totm june 2019 Custom hardware / simpit repository. For people who take KSP a little too far.

[richfiles]

20 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

Where has @Mulbin gone?

According to his comments elsewhere, he's been over here http://www.goforlaunch.co.uk

Edited March 10, 2016 by richfiles

[Matuchkin]

On 15/11/2015 at 5:31 PM, Fluburtur said:

Im totally making a MK1/Rafale cockpit when I have money

Throttle on the left, ministick on the right and a control screen in the center

Yes, but what if you have to fly rockets? That's an immersion breaker.

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/CSM06_Command_Module_Overview_pp39-52.pdf

Start reading, start planning.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Matuchkin

[richfiles]

7 hours ago, jhorts said:

Thank you so much. I'm brand new to both Arduino and interfacing with a computer, but I understand the theory of all this. An OLED display is the way to go by far, but since we are talking about building gauges you can probably answer this as well. Referring to a single wheel based tape meter or an avionics altimeter, it seems that a servo would not be able to to do consecutive full rotations, but provides feedback that seems necessary for accurate measurement on gauges. Stepper motors have the ability to do multiple full rotations, but lack that feedback back into the system. Even with a reel based tape gauge, you would have to gear it down quite a bit to prevent a servo from needing to rotate more than 360 degrees. Would this be a necessary concern when building actual gauges, or am I off base?

I suppose people with a hobby background and people in industrial/aerospace motor industries have different ideas of what "servos" are. The cheap hobby servo is typically a 1/2 to 3/4 rotation proportional motor that uses a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal to set it from one extreme to the other and anywhere between.

In the industrial setting, a servo is any motor with an integral feedback system that allows for either speed, torque, or proportional controls. Such motors can be free spinning, or can have range limits. The simplest servo, by industry definition, is slapping an encoder on the end most gears of a gearbox with a plain DC motor rotating it, and driving it with a controller. Most modern inkjet printers now do this, instead of using steppers, as it is cheaper, and works just fine. You also still get high speeds out of it.

Steppers are still quite affordable, and have simple controllers and libraries on the Arduino. You can also attach an encoder to one, and get precise feedback. Thing is, you can do it even more cheaply, by just using a photo-interuptor (it's a part with a slot. One side has an infrared LED, and the other a phototransistor). You can index your wheel, so when it passes the "home" position, the arduino can double check it's stepper counts against the index signal. If the stepper has slipped, then it can reset the stepper count to zero, thus resetting the error. When you power up (or reset a flight), you would spin the stepper till it reaches home, so it always knows where it is at. You can actually make a cheap encoder by using a photo interrupter with a wheel with evenly spaced holes. It might not have super resolution, but if all you need is to have it know were the next number is, then that's all you need. You can do a count style encoder, where you just count pulses, or you can carefully position two photo interrupters to try to create a quadrature encoder. This has the benefit of being able to tell direction of rotation. Even a low resolution home-made encoder will still give you enough resolution to step from number to number, probably even half step betws if you do it right.

Sometimes, salvage is a great way to come up with workable ideas. a good possible source for a wheel would be an old analog stereo with the long tuner window and a pointer that slides back and forth when you rotate a knob. Inside those is a set of pulleys. When you rotate the knob, you are spooling a cord back and forth over those pulleys. See how it's put together. If you JUST want the wheel, you can salvage that, and could probably even belt drive it with a small DC motor. The wheel will already have a groove for the cord, thus will work with a pulley. Print a strip of numbers on a piece of thick paper or plastic (if your printer supports printing on plastic) and hot glue it to the edge of the wheel, and you have a rotary number dial, made with entirely scavenged parts! You could also steel the capstan wheel from an old VCR. It too has a pulley designed for a rubber belt,a dn a precision bearing. It also has an integrated motor, but it's designed to spin fast, not slow, so it's not suitable for the gauge application. What you can do is have another slower motor, with a small pulley (probably also salvaged front he same VCR), and you can then drive the capstan from an external motor. Attach the number strip with hot glue in the same way, and you're set. Bonus points if you can find the signal for the hall effect sensor in the capstan motor, as you can then use that as your index too!

