Play "Handy" scripts on a Fleshlight Launch

howto
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Does your Launch still work?

Do you wish it could keep up with those newfangled vibration scripts?

Are you willing to forego the manual controls and make it a remote control-only device?

If your answer to these questions is “yes” and you are not afraid to install 3rd party firmware, keep reading.

There is a real risk of bricking your device if you choose to follow these instructions, do so at your own risk!

Ignition

Ignition is a 2nd stage bootloader & operating system for the Fleshlight Launch. It is intended as a replacement for the original firmware, providing a fast bootloader as well as a simple programming interface to control the Launch.

Installation

Ignition by itself does nothing, an application such as Liftoff must be installed after Ignition has been installed!

Ignition can be installed using the Metafetish Unofficial Kiiroo Firmware Maintenance Utility(despite what it says it will work fine in Google Chrome on Windows), follow the instructions for updating the firmware, when prompted to select a firmware file, select the Ignition .hex file (download here) and proceed as per the instructions.

Once the firmware update process is complete, the green power LED on the Launch should pulsate slowly, this means Ignition is waiting for an application to be installed. At this point, go to the Ignition application update tool to install Liftoff.

Liftoff

Liftoff is an application for the Fleshlight Launch, to be used in conjunction with Ignition.

Liftoff aims to be 100% compatible with applications developed for the official 1.3 firmware while not suffering from any of its flaws (no more speed bug!).

Installation

Go to the Ignition application update tool and select the Liftoff .ign file (download here).

Usage

Use your favorite Fleshlight Launch compatible software, connect to the Launch as usual and enjoy a smoother experience! Make sure the software you are using is not limiting itself to stock Launch speeds. In ScriptPlayer set the “Min Command Delay” setting as low as it will go.

The buttons on the Launch will not work! Reinstall the stock firmware to restore manual control.

Your device may get hot during intense action just like the Handy does. The motor is located above the charging port, take a break if this area starts getting very hot.

Downgrading

Ignition is compatible with the original bootloader, to uninstall Ignition use the Metafetish Unofficial Kiiroo Firmware Maintenance Utility to re-install the official 1.3 firmware. This will revert the Launch to its factory configuration.

Disclaimer

This Software is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. Use at your own risk.

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…Excuse me?

Now THIS is a game changer! Incredible! Did you just un-kiiroo the launch?I have so many questions I don’t even know where to start!

Where on earth did this come from? Where can I learn more about it?

For clarity - will this still register as a fleshlight launch for scriptplayer, intiface etc? So there ar no changes to how it’s used, it just performs better (minus the buttons)?

What are the risks? Does the only risk of bricking come from not following the procedure correctly? Is it possible to brick the launch in such a way that it isn’t possible to restore to the original firmware?

Will this make the launch as responsive as a keon/handy? In your experience, what is the minimum practical responsive time with this firmware that a launch will handle? (Original firmware is around 167ms)

Would you regard this firmware as stable? Is there a risk of device failure once the firmware has been successfully installed?

I was told some time ago that the bluetooth functionality tends to fail in all launches after a while due to some design flaw (but nobody could tell me what that flaw was). Does this firmware fix that?

I’m sorry for the third degree. But as a launch user to me this is the biggest script revelation since the AI scripting tool. I always felt a better launch would be the perfect script toy, but the Keon blew it with its idiotic battery/charging design. However, I really love my launch so don’t want to break it! Replacements are hard to find and I don’t want a Handy or a Keon!

I’m excited - if this works the way I hope it does you will be an absolute hero!

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These are all valid questions;

Where on earth did this come from?

I created it a few years ago, just in time for the Launch to be discontinued. Figured there was no point in releasing it fully expecting a Launch 2 to be announced so it’s been sitting on a shelf for a while.

For clarity - will this still register as a fleshlight launch for scriptplayer, intiface etc? So there ar no changes to how it’s used, it just performs better (minus the buttons)?

