Buying advice please - Next Level v3 Motion Platform

[MarkR]

I'm looking for some advice and thoughts of other owners or people with good knowledge of the product, please.

I always said I'd buy myself a motion simulator if I could afford one and had the room available. Well, that day may have arrived. I'm impressed by what I've seen of the Next Level v3 Motion Platform

This seems to meet all my criteria:

+ Limited space requirements, I don't have room for a huge sim rig but this seems compact enough to work.
+ Works with Oculus Rift VR, that fixed head position setting solution is impressive
+ Great support and regular updates from the developers
+ Available in the UK
+ Works with my current Thrustmaster wheel and accessories.
+ Sub £3k for the full setup, I'm not a pro racer I'm not looking for a practice simulator this is just for fun so the cost/fun balance has to be right.

So help me do the man maths! Is it worth it?

Is there another similar product I should also look at? It would need to be reasonably compact, work with VR, available in the UK without too much hassle and in the same £3-5K price range.

Is there anywhere I can try one or even better several of the systems in the UK?

 

[anton_Chez]

I used to always run the FF setting on the rim / wheel base at 100. There's no reason not to, unless the title absolutely doesn't support a FFB slider or gain.

I used to run around 50 - 70% in game for most titles. Force seemed to be fine for me. I just went DD to see what all the fuss was about and now I'm glad that I did.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I used to always run the FF setting on the rim / wheel base at 100. There's no reason not to, unless the title absolutely doesn't support a FFB slider or gain.

I used to run around 50 - 70% in game for most titles. Force seemed to be fine for me. I just went DD to see what all the fuss was about and now I'm glad that I did.

I've got the Dirt Rally settings at their default value of 100 which may be more like 50% since it is centered on a slider and can go higher. I'm sure I'm heading towards a DD setup, but a few things left to do.

Thanks for the offer for the SimVibe settings. I'm going to try to use the tactile settings in the NLR software first just to see how they work. My aluminum arrives today So I'll be working on that later on. I'm going to try to tap 4mm threads for the Transducers to bolt directly to the plate vs. through bolting. We'll see how that goes. It will look clean if it works well.

I ordered an adjustable RAM mount and a basic Derek Spears button box to handle a few things I want off wheel. I got an email saying the button box would ship sometime before March 1st, so it may be a little while.

I have just enough purple heart for the wood I want to use on the flight controls. I debated making the mount plates in aluminum, but I think I'll like the result better in purpleheart. I think it will look striking on the flight stick and pedals. For the throttle, I could just drill and counter bore the stock base plate, but that doesn't leave much room for error. So I think I'll make a new aluminum plate to make sure I have everything where I want it. I could put some side to side slots in the bottom in case I need to make any adjustments there, or just drill multiple holes.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Got my rear transducers mounted to 1/4" Aluminum. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the front transducer mounts complete and the flight throttle. That and a few finishing touches and I should be done with the hardware for a while and get to try this all out.

They are mounted pretty close to flush on the bottom of the seat base.

Made some progress with the flight controls. I'll need to seal and UV protect the African Purpleheart or it will turn brown in a few years. Fortunately it will sit in the closet when not in use and not see any direct sunlight, so hopefully it will keep its color for many years.

 

[RCHeliguy]

It will be interesting to see how my transducer mount for the pedals works out.

It's done at least for now! Time for some lunch and then try it out!

It's setup to fly right now and takes less than 5 minutes to switch to ready to drive. I have some T-Nuts secured by themselves as stops so I can very quickly put it back exactly the way I had it.

 

[RCHeliguy]

The pedal transducer mount is working quite well. I think I'll be happy with that. The seat transducer mount is worthless. The way it is set up basically rocks back and forth in a way that is all but unnoticeable. It was much better with just a single transducer mounted straight under it.

Since I've added 5/8" to the height and am only using 1/4" of aluminum vs. 3/4" plywood, I now have room to move the transducers underneath the plates and much closer to directly underneath.

The NLRv3 tactile support is there and works, but is pretty pitiful compared to SimVibe. However for some reason SimVibe is now crashing on me I guess I'll need to log in and update it and see if that helps. Otherwise I may play with some other things.

