Derek Speare Designs - Button Boxes - Shifters - Great Gear

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My plans are installing the short throw shifter on my table with a custom clamp, since I don't use a cockpit. I have the designs, but I guess I'll still have to wait at least one month before it arrives :(

dsd-shifter-custom-install-2.jpg
 
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nipzon
@derekspeare Do you have any new updates to the shifter range for 2016? I am looking at buying a your 2015 Pro series shifter.
Click to expand...

The old one will remain unchanged. There may be a 2017 Pro Sequential, but I am not decided. Maybe yes, maybe no is the best I can say, but if or whatever it will or will not be, nothing would come for some time.
 
My small DSD button box now properly mounted:
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And a DSD sli mount for a Leo Bodnar Sli-Pro:
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Both DSD items are great. Unfortunately, the sli-pro lights shine too much and will require to be filtered (dark plexiglass or something else to be added)
 
I just received my DSD P1 button box. Amazing how it completelyenhanced the immersion. I use it for American Truck Simulator, and after receiving it and in preparation for my CSIO tech shifter knob, I built my own simulator,although I see now there are plans available for some real nice ones...I built mine in a day with 65 bucks wth of material at Home depot. ...had to add the semi style toggle switch extensions to my button box. I love it. What a great product.
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Meet "restii" - your sensor's new "bestii"

Why this wasn't the chosen sensor placement methodology for the CV1's sensor is a mystery, but if you want your sensor right on the top of your monitor and have no place for the existing pedestal sensor base, restii is for you! restii fits monitors with thickness from 18.5mm to 39mm and arrives fully assembled (a restii plus is being considered for bigger screens). You just attach your sensor and go!

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restii3d1.png


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restii ships to your door anywhere in the world for 29.75 USD. See the following link for ordering:

http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/restii.html

New orders ship within 21 days of when the order is made. Thank you for looking and happy VR fun to all!

d
 
Greetings Friends of VR,

It's my opinion that a clearer relationship between "Pixel Density" and your VR device's resolution should be made, and it's my intention with this post to - hopefully - make it clearer so folks can use this setting to their advantage.

Right now iRacing allows us to adjust the VR Pixel Density in the renderDX11.ini file. It's set to 150 by default. What does that number really represent? Great question! A Pixel Density (PD) of 100 is really a resolution value, and that value is the native screen resolution your VR device; with the CV1 and Vive it's 2160x1200 and with the DK2 it's 1920x1080. Therefore, when you set the PD to 100 you are simply running your VR application at the device's native resolution.

Ok, Derek, tell me what happens when the PD is set to 150? I will! When you set the PD to 150 you "upscale" your device's resolution to a value of 1.5 times what it is natively. In the case of the CV1 it's 2160*1.5 x 1200*1.5, or 3240x1800. Make sense? It should...

So, then you can see what happens when you run the PD to 200. There you'd have a 2160*2 x 1200*2, or 4320x2400 resolution running. You can see another relationship emerging as well, and that's that the total number of pixels being rendered increases exponentially to the increase in PD.

Here are the total Pixels for popular values:

  • PD = 100 => 2160x1200 resolution = 2,592,000 pixels
  • PD = 150 => 3240x1800 resolution = 5,832,000 pixels
  • PD = 200 => 4320x2400 resolution = 10,368,000 pixels
  • PD = 250 => 5400x3000 resolution = 16,200,000 pixels


What I recommend personally to anyone is that they keep their PD value to whatever number gives that a solid 90 base simulation frame rate. If you ramp it up too aggressively you run the risk of frame rate degradation to the degree that ATW cannot compensate and you get ghosting, judder and, worse, VR induced disorientation and discomfort.

We can also draw a parallel for those who make the "Will this run iRacing in VR" threads. Say "iRving iRacer" has a three screen setup and he wants to know if his PC will "run iRacing in VR". He can easily run test laps at his various tracks and run a framerate test on each one. If he has frame rates running at ~90 or more all the time then he knows with ease that he can - should - run iRacing with VR; e.g.:

  • iRving runs three screes at 1920x108 x 3 => 5760x1080 resolution = 6,220,800 pixels generated. If iRving can run that then he "should" have a good VR experience as his PC has enough power to do it.


I hope this helps folks understand the relationship between Pixel Density, Screen Resolution and expected pixels per frame more clearly.

NB: You can also see that if you're running a PD of 150 and generating a total of 5,832,000 pixels per frame cycle, then if you're getting 90fps you're generating a whopping 524,880,000 pixels per second! WOW!
 
derekspeare
Greetings Friends of VR,

It's my opinion that a clearer relationship between "Pixel Density" and your VR device's resolution should be made, and it's my intention with this post to - hopefully - make it clearer so folks can use this setting to their advantage.

