Homemade controllers

[Guest deleted@349768]

Hello all, I'm new to IL-2. My late brother used to play online a lot until he got too sick to sit at the computer for any length of time and whenever I used to see him he would always fire up the game and watch me fail miserably for a few hours, a lifelong love of flight sims is something we both shared since the days of the Psion Flight Simulator on the Sinclair Spectrum.

Well, recently I managed to get my hands on an old, but reasonably high spec laptop that can just about run IL-2 (the graphics card is woefully inadequate on complex missions which tend to chug) so I thought I would install IL-2 Cliffs of Dover and have a play. Well, I'm hooked.

Yes my flight skills are appalling, I have little idea what to press or why, however I do like to tinker and struggle with using a keyboard (trying to remember what key does what for the main functions is a pain) so I built this little console based on the Arduino Micro which uses some toggle, pushbutton and encoder type controls. The display does light up so I can play when the lights are dimmed at night as it runs off two cr2032 batteries rather than sucking power through the USB (The arduino can't really handle too much current itself, a few mA).

I just wondered whether any of you guys have made similar and what controls you would swap or change? I'm looking forward to going through the posts to read about the game and, perhaps if my flying or PC improves, seeing some of you online.

I think some form of head tracking or rudder pedals will be my next project - any tips on that appreciated!

Edited May 16, 2022 by MorsKochanksi

[Art-J]

On 5/16/2022 at 9:23 PM, MorsKochanksi said:

Hello all, I'm new to IL-2. My late brother used to play online a lot until he got too sick to sit at the computer for any length of time and whenever I used to see him he would always fire up the game and watch me fail miserably for a few hours, a lifelong love of flight sims is something we both shared since the days of the Psion Flight Simulator on the Sinclair Spectrum.

Well, recently I managed to get my hands on an old, but reasonably high spec laptop that can just about run IL-2 (the graphics card is woefully inadequate on complex missions which tend to chug) so I thought I would install IL-2 Cliffs of Dover and have a play. Well, I'm hooked.

Yes my flight skills are appalling, I have little idea what to press or why, however I do like to tinker and struggle with using a keyboard (trying to remember what key does what for the main functions is a pain) so I built this little console based on the Arduino Micro which uses some toggle, pushbutton and encoder type controls. The display does light up so I can play when the lights are dimmed at night as it runs off two cr2032 batteries rather than sucking power through the USB (The arduino can't really handle too much current itself, a few mA).

I just wondered whether any of you guys have made similar and what controls you would swap or change? I'm looking forward to going through the posts to read about the game and, perhaps if my flying or PC improves, seeing some of you online.

I think some form of head tracking or rudder pedals will be my next project - any tips on that appreciated!

 

 

Mind you, you posted in the forum section dedicated for the "Il-2 1946" part of the whole franchise, while you're mentioning "Il-2 Cliffs of Dover". These are two separate, pretty much unrelated (in practical terms) products, so you won't get any answers here.

 

Dedicated Il-2 CloD forum section is here...

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/104-il-2-sturmovik-cliffs-of-dover-blitz-desert-wings/

 

... but actually most of Il-2 CloD community hangs around that forum nowadays:

https://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/

[Guest deleted@349768]

4 hours ago, Art-J said:

 

Mind you, you posted in the forum section dedicated for the "Il-2 1946" part of the whole franchise, while you're mentioning "Il-2 Cliffs of Dover". These are two separate, pretty much unrelated (in practical terms) products, so you won't get any answers here.

 

Dedicated Il-2 CloD forum section is here...

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/104-il-2-sturmovik-cliffs-of-dover-blitz-desert-wings/

 

... but actually most of Il-2 CloD community hangs around that forum nowadays:

https://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/

Yes, I was confused a little by all the different versions and sub-forums. Still, the controller is relevant to whatever, it works really well. Still struggling to dogfight in the Hurricane, I get outclassed by the AI every time (they never seem to make an error whereas I frequently go into a spin and, by the time I regain control, auger in).

Are you saying I would be better off on the CloD community over there?

[Art-J]

Controller is relevant to whatever, but forum trafic isn't ;). This particular section is a ghost town, so there's noone to consult with. I'm just pointing you to places where there are many more people hanging around.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Art-J

[Guest deleted@349768]

Thanks, I've registered over there. Nothing through yet, but when I get the email back I'll have a browse. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Dallas88B]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:23 AM, MorsKochanksi said:

so I built this little console based on the Arduino Micro which uses some toggle, pushbutton and encoder type controls. The display does light up so I can play when the lights are dimmed at night as it runs off two cr2032 batteries

 

Well I reckon that is great. Its just amazing what can be done with those micro processors like you used and Rasberry Pi etc. Very cool.

Making items like this is a great adjunct to the Flight Sim hobby too.

I play IL2 multiplayer Battle of Bodenplatte and Battle of Kuban era mostly. If you like I would be happy to send you a schematic of what I use for my Joystick and Throttle button use ....its not directly relevant to what you have of course, but perhaps the buttons used might give you a further idea of whats important (at least, for what its worth, what I think is important) to have on the joystick and throttle buttons. I try to avoid reliance on the keyboard when flying.

For your interest in controllers this section, while not IL-2 Cliffs of Dover specific, has some good stuff that might give you ideas. https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/18-hardware-software-and-controllers/

 

[Guest deleted@349768]

12 hours ago, Dallas88B said:

 

Well I reckon that is great. Its just amazing what can be done with those micro processors like you used and Rasberry Pi etc. Very cool.

Making items like this is a great adjunct to the Flight Sim hobby too.

I play IL2 multiplayer Battle of Bodenplatte and Battle of Kuban era mostly. If you like I would be happy to send you a schematic of what I use for my Joystick and Throttle button use ....its not directly relevant to what you have of course, but perhaps the buttons used might give you a further idea of whats important (at least, for what its worth, what I think is important) to have on the joystick and throttle buttons. I try to avoid reliance on the keyboard when flying.

For your interest in controllers this section, while not IL-2 Cliffs of Dover specific, has some good stuff that might give you ideas. https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/18-hardware-software-and-controllers/

 

Any info right now would be useful for sure. And thanks for the joystick link - I'm using a 17 year old Saitek Cyborg I had when working for a games company (used to play BF 1942 every lunchtime and, of course, flew the planes). It could definitely do with an upgrade.

Making my own head tracker at the moment, it seems simple enough to make but also regretting my choice of learning the Hurricane first, it seems woefully slow and inferior in a dogfight with AI.

[Dallas88B]

 

12 hours ago, MorsKochanksi said:

Any info right now would be useful for sure.

 

This is what I used on my Warthog. Hope it's of use to you

Warthog Button Mapping.zip

Edited May 22, 2022 by Dallas88B