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Guest cbuchner1

Nintendo Wii Remote + Bluetooth Driver + FSX interface = TrackIR replacement?

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Guest cbuchner1

Hi,having recently bought a Nintendo Wii, I am going to mess with some open source drivers that are out there to build a cheap TrackIR replacement. Probably not the same quality or speed, but homebrew sure is fun.How does it work?1) Place the Wii's sensor bar on top of the Monitor or build your own array of Infrared LEDs.2) Strap a Wiimote to your head (Looks silly for sure wearing a brick on your head)3) Interface with the device using some existing libraries4) Triangulate the head position - ideally with 6 axes using both the acceleration and IR sensors.5) Interface with FSX.6) Fun!? - or Profit ;)I'll let you know how this works out. Hopefully somewhat better/faster than Tileproxy.Christian

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that's crazyhow do you like the Wii? My wife and I want to get one to mess around with, but I'd rather get an N64 and play MarioKart hehe


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Guest cbuchner1

Wii Sports is great fun, especially Tennis and Boxing.You can download N64 games via the "Virtual Console" to your Wii. To play, this requires the Classic Controllers which attach to the Wiimote (20$ a piece). N64 games are $10 a piece for download - they are locked to your console and non-transferrable because of some DRM scheme.The Wii unfortunately won't play DVDs. Doh. But it serves OK as a web browser - even plays Youtube and Flash videos on the TV.And if the Wiimotes get a second life as headtrackers for FSX the Wii is even more useful.

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Guest cbuchner1

Partial success already!I can now control an aircraft by rotating the Wiimote controller.I quickly hacked a Joystick driver to translate the accelerationsensor measurement into X and Y axis movements of a virtual joystick.I just tried it over Friday Harbour, controlling the gliderwith the Wiimote.Fortunately someone else had already programmed a virtual joystickdriver that can be fed input data from any user application.So I just had to write a user application to grab the datafrom the Wiimote - this spared me from having to write a Kernelmode joystick driver.Tomorrow I am going to map the extra buttons and the directionalarrows to look around.Everything was written in C# by the way.

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Guest cbuchner1

A short 3 minute video of Wiimote controlling FSX is up in my Youtube account since a few minutes:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3hk2H-PhAoHmm, I should have shaved this morning. And boy did the colors of the TV get washed out in the clip.

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Very cool Christian! Keep us up to date on your progress. I'd like to try this out sometime. But I think my wife will really think I'm a nut if I tie a wiimote to my head :)Don

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Guest cbuchner1

So I've done it! The ultimate nerd-dom: I strapped the Wiimote to my head (to the back of my head to be precise, using a headband)I attached the small Nunchuk secondary controller to the Wii controller. The Nunchuk's orientation in space provided roll and pitch whereas the small analog on the Nunckuk provides rudder and throttle.My head movement translates to camera movement up/down and left right. However due to limitations with the G sensors in the controller I have to tilt my head sideways in order to look left and right (Because gravity works downwards, the accelerations sensors can not measure rotation along this axis)So I am not quite there yet - as you see, but making progress ;-)The fact that the Nunchuk is attached to my head takes away voids all the nice buttons on this controller - so it's probably better to hold it in the other hand while flying.It's kind of cool actually, if you don't have to see yourself wearing a brick of plastic on your head. My wife found it goofy.Christian

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