Heart of Gold Cockpit [Image warning]

Z

Zaphod<[AWC]>

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Nov 8, 2004
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For years I had always wanted to own my own cockpit for flight simulators and driving games. Most of the ones I found on line were almost too specific for one or the other. A couple of years back we had a center that allowed you to play Mechwarrior and a racing game called Red Planet. I really liked the pods they had because they were a bit more flexible and allowed you to completely immerse yourself by closing the cockpit door.

So about this time last year I began building a pod that was inspired by their setup. I had no plans and the center closed up so I had to work from memory. Thus the Heart of Gold Mk.1 was born.

The image links that were originally here are dead. Pictures can now be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/zaphodawc/Cockpit

As much as it pains me, the Heart of Gold is on the auction block.
 
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dude, you sir are fuking [H]

btw... do you live near dallas? because i remember that place.. i used to be a huge btech player and loved to have parties there.. man virtual world kicked ass
 
Met-AL said:
I second that. That is really cool.
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i third that

that is one heck of a piece of work!

enjoy your 36 hour long gaming sessions in that beast!

good work, keep it up!


what are the specs of the computer
 
I third that :D. By some sheer coincidence (governed by telephone numbers) I am re-reading the Hitch Hikers guide at this present time. ;)

EDIT: Oh yeh, fkn 1337!, how much that cost ya?
 
Computer is a AMD Barton 2500 1Gig of ram ATI 9800 128mb 160gb sata drive.

About $200 in wood and I had everything else lying around. To buy new would probably run me about $2500.
 
I tip my NewEgg.com baseball cap to you, sir. That rig is friggin' cool.

(And if I built it, my wife and family would think I was insane...but I STILL think it's cool :D )
 
Well, I don't have a mountain dew hat, but the silver thing at the back on the right armrest is a Peltier can cooler.

The iPaq is not really hacked. I am just using it as a display to show what the buttons do. I thought about LCDs or something but I had that old PDA just lying about so it got used. I wrote a simple embeddedVB program that receives commands on the serial port then displays them. Simple language I cooked up to draw boxes, circles, and text in color.

Honestly I don't understand why PDA's arent used more for displays. Models like this on can be had cheap on ebay and programming them is pretty simple. Plus you get color. If I wanted to get really fancy I could have screen touches send out serial inputs to something like Girder to send keystrokes.

The thing that is hacked is the old Nostromo N50 from Belkin. I had one when the N52 came out. Their programming software is great. You can store profiles for different apps and when they are launched the right profile comes up. I have a batch file setup for launching each game that sends the MFD update then launches the game.

My wife thought I was nuts too until she saw it come together.
 
OMG! Dude, much props! [H] All teh way! I want one soooo bad. I'd probably lock myself in there for days though... I have no life... :(
 
now i know that, sooner or later, i will indeed build the custom cockpit sim for a catapult mech... hehe that would be a killer, wouldn't it... tho the custom shaped screens would absolutely kill anything resembling a budget... wonder how flight schools do it?
 
I hope you remembered to make sure it would fit thru the doors so incase you move you can take it with you. :cool:
 
Zaphod<[AWC]> said:
A couple of years back we had a center that allowed you to play Mechwarrior and a racing game called Red Planet. I really liked the pods they had because they were a bit more flexible and allowed you to completely immerse yourself by closing the cockpit door.
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The game was actually called "Battletech" {not Mechwarrior} and if you live anywhere close to a "Dave&Buster's" , they bought Battletech, and might actually have the game running in thier resturants.

Great job.
 
Pagan Wizard said:
The game was actually called "Battletech" {not Mechwarrior} and if you live anywhere close to a "Dave&Buster's" , they bought Battletech, and might actually have the game running in thier resturants.

