This video is how I gutted my already modified old Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS joystick of my ViperPit and made it work again with the help of an Arduino Pro Micro. This flight stick (and also the other peripherals) do belong in a museum but where’s the fun in that? I modified it and now it’s a generic USB joystick that works on any recent system. I focus mostly on the 5×5 button matrix since this is the hardest part to understand. In the end are a few minutes of playing X4 Foundations with it to give it a good test run. Now it just needs some oil for the creaking 😅
So, #x4foundations Timelines released today. Bagged it, of course. Don’t even really know what’s coming but the X series are something I enjoy since X: Beyond The Frontier in 1999. Kinda rad that a company that old managed to stay in business and true to their very own franchise.
Oh and also native for #Linux PC, my daily (and only) system for #gaming.
I was reminded by the OnThisDay feature that I used many X4 screenshots and recordings as background for presentations and video conferences during the self isolation times of the first Covid waves. The media was recorded in-game before, of course.
I also wish I’d had recorded that IndieWeb presentation alas I did not ☹
I held an online presentation and talk for 2h about #LinuxGaming some weeks ago **in German**. The presentation itself (20m) went live today with **English subtitles** on the channel of @Sciencekeeper@troet.cafe (Stellanebula project lead). I mention #X4Foundations as example for native games but the main focus is, due to the audience: a huge German Elite Dangerous wing, focused on #EliteDangerous (and some #StarCitizen for good measure). I’m going to release the talk that happened after this eventually but I have to cut this first, which is _a lot_ of work, so no promises yet. Mebbe this is of interest for someone else too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmaj-MyRkPs.
This presentation was made for absolute beginners as intro into the topic #GamingOnLinux.
Toyed with my Steam Link (I still have this as hardware) at the 55″ TV in the living room today. Never tried this before with X4, because I bought X4 on GoG so it’s a “foreign game” for Steam.
It just worked though. Think that’s a little bit too much for gaming (neck hurts already xD) but it was a nice experiment. Maybe with an elevated seat 🤔 …oh and I even tried it via the Steam Link App on my mobile phone – briefly xD
Also tried House Of The Dying Sun this way (little gem, IMHO, even if very short).
I hacked a mod for X4: Foundations to get ship telemetry and targeting data to my “Primary Buffer Panel” via a socket. This is a demonstration of my simulated cockpit made from cardboard on a budget usually used to play Elite Dangerous now also used for X4: Foundations. This is work in progress.
My DIY cockpit for X4: Foundations (on Linux PC)
In use:
A Linux PC
A DIY Headtracker
A DIY Joystick (My Primary Buffer Panel)
A X52 Pro HOTAS
An AMD RX6700XT
…a lot of plumbing in Node-Red xD
This is loosely based on the Python Pipe Server mod for X4 that is sadly Windows only using Named Pipes. I fixed that for Linux PC by side-loading the library LuaSocket and starting a socket server directly in X4. That’s right, the Python Server is simply not needed now and companion tools may directly connect to the socket. It’s a nice bonus that LuaSocket also allows a UDP or TCP server depending on how it is started. That was some piece of work though and I’m still wrapping things up to publish my code changes. I’m also still looking for testers so if you’re interested get in touch!
Modding my X4: Foundations into using the same data format as Elite Dangerous does so I can run my SimPit without changes. Things are coming together nicely 😀
Here are the humble beginnings[1] of a working example to read the ship status of #x4foundations in a format very similar to the Status File of #EliteDangerous
Both games are quite similar and by using a “well established” format it should be possible to use this with existing companion apps – like my own #SimPit
It uses the “Named Pipe API” of “sn_mod_support_apis” – on #Linux PC 😁 This was not supported by this MOD so far but I made it work.
Well, at least on my machine 🤓
And yes, the pipe server works with some minor adjustments for other _existing_ apps as well. Here is a demo of #X4ExternalApp with a data feed directly from X4: Foundations – it does not use the #X4PythonPipeServer though, since that is not really needed, so I had to make some small adjustments in it’s connection routine but that was like 2 lines of code 🤷
This is heavily distilled early gameplay of X4: Foundations, where I started another play-through slowly expanding my little empire with trade, side missions, station building, border patrol (loosing the the “Misfit”, my good old starter-ship), a surprise Xenon attack on a station where I was just for shopping and eventually good old fashioned piracy with unexpected guest appearance of some Kha’ak trying to crash the party.
01:11 Setting up trade routes aboard The Law Abiding Windrunner 02:20 Switching over to the Misfit 03:05 Witnessing the death of a trading station (while escorting my own ships to safety) 03:50 Patrolling for money (and looting stuff) 05:48 Repairing satellites (in EVA suit) 07:32 Docking at the impressive Teladi ring station for shopping 08:45 Surprise attack on the ring station by a Xenon K (and it’s demise) 14:32 Extending my own station and buying more mining ships 11:26 Switching over to my frigate for border patrol (lots of pew pew) 14:30 Loosing the Misfit to Kha’ak (and avenging it) 16:07 Going for resupplies and preparing for piracy 16:39 Ambushing the prey, a fat water freighter looking for a new owner 17:59 Starting the boarding operation 18:40 Realizing I need more support to deal with surprises 18:58 Stumbling over mentioned surprises, Kha’ak trying to crash the party 19:51 Sending more boarders as the first group fails 20:22 Finally going home with the price, a “slightly banged up” L water freighter
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