Modifying Chinese 3DOF Arcade VR Simulator to Run Standard PC Games

Edit: I am selling the simulator, PM me if you are interested! Asking 6500 € or best offer.

Hi all!

I recently bought a Chinese made Arcade VR simulator and my plan is to modify it to run commercial PC games with SimTools instead of pre-bundled software.



The simulator has 0.4kW 3000 rpm AC servo motors driven by Dorna EPS-M1 3-in-1 drive. It comes with Vegafu SMC-X24 controller, which I am planning to replace with AMC-AASD15A servo controller (https://www.tindie.com/products/Tronicgr/amc-aasd15a-servo-motion-controller/) made by Thanos. This setup should allow me to run the simulator with any software compatible with SimTools.

Simulator comes with PC built in. Specs are:
Intel i5-6400 CPU
Asus motherboard
Geforce GTX 1050 Ti GPU (edit: upgraded to 1070 Ti)
8 Gb RAM
500W PSU

I will swap the GPU to something more powerful. Other than that it's pretty capable out of the box. There is also stand with monitor and keyboard/mouse coupled with the simulator. That is pretty convenient for operating the simulator on site.

Simulator comes with DPVR E3-C VR helmet (http://dpvr.net/e3c.html), which looks like it could be decent solution for this kind of purpose. It is compatible with SteamVR.

It has Logitech G29 wheel and pedal setup, which should be adequate too.

Next step now is to wait for AMC-AASD15A controller to arrive and begin testing. Big thanks to Thanos already now for consulting me on the topic! I'll post more pictures and experiences as I proceed with the project.

I am not sure if anyone has interest in this kind of project, but I'll post this just in case. Also I appreciate any feedback or suggestions you might have.

Happy to join the community and looking forward to get racing soon!

I'd like to see more examples of these. For example I use to play the motion deluxe version of Virtua Racing by Sega. That cab was immensely fun! Also the Daytona 2 motion cab is great as well. I'd love to see anyone use those cabs as motion rigs for PC sims.

Great idea. I've been following @Thanos' work as well, and he recently published the jailbreak to wire up these Chinese Dorna motors. Do let us know how this progresses. May I ask, from where did you obtain the simulator?

I will update you very soon, as I received the controller today! I am just now proceeding with the installation and hopefully I'll have it up and running during the weekend. I'll follow up with pictures and report on gaming soon after. I'm also planning to make picture-in-picture videos combining gameplay and simulator action.

Simulator was originally owned by small VR Arcade that went bankrupt. It's an early 2019 model and had only few hours of usage before I bought it.

I think I saw the online ad for that arcade. I'm interested to see how things work out.

I can confirm that the simulator works absolutely perfectly with Thanos AMC-AASD15A controller! I have tested Assetto Corsa and Project Cars 2 on it so far. SimTools configuration was easy and I will continue fine tuning the parameters over next few days.

Yes, with a custom wiring and a few parameters, it works same as my other servomotors...



Can't wait to see the platform all tuned playing VR games!


Thanks
Thanos

First test runs are now done and the simulator feels great! I made few videos of the action, which you can find below.

Here is picture of the engine room. Router is no longer needed there, I will remove it. I will install the computer unit back to lower front area on the picture. I did the test runs today with my laptop.


Here is a few Project Cars 2 laps at Suzuka (Sakitto) with Formula A:


And here is some Bac Mono action at Laguna Seca:


I noticed that movement on Formula A is much more aggressive than most other cars. Some slower cars seem pretty mellow. I probably need to tune the settings more to get better balance. Any suggestions are highly appreciated on settings I should try. Also please point out if you see any funny movement on the videos. I am not even 100% sure that all forces are correctly configured. I'll post my settings soon.

One additional thing I noticed was that the connection points / metal panel supporting the actuators is bit too flexible. That results to extra sway movement after breaking and accelerating. I am planning to add metal plate supports to actuator bolts to distribute the weight on larger area. That should significantly reduce the flexibility. Another option is to support the actuator below it to the ground, but that is less convenient when moving the rig around.

Great rig! Thanks for the videos!

Actually i just seen actual photo of under the hood, and I thought why you said all motion was inverted... because the actuators are upside down compared to the rest 4 axis platforms... so the Heave direction is opposite... doesn't really matter, the directions can be inverted in simtools...


Thanks
Thanos

Here is the settings I use currently. Please comment if you have improvement ideas. On up and downhills it does not feel totally natural, I am not sure if that can be modeled perfectly with pitch while maintaining braking and acceleration forces.

Amazing simulator, really awesome that you got it all working
Iam still kinda new to the whole motion thing
but while testing it helped to make settings per car/track.
For the pitch problem you could trie to use Tuning center and adjust manually the pitch value?

Again awesome setup!

Congratulations for getting this machine into movement!

About your thoughts regarding pitch and roll: It is a general limitation of 2 and 3 DOF simulators that pitch and surge are simulated via the same movement, and the same is true for roll and sway. In this way, these forces are competing with and weakening each other.
Exanple: You go downhill, which pitches the rig forward. At the same time, your vehicle is accelerating, which pitches the rig backward. This surely does not feel natural.

Some people (me included) are dealing with this issue by integrating a g-seat into their rig, so that surge and sway are separated from pitch and roll.

So i had the same idea (running 2dof here)
It`s a bit of trade-off with the forces, so for example for a Formule renault i put emphasis on the "sway" and less on roll for the "g-forces"
When a track is more up and downhill , i make a profile with less sway and roll but more pitch and heave.

Markus, I was thinking the same with Roll.
For example a cambered turn to the right = body roll to the right
But a offcambered turn , or high downforce car = more likeley roll a bit to the opposite of the turn. Still not really sure how to handle this one. for now i did setup for the second.

blessing to all

I recently bought the AMC-AASD15A controller and dorna m1 3in1. i created the cables from DP25 to DP44, configured the parameters, with one cable connected. as soon as connect the second cable the controller goes off, also i cant control the motor with the up/down buttons the motor just rotates when i have the controller plug in with one cable. those are the two issues im currently having, that i followed the wiring diagram so im not sure what im missing. would it possible to post a pic of the DB plugs wiring would be much appreciate it

Hi!
Happy holidays and New Years!
I’m also trying to make one of these M1 3axis servo drives work with the AMC controller.
I can run all 3 motors using the jog command from the DORWIN software. But when I connect using the AMC they don’t Run.
Can you share the 25 pin to 44 pin connections and AMC settings?

Please any one know about this light guns from SLQJ china manufacturer ?

its based on Computer on module s2410 v1.0 and Jorjin WG7833-B0 wireless module.

how to connect them with game host, i'll put some pictures below

or if there is any serial port could help ?

Thank you.

https://www. reddit. com/user/YazzineB/comments/190wi9i/slqj_light_guns_for_cinema_7d/