Right now iRacing allows us to adjust the VR Pixel Density in the renderDX11.ini file. It's set to 150 by default. What does that number really represent? Great question! A Pixel Density (PD) of 100 is really a resolution value, and that value is the native screen resolution your VR device; with the CV1 and Vive it's 2160x1200 and with the DK2 it's 1920x1080. Therefore, when you set the PD to 100 you are simply running your VR application at the device's native resolution.

Ok, Derek, tell me what happens when the PD is set to 150? I will! When you set the PD to 150 you "upscale" your device's resolution to a value of 1.5 times what it is natively. In the case of the CV1 it's 2160*1.5 x 1200*1.5, or 3240x1800. Make sense? It should...

So, then you can see what happens when you run the PD to 200. There you'd have a 2160*2 x 1200*2, or 4320x2400 resolution running. You can see another relationship emerging as well, and that's that the total number of pixels being rendered increases exponentially to the increase in PD.

Here are the total Pixels for popular values:

  • PD = 100 => 2160x1200 resolution = 2,592,000 pixels
  • PD = 150 => 3240x1800 resolution = 5,832,000 pixels
  • PD = 200 => 4320x2400 resolution = 10,368,000 pixels
  • PD = 250 => 5400x3000 resolution = 16,200,000 pixels

What I recommend personally to anyone is that they keep their PD value to whatever number gives that a solid 90 base simulation frame rate. If you ramp it up too aggressively you run the risk of frame rate degradation to the degree that ATW cannot compensate and you get ghosting, judder and, worse, VR induced disorientation and discomfort.

We can also draw a parallel for those who make the "Will this run iRacing in VR" threads. Say "iRving iRacer" has a three screen setup and he wants to know if his PC will "run iRacing in VR". He can easily run test laps at his various tracks and run a framerate test on each one. If he has frame rates running at ~90 or more all the time then he knows with ease that he can - should - run iRacing with VR; e.g.:

  • iRving runs three screes at 1920x108 x 3 => 5760x1080 resolution = 6,220,800 pixels generated. If iRving can run that then he "should" have a good VR experience as his PC has enough power to do it.


I hope this helps folks understand the relationship between Pixel Density, Screen Resolution and expected pixels per frame more clearly.

NB: You can also see that if you're running a PD of 150 and generating a total of 5,832,000 pixels per frame cycle, then if you're getting 90fps you're generating a whopping 524,880,000 pixels per second! WOW!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explanation 👍
 
I've finally finished my table clamp for the DSD short throw shifter. The red button is for handbrake. Everything works well and the clamp feels really strong and doesn't move at all. The shifter feels very confortable to use. The only complain I have is that, although up shifts feel perfect, down shifts don't. The stick moves like in a curve instead of a straight line. I think this is because of the play is has. I can move the stick some milimeters to the right, and it should't move in that direction at all. I don't know it this can be fixed. I've taken a look at the inside and there are some screws that cross the body and I've seen some of their nuts are loose. I don't know what these screws are for. I conclusion I'm disappointed with this shifter. The first days I had problems with the centering (one microswitch sometimes not activated and the other one sometimes stuck). Now, it works well, but it has a so so mechanical behaviour and it doesn't feel like a 200€ device. Considering its function is really basic, to be honest I expected it to do it flawlessly. I hope I will be able to ignore these faults when I'm playing. Fortunatelly, the shifter works well and feels very solid.

dsd-shifter-clamp.jpg
 
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I've found an easy way to fix the free play around the center of the DSD shifter, which was causing the movement to be somewhat erratic in one of the directions. In case you have the same issues with your shifter, you can try this and see if it works for you. Just choose on which side the sticks move better in a straight line. In my case, it's the right side. Then cut a piece of PVC or MDF. The thick must be 1 cm. The lenght is 9,4 cm. Then cut a piece of thin aluminium with the same size. Add some grease to the aluminium piece and to the shifter shaft. Insert both pieces into the free place on the left of the shaft, with the aluminium facing the shaft. If the thickness is correct, the stick should move with almost the same speed as before but without any side free play, so the behaviour should be perfectly uniform with both upshifts and downshifts. Of course you can use other materials. I used aluminium because I wanted the friction of the shaft with the block to be minimum.

dsd-fix.jpg
 
Elaphe
I've found an easy way to fix the free play around the center of the DSD shifter, which was causing the movement to be somewhat erratic in one of the directions. In case you have the same issues with your shifter, you can try this and see if it works for you. Just choose on which side the sticks move better in a straight line. In my case, it's the right side. Then cut a piece of PVC or MDF. The thick must be 1 cm. The lenght is 9,4 cm. Then cut a piece of thin aluminium with the same size. Add some grease to the aluminium piece and to the shifter shaft. Insert both pieces into the free place on the left of the shaft, with the aluminium facing the shaft. If the thickness is correct, the stick should move with almost the same speed as before but without any side free play, so the behaviour should be perfectly uniform with both upshifts and downshifts. Of course you can use other materials. I used aluminium because I wanted the friction of the shaft with the block to be minimum.

dsd-fix.jpg
Click to expand...
I'm really surprised that you have had these issues, I've been abusing my shifter for the last 2 or so years and it feels the same as the day I bought it (tight and direct).
 