Correct, it will appear as a regular Launch with the 1.3 firmware and existing software should work out of the box.

What are the risks? Does the only risk of bricking come from not following the procedure correctly? Is it possible to brick the launch in such a way that it isn’t possible to restore to the original firmware?

It is designed in such a way that you should always be able to revert to the stock firmware. As far as I know it has only ever been installed on one device thus far so if your device behaves differently in some way that might cause issues.

Will this make the launch as responsive as a keon/handy? In your experience, what is the minimum practical responsive time with this firmware that a launch will handle?

The BLE protocol is the limit here, it will try to push the connection interval down to 7.5 ms, in practice the response time will be higher depending on interference etc.

Would you regard this firmware as stable? Is there a risk of device failure once the firmware has been successfully installed?

I have had it running on a Launch for two years now without any issues.

I was told some time ago that the bluetooth functionality tends to fail in all launches after a while due to some design flaw (but nobody could tell me what that flaw was). Does this firmware fix that?

True, the bluetooth module used in the Launch contains a massive flaw which will cause it to randomly brick itself. No firmware update can fix the issue completely, I have taken steps to minimize the risks.

The bluetooth module can be replaced if you are comfortable with surface mount (de)soldering, if the Launch firmware somehow gets corrupted it can be reprogrammed with a PICkit. If that doesn’t sound alien to you the risks are practically zero :slight_smile:

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I tried it, installation was simple, and most importantly - IT WORKS! It did exactly what you said it would!

I can confirm that my launch now performs just as well as a handy, I can’t seem to trip it up even with 30ms strokes and I bet it could go even lower. It also seems to have a faster top speed? Or perhaps it handles speeds above its top speed more gracefully now? Anyway, it’s insane to think that all we needed was custom firmware all this time. We could have been enjoying this standard of toy for years!

I genuinely think the fleshlight launch with this firmware is the best portable toy available for scripts. It combines the responsiveness of the handy with the launch’s ease of use, fleshlight compatibility, crazy battery life and ability to go hands free incredibly easily with a neck pillow. You lose the ability to use manual control, but people hated those controls anyway! I know I never use them! The venerable fleshlight launch now blows the handy out of the water as the best you can get!

This thread should be stickied and it probably needs a different title just so fleshlight launch users know how revolutionary this is. Everyone who owns a launch should use this. Thank you for updating the good old launch to 2022 standards!

One question - is this the final version of the firmware or are you considering any further updates?

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Glad to hear that your upgrade was successful :slight_smile: Top speed might be a tad faster, the control loop runs much faster and has better precision now so that’ll improve smoothness at high speeds. You’ll also find that it gracefully handles much lower speeds than before.

Someone who knows this site better than me seems to have moved this topic to the correct forum already, feel free to sticky or update the title as you see appropriate.

I hadn’t planned to make any updates past the current version, if any issues do crop up I will certainly have a look at them but as far as I’m concerned it’s feature complete.

Full source code is available at:
https://github.com/cfs6t08p/ignition - Ignition boot loader/operating system
https://github.com/cfs6t08p/liftoff - Liftoff application

The Ignition boot loader/operating system was designed to make it (relatively) easy to write more complex applications, it would be possible to create new control routines and new protocols if anyone is so inclined.

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It took about 5 minutes and was really really easy.

There are two websites and two files. You use the first website to load the ignition file, then use the second to load the liftoff file.

The websites tell you exactly what to do. Complete all steps on both websites, initially I thought it was best to skip the final step on one of the websites but I think I got that wrong.

It is so worth doing and should be the first recommendation given to every fleshlight launch user. The humble launch has finally become the toy I wanted it to be after all these years!

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I hate Handy and i got 3 Launches. So i gave it a try. It took about 10 min whole thin making sure that i make things right. I a assume everything went ok because launch works and bluetooth led changed color from blue to red/blue.
haven’t test fast scripts yet but looks promising so far.

i made the whole process in first site including app/mode lock. After that all lights pulsating and i go to Liftoff application.

