rec.autos.simulators

Best wiring for home built H shifter?

Russel

Best wiring for home built H shifter?

by Russel » Mon, 07 Feb 2005 09:10:33

I took a stab at building an H shifter (6 gears.) I have a wiring that
works in NR2003, but not in LFS nor the EA-NSR demo.

Setup:
1. Logitech Wingman Formula Force (USB)
2. Analog Joystick Interface into a Radio Shack (don't say anything) USB
converter.  My results (and lack of) are the same with the converter or
without it going into a standard joystick port.  I am running Windows XP.

The clutch is on the Y axis of J2 (no other axis are used).

For the shifter, I need 6 buttons (7 if I put in one for neutral).

I built this circuit http://www.racesimcentral.net/~jcmarsha/Wheel/hshifter.htm
and it works as advertised.  In the Windows Joystick window I can see
that multiple button combinations are being pressed each of the shifter
positions.  This setup works perfectly in NR2003.  It sees the double
buttons an accepts them.  This does not work at all in LFS nor in
EA-NSR.  They both appear to see only one of the buttons, so the
assignments just keep overwriting each other.

I though maybe the Act Labs Shifter Utility would help. I was able to
trick it into thinking I had their shifter connected by following these
instructions http://www.racesimcentral.net/~jcmarsha/Wheel/compatibility.htm.
  The utility appeared to be working fine on its own.  Since neither LFS
nor EA-NSR have "Direct support" in the utility, I had to use "Generic
support".  Unfortunately I couldn't get that to work in the sims.  Also
it says the clutch wont work in "Generic support" so it kind of defeats
the purpose of shifting.

I normally use the JoyToKey Utility for remapping buttons
http://www.racesimcentral.net/, but it can't see the shifter
at all.

I thought about hacking into a USB game controller, but then I would
loose the analog clutch.  I guess I could keep the clutch were it is and
put the shifter as a 3rd input (using the hacked game controller), but I
heard some sims don't support more than 2 input devices.

So my question is, what is the best way to wire this that will work in
the most sims?

Thanks,
Russell

Russel

Best wiring for home built H shifter?

by Russel » Wed, 09 Feb 2005 08:10:13

Having XP I couldn't get those registry changes to work.  So I went to
the CH web site and downloaded their drivers.  For some reason they
don't see the shifter or my clutch even if I go direct into the game
port (nothing happens when I try to calibrate.)  Not  sure why that is.

I am starting to think I need to buy a cheap USB joystick with more than
4 buttons and hack into it (like you suggest).  It seams like most
people do (at least in the pages I've seen on the web.)

Thanks for the reply.
Russell


> You shouldn't be seeing two buttons active at once.

> Are you using the compound button drivers?
> http://www.massey.ac.nz/~jcmarsha/Wheel/drivers.htm
> Don't know if these will work with the USB adapter or with XP, but I use
> it with w2k and gameport.

> Once the driver is installed and the 10button _POV controller is
> selected as the device, there should be indicators for buttons 1-10 and
> the POV directions in windows control panel . Selecting a single button
> (gear) should only light up one indicator at a time. If it is showing
> two buttons pressed at once then it is not working properly (either a
> driver or wiring problem).  N2003 seems to recognize the 2 active
> buttons as a separate command (it has built in shifter support), but as
> you are finding, most other sims will not accept two active buttons at
> once, and will only use one of them.

> I've also made a shifter from a hacked usb gamepad. If you used a
> gamepad with analogue axes then it might be possible to use one axis for
> the clutch (replace gamepad pot with one in the clutch pedal giving the
> same resistance range).

> Ken


>> I took a stab at building an H shifter (6 gears.) I have a wiring that
>> works in NR2003, but not in LFS nor the EA-NSR demo.

>> Setup:
>> 1. Logitech Wingman Formula Force (USB)
>> 2. Analog Joystick Interface into a Radio Shack (don't say anything)
>> USB converter.  My results (and lack of) are the same with the
>> converter or without it going into a standard joystick port.  I am
>> running Windows XP.

>> The clutch is on the Y axis of J2 (no other axis are used).

>> For the shifter, I need 6 buttons (7 if I put in one for neutral).

>> I built this circuit http://www.massey.ac.nz/~jcmarsha/Wheel/hshifter.htm
>> and it works as advertised.  In the Windows Joystick window I can see
>> that multiple button combinations are being pressed each of the
>> shifter positions.  This setup works perfectly in NR2003.  It sees the
>> double buttons an accepts them.  This does not work at all in LFS nor
>> in EA-NSR.  They both appear to see only one of the buttons, so the
>> assignments just keep overwriting each other.

>> I though maybe the Act Labs Shifter Utility would help. I was able to
>> trick it into thinking I had their shifter connected by following
>> these instructions
>> http://www.massey.ac.nz/~jcmarsha/Wheel/compatibility.htm.  The
>> utility appeared to be working fine on its own.  Since neither LFS nor
>> EA-NSR have "Direct support" in the utility, I had to use "Generic
>> support".  Unfortunately I couldn't get that to work in the sims.  
>> Also it says the clutch wont work in "Generic support" so it kind of
>> defeats the purpose of shifting.

>> I normally use the JoyToKey Utility for remapping buttons
>> http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA016823/, but it can't see the shifter
>> at all.

>> I thought about hacking into a USB game controller, but then I would
>> loose the analog clutch.  I guess I could keep the clutch were it is
>> and put the shifter as a 3rd input (using the hacked game controller),
>> but I heard some sims don't support more than 2 input devices.

>> So my question is, what is the best way to wire this that will work in
>> the most sims?

>> Thanks,
>> Russell


1. best power wire and best rca wire sugestion

2. (((HOMES)))((HOMES))((HOMES))((0-DOWN)) 1823

3. (((HOMES)))(((HOMES)))(((HOMES)))((((0-DOWN)))) 2677

4. (((HOMES)))(((HOMES)))(((HOMES)))((((0-DOWN)))) 2677

5. TJ Trail Rack Home Built for $85

6. Has anyone built a home-made hard top lift?

7. Home built tire carrier/bumber?

8. Home Built Diff Guards (pics available)

rec.autos.simulators is a usenet newsgroup formed in December, 1993. As this group was always unmoderated there may be some spam or off topic articles included. Some links do point back to racesimcentral.net as we could not validate the original address. Please report any pages that you believe warrant deletion from this archive (include the link in your email). RaceSimCentral.net is in no way responsible and does not endorse any of the content herein.