SimXperience Motion Sim Series Q+A Thread

[Brian Clancy]

This is the place for all your comments and questions on this great series:wink:

 

[Vito Lombardi]

Good to hear from you Berney....Loving the sim. Whats this, working on five projects. Any bolt on's in these 5 projects.

 

[Berney Villers Jr]

SimXperience Projects

Hi Vito,

I'm glad to hear that your still pleased with your sim.

I can mention two of the upcoming bolt-ons which are an on-structure triple screen mount and full floorboard options. These are prerequisites for some of additonal bolt-ons that will come a bit further down the road.

I've been focusing primarily on new software features needed to support the next series of motion based enhancements and upcoming products.

 

[tommyjen]

Hi all,

First of all, i am amazed with the set up and videos done by members here. I am from Singapore and new in sim racing. Very much would like to build a rig here from Berney's stage iv (saw your web and forum too). However, just have some questions hopefully can be answered here.

1. Software or games support available - I am not good at computers too. Do i need to do major configurations on the PC or just plug and play as describe in the simX forum? What are the games supported? Have seen rfactor, iRacing, how about commercial games like F1 2010, Dirt series, Need for Speed series?

2. Set up of the rig - Simple with instructions? What is the actual size of set up (as you know, houses/flats in Singaproe not big) with a 3 pc monitors set up and stage iv?

3. Maintenance of actuators/mechanical parts - Any specific maintenance required? Cos any moving parts will be subjected to wear and tear, i weighed about 110kg (242 LB)..

4. Lastly, 5K its quite a fair amount for a hobby, I tried to search around for DIY projects, but can't seem to find any great members that can share their plans and dimensions. Actually saw Ledfoot initial DIY project, Rafael's rig, Nisa's 6DOF rig.. very impressed. Does anyone have plans/dimension so that i can build a DIY rig using SimX actuators and controls? These will bring down the cost alot i assumed.

Cheers ppl... great forum too!

 

[Vito Lombardi]

Hi tommyjen,

I will help to answer and If I'm wrong in some cases I wouldn't be to far out plus I'm sure someone will put me right.

1) Not an expert of the Technical side of the sim but a happy owner/operator of a stage IV. No Major config's required with your PC, just suitable to take the loads of the games you play. However, you pc as I understand it if it struggles keeping a solid fps it also struggles feeding constant and strong data flow to the sim software...the sim only requires a usb from your pc and a power outlet. The sim commander software has no problem with win7 64bit.

As I have seen, all the games you mentioned above will operate with the a stage IV simulator.

2) Setting up the rig..as in building it, I found it as easy as putting a piece of Ikea furniture together and found it quite rewarding and totally amazed with the quality. The sheer brilliance and depth of it looks quite complex to others but in reality the simple procedure in building it even yourself will look back in awe saying..I put that together. This unit looks that impresive it's returning me many hours of hiccup free use not to mention a conversational piece when friends come over.

My unit has 3 x 46" tv's, allowing this, (similar to Berney's ) with adequate room to move around I have allowed 5.5 sq meters. The stage IV unit itself is close to 2300cm length x 1400 cm width 3.7 sq meters. Can't do much about the length, but with smaller monitors you can keep in range of that 1400cm width.

3) Maintenance...well none yet from me, other than every so often just a general check in case anything may have come loose. then again you'll see as you build it and how well those bolts go together, like me you'll get a feel that very little maintenace is required...oh but of course...if you want it to look as shiny as it arrived then dusting and polishing is required.

4) Cost's, well only you can convince you. I've got 2 other hobbys and they cost more than my sim. Some hobbys have ongoing costs forever and a day. Also I can only speak on ownership of a Stage IV not a DIY, I saw it as a once only purchase and by the time I need an upgrade it would average out as a very cheap hobby...around 10-15 bucks a week.

Having said that don't discount the fact that simexperience has many options so that you can build on..you can start basic and move up...simple and cost effective.

Also, Whats the Singapore dollar v American at the moment. Now is a good time if an Australian wants to own one.

Cheers
Vito
http://www.youtube.com/user/saisa58?feature=mhum

 

[George Pilkington]

I agree with everything Vito says above. My Stage IV is superb!
easy to build, easy to run.
Just bite the bullet and buy one, you will NEVER regret it.
Its a once only purchase that will keep you happy sim racing for the rest of your sim race career, no problem.
Then when your too old to race (... if that ever happens) then you can sell it for a good price I bet!
GET ONE!

