How to find and press the joystick button while wearing the VR headset?

  • Hi

    Many of you are thrilled by VR, but I wonder how it is possible to find and pressing the joystick button while wearing the VR headset and not to see the real things around you. How do you read SkyDemon or how do you make notes on the paper with the VR headset on the head.

    I haven't any VR experience. I think VR is nice if you just fly simple, but it isn't if you fly realistic.

    What are your experience?

    Thank you.
    Gert

  • agree.

    Any flight hardware in the real world can not be seen.
    See earlier discussions in this forum. I got torn apart by those VR kids :)

    from my perspective, VR makes sense if touchpoints are linked with
    a virtually interacting hand reaching for the knobs inside the viewed screen
    and/or if external hardware is build identically to what you see in the picture.

    complex HOTAS-assignments as in the F/A-18 would require a one-to-one mirrored key mapping.
    Due to the variety of hardware brands in the PC world, that is a big challenge.

    Not sure, does VR have a mouse arrow visible for clicking buttons in the virtual cockpit?


    i understand how enthusiastic the kids are about VR, but as cockpits and funcitonalities get completed over time,
    VR may lose attractivity. Nice for an immersive scenery view, but pray you don't need to find a button to click :)

    • Official Post

    currently mouse control in VR is supported, and future updates to the VR "hands" (Oculus Touch and Vive controllers) will be made to be able to control functions in VR. There is already preliminary support for this but needs much more work.

    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 understand how enthusiastic the kids are about VR, but as cockpits and funcitonalities get completed over time,
    VR may lose attractivity. Nice for an immersive scenery view, but pray you don't need to find a button to click :)

    Thanks for the compliment! People usually think I am around 45 instead of 55 but it seldom happens someone thinks I am a kid! :cool: But anyway, you can click any button you want. It is not different than in 2D in FSX, P3D or any other sim. With the Rift I can fly in the Airbus and click on any button, knob or switch that is there. No problem. Complex and complete cockpits aren't a problem at all.

    To answer the OP's question: I never have any problem finding the keys on my joystick. But I have quite a simple one. If you are using specific hardware with a lot of knobs it probably will become a problem: you would be better off to do things in the virtual world, which in VR feels more logical and realistic too. I mean, in a real Boeing you won't see someone with a device in front of him to control the actual cockpit...! ;) That would be really odd. And so it is in VR. I don't need hardware (well, apart from a joystick or yoke and rudder etc.) because I can do things in the sim itself.

    Looking at sites and notes however IS a problem right now. Hopefully and probably addons or apps will come that enable a browser or notepad from within a sim.

  • Like J van E said. There are no problems. VR is the best. I rather use VR than anything else. 2D gaming doesn't matter anymore. Aerofly and VR is the future. Stop bitching around like a real kid Almdudler ;)

    There is >>>NOTHING*<<< comparable to a flight in a Swift S1 at moon light in VR. The atmosphere, the feeling, the optics... man i have no words how unbelievable this is.

    I cry and laugh about every one who refuse VR.

    * Ok, maybe VR with a 6DoF motion platform could be even better. :o

  • agree.

    Any flight hardware in the real world can not be seen.

    This is incorrect. The Oculus Rift has a reasonable sized gap around your nose which you can easily see though. I can type on the keyboard, read notes from my kneepad and find buttons on my joystick should I misplace them through this gap. I fly complex aircraft in FS-X (PMDG NGX, 777 & 747) in VR on VATSIM and use a notepad to note down freqs and clearances just as I did before in 2D. I also interact with the cockpit buttons entirely with the mouse in VR and it feels extremely natural. I drag charts and web windows around in the virtual space thanks to FlyinsideFSX. You are not completely sealed off from the outside world, unless you have a preposterously large nose.

    Aerofly FS2s implimentation of VR is VERY nice. The high framerate making it easy to get smooth play and the cockpits being nice to interact with the mouse.

    Regarding immersion, nothing compares to VR. Thats all that can be said.

    AFFS2 Needs Multiplayer - Please make it happen!

  • Quote

    The Oculus Rift has a reasonable sized gap around your nose which you can easily see though. I can type on the keyboard, read notes from my kneepad and find buttons on my joystick should I misplace them through this gap. I fly complex aircraft in FS-X (PMDG NGX, 777 & 747) in VR on VATSIM and use a notepad to note down freqs and clearances just as I did before in 2D.

    Thank you for all your feedback. I see VR works better as I thought and in the future upcoming solutions will improve it. I'm looking for it.

    I didn't know that is a gap inside the VR headset and through it you see the real world. That's great. :) Nice to read that you fly complex aircrafts with VR headset without major problems and I'm was wrong. :D

  • I haven't a favorite solution. All good solutions are welcome.