There should be practically no play in the shifter. However, there can be lateral movement if enough force is applied to it. Since it's used perpendicularly to that direction, and every shifter is closely checked for proper function and action prior to shipping, anyone can be assured - like the thousands who own one know - that it will last a million cycles and will take an endless beating. We have test shifters in service as "evaluators" which have been going strong for 5 years and 2 million cycles. They never fail and just do what they are supposed to do.
 
Just got the 2014 Black Max II ready to mount on my RSeat RS1 rig and mount. What's the size of the mounting screw? Noticed there wasn't any threads in the holes so i figured i would need a tapping screw.

I also realized maybe I should have just gotten the original Black Max II which would should mount easier and flush.
 
For Immediate Release: Tampa Bay, Florida, USA (BoxxTown) - Derek Speare Designs is pleased to announce major pricing and shipping overhauls to some of our most popular button controllers and shifters. DSD is sim racing's originator of the button controller, and has continued to offer the enthusiast useful devices to enhance our favorite pastime. DSD Has continually led the pack when it comes to balancing value, price, function and design, and today marks the occasion where we now offer the best prices to be found.

As of today, all DSD Components are shipped worldwide for free. On top of that we have slashed prices on our popular Track Boss, Black Max II, Race King, Track Boss Classic, Black Max II Classic button controllers as well as our bullet proof Pro Sequential Shifters. What this means in a nutshell is deep discounts on these components to match the already low prices of our other components...you'll find up to 25% discounts from previous prices! OMG WTF!

DSD has always made every effort to pack as much value into our Components while keeping a close eye on pricing. We all work for a living! We're especially convinced that our customers in international markets will appreciate these massive price cuts given the current dollar valuations against many world currencies.

Specifically, here are the new prices (other components not listed remain the same prices)

  • DSD Race King LED - Was 259.75 is now 239.75 USD
  • DSD Race King Standard - Was as much as 192.70 is now 159.75
  • DSD Track Boss - Was as much as 152.75 is now 119.75
  • DSD Black Max II - Was as much as 162.75 is now 129.75
  • DSD Track Boss Classic - Was as much as 132.90 is now 109.75
  • DSD Black Max II Classic - Was as much as 142.90 is now 119.75
  • DSD STP Pro Sequential Shifter - Was as much as 224.90 is now 199.75
  • DSD Pro Sequential Shifter - Was as much as 204.90 is now 189.75
All devices listed above ship for free to match our pricing standards with our other components.

We're confident our customers and friends in sim racing will appreciate our efforts to set not only the standard when it comes to service, value function and design, but also on price. We were the first and will always continue to innovate to make every sim racing enthusiast's time on the track as best as it can be!

Head over to the DSD Site right now!

More than 10,000 Customers in almost 70 countries Consider DSD to Be the World's Leading Provider of High Performance Sim Racing Components!
 
Nice offer :)
I'm thinking a Race King LED would fit nice on my rig.
A question though: are these units ready to use out of the box ?
Or is there a need to run software to allocate buttons ?
I have pCars, Assetto Corsa and R3E, soon maybe AMS too.
 
Fanapryde
A white chrome DSD Race King Led has just been ordered ... :D
Click to expand...
Postman had to ring only once !
DSD Race King LED has arrived. Really, REALLY well packed.
Very nice BB, looks great, buttons and switches have a quality feel to them.
No hassle installing, plug & play, all works fine in pCars, R3E and AC.
Highly recommendable !

Only one possible improvement imo: threaded holes for mounting (inserted nuts maybe) would be a plus.
 
Here's something for the OSW Fans!

We've heard your requests for OSW Panels, and here they are!

OSW%20Panels.jpg


(more and better photos will be coming)

What's in the photo are OSW Panels for the SMALL MIGE servo motor. We're offering them for either side of the wheel with styles matching our popular CSW Panels found in thousands of sim racing spaces worldwide. Right now we are focusing on the SMALL MIGE motor, as it's the one in the vast majority of OSW builds. We MAY offer panels for others, BUT it is undecided for now.

Here's a fitting template:

http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/download/DSDOSWFittingTemplate09302016-Model.pdf

These are offered either as singles or in pairs (or as many as you want). They're offered at 135.00 USD Each, and worldwide is included. To order see this page from the DSD Site:

http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/osw-panels.html

New OSW Panel orders ship on or before October 14th, 2016

Thank you and happy racing!

d
 
Last edited:
Fanapryde
Postman had to ring only once !
DSD Race King LED has arrived. Really, REALLY well packed.
Very nice BB, looks great, buttons and switches have a quality feel to them.
No hassle installing, plug & play, all works fine in pCars, R3E and AC.
Highly recommendable !

Only one possible improvement imo: threaded holes for mounting (inserted nuts maybe) would be a plus.
Click to expand...

Happy racing :gtpflag:
 
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