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Player Cockpit Setups
Part of the challenge of playing Steel Battalion: Line of Contact is finding a practical setup to use as a "cockpit" for the controller. Below are setups submitted by members of the Steel Battalion community, including my own.
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Setup:
The core of my setup has remained relatively unchanged since the original release of Steel Battalion back in the Fall of 2002. I
made off with an office chair from my then corporate job and modified it by drilling two holes in the plastic arms. I then built a platform
from oak planks and a fibreboard top with "all-thread" steel rods on each side. The rods are retained by fitted hardware and washers. The controller
is strapped to the platform with nylon webbing and strap holds. The entire assembly pulls away from the chair to allow entry/exit. When stored during the week,
I place the foot pedals in the seat of the chair for safekeeping.
The display is a Samsung 30" widescreen perfect-flat CRT television, with Steel Battalion served via 720p component cables. I long ago ran out of component inputs on my television,
so everything goes through a Pelican System Selector Pro 2.0 Amplification is provided by a Denon AVR-1803 receiver, feeding 80 watts to each of the six surround channels. The system is
essentially a "6.2" setup, with a total of 3 subwoofers. Front left and right are Polk R50 tower speakers, center front and center rear are Polk CS20 center channel speakers, and the L/R surrounds
are f/x 300i bipole/dipoles. The ".1" is handled up front by a Polk PSW505 (300w) and in each rear channel I have a PSW110 (100w) (for a total of three subs).
Needless to say the system reproduces the Steel Battalion battlefield experience quite substantially.
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Pilot: Nemesis8722 (NemVitzh) close layer |
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Setup:
The centerpiece of my setup is a lame/old exercise machine converted for my setup. I then made a platform for the SB
controller to sit over the 360 racing wheel attachment. I have a similar bracket made for the Ace Combat 6 flightstick.
For playing LOC, I connect to my 30" LG tube HDTV though component, and have my Xbox easily accessible for connecting
S-Video for video capture. Also, all my High Definition devices go through a video downscaler which enables me to
play in High Definition while capturing in real time.
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Pilot: Shaloop close layer |
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Setup:
$20 Target folding table. Sharp Aquos LCD TV with Harman Kardon 5.1 sound.
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Setup:
TV is a Samsung 46" DLP. 360 is hooked up via component (720p). Sky HD hooked up via HDMI (1080i). Xbox is hooked up
via RGB scart (576i) cos MS were stupid and disabled the HD output from the dashboard which means I cant run LOC in 720p :( .
Sound is all 5.1 via optical leads into the Toshiba Surround kit (5x60W, + 120W sub). My favourite feature of the tele is
the PIP – a vital part of any LOC session is the ability to watch the footy while waiting for games, although it has
unfortunately already cost me 2 kia's through not paying attention to the game!
All leads for speakers/internet/etc are buried in the walls/skirting/coving for a tidier look (apart from the actual
mess behind the tele which I cant be arsed to tidy up.
The setup picture shows how things are when I play. I've included shots of my pedal fix – a strip of galv that wraps
around the whole pedal and is held on by several cable ties. And the most important part of all (without which nothing
works) is the ladies razor which makes the lead for the pedals work. Every time you hear me shouting "BLOODY PEDALS!!"
that is the bit that I’m desperately adjusting to try and get a connection...
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Pilot: Kaebora close layer |
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Setup:
I have two desks that function as cockpits. The new one with the computer is from Best Buy. The other is an old hand-me-down on the last leg of its life. Both have the desktop room and proper height
for VT combat.
This dual Steel Battalion setup has a few extra toys to keep a gamer busy. In addition to the link play between two pilots, and the router to run both XBoxes online for a more coordinated attack,
one of these Xbox consoles is not running through a VCR or a TV. It's running video into the TV-Tuner PCI card on the computer. Coupled with that green button controler, I can record the video
input in real-time with some very clean results when using Adobe Premiere, and the quad-core CPU. The dual 19" monitors allow me to browse the web while waiting between matches without minimizing
the video and sound from the XBox. The sound on the computer is running 2.1 stereo.