Making actual tape meters... A lot harder... Although, if you did it right, you MIGHT be able to repurpose the previously mentioned stereo tuner as one, if you can affix a tape to the cord, without disrupting the cord.

[Mulbin]

Apologies guys, I've hardly had time to look at the forums recently!  Moved house, renovating house, new design job, part time game development.  Not had a chance to touch ksp in months and my control panel is still in storage!

I'll get on this thread next week and update the main post with people's projects etc.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Mulbin

[richfiles]

So, I've had this part sitting in my workshop for over a month, almost two, but I finally did the mod, to see how it looked... I LIKE! 


So, there's still room for improvement. I have not made the skirt yet, nor drilled a hole for a retaining screw (the knob has a threaded hole, so not really meant for rotary switches, but that's easily remedied by simply drilling it out). I also don't have paint for it. I want to get a good metallic aluminum finish paint to make it look right. I also still need to get some fine grit sand paper to give it a better surface finish (and prep the smooth parts for paint). I also need to drill out the slot and fill it with epoxy, so light will shine through it. I don't think the neighbors will appreciate if I continue work after midnight! 

Compared to the original design...

Ain't that a beautiful glow... So bright and shiny! 

Anyway, the mod was SUPER simple! I used a saw and a file to cut out chunks of the knob, which was a stock part at my local hardware store. I finished the shaping with a file. It was all done by eye, no measurements.




So, that's it for now. This knob was DEFINITELY something I wanted on my panel, no matter what it took. It'll be used to select the vector to display on the crosshairs of my FDAI "navball". It'll have Positions for "Grade", "Radial", "Normal", "Target" and "Node". A toggle will select between "Pro" and "Anti/Retro". In all likelihood, it'll be the only rotary switch on the entire panel, but I'm GONNA have one, and it's GONNA look right! 

[JTpopcorn]

I have been wondering if it would be easier for a beginner to use a keyboard emulator rather than the ksp code, which would also more easily allow transfer to other games.

Would a teensy or arduino be better or more user friendly for this application?

Finally, is their a way to effectively make/mod/buy an off off switch, which sends a pulse while it is being toggled.

Or would it be easier to just code it into the arduino?

[richfiles]

A quick thought from work, on my phone... I think I know how to properly do my meters. The solution to backlighting them is not EL strips. EL was great for Apollo, as each ship would fly for 2 weeks or less and be retired or discarded. EL can fade over time. LEDs ARE the definite way to go, but getting sufficient diffusion was the issue.

I realize the issue is an opaque backing plastic beneath the scale legends. The solution is simple: Cut it off. Literally cut out the curved plastic that the legends mount to and replace it with a bit of heat curved plexi. Then all I have to do is put an LED inside the meter housing, and it'll just shine through and backlight the scale legends!

I can do that with my dremel tool, but I MUST be absolutely careful not to damage the pointers. The shafts are graphite. That helps them be light, so they can move more responsively, but they are also as fragile as the lead of a mechanical pencil! 

But yeah... that's my solution. I just gotta cut out the entire front of the internal housing of a meter worth around $80... Each! Nothing much! 

Edited March 14, 2016 by richfiles
Edited for "entry errors": Phone screen "keyboards" are made of evil. Pure unadulterated evil.

[richfiles]

So, a few build updates on my rotary knob. I got the thing slightly better shaped (I may still work on that, a little bit more), and I found a fender washer that's about the same diameter as the knob. I'll drill out the center of the fender washer so the knob can pass through it. I'll drill a hole for the light pipe hole, and then epoxy it, filling the pointer slot and underlying hole, so light spill from beneath the knob will illuminate the pointer mark.

That was done with just an X-Acto knife and a drill!


I drilled the bottom out just enough to barely pass through the groove I cut with the X-Acto blade. I then lengthened and deepened the slot with the blade till it was clear.