The flight controls work great in flight, however I did reduce pitch some because the compression on your legs is a more noticeable than it is when your legs aren't stretched out in front of you like they are when you are driving.

 

[RCHeliguy]

So far I'm impressed with what the NLRv3 is doing. In VR it really does add a lot to the immersion and I think I will be happy long term with this purchase. I'm not using the VR compensation and it seems to work fine in game. In Dirt Rally where there is a lot more motion than on a track it adds a LOT! In flight where the changes are more gradual it's not quite as pronounced. I'm going to try out some PC2 with it next to see how it feels on a track which is probably where most of you are spending the vast majority of your time.

Below is what I'm planning to do next. I guess this really belongs on the Tactile thread instead of here. I've probably gone a bit off topic.

This is as far back as I can go and still have access to the mount points. I had to push them closer together to avoid the NLRv3 internal structure. It's still not ideal, but I'm hoping it is close enough to the mount points to put some impact into the seat bottom and not just rock the base.

I think I need to also order longer bolts and use a lock nut on the other side. It appeared that a couple of 4mm bolts had already started to loosen up a bit.

Tomorrow I have a high end aluminum cutting blade arriving for my table saw, so I'm going to wait until it arrives before I do anything else. I should have ordered that at the beginning! Doh!

 

[RCHeliguy]

I tried out the moved transducers and it improved things, but still isn't quite there and there isn't enough room to move them directly underneath the seat which would be simple and ideal. I'm going to need a bracket to the sloped back of the metal bottom cushion support, so ALL the energy is transferred into the seat. A lot is still being wasted. The key now is to completely suppress any rocking movement.

I run the front transducers through 1 stereo volume knob and the rears through another so I was able to adjust the power up on the seat and down on the pedals.

I updated my SimVibe software to the latest release and it doesn't crash now, but it doesn't seem to sense when the software starts even though I'm launching it from SimVibe. I played more with the NLR seat mover software and got a better tactile response, but I still want to get SimVibe working.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'm planning to try a different Transducer that I can properly center under the seat. I should be able to bolt one Clark TST209 centered under the seat base.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Color me happy, this whole combination is starting to work pretty well !
I have the TST209 under the seat and I can actually feel it now .

I moved one of the Aura's for engine effects so I can feel the engine better now.

This is what it looks like now. I just need the button box to arrive and I'm going to put another TS209 in place of where the Aura is for a better RPM spread since the 209 can effectively go up to 800 Hz which is much higher than the Aura can go.

 

[RCHeliguy]

The NLRv3 is feeling pretty dialed in for Flying in DCS World now too. I flew a Huey, P51 and A10. I think the ergonomics are very good. I needed to move the flight pedals up and further out in front of me to get the geometry right. Submerging them just didn't cut it.

Here is an A/B comparison of flight and then driving.

Notice that the chair changes position in height and fore/aft position, the driving pedals slide out of the way. I remove the H shifter because it interferes with flight. Notice a number of T-nuts used as stop points so I can quickly switch between modes.

Support for the flight pedals with the driving pedals moved away.

The controls.

 

[anton_Chez]

May I suggest maybe 'starting' your own build log of this? That's what I did with mine and all the adjustments and ideas I had with my own rig. @RCHeliguy

 

[RCHeliguy]

Sounds good. Of course I'm basically done now, but maybe I'll put something together when I get it "done for now". Hopefully I didn't over do it too much in this thread.

 

[anton_Chez]

You could copy the posts across into a build log. People might find it more useful there. There is a fair bit of info that could benefit others in a similar situation. An indicative title would help to find it all, too

 

[RCHeliguy]

Done and in progress.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Back on topic!
I played Project Cars 2 all morning, Cart Racing, Road, GT, Rally, Formula 1

Motion makes such a huge difference. I've always been bored with track driving ( please don't shoot me ), but everything felt a lot more involving with motion. I had fun in every type of racing in PC2. I've watched a couple YouTube videos that suggest that after many updates PC2 has finally become a very good sim game. Now that they've announced PC3 of course

Next I need to fire up Assetto Corsa. I've been told it has excellent FFB.

