CeeGee

I would definitely be willing to pay for a FFB add on! What would be even better, is if this would not make use of the MS Directinput api. Since this api is al most 20 years old and has not been updated for a long time. (Direct X 8.0 2000,if I'm not mistaken) My suggestions would be to come up with an addon, that would have native support for arduino boards (leonardo,etc.). From a commercial perspective, looking at some crowdfunding initiatives, with the intent to produce "low costs" FFB devices, always ended up costing well over $1000,-. In my humble opinion, there is not enough people that would be willing or ableto pay the steep prices that such FFB units would cost. However giving people the option to make their own FFB sick based on arduinos and DIY materials according to their on budget, would open up a whole new market, in my humble opinion. There are numerous examples of DIY FFB wheels and motion platforms for racing sims, why not invest in a platform like say DCS BIOS and expanding that with FFB option. Or just build a new software suite from scratch. A lot of these private initiatives start out as DIY programming projects when guys are still in school or just as a hobby project, but end up not being developed beyond a certain stage, because the developer has a change in their private situation (starting jobs, bad health, lost interest). So If someone would develop a commercial FFB software addon for DCS or any other simulator for that matter, that would allow me to build my own flight control hardware and/or even a motion platform and allow me to interface the hardware tot DCS using Arduinos, I would be very willing to pay for that. And I think there would be a lot of people in the DCS community willing to pay for that as well. Just my humble opinion!

Hi H2, I ran into your post a little while back and was very interested in your DCS plugin. Very impressed with the setup you have made. I had just decidedt that I wanted to get on board with the SFX team to start building my own rig for DCS, when they shut down the site due to the illegal commercial use of the software. By coincidence I returned to the SFX website again today and noticed the they are allowing new members, but only after sponsorship. Are you by any chance in the position to sponsor me at the SFX100 website so I can join and start to bulld my own rig? If not, do you know anybody else who might sponsor me? Hope to hear from you soon! Best regards! Tom

Good morning! Thank you for looking into this. Might be worth to give that a try! Think I can make that work. Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk

Not quite the same as the F-14 has hydraulically boosted mechanical flight controls and the trim basically move the entire horizontal stabilator independent of dynamic air pressure on the airfoil. The trim tabs on the P-51, at least in real life, “push” the horizontal stabilator to a certain position until dynamic pressure on the airfoil is balanced again. Just to indicate, when the P-51 speed is 0 there are no aerodynamic forces acting on the control surfaces and therefore there are no forces acting on the flight stick other than friction. At low speed the flightcontrols are “sloppy” where as at high speed you would have to excert more force to move the stick. When you start up DCS P-51D in cold start condition and and do not touch the joystick, the flight stick of the model is not centered. When you move the joystick, the flight stick centers, because it then senses the potentiometer or Hal effect sensor. So the question with regards to your “problem” is, how airflow and dynamic pressure is modeled in the “digital” P-51D. Is it modeled to resemble real life physics? Maybe a question we should ask the P-51D development team. But then again the same question can be asked about the “digital” aerodynamic modeling of any airplane module in DCS.. Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk

Sorry hit send button to fast. I actually mean the trim(mer) position. Stick position would probably give the same problems when one would move the stick in the pitch axis as the servo would respond to that manual input as well. Since it mentions trimmer in the cockpit indicator.lua file. Maybe we would be able to export that data to a servo. Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk

