Questions for those who use VR

[jmig]

Great, I think you will be happy with it.

You'll have to give up using mascara, but it's a sacrifice worth making.

August

No mascara! If I had known that, I would have never bought my HP G2.

Someone mentioned reading gauges. I have increased my "World Scale" to 120. It makes the cockpits more (to me) life size and the gauges are easier to read. At the default setting, I find the cockpits to be on the small size. I will also lean forward to read something, if needed.

On the keyboard or finding a switch. I will often life the headset slighty to find a switch (I fly in a cockpit I built) or type on the keyboard. It does not really break the realism for me. It is only momentary and then I am right back into the setting. I find this better than crashing because I couldn't find the gear handle or some other importand switch.

 

[K5083]

I also lift the visor and peek under it for a moment sometimes, but mainly only for locating really important things, such as my coffee or whiskey.

August

 

[K5083]

Someone mentioned reading gauges. I have increased my "World Scale" to 120. It makes the cockpits more (to me) life size and the gauges are easier to read. At the default setting, I find the cockpits to be on the small size. I will also lean forward to read something, if needed.

Another thing is to map "VR cockpit view" to something. This doesn't zoom - there is no true zoom in MSFS VR, i.e. nothing that increases the scale of the outside world - but it moves the eyepoint down and toward whatever instrument you are looking at while you hold down the button. If using a HOTAS setup it is good to map it to something on the throttle, so that you can use your left hand to hold the close-up view and have the right hand free to use the mouse to operate whatever knobs and switches you are looking at. Cycling through the various cockpit views also can help, but planes vary in how many cockpit cameras they have defined and how useful these are.

August

 

[Daube]

@Daube

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Yes, the Quest 2 seems like a good entry level set. I have read on another forum about the Pico 4, but not only being expensive I don't think it is available in the USA, I may be wrong about that.

I have friends that cannot even where a TrackIR without breaking out in a sweat, so it will be interesting to see how disorienting a VR headset is for me. I once did 45 minutes of aerobatics in a TP-40N within an hour of eating. No problems with nausea.

I'm sea-sick in real life, used to be road-sick on mountains roads when I was a kid, and my airplane experience is too limited (and we could open the door and jump out when it got uncomfortable anyways ).
During my first VR session, which was almost one hour, I flew a small aircraft gently in P3D and it was alright. But then I gave a try to an helicopter, which I'm not very good at... and at some point, I lost control and the helicopter started spinning.
I had to remove the headset and almost had to skip the dinner that day I really felt badly sick, but it's a kind of funny memory now.

Do you use the USB connector because of poor wifi connection between the headset and computer?

Yes, exactly. My Wifi is not last-gen, and would be too slow.
USB is fine for me, I'm sitting anyways, so the cable is not a nuisance.

I guess the only real way to find out about the glasses issue is to try.

I only do short flights of about an hour to an hour and a half because my old bones get stiff after sitting for so long.

Thanks again for the reply, Joe

Yes, just give it a try and see how it goes for you. Some headsets allow you to wear your glasses inside, but some might get the lenses scratched as a consequence of the contact with your glasses...
Prescription lenses is usually the best solution... when it's really needed
I also rarely do more than one hour sessions. VR is tiring for sure.
The nice thing is, you'll go through a phase where you'll want to retry each and every of your planes in your hangar, just to see how they finally look and feel in VR.
I remember being especially interested in open cockpit planes. On the normal screen, these used to be cool but a bit boring (like nothing special) to fly. In VR, it was radically different. Much more pleasant and interesting/thrilling.

 

[K5083]

It sounds like you won't need the glasses if you have good distance vision. I am nearsighted and must wear contacts or glasses inside the headset. I'll use up a pair of daily contacts if I am planning on flying a lot within the next couple of days. Most of the time, I wear glasses. I have an old worn-out pair of glasses that I cut the nose pads off of so that it can sit closer to my face. It easily fits in the Reverb without touching the lenses.