The 27" TV opposite to the computer setup is pritty standard, besides the fact that it has fully functional 5.1 surround sound. It gets the honor of using the more durable blue button
controller. It's the setup that I've used the longest (since I bought Line of Contact) and continue to use as my primary XBox.
From here, my VT will burst into flames, and I can record every agonizing second of it.
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coming soon!
Pilot: Dwraith close layer |
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Setup:
I had the chair (IKEA) $0.00 and all I needed to buy for the cockpit was $48.00 worth of wood paint. Then, with a little imagination,
I came up with the bracket to attach my controller to the chair. I don't know If you can see it but I have curved molding around
the edge of my lower bracket to lock my controller into place. Also, my controller/bracket combination is a 'quick lift to remove
or adjust setup'. It is not fastened to my chair, rather fitted to it. I also made the bracket tilted up 1.5 inches so that my
elbows could rest on the arms of my chair and not break the line of my wrist. Less holding up my arms = less fatigue. My TV
is a 56' Toshiba 1080P DLP. Awesome! I'm also rocking a sweet ass Sony 5.1 Dolby Digital setup for my sound.
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Pilot: ReverendTed close layer |
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Setup:
The crown jewel (and only remarkable component) of the setup is the lift-top coffee table that brings the controller up
into ready position in a rather dramatic (yet immensely practical) fashion. The rest is a rather pedestrian amalgamation
of entry-level consumer electronics: S-video connection to a 27" Emerson "Tru-Flat" Television and a Sharp 4-speaker
stereo-surround receiver.
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Pilot: Methusulah close layer |
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Setup:
Well, the only "table" I really had convenient was a couple of cymbal stands. The boom arms help hold the controller
and wires in place, and it doesn't shift around when I change gears, which is great. Also, since I don't have a
long enough network cable, I have to turn the xbox sideways and plug it in from the side, instead of having a
cable snake around the back. Kind of a pain when I want to hop on XBL rather quickly, but whatever. Also, my
SB box is where the controller stays when I have the cymbal stands actually holding cymbals. Because of limited
space in my room, I only use this setup on LoC sundays, since I figure I'll be playing for a couple hours. Also,
my TV is smaller than either of my computer monitors, and it's farther away, go figure.
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Pilot: Wagon of Death (neonistic) close layer |
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Setup:
Wal-Mart computer desk. Still available for around $40. 19" Widescreen LCD monitor. Component cables through
a X2VGA from Neoya. Speakers are a set of Creative computer speakers. The X-Box is on a shelf underneath the
table (there are some spacers because the X-Box was a little too tall.) Works so good that I have two of these.
The other has the shelf on top to hold my controller for communications. I also use drawer pulls to keep the
controller and pedals in place.
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Pilot: Coal Raker close layer |
Setup:
A couple of my setups that don't get much use just lately, but dusted weekly and ready 24x7. Both are made from
torn apart pallets from the scrap bin that I ran through a planer along with a couple adjustable keyboard trays
and here's what I got. Sound is from some small satellite speakers from Cambridge Soundworks along with my old
Marantz 4230 Receiver along with those two Kenwood KL-555A speakers, vintage 1974. Still can shake the house.
That's a 20" Hitachi monitor and 20" Samsung TV.
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Pilot: Golden Gun close layer |
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Setup:
"Not everyone has TONS of space... Like me. This is my setup using a Westinghouse 22" LCD (replaced the Acer after pic was taken) Monitor with Componant
inputs for the Xbox. The Controller is alos used on my PeeCee for MechWarrior 4, Feespace 2, and other cool sims. The computers from left to right are:
Linux Router, Mac Sound editing workstation, Sub ;) and My Pee Cee. LOVE playing in the dark for realism so the Saitek keyboard comes in handy. PS- as you
can see, the drivers for the PeeCee let you control the brightness on EACh LED on the SB controller..."
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