Hempstead

The whole point is that by declaring the pre-condition of one switch box, you have to turn to a hackish solution, like every time you want to play different game, you have to re-flash your controller board, and bring headache. Why in the hell do you do that to yourself? Consider stepping back, and re-evaluate your "pre-conditions" and "assumptions" and you might just find the solution space suddenly broaden. Then, you can evaluate whether the gained new solutions is worth giving up the pre-conditions, or keeping them. For instance, what about one switch box per one controller, and each for different aircraft. Then, you never have to re-flash them ever. You just plug in different switch box and you are good to go. It's not like one switch box is ever going to ever there is. You are going to want more, if that one switch box works well. Might as well release yourself from the mental confine from the start.

Why don't you build multiple "switch boxes" and just switch the switch box?

I, on the other hand, from day one of release, have almost never lost track of position. At the beginning when it booted up Quest pro, it takes a bit to get the controllers to sync positions. But once they are in sync, I almost never lose position. However, recently, Meta has gotten really really aggressive in "power saving" so if you idle the controller for like 3 seconds, it sleeps. It takes about a second to wake it up. And there is no option to adjust how aggressive Zuck is. No wonder he and Musk wanted to meet in a Vegas ring. *sigh* What I would suggest is that since the pro controller runs SLAM using two cameras, you really want your env to be bright enough for it to work. They ain't IR cameras. For instance, if you have a pit or a desk... and your joystick/throttle is down below the desk top level... what the camera see could be darker than you are aware of.

Just some clever 3D printed clamps for the 8020 rails. https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/10/clever-little-3d-printed-clamps-for.html

The next generation Hempstick (electronics/software) prototype. https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/09/the-next-generation-hempstick-prototype.html

They fit. https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/09/ha-they-fit.html

7" Touch screen on the right Aux Console. https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/09/ubuntu-touch-screen-on-aux-console.html

Hempstick breakthrough https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/08/hempstick-breakthrough.html

A 9800X3D is selling on Amazon for USD $449, i.e. $74 dollars more than a 7800X3D. At that price diff, why would you go for the last gen Zen 4 as opposed to Zen 5 stuff? For a €3128.20 machine... adding USD$74 shouldn't be a problem, right?

Ah... I see it. Thanks! So, it's www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/Downloads need to have the file updated.

I am not seeing the document updated. It's still "DCS: F-16 Early Access Guide" dated Dec. 29, 2024 on the DCS web site. Can't seem to find the updated doc with sniper pod.

I have a static IP# assigned to my GamingPC2. And, my egress point IP# is also a static IP# (I pay quite a bit money for it monthly). So, no, there is no IP# change. And this has happened quite a bit before, like when I was in the mission editor, or browsing through my custom mission trying to decide which mission to play, or in Setting pages configuring my settings. It just kicked me out, claiming login expired. The only thing I can think of is DNS server glitch. Say, it tries to contact digitalcombatsimulator.com/.... to validate, but the DNS name could not be resolved for whatever reason... But that is very unlikely too, because once I got kicked out, login in a few seconds works fine means that is not likely to be the cause.

dcs.log.oldThat was the wrong log file... This is the correct one that it kicked me out. 2025-07-03 19:00:30.957 ERROR ASYNCNET (34508): The session has expired (401). Exiting...

dcs.log

It has been giving that "Login Session Expired" and kicking me out recently ever since the new launcher was deployed. Sure, restart will get me a login again. But... Today, it kicked me out when I was actively bombing some T-72s. Hey! WTF!!! I just got in less than 10 minutes ago! That's not a nice end-user experience! Shouldn't it renew my session authentication when I got into the launcher thing? Apparently not! How do you like to get kicked out while in a multi-player mano a mano dog fights? I am sure the other guy will not accept "the excuse" of getting kicked out! That's a potentially ego-dousing bug! Please fix it.

Minimalist frame is 2x 6' long and 2x 12 3/4" long 15x15 extrusion, plus 4 corner brackets and 8x screws. That's what I did. That's it. The other way is 2x 6' long 15x15, 1x 16" long, and 1x 4' long 15x15. This way, the two shorter extrusions will go under the 2x long extrusion instead on the same plane. And instead of using 4x corner bracket as you saw in the picture, you'd have to use 8 L-brackets to connect them. This way... the 4' long extrusion extends to the left and right, and acts as a stabilizing bar, and for mounting more stuff. Or, you can do 2x 6', 2x 4'. Or, 4x 6', 2x 4', (the middle 2x long ones are still the same thing as above.). There are unlimited number of variations... longer or shorter, different configurations, etc. but the central idea is long rectangular frame connecting the chair, stick, and pedals, and everything else connect to this central frame. You do you... And BTW, no vid for tipping over. I wasn't expecting that. Too bad... it was actually very funny.

