TH8RS, DSD, etc. to Fanatec Adapter - BasherBoards SFA1

[schraw12guage]

Dude!! Hows that adpter for the g27 working out i really really want one...maybe a plug in for a ds3 or ps2 controller to use for buttons or we could just pick the ps3 controller as #1 to use it for buttons..please tell me you have figured a way to adapt a th8rs to my g27 .you are a great man

 

[mrbasher]

schraw12guage,

You're too kind.

I do have some plans for something like this and I have done it as an experiment. I do not offer it as a product yet though... I don't want people to lose use of their buttons so I am looking into making a two part product in which a person can purchase what is necessary to only use the shifter or the extra "button box" portion as well, so they have that functionality if they wish to use it.

The G25 and G27 shifters are much more complicated than the current Fanatec ones and thus this takes some extra messing around to accomplish. I DO want to make one though and I will certainly post about it if I do.

 

[isamu]

schraw12guage,

You're too kind.

I do have some plans for something like this and I have done it as an experiment. I do not offer it as a product yet though... I don't want people to lose use of their buttons so I am looking into making a two part product in which a person can purchase what is necessary to only use the shifter or the extra "button box" portion as well, so they have that functionality if they wish to use it.

The G25 and G27 shifters are much more complicated than the current Fanatec ones and thus this takes some extra messing around to accomplish. I DO want to make one though and I will certainly post about it if I do.

While I don't own a G27, this is interesting to hear. I would love something like this for my ECCI 7000. Problem is, the control board has connectors for only 8 digital buttons, which are all being used by the buttons on my paddle shifter. Plus I'm sure you couldn't pull it off without the actual circuit board in your possession anyway.

Another option though Basher, would be to make an adapter for Todd Cannon's CST pedals, which uses a Bodnar board, which has TONS of button connectivity.

I believe this is the one being used on my pedals:

http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=204

You don't by any chance use a bodnar board for anything do you MB?

 

[mrbasher]

Hmm.. So you'd want a shifter to connect direct to the ECCI or a button box that would connect direct to it?

I'm not much of button box maker as that's pretty well covered... I was just going to make it for this adapter but, I do understand the need, if that's what you are describing.

As for Leo's board. I do not have one. This is nothing against Leo, but if I needed one I would probably just build it myself, especially if it were going into a product I'm selling.

The G27 and G25 shifters have an interesting method of operation that is similar to the way in which the Fanatec rims communicate their buttons with the wheel base. It's not as simple as a single wire to each button.

That said, by all means explain what you'd like I'm all ears.

 

[LogiForce]

Basher, what kind of chip is used in the G25 and G27? Any ideas? Cause if it's just a serial connection to a shift register it can't be too complicated, I think.

I forgot to take note of it when I did the Chillichoke mod on my G25.

 

[mrbasher]

It's a form of serial, there are two shift registers in the gear shift which are used for the buttons.

 

[LogiForce]

It's a form of serial, there are two shift registers in the gear shift which are used for the buttons.

So only for the buttons and not the shifter itself? Else I would've said that you'd just needed to add the shift registers in the box and output an on/off signal to each input on the shift registers as per original shifter design.

It all is starting to feel like the same setup is used in other 'wheel attachment' cases as well. For example the T500 GT rim. I guess it's a fairly common practice to do this.
The other is really hard to deal with, that's Fanatec's microcontrollers in the wheels, and also the T500 F1 rim which has a microcontroller.

Anyways, that's outside SFA1 waters. So beyond the scope of the topic.

 

[mikochu]

Logi,

Thank you!

We hardly ever go anywhere on vacation...

I'm excited about the trip. We are going to Vegas for part of it and taking some super cars around a race track there. I choose to drive the 458 Italia. My girlfriend is going to drive the LP570-4 Superleggera.

On that note, if anyone wants to order something, you'd better get it done before Friday night... If you don't, you could have to wait up to a week for your order to ship.

How about a PF1 Bare Bones with handbrake?

 

[Koikeeper67]

It sounds like you are thinking of making a button box for the PS3 to work with the TH8RS shifter it sure would be nice if some one did make a button box for us console racers. There are lots of options for PC racing but nothing for PS3 unless you do a DIY project.

 

[mrbasher]

It sounds like you are thinking of making a button box for the PS3 to work with the TH8RS shifter it sure would be nice if some one did make a button box for us console racers. There are lots of options for PC racing but nothing for PS3 unless you do a DIY project.

Sorry, not exactly.

