molevitch

I have the bare bones of a Mi-24 pit (in anticipation of impending DCS module, thumbs twiddling...) and fly Mi-8 in VR on 229th servers. All my radio panels and navigation aid panels are modelled, and I know exactly where each of them is when I need to turn a dial or flick a switch. And that is flying the 8 in a 24 cockpit. So I would say VR in a scale replica cockpit makes total sense.

Hello, Fellow DCS Pilots! I have a pair of Captogloves I want to sell. Virtually unused, they are in perfect condition and all original packaging and shipping box. In case you don't know, they are for use in VR, and Captoglove have been working with DCS as part of their development. I backed them at Kickstarter as I think its a really cool idea. However, I have moved much more towards a physical cockpit within VR, as some of you may know. They retail for US$490.00. I only want to recover my initial outlay of $329 plus $40 shipping =$369.00. Plus postage to wherever needed. If you are seriously interested, please PM me here. Payment will be by PayPal. Thank you, Mole

Hello, Fellow DCS Pilots! I have a pair of Captogloves I want to sell. Virtually unused, they are in perfect condition and all original packaging and shipping box. In case you don't know, they are for use in VR, and Captoglove have been working with DCS as part of their development. I backed them at Kickstarter as I think its a really cool idea. However, I have moved much more towards a physical cockpit within VR, as some of you may know. They retail for US$490.00. I only want to recover my initial outlay of $329 plus $40 shipping =$369.00. Plus postage to wherever needed. If you are seriously interested, please PM me here. Payment will be by PayPal. Thank you, Mole

I think that I read that the firing system cycles through the rockets in sequence, but that sometimes with a short trigger pull, only one or two are fired on a salvo of four. The system then counts from 5, despite the fact that there are one or two left behind. So as the pods' stock is depleted, it takes longer to cycle through the remaining rockets. Or something....

Quick question for the DCS-BIOS Gurus... I am finding that my Nano on a USB which controls my Radio Selector Dial quits if I crash/getshotdown/change ship and it gives me a strange error if I try to restart it. The specified options are not supported by this serial device. No serial port setting changed. Is this normal, or is there some other issue, please? In the new year I am moving forward with the Mega as master over several slaves, so hope this situation will improve/be eradicated. Cheers, Mole

Brilliant! I am so getting a 3D printer in the new year!

Hi Mr Burns, This video does it for me. Mole

Hi Mezelf, Yes, we have weekday activities too. Both Tuesdays and Thursdays have events, though usually more of the training variety. Our Sunday events are run at 1900Zulu time, so it may depend on your time-zone if you think Sundays don't work for you. We have members all over the planet, and some are flying with us at 2am, and some at 2pm! Get in touch if you want more info. http://1stcavdiv.conceptbb.com/f42-recruiting-depot Yours, Mole

Same here, no problem on 229th servers.

Hi Jozeff, I have sent you a PM. At 8MATES, we specialise in the Mi-8 and offer training. Come and see if we can help. Mole

Excellent!

Think I need a 3D printer! Damn, Yoreh! This project is just so brilliant. Your execution and design is so thorough and competent. Sigh! I wish I had your workshop and skills. Mole

Hi CraigS, Hi Hansolo, Thank you both for your replies. Very well made video there Craig, answers all my questions in one go! Thanks to Tekkx also for your replies and PM. Thanks Warhog for the warning about getting 487 chip! I am planning a complete rebuild in the new year of my pit, at which time it will have a new location in the house. Currently got builders in on the house making a new room in the roof, so all is semi-mothballed til then. Still flying and testing systems though! So I am very stimulated by the RS485/MAX487 method, and can say I pretty much fully understand it now.... (famous last words). For the next few months, I will run off some powered USB hubs, and as the frame of the new pit is designed, I will build in a RS485 system. I seem to be gathering more and more authentic Mi-8/Mi-24 parts. So now I need a Mi-24 module to fly it with! (Hint, ED, hint). Here is a link to (bad) video I made of an authentic ARK-9 running under DCS-BIOS standard code. Passing it on to a friend, as I have the ARK-15 running, pretending to be an ARK-9... Thanks to Hansolo for help with the code to get the ARK-15 working! Man, I love doing this stuff! Getting good results is so rewarding! Cheers guys! DCS-BIOS Rocks! Mole

