Question Title: virtual reality project
Author: jtridexter
I am building a virtual reality suit that will be able to mimic the action of a game. for example: lets say you are playing the game counterstrike and you are being shot. how do i get that signal out the printer port? I know that there is a sprite file called pain.spr. if i was to use that as a signal how do i get that pain.spr to control the bit of a printer port to go high then low again thus turning the solenoid on and off on the body suit. in other words every time I get shot I want it to register out the printer port. I want this to work with all games. If there is a way to get more then one signal for example: head shot is 1, getting shot in the back is 2, so fourth so on will even be better. but I will settle for 1 signal. I dont know any programing so please keep that in mind. but I can understand if you take me step by step. if you can do the program for me I will pay you for it. remember it needs to work on all windows platform and all games. please email me if you can help..jtridexter@hotmail.com
jose brador
virtual reality project
Started by jtridexter, Jan 02 2004 08:01 AM
153 replies to this topic
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#3 Members - Reputation: 122
Posted 02 January 2004 - 08:32 AM
I have a technical background in electronics I am not a programmer but I do know some basic and a little C language not much. maybe all games is a little unrealistic but at least most games. look I just need a way to output the signals maybe through sprite. my idea was to make a batch that will control the printerport''s 8 output bits. then some how pasting or writing a program to link that batch with the sprite file on the game that way when the games program calls the sprite pain.spr as an example the pain.spr will exe the batch file thus controlling the ports output.
#4 Members - Reputation: 202
Posted 02 January 2004 - 08:49 AM
For what you would like to do, the printer port is pretty slow. You may want to look in using usb. And as for getting information from the game to trigger the solenoid that''s even more tricky. Most games have visual or audio cues for when you get hurt. You can''t get much more information then what you see or hear. I know some companies tried to make force feedback chairs which took the sound from the game and pounded it against your spine with a subwoofer. So when you got shot you felt the bass against your back, but they were not very successful. The only games that I can see you might beable to get some information from other then the audio and visual are games with force feedback support.
Good luck with your project.
~Wave
Good luck with your project.
~Wave
#5 Anonymous Poster_Anonymous Poster_* Guests - Reputation:
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:01 AM
Well it is possible. There are quite a few hacks out there for CS and other games that determine when the player is hit (auto-aim/auto-turn-and-fire), but this will always be a very game/application specific. It is also not a great way to win friends with the developers of the game you are targeting. A program has to specifically be coded to send signals to the printer port. It does not just "happen". And looking at a file will not help you either. Resources such as sprites are loaded into memory at program/level start and accessed as needed. You really have no way of knowing when a certain sprite is being accessed and you certainly won''t find anything useful looking at a sprite file. The way these third party devices, such VR head mount displays, trackers, etc, get supported in games is for the device developer to provide the game developers with an application interface so they can write code that will specifically support the device. You will notice that the devices come with a list of supported games. Sometimes the list is long, sometimes it is short, it just depends on whether the developers wanted to write extra code to support the device. Good luck.
#6 Members - Reputation: 122
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:02 AM
that is true about the visuals witch brings me back to the sprite visual. in counterstrike there are a couple pain.spr I can use as a signal to exe my batch program. the question is how do i link that pain.spr file to my batch program. p.s.. forget the audio that wont work because when you shoot someone it will triger as well as you getting shot so that wont work.
#8 Anonymous Poster_Anonymous Poster_* Guests - Reputation:
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:09 AM
Like I said, that just will not work. Reading from disk is incredibly slow. Games load all resources such as sprites into memory, usually before the level starts. That''s what that LOADING... screen is for in many games. While you are sitting there staring at the screen, the game is furiously loading resources like sprites, models and audio into memory so it can get to them quickly once the game begins. You could try something like look at the area of the screen where you know the sprite will appear and look at the color of the pixels there. If it turns red in an area, you have a good idea that a shot may have hit. The only problem is, the pixels can change color for other reasons as well, so you get false positives. There is really no elegant hack solution. That is why I mentioned how other devices get support (it is specifically written in by the game developers).
#12 Anonymous Poster_Anonymous Poster_* Guests - Reputation:
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:14 AM
You can get a device driver developers kit from Microsoft. Look around MSDN. There might even be a developers kit there specifically for USB.
#14 Anonymous Poster_Anonymous Poster_* Guests - Reputation:
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:19 AM
quote:
there has to be a way...
As I mentioned above, there is a way. The way a device company would do it would be to create a few prototype devices and create an API (apllication programming interface, for the game programmers to talk to your device with). Contact as many big game companies as you can think of and convince them to support your device. Give them a prototype and the API so they can add support into their game. Advertise like a mad man. Convince every gamer in the world that they need your device to enhance their gaming experience. Sit back and wait for orders to pour in.
#16 Anonymous Poster_Anonymous Poster_* Guests - Reputation:
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:22 AM
You can also hack it up so it works (kind of) with maybe just one game, or possible more than one if they behave in the same way. Going back to my pixel example, you read the pixels on the screen in areas where you know the "hit" sprite will appear. When the pixels are the correct color, you may have a hit so send the signal. Again, it''s not very accurate (the pixels can change color for lots of reasons), not very fast (reading the frame buffer is slow!) and it probably will only work with one or a hand full of games. Good luck.
#18 Members - Reputation: 122
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:36 AM
maybe I can design a circuit that uses an optoelectronic device.
I can then place this on the monitor where the sprite shows up thus trigerring the circuit. I know i can do it this way but it looks cheesie placing a device on your monitor. or does it? humm
I can then place this on the monitor where the sprite shows up thus trigerring the circuit. I know i can do it this way but it looks cheesie placing a device on your monitor. or does it? humm
#19 Members - Reputation: 122
Posted 02 January 2004 - 09:46 AM
Hey guys thats not a bad idea. I will use a small wireless device the size of a nickel. and it will gently stick to where the sprite shows up on the monitor. it wont look cheesy if its small and wireless! thanks for everybodys help. you all gave me Ideas and I learn something new here. thanks
#20 Members - Reputation: 674
Posted 02 January 2004 - 10:43 AM
You can use some reverse enginering.
Make an application that will modify the game code and send a signal ( via the printer or usb port ) when the player is shot.
You would know if he is shot at the head, body, legs, etc... ( Only if the game support it.. if it''s a cheap game wich don''t make a difference if you get hit in the head/body/hand,etc.. It won''t work )
It definitly require some good assembly skills, but it could work
Make an application that will modify the game code and send a signal ( via the printer or usb port ) when the player is shot.
You would know if he is shot at the head, body, legs, etc... ( Only if the game support it.. if it''s a cheap game wich don''t make a difference if you get hit in the head/body/hand,etc.. It won''t work )
It definitly require some good assembly skills, but it could work
