USBcycle: Ride Through Your Virtual World!

Thanks! I've been away from this project for quite a while and am just reviving it this week. Real-world stuff got in the way :-) but I have some plans for improvements. Better weighting of the bike rear wheel is always on my mind (inertia is needed for a realistic feel). I've experimented with spiffy weights from the STAC Zero team, but they don't fit my wheel all that well (too many spokes). Tried "torpedo" fishing weights (2lb model) but the centrifugal forces are hard on my duct-tape mounting system and I've had one serious escape resulting in a bent spoke and jammed wheel, ouch. So lately I'm looking at soft dive weights which could be more heavily electrician-taped into place, threaded between spokes etc. Last winter I got halfway there with an improved controller (using a Nextion touch screen) which simplified the front panel enormously and could make the whole control box way smaller. That project went on hold when real life interfered, but it's back on the to-do list for this winter. It does up the price tag, though. STAC has announced an interesting new feature: motor control of their magnetic braking mechanism, so that it can emulate up and down hill terrain! This sounds perfect for my app, now that I have (finally) got telemetry out of the open world driving game (ETS2). The dream project would be to put together a wireless telemetry setup (UDP server maybe) that would transmit speed and slope, for even more realistic riding (how about a dc fan blowing air in your face proportionate to the speed?). As with most simulators, you can get as crazy as you have time, money, and attention span... I was having too much fun last spring riding the thing, so it didn't get many development hours.

How do u get steering info ?

I looked at GitHub Is the mod in the source code tar file download ? Never mind I found the files. Thanks.

Yes good idea about the forum. I found another project where the person used exercise bike and put the magnet speed sensor in. Also someone who did a rotary encoder for the speed sensor.

Zwift just uses speed cadence and power from the Ant+ and Bluetooth sensors. On the newest generation of smart bike trainers Zwift can adjust resistance for hills. But those are $1000. E.g Wahoo Kickr CycleOps Hammer. Zwift is pretty dumb though because there’s no steering control. I want to be able to use a bike joystick to play GTA

Also some good games that will work with your bike are: monster energy Supercross it’s a PC game as well as a PS4 game, Downhill Domination , Smugglers Run, ATV Off-road Fury which are PS2 games. I’ve also successfully used it in GTA 5, GTA 4 and , GTA San Andreas which are virtual worlds which you can use motorcycles and bicycles in. Those are PC games too and pretty cheap.

Wow, tell me more. I know nothing about Ant+ (sigh, I guess I'd better get ready for another near-vertical learning curve). I will google CatEye and Zwift... STAC's latest gizmo is controlled wirelessly via Ant+, and I'm sure there must be an Arduino library for Ant+ by now! My setup is only _somewhat_ generic, 'cos of course the EuroBike controller needs a lot of custom controls that would not be relevant to some other game. This leads me immediately into the world of config files :-) which is why I'm moving to a Nextion touch screen. In theory, one could load a whole different Nextion UI config into the Nextion screen and have a whole different set of menus, buttons, sliders, etc for some other game; or one could have a Page 1 menu that offered a choice of different game configurations: set up for EuroTruck, set up for flight sim, set up for... ?? None of this has been abstracted yet, I'm still plodding away at a very specific, literal level. It's definitely nowhere near marketable as the setup requires too much hacking. The new controller will be based on a Due with far more flash memory and a way faster processor, so that opens up some scope for more complex options, possibly even saved configurations. I'd like to "perfect" EuroBike first, but a future goal might be to have a "flying bike" for use with XPLANE-10 (I don't have the graphics horsepower to upgrade to version 11 yet!). How fun would that be, eh? pedal powered glider? Pedal powered taildragger? But so many more controls are needed for airplanes that I'd have to rig some new gizmos on the bike handlebars. So many cool ideas, so little time!

Wow, what a stack of resources! We should start a forum somewhere on DIY Game Bike Controllers. Seriously. With links to all the known projects, and parts/design resources. There really should be an indexed version of my article here so it's less of a massive text blob for readers -- separate issues like Steering, Braking, Pedalling should have their own chapters. Right now I am knee deep in my Nextion (what a cussed, fascinating, weird little device it is) working on v2 of the bike controller. Using a Due has got me into 3.3v territory *and* horribly noisy ADCs so I'm having to tackle some new issues like level conversion and external AREF. This project always leads me just slightly out of my depth on the hardware side, which I guess is a good thing 'cos it keeps life interesting. Maybe by January I can think about setting up a Game Bike Forum somewhere.