What I was talking about doing have making an adapter that would allow people to use a TH8RS directly connected to a G25 or G27. However, the shifter on those wheels have 8 buttons and a 4 way d-pad. So, in order to maintain functionality I was contemplating making a separate little button box that could be attached along with the TH8RS.

Technically... I suppose this could be used by itself with the G wheels... However, that gets into something else I may work on later.

 

[mrbasher]

These have been out for some time now and I want to sincerely thank everyone that has supported me in my efforts either through purchasing and/or commenting here.

I would however like some feedback on something I have yet to receive...

Unfortunately, I the only "complaint" I have ever received on these has been the beige RJ12 to PS2 cables I was originally offering along side them. (dumb move on my part) Some might believe this is not unfortunate... However, it is. I know I didn't get it perfect right out of the gate, there are little things that I would like to change, design choices that could have been different and will be on other products, etc.

So, I'd love some constructive feedback on these from people that have been using them. Don't be shy, I'm not going to defend anything other than the price. I'm all ears!

 

[LogiForce]

These have been out for some time now and I want to sincerely thank everyone that has supported me in my efforts either through purchasing and/or commenting here.

I would however like some feedback on something I have yet to receive...

Unfortunately, I the only "complaint" I have ever received on these has been the beige RJ12 to PS2 cables I was originally offering along side them. (dumb move on my part) Some might believe this is not unfortunate... However, it is. I know I didn't get it perfect right out of the gate, there are little things that I would like to change, design choices that could have been different and will be on other products, etc.

So, I'd love some constructive feedback on these from people that have been using them. Don't be shy, I'm not going to defend anything other than the price. I'm all ears!

Maybe for a v2 it would be better to use the RJ style connectors instead of PS/2. Fanatec transferred to this style for their products so that would be better maybe.

Also since the functionality moved a bit from pure shifter adapter to also a handbrake adapter (though still unofficial as far as I am aware). I do not know how far you'll see it necessary to have a GUI as to setup things like ranges and deadzones, as well as maybe linearity of an analog handbrake. Stuff like that and possibly more (whatever you or customers see fit).

Another idea what you could do with it is add a simple led display to show the gear selected (H-pattern mode) or a pattern to show how far you've actuated the analog handbrake. Though this might require a complete redesign of the product to make it look pretty and handy to place.


The biggest complaint (if any) I have about the product is that due all the collected input it is unclear what the products can do for the gamer. This finds its roots in what I saw from the ISR guys, they just where puzzled about the purposes of the products.
So finding a better and uniform way to communicate this to the customer (about all products) might be a must, cause after all... If the customer doesn't know the benefit(s) of a product he won't buy it.

 

[museumsteve]

I cant comment on anything because my SFA1 has been hidden since day one and just works.

Only question I'd have (and it may have been answered months ago) is did 7th Gear ever get resolved?

 

[mrbasher]

The biggest complaint (if any) I have about the product is that due all the collected input it is unclear what the products can do for the gamer. This finds its roots in what I saw from the ISR guys, they just where puzzled about the purposes of the products.
So finding a better and uniform way to communicate this to the customer (about all products) might be a must, cause after all... If the customer doesn't know the benefit(s) of a product he won't buy it.

LogiForce,

Thank for you for mentioning this, it's good to have confirmation of something I have wondered about. I often struggle to find a good balance between explaining what the product really does and why someone "should purchase one." These two things don't always parallel one another. I attempt to do so on my site of course, and in forums. However, the result is often just too much information and this is evidenced by some of the questions I get such as, "Will it work with the Xbox 360?" To me, this tells me I did not do an appropriate job explaining what it does, at least not efficiently.

This is going to be especially important on some of my upcoming products. One of which could potentially just leave a lot of people scratching their heads. Not because it's "above" them, but because the concept has never been discussed... It should be interesting to see peoples reactions to it.

Thus, I'm hoping to start doing more demonstration videos. I feel this should help convey just what something is and what it does much more readily. It may bridge some language gaps as well since people can clearly see the "what it does." I am not excellent with video, though I do have a friend that is.

 

[mrbasher]

I cant comment on anything because my SFA1 has been hidden since day one and just works.

Only question I'd have (and it may have been answered months ago) is did 7th Gear ever get resolved?

This confirms yet another thing that has actually worried me... Based upon the number of long term support requests I have received, I can only assume that many people have essentially forgotten they even have the device. You don't turn it on, you never touch it, it just twiddles away while you shift.

