Computer Setup

And I thought the Steel Battalion controller was complex... this guy blows that thing out of the water.

Hands down coolest gaming setup i've ever seen

That's nothing. People build entire 100% clickable f-16 cockpits for Falcon 4.0.

The 'Boeing 737 Home Cockpit' in the suggestions is great aswell.

I love how the German guy decides to make his $20k cockpit to mimic a 737. He could have chosen any freaking aircraft in the world, so he chooses one of the most boring and common vehicles in the world.

If it makes him happy, I'm all for it.

It's like building an elite car racing simulator, for a Toyota Prius.

It's a simulator. a 737 is very difficult to fly compared to smaller aircraft. if he builds a jet fighter sim it's gonna be totally whack and unrealistic.

That's crazy. I love it! Thanks for posting this.

Hell yes. Multiple monitors, huge speakers, expensive keyboards and mice... fuck that, I want one of these.

I am pretty sure he means coolest as in original, creative AND awesome.

Just bought the g400 yesterday.

Good choice, the G400 has a much better sensor than the other models!

Well I wanted optical instead of laser. Because I feel that laser sensors can be jittery when holding still.

The G500 is fantastic, I bought it on a whim and was blown away.

Very cool. MW2 is actually the game I played most as a kid out of the series.

As a kid? It was like 3 years ago.

He was probably making a joke by assuming you meant "MW2" as in Modern Warfare 2... which was quite popular among the kids those days.

MW3 for me because you could "throw" SRM's, Lock on, rotate torso as fast as possible (while maintaining lock) and fire, missiles would launch immediately go vertial and loop over and down onto target (meaning the full SRM salvo hit them in the head).

I did have it set as my linux login sound but then I forgot I'd done that and left the volume at full (from a metallica blasting session).

My brain has replaced all memories of that voice with Glados (Ellen McLain) based upon how perfectly she fits in Pacific Rim.

Wait glados is in Pacific Rim? Is that movie any good?

July 11th for all us amerifags.

Alpha assault, this is bravo cadet! I've got bandits all over me! G-get down here!

Nice work. I'm familiar with some of those panels. You've got an old Collins ARC-80 HF radio terminal and next to it a datalink terminal possibly Link-11 or older. The panels on the left definitely from a two engine aircraft with an APU (auxiliary power unit). I also see a 2-channel Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) terminal used for Link-16. If I had to make a wild guess I'd say some of these terminals come off an older Navy E-2C aircraft. Not sure if you can confirm this or not, but that is some slick work nonetheless.

Good eye. Yes most of them are from Navy aircraft. You'd be surprised what the military throws away or sends to DRMO. The top right and left are from a twin-engine Sikorsky helicopter [model unknown], and the autopilot controller is out of a Lockheed Electra. Most of the panels were stripped of their avionics and were only faceplates.

That's awesome. Looking forward to seeing the progress you make.

Doing something very similar but using more ah64 A and D parts (its what I got available) which microcontroller did you use and how hard were they to integrate?

Nice. The annunciator is the Master Caution out of an AH-1. I picked up a controller from Desktop Aviator; they sell usb boards that are reasonably easy to integrate. Just keep in mind that toggle switches produce constant output so you will need to convert the signal to momentary.

Seeing how well yours looks I'm all sorts of exited to start working on mine. I plan integrating three screens much like you have it set up with "functional borders".

I wouldn't have thought that'd be too major a concern to be honest.

Aha! I thought I recognised some of those connections and switches! Fun to see my workplace sort of on the internet

Are you planning on making all those toggles do anything? That would pretty cool.

They already do. I wired them to a microcontroller which connects to the computer via USB. Think of the whole system like a giant joystick; each button emulates a keypress. For toggle switches, the controller is set to convert a constant-on to momentary-on so that the computer isn't flooded with repeating inputs. Its worth noting that the knobs don't do anything right now, because I don't really have a need for potentiometer input.

You could wire the potentiometers to screen brightness or to a music player. You gotta crank the music up when piloting a giant robot.

How did you aquite the panels?

Ohhhhhhh, I totally though you bound everything to a mech warrior function so it was alll legit. this is still badass, though. well done.

He did. A separate microcontroller acts as a translator between the panel buttons and the computer, turning the panel controls into keyboard commands MWO can use.

If you extras, id buy them of you

This is incredible. how did you get your hands on them?

So did you get these for free? how did you get them? i would love to get some. there's something about physical switches that makes me feel really good.

Yeah those components get scrapped all the time, especially face plates from cockpits. I had a buddy with a f18 flight stick as his shifter in his Volkswagen. Also kept a flight mask to to smoke out of now that I'm a civilian always treat your supply guys right!

It's a Razer Artemis. It's not out yet, and I think it's still in prototype stage. No price announced either from what I've seen.

Ooh. Razer, huh. I hadn't noticed the logo. I have a bad view on them.

They are making a new one??? Mechwarrior is my favorite underrated games series.

