Hempstead

@Qcumber Thanks for testing & publishing these. My new gaming rig is very similar to yours, except a slightly higher spec. that really doesn't matter to DCS. Saves me a lot of time tuning this stuff!

It's been one of the most difficult builds I have ever had since the 1980s. It's all down to the combo of Win11 & Nvidia driver, a 9950X3D + RTX5080 build. It's not unheard of to have to reinstall the OS multiple times for a build, and I had a share of them. The difficulty this time is that it just crashes without leaving an OS event, except a dump. Now, unless you are an MS Windows engineer with access to their source code, which some of my neighbors probably do, the dump file is useless to us. So, I am reverted back to Asus motherboard QCode and guess. The blank screen randomly, even with the latest Nvidia driver just released 2 days ago didn't help. In fact, the latest just crashed the OS. Hell... the damned Nvidia App crashed the OS while installing the latest GAME READY driver! And then the OSD wouldn't work, etc. etc. There were even an AMD and ITEC USB update failed to install, etc..... until I did the Window cumulative update twice! So, somethings got patched once, and twice, and the order of the patches/drivers installation matters! WTF??? I have never seen crap like this since the 80's! I have finally stabilized it... but it's been a shooting in the blind affair.... and I don't like that. Anyway, if you are going this way, I advise that you install Win11, patch everything to the gill, and install "all other" drivers before you do the Nvidia thing. Some of you might argue that this is the "right" order of installation... not really... depending on how you get here. In the olden days of Windows installation leaving you with default 640x480 VGA resolution, and some of their stupid pop up dialog box were longer than 480 pixels... the very first thing you do after the OS is up is to install new gfx drivers so you can see the dialog boxes' entirety! Plus, usually the gfx driver was the least troublesome one to install. I mean, it has to work, or you see nothing and nothing can be done... until recently that is.

And the news/rumor making the round is that Nvidia might be increasing the prices of gfx cards! Not sure how true that is, but the PNY 5080 OC card I got for MSRP is now listed by the same retailer for USD$200 more than I paid.

Finally got all the parts of my 9950X3D + PNY RTX-5080 OC + 128GB RAM machine, brought it up and seemed stabilized. And got some DCS modules installed with minimal setup. Jumped into an F-16 on both Mariana and NTTR maps. Texture and Terrain Texture both set high, DLSS on, QuadView on…. Quest Pro device res. set to the highest, 90Hz, PD 1.0. Got pretty much 90fps all around. Have not done much testings yet, like with a lot of explosions, AH64, F-4E etc. yet. But, the first impression is very smooth and very little to no stuttering.

I used to use a piece of marble designed for rolling croissants. Bolt the rudder pedals to the marble, as long as the marble is heavy enough it won’t move around. You can get it cheaper from HomeDepot and the likes. A piece of chopping board will do too. The good thing about wood is that you can easily add some “nails” facing downward to “grab” the carpet.

Irony of irony. Quest 3 runs a version of Android OS.... i.e. a Linux.

https://www.hempstick.org/download/manual/Hempstick-UserGuide.pdf, pp. 34.

Yippee! I got my hands on a 9950X3D at MSRP, sorta! All I had to do is flew to Taiwan, walked into the first shop off the escalator in the infamous/famous KwangHwa Market and asked about it. OK OK, I have some business to do in Taiwan. So I thought I’d give it a shot. That market hasn’t disappointed me since the 80’s. With the RTX 5080 I already have, I can finally start ordering other parts for the new gaming rig.

Man... in VR, I just look at F4, and my FPS tanks to like 10fps. Gives a new meaning to the phrase "What are you looking at?".

That's not that much extra space than an office chair in the picture below (the rudder is still under the table). You indeed would need slightly more space than with just an office chair, but not much considering you also need space to move the office chair in/out, and for you to get in/out of the chair etc. My "VR pit" basically occupies that "free space" needed for an office chair and causes some inconvenience for my real office chair right behind it (I just have to slide the "pilot chair" forward and fold it for using my real office chair). And I build it in place. Of course I have a garage full of machine tools to cut the extrusion and brackets etc. But the building of it is right there in place. I have no "passage" space to maneuver it to that position if I build it somewhere else. Admittedly, it's a bit cramped building it in place, but it's doable. But now I do need some extra space to get in/out of the pit on the right hand side. The trouble with a "pit" like this is that without the office chair... how are you going to play regular desktop games... or PS5/Switch games on monitor? My solution is to make the front panel easily replaceable. So I can quickly take down the F-16 front panel, and slot in a driving wheel board, or a sliding keyboard/mouse tray, in 3 minutes. Most of the connectors are just cheap home made aluminum L-brackets with drilled holes. And the connectors/adapters for the adjustable parts of the replaceable front panels, board, trays are simply 3D printed. Also, the previous 3D printed ICP picture I showed... The ICP was right out of the printer and laser, no sanding. The two rocker switches, you can't iron them, so they were printed without, and then sanded. You can see the huge difference between non-ironed/sanded vs ironed-right surfaces.