Mod for ETS2: is at my github page. My mod alters the Mercedes Acrtos truck and doesn't really turn the truck into a bike (it still looks like a truck in the game). It just shuts off most of the truck noises and moves camera 5 (pannable) out in front of the bumper at bike height. If you look far enough over your shoulder you see the truck looming over you! I intended to replace the truck eventually with a motorcycle mod, which would at least get rid of the obnoxious truck shadow and instead show something a little more cyclist-shaped (well, motorcyclist shaped, which is an improvement). My dream (blue sky stuff as I do not have the modelling skills) is to use the animated 3d cyclist from the game as my truck model -- actual pedalling motion. Github page https://github.com/RootlessAgrarian/USBcycle-EuroBikeSimulator

Can you point me to the mods for ETS2 to turn the truck into a bike I just bought it and am using it with my Kilowatt big joystick to get exercise. Not a bike but it’s good for strength and isometrics.

I got the bike working with NHL 2017 on PS4. I had to use the Titan 2 to remap keys The reverse direction was the key to making the game playable. It’s a lot of fun.

I put some photos here on google https://photos.app.goo.gl/i1eMdcgn34LMQDHD6

Here’s a YouTube on the Powergrid Kilowatt It’s more for isometric strength than gamebike I like it for a different workout. I also use it in the ETS2 and driving games like Gran Turismo. https://youtu.be/1f03OxYt2jA

Thanks for the GitHub link. Inspired by your project I got my gamebike ps2 controller working with a PS4 as well as with my gaming PC and I can use it to play ETS2. I had to use a joystick adapter called a Titan 2. I think it’s just an Arduino. There’s a way to post pics here I’ll do it but I couldn’t figure that out. I use a small Bluetooth keyboard mounted on my handlebars for the game keys. I also ordered a used gamebike on eBay which works with a turbo trainer. It has a steering mechanism that the front wheel sits in. It’s coming and I’ll post pics later The current game bike I have is a standalone exercise bike.

Heres info on the Titan 2. https://www.consoletuner.com/products/titan-two/ It works with Bluetooth wireless game controllers too. Unfortunately I don’t think it works with Ant+ You probably can do more with an Arduino but I wasn’t sure about all the programming involved for blue tooth. You don’t really need the wireless for the speed sensor.

I added some photos of the gamebike GB-100 which can be used with a regular bicycle and a turbo trainer https://photos.app.goo.gl/i1eMdcgn34LMQDHD6

How do u get steering info ?

Thanks! I've been away from this project for quite a while and am just reviving it this week. Real-world stuff got in the way :-) but I have some plans for improvements. Better weighting of the bike rear wheel is always on my mind (inertia is needed for a realistic feel). I've experimented with spiffy weights from the STAC Zero team, but they don't fit my wheel all that well (too many spokes). Tried "torpedo" fishing weights (2lb model) but the centrifugal forces are hard on my duct-tape mounting system and I've had one serious escape resulting in a bent spoke and jammed wheel, ouch. So lately I'm looking at soft dive weights which could be more heavily electrician-taped into place, threaded between spokes etc. Last winter I got halfway there with an improved controller (using a Nextion touch screen) which simplified the front panel enormously and could make the whole control box way smaller. That project went on hold when real life interfered, but it's back on the to-do list for this winter. It does up the price tag, though. STAC has announced an interesting new feature: motor control of their magnetic braking mechanism, so that it can emulate up and down hill terrain! This sounds perfect for my app, now that I have (finally) got telemetry out of the open world driving game (ETS2). The dream project would be to put together a wireless telemetry setup (UDP server maybe) that would transmit speed and slope, for even more realistic riding (how about a dc fan blowing air in your face proportionate to the speed?). As with most simulators, you can get as crazy as you have time, money, and attention span... I was having too much fun last spring riding the thing, so it didn't get many development hours.