    I have start flying flight simulators with Microsoft FS4. The simulators have developed a lot, but one problem stay until today: the limited view. It is still heavy to change the view fast to handle all the cockpit elements. I tested Track IR, but this was bad for me. Then I have installed and used EZDOC. This is a useable solution.

    If VR works better then Track IR than it will become my solution.

    I also will test eye-tracking. Maybe speech recognition can help to handle a complex cockpit. This is like you give voice command to the copilot.

  • Operating switches etc in VR doesn't feel any more odd than using a mouse to do it in 2D to me. You have to accept some compromises in a sim, but the only way to do it would be to have a full size mock cockpit for each plane that you fly, so that the hand tracking could match up with what was happening in the virtual cockpit. I would imagine this is unlikely to happen, so we just have to go along with the limitations of a sim.

    There is a lot you can do with joystick buttons and button boxes, as you can easily feel where they are without looking, so you can complement the VR experience quite successfully. Certainly no weirder than using a mouse to press a switch that is in front of you.
    Some people will be into the VR thing, some people won't, it's no big deal, just best to do the thing you like best and discuss and share it with others on the forum. That's why we call it a forum :cool: it's always interesting to see other points of view.

    i5-12600K/MSI RTX 3080/Win11/64Gb RAM/Asus Xonar DX+ Beyer DT990 pro headphones/LG 34" UM65 @2560x1080/Quest Pro/TM Warthog+VKB MkIV Rudder pedals

  • Gert, see what i mean?

    happily it's the usual 3 of them.

    What's your problem?

    I don't care how you want to fly your sim, but when the OP asks about VR and then you answer and provide incorrect information you cannot be surprised when somebody with several hundred VR sim hours over the last few years steps up and corrects you.

    To call me (us) kids is insulting when you know nothing about me, my flight experience both virtual and in real aircraft and how much time and money I have spent building sim cockpits both personally and professionally over the years.

    May I suggest you try out a quality VR flight sim setup before proclaiming to be the expert on weather VR is useful for complex flight sims or not. And certainly before passing on your lack of knowledge to other people.

    Cav.

    AFFS2 Needs Multiplayer - Please make it happen!

  • Most VR threads on all the sim forums I read contain a long stream of enthusiastic posts from people who have jumped on board with VR. This one is by no means unique, and most people are sharing their experiences so that others can enjoy what they have discovered. From what I have seen, I think there are far fewer people who have tried it and wish to go back to 2D. There are a few who have reservations, whether it's resolution, price, Mark Zuckerberg ruling the world etc. and that's fine.

    I'm glad there were people who were enthusiastically posting about VR as that helped me to make the decision, and I have been really happy with my rift. For me it has transformed the simulation experience, probably most of all with helicopters.

    I hope this helps inform the OP's decision, but ultimately it's your sim, play however you want.

    i5-12600K/MSI RTX 3080/Win11/64Gb RAM/Asus Xonar DX+ Beyer DT990 pro headphones/LG 34" UM65 @2560x1080/Quest Pro/TM Warthog+VKB MkIV Rudder pedals


  • I didn't know that is a gap inside the VR headset and through it you see the real world. That's great. :) Nice to read that you fly complex aircrafts with VR headset without major problems and I'm was wrong. :D


    Well, now, hold it! None of the VR devices have a gap added on purpose so you can see the real world through it! The idea of it all is that you can't see the real world at all! You want to be immersed in the virtual world. However, not everybody is created equal and this also goes for noses. Some have big ones, some have small ones. The VR devices (Rift, Vive) have been created so most people would have no problem wearing them: hence the space where your nose has to go is a bit too large for some people and hence they can sort of see a bit of the real world. I myself really have to do my best to peak down and see something of the real world: I have to lift my head, look down as much as I can and then, yes, I can see a few keys of my keyboard. The IDEA however is to see nothing at all outside the VR world and I myself always do my best to ignore this gap.

    Additional note: I own a Rift but afaik the Vive has an option that you can switch between the virtual world and what is around you: it seems to have a camera build in which then shows you what's outside on your VR screen. Nice feature but imho immersion killing. But it could come in handy. Maybe a Vive owner can confirm this.

    Anyway, just so you know: the gap is different for everyone and in a perfect situation it shouldn't exist: it certainly is not added on purpose as a feature.

  • Nobody seems to have mentioned a little free program called OpenVRdesktop (free on Github though I think there's now a paid version on Steam too).

    This allows you to have windows open in the VR world, it is amazing!!! You can have them static in place, or like I do attached to one of your motion controllers. So for example, I plan my flight on SkyVector with VOR frequencies showing, then in the sim I pick up my controller which I have on the seat next to me in the Cessna and it's like looking at a clipboard. I have it set so when I hold it up infront of me it enlarges too.

    Also using SideSync from Samsung, I can display my phone on PC. With this I can even have SkyDemon running and again view my flight and the moving map in the sim.