Posts by kenventions

Jeff, I'm looking forward to your 1st post after you have tried a VR flightsim. The resolution will be one step back but the immersion is 10 steps forward!

It's amazing to be able to tilt your head back and see the over-head instruments or when flying an F-18 at the top of a loop (and upside-down), tilt your head back to spot the runway below you. I also notice I scan left/right out the windows more frequently in VR due to old habit from the Cessna flying lessons days - just wish there was some traffic in the pattern!

Quote from Saltgrass

My system seems to work pretty well but of course there are some occasional problems. Like looking down to change a VOR frequency the hand may not be able to reach all the way down for some reason. Perhaps it is the where each controller is in the FOV.

There are some critical times, like raising the gear where trying to fly with hands and reaching across cockpit to raise the gear can get exciting.

Since I am fairly new to this, I had to understand some things. Such as the pads on the Odyssey control flight controls and brakes. If you let your fingers hit those, the airplane can do strange things.

Just finding out that pushing down on the left thumbstick puts you in the SteamVR portal and holding down the left pad for 3 seconds puts you into the Aerofly menu, helps greatly. I am hoping one day the flight info will be incorporated so it can be access from within the simulation.

My problem right now is clarity of instruments in VR mode. I am working on that but I have limited my use due to eye strain.. The Saitek X52 works great and the instruments are very clean in normal mode...

The clarity issue may just be VR versus your traditional 1080P monitor - today's VR won't be as sharp as a 1080P monitor.

You can help the VR clarity some by using super-sampling. The latest SteamVR beta will auto-set the SS value based on your graphics card (it set mine to SS=1.72 for my GTX1080+Odyssey combo). You can check it under the SteamVR Settings > VIDEO section, just temporarily check the MANUAL box.

If you are using the SteamVR Beta, make sure the FS2 VR setting for Render Scale Factor = 1.00 otherwise your graphics card will try to do both (SS * RSF) and the resulting frame rates will be too low. If you are not using the SteamVR Beta, then make sure the SteamVR setting has SS=1.0 then adjust the FS2 RSF to something greater than 1.00 to see if the instruments look better. The Cessna 172 may be a good plane to experiment with because the instruments are close.

I may be late to the party but I just noticed FS2 flying wasn't as smooth as normal and I remember reading on the WindowsMR reddit page something about a recent SteamVR update that now automatically adjusts super-sampling in the SETTINGS > VIDEO > APPLICATION RESOLUTION based on your graphics card.

In the past, I left the SteamVR SS setting = 1.0 and then adjusted the FS2 Render Scale Factor to something like 1.33 for my Samsung Odyssey + GTX1080 combo. Now SteamVR is auto-setting SS = 1.72 (you can see this if you temporarily check the MANUAL SETTING box). With both now greater than 1.0, I think I'm double-scaling (1.33 * 1.72) so I set FS2 Render Scale Factor back to 1.0 to see how the new SteamVR version works.

So far so good - smooth flying has returned and things look as clear as before so I know some kind of super-sampling has been set in SteamVR. I'm guessing it's better to leave SteamVR in auto-SS mode with FS2 = 1.0 than to force SteamVR into a manual SS=1.0 and adjust FS2 scale back to 1.33 - any other opinions?

See pmb's post - My impression of the VR hands thing.

Sounds like you might have a similar high-end setup but the outlook for support sounds doubtful if you read some of the follow-up speculation in that post and then factor in that the IPACS Dev Team is a small team and people with a high-end setup like yours are a small part of the flight sim community.

That's just my speculation / 2 cents worth - hope the link above is helpful.

I agree with the more frequent scenery loads - I noticed that too.

I noticed last night while trying out Chicago-Meigs that quick turns cause stutters but when I use the same graphic settings (U,U,U,M,M,M) for any other ORBX areas, quick turns are smooth (no stutters). Is this just because Chicago-Meigs is the only ORBX scenery with a bunch of tall buildings?

I've flow around NYC a lot which is not ORBX and also had to use lower graphic settings (U,H,H,M,L,L) . I was hoping tall buildings in ORBX scenery would do better but maybe not. I have Render Scale @ 1.33 with my Samsung Odyssey.

Is this because each building is unique versus the hand-placed houses in ORBX Monterey which are just duplicates of each other? Or is it because each building is tall / has more volume?

Maybe some day we'll get autonomous graphics settings management where the user just selects one of the following: NO STUTTERS --- SOME STUTTERS/BETTER DETAIL --- MORE STUTTERS/MAX DETAIL and then the software dynamically adjusts to the scenery encountered along the route (takeoff at small airport and land at big city airport).

