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Low cost 2DOF/3DOF/6DOF motion simulator - DOF REALITY

Discussion in 'Commercial Simulators and Peripherie' started by Radioproffi, May 23, 2016.

  1. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Thx, did do and he opened case with TNT but case not needed as 2nd box arrived next day :).

    My future thoughts are NOT to use TNT again as the two where separated due to customs issue but there I.T. systems & customer care didn't pick this up!

    Also there website + app gives conflicting locations every step of the journey so chasing or knowing its location is a nightmare not only for the customer but for the clueless (or lying) customer care op's who told me countless times one or both where in uk when the where still in TNT europe depo's.

    My recommendations to future buyers is to request from Igor another courier for UK shipping.
  2. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Can somebody help me?

    On the P3 axis testing In the Sim tools game engine according to the official DOFReality Set up video here "Sway" is supposed to move the third rear motor but all it does is duplicate the "Roll" on the test!

    All the other axis seem to work so do I have a faulty motor or is there something else I can do in the game engine or elsewhere to correct this issue?

    Edited:
    Never mind I found the answer. It turns out that you have to go down to the "More" options to pick the "Extra 1" instead of the "Sway" as suggested in the video to test the third motor.
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2018
  3. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    The third axis is for traction loss, not sway, and traction loss is Extra1 for plugins that support it.
  4. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Okay thanks it's just that the you tube video is confusing and gave it the naming convention of sway.
    Anyway I was able to successfully test the assignments in the game engine and then play dirt 4.
  5. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    I've been busy but unfortunately I left the control box on for several hours and on return I decided to patch a few more games and now nothing is working on the platform and the motors seem to be intermittently making a noise and vibrating but when I go into game engine I'm unable to successfully test the axis!
    Have confirmed that the com port in device manager is correctly configured in the game engine and am now clueless as to what to do next?
  6. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    If a reboot does not fix it then I would suggest contacting DOFReality.
  7. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Thx, he replied lickity-quick with the reboot & SMC3 utility suggestion for motor recalibration (section 5.2 on pdf) which did the trick :).
    Thats a load-off, thought i'd bricked it, further testing needed to see what caused it, anyone had this or no why, im thinking powered off issue to the control box, my lead is in a exposed area so i've order 5m kettle lead for better manag,t?
    B4 i forget looks like the P3 rear 3rd "extra" motor roller wheels & assembly have been improved, now larger exposed & angled?

    Attached Files:

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  8. Mechromancer

    Mechromancer Active Member Gold Contributor

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    I second that thought. TNT sucked. Gave me TWO tracking numbers because the "re-use the numbers due to high volume of shipments." :\

    When I called them to ask which one was mine, they literally refused to answer and told me to call Fed-Ex, which also sucks and told me to file a claim...a claim for what? I just wanted to know which number to track. Then they changed my delivery date ON THE MORNING OF THE DELIVERY, so obviously I missed it and had to set up a pick up time, no problem...WRONG! I tried to pick it up the following day after making arrangements and they had put it BACK ON THE VEHICLE FOR DELIVERY, WHICH I MISSED WHILE I WAS AT THE OFFICE TRYING TO PICK IT UP.

    None of this is DOF's fault, but yeah, if they can use someone else to ship, it might help.
  9. Andy Booth

    Andy Booth Active Member

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    Wow, that's one bigger roller.

    I feel somewhat inadequate now......

    Andy
  10. Nimzovich

    Nimzovich New Member

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    I pulled the trigger and ordered the M2 seat mover. It was shipped today, and hopefully will be here next week. In some ways it would have made more sense to have ordered the full platform mover H2, but that would have necessitated selling my existing rig and buying a new triple screen mount. The seat mover will be easy to incorporate into my rig and should satisfy my desire for some motion. I looked at the Nextlevel seat mover, but just could not justify paying that much. I'll be posting more about my seat mover, especially since not much has been posted about it.
  11. Javo5

    Javo5 Active Member

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    I'm interested in the seat mover for the price, but mostly because I have a homemade one, and I also tried a fullframe. I prefer the seatmover, like Simxperience, Frex or Nextlevel
  12. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Yep they seem to be making improvements but all I can say to you earlier adopters is thanks for your patience and invaluable support, the information you provided is helpful or make informed decisions on purchase.
  13. Kranky Pantz

    Kranky Pantz Active Member

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    I'd love to hear your thoughts on the M2 once you receive it.

    My Next Level Racing V3 Motion Platform died, but I was able to get a full refund.

    The M2 looks great, but after shipping taxes, duties, FX rate for Canada, it doubles the cost :-(

    After weighing my options I have decided to do a DIY build, and the parts are on the way!

    Hoping to come up with a design similar in size (under seat mover) that I can just slide into its place.
  14. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Okay finally got to 2 games to work on the P3 back to back three-day in after delivery on Tuesday :grin.

    My issue, which I've been liaising with Igor about, is to do with USB com port connection being lost for some reason resulting in output to the P3 been lost and as this as this YouTube P3 experienced user put it "Simtools is fussy about the order USB devices are enabled" or in my case I'm currently unable to use my Fanatec clubsport v2.5 wheel in dirt 4 with the p3, anyone else having this issue or similar?

