New Project
Hi LJ, long time no use. But I'm not sure where else folks post blog stuff these days, and I have this old LJ account, so why not use it.
So I've been getting more and more into space sim games in the last 8 months or so, and specifically following and playtesting the Star Citizen alpha. They are adding more and more features, which require more and more button mappings, and you only have so many buttons even on the Logi/Saitek X56 Rhino HOTAS.
The popular add-on to anyone's flight sim desktop who is serious about MOAR BUTTONS in their rig typically jumps to this Farm Sim Side Panel: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826197234
Which I looked at and though, "Wow, $150 for a bulky piece of awkward plastic with no lighting and I'd have to make a bunch of stupid little stickers to label it which would be pointless because when I switch games those stickers no longer mean anything..." It's 2018. We have science. We have technology. We can do better than this, and for cheaper!
Which has led me to my latest project: my 22 Button Programmable USB MFD. What's an MFD you ask? It's a Multi-Function Display, which is typically some sort of screen surrounded by a series of buttons which are linked to functions on the screen and change the mode or functionality of numerous parameters. Typically they are used in aircraft for managing a cluster of functions in one place, such as navigation, aircraft operations parameters, autopilot, radios and a lot more.
This MFD features two 20x4 character blue LCD displays as the center screen, each screen driving 4 buttons above and 4 below for a total of 16 screen-connected interactions. On the left side are 3 static in-game programmable buttons (not connected to the MFD displays) and on the right are 3 buttons for changing your profile, mode and resetting the screens to the start-up state. The MFD appears to be a standard USB HID joystick device, which is compatible with nearly every flight sim out there worth its salt.
What's great is that this build is fairly affordable. Using high-end components I've only had to spend about $120 for parts and materials. If I were making a few dozen, I could cut the material costs in half and sell them for around $200 for my time and effort. I'd be interested if there's a market for a high-quality, hand-made flight sim add-on like this out there. I think for the features offered, the price is pretty comparable to what's already out there, in fact more affordable in many ways.
I will likely be posting more here as I proceed through development - basically images and photos of the effort as I do the wiring and programming and build of the completed enclosure. And the final product, of course!
Let me know what you think!