Should I Switch to VR? August Answers Your Questions!

[K5083]

Good idea, August, thanks ! Just changed the Shift/F keys to Left/Right/Up/Down. See where that'll get me. Like i said sofar never got to actually change anything in this OXR Tool Menu. Do i understand correctly that it is enough to *change* a setting where upon it will turn white and that's it ?.... No need to 'activate' it any further ? (like in the Companion App, change anything and that's it, no need to save like you normally would when you change anything....)

That's correct. Just move off the setting and whatever value is highlighted will be active.

Oohh.... wouldn't that enormously break the immersion ?... ( i know it would, absolutely ! ) Not really investigated yet but i think my machine is not up to flying around NYC in VR.

Not really. I have been gaming for 40 years and have learned to be immersed on a flat screen, and 2D offers its own immersion advantages over VR - better resolution, sharpness, colors, contrast. VR is great but at its current state of development, it ain't "all that" yet.

I am still figuring out how to get the most comfortable wearing my G2. I do not have beautiful looong eyelashes that's for sure so that's not the problem. The 'problem' is that normally i wear glasses, various glasses, for reading, driving, watching TV and my monitor. Wearing glasses with the G2 can be done but is less comfortable then without glasses. On top of that they could damage the G2 lenses. Looking into buying special prescription lenses for the G2. But also not really sure about needing my glasses for use with the G2. The difference in sharpness is quite small. Testing goes on...

I normally wear glasses too. I am nearsighted. I couldn't stand them in the G2 and would give up VR if I had to wear them. They require using that spacer which puts the lenses so far from my eyes that the peephole effect is unacceptable to me. So I dug out the contact lenses that I haven't worn for a while. Then I can mash the headset up to my face for the best field of view, hence the eyelash trim. The only thing that matters for VR is your infinity vision so if that is not too bad uncorrected, you're good without the glasses. One drawback of wearing contacts again is that my wife seems to think I look younger and cuter, and wants to do things. And I'm like, "Go away! I'm playing with my VR!" Seriously though, I let her try riding in the Spitfire in VR for the first time this past weekend while I flew it (gently) using the on-screen mirror display, and she got a little dizzy but was very impressed. But I think I will not get the corrective insert lenses that are available. I have read, and think they must, hurt the optical quality, which is poor enough as it is, so the contacts are giving me the best visual experience.

August

 

[Dangerous Beans]

I use prescription insert in my Quest 2 and find them much more comfortable than wearing my glasses.
Javis, if you don't need glasses for every day use then you probably don't need them in VR, the inserts should be for your every day prescription not reading or screen use.
I have to wear glasses full time so I need them in VR too.
I don't think the inserts degrade the VR experience but I could be wrong, without them is as blurry for me as it is IRL.

The most important tweak to achieve smooth VR for me was to set the default ASW mode to 30Hz, I do that with Oculus Tray Tool so that wont work for you as its only for Oculus headsets. and I can fly around places like NYC and London no problem in MSFS

 

[Javis]

That's correct. Just move off the setting and whatever value is highlighted will be active.

Wonderful! Thanks!

Not really. I have been gaming for 40 years and have learned to be immersed on a flat screen, and 2D offers its own immersion advantages over VR - better resolution, sharpness, colors, contrast. VR is great but at its current state of development, it ain't "all that" yet.

Sure, but wouldn't you rather do the whole flight in 2D then ? Changing from 3D to 2D 'on the fly' wouldn't that be like your a la carte 6 course gourmet dinner will be taken away from under your nose and replaced with an order of fish & chips in a newspaper wrapping ??.... (sorry, i'm still THAT flabbergasted by flying in VR that i feel a comparison like that is warranted. Not that i *don't* like an order of fish & chips in newspaper wrapping every now and then... And certainly no offense ment to the MSFS 2D community ;-))

Flying in VR for more than a week now and certainly the downside of it begins to raise its ugly head sometimes. F.i. i have this wonderful Honeycomb Bravo TQ for about a month now and even pimped it up with the typical DC-3 and DC-6 levers and indirect variable lighting. A true pleasure to look at and work with. Flying in 2D that is.... In VR it doesn't mean anything anymore. The levers can still be used of course (with some practise..;-) but all the switches and buttons, particularly the buttons for the AP are pretty useless atm. So MSFS in 2D certainly is not forgotten ! ( true, that DC-3 cockpit in VR is just so amazingly beautiful ! )

I normally wear glasses too. I am nearsighted. I couldn't stand them in the G2 and would give up VR if I had to wear them. They require using that spacer which puts the lenses so far from my eyes that the peephole effect is unacceptable to me. So I dug out the contact lenses that I haven't worn for a while. Then I can mash the headset up to my face for the best field of view, hence the eyelash trim. The only thing that matters for VR is your infinity vision so if that is not too bad uncorrected, you're good without the glasses.