The idea is already in the public. It cannot be patented, nor copyrighted... unless somebody else already copyrighted/patented it. Won't be me though.

I would caution anybody who build this frame one thing though. Width of the frame is necessarily the same center-to-center width of the chair rails. So, it's very narrow. Your tilting around to look at your six in VR is going to cause this thing to tip over. So, you would have to add a lateral stabilizing bar to prevent tipping over. Ask me how I know that! My solution to this is adding a cheap 4x4 deck post under the frame extending to left and right of the seat (right under the seat), yet another weekend trip to HomeDepot. And then added some office chair caster wheels (front stabilizing bar can be shorter). This kills two birds with one stone. Now this thing moves if I need it be... say vacuuming?

In the picture, that's what it looks like... mount the chair rails on the two long extrusion.... then, cut the front and back connecting extrusions, screw on... That's it. IMG_0363.jp2

I currently have two 2'x4' 3/4" plywood stacked and screwed together, topped with a thin aluminum sheet for smooth feet movement. And then the whole thing is screwed down to the 80/20 extrusion frame of my "pit" with some cheap woodworking tracks/screws. Actually, this was the original idea of my "pit", just a rectangular frame with a chair and a pair of pedals bolted on. I just added wheels, side rails for mounting panels, and front "gates" for mounting front panel and stuff. (I constructed the 3D models of the frame after the fact. It's an I-got-a-rough-idea-so-just-build-the-damned-thing design. ) PJ. It looks like you have a "chair" sitting on the carpet. Why not buy some cheap chinese-made 80/20 clone aluminum extrusion from Amazon, and make a simple 4-pieces long rectangular frame to bolt your chair and boards on? This way, you can use a chair that can slide back and forth (I do, and it makes getting in and out of the pit so much easier than a fixed chair), and so can the pedals and stick be slid back and forth independently. You can stop right there, or you can keep adding stuff like I do, still do. The frame should be made of at least Metric 40x40, or Imperial 15x15 extrusion, just in case one day you want to lift it off the floor, and it's strong enough to support your weight, and doesn't twist like crazy as Imperial 10x10 extrusion will do. The frame can be assembled in 1/2 hr if you have the right tools and parts.

I have been building that for a while already, except I write my own USB firmware for them, with home build accurate panels (mostly 3D printing and laser engraving), instead of tablets. Actually, quite a few people have been doing the same thing. For this scheme to work well. You need two things. 1. a way to see the real world and the VR world. For instance switch to camera view and back to VR 24 time a second, or build a transparent overlap with an OpenXR layer. Otherwise alignment is a bit tricky. This is made even more challenging by DCS’s recent change to one shot recentering of the VR, instead of continuing recentering while you hold down the recenter button until you release the button. 2. You need a way to see your finger tip in order to do the feedback loop to navigating your finger tip, real or representation in VR, accurately. Quest’s hand tracking is not there. A few cm off, and refresh rate is too low, resolution is too crappy.

Oversized good power supply is not a bad thing to have to begin with. If money is not a constraint. And... My previous gaming rig's 1,200W power supply is from the previous previous gaming PC. Or, was it from the previous, previous, previous gaming PC? Anyway, it predates VR and had dual graphic cards, hence the oversized power supply. You know, from the heyday of SLI and stuff. It would have been my current gaming PC's power supply but I decided that I can use the previous gaming PC's dual boot Linux for compiling stuff, and its Win10's current DCS setup for AH64 gunner "passenger" ride "demos" with a cheap Quest 3S. So, I bought another way oversized expensive power supply, 1,600W. And note that... I don't turn off my computers. So, that darn thing has been running 24/7 for many years. > 10 years? Maybe the "low load" has something to do with the longevity? Don't really know, but I suspect it's a factor. And of course, key is a good durable power supply. You don't want those that will have capacitors blown a few years down the road. This... is difficult... by reputation, experience, and luck only. YMMV greatly.

Quest Controllers work. I recently build a new 9950X3D machine, about two weeks ago, and reinstalled everything from scratch. My Quest Pro's controllers still work. IMHO, Quest controllers are far superior than mouse. Of course, it's a very personal thing. So, try it out for yourself first and don't let others, me included, sway your decision without trying it.

Not that much... but because it's there, and it can be done. That's how progress is made. One small step forward at a time. It used to be 4x DDR5-6000 was dicey too. Now.... if it can be easily done, and the price difference is insignificant... why not?

Ya... Power over Ethernet. It's a standard that is build into PoE capable switches to carry power over certain wires in the Ethernet cable. The receiving ends have to split the power out. This way, you can skip the power wire to your Ethernet-to-USB-C adapter. So, one Ethernet cable in, and that's it. Obviously, you need an PoE capable Ethernet to USB-C adapter. I have one capable of the required 60W. Note that, PoE capable switches are not cheap.