The download was quick, and the driver installation proceeded without any problems (as it should be).
The second installation package you need is N VeNT. This is Novint's front-end to their so called "Platform". It comes with tutorials and some low-end games to show what Falcon can do (as an adult, you may also refer to them as tech-demos or concept code. For kids, it may be endless fun; not that I have children and I know by experience). I knew from following their message boards that a new version of N VeNT was also released, and therefore, as I did for the drivers, I did not even look at the disk that came with the Falcon, and instead directly went to their web site to download the "latest version(!)".
40 minutes download? Well, clearly, after waiting for more than a year, I am not going to wait 40 more minutes to play with my new toy :), so I opened the disk that came with Falcon, and proceeded to installation of N VeNT.
After some downloading, now there's 50 minutes to completion of the 'new version'?!? Not waiting is looking like a good decision.
And finally, installation is complete. Still 26 minutes to go for the download. That can continue in the background, while I take my Falcon for a test-flight.
Or, maybe not!
What is funny is that, as you see these messages on the screen, you can control the pointer with your Falcon just fine!
What is NOT funny is that these errors are not uncommon! Looks like Novint coders have some homework to do. Usually, if you quit N VeNT and run it again, it works.
Another bug in N VeNT is that, every so often, it gets stuck while it's "loading your selections". Once again, restarting the application usually solves the problem. Nevertheless, it's very annoying when these happen.
Meanwhile, my download was completed, and I extracted the ISO file to a folder to install 'the new version' of N VeNT. What do you know, the version that took maybe more than an hour to download was the same as the version that came out of the disk!
When you run N VeNT, it gives the option to check for updates (more on this in a later episode). Not being able to download the latest version of N VeNT (or the incremental patch file) directly from Novint's web site, I had to use this built-in update functionality to update N VeNT to its latest version. I personally like downloading patches separately, in case I may need to install them again. This saves me from downloading (and waiting for) the updates multiple times. With N VeNT, you don't have this option. So, here we go, more downloading and waiting...
After finally completing updating N VeNT, I launched and went through the tutorial, playing the, now infamous, touching balls with different textures (no! don't go there! >:>).
Following that, I tried the included free games. Many of them are in a package referred to as Newton's Monkey Business, or NMB for short. For whatever reason, you can choose only six of the NMB games each time you run. The games you choose will show as below. Try not to be confused with confusing bugs as seen in the below screenshot, just enjoy the games. :)
I have to admit, some of NMB games are fun, even for an adult. But only for a short while. After you shoot a dozen arrows/ducks and roll some bowling/arcade balls, you feel like moving on, and quickly.
So, I decided to move to Penumbra games, which are the games I was really looking forward to playing with a Falcon. Currently, there are two episodes available in Penumbra series: Overture and Black Plague. These games are available on the market as two versions: The regular version is played by using a mouse, and the HaptX Editions have Falcon support. You can buy them as a bundled package from Novint's site for a very reasonable price, and download them by following the link which will be sent to you in your order acknowledgment e-mail. The copy protection requires the registration of the game, and it locks the copy that you installed onto the machine that the game is installed by creating a hardware-ID number (probably generated from your system-info that they can get through the browser). First of all, as many people do, I hate being treated as a thief, and second, what if the company bites the dust and takes the registration servers down with them? Luckily, the company is still alive, so you can register your game, and play it. Good luck doing that, by the way!
After a manual registration, which is done by using you brower and going to the company's registration web site directly, I finally ran the game, and yes, playing such a game with Falcon is a brand new experience, and almost well worth the trouble that I needed to go through to get to this point. Almost is the keyword here, as a product should work out of the box as expected, period. After paying more than $100 for a game controller, you shouldn't need to go through so many hoops, getting annoyed little by little with each bug and error towards getting frustrated. You should be able to install your brand-new Falcon without encountering problems at each and every step (ok ok, there wasn't a problem during driver installation step), and enjoy using it. I am sure that Novint is hard at work solving these nagging issues (none of them are deal-breakers), and we'll receive updates on a regular basis, bringing the Falcon experience to the level that a consumer expects (which is not bug-free, but not annoying). Until then, the users like myself who are called 'early adopters' will be going through these bugs, and helping Novint with our feedback in creating the best customer experience. Any early adopter knows that this is the price that you pay for being at the cutting-edge of technology, not matter how much you pay for it (try buying a high-end GPU immediately upon release, and you'll understand what I mean in no time!).
You've seen what happened during software part of a Falcon installation. Now, it's time for a flashback, to see what happened on the hardware side while I was connecting my Falcon to my computer:
Falcon lighting-up for the first time. Falcon has three LEDs inside: Red, Green and Blue. When you connect it to the USB port, all three leds light up, and the following two pictures show you what you see. What a beauty :)
Colorful lights display - A Falcon Closeup
Surprizingly, in the small Falcon booklet, there’s no explanation of which LED color means what (or I am blind, as usual). What I know is that after the 3-color display comes on upon connecting to a USB port, if you launch N VeNT, the LED color becomes green, and you can use the Falcon to control the (mouse? Falcon?) pointer on the screen. But, Falcon is not yet calibrated! At this point, if you launch a game without calibrating your Falcon, you’ll see the next color in Falcon’s palette. Scroll down to the next picture to see what is that about.
When Falcon shows you the red light, it’s trying to tell you that it’s time for calibration! I haven’t had a game peripheral that I need to calibrate since my many-years-old Logitech force feedback joystick! I thought, the technology was always getting better, I guess I was wrong. Like my rumble gamepad, why can’t I just plug Falcon in, and it works without going through a calibration routine? Now, pull to extend your Falcon fully, and then push it back all the way back. Yes, that’s it, your Falcon is now calibrated and ready to be used. Now, was it that hard? See, by the time you were complaining, you could have calibrated it at least three times!
We’ve got the blue-light, and the Falcon is cleared for takeoff! Have a nice flight… Seriously, blue light means your Falcon is calibrated, detected by the Falcon-supporting software you’re running, and is fully operational. Good luck, and have fun!
And now, the real question: Which one will become history?
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