Almost 100% sure about that now, yes. Eyesight can change. I am also just about sure lately that i can see better now *without* my nearsighted glasses ( i.e. while driving my car f.i. ). Been testing my G2 with and without glasses constantly. The difference seems to be minimal. However wearing glasses certainly is not as comfortable as without so i think i have decided to leave 'em off for good. ;-)

One drawback of wearing contacts again is that my wife seems to think I look younger and cuter, and wants to do things. And I'm like, "Go away! I'm playing with my VR!" Seriously though, I let her try riding in the Spitfire in VR for the first time this past weekend while I flew it (gently) using the on-screen mirror display, and she got a little dizzy but was very impressed. But I think I will not get the corrective insert lenses that are available. I have read, and think they must, hurt the optical quality, which is poor enough as it is, so the contacts are giving me the best visual experience.

I don't know anything about contact lenses ( do they actually come in multi focal ?? ). Never tried them, i keep seeing images of people looking for them on the floor, or stepping on them.. ;-) I did try multi focal glasses but couldn't get used to it. That's why i use 3 types of glasses ( so lately one less !...;-) Yeah, had a friend here too who was anxious to experience VR for the first time. He is from Turkey and i had him fly over his place of birth Antalya. He cried.... but was Over The Moon about the whole experience. Couldn't believe it !

Now put that VR headset of yours away and make your wife happy, cutie boy

 

[Javis]

I use prescription insert in my Quest 2 and find them much more comfortable than wearing my glasses.
Javis, if you don't need glasses for every day use then you probably don't need them in VR, the inserts should be for your every day prescription not reading or screen use.
I have to wear glasses full time so I need them in VR too.
I don't think the inserts degrade the VR experience but I could be wrong, without them is as blurry for me as it is IRL

Thanks DB! Yes, i think i am at the point to decide to *not* having to wear the glasses i normally use for my monitor. The difference is minimal and it's not that comfortable wearing them inside my Reverb G2. I like my decision very much. ;-)

Coincidently the same thing happens while driving my car (for real...;-), for a while now i can see better without using my nearsighted glasses which i have used since i was a teenager and which blew up my dream to become a pilot. Now i am old and grey i *did* finally become a pilot once i put on that Reverb G2 and even without wearing those wretched glasses and all !

The most important tweak to achieve smooth VR for me was to set the default ASW mode to 30Hz, I do that with Oculus Tray Tool so that wont work for you as its only for Oculus headsets. and I can fly around places like NYC and London no problem in MSFS

Really ?! Wow! As far as i understand, couldn't it be that ASW does about the same job as 'Reprojection Mode' does that we have for our Reverb G2 ?...It is usually adviced to leave it Off but i could always give it a go and see what happens.

I am also not done with testing flying over big cities like London, New York, Paris etc. so i'll take that Reprojection Mode along as well.

Thanks again DB.

 

[Javis]

Gentlemen, thanks again for the tips on how to go about using the OXR Toolkit Menu. Particularly changing the Ctrl/F combination to the Arrow keys did the final trick. It's child's play now and i'm very happy with it ! (still looking into to set the preferable settings but where on virtual earth do i find time for this !??.... ;-)

You see, i thought it to be about time now to park my beloved Tiger Moth in the hangar for a while and try something faster,
like an F-14 or something..... HOLY MOLY !!!!!!!!

Yes, there it is again, sorry !

I'd say change 'VR Headset' to 'HolyMoly!! Headset' ! It would be way more appropriate. Flying in VR is nothing BUT 'Holy Moly!!', period.

Yes, got quite a few HolyMoly's now on my VR record but this last one, flying this big cat in MSFS VR adds another double WOW!!!! factor to the whole experience. Again, i'm wrting words alright, you can all see them, right ? The problem is that there simply ARE NO WORDS to describe my first experience with flying a jetfighter in MSFS VR. I'll give it one more try : how about Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ! .. And i don't even like musicals.... blehhh.. that says it all, right ?!!

