SimTools interface driver for YawVR

YawVR is a ready-to-fly ready-to-drive motion sim rig that brings good emotions for a fair price.

The device supports the original SimTools network driver, but I added some tweaks to have a better and easier experience for the users.

Features:
- very easy to setup... you just enter the IP and it's done.
- motion compensation support through OVRMC and YawVR Tracker
- the motion scales are adjusted so that 100% yaw, pitch and roll match the YawVR hardware, so it will be easier to configure.

Installation:
Just drop the zip onto the SimTools PluginUpdater.

I will post a "beginner's how to" setup a game config when I have time.

And definitely don't hesitate to share your settings for a particular game.

Basic setup and instructions

Installation:
- Install the YawVR driver in SimTools by dropping the file "Yawvr_InterfacePlugin.zip" onto the SimTools Plugin Updater
- In Game Engine, go to "Interface Settings":
-- Select "Yaw VR" driver
-- Enter the IP address of your motion seat
-- Click save

Requirements for Motion compensation:
-- Install OVRMC from "https://ovrmc.dschadu.de/en/Download"
-- Install YawVR tracker from "http://yaw.one/gameengine/yawVRTracker.zip" (extract the folder in the archive to steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\
-- In the Interface Settings of Game Engine, check the box "Generate data for motion compensation (OVRMC)"

Game Engine Instructions:
- In "Axis Assignments": the (a) Axis Assignments define the axis for the motion seat: Axis 1a is Yaw, Axis 2a Pitch and Axis 3a Roll.

- In "Axis Assignments -> "Axis limiting" tab: for the three axis, 100% represents the effective maximum of the motion capabilities of the hardware, that means 360° for Yaw, 35° for Pitch and 35° for Roll. So you can adapt here the value for according to your preference (personally I don't have the room for a full turn and 35° for pitch/yaw is a very strong angle, so I start by limiting the axis to 25% for Yaw (so 90°) and 50% for Pitch and Roll (so 17°). The percentages you define here will be used by Game Engine so that the output values will be "compressed" within the limits. This does not interfere with YawVR config app allowing you to limit the axes, you should absolutely keep these limits for safety reasons, ensuring the seat won't rotate further.

Axis assignements beginner's guide:
In "Axis Assignments" you assign a portion (%) of the maximum travel for an Axis to a Game Force.
For flight/space sims basically I recommend putting Yaw 50% on DOF1, 50% Pitch on DOF2 and 50% Roll on DOF3. After trying and feeling the response in-game, you may augment these values to max 100% which means you will use the full travel within the limits fixed in the Axis Limiting.
For racing sims, things tend to be more complex as the sway and surge axis are very relevant for the simulation. So for Axis2a you will have to make a partition between the Game Pitch (= climbing/descending a road) and the Game Surge (acceleration/brake), I start with 50% and 50% and then you will have to fine tune. Same for Game Roll (=road inclination) and Game Sway (G force felt when turning). Note that these force may need to be reversed so that the direction of the rotation is correct. For Yaw, if you have enough room you can assign the Game Yaw to Axis1a. Personally I prefer using the yaw rotation to feel the "traction loss" of the car. Most of the racing games deliver this force that you can assign to this axis.

Enabling Motion compensation in games:
- Start Game Manager and Game Engine
- In Game Engine, select your game in the game plugin list, apply patch if not done before
- Launch SteamVR
- Once in SteamVR, verify that motion compensation is NOT enabled in OVRMC
- Launch your game
Once you are in your game (some game require that you are in your plane/car/ship and not only in the menu):
- Take place in your seat and open your Config App in your phone (or computer)
- The config app should be blue and show that "SimTools" is connected
- Press "Start" on the Config App
- Go back to the SteamVR overlay and click on the "reset position" button in the overlay
- You should now see the tracker right in front of your belly
- Enable motion compensation in OVRMC
- Return to your game and go!

Here is a profile for Elite Dangerous that works nicely with the YawVR.
The original plugin thread is here: Elite Dangerous Horizons Plugin

Note that for Yaw, Elite doesn't provide an orientation value in degrees, but a "yaw force" that lasts as long as you push on the stick. So the yawvr will go back to zero a short time after the force has stopped (I used the washout setting on that axis, you can edit it if you don't like it). It works well for me since I only use a small Yaw angle.

