Other non-obvious things that I did wrong for quite a while, so wanted to share:
If you have any cockpit control ‘grab’ issues with the large jets then put back Super Sampling to 1.0. I think there is a bug.
For the ‘twist knobs’ you literally turn your wrist like you are holding the actual knob, i.e. ‘press trigger and then rotate your whole controller/wrist around’. It works great.
For reversers and flaps you need to physically move the controller like in real life, i.e. ‘lift and slide’ for notches etc.
The yoke/stick (in the left controller works best for me) is actually really nice. As described in the X-Plane dev blog link above, you just tilt the controller up/down (you don’t push pull) and rotate left/right. As it ignores any lateral movement when in this highlighted mode (click yoke with trigger to activate it highlighted blue) then you can rest your arm but still get really accurate controls.
It works better with some physical room, i.e. lean into the FMS etc. If you have a desk then either disable your rudder pedals (disabled rudders mean you can yaw using the yoke) or move them in-front of your chair so your feet can reach them. Push your chair back from your desk, so you can reach forward like in a real cockpit without putting your hand controllers through your monitor . Basically, clear a space and it works well. Use the menu button / ‘reset pilot view’ button when in a good space. If you do stay are your desk then consider moving your sensor tracking cameras, as they need to see you hands clearly, so maybe one of them down low etc.
The iPad/Map works well, you can ‘dock’ it with your yoke and ‘laser point’ in and use the joystick to zoom in/out pan etc.
On Oculus if you press click the thumb joystick down you enter ‘teleport move’ mode (sort of like a ‘throw arc line’ appears, with a circle where you will land). You can rotate your stick around to see which way you face, indicated by a red line on the circle. It is a really nice thing to go to ‘Circle View’ and then do an aircraft walk-around. The big jets really do feel big, and it’s nice to inspect the undercarrage, wings and generally have a look around the airport. Is going to be huge for scenery designers as you can effectively ‘get out of the aircraft’ at any time and move around. Cool.
So far so good. It shows great potential. I landed a 737 in a quick loop around YVR (got family here too) and I don’t think I’ve ever found it so natural, as in hand on yoke, hand on throttle levers on approach. Seemed so much easier and natural…
Would you recommend using that Oculus tray tool for every tweak over the debugging tool in the Rift software? I sometimes feel it only works some of the time depending on it’s mood particularly the ASW change.
For ASW on/off the tray tool should be calling the same API as the Debugging tool. Sometimes a game will need to be restarted if you change a setting in either though. I keep the Tray tool around as I use the power options for the fresco power management bits, as I have a PCIe USB board that needs it.
Thanks for the reply.
Is there a particular order to make changes eg, open debugging thingy and make the adjustment, open the rift app, launch dcs and voila?
Reason I asked is because it seems hit or miss sometimes whether it works or not. Maybe I am not consistent or just thick
I’ve not noticed any inconsistency with the Tray Tool, so my order is pretty much this:
Let Oculus Tray Tool start-up when Windows starts ups (to do my Fresco power options, to prevent USB power drops that lose tracking).
Run the game.
Remember I need to fiddle with it, when noticing bad performance
Alt-tab etc out of game, right click Tray tools and ‘show application’.
I’ll change the ‘ASW Mode’ setting i.e. force to Off or force to 45 etc.
I’ll likely change the Visual HUD to ‘Performance’ as you can see the graph on the left in the HMD alter, usually to a fixed 45 etc. If it works then I’ll turn off the Visual HUD.
Play.
I don’t bother with the View/Add Profiles and tend to do pixel density or super sampling in game if I can (as that tends to be saved in the games config rather than me having to remember it).
For the hit or miss, do you run DCS as ‘admin’? I wonder if sometimes it’s not a permissions thing?
Hmm…I cannot seem to get the checkbox to show up in my X-Plane menus to enable VR. I have SteamVR installed, but I’m also not seeing X-Plane in my Oculus Menu as a foreign app…
Wow. Looks cool. It will take some tweaking to get my setup feeling good…but I like what I see so far. They’ve really put a lot of work and thought into the controller menus and functionality.
If you get ‘glitching’ looking around then see above in the thread for the ASW witchcraft tips.
Also, using the MCP on the 737 is a joy now, the twisting of things like the Speed knob just works really well. Really enjoying it, and don’t even mind having to ‘lean in’ to some of the displays that much (like Mr Magoo became a commercial pilot I guess). I’m pretty sure they’ve disabled Pixel Density / Super Sampling, so we just have to use 1.0 and put up with that for now. Just like the iPad map, I can see things like the FMS being a ‘pop-out’ holdable window. When that day happens, I think I’m going to uninstall poor ol FSX/Flyinside.
Also, don’t forget to try the new microlight - works really well in VR.
Most 3rd party aircraft don’t have a yoke hooked up, but the stock aircraft in this beta all do (maybe not the F-4).