    As I said I have made progress and was able able to finally get dirt Rally to work with my Fanatec, Samsung VR headset and the P3 by only turning on the fanatec wheel mid game at the calibration screen. I then existed the game after only one event exhausted (VR is tough for old Farts like me, :)) but pleased and immediately opened game manager and started F1 2017 which to my surprise worked with the Fanatec and the P3 without having to shut down the game engine and turn off the control box or restart the PC!

    Game engine calibration testing com port disconnection issues weren't solved by the recommended SMC 3 utility calibration routine so Igor pointed me to the PDF section 5.2 and although I don't think this was a major issue I did end up for elimination purposes actioning the steps in this official DOF Reality hardware motor sensor calibration video because for some reason they were off
    only slightly as it turns out and it didn't solve the problem. I did though learn so much which I guess is part of the journey and enjoyment.

    So after the advice from the YouTube P3 user today I have spent most of the time rearranging which ports all of my devices are connected to to reassign a com ports that the P3 and Simtools has the least trouble with, giving me the progress I stated at the beginning.

    Do I need to change my next future mobo for better USB 3 bandwith for Simtools, if it's a Simtools issue or is generally expected with bespoke DIY non-commercial motion simulator hardware?
    Could buying better powered external USB hub, better than my current 4 port switched USB 3.0 wavelink solution recommended by users here help, any thoughts appreciated?
    I must stress that I'm only currently running the Samsung Odyssey VR headset through that hope which is given me the current partial success so far as mentioned.

    It comes to something when running two games back to back the way they were intended bring such joy and relief that your purchase wasn't in vain but only a few days in I feel I've made real progress with others help and I really feel that even with these issues DOF have really done something commendable at this price point that I never thought I would experience in my home without a even harder learning curve from a bespoke scratch DIY build I never could have coped with.
  15. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    Just to be clear SimTools is sensitive to any USB disruption when in use and it is useful to understand USB bandwidth, as on most sims there are also a multitude of peripherals, and of late VR (particularly the Rift), which combined can put a lot of strain on USB bandwidth.

    A single on-board USB host controller almost always serves more than one USB port, so the total bandwidth available to those ports will be shared. The maximum bandwidth of devices connected to a single host controller is usually about 400MB/s in USB 3.0 mode and 36MB/s in USB 2.0 mode.

    There are quality powered USB PCI cards you can add to a system to alleviate overloading on-board shared ports, though be aware that many do not have dedicated channels, but some like this do:

    In addition Windows by default has Selective Suspend enabled for USB ports and that should be turned off: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices
  16. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Many thanks noorbeast, that's just the information I needed to put my mind at rest. I'll now investigate my USB bandwidth issues. I'm not able to see the link/image to the recommended dedicated channel USB PCI card so can you provide a link or just give me then make and model and I'll google it please?
  17. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    Sorry the pasted Amazon link would not work on the forum. So here is the 4 Port PCI Express (PCIe) SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter w/ 2 Dedicated 5Gbps Channels - UASP - SATA / LP4 Power card from elsewhere, and unfortunately at an even higher cost, but this card is one of the few with dedicated channels that can handle something like the Rift plus its cameras: https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adap...-Card-4-Dedicated-Channels-4-Port~PEXUSB3S44V

    It is cheaper on Amazon at $80.48.

    You don't need something like this for SimTools, but rather for high USB bandwidth peripherals, freeing up other on-board controllers for less demanding things.
  18. optical10

    optical10 Member Gold Contributor

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    Okay thanks for the link.
    However I have a major problem my ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming-ITX/ac Motherboard does not have any PCI express slots available :mad:, only one for gpu, so all of my 8 x 3.1 Including thunderbolt 3 headers are all using I presume the one Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller! I did buy it for cyberlink power DVD 17 4K Blu-ray disc because it supported Intel Software Guard Extensions and its fast data bus speeds over such a short motherboard though.
    So I need replacement motherboard (for eventual i9 CPU) anyway so it's time to go for an upgrade with the P3 USB bandwidth issues.
    Any recommendations, which motherboards with a decent usb host controller (or even to on the same board) are you guys using without USB bandwidth issues or the need of PCI express USB cards?
    I was looking at this particular Toms hardware review but as i do not need the 10 gb ethernet I thought I would save myself £100 and go for the X299 Taichi XE?
    However do I even need to go to the X299 chipset or can I stay with the Z series and save me buying a new CPU?
    Also as the startech USB card only needs a 4 x speed PCI express slot I don't need to higher spec motherboard?
    Any and suggestions much appreciated noorbeasts windows selective suspend for USB ports being disabled has definitely improved but not totally solve my USB bandwidth issue so I need a bigger motherboard with at least one extra PCI express slot and a powered USB card like the one he suggested.
  19. marco balletta

    marco balletta Member

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    I have a question about the kerbs and if to feel the kerbs when using the dof reality p3 or p6, we would need some sort of extra add on tool for the rig.

    Thanks!

    Also, in general what would a p6 (6 dof rig) miss to add more reality to the sim driving experience ?

    Also when we drive through the chicanes, would we fill those right/left movements?

    I would like the idea to actually feel thrown over that sit when driving through a track and feel the difference from driving 1 car vs another on the same track.

    Attached Files:

  20. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    You can use USBtreeview to check out what devices are plugged in to which controllers, to help make the most of the USB ports you have, download it here: https://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtreeview_e.html#download
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