Vito, what GFX card do you have to run 3 46" tvs please?

Thanks,
George
WIth the $ to £ rate going up all the time now is a good time to buy if your in the UK! : )

 

[anasmak11]

Cant wait to see the upcoming bolt ons. Regarding the on-structure triple screen mount, from the videos, you can see the screens wobbling pretty hard specially when the rear moves. Doesn't that worry you abit?

 

[Vito Lombardi]

Cant wait to see the upcoming bolt ons. Regarding the on-structure triple screen mount, from the videos, you can see the screens wobbling pretty hard specially when the rear moves. Doesn't that worry you abit?

Not really, 2 things to consider, Faith in Berney's development, and those monitors are Led's, waffer thin and very light...I don't believe it will be a threat to the Tv's.

 

[Vito Lombardi]

Vito, what GFX card do you have to run 3 46" tvs please?

Thanks George,

GPU: CrossFireX Dual 1GB, ATI Radeon HD 5870 (for future proof+other games)
Sharp Aqous 3x46" HD Tv's in Eyefinity (6048x1080p)

However, you'll find one 5870 is adequate

Vito

 

[Jim Cole]

If you have the money to purchase that rig, I would spend the little extra to be certain that you are not going to have to worry about graphics. Get at the least a pair of 5870's. Personally, I would go for the 6XXX series cards to be a bit more future proof.

 

[George Pilkington]

Thanks Guys I am favoring the ati 6950 at this time. Would that be a good one ?
Thanks
George

 

[Brian Clancy]

Thanks Guys I am favoring the ati 6950 at this time. Would that be a good one ?
Thanks
George

Hey George

Im running a 6970 (single atm, crossfire soon) and its running 3 screens in eyefinity. I get 120+ min FPS with settings maxed in iRacing, stupid FPS in rF etc and a solid 50+ in F1 2010.

Im pretty sure 2x 6950 will ROCK

 

[George Pilkington]

Ok Guys, 42" SAMSUNGS in 1080p. WHats the GFX cards I need for that then dudes?
George

 

[Jim Cole]

With just a single monitor you should be fine with anything in the ATI HD 5XXX or better range. nVidia I would imagine would be the 250 or better single card. Now if you are planning on mounting triple monitors, then perhaps going with crossfire or SLI would be good with the 5XXX cards or the nVidia 250's or if you go with the 69XX cards you might be ok with a single card.

 

[George Pilkington]

Jim, thanks for your advice there Sir.
I am currently running 3 24" monitors of one xfx 5850.
So for this one 6950 or 6970 should do the trick then?
I was thinking i5 over clocked to 4.6, 8 gig ram, water cooled etc.
OK?
Thanks guys
George

 

[Jim Cole]

That sounds like it should do the trick, though there is a possibility that you might have to avoid using FSAA and possibly turning off shadows in order to make it work smoothly in some games. The race series and rFactor should be fine though.

 

[Brian Clancy]

That sounds like it should do the trick, though there is a possibility that you might have to avoid using FSAA and possibly turning off shadows in order to make it work smoothly in some games. The race series and rFactor should be fine though.

I'm running a 6970, with an o/clocked quad core @ 3.2 Ghz / 4 gig Dominator Ram etc. I get great frame rates even on F1 2010 with EVERYTHING maxxed out on 3 monitors And tbh, a cpu speed boost would give more. the size of the monitors is pretty irrelevant, tho I do run 3x 4:3 as I hate it to be too wide plus my card pushes less pixels this way. Im gonna go for a beter CPU soon and 2x 6970 in crossfire, but tbh its overkill. A single 6950 might be a tad behind, but a 6970 will do all you want and some I was really shocked how good this card was

 

[George Pilkington]

Excellent, thanks guys the system is ordered.
When its up and running then I' give you all an invite... : )
Cheers
George

 

[Neil Tasker]

have to agree the ati 6970 looks an awsome card currently i,m running x2 5770s and tbh feel like they just aint doing as good a job as they could be going to order me up a pair of 6970s too as brain said probly overkill but see my pc ok for awhile to come i guess,

 

[anasmak11]

Hi, anyone know if Berney is around?
I want to order the stage 4 now, and I cant seem to get a hold of him.

Thanx

 

[George Pilkington]

Hi, anyone know if Berney is around?
I want to order the stage 4 now, and I cant seem to get a hold of him.

Thanx

hye There, yes Berney is around for sure. Spoke to him just last week.
Fire him an email from the site and you will be good to go.
: )
Regards
George.