With my current set of transducers, the NLR software tactile support is usable and adds to the experience.
I still need to revisit SimVibe and am willing to try other options.

I'm also going to revisit the NLRv3 settings thread to see if there are any patterns and compare other people's setting to what I've come up with after a short period of use.

In addition now that I have a rigid frame for my wheelbase I finally understand what people are talking about with the differences in FFB. PC2 felt alive compared to Dirt Rally. My CS 2.5 may not be DD, but I could feel a night and day difference.

 

[anton_Chez]

V2.5 is a good wheel. You will get the most out of the thing compared to any other consumer grade wheel, that's my opinion of course but having owned it I CAN say that it's a great wheel.

Check my settings thread. I have some post process tweaks in there as well that will surely enhance your experience with it. I look forward to the feedback.

Also, try Simhub for tactile. Inside that program there is a dedicated tactile program called Shake It. I use that for tactile and find it MUCH better and user friendly compared to Simvibe. Toward the end of paying attention to my tactile setup (I don't really care that much anymore now with SFX100) Simvibe was easily at the bottom of the list for me relating to the programs I liked to use. It's also a full priced, 100 dollar or so software. Shake It is free.

 

[Flag Ghost]

Great rig @RCHeliguy ! So many common elements to my rig.. crazy (ie.. pop down wheels). Nice work.

 

[RCHeliguy]

V2.5 is a good wheel. You will get the most out of the thing compared to any other consumer grade wheel, that's my opinion of course but having owned it I CAN say that it's a great wheel.

Check my settings thread. I have some post process tweaks in there as well that will surely enhance your experience with it. I look forward to the feedback.

Also, try Simhub for tactile. Inside that program there is a dedicated tactile program called Shake It. I use that for tactile and find it MUCH better and user friendly compared to Simvibe. Toward the end of paying attention to my tactile setup (I don't really care that much anymore now with SFX100) Simvibe was easily at the bottom of the list for me relating to the programs I liked to use. It's also a full priced, 100 dollar or so software. Shake It is free.

I appreciate your efforts here. I have work to do to get this working for me. Simhub/Shaker appears to have remapped the port used by Dirt Rally in it's ini file and now the NLRv3 doesn't move in that game. I'll look to see what port I had setup for SimVibe and change it back and then see if I can change Shaker to use the port configured. So far I'd say Shaker is different but not more intuitive than SimVibe. I still haven't learned how all the settings work, so it's not a fair comparison yet. "Currently" it feels no better than the out of the box settings with the NLR software and not as good as I have gotten out of SimVibe in the past.

There are now 6 linearity curves that can be set in the NLR software. I'm "assuming" I should try the curves that you set for the first two curves for all of them? There are also a few additional sliders on the motion settings. I did try Project Cars 2 with the first two curves set and the motion sliders set how you had them but I think I need to assign curves to the other curves before I can comment.

Sometimes you have to break a few eggs before you get things right. I wasn't expecting instant nirvana and I realize this is a process. I'll spend more time with this when I get a chance.

 

[anton_Chez]

Not sure what you mean by the curves. If you mean post processing graphs (curves, then line is curved so I gather that's it?) then they are settings for the platform itself, not specific to any effect in the motion tab. The post process tab controls the platform attitude itself at a base level. The sliders in the other tab just control how much of the given effect you feel. The Overall slider further controls all the sliders beneath it in a linear fashion. So if you like more Surge, but feel the platform is just a little too rough for your liking, you can still increase Surge a little more than the rest of the sliders, to emphasise it, then lower the Overall slider for a slightly less lively ride. You maintain the Surge effect being a little more prominent in relation to the other effects, but can easily control the overall output of the platform with Overall slider.

The post process tab is useful for limiting the range of motion of the platform (more or less thrown, default values will use the entire throw the platform is capable of), for increasing the intensity of smaller telemetry values, or even to introduce a clipping feature or sorts where larger movements, perhaps when going off track, are cut out from sending telemetry for output.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I meant the post processing tab when I said curves. They look similar to the exponential curves I've programmed into my RC transmitter.

Anyway I'll hit it again when I have time to play for a while. First I want to get Dirt Rally motion working again. Then I'll work on the motion. Then I'll play with the Tactile.