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Question Axis assignments

Discussion in 'Commercial Simulators and Peripherie' started by D.C. Moore, Jan 12, 2019.

  1. D.C. Moore

    D.C. Moore New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    AC motor, 4DOF
    I am having some trouble with the movement of my simulator, I have read the Simtools manual twice and I am still having trouble comprehending what I am reading. I have a four DOF rig that has three actuators and a rotation module. I am posing a picture of the rig stripped down without a seat so you can see the actuators. I am also posting screenshots of the axis assignments for DCS. From reading the manual I know that the front right actuator (as you sit in the rig) is 1a, the left is 2a, the rear is 3a and the rotation module is 4a. When I pull up the default profile that comes with the simtools download from the Manufacturer of the simulator it shows the DOF 1-6 as Sway, Surge, Heave, Pitch, Roll and nothing for DOF6.
    Right now in DCS when I pitch up or down I get a lot of Heave followed by a small amount of Pitch and the Heave is very touchy (very little movement of the stick gets big Heave movements) Roll seems fine and Yaw is very slight. The sim almost seems like it is acting more like a helicopter than an jet (that's speculation on my part).
    I have several questions;
    Does the order of DOF 1-6 have to remain the same as the default profile (eg. Sway, Surge, Heave, Pitch, Roll, Null)? Why do some of them show nothing in the "force" drop down but still show % values? If there is just a dash in the "Force" drop down then what DOF is actually being moved in game and how do I find that out?

    In the DCS axis assignment page (see pics) DOF1 and 2 show nothing in the "force" drop down and my only choices are Yaw, Sway, Surge, Extra 1, Extra 2, Extra 3. Axis 4a (rotation module) allows for all six DOF's and is set to Roll but its a rotation axis so it can only spin, it cannot tilt left or right creating the feeling of roll.
    I want to stress that I HAVE read the Simtools manual and I have tried several times to work my way through this but I have failed. I'm either over thinking it or its just out of wheel house.
    I understand that the DCS plugin that I downloaded is a generic plugin and will require some tweaking in order to work with different simulators based on their individual characteristics I am just trying to get to a place where I can adjust the different DOF's to match my equipment so as to get the most out of it. Sorry for the length of this post and I really appreciate any help that any of you can provide

    Axis assn-A.JPG Axis Assn-B.JPG RacingCube-1.jpg RC4-Fading.png
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2019
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    The first thing you should do with the Default Profile is ensure each axis moves as SimTools expects: https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/which-way-to-set-simtool-axis-movements.230/

    You should then create motion profiles from a sensible default, doing one Axis at a time: https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/steps-to-create-a-motion-profile.228/

    If you do create new profiles from a sensible default profile then yes the axis order will be the same, but not necessarily always used.

    I am not sure what you mean by:
    These values would normally be blank if they are a brand new profile, are manually entered, or will be derived from the Default profile if you use the Load Default button.

    Where did you get the axis assignment values from for DCS, are they something you made up, are they from the manufacturer, or something else?
  3. D.C. Moore

    D.C. Moore New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    AC motor, 4DOF
    I am not sure what you mean by:


    These values would normally be blank if they are a brand new profile, are manually entered, or will be derived from the Default profile if you use the Load Default button.

    Where did you get the axis assignment values from for DCS, are they something you made up, are they from the manufacturer, or something else?[/QUOTE]

    Hey Noorbeast, thanks for getting back to me, if you look at the axis assignment screenshots, they are for my DCS profile and the first two entries (DOF 1 and 2) have nothing in the force drop down but they have 40% listed for axis 1a and 2a. I reasoned that because the default profile lists Sway and Surge as DOF 1 and 2 that is what is being affected but I don't know. Pitch and roll are down on DOF 4 and 5 so I was making an assumption. The default profile came with my copy of Simtools which was downloaded from the Sim manufacturer. As far as where I got the axis values I honestly thought those values were set when I dropped the profile into the updater. I downloaded the profile from this site. I downloaded the Pro copy of Simtools from the Sim manufacturer and it had a bunch of games already listed so now that you say it like that, I assume it came from the manufacturer. I am going to check the links you provided and see if I can make heads or tails of it this morning and try to work it out. I have not changed anything or set anything up myself just to be clear, that's the place I am trying to get.
  4. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    It sounds like the manufacturer has really messed up the DCS per-configuration for your rig, so you probably should make contact with them and ask that they supply proper profiles.

    Notwithstanding it is useful for you to learn how to create and refine a motion profile, so the links I gave should be useful when you need to do that for a particular game the manufacturer has not done a per-configured profile for.
  5. D.C. Moore

    D.C. Moore New Member

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    Occupation:
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    My Motion Simulator:
    AC motor, 4DOF

    OK I will send them an email. Would it be helpful if I posted a screenshot of the default profile. Would you be able to look at it and maybe help me remove some of the drastic heave that I am expiencing.
    After your last post I went to the links provided but I cannot see a way to load the default profile and test it by itself. It looks to me like a game has to be running in order to view the axis movements. If I bring up the DCS axis assignments then hit load default and run DCS will it overwrite my DCS assignments? That’s what worried me so I didn’t do it. I wound up looking at the axis assignments for other flight sims (x-plane and Aerofly). And matched the DCS assignments to them. It’s better and I get roll now when banking but still a lot of heave. And when I bank the jet and pull I do not get that subtle pitch feeling. I swear I’m not trying to be stupid I just have no expierience with this sort of thing and this program is kicking my butt.
  6. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

    Joined:
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    Occupation:
    Innovative tech specialist for NGOs
    Location:
    St Helens, Tasmania, Australia
    Balance:
    144,620Coins
    Ratings:
    +10,741 / 52 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Yes please do post your default profile and also the Axis Assignment and Tuning Center values for DCS, X-Plane and Aerofly, for the latter while the games are running.

    Assigning the Default Profile values to DCS would overwrite the current DCS values. I have no way to tell how good or bad a job the manufacturer has done in setting up the default profile.

    While using values from other profiles may be a better starting point for DCS, each profile has to be refined for each specific game to get the best out of a rig. And in many respects flight sim profiles take a bit more effort as Filters are normally used in Axis Assignments.

    While members here can and do help out as we can, please keep in mind that support is actually the responsibility of the manufacturer.