Correct Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk

@BlackLibrary: First of all many thanks for your work improving and maintaining DCS BIOS and off course to FSIan for developing DCS BIOS in the first place! Great piece of software!! Currently started work on building an F-14 cockpit (just the Pilot station for now) and started exploring DCS BIOS for that purpose. Incorporsating Artifcial control feel for the flight controls is something that I think would really improve immersion in the sim. I have the following question; Is it possible to add the export of the stick or trimmer position from the ControlsIndicator_page.lua of the F-14 model to a ServoOutput in DCS BIOS. The ControlsIndicator_page.lua is located in the DCS World\Mods\aircraft\F14\Cockpit\Scripts\ControlsIndicator folder. To explain why I'm asking; I have setup a miniature testrig using the servoOutput of the pilot Accelerometer needle as a makeshift artificial control feel in the pitch axis. Basically the more G's are pulled, both negative and positive, the servo wants to return the stick back to the "neutral" force position with a force equal to the amount of G's. So If you pull back hard (high g's) and release the stick, the stick will be pulled back to "neutral" position and as stick deflection decreases also the amount of force by the servo is decreased. I've set up a testrig (not full size) using a HSS high torque servo connected to a"flight stick" by way of a cable & pulley system connected to some springs. It actually works pretty ok. Stick doesn't bounce when released at full deflection. Some military fighter aircraft with hydraulically boosted mechanical flight controls feature a Bobweight connected to the pitch belcrank which increases counter force when G's are "pulled".) T-38/F-5 also have this feature. Now I'm looking into incorporating the stick trim functionality in the testrig. Initially i wanted to use the ServoOutput of the stabilator indicator needles, however since the horizontal stabilators on the F-14 function as Elevons and have 2 needles, this would work ok in the pitch axis, until you start making roll inputs, then the needles split. So that is not an option. If it where possible to export the actual position of the flight stick instead of the "stabilisator" indicator needles, it would make it possible to also intermix the movement of the stick while trimming the aircraft. Hope above makes sense to you. Eager to hear what's possible! Thanks in advance!

Battlemage, I believe you mean the neutral position of the "artificial control feel" of the f-14 stick. The neutral position of the control surface (Elevons) and therefore the stick in the F-14 does not change. This is indicated by the 0 on the Control Surface Position Indicator. Furthermore I'm very interested on how you would like to use the control/trim indicator position as data for your FFB stick and how are you solving the actual forces on the stick? Are you going to solve this mechanically (springs) or electrically (Servo's/DC motors) or a combination of the two? Greetz, CeeGee

Hi Stang, I’m also interested in your CAD plans, could you send me a PM with additional info on plans? Thanks in advance! Best regards, Tom Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk

Pretty pictures RNLAF BO-105' s, not at all like the PAH-105' s. Airframe is the basic Civilian version. The PAH-105 has a more robuust airframe, the sheet aluminium for the skin is thicker than the version the RNLAF had (phased out of service since 2006ish) in the inventory.

Hi guys, I have the most recent version of Helios installed and got everything working using LOZ's A-10C double monitor profile. Now I'm trying to open the P-51 and F-15C profiles by CAPT ZEEN, But every time I open either the P-51 or F-15C profile I get a "Helios stopped working" message and the profile editor shuts down. Ihave the P-51 and F-15 profiles and images all copied into the correct folders according to the installation notes in the readme file. Can anyone help me out? Like I said I got the LOZ A-10C double monitor profile working.. Thanks in advance!! Regards, Tom

Everything withdrawn.....

Thanks for the sugestion OverDHill. Simplugins is already looking at the problem now. So I want them to sort the problem, since its payware. If that doesn't work, I'll reconsider. @ Capt Zeen, Really nice work!! If the simplugins interface keeps being an issue, I'll definately look at your helios solution!!

Panel Builder for DCS P51D Simplugins contacted me on the AVSIM forum (their official support forum, where I posted a similar post as above). Off course they had to react.. They offered a solution that could be found in their FAQ articles. Already tried that solution, but no results.. Still own a $50,- piece of software that doesn't work.. Let's see what they come up with next.. OK Little update, Simplugins addon works as advertised now. So thats good news, however multiplayer functionality is not doing what it's supposed to. However the new Helios Profile for the P-51D developed by captain ZEEN renders this addon pretty much obsolete. The HELIOS addon has more functionality and is now multiplayer capable of the bat! So definatly not worth spending $50,- ish. My 2 cents

Hi did you test it and if so what's your verdict? I recently bought is, but it does not work and Simplugins is not responding to support requests.. If you check the support forum, typically just one response per support topic, with no clear answer/solutions..... In other words... Don't buy this piece of crap