Here is the fender washer. It's the same size as the knob. It's perspective that makes it look smaller. Once flush with the bottom of the knob's handle, it'll look right. When it's all assembled, I'll paint it with a metallic paint to complete the look. Like I said... I'll still probably file it a bit more. It looks just a hair lopsided. 


Here's the money shot. Threw an LED under it to really let the illuminated slot stand out.


I REALLY like the illuminated slot. It seems there were different versions of these knobs. I've seen a solid aluminum knob with a skirt sized larger than the knob handle, and a simple hole drilled in the pointer end of the skirt. That hole in the skirt is what is illuminated from underneath to indicate the knob position. That handle of that style knob is solid aluminum and appears to have set screws on the side, and is prominently seen in the Command Module photos. It's also what I tend to see copied in reproductions most often, and is probably the more iconic look. I prefer it's shape.

The other style knob I have noticed, seems more prevalent in the Lunar Excursion Module's instrument panel. It's a more complex knob, that appears to be made from multiple components, and has a screw set on the top in the center. There appears to be a plate of some kind that covers a portion of the top, and there is a slot in the pointer end that is illuminated by spill light from the electroluminescent nomenclature panels beneath. I prefer this illuminated pointer style.

What I'm creating, is essentially a best of both worlds amalgamation of the two knob styles. THe shape and solid body will be more reminiscent of the CM knobs, but the pointer illumination will be modeled on the more complex LM knob.

in all honestly... If I ever actually FIX my mill, I'm just gonna redo this thing from aluminum and probably ditch this knob. If I ever sat down to clear the quill gearing of debris, I'd probably have a working mill in a third of the effort this knob is taking to saw, file, drill, and cut by hand... 

Edited March 15, 2016 by richfiles

[JTpopcorn]

Nice, that would make a really good mode switcher, from flying, docking, staging.

[richfiles]

On March 10, 2016 at 6:15 AM, JTpopcorn said:

I have been wondering if it would be easier for a beginner to use a keyboard emulator rather than the ksp code, which would also more easily allow transfer to other games.
Would a teensy or arduino be better or more user friendly for this application?

Finally, is their a way to effectively make/mod/buy an off off switch, which sends a pulse while it is being toggled.
Or would it be easier to just code it into the arduino?

I suspect that the Teensy is the better choice for keyboard emulation. Natively supports HID, and almost all the mechanical keyboard people use the Teensy. It's actually rare to ever hear of them use an Arduino. They even have software already made that handles keyboard emulation. You could do a mix of both options. Keyboard emulation (or even gutting a store bought keyboard and wiring switches into the original controller board) could handle most inputs. Retail joysticks can be made to handle the control axes for attitude and translation (although I hear this can be tricky). You could STILL use an Arduino to receive data from KSP, for gauges, LED annunciators, and digital readouts. As long as you configure your games to use the keys in your gutted/emulated keyboard that correspond to the switches you are using, then you can share the controller. Alternately, you could have a toggle switch on your controller that selects HID mode or KSP I/O mode.

As for pulsing switches, your best bet is to use momentary toggles. They look EXACTLY like normal toggle switches, except they are sprung. You pull the lever, and let go and they spring back. It's the simplest solution, as it give you the look of toggles, without the permanence of switch position.

If you REALLY want toggles that can flip and stay flipped, but still only send a single signal, then yes, you can either do this in code, using your Teensy, or if you are using a gutted keyboard, you can use a monostable multivibrator circuit to close a transistor wired across the appropriate row and column that corresponds to your keypress.

7 hours ago, JTpopcorn said:

Nice, that would make a really good mode switcher, from flying, docking, staging.