I remember someone posted that you could demo FS2 by turning on the "Co-Pilot" and it would take-off and fly the assigned route. I haven't tried it but thought I would mention it - I think only certain planes have the "Co-Pilot" option.

It would be great if any view assignment changes would also work with VoiceAttack so I can setup commands/keystroke macros that react to simple phrases like "Pilot" or "Chase" or "Tower" and then use the HAT switch for any needed panning.

Since I fly VR 100% and use the Pilot view 98% of the time, I would prefer to select other views with VoiceAttack versus tying up HOTAS buttons.

Quote from RoyPettit

This is good info -- thanks for sharing. I haven't had time to work on some kind of hybrid physical + VR controls thing, so whatever you are discovering will be useful to us. How are you getting around the desk-blocking throttle problem in the C172? By sitting way back before WMR Portal gets launched?

Looks like your "cockpit" would be suitable for Airbus heavies also. My son is an aeronautical engineer for Boeing and told me they went with a yoke on the 787 and probably anything future because that's what the pilots have requested in their surveys.

Later...

Roy, I push my office chair back about a foot from the edge of my VR Cockpit floor to give arms length clearance with the VR controller in my right hand. I mapped the re-center VR view and the MENU to buttons on the base of the joystick. I plan to get Voice Attack up and running later tonight. Since the Odyssey has built-in mics I thought I'd give it a try for VR view centering and time adjust.

I know it's possible because when I plugged in my TM throttle, joystick, and rudder pedals, the aircraft's rudder was controlled by 3 different things (rudder pedals + joystick twist + throttle rocker paddles).

Do all of your controllers show up as icons in the lower left part of the CONTROLLERS menu?

First flight with traditional joystick on the left and VR controller for throttle and instrument changes !

Still using rudder pedals and the ButtKicker. I used some leftover plywood and L-plates to make the mount.

Seems like the best of both worlds - left hand always on the joystick/yoke and right hand free to adjust throttle/flaps/gear and instruments/radios using the VR controller. Looking forward to haptic feedback once Microsoft turns that on.

Impressive - I've heard other people didn't like the orange light too. Was it easy to open? I'm guessing there are a few screws on the bottom.

2 more comments:

- my son has the X52 (Saitek), I didn't like the feel - joystick felt top-heavy and loose vs the Thrustmaster which has a firm resistance near the bottom of the joystick. I also thought the Logitech throttle felt top-heavy - TM throttle feels easier to adjust

- rudder pedals add a lot of realism as they have toe brakes on each pedal

The other bummer about the Saitek version it used just 1 USB cable + a special cable to connect the joystick to the throttle box. I believe Logitech fixed that in their version (each controller has its own USB cable).

EGPF, one scenario I'm curious to try is to mount the Thrustmaster joystick to the left side of my office chair and use the VR controller in my right hand for throttle control and instrument adjustments. Throttle doesn't need the same precision/feel as the yoke does.

I'll have to push my chair back some from my VR Desk so I don't bump anything with the VR controller but I'll still be able to use the rudder pedals plus the ButtKicker has a long enough cable that it will still work. Hopefully WMR users will get haptic feedback later this month.

This arrangement will work for many of the FS2 aircraft - for the others, I'll need the flexibility to mount the joystick on the right side.

If you have any VR interest, I'd recommend a stick so you can mount it on your side, allowing plenty of clear space in front of you to use the VR controllers to reach the VR instrument panel without bumping into any real-world objects like a yoke clamped to your desk.

Roy, thanks for doing the SEL research!

I'm using the same controllers.

EGPF, knowing that IPACS is a very small development team, I've begun to understand why they continue to focus on major additions first (ATC, etc) and deliver them at a decent quality level (120-grit sandpaper) before cleaning up the little things that really polish FS2 to the 800-grit sandpaper level.

It's those major additions that will draw more flight sim fans into the FS2 community which will grow their business and expand their development efforts so they can fine-tune a few more things.

I also thought the UTC thing was a bit awkward - at first I just lived with it, now I prefer the rocker approach, but this weekend I'm going to give VoiceAttack a try so I can free up that rocker switch. Plus with ATC in development, I will probably need a push-to-talk button on my HOTAS anyway so I can start using that button for VoiceAttack.

I find with the rocker approach I don't even think about the menu TIME option any more - I just start flying and then adjust the time while under the hood / HMD.

Your best bet may be to act as their co-pilot where you use a standard joystick and mirror FS2 onto a standard monitor. The mirror will be the small stereo image but I think there's enough detail that you can keep the plane from crashing into things.

I've also experienced the trim increment issue. Obviously not as big a deal with planes that have auto-pilot. Would still like to be able to get a stable trim with all the single engine planes (without using A/P).