Cessna 172 simulator

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vectro
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Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:54 pm
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Cessna 172 simulator

Post by vectro » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:08 pm

Hello all and greetings from rainy Finland,

I've been building a simulator into real Cessna 172 fuselage for a year now. Once I heard about this product I was very interested because I had been thinking long time how to simulate the trim forces in our project.

The joystick review was also very good:
http://www.dirks-software.ca/fs-force/joysticks.htm

I have decided to dissassemble Force Feedback joystick and somehow connect it into control yokes. It seems that Microsoft Force Feedback 2 joystick would be best choice for me, but in the joystick review it was mentioned that the Microsoft joystick senses when your hand is on the joystick. If you remove it, the forces stop.

QUESTION: Is there any way to disconnect this feature because in my project the hand will not be directly connected with joystick handle.

Thanks for your answers in advance.

here are some pictures of my ongoing project:
www.lentosimulaattori.1g.fi
Last edited by vectro on Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:59 am, edited 4 times in total.

RussDirks
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Post by RussDirks » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:14 am

There is a little sensor, which if you put a piece of tape over, the joystick will think your hand is there all the time.
Russel Dirks
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vectro
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Post by vectro » Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:26 pm

I have planned to use real trim wheel and indicator from the fuselage. The trim setting are sent into simulator via Simkits Central Control Unit.
This way the trim (+ indicator) communicates realtime via CCU. This is very handy for example after FS2004 reset situation because CCU can 'sniff' the trim setting from the hardware trim and send the info into FS2004.

QUESTION:

FS Force communicates with FS2004 via the joystick (for example MS Forse Feedback 2). The trim setting are sent via joystick's own trim UP/DWN pushbuttons. I would like to use the trim with potentiometer from my fuselage instead. Can FS Force and Force Feedback joystick understand these trim setting that comes from outside instead of joysticks own trim up/dwn buttons.

i.e. how does this effect in the trim forces in the stick. It seems that this hardware trim can transmit the trim setting into FS2004 like it should but how does this effect into trim force setting?

Thank you for the answer in advance.

BR,
O-P

RussDirks
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Post by RussDirks » Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:19 am

Can FS Force and Force Feedback joystick understand these trim setting that comes from outside instead of joysticks own trim up/dwn buttons.
Not with FS2004. Only the trim buttons are recognized. But with FS Force 2.0 / FSX, both trim buttons and "trim wheels" are recognized. Basically, as long as FSX recognized it, FS Force 2.0 will.
Russel Dirks
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vectro
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Post by vectro » Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:33 am

RussDirks wrote:
Can FS Force and Force Feedback joystick understand these trim setting that comes from outside instead of joysticks own trim up/dwn buttons.
Not with FS2004. Only the trim buttons are recognized. But with FS Force 2.0 / FSX, both trim buttons and "trim wheels" are recognized. Basically, as long as FSX recognized it, FS Force 2.0 will.
Thank you for the answer. I want to share my testing results with you all.
Somebody was asking is there a way to connect trim wheel to FS Force, ver1.
There is a certain pulse sensor that can be attached into joystick very easily.
http://www.elfa.se/en/
product number: 35-884-64

This pulse sensor can remember it's position after FS2004 reboot.
I will be using this sensor with Sidewinder Force Feedback 2.

BTW, your software seems to work very well. I only wanted to use control surface forces so I dropped off everything else and was very satisfied for the results. Very nice product. Keep up the good work.

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