Thanks! I'm planning to use it to set the node that the crosshairs on my mechanical navball (FDAI) will display. A toggle will select between Pro and Retro/Anti orientation, and the rotary will dial in Grade (as in prograde or retrograde), Radial, Normal, Target, and Maneuver Node vectors. The crosshairs work just like the vector markers on the on screen navball, but since you only have one set of crosshairs, you have to choose what marker you wanna see at a time. Just like in a real Apollo capsule or the shuttle, or how it works on our KSP navball, you just line up the crosshairs to the center and then do your burn at the correct time.

[Majorjim!]

On 03/11/2016 at 1:50 AM, Mulbin said:

Apologies guys, I've hardly had time to look at the forums recently!  Moved house, renovating house, new design job, part time game development.  Not had a chance to touch ksp in months and my control panel is still in storage!

I'll get on this thread next week and update the main post with people's projects etc.

Hey @Mulbin Scott Manley played your game in his latest KSP stream.

[Mulbin]

38 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

Hey @Mulbin Scott Manley played your game in his latest KSP stream.

Hah, yes... sadly with bugged graphics and all the lighting missing. Siiigh.

[Majorjim!]

Just now, Mulbin said:

Hah, yes... sadly with bugged graphics and all the lighting missing. Siiigh.

Swizz.. He pledged 40 squids though. I wish you the best of luck with it, I see a lot of potential for this with VR.

[stibbons]

On 3/13/2016 at 5:12 AM, richfiles said:

I think I know how to properly do my meters. The solution to backlighting them is not EL strips. EL was great for Apollo, as each ship would fly for 2 weeks or less and be retired or discarded. EL can fade over time. LEDs ARE the definite way to go, but getting sufficient diffusion was the issue.

I've been looking at EL panels for a different project, and the usable lifespan if you drive them properly is on the order of ~3000 hours. For your use you can probably tone the frequency of your inverter down some, for a dimmer light and longer life.

[JTpopcorn]

I just realized I could use a spst toggle with a momentary button in series, for an engines on, prime engines effect.

I think to use teensy with standard toggles it will require some code, but look more authentic than momentary toggles.

I am going to use teensy because I want to use it as a control panel for several different games, and I worry about the kspio plugin working in 1.1 on

[richfiles]

One factor to consider @JTpopcorn, is that many of the more complex projects already have multiple controllers. Use a Teensy for controls (switch > keys). Btw, go with a Teensy 2.0 or the 2.0++ option, not the 3.2. The 2.0/2.0++ software is very well developed for keyboard emulation for 2.0/2.0++. The software for 3.0/1/2 is not yet very beginner friendly. The CPU power of the 3.x is overkill for keyboard polling.

As for the KSP I/O, you'll still need it for things like meters, lights, and digital readouts. That, you'll want an Arduino for. If you want, consider a controller box and a display box, that can sit on top or behind the controller box. If you're not playing KSP, you could set the display box aside, and have only controls for other games. A LOT of the fun of KSP I/O are blink lights and digital meters and gauges!

Another potential option is to use a mod lich Telemachus, as I belive you can set it up to send telemetry to a browser. You could set up a tablet or smart phone, or if you have a second or third monitor (like I do), you could have a browser window open displaying readouts... I think that's how Telemachus works. Anyway, look into it if you want a super simple readout solution.

I have every bit of faith that the KSP I/O software will be brought up to speed, even if not right away, when 1.1 comes out...
I feel like 1.0.x to 1.1 is a far greater leap than 0.25 to 0.90, or even 0.90 to 1.0.x ever was! 

Edited March 20, 2016 by richfiles

[JTpopcorn]

Thanks, I was first planning on getting a control panel with switches, then adding modules with displays/gauges. I think I might be able to take one of those really cheap tactile buttons and physically put it inside the toggle switch, so when it is being thrown it temporarily depresses the button.

Thanks for the teensy advice. I was wondering if it made sense to get the 3.2 for use as a display controller in the future. I could also use teensyduino which I assume works with arduino plugins. I'm just trying to spend money as effeciently as possible, because I know the sim pits add up in $$$ overtime.

