I have been working on a touch screen interface/game controller for Empyrion and would like to share my project with the community, as well as explaining how to replicate, use or amend to you own tastes. (Note: this does not require any coding knowledge at all. Some basic image editing skill is however beneficial) The aims of this were: 1. Create a digital button box which makes the game easier and more fun to control 2. Create a more atmospheric “cockpit” 3. To not spend much money! What I have so far come up with: Version 1.0 looks like this: This is a mixture of cosmetic and functional elements. The functional game controller is the panel on the left hand side above the keyboard. This has touch buttons that activate the standard game keyboard bindings for the following controls: Pilot Mode Auto Brake Auto Level Map Warp Shield View Control Panel Directional Cruise Control Spot lights Power HV fixed drill mode HV Flip Upright HV Boost I have made an effort to especially ensure I include controls that have two key press – shift + key etc. My favourite and most useful control I find are the cruise buttons, which for me make things a little easier. Note: the screen on the right is currently a purely cosmetic static image (for the moment...). The mounting panel is nothing more than MDF, plywood, folder binds, black card and black paint... How to make the main control screen. First you need a screen to use! In my case I already had a couple of old android tablets which are not able to run much and so was not being used. (They run on android ver 5.1 and have a screen resolution of 1280x720 – most modern phones are much more powerful!) Next you need an app from the Google play store. After some research I decided on “SIM Dashboard” as this allowed buttons with multiple keys press (some apps do not). You also have to download the PC client from the website: https://www.stryder-it.de/simdashboard/index.php I had to purchase & activate the “button box” license for the app – this cost me €3.29 (my only expenditure so far on this project ). There are more expensive options, for functionality and games which I do not require. Follow the app install instructions, it’s quite straightforward. I have shared my screen design on the app’s community website so feel free to download and use/amend! It’s linked here: The Design is called: Empyrion Galactic Survival V1.0 Follow the link to view and download it: https://www.stryder-it.de/simdashboard/designs/view?id=2b1e Other than that, the app is fairly straight forward; I have not noticed any detectable delay in control when playing the game. The app uses your WiFi network to communicate, so both PC and table/phone must be on the same network. You can upload your own button images, resize/rotate and position them on the screen – assign keyboard binds to each click and if you are very creative upload graphical background etc. Building the console mount I built this out of scraps in the garden shed! There is a rectangle of plywood behind the tablets, with 2 supporting “legs” of MDF screwed in at either end. The "best bit" was the use of black plastic slip in A4 folder binds (from the stationary cupboard), screwed on to the plywood back, which the tablet screens slide very tightly and securely into. Then I painted over the base, with some black tile paint and stuck a bit of black card to cover the charging cables to complete the first version! The images below should make this design/build a bit clearer. I think it looks quite well on my desk
Possible future improvements or areas for development? feel free to discuss! MOD API I have observed that the android app that I used in this project (and many other apps from other developers) have originally been designed for use with driving simulator games. In these they use the games API to read data as well as issue commands. So you can have extra displays built to show information not currently on the main PC screen. For example fuel tank gauges, or race course maps showing your position etc. I can only imagine what a member of the Empyrion MOD community could make with this - perhaps the registry data on a android screen? or info from your ship control panel? lots of possibilities. You only have to look at the "Connect" App on HWS server to see the API's power. UI DESIGN In the V1.0 of this project, the touch screen buttons are simple JPEG flat images ( I use the freeware Paint.net program). However image what a real digital artist couple produce! Again I have no doubt the community has talented individuals who could produce something stunning. Combining MOD API and UI design You only have to look at the screens produced by game glass https://gameglass.gg/ for the mass market Elite and Star Citizen, so see what the power of clear API and UI design can produce. ----- JOYSTICK Whilst Empyrion does not officially support joysticks, I imagine the use of Joy to key or other key binding joystick program could work. I certainly plan to integrate a joystick into my Empyrion cockpit set up soon!
I like the look of it. You've done well! I would have had no idea even where to start. I can say that I have used GameGlass for Elite and it does change the game play even making it a little more immersive. I think I may give your creation a go! It'll be interesting to see if others pick this up and flesh it out a bit more. Again well done!
Had a request for the image files I used in this project recently - hopefully the attached zip file will upload.
