zCube (z³ – phonetic: zi kjub) Developer Kit For Lua and Python
(c)2022 by Zappadoc – All Rights Reserved.
Published by EKSIMRacing foundation.
Control Your Gaming Hardware Using Scripting language
zCube Developer Kit Overview
EKSIMRacing Foundation is proud to release the zCube (z³) Developer Kit for Lua and Python to the general public, designed and developed by Zappadoc since 2015 and published by the foundation in March 2022. This is a major step forward for users and third-party developers looking to control their sim racing hardware using fast, flexible scripting languages.
Since 2007, the foundation has consistently delivered innovative projects that allow users to easily control dashboards, USB display devices, steering wheels, and motion simulator platforms. This new toolkit is a natural continuation of that effort, empowering creators to build custom applications for sim racing and beyond.
What Is the zCube Dev Kit?
The zCube (z3) Developer Kit contains everything you need to build custom applications for:
- Sim racing
- Flight simulation
- Prototyping
- Research and development
- Education
- General entertainment hardware integration
It includes the zCube Engine Runtime and powerful device extensions to control:
- LEDs, Digital Panels, and Inputs (button/axis) on USB display controllers
- Motion simulator platforms
- Robotics projects using Dyadic System SCN5 / SCN6 electric linear actuators
The kit is ideal for:
- Testing and calibrating hardware
- Improving reliability and performance
- Tuning forward/inverse kinematics and custom algorithms
- Enhancing traction loss behavior in racing simulators
- Replicating realistic behaviors of F1 or GT-style steering wheels
Applications are virtually unlimited, thanks to a robust extension system and advanced inter-process communication (IPC) capabilities including UDP/TCP networking and Shared Memory support to retrieve game telemetry or synchronize multiple devices.
Scripting Languages & Runtime Support
Lua Support
- zCube integrates the super-fast LuaJIT engine, widely recognized as one of the fastest interpreted scripting engines available.
- Supports multiple versions: LuaJIT 2.0.x, Lua 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4.
- Device extensions (DLLs) are provided to seamlessly control connected hardware from Lua scripts.
- Ideal for embedded systems and custom runtimes: you can build your own Lua runtime with C/C++ (Visual Studio) and integrate zCube extensions.
Python Support
- The zCube Developer Kit includes Python modules (pyd/DLL) built specifically for hardware control.
- Python is powerful, readable, and widely used across all domains, making it a great option for beginners and professionals alike.
- You get full access to zCube’s hardware and telemetry features directly from Python scripts.
Debugging Tools
For both Lua and Python, we highly recommend using Visual Studio Code with:
- The Local Lua Debugger extension by Tom Blind
- The built-in Python debugger
These tools offer a seamless scripting and testing workflow.
zCube API
The zCube Engine Runtime and its extensions come with an easy-to-use API to fully control supported hardware. Sample code and complete documentation are provided to get you started quickly.
For Python developers, additional API documentation is available specifically for zCube for Python, detailing hardware and telemetry access with high-level IPC and networking functions.
Community and Sharing
We encourage you to share your custom zCube applications and scripts with the community! Whether it’s GitHub, forums, or your favorite social network, your contributions can inspire and help others.
Read The Online Documentation For More Info
