Beko Motion (deprecated)

Demo Flight Of Nova with Headtracker and HOTAS (on Linux PC) - crash landing my spaceship again

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 03:38:35 GMT

I had the chance to play Flight Of Nova (https://flight-of-nova.com/) for the first time today. This was on my wishlist for quite some time now. Dived in blind and had no idea what to expect. 3 tutorial missions later: Oh boy… this is hard. I can see myself sinking many hours in this. Anyway, as usual, my focus is on interfacing with my home cockpit (or simpit) and while there is no ship telemetry [yet?] I was able to get it running just fine via Proton and with my DIY headtracker using OpenTrack. Hats off, seldom that I see a game that detects my joystick just fine, has great ingame calibration, offers me a windowed mode and a bunch of ultra width resolutions without having to resort to hacking config files or use gamescope to resize it ❤️ Head tracking is, as usual, TrackIR only so far (I guess the native Linux PC version does not have UDP in place here but I couldn't check due Steam refusing to download another version today). Anyway, you can see me fooling around with the buttons and do an A+ crash landing in the end - sunny side up 😆 Not too shabby considering that this was my 3rd landing at all.

Stellanebula Project WAS - Knowledge Talk on Sunday: Gaming on Linux - raw presentation

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Wed, 01 May 2024 16:52:38 GMT

This is the raw presentation I prepared for the “Knowledge Talk on Sunday” for the Stellanebula Project by @Sciencekeeper@troet.cafe at youtube.com/watch?v=wmaj-MyRkPs - it's in German so enable subtitles for English. This was uploaded here as convenient reference for participants of the talk, that happened in Discord, but we decided to make it public in the end. Since it is without intro or music here I can released it as CC-SA. The talk and the open discussion took 2 whopping hours in the end but I didn't manage to cut a video of that [yet?].

This presentation was made for absolute beginners as intro into the topic "Gaming On Linux". It may not be accurate in detail and glance over various concepts in a very quick way to not overwhelm the targeted audience. It's focus is mostly on Space Pew Pew games, namely Elite Dangerous, as this is the focus of the Stellanebula Project, but Star Citizen or X4: Foundations are mentioned here and there too.

Casual UT2003 CtF match [against bots] in 2024 🤘🤓🤘

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:42:20 GMT

In 2020 I checked some old backup disks of mine and found to my utmost joy a copy of my former UT2003 installation. This is a Linux native 32bit build that is now over 20 years old. Well, LinuxGaming is hard because who can support 500 distributions, right? This worked just fine in 2020 on Fedora 31. Today I gave it another spin in 2024 on Fedora 38 on Wayland with PipeWire 😀

Hell yeah, the muscle memory is still there 🤘🤓🤘

(tbf the SDL1.2 compat lib rocks most of this but it's really all still there)

Historic silver mine Hallwangen 4k 25 FPS

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 10:40:38 GMT

Visited the abandoned silver/copper/barite mine in #Hallwangen, 72280 Germany. It’s a rather interesting one as it dates back to #medieval times and is still excavated by voluntary workers. The earliest record found dates back to 12C and the upper mining gallery “Himmlisch Heer” shows markings that are the result of hand tools while the second gallery “Irmgardsglück” has holes for explosives drilled with machines powered by compressed air. That part also has wider tunnels while the upper part is mostly crawl spaces.

The mine was abandoned and reopened several times for different reasons. The last activity was in 1912 and some stuff like an old rail for push carts and parts of electric installations can still be seen to this day.

I can totally recommend a tour. We got to see a lot of interesting stuff packaged with fascinating stories and explanations [on another visit]. Been to some mines in my life already but seldom did I get to see so many details in such tiny tunnels. Granted, most mines were rather modern and huge drilled exclusively with modern machines.

If you visit don’t forget to greet the tunnel at the entrance with the classic “Glück auf!” shout of the local miners for safe passage and fortune.

Mine Hallwangen: https://www.bergwerk-hallwangen.de/
Originally noted: https://beko.famkos.net/2023/09/17/historic-silver-mine-hallwangen/

VF-1 home cockpit with Elite Dangerous (version 2)

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 22:04:53 GMT

This is a first person demonstration of my DIY simulated home cockpit built on a budget: https://SimPit.dev

It's design is based on a VF-1 Valkyrie cockpit of the Macross franchise - or Robotech as it is known in some parts of the world (but we don't talk about this here).