Hi Tekkx, Thanks for the speedy response! I really want to head down the rabbit hole of RS-485 Master-Slave connection. I have been browsing and searching for a definitive set up guide. My electronics skills are limited, (don't know an Amp from an Ohm...) but my building skills are good. And I am a fast learner. I am also now accumulating more authentic parts from Mi-8/24 cockpits and can see that soon i will run out of USB ports anyway. I have some self-built radio panels running on Bodnar boards, but increasingly favour the DCS-BIOS/Arduino system. What I have yet to understand... Does the Arduino sketch for ALL systems get installed on the MASTER Mega2560? Does it then talk to all the subsystems on Nanos or similar? Does the Master need to be powered? I am also planning a major rebuild of my pit in the new year. It is slightly small as I was basing measurements on some slightly inaccurate references. I now have found some definitive material which will improve the scale. And it has grown organically from a simple set up based round cyclic, collective and pedals to a more fully formed enclosed pit structure. I now want to go full-on with an accurate (as possible) pit-build. I see a DCS-BIOS system as central to much of that, and will look at the 3 x mega master split as Left panel, dashboard, right panel. I do not plan to model steam gauges though, as I am in VR. But I want all the working switches I can do to be there in the right places. I am as I say flying Mi-8 mostly, Huey sometimes, Ka50 sometimes, and looking forward toi the Mi-24.... Hence the 24 pit doubling as an Mi-8 pit. Any help and guidance greatly appreciated on the RS-485 method! Thanks for the advice about the USB Hubs. I am sure that is part of the problem. If not the whole problem... Cheers, Mole

DCS-BIOS: Serial-connect stops working after some time. Hi DCS-BIOS Gurus! I have now 3 devices running on DCS-BIOS. I have yet to venture into daisy chaining them all together so each is running on its own USB connection. I am using them in the Mi-8. I have a Mega2560 running the ARC-9 radio compass and a Nano running the SPU-7 radio selector. ARC-9 uses a mix of standard DCS-BIOS code snippets and some custom code which Hansolo helped me with. The SPU-7 is straight out of the Mi-8 DCS-BIOS snippets. What I find is that they stop running after a period of time. I only discover this when I try to use one ofd them. As I fly online in VR, it is frustrating to have equipment fail and have to resort to using the mouse in cockpit. I lift my headset to see that one or more of the serial-connect windows has stalled with the message "press any key to continue". What am i doing wrong, or, what is the way to correct this, please? Mole

And I completely forgot to post the code.... So here it is. To any other Mi-24 pit builders out there that might be interested, there are one or two ARK-15 units on eBay currently. It is a relatively easy rewiring job, and an Arduino Mega 2560 to cram into the back of the box. With massive assistance from Solo, I was able to write the code to work for the ARK-9 in the Mi-8, because there is not yet an Mi-24 in DCS! But we know/believe it is coming.... At which point I hope somebody writes a DCS-BIOS for it. They can have my code if it helps. I also have a ARK-9 unit which I bought before I found the ARK-15. I am now going to rewrite the code to work with the ARK-9 unit. There are one or two of those also on the web available. I will be fixing the ARK-9 I have for a friend, but I have another box on the way to me if anybody else is interested.... M

hi Sinuos, Sorry for the late reply! When you say potentiometers, which ones do you mean? On my rig I used one potentiometer in the handle of the collective for the twist throttle. Otherwise, I used Hall sensors for the pitch and roll axes of the cyclic, and for the collective lever angle. This was done with Halls mounted on some kind of small brackets near the centre of rotation and with magnets set up to move toward or away from the Hall as the stick is moved in those axes. I also see you have joined 229th. If you want to discuss more, happy to talk over a Discord voice channel there. Yours, Mole

MI-8 sign up. Hi there, Please put me down as another MI-8 to fly with Huckleberry and Toro6. My name is (D/229) Molevich. Thank you. M

