Sim Haptic

Hardware & Tech Questions
1

I just learned about Sim Haptic 2.0 and that it just got support for DCS.
@jross, do you know anything about it?

Could it be a better alternative to Sim Shaker?

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It doesn’t support seat pads yet, but it looks nice.

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Hope this works here…

Who doesn’t love a big-a$$ charging handle?

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I’m on the fence about getting it. I have an old Buttkicker gamer and, before one of Windows’ updates, it worked like a dream in VR. Now it is hit or miss. Sim Haptic looks like it could potentially solve my issues.

I think I’ll bite if all goes well with the 7-day trial.

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Well…based on the video…

TLDR: Looks very similar to SimShaker for Aviators (SSA) but with a better UI and ease of use. I came across it a little while ago. No time to check it out. I will do so soon and have a review when I can find a spare hour or two. And it does use a script, same as SSA (See below).

PRICE: 30.00eu. Relatively speaking that’s kind of high. Subjective.

NOTE: As of yesterday there is a conflict between this and VAICOM Pro. Sounds like they are working on it (there may be a temp work around). Since I use VAICOM Pro this is an issue for me.

I will probably get it. I’m a convert to all this - especially in VR - and the more ‘butts’ that experience this the better (to advance the tech).

[EDIT]
Looked at the download/purchase page and it shows these features for DCS:

DCS Only

  • Catapult
  • Drag chute
  • Cannon
  • Wing fold
  • Damage
  • Bomb/fuel drop
  • Missile launch
  • APU
  • Airbrake movement
  • Fuel probe
  • Hook up/down

The YT linked DOES show G-effect and Air Flow (Stall?) Those are the most important ones, IMHO. Seems the above is a list of effects in addition to the ‘standard’ ones.

The list of effects was similar. Coding-wise you could conjure up a bucket full of effects but in my experience only a few are effective[1] based on the current state of haptic hardware. As I, sort of, mentioned in the ARTICLE: you could have feedback coming from multiple sources but it all gets fed into a single sound card. You’d need a physical rig (hardware, to include multiple sound cards!) akin to what you see for racing (transducers at each of the four corners of an elaborate sim rig chassis, etc, etc).

Another niche (I’d love it but don’t have the physical space).

It looked so similar in fact that it appeared to have the same ‘flaw’ that SSA has IMHO, and the reason I posted about such on the ED forum: latency

All due to the middle-ware nature of using scripts, which can impact performance (and do in the case of SSA, though the last time I measured it was several years ago and on a slower PC, prior to Mulit-threading, and determined it wasn’t that much - the benefit outweighed the few FPS it cost).

Watched that video and not convinced it is functionally any better (except one way, see below) - however, this YT comment/reply has me curiouser:

Q: As a user of both Andre’s software and the buttkicker software, how does this differ?

A: We offer longer list of effects, single app, modern UI easy to use, highly customizable, no performance impact, every effect has a list of shake types to choose from, and lastly, we offer 7 days free trial, so you can to check it out and decide yourself which one is better!. BTW we also believe our effect feels better.

That “no performance impact” has me wondering. I am going to look at it now.

Better UI
I’m all about making it easier to use. Note that SSA isn’t that big of a deal (I don’t like how you get update notices) but anything easier to use is better assuming similar functionality.

Ease of use is a big thing given the relative complexity of DCS if you fly with HOTAS, VR, etc, etc.

  • SSA could be edited to change an effect - they are simply sound files - but the process wasn’t in the UI. I did this for one effect but can’t recall which one at the moment.

PS: if SSA were to disappear I would be forced to write my own system cus I love this that much.

[1] G-effect and Stall are the big ones for me. See the article (admittedly it needs updating) on this. The speed brake ‘rumble’ is one that catches my attention often too. Same with gear down.

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@komemiute those were absolutely hilarious!! :rofl: :upside_down_face:

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Nice writeup, @jross!

I think I read that Sim Haptic can output to multiple soundcards and you can choose which effect goes to which soundcard…

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Yes I saw that. As I’d illuded to in 2020, ideally you’d have multiple sound cards but not that practical; one for each major fx (engine, G, stall). Hardware-wise it can get out of control fast as you are trying to physically represent multiple pieces separately.

There are some complaints on their forum about how multiple sounds interact as I briefly tried to cover. Tis the nature of the beast though with common gear.

I think SSA might do it differently actually. Not sure.

The SimHaptic forum indicates they try to ‘blend’ the fx with some priority scheme?

With SSA I just set them up such that the ones I want to feel the most are outputting at a higher value, trying not to allow any combination where the sum exceeds 100 ‘units’, or the capabilities of my amp/transducer(s) (volume/gain knob helps here :slight_smile: ).

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