I have the Unobtainium, an RTX 5080 card. But I don't have a computer to put it in.... yet. Still waiting to get my hands on a Ryzen 9950X3D... *sigh*.

1. You could get the surface almost perfect by ironing the top..... the parameters require a bit tweaking (mine are listed below). 2. I would suggest not print the text. I found the best result is to laser the text/graphics, and then paint with Acrylic paint. It is possible to print with multiple color and the laser to expose the underlying layer but that is quite wasteful with printers like Bambu. Check out this page, https://blog.hempstick.org/2024/05/icp-letter-painting-dobber-analog-wheel.html Of course, the disadvantage is that you need a laser engraver. Common doide laser doesn't work well with clear PLA, but works well with colored PLA, particularly works very well with black matte PLA. Bambu X1C, try the following parameters for PLA Matte, 0.2mm Strength @BBL X1C profile. Ironing Type : Top Surfaces Ironing flow : 15% Ironing line spacing: 0.1mm (the rest stay with default of the profile) Sparse infill density : 100% Sparse infill pattern : Rectilinear You don't have to use 100% infill... but if you are going to laser engrave deep for white paint... it could easily poke through the top layers, and into the void... Plus, with panels... you aren't saving too much filaments nor time by using 25% infill. PS. Ironing takes a loooooooong time... but trust me, it's worth it.

AVR Pit (Augmented Reality cockPit). https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/03/avrpit-augmented-virtual-reality-cockpit.html

Some refinements of the Mini-Hall joystick mechanical design. https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/03/mini-hall-joystick-refinements.html

Mechanical prototype of the mini-Hall Joystick completed. Video of it installed on my bronze cast F16 TQS. https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/02/mini-hall-joystick-new-mechanical.html

3D print it, or buy it from TM. TM does sell you spare parts, at understandably an arm and a leg shipping charges. But remember, they might not sell you just the cap, but the whole trim module. That will cost you.

A video for the very satisfying clicks for the new button press mechanism for the mini-Hall joystick. https://blog.hempstick.org/2025/02/mini-hall-no-gimbal-joystick.html

Not everybody will like this solution! Give it a try with the Quest controller and see how you like it. It will cost you nothing to try. Then, decide. If you do try it... I'd suggest that you turn on the activate only when the side button is pressed (or something like that) in the DCS VR setting page... otherwise, you might accidentally activate something with the controller hanging right under your left hand, like the darn F-16 landing gear lever when going after burner. And BTW, in VR, all you have to do is to lean into the switches to get a better view for switching stuff. I do agree that with VR controllers (so is with PointCtrl), during the heat of a dog fight, it's still a bit difficult to have precision control. That's why I am building panels for VR (no back light is needed). All I need is the IRL buttons/switches/dials at the same locations as in VR, and send the right signals to DCS. Hence, I am writing my own USB firmware for RPi Pico 2W.

I just use the VR controller, but working on building panels for VR. I sold my unused PointCtrl simply because the Oculus VR controller works so well, after getting used to it in DCS. I usually only strap on my left controller leaving the right controller on a fixed location. I have since upgraded to Quest pro, and controllers with silicone sleeves with hand sewn straps (10 mins to make, each). The trouble with virtual fingers is that with buttons, they work great, but not so good with toggles, and atrocious with dials. Try fly a DME Arc with an F-16, having to constantly adjust a dial on the HSI by tiny precise amount. Sorry, no HSI on the HUD for F-16 Blk 52. You go steam gauge. And, F-16 is fast, you don’t have much time in the DME Arc to fiddle with your dials.

Just received the damper... there is still quite some distinct stiction there, as I suspected. Oh. well... I might just put it on, because I mostly fly F-16... and helos is where the sticktion force is most annoying. .... until my own force generator driven rudder comes online. I am planning to start writing the RPi Pico based USB controller firmware this holiday season.... maybe...

Ok. I ordered exactly the one you linked. We shall see.

Ya.... but with added stiction. I abandoned that idea 15 years ago because I could't solve the stiction problem of the hydraulic dampers.... If you have solved the stiction problem... I'd be happy to take another look at it.

https://github.com/JonahTsai/F16/blob/master/MFD/Authentic/FrontBezel.SLDPRT

https://blog.hempstick.org/2024/12/two-stage-trigger-remake.html Haven't posted for awhile... this is the remake of the two-stage trigger piston and plug, solving a durability problem.