I do have a good picture now of what it must be like to fly a jetfighter in DCS VR. I do have DCS but i'm not going to hook my G2 up to it for the time being as to not spoil the utter magic i'm having now with MSFS VR. ( i certainly had the feeling for quite some years already that the true magic of FS is gone... Well, it's back now !! Like never before !! )

On top of my regular PC usb ports i have a 7 ports hub but i've run all out of ports now. Installing some new peripherals. I can just as easy add another 7 ports usb hub, can i... ??

Thanks!

 

[Daube]

I have the Tomcat in DCS and made several flights in VR.
The cockpit is superb, graphically and also on the functional level. The problem is the world around you has not much "superb" to it. The cockpit is amazing but as soon as you start looking out of the cockpit, well, let's say the magic is gone...
Still works 100% magic when in the middle of the ocean with the "Super Carrier" addon I guess.
But to fly on the land... Good thing the DCS Tomcat is finally coming to MSFS, right ?

 

[jmig]

I have the Tomcat in DCS and made several flights in VR.
The cockpit is superb, graphically and also on the functional level. The problem is the world around you has not much "superb" to it. The cockpit is amazing but as soon as you start looking out of the cockpit, well, let's say the magic is gone...
Still works 100% magic when in the middle of the ocean with the "Super Carrier" addon I guess.
But to fly on the land... Good thing the DCS Tomcat is finally coming to MSFS, right ?

The thing about DCS is you are not supposed to be sight-seeing. You are supposed to be swivel-headed to make sure no one puts holes in your shiny new airplane. Have you ever seen the graphics of a burning wing in DCS VR? Amazing! Too bad I see that just about every time I fly. Maybe I should switch to helicopters, they don't have wings to burn.

 

[Dangerous Beans]

Javis, seeing as we both run a 9900K and RTX2080Ti I thought I'd post up my in sim VR settings for you.
I run and Oculus Quest 2 though so your mileage may vary with these settings.

Anti-Aliasing = TAA
Render Scaling = 100
AMD Fidelity Sharpening = 100
Reprojection Mode = Off
World Scale = 100
Nvidia Reflex Low Latency = On
Global Rendering Quality = Custom


Advanced Settings
-----------------
Terrain Level of Detail = 100
Off Screen Terrain Pre-Caching = Ultra
Terrain Vector Data = High
Buildings = Ultra
Trees = High
Grass and Bushes = Medium
Object Level of Detail = 100
Volumetric Clouds = High
Texture Resolution = High *
Anisotropic Filtering = 16x
Texture Supersampling = 4x4
Texture Synthesis = Medium
Water Waves = High
Shadow Maps = 1024
Terrain Shadows = 1024
Contact Shadows = High
Windshield Effects = High
Ambient Occlusion = Medium
Cubemap Reflections 128
Raymarched Reflections = Medium
Light Shafts = Medium
Bloom = On
Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate = Medium

* One thing to note on the Texture Resolution, when you change this one you need to restart MSFS for it to take the change.
What this means is if you have it set to ultra in the PC settings when you switch to VR it will still be set to ultra in VR even if the options say high.
To get round this I keep it set to high in PC also.

 

[Priller]

The thing about DCS is you are not supposed to be sight-seeing. You are supposed to be swivel-headed to make sure no one puts holes in your shiny new airplane. Have you ever seen the graphics of a burning wing in DCS VR? Amazing! Too bad I see that just about every time I fly. Maybe I should switch to helicopters, they don't have wings to burn.

Now that is funny and so true. I was marvelling at my gorgeous looking F-15 and got shot down by a stinking MiG-23 once. I posted the picture of it here and you commented about it!!

Priller

 

[Javis]

I have the Tomcat in DCS and made several flights in VR.
The cockpit is superb, graphically and also on the functional level. The problem is the world around you has not much "superb" to it. The cockpit is amazing but as soon as you start looking out of the cockpit, well, let's say the magic is gone...

