And since this village is the airport of the city of Murmansk, everything around was somehow connected with aviation.
At school, everyone’s fathers were either dispatchers, or pilots, or helicopter pilots, there was a wonderful Station of Young Technicians with an absolutely wonderful aircraft modeling section, in which, for example, the three-time world champion, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, coach of the Russian team in rocket gliders Alexei created his models Koryapin, there was an Aviation Museum near my house (according to the current tradition, there is now a restaurant there), and the old military airfield Murmashi began right across the road. How could you not get sick with aviation?
And then it was time for the Spectrum and of course my friends and I started flying in the Tomahawk

F19 and ATF

(in general, my first “aviasim” was the “bomber” program for the MK-52)))
The Spectrum was bought by my father complete with a joystick, it was a primitive discrete device that connected directly to the cursor buttons, that's exactly the same -

I dreamed of entering the Moscow Aviation Institute and designing airplanes, but then perestroika broke out and our large family ended up in the Krasnodar Territory, where there was no time for airplanes, and I quickly escaped from local poverty into the army.
Who would have thought that I would have to repair the joystick there? =))
When I already became a contract soldier, a technician of the military fire brigade, we began to restore this car

So there is a gun mount (a large water gun at the top), controlled by hydraulics using a discrete joystick installed in the place of the tank commander:


The system is quite simple - there is no own hydraulic system in the tank, there is a pneumatic system, which is also connected to two carriage hydraulic cylinders. Inside the body of the joystick are 4 giant Soviet military "micro buttons", which are pressed by the protrusions of the joystick handle when it is deflected. When the circuit is closed, the corresponding electromechanical valve opens in the pneumatic system channel, air presses on the hydraulic cylinder piston, and it moves the carriage.

After the army, I had to somehow survive, and there was no time for flights and joysticks, but in the end, in 2003, I ended up in Moscow as a sales manager at Defender
Do I need to say that I asked for a joystick as a gift for my first birthday in the company? =)
This was Thrustmaster Afterburner 2 which was given to me with the words: “Well, you are a fool, it would be better if we bought you a microwave” =)

Well, whoever has a joystick should play IL-2 Sturmovik! I firmly settled on the official forum of the game and even served as a moderator there for several years. Therefore, I didn’t miss the topic where a person who hasn’t been flying for a long time decided to donate his joystick HOTAS Cougar


So I got the coolest flight simulator kit at that time. But there was a nuance - at least Thrustmaster Afterburner 2 for 2500 rubles, at least HOTAS Cougar for 12,000 rubles, but the problem is the same - the noise of damned resistors!
Here is a video explaining the problem using steering wheels as an example, but it is the same in joysticks.

On the Thrustmaster Afterburner 2 I couldn’t fly normally after about six months, and a year later it was only possible to control a bomber somehow, there was no longer any talk of a maneuverable battle with fighters, which is also why I joined the squad 14TBAP(14th Heavy Bomber Regiment). BUT HOTAS Cougar I got it with already killed resistors, and with all the outward coolness, it was impossible to get normal precise control with it.
We had to look for a solution. Official forum 1C was not suitable for this, so I moved to the Sukhoi.ru forum
It was natural to look for a solution in non-contact sensors. At that moment, everyone was talking about Saitek X52, the first joystick on Hall sensors, so people were looking for solutions based on this base. For example, here is how they remake Cougar to hall sensors
All this was good, but not for my crooked hands. We needed a ready-made solution, and only the VKB group offered it
They sold ready-made sensors and magnets for them, which were installed on regular Cougar mounts. These were no longer Hall sensors, but magnetic resistors based on KMZ-41.
But the toad convincingly suggested that 40$ Two sensors is overkill. And then I thought - we have a large company that sells gaming devices for PC, including, really Defender Would you like to receive a joystick on a modern electronic base in the assortment?
I contacted WKB, agreed that they would assemble a demonstration prototype based on the first joystick that came across, and it was this model:

The idea was to show it to our director and try to get him interested in organizing production. It was, judging by the forum, in March 2007, the prototype was ready in May. And then it so coincided that just at that time the owner of a factory came to us from China, which makes for Defender gaming devices.
I showed him the prototype, he became interested, and our director gave the go-ahead for further work.
The company was ready to buy from WKB technology of sensors and controller for them for installation in joysticks Defender. Is it necessary to say that WKB to celebrate, they gave me a set of sensors for Cougar-a? =)))

I thought that refining an already finished joystick was not the right way, that a new joystick, of a new design, had to be developed for new electronics.
At that moment I was a sales manager and I could only offer something to production through a product manager who worked with a game device factory. I formulated my vision of a new play set (and I assumed that it should be a set of ENG - Aircraft Control Sticks and RUD - Engine Control Knobs), and the manager sent it to the Chinese.
Here's what they got:


