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Accelid DS3 motion rig

Discussion in 'Commercial Simulators and Peripherie' started by yuyu, May 1, 2025.

  1. yuyu

    yuyu New Member

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    Hello everyone,

    I’m Yuyu from France, a sim-racing and flight-simulation enthusiast. I recently acquired an Accelid DS3 motion rig second-hand. Unfortunately, Accelid went out of business, so this is a factory-built unit rather than a DIY project. I’m now looking to integrate it with SimTools to drive its 2-DOF axes.

    Has anyone here worked with an Accelid DS3 before or knows how to set up the UDP/network interface in SimTools? Any tips or example profiles would be greatly appreciated!

    I also have the DS GUI software (version 2.0.4.7) for this motion rig if anyone needs it, since it doesn’t seem to be available online.

    Thanks in advance for your help,
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    What hardware does the Accelid DS3 rig use?
  3. yuyu

    yuyu New Member

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    Hi,
    Thank you for creating a topic for my motion rig.
    As for the hardware, unfortunately I don’t know much about it :(
    But I opened the cover of the electronics section and took a picture of the control board.
    I also took a picture of one of the two DOF motors, in case that helps give you some clues to assist me.
    Thanks a lot!
    IMG20250502073004.jpg IMG20250502073446.jpg
  4. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Are there any product codes/stickers that help identify the hardware used?
  5. yuyu

    yuyu New Member

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    nothing, just product serial number IMG20250502072944.jpg
  6. yuyu

    yuyu New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I also captured the communications between the PC and the motion rig using a serial port monitor, in case it helps identify the most suitable interface.
    Thanks

    Attached Files:

  7. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    This is one for @yobuddy to consider, as the key issue is having clarity re the communication protocol.
  8. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Hi @yuyu ,
    To make this a bit easier to see what all is happening, can we get know movements when capturing the data between the motion rig and the PC? For example, a capture where it starts centered and you simply roll the sim all the way to the right, and then all the way to the left, and they recenter. And another one that does the same except using the pitch axis. This way we have a better chase of knowing what the data means.
    Chat soon! :thumbs
  9. yuyu

    yuyu New Member

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    Hi @yobuddy , @noorbeast

    Just wanted to share some progress and hopefully help others with the same hardware.

    I initially tried using the Serial interface of the DS3 rig, but I gave up on that route. It was overly complicated to reverse-engineer, and the COM port monitor tool I was using hit its 14-day trial limit — so that made things even harder.

    Luckily, I managed to get the rig working using the Network interface (UDP) instead.

    Turns out, the DS GUI app (which controls the rig) has a hidden gem in the "Extra" tab: a "Simulate" button that activates the motion interface and allows you to test UDP data without needing to connect the rig.

    With some trial and error — and a lot of help from ChatGPT :cool: — I figured out the correct data format DS GUI expects. I now use SimTools v3, which sends out axis values over UDP, and a small Python script that acts as a bridge between SimTools and the rig.

    The result:
    • SimTools outputs to port 30001
    • The script converts the data and sends it to DS GUI on port 21777
    • The radar in DS GUI controls the actual seat movement (2DOF: pitch & roll)
    For anyone else with this rig:
    I'm sharing:
    • The DS GUI app
    • The working Python script (with a small GUI to start/stop and view logs)
    • A precompiled .exe version if you don’t want to mess with Python

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RBUUUTnt7naWBJVnGz7jWZqS0WZXSswh?usp=sharing

    Right now, I'm using the Python proxy to handle the data format conversion between SimTools and the DS GUI.
    If anyone knows a way to do this directly from SimTools (like using a plugin or better interface config), I’d love to get rid of the extra script.

    Details of what the Python proxy sends to DS GUI:
    The UDP packet sent to DS GUI is exactly 168 bytes long, structured as follows:
    • Bytes 0–3 → 0x27 00 00 00 = message ID
    • Bytes 4–7 → 0x01 00 00 00 = version
    • Bytes 8–19 → zero padding
    • Bytes 20–23 → unused
    • Bytes 24–27 → unused
    • Bytes 28–31 → unused
    • Bytes 32–35 → unused
    • Bytes 36–39 → unused
    • Bytes 40–47 → two int32 values (set to 0)
    • ...
    • Bytes 136–139 → float32 value = radar X (horizontal movement, range: -2.0 to +2.0)
    • Bytes 140–143 → float32 value = radar Y (vertical movement, range: -1.5 to +1.5)
    Only the two floats at offsets 136 and 140 actually affect seat movement via the radar interface in DS GUI. Everything else can be left at zero.

    Many Thanks

    Attached Files:

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  10. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    I can try to put together a custom Interface plugin for your Accelid DS3 motion rig from your findings.
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  11. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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