[richfiles]

Honestly, if you're willing to do custom code, then it's FAR easier to just code it. I think trying to physically mod a toggle with a tactile button would be very finicky. Possible, but far more effort for what you can do with a very small number of parts, or for free by just coding it.

If you're willing to do a little soldering, you can use regular SPST toggles and a monostable multivibrator circuit. You can do that with as little as two transistors per switch, and a couple resistors, a diode, and a capacitor or two. If you can find a breadboard diagram online, then you can order some cheap proto-board, and solder up multiple duplicates of the circuit, one for each switch. No hacks, no trying to take toggles apart... Just follow a diagram, solder it, and you have an electrically reliable way to trigger an input.
_______________

Also, this is for everyone here... Just a cool part I spotted.

I found this puppy while looking for some other parts. I don't know what kind of quantities they have, but it looks like it'd be nice for anyone who wanted to have some Apollo/Shuttle like locking toggles. I think this is a smaller style switch. Word of warning though, they are ON-OFF-ON types, with center locking, so something to be aware of if you're only interested in an ON-OFF type.

Eaton Locking Toggle Switch - Electronic Goldmine

I have no affiliation with these guys. Personally, I think their customer service is... well, less than ideal. I've only ever had one problem on an order, having used them occasionally since the late 1990s... But yeah, that ONE problem was a doozy, and their customer service amounted to waiting me out so I'd go away. I never found out if it was a communication problem, or them... 

Edited March 17, 2016 by richfiles

[richfiles]

I am considering purchasing some flip dots to mimic the "flag" type annunciators that are used by NASA. Flip dots are a tiny mechanical disc that flips between it's two sides with an electromagnetic coil. I'm planning on ordering the parts with a 15mm (0.53 inch) diameter disc. I also realized that the price drops SIGNIFICANTLY if you order them as part of an XY matrix board, vs individually... €1.63 each in the grid, vs €4 each in quantities from 1-999... WAY cheaper to buy it on the grid.

I'd only get 22 flip dots ordering individually, vs 49 flip dots by ordering a grid, for the same price. I might USE that many! Why not get the grid then...

So, my plan is to paint the black side with diagonal white stripes, to mimic the black and white striped pattern of the Apollo flag annunciators. I have not decided what I want the other color to be... Apollo was rather bland... Grey for off, black and white striped for on, and some of the flags had a third position that would go red to indicate a fault. Given the prevalence of green, I'd considered green for on, and black and white stripes meaning off (despite having the opposite meaning compared to Apollo). The problem, is my spill lighting (which will be critical for viewing the annunciators, as they don't actually emit light) was probably going to be a mix of green and or amber/warm white. Any green spill will tint the white and black striped area green. The available colors are red, yellow, white, and green for the set side. The reverse side is always black. I suppose I could consider red/black, so that the white stripes I'll add to the black side would basically pick up on the spill lighting color. It'd also represent on, once again. I'd have a non neutral color (red) representing off though, as opposed to a fault. I SO WISH there was a way to get ahold of the actual three way flag annunciators NASA used, as they would be perfect for my idea for vessel switching triggering an "update switches" fault condition. Basically, if you switch vessels, the vessel would not take the state of the controller, the controller would light up mis-match fault lights on any controls in the wrong position, and not register inputs from those controls till they are first set to match the vessel state.

The other catch with the flip dots, is because they are a flipping disc, as opposed to a sliding component, they require clearance to flip, meaning they can't be flush mounted unless the enclosure hole allows full clearance. I want to have a square window over them to hide that they are discs, and mimic the Apollo flags. It just means I may have to set them back a couple mm for the discs to clear the enclosure's opening when they flip.


