Force Feedback

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cpt_Slow
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Force Feedback

Post by cpt_Slow »

I think this has been mentioned a few times before, but I'm just pondering something here.

I have never experienced a full on force feedback joystick like a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2, but from the sounds of it the motors can move the stick in the x and y axes with considerable force. My suggestion is more like a question to JLV or anybody who knows a bit about flight sims.
Would it be possible to adapt a controller like this so that say....I rotate the stick (like turning my handlebars, pivoting around say the z-axis) and the game outputs the lean angle of the bike back into the joystick driving the feedback motors to make the stick lean? If the game can do this (some other forces pumping through the stick from heavy impacts etc wouldn't go a miss either :P ) and if the motors could cope (nothing a few mosfets and some heavy duty motors couldn't fix I'm sure :twisted: ) then simply adding a small set of bars onto the stick and re-routing some of the pots and switches to make a throttle, clutch, brake etc could make a pretty sick mxsim controller.

Just thought it might be a cool little project if they somebody some spare cash and the game supported it although I'm pretty sure the expensive stick would need to be slaughtered somewhat to get it to work. and the coding is probably a big project in itself.
jlv
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Re: Force Feedback

Post by jlv »

I looked into this a long time ago and came to the conclusion that the mainstream stuff was too weak to do anything useful. It might have changed by now though.
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cpt_Slow
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Re: Force Feedback

Post by cpt_Slow »

Yeah that was my main concern, I guess as soon as you start adding extensions to the stick the motors are gonna struggle. Looking at sidewinder reviews the feedback is "arm-wrenching" but being realistic you would probably feel a slight twitch on your handlebars before that faint aroma of burning. Like I said, maybe wire up a couple of winch motors (I assume it uses servo motors with position sensors, not steppers?) and drop a lead acid on your desk and you might have some nice results :P I can understand it's not gonna be worth your while coding it in though if you can't just implement a mainstream controller.

Thanks for the reply :)
Phil
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