DSC Controller software alternative

[Gearz]

I'm going to put this in this forum because I'm thinking this is where it will be most useful. I've spent more than a year of my spare time working on reverse engineering the DSC .pdts binary file format and writing a better editor for it using Python and a more modern GUI. I'm pretty happy with the result and actually find it useful versus the junk VB program that DSC provides. With my program you can actually edit the numbers in the cells, (imagine that!!!), have color spectrum for the values in the tables instead of grayscale, and charts that plot the curves for any of the 2D tables. I added a "corner editor" for the G-G table that lets you work on just one corner at a time, then copy the settings L->R or vice versa. The shock calibration tab has a curve generator that you can develop a linear, exponential, S-curve, or inverted exponential percentage vs. mA curve easily w/o having to enter hundreds of individual points.

You can copy the settings from one mode to another, either for the current tab or all tabs. You can easily switch between modes in any tab.

So far it's only made to work with Mustang Magneride files but if other people find it useful I might add other models to it, maybe even Camaros.

My problem is, I'm not a software developer. I use Python a lot for my day job so I know how to program, and with the help of a LLM, the code is clean, well annotated and organized. I can package it up into a Windows app, but if I share it on something like Google drive, both Google and Windows thinks it's full of viruses since I haven't paid off the lords at Microsoft to buy my legitimacy. So, I'm looking for advice on how to "distribute" it.

So, if someone here can help with that part, I'd welcome any advice. Right now the code lives on GitHub and if you want to try it out PM me for a link and I'll share it with you.

I did email DSC and as expected, was totally ignored. I'm not looking to make money on this, just trying to solve a problem. I'm hoping if they do get all pissy about it they won't be able to sue since I'm not doing it for profit. My code can't communicate with the hardware, it only works with the files. I'm hoping no one there minds someone solving a problem they seem to want to ignore, and I think that if a hack like me can write something better it really says something about just how awful their program is. Good news is the hardware has been working fine for me at least.

Couple of screen shots:

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[MACHtobers Very Own]

Lordy I've been so tempted to look into this. I'm shocked nobody else has attempted to pursue magneride tuning. Good luck very cool to attempt!!

 

[Gearz]

Shocked... Hehehe

The tuning has been painful but only because of the software. It has been much easier now with that problem handled.

 

[engineermike]

Any chance you can do something similar with the abs module?

 

[Gearz]

The DSC is an aftermarket controller for the Magnaride shocks only. It doesn't affect the ABS system at all. The software that they supply for it is cumbersome to use so I just wrote a better interface for it, that's all. Sorry, but no I can't help you with the ABS thing.

For reference, this is what the G-G tab looks like in the original program:

The really fun part is to change one thing on the table, you have to pick the cell, change the values in the scroll boxes in the upper right, then hit Update, then pick the next one. That's the same for every friggn input in the entire program, and it drove me crazy. At one point I got pretty good at the Fill Empty Cells feature which does a linear interpolation on all cells that have a value of 0.0 in them, but it didn't take me too long to figure out I don't want linear curves in the settings. Anyhow, sorry, no ABS. Maybe next year.

 

[engineermike]

Ok we’ve been wrestling for some time to try to make traction control work better….more like motec does. But that logic lives in the ABS module.

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