Vivoune

Good to know Thor, thanks for the update. I still find the choice between the MFG Xwind and the Slaw-device to be quite hard, it feels good to have choices in that price range though. Btw here's a color work I've done a few weeks ago to try out and see how colors would translate on the MFGs uhuh. Here's to hope one day he sells enough to order colored parts.

Tbh, I think cancelling that project is for the better for DCS. -If they would model the F-35 in DCS as it is supposed to preform on paper IRL then it would render any other DCS module rather pointless as long as an F-35 is in competition, which quite goes in the opposite direction of the whole DCS "World" ideology. -Maybe it's just me but I don't see any point in modeling an aircraft in DCS as long as said plane doesn't even performs the way it is supposed to in real life. -There not much point in modeling in a high-fid sim such as DCS a plane that is still in intensive development and far from being done IRL. I mean, the thing barely delivered its first training GBU a few days ago.. -We all realize some info have to be guessed and estimated but I think that necessary part in a DCS aircraft development should be minimal and a good ratio between actual intel and wild guesses should be enforced as much as possible. I highly doubt the F-35 would have had anything near a decent ratio. All in all it's a cool plane and module on paper but.. meh. I sincerly hope they adapt and hit us with another, more realistic (and less controversially over budget & under performing one) module.

I doubt NaturalPoint are working on a TrackIR 6, TrackIR 5 does everything anyone would want within the IR boundaries and then some. If anything, they are considering R&Ding a wireless trackclip pro, just considering. I think It's worth it to get a trackIR despite the Oculus Rift potential release next year, it is likely than some of your head-tracked gaming sessions will still be better enjoyed with a regular screen(s) for those cases where you need to keep some contact/awareness with the real world.

Neat! Thanks for the update!

The most recent official statements reveal a possible late (Q3) 2014 consumer version release and a new dev kit in the works now, although they stated no specific dates would be announced this year. They're currently working on new features for the OR that they still haven't disclosed, features so substantial that they need to actually develop a second dev kit and current OR ready softs to need some more integration work for the new version to work. All we know so far is that it supposedly removes all possible motion sickness, comes in 1080p and in a wired & wireless version. I hope one of these new features is true 6DOF, there's always the possibility to use TrackIR with it but it'd be nice if they had all the right headtracking in the first place.

Always nice to read people's experience. Thanks for sharing !

That's very informative and detailed thank you very much! In the process of acquiring a new set of rudder pedals and balancing these vs the MFGs myself, I'm still undecided. If ever you got the time, a quick video showing its features and feel/noise etc would be awesome. Still, thanks for the nice feedback.

My 2 cents, wait for a VR headset next year, like the Oculus Rift for exemple. It should provide immersion that no amount of traditional screens can :)

Exciting times. A direct competitor to the OR has arrived, and drop the screen technology for a mirror system originaly contracted by the army, that beams light directly into your eyes which apparently translates into much higher image quality/authenticity and is far more comfortable for the eyes (no screen to focus on, your eyes relax completely and the beam focuses for you). It is explained that compared to screen VR (OR) that if using the Oculus Rift feels like looking at a screen picturing, say, a window to the outside, then the beam tech feels like looking through the real window directly. Coming early 2014 in a consumer version & consumer friendly price range. Definitely following that too. http://reviews.cnet.com/wearable-tech/avegant-virtual-retinal-display/4505-34900_7-35828603.html A crowdfunding might be imminent.

It's your opinion that the Oculus Rift is useless, personally I never touch my keyboard in DCS and besides, multiple hardware solutions are being developed to overcome the fact that you can't see your hands, much like CastAR had to develop that wand controller. Oculus Rift and CastAR aren't the same products, to my knowledge and humble experience the Oculus Rift would be my choice for an immersive entry to a true virtual reality over CastAR simply because I don't see any point in having to deal with a dimmed light environment, reflective panels installation and screen border limitations when I can just 'be in the game' in a matter of putting goggles on when using the OR. CastAR is still a really cool piece of hardware though. But yea, agree to disagree, no need to feel sad about it ^^.

Yes I did check the vid and KS and have been following the project from a distance since a few weeks. They dedicate about 3 seconds about that feature on their promotional trailer which pretty much says all there is to say, it's there as an additional feature, but don't expect it to be anywhere near the OR experience. I mean, the OR's been researching the right monitors, the right hardware engineering with using a big goggle and all for years and are still having big issues with it in terms of resolution. If CastAR would ever succeed where OR didn't and was only a matter of putting on a clip, you'd bet it'd be the main feature they would be advertising about by far. I understand you're excited about it, and with good reasons, but don't think that CastAR is a CastAR + OR combined cause you will be in for a huge disappointment imho.

Well, in all fairness I think I read some time ago that what's projected has a good enough FOV that your eyes can't see the end of it. So I think that, supposedly, it would allow for a rather natural feel in terms of eyes vs head movement but, provided you are completely surrounded with these screens...

on the desktop it's easy as pie setting and using a couple of screens up but in 3D applications as far as I know it's very hard, if supported at all, to use only two screens. The very minimum usually is 3 monitors in order to use Nvidia surround or AMD eyefinity. If you just want to monitor instruments though there are softwares that uses a dedicated screen for such monitorings, as I never used any I won't be of much help though.

