CydandClaude Fable 5
9cca7c77bd
NamedPipeTransport connects as a client to vRIO's \\.\pipe\vrio (the DOSBox-X fork's role) and speaks the shared typed-frame contract (PipeFraming: 0x00 data / 0x01 modem lines, null-modem crossed). The COM path's DTR reset pulse is replayed in-band on connect. Peer disconnects and framing violations surface as the 0-byte transport-closed read the link already understands. RioTransportFactory routes endpoint strings — pipe:name (vRIO's own picker syntax) to the pipe transport, everything else to SerialPortTransport — and is wired into RioCoordinator and all three RioSerialMonitor modes, so profiles (RioComPort/DefaultRioComPort) and the bench tools take pipe endpoints anywhere a COM name went. Gotcha baked into the design: named pipes here have 0-byte buffers, so a write blocks until the peer reads it, and vRIO also writes its lines frame before reading — the on-connect pulse frames are therefore queued as overlapped writes (pipe writes drain in issue order, preserving the edge positions) instead of blocking the constructor into a mutual write-first deadlock. Verified end-to-end against the real VRioDevice + VRioPipeService over \\.\pipe\vrio: version 4.2 + check replies, 137 analog polls, lamp commands ACKed, zero framing errors. 322 tests green, both flavors. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
RIOJoy
Modern Windows 10/11 interface between the cockpit RIO (Remote Input/Output) board and Windows, as a virtual joystick / keyboard / mouse — the successor to the legacy vJoy-based app, with no vJoy dependency.
The RIO has 72 digital inputs and outputs (lighted buttons) and 5 analog axes (joystick X/Y, throttle, left pedal, right pedal), connected over RS-232 at 9600 8N1. RIOJoy exposes these to games that don't natively know about the cockpit hardware, with per-game profiles. (The native games — Firestorm, Red Planet — talk to the RIO directly and do not use this app.)
Repository layout
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
src/RioJoy.Core |
Protocol, profile model, input mapper, HID feeder (class library) |
src/RioJoy.Tray |
Background tray application |
tests/RioJoy.Core.Tests |
xUnit tests for the protocol core |
driver/ |
RioGamepad virtual HID driver (KMDF + VHF) — replaces vJoy |
tools/RioJoySmokeTest |
On-cabinet end-to-end check of the feeder → driver path |
tools/XcfRegionExtract |
Extracts cockpit label regions from riojoy.xcf → regions.json |
docs/PLAN.md |
Full modernization plan (7 phases) |
docs/PROTOCOL.md |
RIO wire format + iRIO input-map reference |
| RIO board hardware & firmware | Moved to the TeslaRel410 restoration/ archive — board photos, schematics, GAL decode (restoration/rio-hardware) and the RIO 4.3 board firmware (restoration/rio-firmware) |
docs/reference/ |
Cockpit overlay art & the legacy labeling pipeline |
legacy/ |
Original C++/vJoy implementation, kept as reference |
Building
Requires the .NET SDK (8.0 or newer) plus the .NET Framework 4.8
targeting/developer pack, on Windows. The apps target .NET Framework 4.8,
which is in-box on every Windows 10/11 machine — so deployed builds are
framework-dependent and need no runtime install on the target. The driver
builds separately with the WDK (see driver/README.md).
dotnet build RioJoy.sln -c Release
dotnet test RioJoy.sln
Status
Phases 1–5 are implemented and tested (241 unit tests). The RioGamepad virtual
HID driver is built (KMDF + VHF), test-signed, installed, and verified: it
enumerates in joy.cpl, and the C# HID feeder (DeviceIoControl →
RioGamepad.sys) drives its axes, buttons, and hat end-to-end (see
tools/RioJoySmokeTest). The C# side covers the serial
- RIO protocol core, input mapping + output routing, axis calibration + plasma
display, the tray app + profiles (JSON config,
RIO.iniimporter, three-state auto-switch), and the HID report packer that matches the driver's wire format. Remaining work is on-cabinet (real RIO serial/axis/plasma/auto-switch verification) plus packaging (Phase 6) and the profile editor + overlay generator (Phase 7). Seedocs/PLAN.mdfor the full roadmap.
Testing without hardware: vRIO over a named pipe
The vRIO device emulator can stand
in for the real board with no com0com pair: anywhere a COM port name is
configured — a profile's RioComPort, the app-wide DefaultRioComPort, or the
RioSerialMonitor [port] argument — the endpoint pipe:vrio connects to
vRIO's \\.\pipe\vrio instead (vRIO must have its pipe endpoint open). Serial
bytes and modem lines (including the DTR reset pulse on open) travel as typed
frames over the pipe; the contract lives in
src/RioJoy.Core/Serial/PipeFraming.cs
on this side and vRIO's PipeFraming.cs / the DOSBox-X fork's
serialnamedpipe.h on the others.