hello everyone!
hey isamu, my buddy!! you are everywhere man!!
im new on this forum, but have visited before.. SORRY, I DO NOT SPEAK ANY FRENCH!.. i hope some of you can speak english to me!
i have done the happ/logitech/servo amplifer modificaion- to a sega drving cabinet!
i wanted to ask some questions about my happ wheel and amplifier settings. but before i do, let me introduce my happ wheel!!
(this is a copy of a post by me, i have put on a few forums)..
hey folks,
i wanted to show you my mame and model2 driver which is also GT5 ready (PS3 compatible) SEGA driving cabinet! ..
i got this cab lovely minty fresh restored Initial D cab from an arcade forum a couple of months back (arcadeotaku)...
it was originally one half of a SEGA Touring Car, which was beautifully restored/converted from the bare metal up, to a single Initial D. however, when i took ownership of the machine it was an unfinished project, it was almost complete and was running, it had all the naomi 2 hardware and game but with a few cables missing making some components inoperable. Lovely condition, majority of the parts used in the conversion were new old stock or near mint.
Upon learning the news that the SEGA model2 emulator now fully supports force feedback (and GT5 is coming!), i bought the machine with the intention of converting it to a multi platform driving cabinet. I collected the machine in 20 odd bits, in 2 vehicles, took it home and re-assembled in position at home. it didn't take long to sell all the internal hardware on an auction site.. and luckily, i managed to recoup more than the initial cost of the machine by selling the parts i didn't need.
next i had to decide which steering wheel i was going to use. the steering wheel force feedback motors in sega cabinets cannot be interfaced with a pc without some serious wizardry (they have a clutch), however, HAPP controls do a belt driven active FFB steering wheel with a simple DC motor, as used in many arcade driving machines, this wheel can be interfaced with a pc, by hacking it onto the pcb of a cheapo logitech ffb steering wheel.
the other option would to use an expensive logitech G25 or fanatec porsche steering wheel, but i decided that the best of the best ffb steering wheels are found in arcade machines- built to take some serious abuse and last for years. no home/end user flimsy steering wheel ive ever bought has been able to match the quality of the experience an arcade wheel provides..
i have used the belt driven HAPP controls active ffb steering wheel..
http://www.happcontrols.com/driving/50010200.htmI hunted the web for an old atari or namco cabinet with a HAPP ffb wheel, i got the one i used from a crusin' world cab.
to make this work, i used a logitech driving force EX ffb steering wheel for ps2 ps3. basically, theory is to connect the pot on the logitech wheel to the happ wheel, connect the pots from the logitech pedals to the pedals on the arcade cab, hook the wires going to the logitech motor to the HAPP motor...
donor logitech wheel..
sounds easy, but not so simple.. the pots are different sizes for a start, (you need 2x 50k pots for the pedals and a 100k pot for the wheel), and the power going to the tiny ffb motor in the logitech wheel is insufficient to power the large HAPP motor. Pots were easy to sort (maplins, RS componets). to boost the power output from the logitech pcb to the HAPP motor, ive used a servo amplifier for brushless motors, and a 24v dc psu to power the amp.
the servo amp i used..
for the buttons, gear shift and dpad, i hacked the pads of the logitech wheel and installed them into the dashboard from a SEGA touring car (which came spare with the cabinet) along with 4 VR (view change) buttons from daytona. mapped as follows-
start-start,
select-credit/insert coin,
4 action buttons- 4 VR buttons
d-pad- 4 way shifter
L+R- sequential shifter buttons mounted on the wheel
every button taken care of for both pc and console use. thankfully, after many weeks of hard work.. IT WORKS!
work in progress pics..
before.. (note the tiny ffb motor lol!)
after.. (note the HUGE ffb motor and amplifier!)
closer look..
the HAPP wheel and amp..
how its wired..
as the HAPP wheel assembly was never meant to fit in a SEGA dashboard, i had to make a mount from MDF board that i could affix to both the mounts on the rear of the dashboard and the mounts on the HAPP.. you can see here..
the pad hacks for the buttons.. very tricky work!
started off like this when removed from the logitech..
each button got a wire soldered on and hot glued fast in position..
testing the buttons on the pc using the logitech software..
hooked them all up to the buttons on the dashboard..
originally a sequential shifter in the dashboard, i drilled it out for a 4 speed, wired up a happ 4 speed shifter and fitted a minty fresh NOS sega shifter cover...
the sequential shifter buttons will be installed in the steering wheel using small red fire buttons, all bases covered- hi/lo shifer, sequential shift, 4 way shift... good for almost any driving game. pedal post and sound was wired up using a 5.1 pc sound system hacked onto the original sega speakers in the seat, the sub in the seat base, the ones either side of the monitor i installed myself as this cabinet only had speakers in the seat- needless to say, it sounds great. the pc was simple enough to set up, ive used the same monitor that was in the cabinet.
a video of the 1st test of the components.. all working, ffb strength is very powerful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24H1q1SCSdA and a video it it working, mrs sharkfactor playing daytona..!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eBnwNK5vfMim very impressed with the ffb, its emulated very well in daytona, sega rally and sega touring car.. very powerful, ive had to turn it down to 50% in the settings to get it to feel right. very smooth, elastic like feedback in each game, and it sure tears the wheel from your hand if you bump a wall or another car. real arcade quality force feedback.. cant wait to get the ps3 hooked up with some GT5, outrun, gti club, sega rally3 and every other racer with ffb ive been missing out on playing properly!
better videos to follow..!
cheers:)
a quick update on how she stands today..
..shown playing outrun online arcade (outrun2SP) on ps3's PSN..
UPDATE: PLAYING gt5!!
GT5!!
11mins long, best viewed 480p. apologies in advance for the poor direction, editing and presentation! :lol:
cheers
..........................
now that you are aquainted with my happ wheel and have seen it working, maybe you can answer my question!
can you tell me if it "calibrates" properly? you see me in the video of gt5, turning the wheel full lock left/right a couple of times when i load up gt5 (or any game). upon start up, all the wheel does is twitch left to right a few degrees.. but before the modification, the logitech driving forceEX would turn full lock left to right.
why does the happ wheel just twitch? are my amplifier settings wrong?
the force feedback is very strong and very powerful, i have all the pots on the amplifer turned up as high as they will go before the wheel/motor starts banging or knocking.. (if i turn them any higher, the wheel bangs/knocks whenyou turn it)
thankyou for reading and taking time to answer my questions!
shark!