If all you need are 7 flip dots, you can actually order a 1x7 "grid"... More of a line, for 20 Euros. They come with a controller that can be interfaced to an Arduino. You have to provide 24 volts to the controller, but that's not hard to do. That's still only €2.86 per dot, and you GET the controller with it! Not a bad deal for small scale. Even if you want 14, it's still half the price of the 7x7. 14 dots would get you... Hmm... 10 action groups, plus RCS, SAS, and 2 more functions. Not too bad for €40. I'm planning on getting the 7x7, just because it is a WAY better deal, and I REALLY am considering the possibility of expanded Action groups in the future. The current setup is absolutely insufficient. I could have 10 (or potentially 20) action groups, RCS, SAS, Brakes, Lights, Gear, Indicators for my auxiliary, non-KSP functions, etc... In the end, I could potentially use quite a few of these!

What I would do, is de-solder the individual flip dots from the matrix controller board, and run wires to each instrument panel location from the controller board. This lets me distribute the flip dots as I need them, but still control them from a central controller board.


I think the original flag annunciators used a pretty simple mechanism. I am guessing at this, but it appears that the black and white striped area is likely a fixed background. The red fault indication is probably painted directly above that. It would appear a "flag" covers the window, and a pair of solenoid pulls the flag either half the window's height up, or half the window's height down. Pulling the flag up reveals the black and white striped background, and pulling the flag down reveals the red fault marking. The flag is painted to match the color of the instrument panel. One could further mimic this with the flip dots by painting the top half of the dot grey on the black side with white stripes painted not he bottom, and on the red side, you would paint the bottom half of the dot grey. I don't know if I'll do this, but one can do it for a more authentic look.

There are surplus electromagnetic status indicators on ebay, but they are mostly very large ones, and are a rotating prism style device... Also multiple times more expensive than flip dots.

There is one more way this can be done, though it takes some effort. It's possible to get VERY tiny analog edgewise meters.. Sometimes, you'll find a lot on ebay, which is the perfect way to snag these up. You'll need to print a piece of paper with your three status markings. It's easier if you can find a centered meter. Then you control it with 2 I/O lines and a resistor or two for current/voltage limiting (you don't wanna smash your paper into the end of the meter housing). 0,0 is center, 1,0 is one polarity, and 0,1 is the other polarity. 1,1 does nothing (center). If you have a non centered meter, then you have to use an analog line, or you can use 2 lines (again) and resistors to deflect the meter a little, or more. This gives you a relatively affordable three state flag indicator, on the cheap, providing you find a lot of tiny edgewise analog meters on the cheap... I am regretting not buying exactly this thing a year ago, now... 

Edited March 18, 2016 by richfiles

[JTpopcorn]

Are those momentary toggles on those pannels?

Those disks are really cool, but for non replicas diodes would be way more cost effective.

Just a question, how much has your sim cost up to now?

Thanks for all the help, it's nice to see how great the community treats people.

Jt

[richfiles]

No, those are three position "ON-OFF-ON" toggles in the image above. Center is off, and you can toggle them up or down. You can get a variety of toggle options... What you'd want are "OFF-Momentary ON", or "ON-Momentary ON". The key with a momentary toggle, is it flips just like a regular toggle switch, but it's sprung... It flips back off by itself when you let go. It's like a button, but with a toggle lever instead. Works identically to a pushbutton too, electrically. You recreate the look of toggles, with the function of a button.

I like the idea of the flip discs, but If I see a large lot of mini edgewise analog meters, I MIGHT get those instead and try to make my sliding symbol style flag annunciator.

Far too much to still have nothing actually up and running yet...
I've mostly been acquiring parts, and struggling with trying to find time to actually work on it. I spent around $400 on the navball (the FDAI), and wasted about $40 on an incorrect circuit to control it... That was frustrating!  I spent another $50 on digital displays, only to receive ones the wrong color, and then replaced the wrong color displays with the right color displays to discover those had a worse than 50% failure rate! THAT was even MORE frustrating!!!  I have $45 on MORE replacement displays (good, so far), and spent $75 on misc parts like switches for the panels, and transformers for the FDAI controller. I spent around $50-60 on the pair of 3 axis joysticks, and over many years, collected random various parts... I probably spent $10 on my abort and Stage buttons, and another $10 for safety switches to lock those out... I spent $60 for three dual edgewise meters, and $22 for 4 single edgewise meters (BOTH those deals were absolute steals... as each meter should have been around $80 a piece!). I think I spent $25 on my vertical velocity meter, and $40 on my pair of giant VFD displays. I spent a shockingly low $10 plus shipping on the video effects board i salvaged for my throttle lever and my DSKY keys. I've spent probably $20-30 in just stocking up on PCB protoboards... But that's for just having on hand too. I couldn't tell you what I've spent in small miscellaneous hardware and parts... Still, for all I've spent, a lot of those parts are parts I bought years before ever realizing what they'd end up used for, such as the Abort and Stage switches, the VFD displays, and some of the PC boards I already had on hand before starting the project.