It is mainly used to play Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, X4: Foundations and plenty of other Space Pew Pew.

Features:

DIY button box with LCD ("MFD") display
DIY status indicators using a Neopixel
DIY headtracker with Opentrack[1]
Lots of plumbing with Node-RED
Arduino Mega with a custom Rust daemon for driving the joystick and LEDs
A custom “App” written in React to drive the MFD
…and a Linux PC to power all the crazy 🤪

[1] Not active in this video because the motion sickness is bad enough already

Oh and ignore the Primary Flight Display. This version of my app has currently a bug where it's stuck when it should not display at all. It should only display near a planetary.

Music "Running and Burning (Single)" by "Desert Eagles" is released under
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 International License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
https://soundcloud.com/desert-eagles/desert-eagles-running-and

Demo Teaser: FreeSpace 2 Open with head tracking on Linux PC

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 17:44:51 GMT

Just finished my proof of concept to implement the FaceTrackNoIR (or OpenTrack) protocol into FreeSpace 2 Open on Linux PC. Apparently only TrackIR and FreeTrack (both Windows only) were supported so far. Still needs some fine tuning but I'm really happy with today's coding frenzy considering that I didn't touch C++ in years.

Enjoying X4: Foundations with Battlestar Galactica mod 🤓

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 22:48:19 GMT

Stumbled over this X4: Foundations mod that adds some BSG to X4: https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/1167

Just taking the Viper out for a spin around the Galactica 😃

If you enjoy SimPit|s (or any home cockpit / simulated cockpit) and Battlestar Galactica make sure to also check the awesome builds of https://www.youtube.com/@projectcolonialviper2094 and https://www.youtube.com/@BuildsByBaz 🤘

VF-1 home cockpit with Fly Dangerous (version 2)

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 18:22:50 GMT

Programmed my Primary Flight Display over the last evenings. It's mostly designed to play Elite Dangerous or X4: Foundations so there is not much going on at the screen with Fly Dangerous. It was however a breeze to connect it to my SimPit because it's simply dumps ship telemetry to UDP port 11000 (default) and listening to that and integrating it into my Node-Red plumbing pipeline was like stealing candy from a baby. Kudos to @jukibom for granting access to this sort of game data easily.

Curious?

Read more on https://beko.famkos.net/tag/simpit/
Get the FOSS game on Steam for free: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1781750/Fly_Dangerous/
Follow the creator of Fly Dangerous on the Fediverse : https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@jukibom/

Short demo: First button test with DIY Macross SimPit

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 09:41:56 GMT

Crimped roughly 250 connectors and did lots of soldering. Still WIP but I rolled the first successful button tests!!1eleven

Ignore the wobbling, there are almost no supporting frames behind for easier access to the wires.

Originally noted at https://beko.famkos.net/2023/08/13/macross-simpit-first-button-test/

Short: DIY Macross inspired SimPit in the making for more immersive Space Pew Pew

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 18:33:59 GMT

BekoPharm's Space Pew Pew Cockpit "Primary Buffer Panel" inspired by a VF-1 Valkyrie cockpit ( 🤘 Macross 🤘 )

Simpit on a budget mainly used to play Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen and plenty of other Space Pew Pew.

This is work in progress.

It's mobile and can be completely removed because my battlestation is, unlike most gaming rigs, also my workstation and has to move a lot. It's also frequently occupied by my kids who also love clicky buttons and compete with me for stick time 😄

It features:

DIY headtracker
DIY button box with LCD display
DIY status indicators
Lots of plumbing with Node-Red
Arduino Mega with a custom Rust daemon for driving the joystick and LEDs
A custom "App" written in ReactJS to drive the "MFDs"
…and a Linux PC to power all the crazy 🤪

Primary Source (RSS-, JSON-, ActivityPub-, Webmentions-Enabled)

🌐 https://beko.famkos.net/category/simpit/

Federated Social Media:

🦣 https://social.tchncs.de/@bekopharm / @bekopharm@social.tchncs.de
🌐 https://beko.famkos.net/author/beko / @beko@beko.famkos.net
📼 https://tube.tchncs.de/a/bekopharm / @bekopharm@tube.tchncs.de
📹 https://live.famkos.net / @bekopharm@live.famkos.net
🐭 https://discuss.tchncs.de/u/bekopharm / @bekopharm@discuss.tchncs.de