It's awesome stuff and it's great to live in these times where hardware will soon allow for what was sci-fi 30 years ago, but I somewhat fail to see it as a competitor of the Oculus Rift but rather an alternative for a different experience. How I see it, CastAR is for projection of dynamic content for people who still want a good connection to the real world, sort of a middle-ground between good old screens and true VR, while Oculus rift completely immerses and surrounds you into a virtual world, totally cutting you from the Real World. Both have advantages and disadvantages, for people who have built-in cockpits and/or who absolutely needs to see what their hands are doing (i.e complicated controllers like keyboards etc) and/or whose senses cannot seem to overcome the possible motion sickness then the CastAR is a good tool. Personally with my simple HOTAS I don't see why I'd buy a CastAR when an Oculus Rift completely immerses me in a virtual world without the needs for installing these screen panels, without any screen border limitation and the usual ambient light environment setup needed for projectors. Cool stuff nonetheless!

Hmm, maybe I'll give the MFG a try then, after all I was searching for a second hand Simped a few months ago and since these apparently are vastly superior, it's only logical. Being 'stuck' with the saiteks, I really want to "be done" with that rudder pedal hunt for quality I'm having for a long time now, I really just hope that they can withstand the damages of time.

Indeed the spires have to be 'locked' carefully to have a leveled spring. I have tweaked the placements a bit after I took the photo to achieve just that so I think it's also a bit angled at the time of the pic. As long as your solution suits you it's fine, good luck with greasing your unit. It's quite easy but just take your time, in the end the greasing helps with the smoothness, as in, the texture of the joystick movement, which imo is nice and necessary but it's not an exceptional improvement, in terms of stiffness to my experience it didn't do anything at all.

They did change the design once. First trackclip pro was fragile and most people would break it, as they grew aware of it NaturalPoint eventually did a more resistant TrackClip Pro which people are quite happy about. Maybe you still have the old design.

If 400$ is your budget then yea I'd definitly go for an X-52 for about 140 (although I think Amazon is about to receive more soon for $110), Saitek flight pedals for about $90 and trackIR or Free track to save even more. I've owned all of these for some time and it's good enough stuff, imo it hardly gets better in terms of bang vs bucks. You're set for about $230 with a full HOTAS, Rudder & Head tracking. It's all good products. You can half that price if you're willing to buy second-hand which often come in "as new" condition.

It depends on your budget really and tastes. Some are plenty happy with a 30 dollar 3 axis joystick, some spend several hundreds on a HOTAS setup such as the Thrustmaster Warthog along with a dedicated controller for rudder control such as the Saitek regular or combat rudder pedals, others spend several thousands on it while some are only satisfied with custom made high end gear. If you want to look at the best possible gear with a budget that doesn't equals the price of your car I'd suggest about $400-500 on a HOTAS (I would go for the acclaimed Thrustmaster Warthog, The X52 hotas is also a good lower priced alternative) and if you can, about the same on rudder pedals (the most common being the Saiteks but I would invest in something better, from my experience the Saitek pedals are mostly made of plastic, not very smooth and jittery very quickly but it gets the job done). Then you must have a head tracking system, either a TrackIR or Freetrack (home-made trackIR). It really depends on how much time you invest on simming, if it's quite a lot then spending that much money on quality hardware is a good investment, the more time you sink in that hobby the more you get out of every spent dollar. I'd suggest you have a look at the most used/known gear in the sim community and read reviews about it to have a good idea of the usual quality/money ratio.

So I tried 2 things, first I tried doing a spring out of a 2mm inox rod, as expected that is a very hard thing to do without the proper tools and although I could do one if I take the time that doesn't seem so worth the trouble, to a point where I'd rather order a pro-made one. Secondly I tried Lausbub78's tip and went to reduce the spring number of free spires by attaching some with kitchen rope. After a few tries and adjustments I think I found a decent spring length that makes the Joystick way way less stiff but still provide a good centering and resistance. I'm quite happy with it and it is possible by just sliding the rope to free or trap more or less spires, making for easy small tweaking to one's preference. So thanks for the tip mate! Here are a few pics for the sake of it, I'd say the stiffness is cut by about 2/3. I tried going lower but then the center has almost no resistance and it feels like the Joystick just broke. I'll keep that config for some time and see in the future if I still feel like ordering a proper custom spring.

Thanks for the tip, I will try that, although I would have thought that any spring modification should have the same length of the original, only different resistance. It's worth a try

Tying up the first few spires at the bottom of the original main spring so the spring is a bit shorter is what you are suggesting? Just to make sure I understand.

Having the TM hotas Warthog and it being too stiff for heli I'm looking at adjusting it but in the mean time I was wondering which piece of hardware do you guys use when it comes to helicopters? Cheers!

Hey HMA, nop no extension, I considered it and looked at the custom-made extensions thread but I don't have the necessary room for it. I would do that if I had a dedicated space for simming but currently that's not the case so my joystick has to stay at my forearm level. Thanks though that's one legit looking extension you got there :) I also considered buying just a HOTAS Cougar Joystick (or any other joystick that is loose enough for helicopter flying) as I can probably get my hands on one for 30-40eur and use it with the Warthog Throttles whenever I fly Helis but switching joystick bases all the time is kind of an unnecessary hassle if I can just get the right Warthog spring tension.

Thanks for the tip! I'm not sure where I'd even start to bend and shape a 3 or 4mm large wire/rod into a proper spring but yup it's indeed worth a shot to try and find not as precise but easier/cheaper spring variants that could fit the unit. I'll probably keep an eye out for any potential way to achieve that before going forward with these 'pro' versions. I still think sharing the technical sheets of the spring was worth sharing given the stiffness of the warthog is often pointed as a downside and some people might be looking into addressing that.