I believe you right away ! The screenshots of the cockpit in the Dino/Heatblur F-14 thread are amazing ! (i take it these must've been shot in DCS...) I bet i could just sit there for an hour or so with my "State of the Art Next Generation LIFT Airborne Technologies HP REVERB G2 Fixed Wing Fighter Pilot Helmet" on and be done with it, no flying needed ! ( i told you about my first flight in VR in the Tiger Moth, right ? That wearing the G2 headset felt like i was wearing goggles. Even more so, flying a contemporary jetfighter, it's easy to imagine we're wearing such a next generation flight helmet, isn't it. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these Flightsim 'garage entrepreneurs' sooner or later offers a real flight helmet with a G2 mounted into it. )

Still works 100% magic when in the middle of the ocean with the "Super Carrier" addon I guess. But to fly on the land... Good thing the DCS Tomcat is finally coming to MSFS, right ?

Can't wait ! That is of course if Dino and Heatblur manage to make the cockpit look conform these mouthwatering screenshots. Love the F-14, not only because of the great footage of it in the Top Gun movie, it looks very impressive and beautiful and i spent about half a year (not 24/7 mind you ;-) creating a carrier deck diorama with a 1/48 scale Tamiya F-14 model as eyecather. Particularly also because i could finally display all the Verlinden carrier deck vehicles and attributes that were fun to create (many many years ago mind you ;-) Carrier deck Operations in DCS are fantastic ! ( a complete different story in MSFS, huh.... )

My first VR flight with Dean's F-14 was a total and utter BLAST i can tell you !! (don't ask me about the landing..... )

 

[Javis]

Javis, seeing as we both run a 9900K and RTX2080Ti I thought I'd post up my in sim VR settings for you.
I run and Oculus Quest 2 though so your mileage may vary with these settings.

Thanks very much, DB !

Proved just about all your settings are one tad higher than my VR settings. F.i. where you have High i would have Medium. Where you have Medium i'd have Low. Etc. Not all of course, some are exactly the same as i have set them.

I changed all my settings in the VR department to yours and immidiately saw the difference (as more or less expected of course). Still not really bad but the smoothness is more or less gone particularly looking sideways while flying over a medium large city at about 1000 feet or lower. (that's more or less my 'default test scenario' ). Did not have an fps counter activated but i figure it would've been fairly low, something around 15 maybe where i 'normally' have something around 30. Of course i am still in the process to find the best settings for my VR experience, not an easy task.

I was curious to see what your settings in MSFS VR would mean for me but it's clear that just copying them overall is not a good idea. What i have to sort out first and foremost is the OXR settings via the 3D menu. I can finally work with that now and have various setup examples/tutorials to follow.

Thanks nontheless for sharing your settings with me, DB, i might try them one by one and find the fps killer (for me) this way.

 

[K5083]

My settings also are mostly one notch lower than Beans'. I started low and am inching up in quality to see what I can get away with. Many of the settings don't turn out to hit frame rates all that hard by turning up one notch. Sometimes they don't have much impact on visual quality either though, so even a 1 or 2 fps hit isn't worth it.

I'm glad I don't have this "can't go back" mentality as to either VR or MSFS graphics. I have been simming in VR in FSX for the past few days, since I got the FlyInside module that makes that possible. It is a real trip to fly old favorites like the MAAM B-25 in VR. The experience is immersive in the way that most VR applications are - think Minecraft - without having photoreal graphics. And the planes still fly great, better than MSFS in some ways. Also, when I take the headset off and look at the screen in FSX or P3D, I don't think, "OMG, the screen is so much sharper and more detailed" the way I do in MSFS.

August

 

[Javis]

My settings also are mostly one notch lower than Beans'. I started low and am inching up in quality to see what I can get away with. Many of the settings don't turn out to hit frame rates all that hard by turning up one notch. Sometimes they don't have much impact on visual quality either though, so even a 1 or 2 fps hit isn't worth it.

Yes, i find it quite difficult to decide with which setting i am totally satisfied. Haven't found it yet and maybe never will. I do think that experience might do the trick. Atm i'm still too overwhelmed with the whole VR experience. I stiil have only tried just a couple of aircraft. The other day i tried the default 787 and even that was an experience not to forget and i didn't even fly it ! Just taxied around but in very bad weather which i had not experienced in VR yet either. Again i have to assign the 'no words to describe' label to this experience so a smiley will have to do.

I'm glad I don't have this "can't go back" mentality as to either VR or MSFS graphics. I have been simming in VR in FSX for the past few days, since I got the FlyInside module that makes that possible. It is a real trip to fly old favorites like the MAAM B-25 in VR.

