xCav8r
06-25-2008, 10:33 PM
I’ve been lurking here for about the last six months as I’ve been doing research and planning for a cockpit project, and I figured it was finally time to introduce myself. About 10 years ago I started thinking about making my own controls and controllers for games like MechWarrior and Freespace, but I never got really serious about the idea until more recently.
I’m a fan of old warbirds and stick mostly to World War II era games. These days I spend most of my time in the IL-2 Sturmovik Collection, but I also enjoy flying FSX, which, for me, is just another delivery mechanism for vintage aircraft. From time to time I fire up Lock On, X-Plane, and MS Combat Flight Simulator (mostly for the Over Flanders Fields WWI mod). I suppose the point is that I enjoy variety, and so my goal is to build a multi-functional cockpit (meaning multi-game, multi-plane, multi-game-genre).
I’ve been using a slew of off-the-shelf controllers thus far, but I’ve never been totally satisfied with them. For years I’ve shopped around for better gear, but even the ridiculously expensive stuff doesn’t really offer what I want. I’ve realized that the only way that I’m going to get what I want is if I make it myself. That’s probably the biggest motivator behind my cockpit project, and that is where I intend to start. I want to build controls and then build the cockpit around the controls.
So, I’ve been researching, brainstorming, sketching, planning, thinking, rethinking, and researching even more. I haven’t hesitated to dream during this period, but I know that many of my ideas still need to be tempered by knowledge, budget, space, and, perhaps most importantly, my time. In the meantime, I’ve written pages and pages of descriptions for my various ideas, and I’ve done my best to illustrate them while organizing the informational resources I’ve gathered (including potentially relevant equipment/part makers and vendors). Despite all the progress to date, I still have a lot of questions, so I hope to take advantage of the obvious wealth of knowledge here in this community. I’ve found this site to be a great resource and jumping off point these past six months. I’m impressed with the level of activity, all the inspiring examples, and, not insignificantly, the friendliness and willingness of the community members to share their knowledge. I hope to find a home here.
I’m a fan of old warbirds and stick mostly to World War II era games. These days I spend most of my time in the IL-2 Sturmovik Collection, but I also enjoy flying FSX, which, for me, is just another delivery mechanism for vintage aircraft. From time to time I fire up Lock On, X-Plane, and MS Combat Flight Simulator (mostly for the Over Flanders Fields WWI mod). I suppose the point is that I enjoy variety, and so my goal is to build a multi-functional cockpit (meaning multi-game, multi-plane, multi-game-genre).
I’ve been using a slew of off-the-shelf controllers thus far, but I’ve never been totally satisfied with them. For years I’ve shopped around for better gear, but even the ridiculously expensive stuff doesn’t really offer what I want. I’ve realized that the only way that I’m going to get what I want is if I make it myself. That’s probably the biggest motivator behind my cockpit project, and that is where I intend to start. I want to build controls and then build the cockpit around the controls.
So, I’ve been researching, brainstorming, sketching, planning, thinking, rethinking, and researching even more. I haven’t hesitated to dream during this period, but I know that many of my ideas still need to be tempered by knowledge, budget, space, and, perhaps most importantly, my time. In the meantime, I’ve written pages and pages of descriptions for my various ideas, and I’ve done my best to illustrate them while organizing the informational resources I’ve gathered (including potentially relevant equipment/part makers and vendors). Despite all the progress to date, I still have a lot of questions, so I hope to take advantage of the obvious wealth of knowledge here in this community. I’ve found this site to be a great resource and jumping off point these past six months. I’m impressed with the level of activity, all the inspiring examples, and, not insignificantly, the friendliness and willingness of the community members to share their knowledge. I hope to find a home here.