Using labview to control a game

[newnhamlea1]

I'd like to get my Labview Project to work with windows in such a way that it acts as a game controller, specifically a steering wheel. I don't think there is a function I can call to do this. Any suggestions?

[altenbach]

See if any of this gives you anything useful.

[newnhamlea1]

I think they refer to devices connected to a computer? I want my VI to BE the controller. In effect i need to use labview to spoof a conventional steering wheel controller

[Bob_Schor]

What's wrong with looking at the Numeric Controls and sizing up a Dial?  I don't think they do multiple turns, however ...  [This can't be what you are asking -- it is much too obvious, but I can't think of anything else ...].

Bob Schor

[newnhamlea1]

I wish that were what I was asking...

I'm using a rotary encoder to get a value, doing some processing on it and then I'd like to send that to a game.

I'd like to create a VI that emulates a steering wheel. It needs to be able to be interpreted by windows as a game controller so that i can use it to control a racing simulation.

[billko]

i can't think of a software-only solution unless you had a developer kit for the game engine that provided software hooks into the game.

[Bob_Schor]

Well, if you look at a Game Controller or a Joystick Controller, at one level they are simple switch contacts (the buttons on a Game Controller) or potentiometers (steering wheels, whatever-you-call-those-move-in-circles things on Controllers).  If you took one apart and hooked its innards up to a Digital I/O device and an A/D, and provided it with power (probably coming from its USB cable or from batteries), you could read the Controls.  Somewhere along the line, the button pushes and analog signals get morphed into something that travels over the USB cable (or wireless) and ultimately talks either DirectInput or XInput to Windows.

I would not want to try to do this!  Too many different protocols to juggle, almost none of which have anything really to do with LabVIEW.

Bob Schor

[billko]

---

@Bob_Schor wrote:

Well, if you look at a Game Controller or a Joystick Controller, at one level they are simple switch contacts (the buttons on a Game Controller) or potentiometers (steering wheels, whatever-you-call-those-move-in-circles things on Controllers).  If you took one apart and hooked its innards up to a Digital I/O device and an A/D, and provided it with power (probably coming from its USB cable or from batteries), you could read the Controls.  Somewhere along the line, the button pushes and analog signals get morphed into something that travels over the USB cable (or wireless) and ultimately talks either DirectInput or XInput to Windows.

I would not want to try to do this!  Too many different protocols to juggle, almost none of which have anything really to do with LabVIEW.

Bob Schor

---

I guess that's why [insert your deity/deities/intelligent energy force of choice here] invented firmware.