Really ??!!.... Oh, i'd love that ! Seeing my own stuff in VR ! (well not really 'my own stuff' of course, i just created the external and internal models for our Maam-Sim team. Still miss that dearly. Still regret we didn't make it into FSX although half way thru conversion of the Avenger)

Trouble is that i removed FSX and P3D from my SSD's. Certainly something fpr later ! I'll have a good look at that FlyInside module. Thanks for the tip, August !

The experience is immersive in the way that most VR applications are - think Minecraft - without having photoreal graphics. And the planes still fly great, better than MSFS in some ways.

Rob Young !!!

When it comes to flightsimulator flight dynamics, without tooting our own Maam-Sim horn, he was (is) the best. Period. Talking about being missed !! We have always felt very fortunate to have a true flightmodel guru like Rob Young on our team. The R4D (C-47/DC-3), B-25 and TBM/TBF Avenger were all such darlings to fly in FS9, like our freeware F-86 and Rob and Sean's Spitfire. Sorry to say that compared to what we have now in MSFS regarding flight dynamics we were way better off with FSX/P3D. Ok, all IMHO of course and better leave that for a thread on flight dynamics although i must say, in VR, i DO seem to notice more strange movements in flight of particular aircraft ( F.i. FlyingIron Spitfire ) than i have noticed in 2D view ( i mean usually in external view ).

And one other thing if i may, i am also sorry to say that i kinda loved the flightmodeling in Microsoft's rather idiotic 'FLIGHT' mishap. Boy oh Boy!! did they set that straight !! (but NOT on the flightmodeling part yet if you ask me..)

Also, when I take the headset off and look at the screen in FSX or P3D, I don't think, "OMG, the screen is so much sharper and more detailed" the way I do in MSFS.

Just in an instant, when i switch to 2D for a moment to return to the Main Menu, i noticed the difference in sharpness and details too. That's indeed quite a price we have to pay to fly in glorious VR ! But up to now i am still extremely happy to pay that price ! This unbelievable magical thing that happens when i put on my VR Flight Helmet is just priceless !!

Oh, yeah, almost forgat. A remarkable thing happend while flying the Beaver in VR, for the first time i like a computerized 'person' sitting next to me ! Never thought that would ever happen.... in VR this person model actually looks very good, realistic and believable. I could throw him overboard with just one click on that iPad but i didn't. How about that, huh...

 

[K5083]

Aha, until now I had not pieced together who you are. Well sir, the simmers of a certain age owe you and your team a debt for producing some of the finest add-on planes of the oughts. You owe it to yourself to get FSX working somehow, even though it is a hassle to get it running and get all the aftermarket scenery and stuff working so it looks nice. After reading your post I had to go log half an hour in your Sabre, which I always regarded as better flying than the Milviz and still do. The Sabre cockpit holds up even better in VR than the B-25. I think you'll be very pleased at how good your babies still look. I know that folks are still flying the MAAM B-25, I saw an Instagram post just the other day where someone was doing that. In 2D no less!

August

 

[Javis]

Well, thank you very much, August, very nice of you to say so. Although i have been thinking about what it would be like to see my own FS work in VR i had not givin it one thought that it would actually be possible. My last work maybe, the 'DC-3 VVC' ( DC-3 Vintage Virtual Cockpit) for Manfred's superb freeware C-47/DC-3 model because that was my first and last work for FSX ( i started playing around with ' Aircraft & Scenery Designer' released by BAO ( Bruce Artwick Organisation) back in 1990 so after about 30 years of welding vertexes, smoothing out surfaces and sticking textures to it i thought it's time to do something else ;-)

I don't think i ever saw our B-25 in FSX. I have not been aware that it has ever been converted to fly in FSX. ( It is already 20 years ago when we worked on the B-25 model. We (Maam-Sim) started with the MAAM's R4D even in the past century.... ;-) I figure it must be the FlyInside module that makes it possible. Certainly looking forward to check that out !

The reason that our (Section F8) Sabre flew so well is because of the Rob Young/Dudley Henriques cooperation. Rob always said that he could make anything fly/behave like the real thing in FS as long as he got all the needed info from a pilot that flew/flies the real thing. Dudley was a display pilot during the last part of his flying career and he also flew the F-86. He works with A2A now for quite some time already.

