Author Topic: motion control / force feedback  (Read 1006 times)

Offline toasted

  • Copper Member
  • **
  • Posts: 191
motion control / force feedback
« on: September 24, 2026, 04:40:27 PM »
Just out of curiosity, does AH3 have any supported method of streaming or exporting flight data so it could be used to drive a motion platform or provide force feedback?

I’m revisiting an old simulator-motion project now that relatively inexpensive FFB hardware is available. I’m wondering if there’s an official way to get basic flight data—airspeed, acceleration, attitude, etc.—out of the game so I could interface external hardware with it.
"fly as far as you can into the crash"

Online The Fugitive

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 19202
      • Fugi's Aces Help
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2026, 05:23:16 PM »
The game use to have force feed back for stick. I would think its still there.

Easiest think to do is call Hitech and he could let you know whats available.

Offline JimmyD3

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4987
      • Gospel Web
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2026, 05:47:08 PM »
There is some export feature that allows AH to output some data type, I ran into it the other day looking for something. I'll see if I can find it again.
Kenai77
CO Sic Puppies MWK
USAF 1971-76

Offline xanax

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 805
      • Awful's Youtube Channel
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2026, 08:04:43 PM »
CAVALRY uses an FF stick (Moza) and said he enjoys it in AH. I remember Steely and T-Shark are using them too-not sure which brands. Steely was having issues with his being interfered with by the 10 minute stutter.
I'd search but It's a pain in the butt using this forum on an old phone. I didn't bring my MacBook with me.

Offline toasted

  • Copper Member
  • **
  • Posts: 191
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2026, 12:24:52 PM »
excellent ,thanks guys. the fact that others use them is encouraging. I know i could make it work either way , but good to know i probably wont have to get too hacky. This was really a secondary use for them anyway, but it was the one i was most excited about.

i'll wait till dale off vacation before i bug him with specifics, no real rush.
"fly as far as you can into the crash"

Offline toasted

  • Copper Member
  • **
  • Posts: 191
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2026, 01:42:54 PM »
also, i guess it would have helped if i looked a little harder, there is in fact a force feedback setup under controller i just totally glossed over it.


so the answer is yes, yes it will.
"fly as far as you can into the crash"

Offline steely07

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1967
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2026, 03:31:07 PM »
Yep, the data output is in the force feedback settings page, under output flight data, but I was never able to find a spec on what the output paramaters were, and even Claude AI was just doing best guess estimations on what was being output.

As for the FFB and freezing it was happening to me, so I parked my brand new $500 FFB stick and went back to analog, I do know though some sticks are more tolerant than others, Dantoo for example uses a Microsoft sidewinder FFB, and while he does occasionally have to unplug/replug it just after takeoff, the stutter doesn't lock his game up like what was happening to me.
Aces High, Wing Commander, Dickweed Heavy Bomber Group: www.dickweedhbg.com

FSO Films : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFs6CAXBQoVBctljybD65fA?view_as=subscriber

Offline toasted

  • Copper Member
  • **
  • Posts: 191
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2026, 04:27:03 PM »
Yep, the data output is in the force feedback settings page, under output flight data, but I was never able to find a spec on what the output paramaters were, and even Claude AI was just doing best guess estimations on what was being output.

As for the FFB and freezing it was happening to me, so I parked my brand new $500 FFB stick and went back to analog, I do know though some sticks are more tolerant than others, Dantoo for example uses a Microsoft sidewinder FFB, and while he does occasionally have to unplug/replug it just after takeoff, the stutter doesn't lock his game up like what was happening to me.

Thanks for the info. I managed to reverse engineer the data stream (at least I'm pretty sure i did) I've only been playing with it for a minute, but I've got a good amount of experience with things like this. if i have to do some filtering or inject some bogus frames to keep it from stuttering i can probably handle that. im going to do some more logging. probably a week or two before i finalize my ffb hardware anyway.

If i run into issues and have to fix the stuttering issue ill be sure to pass it along.

"fly as far as you can into the crash"

Offline toasted

  • Copper Member
  • **
  • Posts: 191
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2026, 01:41:48 PM »
Yep, the data output is in the force feedback settings page, under output flight data, but I was never able to find a spec on what the output paramaters were, and even Claude AI was just doing best guess estimations on what was being output.

As for the FFB and freezing it was happening to me, so I parked my brand new $500 FFB stick and went back to analog, I do know though some sticks are more tolerant than others, Dantoo for example uses a Microsoft sidewinder FFB, and while he does occasionally have to unplug/replug it just after takeoff, the stutter doesn't lock his game up like what was happening to me.

I think I have your issue with the stick disconnecting figured out enough where i could solve it.

when the drop happens the stick gets null data, in theory that's fine, null control forces should just read as zero.

however the first bit in the stream is the app id so the controller knows what game is playing.

when the glitch happens the driver for the stick reads no game connected and drops out. depending on the driver it then doesnt reattach when the id comes back up.

if you want to try your ffb stick again let me knw and ill whip you up a little app that sits between ah and the stick and overwrites the id. in theory i think this is all it would take to keep the stick alive.
"fly as far as you can into the crash"

Offline xanax

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 805
      • Awful's Youtube Channel
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2026, 03:05:52 PM »
I think I have your issue with the stick disconnecting figured out enough where i could solve it.

when the drop happens the stick gets null data, in theory that's fine, null control forces should just read as zero.

however the first bit in the stream is the app id so the controller knows what game is playing.

when the glitch happens the driver for the stick reads no game connected and drops out. depending on the driver it then doesnt reattach when the id comes back up.

if you want to try your ffb stick again let me knw and ill whip you up a little app that sits between ah and the stick and overwrites the id. in theory i think this is all it would take to keep the stick alive.

Wow, nice work Toasted! I hope it works as I'm interested in trying FFB at some point as well.

Offline toasted

  • Copper Member
  • **
  • Posts: 191
Re: motion control / force feedback
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2026, 03:53:09 PM »
I don't have ffb stuff here yet either, but it works with my control simulator from a previous project. im pretty confident it will do the trick. and i have it setup so it shouldn't really add any latency to the actual inputs.

if anybody who is having ffb issues wants to give it a go let me know and ill package it up.

otherwise ill refine it in a week or two when i get ffb stuff here.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2026, 04:52:33 PM by toasted »
"fly as far as you can into the crash"