Corporate Social Media:

📼 https://www.youtube.com/@BekoPharm
📹 https://twitch.tv/bekopharm
🎮 http://discord.famkos.net
☠️ https://hackaday.io/bekopharm
Thanks for watching …See you in the black o7

Short: Testing the VF-1 (Macross inspired) SimPit with a BSG DRADIS animation

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 19:12:48 GMT

🤓 Painted the button box, added more buttons and the LCD and set it to playing the BSG DRADIS animation[1] of the Pegasus just for show. The loop was created by David Gian-Cursio (https://www.gian-cursio.net/2016/07/battlestar-pegasus-dradis-screens/) for Diaspora: Shattered Armistice (a total conversion for the FreeSpace Open engine).

Next is wiring everything up (and when that is done finishing the frame for the display) and add decals.

Originally noted at https://beko.famkos.net/2023/08/05/15628701/

Short demo: Minecraft with a dedicated DIY controller

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 13:20:26 GMT

Trying weird shit. The little one wanted to know if she could make a DIY controller for Minecraft.

Yes she could.

(The panel on the side is a mock-up for my own project - it was just nearby for a quick test)

Demo No Man's Sky with Headtracker and HOTAS (on Linux PC)

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 20:23:06 GMT

Yes, this game does only support one gamepad. Single digit. This gamer doesn't care. Here have Headtracking and HOTAS in No Man's Sky. Vanilla. No mods. Thanks OpenTrack, AntiMicroX and MoldenGamepad ❤️

Mebbe I'll do a proper recording someday.

Wondering about that button box? Didn't use it in this demo but you can find plenty more examples on the channel and more details on my blog: https://beko.famkos.net/category/simpit/

Originally posted at https://beko.famkos.net/2023/06/21/demo-no-mans-sky-with-headtracker-and-hotas-on-linux-pc/

Short demo Primary Buffer Panel with old TV/VFD effect

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 11:59:01 GMT

This is a css animation effect adding "scanlines" like on some old tv to my SimPit. There's also a tiny octagon grid effect laid over everything. I'm going for a VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) effect here like old electronics used to have it. It's hard to see from the phone camera but it looks absolutely rad in reallife (imho 😄)

Low-Sci-Fi!

X: Beyond The Frontier in 2023 (on Linux PC)

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 20:23:09 GMT

Did some space pew pew like it’s 1999. This is X: Beyond The Frontier. One of the very first space games using a “so called” 3D card. Haha, those crazy peeps at Egosoft updated it in 2021 to make it compatible with Win11 which means it’s basically running on Linux PC out of the box as well. Mapped my joystick and dived into it once more. Doubt I’ll play it much but that was a nice excursion down memory lane.

I still have the original CD-Rom but when I noticed that it’s on a Steam sale for -,99ct I didn’t even bother to look for a CD reader. What a surprise that this runs at all.

I’ll never forget that glorious intro. “Here is how the ship navigates… and action. Bam. Here are 1000Cr, the most basic shield and no weapons. Go! Trade! ‘Maps’? ‘Earth’? What’s that? Oh and you have to pay those Cr back. With interest.”

Originally posted at https://beko.famkos.net/2023/04/17/x-beyond-the-frontier-in-2023-on-linux-pc/

Cardboard home cockpit with X4: Foundations (version 1)

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 20:44:23 GMT

I hacked a mod for X4: Foundations to get ship telemetry and targeting data to my "Primary Buffer Panel" via a socket. This is a demonstration of my simulated cockpit made from cardboard on a budget usually used to play Elite Dangerous now also used for X4: Foundations. This is work in progress.

In use:

A Linux PC
A DIY Headtracker
A DIY Joystick (My Primary Buffer Panel)
A X52 Pro HOTAS
An AMD RX6700XT
…a lot of plumbing in Node-Red xD

Originally posted at: https://beko.famkos.net/2023/04/04/running-x4-foundations-with-my-simpit/

So you still think you can't space pew pew on Linux PC? Think again. I do it all the time: https://beko.famkos.net/2021/10/16/space-pew-pew-on-linux-pc/

Another night in the X4 sandbox

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 19:54:45 GMT

This is heavily distilled early gameplay of X4: Foundations, where I started another play-through slowly expanding my little empire with trade, side missions, station building, border patrol (loosing the the "Misfit", my good old starter-ship), a surprise Xenon attack on a station where I was just for shopping and eventually good old fashioned piracy with unexpected guest appearance of some Kha'ak trying to crash the party.