Many many thanks for @cfs6t08p from this upgrade.

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Hi cfs6t08p

Sorry to be the guy asking for tech support but I think i’ve gone wrong somewhere. I’ve updated the firmware to ignition and this seemed to work perfectly. When I go to the ignition update tool and select the liftoff-0.2.ign file The bar in the app goes red and just says an error has occured.

Is there a specific browser I should use or do you have any idea what could be causing it?

Thanks

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Can’t offer much in the way of help, just thought I’d mention that microsoft edge (on PC) worked great for me, I wasn’t in incognito mode just in case you were. I’d try a chrome based browser if you haven’t already. Good luck, the results are worth it!

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Both firmware update tools use the same WebBluetooth functionality so it’s strange that you would be able to use one and not the other. If you’re on Google Chrome, right click, choose “Inspect” then navigate to the “Console” tab in the window that appears. You should see a message in there which might give me a clue what’s going on.

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Interesting. Currently happy with my launch setup, but I’ll dig out the Launch and install this as a backup (or I just feel like using something else)!

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Ok. This is what it says in the console.

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 ()
update.html:141 MemoryMap
update.html:233 DOMException: Failed to execute ‘requestDevice’ on ‘Bluetooth’: Must be handling a user gesture to show a permission request.
at reader.onload (https://cfs6t08p.github.io/liftoff.js/update.html:150:46)

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Right, it appears that Chrome is not treating the file selection dialog box as a “user gesture” so the user gesture status can time out while you’re picking a file. You have only a few seconds to select the .ign file but that might get it working for you, in the meantime I will have to change the update process to include more manual steps… sheesh.

If you do get an error you’ll need to reload the page to try again.

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cheers, I moved the file to my desktop so I could get at it quicker and thats worked.

Thanks for your help. I will upload a script and video in your honour.

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So how does it compare to the handy? Can it now keep up with “handy exclusive” scripts?
You kinda answered the question, but i did not fully understood it.

"Will this make the launch as responsive as a keon/handy? In your experience, what is the minimum practical responsive time with this firmware that a launch will handle?

The BLE protocol is the limit here, it will try to push the connection interval down to 7.5 ms, in practice the response time will be higher depending on interference etc."

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It is definitely capable of keeping up with the really fast scripts on this site, even “vibration” scripts will work (although it might not be able to produce quite the same sensation as a handy due to the larger mass it has to move around)

However, you do still have to send each and every action in real time, interference from WiFi or other bluetooth devices will degrade performance, it is not able to load the script in advance and play it back like the Handy does.

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For some reason the page cant find my kiiro keon. Does it only work with the Fleshlight launch?

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It will only work with the Launch. As far as I know there are no other devices which use the same or compatible hardware.

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There is some issue with slow speeds (1000ms). It seems that launch goes point to point (0-100) faster than script and stops and continue when point (100) passes. I test this on pc with scriptplayer and android with syncydink and both make the same. Fast strokes are fine.

Re-installed 1.3 filmware and everything works fine.
Installed custom filmware again and same issue appeared.

Issue is clearly seen example with THIS script from the very beginning.

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Well I’m glad you guys liked version 0.2, because it didn’t even have any of the good stuff!

I had made some changes which weren’t published to Github :neutral_face: Most notably the change in BLE connection interval which is the very thing that was supposed to make it faster in the first place! If you thought it was fast before, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The issue with low speeds is also fixed, control will be even smoother now.

The bad news is you’ll have to go through the slow Kiiroo bootloader process again to update Ignition (as well as updating Liftoff but that’s a breeze)

You’ll find the new versions here:
https://github.com/cfs6t08p/ignition/releases/download/0.3/ignition-0.3.hex
https://github.com/cfs6t08p/liftoff/releases/download/0.3/liftoff-0.3.ign

I have also updated the first post with links to the latest versions

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