August

 

[IanHenry]

I think everyone has already answered your questions, but I will say go for it, it's probably the best money you will spend on flight simming, I never "fly" without my HP Reverb G2 now and as previously mentioned corrective lenses are readily available.

 

[jmfabio]

Hi again,

My Reverb is out for delivery by 8:00 PM today! If it comes early may not be able to try it today, loads of work around the house.
Again, I appreciate all the advice and I will let you all know how I do with it. I may have more questions.

Thanks, Joe

 

[jmfabio]

Well, I am back from my first flight in a Hellcat! It took longer to install mixed reality and set up the headset than my flight. 9 minutes according to logbook.

Very different! But wow!

It was interesting to be IN the cockpit, looking out over the wings, sticking my head out to the side. I think I taxied better.

I will have to better familiarize myself with where controls are in the cockpit as I am used to relying on peripherals.

VR does give a better perspective of distance and I do like being able to look over my shoulder.

The flight was a nice easy one as suggested. I once moved my head too fast and it went "swimming".

I will also have to play with settings to find best quality and best frames.

I might even get to like this!

 

[centuryseries]

Well, I am back from my first flight in a Hellcat! It took longer to install mixed reality and set up the headset than my flight. 9 minutes according to logbook.

Very different! But wow!

It was interesting to be IN the cockpit, looking out over the wings, sticking my head out to the side. I think I taxied better.

I will have to better familiarize myself with where controls are in the cockpit as I am used to relying on peripherals.

VR does give a better perspective of distance and I do like being able to look over my shoulder.

The flight was a nice easy one as suggested. I once moved my head too fast and it went "swimming".

I will also have to play with settings to find best quality and best frames.

I might even get to like this!

There's no going back to 2D believe me - the sacrifice you make in being harder to use controls, is more than made up for by the shear immersion. I use DCS and having an enemy plane on your tail and SAMs trying to kill you make for a very stressful VR session .

 

[jmig]

There's no going back to 2D believe me - the sacrifice you make in being harder to use controls, is more than made up for by the shear immersion. I use DCS and having an enemy plane on your tail and SAMs trying to kill you make for a very stressful VR session .

Nothing like looking over to you wing and seeing 3D holes and flames coming out if it. You gotta love it.

 

[Daube]

Very different! But wow!

It was interesting to be IN the cockpit, looking out over the wings, sticking my head out to the side. I think I taxied better.

Ah yes, the taxi. It's one of the best feelings in VR actually, the way you can stick your head outside to get a better view... It's like you finally "get it", how easy or difficult it is to look forward in this or that aircraft. The taxi in the Corsair is a good example.

While you're testing, give a try to an open cockpit plane, even just the default Jenny will be a blast

I will have to better familiarize myself with where controls are in the cockpit as I am used to relying on peripherals.

That's the difficult part. But your peripherals won't move, so your brain knows where they are, more or less
I rely on the mouse a lot, too. I know it's just there, sitting right next to my throttle quadrant, easy to reach.

 

[IanHenry]

So glad to hear you like it, it's like a whole new World. VR compared to TrackIR, there really is no comparison. Enjoy

 

[jmfabio]

Hi all!

I hope to get some time today to sim and adjust settings and controls. In the VR settings everything was set low (I guess by default). I was getting mid 40 frames so I will boost some settings to see if I get more clarity in textures and stay above 30 FPS.

I can tell from some postings that some of you fly in DCS. I have DCS installed on my other machine but not the new one. Will have to download it and confront the steep learning curve.

If any of you can recommend some settings, I would appreciate that.

More later,

Thanks, Joe

 

[jmig]

Hi all!

I hope to get some time today to sim and adjust settings and controls. In the VR settings everything was set low (I guess by default). I was getting mid 40 frames so I will boost some settings to see if I get more clarity in textures and stay above 30 FPS.

I can tell from some postings that some of you fly in DCS. I have DCS installed on my other machine but not the new one. Will have to download it and confront the steep learning curve.

If any of you can recommend some settings, I would appreciate that.