01:11 Setting up trade routes aboard The Law Abiding Windrunner
02:20 Switching over to the Misfit
03:05 Witnessing the death of a trading station (while escorting my own ships to safety)
03:50 Patrolling for money (and looting stuff)
05:48 Repairing satellites (in EVA suit)
07:32 Docking at the impressive Teladi ring station for shopping
08:45 Surprise attack on the ring station by a Xenon K (and it's demise)
14:32 Extending my own station and buying more mining ships
11:26 Switching over to my frigate for border patrol (lots of pew pew)
14:30 Loosing the Misfit to Kha'ak (and avenging it)
16:07 Going for resupplies and preparing for piracy
16:39 Ambushing the prey, a fat water freighter looking for a new owner
17:59 Starting the boarding operation
18:40 Realizing I need more support to deal with surprises
18:58 Stumbling over mentioned surprises, Kha'ak trying to crash the party
19:51 Sending more boarders as the first group fails
20:22 Finally going home with the price, a "slightly banged up" L water freighter

So you still think you can't space pew pew on Linux PC? Think again. I do it all the time: https://beko.famkos.net/2021/10/16/space-pew-pew-on-linux-pc/

SpaceBourne2 multihead setup test demo for ultra widescreen

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 14:50:53 GMT

This is a TEST. I'm perfectly aware that this game does not support widescreen|multihead (yet?) …or Linux PC at all.

And yet here I am. Edited GameUserSettings.ini and Settings.ini in compatdata/1646850/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/SB2/Saved/Config/WindowsNoEditor to get here:

GameUserSettings.ini:ResolutionSizeX=5760 GameUserSettings.ini:ResolutionSizeY=1200 GameUserSettings.ini:LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeX=5760 GameUserSettings.ini:LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeY=1200 GameUserSettings.ini:DesiredScreenWidth=5760 GameUserSettings.ini:DesiredScreenHeight=1200 GameUserSettings.ini:LastUserConfirmedDesiredScreenWidth=5760 GameUserSettings.ini:LastUserConfirmedDesiredScreenHeight=1200 Settings.ini:r.setres=5760x1200w

The maximum that the game allowed me was 3840x1200. I did write protect the files in the end to make the config persistent. Most UI elements center so it's playable.

Dipping into SpaceBourne 2 - Rebuilding A Friend

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 10:43:22 GMT

Playing some SpaceBourne 2 (v1.0.4), an early access single player title, that reminds me a lot of StarCitizen while also giving me Wing Commander vibes and yeah, there seem to be even X-verse elements (but we don't come to that today). A sandbox game with lots of story and many numbers.

This is basically me fooling around within the first story arc of "Rebuilding a friend", that doubles as tutorial, while checking out the HOTAS input system and showcasing some of the core game elements.

As usual I'm playing on Linux PC. This is an out of the box experience of an un-optimized early access title on Steam with Fedora Linux 37 on AMD GPU. It just works™ (though recording at the same time is really pretty much the limit of my rig).

Gotta say, that is a lot of stuff to experience within the first minutes into this game and I wonder what more is to come.

Read about my first impression at https://beko.famkos.net/2023/02/22/spacebourne-2-on-linux-pc/

Quick test: Steamworld Dig 2 on Steam Link with hardware acceleration

Beko Motion (deprecated) — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 09:23:15 GMT

I didn't use my Steam Link for some time and was kinda surprised by the new UI in Big Picture Mode. And also very unhappy because it was a stutter feast with buffer artifacts all over the place. Once I could get a game running it was butter though. Turns out that Fedora Linux 37 removed the VAAPI profile VAProfileH264Main and once that was back in place I could use the hardware acceleration of the AMD GPU again.

The game is Steamworld Dig 2 that I got on GOG so it's a foreign game for Steam and Linux PC but who is counting in 2023 o0

Fix and originally posted at https://beko.famkos.net/2023/02/19/hardware-acceleration-for-steam-remote-play-on-fedora-37-with-amd-gpu/