I submitted the concept for discussion by forum users Sukhoi.ru and naturally received an answer that it is certainly good, but it would be better if something less “plagiarized” and closer to domestic aviation, like this =))

The problem was that the 3D modeler was Chinese, and it was very problematic to explain this wish. But what are the Internet forums good for - you will not meet anyone there!
The right person has arrived. grOOmi works as an engineer at KNAAPO and is an excellent 3D modeller.
So based on the ergonomics of a fighter-bomber handle Su-34 began to emerge RUS

Now the joystick took on a decent look like the handle of a modern Russian aircraft.
Of the unique solutions, I would like to note the double top trigger, the concept of which was invented by me, implemented grOOmi and remade by the Chinese =))
The idea was to let the user press either of the triggers with their index finger separately or both at the same time, while maintaining the appearance similar to a real pen:

And here's what happened in the end:

I also suggested making a massive metal plate at the base and releasing its edges outside the plastic case so that the joystick could be fastened with clamps or screws through the holes. A similar scheme was subsequently applied Logitech in joystick G940. Of course, I would like to think that they peeped this decision from us =)

In general, we designed the joystick and handed it over to the Chinese. But then I left Defender.
They took a subscription from me that I would not develop joysticks for another year and a half, and I became, together with WKB develop Gametrix gaming devices, but already in the position of project manager.

AT Gametrix everything had to start from scratch, in fact, there was no name. brand name Gametrix came up with VicVega, a well-known person on Cyberfight, for which many thanks to him.

It was decided to modify the standard Chinese devices electronics from WKB.
In general, I had no experience of working with the Chinese at that time, and I had never been abroad either.
I went to CeBit, to the Hong-Kong Fair, collected catalogs, drove around the factories in Shenzhen and it was decided to do Gametrix rudders, vibrocaps, tracker and throttle.
There were problems - the sea was spilled. At first I wanted to write in detail how we worked on these products, talk about the amazing difference between the engineering thinking of Russian developers and Chinese engineers, about the stupid greed of the investor, which led to huge losses of time and, as a result, the investor’s money, about how we ended up rented an apartment and lived in China for a year, but it would have turned out to be so voluminous that, I think, few people would have mastered it, and most importantly, it would have taken us away from the main topic of the post - from joysticks =)

So that's when I left Defender, other people began to work on the project of the new joystick, with a predictable result.
The whole story is reflected on the forum, so it's easy to tell.
The factory produced a prototype according to our model in August 2008

They gave me a third hand to hold it. The sensations were indescribable. When I was given a prototype, I seem to understand how mothers feel for their newborn children, I really wanted to swaddle and rock him. As Doc Emmett Brown said: “Finally I made something that WORKS!!!”.
But of course, the Chinese walked through our design with “hard sandpaper”. Firstly, they completely changed the mechanics of the joystick, and secondly, they added a twist (rotation of the handle around a vertical axis) and a throttle axis in the form of an indistinct wheel to the left of the handle. In general, the prototype required serious improvements that there was no one to do.
Now it’s touching to read the forum: “ in the near future, joy will go into series"Was said in the same August 2008. The joystick went into series only in the summer of 2011.

How did it happen. WKB sold Defender full set documentation for the sensor and joystick controller, and a full-fledged working prototype was assembled, which was sent to the factory along with the documentation. I was against giving the Chinese the development, but I didn't decide. As a result, the Chinese could not reproduce the electronics even with a working prototype and full documentation!
All they could do was assemble "based on" our design, design Saitek and electronics from the gamepad (sic!) under-joystick Defender R4, which went on sale.

Two years later, in 2010, we ended up at this factory, where we were persuaded to teach the Chinese how to make working joysticks on magnetic resistors. Since my soul ached for our brainchild with the developer, we agreed to finish the joystick for free Defender.
You will not believe what was the main snag. Chinese engineers, having all the necessary datasheets, could not understand what Hall Sensor and magnetic resistor are different things. And that for the operation of a magnetic resistor, a diametrically magnetized magnet is required.

To make it clear, at that time the only joystick on non-contact magnetic sensors (of known to the Chinese) was RUS Saitek X52, and it works on the basis of Hall sensors, respectively, to determine the deviation, you need to move the magnets away from the sensor, while the magnetic resistor measures the deviations of the magnet poles , i.e., for it to work, it requires a diametrically magnetized magnet to rotate around an axis.
The Chinese, who, according to a long-standing national tradition, do not invent anything, but only copy, have been trying for two years to make our sensors work by pushing and moving magnets of axial magnetization towards it, they thought that there was an error in our design, but Saitek everything is correct.