More later,

Thanks, Joe

With your rig, I imagine you can run any settings you want. Not necessarily a recommendation, more like a heads up. I run the "beta" version of DCS World. They use more multi-core utilization in the beta. I have had no problems running it. However, milage may vary.

 

[Javis]

... I can tell from some postings that some of you fly in DCS. I have DCS installed on my other machine but not the new one. Will have to download it and confront the steep learning curve.

Joe, not to sound like the proverbial annoying teacher Sir K.Now It All, i have DCS too and it's amazing (but not as amazing as MSFS...;-) but re DCS in VR my hint would be (more or less as a VR newbie, beginner) to leave that for later, once you know all in's and out's of VR in MSFS. There's a good chance you might get disorientated when you throw quite a different flightsim program into the VR learning curve so quickly while you still have to adjust and learn about so many settings in MSFS to begin with. There's even a chance VR in DCS might put you off VR in MSFS.... hehe

Simflying in VR is so very much different compared to what we were all used to for so many years. IMHO the easiest way to learn and get acqainted with this totally different simflying environment is to stick with one program only. Concentrate on it and learn it until you can fly it with your eyes closed (which, for one aspect, is actually true of course. Flying blind so to speak.. ;-). Once you feel totally comfortable with it, no more fiddeling about with settings and tweaking them, being sure about which aircraft performs best in VR and handles easiest regarding peripherals, then you'll have the perfect base to compare it with other flightsim programs. In the mean time and on top of that you should be having great fun too. ;-)

Mind you, just a hint, Joe and all IMHO of course. I can tell you i still don't feel up to trying VR in DCS. I still feel i haven't got everything i can squeeze out of my current system in VR and still LOVE flying MSFS in VR and don't want to spoil that. Hehe.. (also in the middle of moving to a completely new home for a couple months already. Compared to that learning to fly in VR is peanuts... )

 

[K5083]

Depending on the type of flying you do, you'll likely still want to return to pancake occasionally. Here's a new video by one of the most rabid flight sim VR fans on YouTube, trying out the Tobii head/eye tracker, and he covers most of the reasons why you would sometimes want to do this rather than VR. Personally, I'm not entirely on board with his claim that this Tobii thing is any better than TrackIR, but if you really hate wearing anything on your head, then maybe. They're not that far apart in price, so probably I'd go for the Tobii right now if I wasn't invested in TrackIR already.

The main benefits pointed out by this guy are higher detail, higher frame rates, and nothing on your head. Additional advantages would be that it is much easier to look at a second monitor or device displaying your nav data, approach charts, Vatsim connection window, and so on. If you don't do a lot of navigation or online flying but just enjoy the experience of being in the air, that may not apply for you.

August

 

[jmfabio]

@ jmig, yes I have pretty much upped all my settings to ultra. Much better looking!

I took the FI P-38 up over Southern Pennsylvania from KMDT. In flight I was about 27 FPS with real weather mid altitude to high clouds. No stuttering but "jittering up and down" as though I have a tremor. I think I will lower the turbulence setting to See if that helps and lower some others to get above 30FPS.

This is indeed an interesting journey. The head still swims a bit. But no nausea. I have done some aerobatics, a loop and a hard turn. Still exploring.

@ javis Yes I think it will be a while before I do the DCS. So much to get used to in MSFS. I have some Saitek panels and two Thrustmaster MFDs that I have to get used to finding. Maybe I will make a special VR profile for my HOTAS and stick.

I am appreciative of the hints, opinions and encouragement for this foray.

Thanks, Joe

 

[DennyA]

I've had a TrackIR 3 and 5, and the Tobii Eye Tracker got more use in its first few months than both of those did over years. It's just there and it works. And it works really, really well, especially if you tweak the sensitivity defaults a bit for your personal comfort. As much precision for my use as TrackIR, but no USB LED projector clipped to headphones to use it! It's just there, working, whenever you're flying without VR.

I love the VR immersion and experience with my Reverb G2. But I probably do 75% of my flying wiht the Tobii out of convenience.