Sokol1_br Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 VKB Gladiator joystick project. More pictures: http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/14343-vkb-gladiator-joystick-project/#entry227060 Since the target is a "budget" (80-90$) joystick this is not HOTAS, but all in one piece. Is said that the HOTAS format will double the price. This don't pretend compete in "high end" HOTAS market (Warthog, X55...) Features: 8 axis 1 HAT 39 buttons - include 5 Encoders* MaRS digital sensor in X,Y, rudder (twist) axis. Potentiometer on other 5 axis (throttle, mixture, flaps...). USB controller Njoy32 - able to handle more than 100 virtual buttons and use virtual axis with mode switch. * Rotaries with encoder allow "trim on wheels" in IL-2 BoS (dont allow trim on axis). Or can be used to set DI, Course Setter, Bombsight, gunsight... in games like Il-2 CLoD. "Why WWII piston propeller plane style? 1) The market is already full of joysticks from leading brands, stylized as modern combat aircraft. 2) Most of virtual pilots to fly it on the pistons propeller planes. 3) I love piston aircraft of that era, and since the final decision to launch the project to take me, I quickly and without a doubt chose piston design and ergonomics. Here and so took office." The grip with 3 buttons and HAT is based on WWII Luftwaffe KG12 grip with some concessions, the pinkie button is located more high/accessible and the B-Knopf button is a HAT switch. With the mode switch on throttle, is possible use more 6 virtual buttons on grip. Sokol1
FSFIan Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Bonus points if they design it in a way so people who like to void warranties can make it into a HOTAS with a hacksaw, some hookup wires and a soldering iron! DCS-BIOS | How to export CMSP, RWR, etc. through MonitorSetup.lua
cichlidfan Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Looks pretty nice. Although I wouldn't be part of the target audience anymore, there was a time when I would have snapped that up in a heartbeat. :thumbup: ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero, i7-6700K, Noctua NH-D14 Cooler, Crucial 32GB DDR4 2133, Samsung 950 Pro NVMe 256GB, Samsung EVO 250GB & 500GB SSD, 2TB Caviar Black, Zotac GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme 8GB, Corsair HX1000i, Phillips BDM4065UC 40" 4k monitor, VX2258 TouchScreen, TIR 5 w/ProClip, TM Warthog, VKB Gladiator Pro, Saitek X56, et. al., MFG Crosswind Pedals #1199, VolairSim Pit, Rift CV1 :thumbup:
hegykc Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 If you can make this for under 100$ my hat is off to you. And I don't say that often. Hell, I'll even buy one! But this needs some pro renders to really bring it to life. www.replikagear.com
Sokol1_br Posted March 30, 2015 Author Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) Pictures from pre-production prototype. Edited March 30, 2015 by Sokol1_br
Bourrinopathe Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 Thanks for the info Sokol! For the pricepoint it should be a killer choice. The NJoy32 controller and the D-MaRS sensors both deliver top-notch performance. Apparently it also includes a link for external rudder pedals. So many buttons, encoders, potentiometers… That's some love for the warbirds. /// ВКБ: GF Pro MkII+MCG Pro/GF MkII+SCG L/Black Mamba MkIII/Gladiator/T-Rudder MkII | X-55 Rhino throttle/Saitek Throttle Quadrant | OpenTrack+UTC /// ZULU +4 /// /// "THE T3ASE": i9 9900K | 64 GB DDR4 | RTX 2080ti OC | 2 TB NVMe SSDs, 1 TB SATA SSD, 12 TB HDDs | Gigabyte DESIGNARE mobo ///
Rangi Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 All those air vents around the stick, I wonder if they plan on adding force feedback in the future. If they can pull it off for under $100 it looks like a good buy. PC: 6600K @ 4.5 GHz, 12GB RAM, GTX 970, 32" 2K monitor.
upupandaway Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 I don´t know what to think of this, yet. If it had FFB it would certainly be worth a second look from my point of view. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Deedle, deedle!