We also made a lot of comments on the design, forcing us to fix what could still be fixed, but there was little that could be fixed, because the toolings (molds) were already ready.

As a result, the joystick was finished and put into production. For the first time, serial samples were shown at the Computex 2011 exhibition in Taipei. Under it they made a special stand with the game IL-2 Sturmovik, and for 4 days I trained everyone who wanted to shoot down Japanese bombers. Without exaggeration, the stand was very popular.

And in October I was forced to leave the project Gametrix and returned to Defender. The day I came back, joysticks Defender Cobra M5 went on sale for the first time. The circle is closed.

The joystick was demonstrated at Igromir 2011 at the game stand "World of aeroplanes" and very much liked by the users and developers of the game (Gaijin Entertainment).

UPD Now this project is called War Thunder.

Internet comments are also very encouraging. Most buyers do not skimp on gratitude, and, believe me, these are not company employees =)): “I got this device a month ago. We were attracted by the design stylized as the handle of the Su 27, the functionality in the form of a multiple launch rocket system, the bottom trigger, a three-mode switch that allows you to attach three functions to one button, and of course, the presence of Mars in the joystick price category just can't be found anywhere else. Works great and terribly nice to me :)
Conclusions: an excellent joystick in terms of price, quality, functionality. The highest precision and smoothness of management. My opinion is in this device Defender surpassed not only himself, but also many of his more eminent brothers.»

Needless to say, after the exhibition, one of the joysticks ended up at my house? =) Cougar I had already sold by then.
By the way, WKB developed an upgrade kit that turns an ordinary joystick into a joystick Cobra MK I/II with the transcendent quality of mechanics and electronics, I'm not exaggerating.

But the history of free devices does not end there =)
Here's what my flight path looks like now:

Everything is mounted and combined into a single convenient complex thanks to the company GameSTUL .

In general, the guys specialize in gaming chairs for racing. On the same Igromir 2011 their simulators were on ALL stands where there were races, including the stand of Sony.
But playing places for pilots, and here is the result of the first experiment, they gave me, surprise !, =)

The playing place is a reliable metal frame with a large number of attachment points.
Now all my devices have found a place. To mount the RSS in the center, an adjustable stand is provided, on which the joystick is fixed with screws (I knew, I knew that the holes in the base would come in handy!). In front of it, I installed a frame on which the keyboard is mounted, and a monitor was fixed above it with bolts.

All dimensions of the system are regulated by the movement of the bearing parts in the grooves and are rigidly fixed with bolts

At the top right, I fixed the shelf for the mouse.
There is a story associated with this shelf. After infatuation IL-2 I played World War II Online: Battleground Europe tightly, I still think and am sure that this is the best World War II battlefield simulator in the world, no one could do anything like that. But in Russia, the game is not popular, due to hardcore and paid. Accordingly, there sits a bunch of burghs and ours, who live abroad. And so the Soskvado member tells me, they say, a friend of mine in Germany makes special playing places for steering wheels, is looking for a distributor in Russia, do you want to do it? Well, why not, especially since everything is so beautiful:

I requested a sample. Yes, with rendering the difference is striking! Assembled handicraft, the panels are fixed with a riveter, the system is not stable, when playing, you don’t turn the steering wheel so much as you hold the table. In general, I did not like it. But the pattern remains! Like a shelf for a mouse, it is very personal =)

With RUD, the story is like this. Initially, the joystick was designed as a two-component. But after my departure, there was no one to design the ore, so the Chinese went the beaten track, copying the shape of the Saitek X52 ore and, to the best of their ability, hung it with buttons and huts. This is what they got:

There is only one throttle on the market with a USB connection, this is CH Pro Throttle.

At a price of 4200 rubles, it is not particularly popular - for that kind of money you can take a complete set of RUS and Saitek X52 throttles, and even on Hall sensors.
Accordingly, we decided to close this gap: we assembled the RUD on a magnetic resistor, changed the color, made a “rubber” coating, one comrade drew us a cool picture of the Su-27 to be applied to the case, paid for the necessary mold changes, and recently the RUD began to be sold at price 1350 rubles.
I dare to say that he is no worse than ORE from CH.

Comes with gaming chair GameSTUL there are metal frames, they fit perfectly in size to the base of the ore, I just fixed it with a thick tape. It costs like a glove. And behind it - a gaming keyboard A4Tech G100 .

I am now closely engaged in the Ka-50 Black Shark flight simulator, and there are no extra buttons in it.