Check the readme.txt. You have to extract the two files so that they go inside the correct folder, the relative paths are in the zip, so that you can just extract the archive to the root folder which is something like: C:\Users\<MyUserName>\AppData\Local\SimTools\GameEngine

Normally you won't have to make much modification to the Axis settings (of course you can refine or adjust to your taste). On the opposite, Axis Limitations are NOT included, so you have to check that the limits corresponds to the values you want (see first post above).

It is a kind of test: if other YawVR users can import and use this profile without too much modifications, sharing profiles between YawVR users could become interesting: adjusting a profile takes time, so it is cool if this time can profit to the community.

I hope that I didn't forget to include a needed file. In the Axis Assignments you have to select "Generic 2D standard" for the profile to appear.

Here is an updated version of the YawVR interface driver (v. 0.2).

New features:
- Output automatically adjusts to the limits sets in the config app. No need for Axis limiting in the Axis assignments (don't forget to remove them if you update).
- Optional control panel allowing to recenter and start/stop motion for those who don't use the mobile config app to control the seat.

Hi, great contribution for yaw owners!
May I add a link to your post on yaw discord? Most people there included me use SRS and Yaw GameEngine but its grat to have options.

EDIT: i just seen you are on discord too with other name,I really missed your simtools interface, just passed inder my radar in all that Yaw 2 madness.

Yes I am active on Yawvr's discord channel under the the name fresh_ch

The latest version of the YawVR driver for Simtools can be found here :
https://forum.yawvr.com/discussion/177/simtools-interface-driver-for-yawvr

And instructions on the smart yaw modes are posted here:
https://forum.yawvr.com/discussion/188/smart-yaw-modes-explained-simtools-driver-from-v-0-4

what is the SteamVR overlay and where is the "reset position" button?

Is there going to be an answer to this question?

SteamVr overlay is the inside VR screen menu for steam VR where you can acces to steamVR options. There is an icon to reset steam VR center view.

Would it be possible to get the source code for the Yawvr_InterfacePlugin plugin?

source code is on the yawvr forum. here is the link https://bitbucket.org/fresh_ch/yawvr_simtools_interface/src/main/

Good Morning!

I'm Pretty new in the field of motion simulators - just bought a used YawVR bowl

The yawVR Game-Engine had an incredible amount of lag so I decided to try out the sim tools, which already feel much better. I try to dig as much as possible into the tutorials here but would be glad if you could share your settings for the axis Assignments.

Do my settings make any sense for Warthunder?

Where is the difference between the DOF1 DOF2 DOF3 rows? would it have a different output if I put all the axis assignments in DOF1 ? trying to figure that out

I haven't really played War Thunder with my YawVR bowl. But looking at the plugin I would do the following assignments:

Axis1a: Yaw
Axis2a: Pitch, Surge, Heave (possibly Extra2 (Pitch relative to earth) instead of Pitch depending on the aircraft and how you fly)
Axis3a: Roll, Sway (possibly Extra1 (Roll relative to earth) instead of Roll depending on the aircraft and how you fly)

You want each Axis row to total 100%. How you divide it up is up to you.
I assume you are using the Interface Driver for YawVR posted above. Makes setting up SimTools with YawVR much easier.

You should check out the YawVR discord if you are not on it already.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot! will try this and play around with the percentage distribution =)

Happy Holidays!

I do need to look into this. While I am still new to my YAW VR, there are certainly games that I don't have profiles for yet. Thanks for the great work!

Thanks for this interface, works great for DCS. I now am trying to get motion compensation to work with my Yaw VR 2 + Pico 4 however the XYZ gizmo of the YawVR Tracker is never shown in the SteamVR environment and motion compensation does not work. I tried every tutorial and followed all steps but it just wont show up whereas the OVRMC and Yaw VR Tracker plugins are correctly installed and activated. Also everything is centered. I can even see motion compensation working when selecting a controller. The weird thing is, when selecting a controller and then switching back to Yaw VR Tracker, the status says it is 'not connected' instead of 'default' (I do have 'Generate data for motion compensation' enabled). Also watching some youtube tutorials, it seems the Yaw Game Engine has been updated. The latest version does not have 'write memory mapped file' or auto calibration functionality. It does have 'infuse VR' option, which they are about to release. Could this have broken the interface?

Could someone offer a link to a zip with the Yaw Game Engine that works with this interface? One without the Infuse VR option so I can test if that works.