While this is how a product such as this should work and is how I intended it to work, it doesn't do much to promote itself.

I search online on a routine basis, looking for people that might be running into issues and thus far I have found... one. So basically, people aren't asking people for help with it.

Anyhow, just an interesting thing to think about.

As for 7th gear... I never have gotten 7th to work properly with the Forza series or on PC. I do have a working 7th gear version for GT5 which I can give to anyone that would like it. I stopped looking into making it work on Forza and the PC because the demand for it just wasn't there.

That said, I also have a firmware in which 7th gear works on the CSW as it supports 7th natively. My guess is that a new firmware will come out for all of the wheels supporting 7th gear. When that happens, I will release an update to allow it to function properly, like it does on the CSW. Again, if anyone wants that CSW 7th gear firmware, just let me know.

Great comments guys, keep them coming. Thank you again.

 

[MARC BOLAN]

Sorry, not exactly.

What I was talking about doing have making an adapter that would allow people to use a TH8RS directly connected to a G25 or G27. However, the shifter on those wheels have 8 buttons and a 4 way d-pad. So, in order to maintain functionality I was contemplating making a separate little button box that could be attached along with the TH8RS.

Technically... I suppose this could be used by itself with the G wheels... However, that gets into something else I may work on later.

Hello mrbasher, I'm one of the people who very need this adapter,great to know you have plan to make this, thank you very much.
About the 8 buttons and D-pad, I think we can take it out completely with mother board form the G25/G27 shifter. I'm doing the same way to use with the frex shifter.
Frex shifter is connect directly to the D-pad's mother board.

So, is it possible to made a simple converter to connect the TH8RS directly onto the D-pad's mother board? Than the connection will be: TH8RS -> convert adapter-> shifter mother board-> G25/G27 .
Thank you very much

 

[mrbasher]

Marc,

That is sort of the way this will work, at least as I have it planned. However, I do not plan to use the board from the G25 or G27 shifters.

 

[mrbasher]

As of 5/10/2013, I have about 6 of these left and when they are gone... That's it, no more...

There is a new version in the works (pending testing) and it comes with a surprise. Sorry though, you'll just have to wait for details...

 

[RSwagoneer]

Hi Mr Basherman,

Received a package today, which was sooner then I expected. And without extra duty taxes now.
It looks very tiny compared to the pics online, but me is happy.
Now only if that css finally would be available...

 

[mrbasher]

That was fast! Yes, the switch is only about 1.9 inches square...

 

[RSwagoneer]

That was fast! Yes, the switch is only about 1.9 inches square...

Has one major advantage that it will be easy to mount somewhere.
Tough it has to be visible, it really does look like a piece of art.

Regards

Bryan

 

[mrbasher]

Thank you.

If you wanted you could drill some small holes in something and use longer screws to mount the whole thing somewhere using maybe two of the screws? The screw sizes are M3x0.5

You guys have lots of metric stuff over there so it should be easy to find some screws that will work

OH, I forgot to tell you I think... I trimmed the jacket on one end of both the cables I sent. They have to be trimmed so they will fit in the Fanatec shifters. You'll see it when you look at the cables.

 

[RSwagoneer]

Thank you.

If you wanted you could drill some small holes in something and use longer screws to mount the whole thing somewhere using maybe two of the screws? The screw sizes are M3x0.5

You guys have lots of metric stuff over there so it should be easy to find some screws that will work

OH, I forgot to tell you I think... I trimmed the jacket on one end of both the cables I sent. They have to be trimmed so they will fit in the Fanatec shifters. You'll see it when you look at the cables.

Have to keep that in mind. Had no time to check the cables. I'm still surprised by the format of the box

 

[Carson79]

Placed my order for the SFA1! Can't wait to use my TH8RS again as I've done Logi's O ring mod it now feels so much better!

 

[LogiForce]

Placed my order for the SFA1! Can't wait to use my TH8RS again as I've done Logi's O ring mod it now feels so much better!

Oooh, this is awesome to hear. I hope you won't have any more 7th gear trouble either.


@Basher:
You haven't been able to fix the seventh gear yet?

Also I found an oddity when I played Dirt 3 a few days ago. Sometimes the shifter would randomly pop out of gear into neutral without me even touching the gear lever.
Any clues what this can be?

 

[Carson79]

I think my changing will be trouble free now mate 👍 It feels so much better,
I used 3 O rings and think I could add one or two more just to make it that bit more manly

I had tried the elastic band mod on the shaft a while back and that was one of the issues I had with it. Popping out of gear too easy, also you lose a lot of the feel/click into gear with that mod.
You only have the O rings though?