Important point - Feedback. On the frame GameSTUL there is a fastener for ButtKicker, but as you already know, I also have a vibrating cape. It seemed to me unreasonable to lay it on top of such a wonderful chair, especially since there is a zipper on the chair, which allows you to painlessly remove the cover. Well, I mercilessly opened the cape, cut out seats inside the chair, and rearranged the motors inside the chair. Now the whole chair vibrates during the game, which, as they say, delivers =)

I also have a tracker. The tracker, if anyone does not know, is a device for controlling the view by turning the head. I use the HeadJoy tracker. He certainly does not look very presentable, but he copes with his task perfectly. Of course, I do not put the emitter on my forehead with an elastic band, I fixed it with a screw on the microphone shaft:

Well, traditionally headjoy I was given by the commander of the RKKA squad in World War II Online: Battleground Europe Victor Kuznec. A unique person, a former helicopter pilot, flew the Mi-24 in Yugoslavia and Chechnya, and now peacefully pilots the Yak-18T. BUT headjoy he gave me because

Some gamers like to play on the keyboard, while others prefer gamepads, steering wheels and other specialized manipulators. This article tells you how to make a miniature joystick that fits any keyboard, does not require a wired connection and driver installation. The joystick is incredibly simple, and this is its main advantage.

What will be required:

Elastic wire (for example, from a hanger)
- Thin flexible wire
- Modeling plastic (e.g. Sugru), clay or similar material
- Platypus pliers

Typically, games use a combination of WASD or arrow buttons, but A, S and D and three of the four arrows are usually located on the same line, so the joystick will not work and you need to remap the control to the WAXD combination. You can also make a joystick for the combination 8426 on the small numeric keypad.

Cut two pieces of wire 8 cm long from the hanger and bend them into the letter P so that the length of the legs is 2 cm. Skew the legs so that they rest exactly in the middle of the keys. Make a "four-legged" structure and tightly rewind the cross with flexible wire.

Knead the plastic and stick it around the wire. Make a figure with four legs and a head. Customize lower part legs under the surface of the chapters. To do this, put a film or bag on the keyboard and lightly press down on the future joystick. It is necessary to ensure that it stands steadily on the buttons, and its upper part is comfortable to grip.

Wait for the plastic to dry. After drying, it will retain its shape. If you are using a harder material (such as clay), put some rubber pads on the legs to avoid scratching the buttons.

25.01.12

Hi all! Here is my tutorial on how I made a joystick for PC from SonyPlaystation

Little background.
I wanted to play fights on a joystick, and buying it for a PC is expensive, I decided to solder it myself.
In principle, I don’t really rummage in diagrams and any such nonsense, but I really wanted to make a joystick for a PC. I rummaged through the Internet, found a bunch of all sorts of schemes
but some of them are too twisted for my simple brain. Through trial and error, and shoveling a bunch of sites, I still assembled a joystick and it worked.

Before I start, let me say a few things:
1) In the picture that I depicted, the joystick is black with vibration, and I did it on a simple one. I took the black picture just for a general idea.
2) My article is purely informational in nature and everything you do will be on your conscience.
3) In the diagram, I cut off the SP port from the joystick, and if you will not connect the joystick to the PC, then the article is for you.

Abbreviations: SP (Sony Playstation)

If you agree, then LET'S GO!

We will need:
1) Joystick from SP1.
2) LPT male port.
3) Any unnecessary USB cable.
4) Soldering iron.
5) Additional any postings for a minus on USB.
6) Drivers for the joystick.

We take the joystick and cut off the SP port from it

After cutting, we will have a bunch of wires sticking out of the cord, we will need everything except RED, RED will go to “plus” on USB.

We solder the remaining wires as shown in the picture, and note that the BLACK wire is soldered to TWO plugs in a pair with any left wire (which will go as a "minus" USB).

Here is a clear photo.

2) What if the joystick had power, since the LPT does not provide power, then on the Internet there are a lot of tips like solder a lot of resistors and all that nonsense, but why? We have a power supply! We use the USB port as power.

We take USB and cut the wire, FOUR wires will stick out there, we need TWO, these are BLACK (minus) and RED (plus), the rest are digital wires.

We connect the wires from USB with the wires from the SP cord and what we soldered
with black for a couple to LPT.
Red to red.

Black to what came out of LPT.

Here is clearly.

That's it, soldering is over.
Insert the plug into the motherboard.

IMPORTANT!
Insert LPT first
Then USB
Pull out the other way around.

Now we need to install the drivers.

I want to say that do not be afraid if when you inserted connectors into the motherboard, Windows did not find new equipment and is generally silent, this is normal. I have Win7 and at first I thought that nothing happened, but it turned out to be normal, although a friend found new equipment on XP.