With boss Rush Strine piloting all the airworthy MAAM aircraft the information for Rob to create the flight dynamics was available in abundage. He also said that creating flight dynamics for FS is and will always be 'black art'. ;-)

I am not sure how much of it belongs to the fact that i was part of the team myself but i can honestly say that all the Maam-Sim aircraft models and F-86 model for which Rob created the flightmodels were special to me because of how they flew/ behaved in FS9. One example if i may : both the B-25 and F-86 come from North American, the difference between these two aircraft couldn't be more extensive. Still, they do both require the pilot to lift the nose-wheel up from the runway during the take-off run and keep it there until the aircraft takes-off by itself. And exactly the same is true for landing both these very different aircraft as well: keep the nose-wheel up during the landing roll so as to use the wing's aoa for braking. That's the exact same procedure for our B-25 and F-86 models and they work as advertised !

That's typical the sort of thing you can (and may ! ) expect from a Rob Young flightmodel ( another masterful FD example on the F-86: more lift during high turns thru automatic deployment of the wingslats. The visual aspect brilliantly programmed by my good friend Hansi Naegele who sadly dissappeared during the creation of the DC-3 VVC. Bless him !)

I will dissappear now too because my dog is staring at me like "stop typing and let's go ! " for a while already. ;-)

Thanks again for your kind words, August.

Cheers,
Jan

 

[K5083]

The B-25 definitely got ported for FSX. Says so right here! https://www.maam.org/flightsim/news/BT_v7_PR/BT_v7_PR.htm

MAAM's download link is long dead. If you still have your FS9 version, you can apply the upgrade from here: https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/9482/fsx-maam-sim-b-25-mitchell-update/

The FSX upgrade has new gauges that sort of float a couple of millimeters in front of their original positions on the panel, as was typical of quickie FS9-FSX conversions. This is more obvious in VR than it was in 2D and is one of the less attractive features of the cockpit, but the rest of the office holds up well and makes up for it. Your astro-compass was a work of art and looks magnificent to this day!

If you decide to patch your B-25 and try to get FSX working in VR, post here with any snags you encounter. I overcame some things in setting up FlyInside that were not obvious from the documentation.

August

 

[Javis]

Thank you very much for this, to me, absolutely surprising news, August. It's like an ancient, presumed long extinct specimen, has come alive !

Of course i must've been aware of the release of v7 of our B-25 model but no doubt has been overshadowed by all developments that can happen during a decade or more, good and bad. Have to say that i don't recall having had anything to do with the FS9/FSX conversion. I do recall my friend Rob Cappers (of DC-2 fame) working on an FSX version of our TBM model but sadly that project didn't come to fruitation.

Makes me sometimes think about the great fun we've had putting the Maam-Sim aircraft together for FS9 (maybe even FS2K2..), and how much more pleasure we would've gotten out of it doing it with todays possibillities in FS aircraft design. When you look at such a 20 years old model compared to what can be done in MSFS now, the progress in FS aircraft development is nothing short of astonishing, isn't it. Btw, thanks for the compliment on the Astro-Compass. A very rewarding little piece of machinery to work on. Loved it! (pity we couldn't make it work. I bet we could now ! ;-)

But anyway, before getting on the 'FSX boat' to relive my B-25 adventure in VR, what about P3D, August ?

Will the FSX version work in P3D as well you think ? I don't see anything about P3D mentioned on the FlyInside webside however, only FSX....

In any case thanks so much again for all the information about this 'B-25 revival', very interesting and exiting !

 

[K5083]

Jan,

No, the FSX version won't work in P3D, at least not in P3Dv4.5. Believe me, I tried. I can't recall now what the issue was, it was a few years ago. Maybe it would work in the 32-bit P3D versions up to v3 if you could "find" a copy. But those have no native VR support I think, so you'd still have to use FlyInside and I wouldn't see much of an advantage over FSX.

FLyInside is available for P3D up to v4, and the guys in the support forum are begging for a v5 version. I don't really see why, P3D's native VR support in v4 and v5 is fine, maybe FlyInside has a few extra features but wouldn't be worth the hassle IMO. Maybe they have headsets that P3D doesn't support. P3D only uses SteamVR which is perfect for our Reverbs.

Same for the Sabre. I think the FSX port for that may have been by a third party, it too works great in FSX, but wouldn't port to P3D4.