Great job.
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it's mechwarrior, my friend. i have mechwarrior 4:mercenaries.
 
install a hydralics system.. then you will officialy be [H]ARD.. with capital letters :)

the theme itself is awesome...

just watch out for the triple breasted whore of eroticon 6.. ;)
 
Diablo2K said:
I hope you remembered to make sure it would fit thru the doors so incase you move you can take it with you. :cool:
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It's held together with 20 bolts. Remove them and it breaks down into flat panels. I had to move it up from the garage where it was built into my office.
 
Pagan Wizard said:
The game was actually called "Battletech" {not Mechwarrior} and if you live anywhere close to a "Dave&Buster's" , they bought Battletech, and might actually have the game running in thier resturants.

Great job.
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umm is the D&B still off of 75? or did they move? cuz i wanted to cry when virtual world closed.... man we used to get friends together and create a "party" so we could go after hours and get discounts.
 
hey.. just don't spend too much time in there.. it's not good for your mental health.. make sure you get some freash air.. and get out lol.. don't get hooked to that thing like everquest... :eek:
 
what's it like there? never been...

and i don't suppose there is one on highway 64...
 
I remember that place. It was called Virtual World or something. My dad and I went there for Father's Day once. It was fun as crap.

Awesome idea man!
 
I saw a D&B when I was on a video shoot in Atlanta, but didn't get to go in. Instead, got to hear my buddy gloat about how fun it is :mad:
 
That is really kickass, i see you are just using headphones in it, no plans for surround sound in there? also where did you get the Peltier can cooler from. again Kickass setup, been wanting to do something like this too, but never had the time or the space.
 
conundrum said:
That is really kickass, i see you are just using headphones in it, no plans for surround sound in there? also where did you get the Peltier can cooler from. again Kickass setup, been wanting to do something like this too, but never had the time or the space.
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I forgot to mention the 4 point surround sound setup. The subwoofer is behind the seat. No good place for a center channel speaker.

A friend gave me the can cooler for a birthday gift. I think he got it from Sharper image.
 
Daaaayyyyummm..... my [H]at's off to you! :cool:

Have you considered going commercial with this? I'd think there'd be a market for this. A high end one for sure but a market nevertheless.....
 
lamarth said:
Daaaayyyyummm..... my [H]at's off to you! :cool:

Have you considered going commercial with this? I'd think there'd be a market for this. A high end one for sure but a market nevertheless.....
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The thought has crossed my mind. They would be pricy though because of the time involved. I have also considered doing blueprint sales.
 
i'd buy the blueprints if they were cheap...
and modify it for my catapult cockpit design! :D
 
starhawk said:
it's mechwarrior, my friend. i have mechwarrior 4:mercenaries.
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Ah, but Mechwarrior is based off of the Battletech universe, which began as a board-based RPG/strategy game. Over a decade ago, you could go to Chicago and they actually had a center where you could play Battletech electronically in simulators. Dunno if it's still there, I never got to go but my Chicago friends in college told me all about it.
 
dag...

i knew that it's battletech, i thought about expanding the bookshelves in my bedroom b/c of that book series.

now if only i could actually hit anything that i shot at...
 
That thing would be like the ultimate [H]ardcore if you had some flat panel displays in place of the CRTs.
 
Lothar the Lotharian said:
I saw a D&B when I was on a video shoot in Atlanta, but didn't get to go in. Instead, got to hear my buddy gloat about how fun it is :mad:
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its pretty cool, though expensive..
 
true...

idea for my catapult mod: use regular (rectangular) lcd's but obscure the edges to make them look like cockpit windows? would that work?

windows need to be in the general format of the space shuttle... or a boeing 747 (basically the same if you look at them).
 
This has inspired me... In college i will make myself a gaming hideout.. I will turn one of teh closets into a huge compartment where ill play games, it will ahve an ac system, built in drink dispenser, and would be sound proof... it will be a little paradise for gaming... all i would need would be some blue uv lights... Awsome!! Great idead, THX FOR TEH INSPIRATION :D


Edit: Why didnt u have a built in recliner? Wtf!! And surround sound system? Maybe turn add some otehr gadgets im trying to think of..
 
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