KSP... That's why all high end devices have profiling software, very few engines are able to read every single button on an input device.

Cheers

Yeah. That's a case of "why did you have to go with such an inept engine?" KSP would be amazing on something like Unreal 3. Perhaps something to think about after KSP 1.0.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, thank you all for this insight. Are you going to tell me I should have sticked (where did that pun come from?) to my two joystick concept instead of installing coordinate switches acting as keyboard keys?

Anyway, trying to work with two joysticks (and virtual devices) gave me some troublesome days and personally I wouldn't risk the frustration again. Still, a better input support would be great. But keep in mind what Monkey Squad is and what they aren't, so we shouldn't complain.

Regarding the X52 my recommendation is to stiffen the spring by preloading it. If you don't know what I mean: I put some washers between the spring and the handle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think because of various mistakes and not knowing what board to buy (the armchair aviator was a waste of money... especially with shipping to UK!) it probably cost about £150 ($240).. but Knowing what I know now I could probably have made it for about £75... possibly even less if I was patient to get all of my components from China. That's probably my biggest tip for building anything ambitious... buy components from Hong Kong. They are very reliable exporters and about a quarter of the price. No idea how cheap stuff is in America though, you might have better sources. In the UK you are looking at about 4 dollars per switch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey guys! Glad to see others have interest in these custom panels. Mulbin, thanks for giving my project some credit and sharing it on your post! I'll have to post a video of mine in action sometime. I have a couple different designs floating around in my head for the next one ... mainly a second joystick on the panel that controls only transitional movement. I don't know about you guys, but when i'm docking, i have one hand on the Pitch, Roll, and Yaw; and the other on transitional Left / Right, Up / Down, Forward / Back ... probably cause i suck though.

Anyway, if you guys have any questions, let me know. I would not object to the idea of building some of these for folks that would be interested in buying them (In all honestly, i'd love to do that). Just know ... they are time consuming projects, so they wouldn't be that cheap.

- Apache600

Here's a different angle of the same project that's pictured on the first page of this post

VAI7ISL.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...