SOFTWARE.

Overview.

As time has gone on, more and more simmers are designing and building their own motion platforms. They range from cheapies (my sort) right up to units that just about rival the commercial units that cost millions. There is a place for all in this strange obsession.

I personally get a lot of pleasure stumbling along and getting it together to suit my own direction, which is sometimes a bit different to the mainstream. For instance I want to explore the effects on the brain (middle ear) with yaw (round and round) within an enclosed cockpit. Earlier manual plays with this have been quite encouraging, so I am continuing to develop it. This is evident with my own software, but if your platform hasn’t got yaw ,, don’t worry about it ,, my software will still work fine on a 2DOF (Roll and Pitch) platform.

I have used an OCX by the FSFDT team (Thanks Guys) which enabled me to stay on a computer language I know ,,, Visual Basic 6. Without their OCX and other files, I wouldn’t have been able to do this.

All this stuff works on XP, Vista and windows 7 using Fight simulator X with or without any service packs.

NOW READ THIS !!!!!

As mentioned elsewhere on my website, I make this information and software available on the basis that “This is what I done” and some back ground as to why. My site is not intended to be complete set of instructions and/or software for you to do the same. By downloading this software or building something the same, you acknowledge that all the risk is yours and I will not be liable for anything. What worked for me, may not work for you.

Decision Time ,,,, 2 of them.

Motion platforms come in heaps of different types, from 2 DOF’s right thru to 6 DOF’s.

The decision on that one is likely to be limited by your budget and your skills.

There is another major decision you have to make and that is what type of cockpit you are going to put on it.

The first type is the open style, where the pilot can still see around the room from his cockpit ,, the screen can move with the cockpit or be stationary. The motion movements for these has to be more vigorous to overcome the distraction of not being fully enclosed and in effect create a sort of “arcade” ride to assist the pilot in being “absorbed” into what he is seeing on the screen. There are quit a few exceptions to this but I am describing, in general, a home made, single person unit, usually flying a light or a high performance aircraft.

If your intensions are to create something like that, you are far better off to follow thru on the links in my links page … there are some brilliant concepts out there and in particular there is a very active forum at,,,,,, www.x-simulator.de/forum with a wealth of info available.

Also good info sources are …

http://www.simprojects.nl (Roland’s)

http://ptyxiouxos.net//greekbotics/user_projects/Flight_Simulator/thanos_home_motion_flight_simulator.htm (Thanos’s) (Offline ,, temporary ?? ,, May 2010)

http://www.buggies.builtforfun.co.uk/Sim/index.html (Ian’s)

All the above include, or are developing software to suit.

The second type is the fully enclosed cockpit that totally encloses the pilot from any outside reference what so ever. The internal setup (where he sits) is configured to mimic an operational cockpit of a plane. This type needs a “quieter”, more exacting type of motion to totally fool the pilot that he is actually moving in unison with what he is seeing on the screen or instruments. The platform needs to create motion “cues” to make the pilot believe that he is (say) turning, where in actual fact, the platform has moved to create the feeling of turning and then, unfelt by the pilot, has returned to another calculated position. (More on this in my FS2004 pages or on the net if it doesn’t make sense)

This, fully enclosed type, is what I have built, and as such, the software is built to suit that.

If this software is used on an open style cockpit, then even though the software is fully adjustable, there may ?? be situations where it could be improved on for use in an open style cockpit. Once I finally finish the software development, I may revisit this and put an option in for this ,,,, if its at all it’s necessary.

Link2fs_Motion….

This is the main program I am working on at the moment … You can see how all the variables are user adjustable, which should suit different, but similar setups using the same in/out cards that I am using.

As far as the user is concerned, just click on 2 things and your away. (Select a file and then connect to the Velleman card.)

I have added provision for uneven speeds for motors (Ones that go faster in one direction than the other) and simplified the effects menu.

NOTE: This software will only work with the Velleman / Oceancontrols boards as described on the other pages of my site.

Basic overview of the program …..

The above screen-grab picture is as of today (18 Feb 08) (picture updated 18 May 2010) and is setup for the Grumman Goose ,,, The grayed out “extra effects” haven’t yet been programmed but I’m not worried about them prior to release of this version. Everything else is working fine.

I have also had a play with setting it up for the Baron and the 737,, and all worked fine. I did not persevere too long to set it up for the Extra as I knew my platform wasn’t fast enough to recreate the proper feeling ,, but that sort of flying is not what my platform is built for.

To suit different airplanes and motion platforms, I have made everything user adjustable so it will take some time to get familiar with the settings and what you want to achieve. It is not a half hour job to get it right. Some of the parameters get effected by the change of another parameter, so be warned, it is time consuming.

The “upside” of this user interface is YOU have total control over what is going to happen. When you start mixing gain, acceleration, step, speed etc etc and also the option of using negative values,, you get some interesting results, of which, some are wow ,, others are yuck !!

Because of the learning curve in setting up this software to suit your own needs, I fully expect to see postings on forums that my program is crap ,, posted there by people that only know how to “plug and play”. Due to its nature, this is not “plug and play” but a fully user adjustable software interface and needs some effort from the user to suit his platform and needs. Even I am still learning how to maximize its use.

An unknown is ,, my platform has a lot of weight so I don’t know how it will go on a lightweight, well balanced platform.

More features will be added when I get back to it and after feedback on idea’s etc. It is however fine as it stands for a 2DOF platform or a 2DOF + yaw.

Support will be limited to THINGS THAT EFFECT MY SOFTWARE and certainly not to cover things that are included in the documentation or the performance characteristics of the users platform. There are so many program variables that the user can play with, so many platform physical variables, so many planes etc., that trouble shooting for everyone would be a mammoth job and just too big of a commitment to release it with full support as freeware.

This software ,,,,

Needs your input to set all its parameters. (Its NOT ‘Plug and play”)

Maybe needs motors with a similar motor speed versus torque versus travel distance. ??? (I don’t know)

Is designed for a serious “normal flying” enclosed motion platform and NOT for a “shoot-em-up” or a “high performance aircraft” motion platform

Right,, now the negatives are out of the way ,, today ,, just to finally test version 3 ,, I went out the garage and played and played (or is that flew and flew) ,, and just to pass on the final flights,,,, I took of from Wellington (NZ) in the Goose and done a circuit and landed again ,,, everything was smooth and as it would be if your were flying ,,, the only thing that needed to be added was level and straight flight “flutter” (my term) but that will be added in the future.

The next thing I tried was the same circuit with weather at thunderstorms and turbulence. No other comment except WOW.

Link2fs_Motion_v3a has been tested on XP (32 bit),, Vista (32 bit) and Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit)

There is no need to install the FSX SDK.

There is no need to install FSUIPC.

There is no need to install the Velleman software.

Everything you need is in this one package.

You can download Link2fs_Motion_v3a (freeware) here … http://www.jimspage.co.nz/link2fs_motion_v3a.zip

Where to from here ??

Now the software is operational,, I am keen to develop other idea’s I have for other things. (Another project)

Updated 18 Feb 08

Updated 22 Nov 09 Inserted option to purchase source code.

Updated 18 may 10 Updated for 32 and 64 bit installs and fixed some color problems on some graphics cards. (Basic code not changed)