Also, should say - if you don’t own XP then the demo version can have VR enabled. Just download it as normal, then opt-in to the Beta in the launcher, and it VR’s just fine. Good to get an idea of how (this very early) version will work on your system Try It - X-Plane.
I went for a walk around my Cessna to try this out and it’s brilliant, I was at Morlaix airport in France (my local) and I got carried away and ended up going for a walk around the area. What was really funny is I had so much traffic on the roads it was murder trying to cross the road. I was actually standing at the kerb waiting for a gap and jumping over the road I really should grow up and concentrate more !
Love the twisting of the knobs! Thanks for all the tips so far @fearlessfrog.
X-Plane VR is now forcing me to adjust my two Rift “cameras” for the Touch controller activity. They USED to be about 6 feet apart up high, slightly behind my monitors and facing parallel toward me (great for Onward where I’m standing back from my desk wandering around shooting at baddies) but now I have them set up at the good ol’ 10 and 2 o’clock positions to the sides and slightly in front of my monitors pointing inwards so they can capture my down low cockpit interactions. (why does this remind me of the Clinton administration?) It goes against the Oculus sensor setup rules which you have to click to confirm but it works beautifully for both first person shooter and cockpit scenarios.
I don’t know. I flew a back to back comparison of XP VR and P3D with FlyInside and I actually prefer the latter. The Touch controllers feel somewhat cumbersome IMO. At least compared to how easily you can navigate around a 3D pit with P3D/FI. In XP the Touch felt a bit awkward. And I get much better frames in P3D/FI. Like low 60s compared to mid 30s. I probably need more time tweaking XP VR.
FYI, the Xtreme Prototypes GLJ 25SE is simply amazing in VR. You can’t appreciate that 3D panel in 2D. Really an amazing piece of work in VR.
Me too. I have to have one pointing down low. I don’t rerun the set-up or anything, I just grab the sensor cameras and it figures it out after I do a ‘reset to 3d pilot position’ (or whatever it is called).
It is early days for this for sure. Plus the stock aircraft can’t really compete with some of the detail or pedigree of the P3D payware either. I am just glad that XP is in the VR game now, as previously Austin had made lots of noise about it not being worth it - it looks like they are now pretty keen. To make VR better in XP they have to improve framerate, and even if you don’t use the goggles then that will be better for everyone.
Wow can’t wait to sell my house and get into a new one so I can set all my stuff back up. If my yoke becomes redundant that is all for the better to save on cabling and space.
+100
I haven’t had a chance to try the beta XP VR function but one of the things that kept me from using FI in XP was the reduction in framerate and was hoping for the built-in VR they will be able to use some tricks and tweaks to make the framerate hit not be as bad compared to 2D and more like IL-2/DCS/Elite have shown possible.
Really happy to see them tackle this.
I’ve had my sensors on my desk so far since most of my VR is seated cockpit titles, but partly thanks to this, I am finally going to hang them in the corner from the ceiling to allow for leaning in without hitting a blind spot, that used to be a problem for TrackIR too.
Perhaps I need a seperate clean install bereft of any 3rd party plugins to give this another try. I chose the default MD80, and the view was a bit jerky as I panned around the pit. Also, as you guys have been discussing, sensor placement is critical, as well as having a clean desk/working environment. I left my two sensors in their default position, on either side of my monitor, tilted up at ~ 45 degrees pointing straight out. Probably not the best arrangement for reaching items on the center console. And more than once did a Touch strike a Yeti beer koozie on the way to reaching for a switch (operator error). I think that in an unobstructed environment, Touch might work well manipulating cockpit switches and knobs. But fill my hands with solid flight controls when it comes time to aviate.
It is worth just repositioning the sensors, pushing a chair back 5 feet from the desk and then trying the default 737 or the Microlight. Flying it with the touch controller as the yoke has been surprisingly effective. I’m not saying it’s ‘better’ than physical controls, just an eye opener in how well it can work when you can freely use both hands to work every switch, lever etc. It feels really immersive once all set up nicely and is worth at least a good go the once.
For settings, just to clean things up for VR and this beta, it is really worth just going to the X-Plane install location and then renaming your ‘Output’ directory just temporarily as an experiment. Fresh everything (with no plugins) get created, with everything on default. After you’ve tried it out then you can remove that Output and rename the Output directory back. It’s worth it for the clean slate.
The Output directory rename (of setting everything back to default settings) makes a huge difference, and is a quick way to try out the VR like they meant it to be. Reflection Detail set to Min, Textures on High, everything else Medium seems to be ideal so far.
. Basically, clear a space and it works well. Use the menu button / ‘reset pilot view’ button when in a good space. If you do stay are your desk then consider moving your sensor tracking cameras, as they need to see you hands clearly, so maybe one of them down low etc.