Nooch Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 I don´t know what to think of this, yet. If it had FFB it would certainly be worth a second look from my point of view. Exactly! I think it's lame no one is making a ffb stick right now. FFB is a must and I'd be willing to spend a lot on a good ffb stick. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Harle Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 All those air vents around the stick. They are just for decoration. No plans for FFB in this model. Info from the russian forum. FFB feature is useless anyway, IMHO.
Nooch Posted April 8, 2015 Posted April 8, 2015 FFB feature is useless anyway, IMHO. Have you already tried DCS with a good FFB stick? It may not do much for modern aircrafts but for older planes like WW2 aircrafts, it's a must. FFB basically tells you when you are begining to reach max AoA so you never do high AoA stalls. Without FFB, my P-51 would flip over in hard turns all the time! Plus it kind of gives you a sense of how many g's you're pulling. People were complaining about bf-109 wings breaking all the time because of too high g's. It NEVER happened to me once. FFB is essential IMHO. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Abburo Posted April 9, 2015 Posted April 9, 2015 HERESY! +20 Romanian Community for DCS World HW Specs: AMD 7900X, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090, HOTAS Virpil, MFG, CLS-E, custom
Burnett Posted April 9, 2015 Posted April 9, 2015 FFB is essential IMHO. I agree and it takes just a few minutes of the experience to realize how USEFUL it is. :thumbup:
Sokol1_br Posted April 9, 2015 Author Posted April 9, 2015 The fact is "Force Feedback" involve "million dollar" patents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_v._Sony Is very difficult for small manufacture deal with these corporations, for a small market on a small game niche - flight simulation. One can "write in stone" - the last venture in "Force Feedback" joystick (that not in gamepad format) was the ill-fated G-940, defeated by corporation bean counters needed in saving a few cents in potentiometers and wires...
Dudikoff Posted April 9, 2015 Posted April 9, 2015 One can "write in stone" - the last venture in "Force Feedback" joystick (that not in gamepad format) was the ill-fated G-940, defeated by corporation bean counters needed in saving a few cents in potentiometers and wires... And useful software and firmware (to fix the hysteresis issue on the throttle and rudders). i386DX40@42 MHz w/i387 CP, 4 MB RAM (8*512 kB), Trident 8900C 1 MB w/16-bit RAMDAC ISA, Quantum 340 MB UDMA33, SB 16, DOS 6.22 w/QEMM + Win3.11CE, Quickshot 1btn 2axis, Numpad as hat. 2 FPH on a good day, 1 FPH avg. DISCLAIMER: My posts are still absolutely useless. Just finding excuses not to learn the F-14 (HB's Swansong?). Annoyed by my posts? Please consider donating. Once the target sum is reached, I'll be off to somewhere nice I promise not to post from. I'd buy that for a dollar!
Harle Posted April 10, 2015 Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) The fact is "Force Feedback" involve "million dollar" patents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_v._Sony Is very difficult for small manufacture deal with these corporations, for a small market on a small game niche - flight simulation. One can "write in stone" - the last venture in "Force Feedback" joystick (that not in gamepad format) was the ill-fated G-940, defeated by corporation bean counters needed in saving a few cents in potentiometers and wires... I don't really think copyright would be an issue for VKB. As long as Russia isn't a member of EU it's perfectly fine to "infringe" whatever might be neccessary for production of FFB joysticks. No one would be able to prosecute them here. Just like in China. All the copyrighters might try to do is restrict the import of their producs. Edited April 10, 2015 by Harle
Teapot Posted May 3, 2015 Posted May 3, 2015 I'm with the FFB guys .. without FFB it's not worth a 2nd look IMO. "A true 'sandbox flight sim' requires hi-fidelity flyable non-combat utility/support aircraft." Wishlist Terrains - Bigger maps Wishlist Modules - A variety of utility aircraft to better reflect the support role. E.g. Flying the Hornet ... big yawn ... flying a Caribou on a beer run to Singapore? Count me in. Extracting a Recon Patrol from a hastily prepared landing strip at a random 6 figure grid reference? Now yer talking!