Climbing on the Internet, I found as many as three types of drivers. Depending on your joystick (and they are all Chinese and you get what I mean…) the same driver will work differently on seemingly identical joysticks. So try different drivers until you pick yours.

Here are the names of the drivers that I found.
1) 30 PSXP
2) PPJoy0 83
3) NotePaden (something like that).

I normally earned only with the 1st.

We put firewood.

How to find out if there is or not.

I have Win7 and I found out like this:

Start - Games - (tab) Tools - Input Devices.
Your joystick should appear there, if you double-click there, the joystick settings window opens.

Control Panel - Printer Device. There, in the Seven, the joystick icon also appears.

Thanks for reading, good luck everyone. I don't answer questions, everything works stably for me.

Introduction

Most users in games use only the keyboard and mouse. But there are even more convenient (though not for all genres of games) manipulators - joysticks. In this article I will talk about how I made myself an elementary joystick.

Two years ago, surfing the vast expanses of the Internet, I came across interesting information - joysticks connected to the GAME port sound card very easy to do by hand. The circuit there is so simple that anyone who has ever picked up a soldering iron can assemble it. Joysticks can be divided into two types: using variable resistors or optocouplers. Here is a diagram of the joystick and the pinout of the GAME port:

If optical is done, then instead of variable resistors using an optocoupler:

On reflection, I chose the second type. I will not touch on electronics, because. all information can be found online.

Joystick Assembly

I have a very old console (which, by the way, has built-in games), I borrowed two joysticks from it. They are very comfortable shape, and it was not a pity to break at all.

In one, I shoved two optocouplers (one for front-to-back coordinates, the other for left-right coordinates). Optocouplers were taken out of a mechanical mouse, which I purchased for 30 rubles. In principle, optocouplers can be bought separately, but then the costs would be impressive. I glued the LEDs to the moving part of the joystick, and the photodiodes to the lower fixed part.

I used the second joystick on the principle of a gearbox. By moving the joystick to the most extreme positions (up, down, left, right), the contacts are closed. It turns out 4 positions - 4 buttons.

Just right for car simulators: up / down - shifting gears, and left / right for other needs (for example, a horn, a handbrake or a shift for NFS). Very comfortable and original :). The first joystick is connected to the GAME port, and the second to the first using a homemade port. It turns out this chain:

The first joystick has one feature - the absence of resistance, i.e. the handle moves quietly and does not return to the central position. There are pluses and minuses here. On the one hand, the hand practically does not get tired, I even got used to playing with one finger. On the other hand, it is difficult to find the central position (principally in flight simulators).

I used this design for a very long time, until my friends gave me a Logitech Attack 3 joystick.

Manual assembly, of course, cannot be compared with branded models, but the price of a homemade joystick is ten times less than the price of good joysticks.

Not only did I enjoy assembly and soldering, but it was also very pleasant to play. After all, there are no elementary things on the keyboard - the ability to adjust the gas and turn, which bring a share of realism and a lot of pleasant sensations to the game.
If you want to get new sensations in games, but there is no money for a good joystick, then take an example from me - make a joystick with your own hands :).

Hi all. In today's article, we'll talk about customizing a regular keyboard for gaming needs. Playing with a joystick or gamepad is much more convenient than pressing the WASD keys, but such gamepads are quite expensive. That's why the thought came do do it yourself a small joystick that could be placed on the keyboard. craft lightweight and portable. No cables or drivers are required to connect it. Just install under the tree on the keyboard and you're all set to go.

Step 1: What we need

• Wire hanger;
• Sugru - plasticine for adults.
• Thin wire;
• Platypuses;
• Food film.

Instead of "sugru" you can try to use clay, but then you will need to rubberize the legs of the joystick for better contact with keys.

Step 2: Choose Control Keys

Usually in games, the WASD combination is used to move. But due to the linear arrangement of the ASD keys, the joystick will not function. Therefore, we will reassign control under WAXD. The joystick also works fine with the 8426 combination (on the small numeric keypad), despite the fact that the letters are slightly offset from each other.

Step 3: Frame

We cut off two pieces of wire about 8 cm long from the hanger. Bend them, forming U-shaped brackets. The legs are 2 cm long. One of the braces has slightly elongated legs so that they can cover the thickness of the bottom wire. Since the joystick was made for WAXD, we will skew the brackets so that they are installed directly on the keys.

Step 4: Sugro

Let's stretch the surga and stick around its entire frame. Let's form a kind of handle on top, and place the legs on the keys, having previously placed a cling film over the keyboard. As soon as we are satisfied with the shape of the joystick, we leave under the tree dry all night.