Hey BaD, Did you already buy that? It looks really great. But you will need to have/write the code for DCS-BIOS to get it working! I am sure that is possible, and can be worked out from similar code in other modules. I recently used an Arduino to build a ARK-9/15 using an authentic ARK-15 from a Russian aviation scrap-dealer. Luckily, the Mi-8 has already been set to DCS-BIOS, but I still had to write some stuff to interpret the output of the dials which have mechanical rotary switches generating 5 digit codes! Got some help with that from Hansolo, without which I doubt I could have done it. And it works now too, clunky detents and stiff switches.... I think DCS-BIOS is really impressive and would love to do more with it when I have a need. Good luck with yours too! And I look forward to flying with BSD Boys again soon. Mole

Google "cockpit Design Ergonomics".

NS430 and Bodnar board Hi BaD, I implemented a NS430 interface that works great using a Bodnar board and a button box I built. I use it in VR as it sits where the Garmin sits in the Mi-8, and I have no problem reaching out for it and pushing buttons, turning encoders etc. I also bought 2 of the dual encoders from Bodnar, which was the expensive part of this project, but it absolutely gives the whole thing credibility. It is programmed then through the DCS controller options like a joystick. It is now much more enjoyable to set up the NS430, as it is very tricky and slow using a mouse in cockpit. Other friends report the same frustration and consequently only use the Garmin with preset WPs from the mission editor. With a purpose built box, it is a viable instrument with lots of potential and ease of use. I used the same layout as the real box and it is very satisfying and immersive. Still have a lot to learn about its functions, but at least I can get it to work. You do need a mod which Chic at 229th made to get the encoders working well. Great flying with you on Sunday btw! Yours, Mole

Hi Derbynew, I don';t know why, but PeterP has not been active on these forums for some years now. I believe however that he covered a lot of it on these forums. Do a search for"PeterP ka50 collective" or similar and I am sure you will find stuff.

Hi again asims33, A few pics of my pit, (apologies for img quality). It is a work in progress. As a big Mi-24 fan, I was lucky enough to get a stick and collective lever from a scrapped Hind on eBay, (long story). Same as in the Mi-8 and other Mil helicopters. But I decided that since DCS will produce a Mi-24, I would prepare for that. The left side wall above the collective has functioning radio switch and dial panels powered by Bodnar boards, while the authentic ARK-15 is running on Arduino and DCS-BIOS. There is a Garmin box too on the right dash, and a Doppler panel at the left knee. As Buckeye has said, muscle memory takes my fingers to the right place every time, and I am sure just like a real pilot, sometimes I have to feel for the right one by relative position. Pushing a button makes the virtual button depress in-cockpit. I currently mostly fly the Mi-8 and it shared a lot of equipment with the Mi-24, just that the panels are in different places... I have had loads of fun researching and building this, learned a lot too. And flying in it is just amazing. Some complain that VR is too low-res. The trade off is immersion, which coupled with tactile input actions is just a joy. Feel free to ask for more info, happy to provide. I keep meaning to create a thread about it on here, but get distracted. Luckily I do take pics of the WIP. I will add flat printed images of dials and such to "decorate" the parts of the pit like the dash, but they do not need to function. Next on my list to build are engine start switches etc. Mole

Hi asims33, About 12 months ago I jumped into VR. The experience is transformative. You are in the cockpit, not looking through a window into a cockpit. What I have also started to do is to put real switches where they should be, so I can reach out and operate specific switches in flight. Many are still operated by mouse of course, but particularly radios and navigation equipment I have set up to be real dials, knobs and switches. So I have built a cockpit, and some of it has switches, but no monitors or steam gauges, those I see in VR. Chat is done through Teamspeak, Discord and/or Simple Radio. Not typing for me, though some do. Good luck, there are lots of great ideas and different methods on here. Explore the forums, ask questions. Its a great fun journey! Mole

Hi Ron, What graphics card are you running with W7? Rift needs a powerful card to run well, at least a GTX 970. M