Bourrinopathe Posted July 1, 2015 Posted July 1, 2015 Update with that "light" Gladiator version: Reworked twist axis and gimbal since the last prototype. :thumbsup: /// ВКБ: GF Pro MkII+MCG Pro/GF MkII+SCG L/Black Mamba MkIII/Gladiator/T-Rudder MkII | X-55 Rhino throttle/Saitek Throttle Quadrant | OpenTrack+UTC /// ZULU +4 /// /// "THE T3ASE": i9 9900K | 64 GB DDR4 | RTX 2080ti OC | 2 TB NVMe SSDs, 1 TB SATA SSD, 12 TB HDDs | Gigabyte DESIGNARE mobo ///
Sokol1_br Posted July 1, 2015 Author Posted July 1, 2015 Back side connectors: In "PEDALS" can be connected a VKB T-Rudder or RDR MKXXI (no USB controller versions), in "SYS" a VKB "button box" or throttle.
Bucic Posted August 15, 2015 Posted August 15, 2015 The fact is "Force Feedback" involve "million dollar" patents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_v._Sony Is very difficult for small manufacture deal with these corporations, for a small market on a small game niche - flight simulation. One can "write in stone" - the last venture in "Force Feedback" joystick (that not in gamepad format) was the ill-fated G-940, defeated by corporation bean counters needed in saving a few cents in potentiometers and wires... What counts as patent infringment? Using the API, using the phrase "Force Feedback" or selling any device with force feedback? I find the last one close to impossible. F-5E simpit cockpit dimensions and flight controls Kill the Bloom - shader glow mod Poor audio Doppler effect in DCS [bug] Trees - huge performance hit especially up close
Bourrinopathe Posted May 17, 2016 Posted May 17, 2016 Good news with a significant step forward: the Gladiator and the Gladiator Pro are available for pre-orders. Also, the Gladiator twist axis is contact-less (magnetoresistive) and, afaik, it's the first joystick to offer that :thumbup: I'm wondering if it can be used with Elite Dangerous ^^ /// ВКБ: GF Pro MkII+MCG Pro/GF MkII+SCG L/Black Mamba MkIII/Gladiator/T-Rudder MkII | X-55 Rhino throttle/Saitek Throttle Quadrant | OpenTrack+UTC /// ZULU +4 /// /// "THE T3ASE": i9 9900K | 64 GB DDR4 | RTX 2080ti OC | 2 TB NVMe SSDs, 1 TB SATA SSD, 12 TB HDDs | Gigabyte DESIGNARE mobo ///
Bearfoot Posted May 17, 2016 Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Good news with a significant step forward: the Gladiator and the Gladiator Pro are available for pre-orders. Also, the Gladiator twist axis is contact-less (magnetoresistive) and, afaik, it's the first joystick to offer that :thumbup: I'm wondering if it can be used with Elite Dangerous ^^ Fantastic! Can I ask about the pedals: do they have no center detent/bump like the Crosswinds? Can they be used standalone, or must they be plugged into the joystick? Edited May 17, 2016 by Bearfoot
Bourrinopathe Posted May 17, 2016 Posted May 17, 2016 The T-Rudder pedals can be used standalone yes. Connecting the pedals to the Gladiator will only allow to see the pedals as an additional axis for a single control device (they'll be identified as the Gladiator's Z axis). There are two options for the centering feeling: a hard center and there's also a smooth center (more suitable for the helos). You have to reverse the cam to change the feeling. /// ВКБ: GF Pro MkII+MCG Pro/GF MkII+SCG L/Black Mamba MkIII/Gladiator/T-Rudder MkII | X-55 Rhino throttle/Saitek Throttle Quadrant | OpenTrack+UTC /// ZULU +4 /// /// "THE T3ASE": i9 9900K | 64 GB DDR4 | RTX 2080ti OC | 2 TB NVMe SSDs, 1 TB SATA SSD, 12 TB HDDs | Gigabyte DESIGNARE mobo ///
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