I played it last year when it was a buggy mess. And everything, everything was brown or gray.

That's freaking awesome! I'll have to share this...

It's all I play now. I've quit WoW, all but cut back on League of Legends, and play this "free" game (so free, so free).

I'm not sure if it's changed, but I am fairly sure that the game is actually based just prior to the clan invasion. So there current theories are that the clans in general will be introduced at some point after launch.

I'm playing it RIGHT NOW. Check it out, free to play system. It's open beta.

Wow, looks amazing. Good luck wiring it up, I could barely do a small custom panel myself!

Where the fuck do you find stuff like that?

You can acquire a lot of these old military terminals and aircraft panels off ebay.

That's amazing. If I had any experience with micro controllers I might fall into a very deep dark hole.

I recognized the connectors on the side from when I worked on black hawks in the army. I was airframe, not avionics so I have no idea what those are actually for.

Do any of the buttons do anything? Are they wired up for anything?

"95% of the controls are operational, and mapped with a microcontroller to key presses for in-game use." Apparently, majority of them are.

It's in the coolcomputersetups link.

Oh wow. I didn't see that.

This wins this coolcomputersetups. Good effort everyone else.

Agreed, it's an actual "battle" station.

OP, you forgot to use copper safety wire on your fire suppression switch. Of course I'm kidding but that would be awesome. Nice use of helicopter parts.

That is awesome. Seriously, where did you get all of that?

I think we need a video tour of this beauty.

Do those actually control the game? I would love to see a video of it in action. I personally love MWO, but I am not that good at it.

If you continue customizing these you can probably get someone to make you some replacement faceplates that have labels appropriate for your function map pings. What a cool idea! very impressive.. I know an avionics engineer at L3 who does some stuff like this for his home flight sims.

This is the most amazing battle-station I have ever laid eyes upon. God damn is it sexy.

Very nice! are the buttons on the panels actually functional/working with the computer?

That is awesome, but some criticism: Get some better speakers! definitely needed with a cool setup like that.

R/cableporn would like a word with you.

Do any of the buttons have in-game functions?

That looks immerssive as fuck

Mech gaming setup without a mechanical keyboard... the irony.

That is super cool. Get an appropriate cockpit chair too.

This is the best gaming setup

Thank you for sharing your incredible gaming setup. Would mind explaining a bit about how you're assigning in game functions to those physical switches? I just had a vision of me toggling a bunch of things up and down, saying "wi-fi, on. bluetooth. on...." and now I can't get that vision out of my head.

Cannon plugs on a computer, so easy! YES!

Damn that looks really cool!

Holy shit, that looks awesome! Amazing job!

Simply amazing! Look forward to your next upgrade.

So, do you have a joystick or do you "drive" around with that belkin/razer thing?

This is really, I would love to have those panels. Ive always wanted a retro themed computer with random parts and modules around it. You should expand this and maybe even make a box around your monitor to look Fallout 3 Themed.

Love that game and love your computer setup, I'm jealous.

That is simply amazing.

Oh dude that is so awesome! Great job! Time to crush some people in a 100 ton Mech!

I now want this, but customized to be actual functional uses.

What's the picture on your mouse mat pal? Looks familiar...

Can you show us a video of you playing?

I love the fact that you're using an actual cockpit headset.

Grab a mechanical keyboard and even using that will be clicky and awesome to match the rest.

This is absolutely bad-ass! Good job dude! Now I want to break out Steel Battalion and get my mech on!

I have to ask; does it make the game any easier to play or is it just for the immersive factor?

Not a mech station without a mechanical keyboard.

You should play Hawken on this thing, it would be amazing!

Are you planning on using a different keyboard?

I see it runs Battlefield 3.

Looks pretty epic. Next step would be going to multi-monitor - even multiple smaller monitors would add to the immersion factor, because the bezels would replicate the canopy framework.

Have you considered putting more monitors together in the shape of the cockpit window?

Where did you get the dashboards? And where did you even get the game?

Thats the most advanced masturbatorium I have ever seen.

So this is how a cockpit of a Gundam looks like.

Best gaming setup on here! My friend's dad worked on mechwarrior 3 so I bet he would really appreciate this.

Too bad joystick support is nonexistent on Mechwarrior Online. That would've made this gaming setup absolutely perfect.

The fact 95% of all the buttons are actually working to in-game keypresses makes this computer setup 1000x better!

This gaming setup is sex! Really awesome dude!

You win the internet sir. This is truly the most epic gaming setup I have ever seen and I want it.

MWO doesn't lend itself well to joystick play, unfortunately.

This is disappointing. I've been looking forward to using my CH throttle, pedals, and a Logitech force-feedback joystick to make the game a little more real. I've been playing online Battletech since America Online/Gamestorm; I can't imagine not being able to use a joystick.

Well , the game is still in beta technically, so joystick support may get better. The problem right now stems from the way arms can move independently of the torso. I didn't mean to rain on your day.

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