Aerofly FS 2 VR Hands Have Arrived!

1st Official Post
    • Official Post


    After much effort working to get universal advanced motion control to work across multiple VR headsets we are proud to say that it was worth the wait.

    We originally planned on releasing ‘VR Hands’ only for Oculus users but decided to go all in and offer this spectacular new feature to everyone! The wait is over!

    With the need to make this available for both Oculus Touch and Vive, and to present a universal code to add support for other motion control devices in the future, we opted to write our very own version of ‘VR Hands’ that we know you will enjoy.

    With the addition of this exciting new feature, Aerofly FS 2 blurs the line between reality and virtual flying even further.


    VR pilots with motion controllers can now fully operate any Aerofly FS 2 aircraft with your own hands; every button, every switch, every lever that is currently operational in the aircraft can be operated with your virtual hands, using real-world gestures the same natural way that you would in real life.




    So what about the flight controls? We have you covered! Grabbing the yoke with your virtual hand(s) gives you full control of the yoke.

    So what happens if my arms get tired keeping my hands in the air while flying? We have you covered here too! We have designed a system that will allow you to fly with the analog sticks/pads of your motion controllers so that you can not only put your hands down for a rest during your flight but also give you the ability to keep control of your aircraft while in other views.

    This new feature will also allow you to use one or two motion controllers in conjunction with other physical controllers, so whether you have your own flight yoke and rudder pedals or just a basic joystick that you can’t part with you can now add this new freedom to your configuration for an ultimate flying experience. The possibilities are endless.


    Your new VR Hands were designed to use your motion controllers as the only controllers that you will ever need to fully operate Aerofly FS 2 and fly like a real-world pilot, so there is no need for additional controllers or even your keyboard if you so choose.

    Let your new virtual hands and full freedom take your flight simulator experience to the next level.

    Try this out today and be warned, you will be hooked.

    As developers we have a continuing and growing passion for developing Aerofly FS 2 into the best virtual flying experience ever seen, and it's fueled by the growing community that has stood behind us the entire way. We are committed to building upon the solid foundation that we already have, and will continue to build until we have the best flight simulator ever made.

    For detailed instructions on how to use your new virtual hands check out the Aerofly FS 2 user manual on our official wiki HERE

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

    Sorry to report this so quickly Jeff, but the update has also crashed something for me. I cannot open AFS2 now, getting a message "The Aerofly FS2 main executable has stopped working." I tried rebooting the computer, but same thing. Will it help to delete the main.mcf or is there something else going on? I still don't have VR set, so everything is still on 2d.

    Update:- Erased main.mcf (actually just moved it out of folder so I still have a copy safe) and no difference. Unable to launch AFS2.


    - Kenneth

    Edited once, last by KJKsimmer (February 23, 2018 at 5:08 PM).

    I am not crashing, but although it will allow me to manipulate the menus, and I can use the hand controller sticks to fly the plane, all of my attempts to grab any controls or push any cockpit buttons have failed so far. I will keep trying!

    • Official Post
    Quote from KJKsimmer

    Sorry to report this so quickly Jeff, but the update has also crashed something for me. I cannot open AFS2 now, getting a message "The Aerofly FS2 main executable has stopped working." I tried rebooting the computer, but same thing. Will it help to delete the main.mcf or is there something else going on? I still don't have VR set, so everything is still on 2d.

    Update:- Erased main.mcf (actually just moved it out of folder so I still have a copy safe) and no difference. Unable to launch AFS2.


    - Kenneth

    Hi Kenneth, I'm sorry that you are having problems with this update. Can you please check that your graphics card drivers are up to date?
    What hardware are you using, which operating system (windows/mac version etc) do you have?

    Can you confirm that Aerofly created a new main.mcf file (some settings should have been reset)

    Are you seeing some form of loading screen before Aerofly crashes?

    And if you can please upload your tm.log file from your user documents, so that we can take a look at it, thanks. (Rename it to a .txt file)

    • Official Post
    Quote from Oldar

    I am not crashing, but although it will allow me to manipulate the menus, and I can use the hand controller sticks to fly the plane, all of my attempts to grab any controls or push any cockpit buttons have failed so far. I will keep trying!

    Which hardware to you use, specifically vive or oculus controllers? And what kind of a computer do you have (OS, cpu, graphics card, what connected control devices do you use in Aerofly?). Do you see your hands moving in the cockpit or not?

    • Official Post

    If anyone is having some problems getting things going with the new VR Hands, please first delete your 'main.mcf' file located in your documents\Aerofly FS 2 folder and make sure that you have the latest video card drivers installed.

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

    I am using an Oculus. I have a Win 10 PC with an 8700K CPU, 1080Ti video card, Saitek yoke, throttle and rudders. And yes my hands are visible in the cockpit. I also don't get any little "bump" through the hand controller when I "touch" anything, even at the menus, where they do work.

    I am NOT using the very latest Nvidia driver because it results in Oculus black screens, a problem that I have observed myself and that has been widely reported.

    Hi Jan and Jeff. Thank you for your attention to my situation. I appreciate it.

    1. I am unable to update video drivers because video card is so old that it is no longer either supported or updated by the manufacturers.

