Sim Room Project Update

Hi gents,

Thought I'd better give you a quick update on what I've been up to lately before you start checking the obits. Still here, still monitoring but not flying since May while I work on my little project.

I'm converting a space I had originally intended as a downstairs walk-in bathroom into a simulation room. It measures a scant 5' wide by 8' deep and is perfect to set up a permanent installation for my sim gear and PC.

Currently working on the basic carpentry/dry wall installation and finish work. Electrical is in, still need to work some magic on the lights and ventilation this week, and then it's over to converting my current wired network over to Wi-Fi. That means moving my gaming PC off my 70' flatscreen into the sim room, replacing that with a web-browser enabled Blu-ray player (so I can get the IMSA races) and then picking up a new 50 or 60' flatscreen that will fill the back wall and allow me to mount my trac-IR system. New gaming chair and permanent bulkheads to mount my control units and keyboard so that all the wires are hidden. Not sure when I'll finish. Budget is always the thing for us ol retired army guys who failed to get rich humping a ruck sack, but I'll keep adding items through the fall and hopefully be up and running by the time football is over.

Two pictures below are of my temporary setup, which I'm tired of setting up and tearing down - hence the break in flying, and a pic of the room in rough. Sorry second pic would not load.

Back to flying soon I hope.

Cheers

Speed

Had to take a break to watch the IMSA race from Road America.

Here's a picture of the room in rough. Doesn't look like much at present, but just wait!!

That's going to be really awesome! I can't wait to see the finished pics.

I too have a 6x8 room off of my basement rec room.But with the size of Dogfight Boss cockpit that is part of one of my retirement projects,it might be a tight fit.Still,I might move eveything down there.

Alpine,

It will be a tight fit for sure, but I plan to use an old computer desk that will fit perfectly against the back wall, use that to support the new flat screen and keyboard and then build structure around the chair to hold that in place while supporting my stick and throttle. That will lock the chair down and allow me to build another lower support for my rudder pedals.

Main objective here is two fold, #1 get a permanent set up that I can simply sit down at and turn on without having to drag chairs and supports and tangled wires out/and put away every time I want to fly; #2 get into a space with no light because at this time of the year at 8 pm, there's just too much light bleeding in from behind the window shades to allow my Trac-IR to work.

At present I sit about five feet from my screen with my eyes level with the top bezel of the flat screen, ergo I'm always looking down to the center of my screen. With this new setup, I should be able to use a smaller screen, sit within three feet of it and have my eyes level with the center of the picture. The Trac-IR will then be looking down at the reflectors and hopefully will be more responsive throughout a larger range of movement that I currently enjoy. I will still have enough room for the door to swing freely and enough room left/right so I don't get closet fever. Add some funky lighting, a few movie posters and there you go, and man cave inside a man cave.

It will all be neat and tidy and behind closed doors.

Sounds like you have all of your bases covered.

Time to get onto the next phase of my sim room project. The room is ready for paint and trim and I need to hire an electrician to come in and add a new circuit breaker to the main panel, but other than that, it's now onto design of the seating area and purchase of equipment. My goal is to optimize the room for VR setup with a large screen monitor on the back wall.

I also need to convert my current internet hard wiring in the house to a WiFi system, so I have a few ideas there as well. (p.s. I down-loaded the DCS 2.5.5. open beta on the weekend and hit was huge. Took over five hours. I compared my upload/download rates that hovered near 125kbs/480kbs with the government's stated goal of providing everyone with 10Mbs up/50Mbs down high-speed and it's not hard to see why I have problems staying connected.

One piece of gear I'm considering is the ForceFeel insert for your chair. I was wondering if any of you have it? or have any knowledge of it. I read a good review on the ED Forums from a sim pilot (real pilot?) from Dubui who seemed to like it. And it's not stupid expensive. Not a priority, but icing on the cake??? Maybe.

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=203529&page=3

https://www.realteus.com/products/forcefeel

If you are going the VR route, I think your money would be better spent upgrading your CPU, RAM and Motherboard. Personally I'd love to get my hands on a Realteus, but the import costs scare the crap out of me.



This episode of the 476th podcast talks about VR and Bass Shakers in DCS.

http://www.476vfightergroup.com/content.php?311-476th-Podcast-Episode-13

Thanks StiC,

Yeh that's a good point. My rig is now 8 years old and while the GPU is relatively up to date, the MB is getting on and would no doubt struggle with the demands of VR. I recently read an article that reviewed several older CPU/MB combos and the AM3 Phenom II X6 1090T(3.2GHz) Black Addition and ASUS M4A87TD EVO MB held up pretty well. But that's not to say that they compare in anyway to a modern higher-end setup.

Maybe the best option is to finish the room, migrate my PC and gaming equipment into that space while setting up my WiFi (I'll need a new modem and router and WiFi antenna for the gaming PC) and then add the new flat screen. With that much done, I can continue to fly with TracIR while I set aside some cash for down the road. Then when I'm ready, I can upgrade or replace the PC and add VR capability at that time.

What I'm finding at present is that I don't fly much at all anymore just because it's a PITA to set up and tear down.  If I can just get this thing set up in a permanent location so that all I have to do is turn it on and sit down, then I know I'll fly more often.  

The other issue of course will continue to be the local internet situation. I just checked Rogers Fiber optics for comparison, and they are offering 15Mbs up/150Mbs down. Holy crap! I'm so far from those speeds I feel like I'm sitting on top of a hill sending and receiving smoke signals.  

I'll post some pics later this fall when the room is set up and running. Should be cool (found some nice wall art with a Spitfire for one wall and Hornet on the other)

If I get back from the races in time on Saturday I'll jump on for a quick flight or two.