 

[LogiForce]

I think my changing will be trouble free now mate 👍 It feels so much better,
I used 3 O rings and think I could add one or two more just to make it that bit more manly

I had tried the elastic band mod on the shaft a while back and that was one of the issues I had with it. Popping out of gear too easy, also you lose a lot of the feel/click into gear with that mod.
You only have the O rings though?

Yeah, only 3 rings.

 

[mrbasher]

Oooh, this is awesome to hear. I hope you won't have any more 7th gear trouble either.


@Basher:
You haven't been able to fix the seventh gear yet?

Also I found an oddity when I played Dirt 3 a few days ago. Sometimes the shifter would randomly pop out of gear into neutral without me even touching the gear lever.
Any clues what this can be?

The issue with 7th gear will remain an issue until Fanatec changes the wheel firmware or games change the way in which they handle gear changes. As of now, the only game that works with 7th gear is GT5 due to the way in which it handles shifting between gears. Forza handles this differently and cannot be made to work properly until the firmware on the wheel is changed.

That said, the CSW can handle 7th gear right now and I have a firmware (as I stated earlier) that I can give folks for that. Please let me know if you would like the firmware Logi and I can send it over.

If you are running into an issue with Dirt 3 but no other games, there is either an issue with the wheel or the game itself. That said, you can try upgrading your firmware to see if it helps. Here is the link for that: http://www.basherboards.com/SFA1_Firmware/

You likely have one of the earlier versions still...


I should note as this has come up a few times now. The SFA1 simply takes the inputs from a USB shifter and present itself to the wheel as a Fanatec shifter. It does not communicate with the game, only the wheel does that. This means that if you are having issues such as mapping a button properly, or no shifting at all in certain games, this is likely due to some incompatibility between the wheel and the game.

I hope this helps shed some light on the subject.

 

[LogiForce]

The issue with 7th gear will remain an issue until Fanatec changes the wheel firmware or games change the way in which they handle gear changes. As of now, the only game that works with 7th gear is GT5 due to the way in which it handles shifting between gears. Forza handles this differently and cannot be made to work properly until the firmware on the wheel is changed.

That said, the CSW can handle 7th gear right now and I have a firmware (as I stated earlier) that I can give folks for that. Please let me know if you would like the firmware Logi and I can send it over.

If you are running into an issue with Dirt 3 but no other games, there is either an issue with the wheel or the game itself. That said, you can try upgrading your firmware to see if it helps. Here is the link for that: http://www.basherboards.com/SFA1_Firmware/

You likely have one of the earlier versions still...

I should note as this has come up a few times now. The SFA1 simply takes the inputs from a USB shifter and present itself to the wheel as a Fanatec shifter. It does not communicate with the game, only the wheel does that. This means that if you are having issues such as mapping a button properly, or no shifting at all in certain games, this is likely due to some incompatibility between the wheel and the game.

I hope this helps shed some light on the subject.

Ah, right. I forgot that small fact. As well that you said that you had a FW for the CSW. Forgive me.

I thought I upgraded to the later firmware a while ago. I will double check after dinner and reflash for good measure.

Also, do you think the DSD board powered hydraulic handbrake would work with the handbrake firmware via the SFA1?
Seems kinda roundabout I guess but just wanted to ask as I am just trying to conserve USB device numbers for easier game compatibility. And I wonder if it would than become PS3 compatible (no clue if that axis is at all used by the PS3), so its kind of an experiment if you will. Though my DSD board is still on the mule train. ;

Anyway, please send me the CSW specific firmware and maybe the handbrake firmware. Last time we talked about the HB FW you were still working on it and since I did not have a working CSW Base I kinda forgot about it.


Sorry to have asked to repeat yourself, mate.

 

[Carson79]

Well guys I'm very pleased to say that my package arrived on Tuesday past. Been so busy I only managed to hook it up for a couple of quick laps during the week.
Although I've used the SFA1 before I have to say it is very impressive. Not just in it's function but it's design (high quality), packaging and instructions are great.
Even the cables are of a very high quality.
I'd like to say a big thank you to Jonathan, you go above and beyond mate!
Even though it's 20 plus outside and we don't get much sunshine I shall be spending some well earned time with it today. As yesterday was spent laying a patio in the garden my brownie points are maxed ATM lol.