Chaffin's B-25 and the Milviz Sabre in P3D are both fine planes but your teams' flew better and there were some nice skins for them, so I'd have liked to have them in my P3Dv4 hangar which is still my largest at over 450 planes installed and many more in the boneyard.

The MAAMs are just two out of surprisingly many planes that are locked into FSX but are well worth flying today, which is what motivated me to get the VR working for it. It certainly wasn't the graphics or the UI!

August

 

[Javis]

Jan,

No, the FSX version won't work in P3D, at least not in P3Dv4.5. Believe me, I tried. I can't recall now what the issue was, it was a few years ago. Maybe it would work in the 32-bit P3D versions up to v3 if you could "find" a copy. But those have no native VR support I think, so you'd still have to use FlyInside and I wouldn't see much of an advantage over FSX.

Indeed. v4.5 was more or less the precursor of what lay ahead of us flightsimmers, wasn't it. Certainly not as absolutely gobsmacking as MSFS of course but i always thought of it as such progress in performance we have never seen before. With the release of MSFS i lost track of P3D and FSX as well but i still remember the impact that P3D v4.5 had on me, it was like finally somebody had managed to unleash the full power of P3D.

FLyInside is available for P3D up to v4, and the guys in the support forum are begging for a v5 version. I don't really see why, P3D's native VR support in v4 and v5 is fine, maybe FlyInside has a few extra features but wouldn't be worth the hassle IMO. Maybe they have headsets that P3D doesn't support. P3D only uses SteamVR which is perfect for our Reverbs.

Well, as far as FSX goes..., not very far for the time being.. I still had a copy of FSXSE on my SSD, tried it but failed. A black screen with a huge cursor arrow was all i got out of it. Uninstalled and re-installed via Steam Library, same thing alas. Everything goes well, got the first menu and all but when i click 'Fly Now' again nothing but a black screen and big white cursor arrow. Tried it couple of times, no chance, just won't work. No idea why. Had the integrity of the files checked via Steam, all's fine, still no go. One thing i can still think of, manually remove everything belonging to FSX and re-install again. Not sure if i'll be able to find everything but i'll give it a try.

Same for the Sabre. I think the FSX port for that may have been by a third party, it too works great in FSX, but wouldn't port to P3D4.

Thought it would be fun and interesting to try and track down what actually happend with our F-86 model. So long ago i can't recall most of it. I do remember Milviz' Colin asking politely *not* to convert our Sabre to native FSX for obvious reasons. Thought that was a reasonable request, otherwise we might've done just that. I never liked the port-over because of the dreaded scenery and clouds messing with the canopy. Terrible (same happend with all glass parts and spinning prop disks and so on). Lots of threads and posts about the Sabre FSX conversion here at SOH. I found this one very nice to read back. I had been working on a conversion for the Australian CAC 27 Sabre (a.o. bigger air intake to comfort the Avon engine) particularly to accomodate the wonderful colorful liveries but (of course) never came to fruitation. Nontheless a guy named Jafo did a great job doing it anyway with the original F-86 model.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...ction-F8-F-86-re-imagined-to-CA-27-Avon-Sabre

A nice trip down memory lane seeing all the posters from yesteryear. Some posts about the FSX conversion are even from 2008 !

Anyway, it all dawned on me now more or less...

Chaffin's B-25 and the Milviz Sabre in P3D are both fine planes but your teams' flew better and there were some nice skins for them, so I'd have liked to have them in my P3Dv4 hangar which is still my largest at over 450 planes installed and many more in the boneyard.

Really ??!! Wow!!

The MAAMs are just two out of surprisingly many planes that are locked into FSX but are well worth flying today, which is what motivated me to get the VR working for it. It certainly wasn't the graphics or the UI!

Well, i can't remember forgetting about something that wouldn't work initially. Either with help of the community or seeing the light myself i could always find a solution. In case of FSX i am also sure i'll get it to work somehow. I have become pretty interested now and i always like a challenge.

I'll report back later !

Cheers,
Jan

 

[K5083]

Unfortunate news today for fans of the Reverb G2, apparently it is being discontinued and HP is getting out of the VR game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVXwSs0rHlo

Some folks saw this coming when they went on sale for half price in November, when I got mine.

There may be some good deals coming as they close out the inventory, or on the other hand, people may bid up the price of this fine piece of kit.

Either way, take care of yours, because soon there won't be any more and there won't be a G3!

August