Cheers

We are nearing the finish line gents.

Room is complete, another big-screen TV arrives on Wed and next picture I post will be with all the gadgets and goodies installed.

Buddy,I have pretty much the exact same size room at my disposal.Maybe one day soon.

It's been a great little project, and while it's taken me away from flying over the past few weeks, the promise of a dedicated set-up to enjoy for years to come has been worth the temporary slow down in Hornet training.

I highly recommend it. The wife will like it because the gaming stuff will disappear and you'll enjoy having your own space. I chose not to try to create a true simpit, I just don't have the talents for a project like that, so I opted instead to create a pleasing and functional space where I can optimize my set-up.

Next challenge is to build a base for a new gaming chair so that I can lock it into position relative to the rudder peddles and screen, and to create the support structure along each side of the chair to mount my throttle, stick and mouse (or I might get a roller ball controller). I spent today dismantling and cleaning my unused computer desk then re-assembled it in the sim room. I'll pick up a new gaming chair after the long weekend and use that as the template to build an encasement to create a permanent setup.

I also picked out some great DCS Hornet graphics and have sent those off to the print shop. When I pick up the finished product I'll have a 24" x 36" mounted poster on each wall.

Only thing left is some mood lighting, a coffee maker and beer fridge!!

Nice. That ceiling is awesome. Did you do that?

I have an office chair that I removed the swivel legs and made a base with locking wheels.

Who needs a fridge when you can have one of these.

I would be all set.

Thirst quencher helmet - Brilliant - I gotta get one, but then where do I put my TracIR?

Great looking chair Alpine. I tried to find one with brakes, but I think I'll have to opt to build a base with rails to block the chair wheels. The throttle and stick mounts will be the real challenge.

The ceiling? Yes. I've always loved coffered ceilings and want to install one over the portion of my rec room where I watch TV (it's open joists right now). I thought that it would be best to experiment in my sim room. It turned out pretty nice and I still have ten fingers.





Here's a funny story about the ceiling. I don't like to work on electrical. Years ago I was electrocuted when I failed to remove the second set of fuses from the electrical panel for the top element in my hot water heater. I took two fuses out of the panel thinking that one fuse was for the bottom and the other was for the top element (hey kids, remember when fuses were made of glass??). When I went to unscrew the wires from the top element, I was zapped and flew across the room and fortunately for me I didn't ground out and am sitting here today to tell my tale. So, fast forward to this week. I tried and failed to find the circuit breaker for the downstairs lights and so I just killed the main breaker when I installed the ceiling cross panel. Couple of days later, I picked up the new track light and this time I found the downstairs lights circuit breaker on the lower portion of the panel. So I clicked that off, but was a bit nervous working on the light socket wiring with the main panel circuit still live. I told myself not to worry, all the lights were out so there was no power.

I stood on my ladder, held a flashlight in one hand and inserted the screwdriver among the wires and just as it touched the black power wire, the nail gun compressor kicked on and scared the crap out of me!!! I think I just about had the big one right then and there. The timing was perfect and I still don't like to work on electrical!!

Some neat ideas here. The electric powered chair and rudder pedals adjustment is particularly innovative

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePdCWjRsHN4&t=498

Wow! State of the art simpit. Second only to flying the real thing.

Like I said, I don't have that level of talent (or big enough bank account!!)

Thanks Dev

Hi gents,

With any luck, last night will be the last Saturday/Sunday flight that I miss. I just installed a new Netgear R6080 (AC1000) WiFi router mated to an Asus USB-AC56R wireless antenna and the difference in internet performance is very noticeable.

My speeds have increased from a meager 1.25 MBps down/1.65 MBps up conducted at 10 PM last Sunday to a mid-range and very unstable 4.5 MBps down/1.86 MBps Monday morning 8 AM. Compare that to the test I just ran that demonstrated a steady 5.6 MBps down/1.8 MBps up. The key difference was in the stable speeds as I didn't see the same wild fluctuations from before. While still a long way from the Government stated standard of 50 MBps down/15 MBps up, I'll take it for now.

My old setup was based on a Dynex 10/100 Ethernet switch hard wired with Cat 5 Ethernet cable. Obviously pretty old technology.

Hope to see you on the flight line next week!!

Speed

UPDATE: Just ran the same speed test and unfortunately, Sunday night 10 PM back to smoke signals.

Invest in a meter for testing live wires, Speed. None too expensive, but it definitely makes working on that stuff a lot safer and, for those of us who don't quite trust the fuse box sometimes, gives you that added confidence. They can be had pretty cheaply from hardware stores, or online. Usually range from $20 to $40.

Good advice Wolverine and I'll take you up on that. My next task is to install a new circuit breaker in the panel to power the dedicated double plug-in. I had an old tester but it quit on me just before that last job, so I'll buy a new one tomorrow when I pickup the circuit breaker and some last bits of building material. If I'm nervous working on a light box, then I'm absolutely terrified working on the main panel!! I'll not take any chances on that little job.

As for the rest of the design, I've decided on pedestals for the throttle and stick mounts versus building an entire structure to surround and allow the chair to sit on. I can then simplify the problem of holding the chair in place by using furniture floor protectors under the wheels.

Hoping to have this all done by the weekend.

My sim room is finally complete. Now back to flying.








Testing ran a little late last night!!

Hey Speed I think I've found the problem for your poor Performance problem in training its the Canadian 67 there to close to the throttle and you cant see out your 11O'clock LOL.

Looks great, now that's a real man's world and no one can get around beside you to bug you when flying, well done.

Extra controls.