But also understand, that you have to realize that I'm sparing no expense... I mean... I could have spent $5 and got cheap meters, and used cheap Chinese switches, and I could have done a software FDAI with an OLED or LCD display and a programable board... I probably could have done that for under $30-50... Probably more than 2/3 of my cost has been going into having a REAL navball, and having LARGE edgewise meters (those can cost over $150-300 when purchased new from the manufacturer, surplus value is around $80 for those). I never had to spend as much as I did on the large, super amazing parts... I simply wanted the best, so I paid for the best. 

THanks for the kind words! I rather enjoy figuring out how to do cool technical things, and sharing how I did it with others! It's always nice to share! 

Edited March 18, 2016 by richfiles

[JTpopcorn]

Dang, I didn't realized just how detailed it was, you should consider making some videos on it...or a website...

And I'm sure a few youtubers would be willing to spend to something like what you have (although maybe at a less enthusiast level)

[richfiles]

So... I suppose the big question now, is how much does 1.1 break our simpits and controllers! 
The next weeks should be interesting. I'll be watching the main Arduino Serial I/O thread regarding the status of the software.

[Antipaten]

3 hours ago, richfiles said:

So... I suppose the big question now, is how much does 1.1 break our simpits and controllers! 
The next weeks should be interesting. I'll be watching the main Arduino Serial I/O thread regarding the status of the software.

I'm in the process of making my simpit KSP version proof by reducing it to an over powered mega joystick. My manual controls will have no functionality other than lots of analog axes and buttons. The reason for this is that the mods I've tried so far to pull data from the game tend to cause increased lag. The lag isn't very noticeable in testing the simpit, but becomes limiting when actually playing the game, using larger ships and a few extra mods.

I hope the multi threading in Unity5 will fix this. If so, I will add displays and some automation later.

[richfiles]

On March 30, 2016 at 4:57 AM, Antipaten said:

I'm in the process of making my simpit KSP version proof by reducing it to an over powered mega joystick. My manual controls will have no functionality other than lots of analog axes and buttons.

Yeah, if you have an HID mode for your controller, then you can use it with any game actually, as long as it supports a gamepad/joystick. I think I'd like to incorporate an HID mode for mine eventually, but it'd be the kind of thing selected by toggle. Stock mode would be KSP serial I/O. An HID mode would let me use the controls in other games, like Farming Simulator... Which oddly enough, has a specialty controller made by Saitek, who's layout is very KSP compatible. Like, freaky compatible! Who'da thunk Tractors and Spaceships would work nicely with similar controls! 

I highly recommend looking into a Teensy if you wish to create a "universal" HID controller, that interfaces like a gamepad, vs the way KSP Serial I/O does it. Teensy can perform as an HID device easily, and it's possible to run Arduino like code using the Teensyduino driver with the Arduino software. You can even straight up emulate keystrokes of a keyboard with it. I know some Arduinos can do this too, but I think it needs to be one with the USB interface built into the microcontroller, and not as a UART scrip attached to the controller. Not 100% sure, but that's what seems to be the most straight forward, anyway.

I'm no pro with Arduino yet... I'm just repeating the recommendations I got early on. I'll trust those recommendations more cause I didn't come up with them! 

Edited March 31, 2016 by richfiles