    2. I use window 7.

    3. The main.mcf file seems to still be the one from my last successful AFS2 flight, specifically last night (It is dated 22nd of February). I do not see any evidence of a new one having been installed, or any modification having taken place to that file. Moving it out of the folder, and trying to launch AFS2 makes no difference. The program will not open.

    4. I run AFS2 in 2d mode, on a 42 inch TV at 1920x1080 resolution. I also have my display stretched across to a second, smaller monitor, but do not stretch AFS2 over to it.

    5. No loading screen whatsoever. Goes straight to message after clicking the usual icon to open program.

    6. I have attached the tm.log file.

    - Kenneth

    • Official Post

    Great. Thank you for posting your TM log.

    We will have a look to see where your problem is.

    At first suspicion your problem may be the older drivers and/or the older GPU. It may also be a W7 issue.

    I did most of the testing of this release on four different machines with various GPU's (GTX 1080ti, GTX 980, AMD, and GTX 1080) and all passed perfectly. All i7 CPU's and all Windows 10. Also tested 2D mode, Oculus mode, and Steam VR mode on each of them.

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

    Quote from KJKsimmer

    but the update has also crashed something for me.

    I also don't use VR and don't have any problems. Did you let Steam check the integrity of the installation? Rightclick on AFS2 in Steam and choose Properties. Then select the tab Local files and there will be an option to check the integrity of the files. This may take quite some time but I often helps to get a game with problems running again!

    • Official Post

    KJKsimmer: We have opened up a special Steam channel for Aerofly FS 2 named 'v2.0.7.41'. This is the previous version, if you opt into it, you can downgrade to the last version until we have found the issue.

    To activate this channel:

    1) Right click on Aerofly FS 2 inside Steam
    2) A window n amed 'Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator - Properties' opens

    3) Choose 'BETAS'

    4) Under 'Select the beta you would like to opt into: 'v2.0.7.41'.

    5) Click 'CLOSE'

    We can't see at this point, what causes this issue, but we might have added a new graphics feature, that is no longer compatible with your old GPU.

    If you install the previous version, please also post the tm.log again, so we can check it for any differences.

    Great job on the initial release of "magic hands! :thumbup: Here's just some feedback/observations using a Windows Mixed Reality Samsung Odyssey HMD...

    1. By deleting main.mcf I was able to get the hands to show up in the cockpit of the 172. However VR render scale factor was reset back to 1.0. The hands show up on the native view monitor when flying, but not in the menus.

    2. Able to grasp the aircraft controls using the middle-finger button on the controller.

    3. Able to set aircraft (AC) panel dials using pinch/trigger.

    4. Unable to reach throttle due to desk in the way. Unable to find a way around this. Tried sitting way back from desk, recentering, starting while sitting way back (just puts me in back seat), etc.

    5. In the menus the fingers may or may not activate the menu buttons. Works about 10% of the time after stabbing and/or inserting finger up to thumb base and/or clicking something on the controller.

    6. Love the look and feel of the hands.

    7. There is no "feel" (vibration?) in the controllers where the wiki help says there should be some.

    8. Brakes on left touch-pad work, but all kinds of weird unpredictable things happen if accidently hit touch pads at other times.

    Would like to see:

    + Some kind of "sensitivity" or "reach" adjustment for the hands so can reach throttle when sitting at desk.

    + A training video on using VR hands.

    I will probably continue flying with a HOTAS controller, but just wanted to let you know it works (sorta) in WMR. At least can control cockpit panel stuff in VR.

    Thanks for your efforts.

    • Official Post

    Thank you for your support. Yes, we never tested this with WMR so it's not likely fully supported.

    Right now, full support is with Oculus Touch and HTC Vive controllers.

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

    Thanks guys....

    Need to head out of town for a while now. I have some serious thinking to do here. Will I opt in to the previous version? Or, wait for that new computer I have promised myself and do a fresh install of the current version of AFS2 at that time?

    Decisions, decisions.

    Interesting timing, I finally got round to geoconverting my old home town in England last night, and had not seen it in the sim yet!!!!

    Thanks again.

    - Kenneth

    Quote from drhotwing1

    we never tested this with WMR so it's not likely fully supported.

    OK. I'm not sure what percentage of VR users are WMR, but WMR headsets are selling like mad. Since it's cheaper and easier to implement, I would guess WMR would overtake Oculus/Vive at some point in time. Once the "critical mass" is reached for WMR the VR community will probably give it more "cpu cycles". There's a lot of content on Steam that supports it. Might be interesting for you to do a survey on who's using VR (just percentage wise, not names), and what kinds of headsets folks are using (Oculus/Vive/WMR/Other).

    Hi! I just posted a similar problem on topic "Aerofly has stopped working," that I think Kenneth has. Older machine but has worked flawlessly with Aerofly until today. Receive the same message "main executable file..a problem has occurred program to stop working correctly". Have done steam integrity check with no problems noted. I do not use VR. System isI7--860, 2.8/3.5, ATI HD5770 1gig and Win10.

    Do hope we will not have to re-install.

    Look forward to any help.

    Carl

    Regards,

    Carl

    Laptop I7-7700HQ - 2.8/3.6hz, Nvida GeForce GTX 1050 4g, 16gb mem, ssd256 GB +ssd 2.0TB, Win10

    Edited once, last by ctiger (February 23, 2018 at 10:46 PM).