Madmatt_BFC

I just did a test with the Night Landing A-10C mission and reset gamma to 1.0. Well it's still not what I would describe as inky black, but it was much darker than before for me. I did not notice any stars but the moon had a real nice shimmer across the water inbound to Kubiliti. In other news, I also just made my first successful night landing! Funny that after all these years of playing, I don't think I ever tried to do a landing like that before. That was scary but very fun. I think this topic is really going to be in the eye of the beholder. For me, a night flying novice, I found everything exciting and challenging. For someone that is used to a higher graphics fidelity in nighttime situations, maybe they wouldn't. I'll try the same the mission with my 34" monitor and TrackIR and have a look at the differences.

Yeah, I was thinking about this as well. a native 2k screen per eye should mostly eliminate the need for added pixel density. I don't think I can do the math, but what would the equivalent value of extra PD need to be (lets go with the Rift-S's resolution to start with) in order to equal the Reverbs native resolution? 1.1? 1.2? Every-time I see someone try and workout video resolutions with added pixel density, someone else always replies to tell them that they did their math wrong! :)

Have we seen any confirmation from ED that canted screens ARE or AREN'T supported in DCS? I recall when the Pimax 8k and 5k began showing up that there was some reports of distortion in the screens but I thought for the most part those had been resolved by now. I am clearly not fully up to speed on the current status though, hence my asking. I know that in IL2 there were reports of scaling issues on some headsets but by tweaking a 3rd party VR/shader mod I believe most of that was resolved. Hopefully, if this turns out to be a problem with the Index, it won't be a long term one.

Can't wait to start seeing some real world use reports in DCs and other games. My concerns about the Reverb is how much horsepower its going to need and those earlier reports of bad Mura on the screens. From all reports so far, the clarity should be impeccable.

dburne, the light shines white to show that the unit is getting power and when the proximity sensor detects something close (i.e your face pressed into the facial interface), it turns to red/amber to indicate it's displaying an image in the lens. Because I could just see that LED light in the corner of my view, i decided to cover it with a small piece of electric tape. as long as you just cover the LED itself and not the sensor below it, it won't affect the headsets functionality.

I've had mine for 6 days and have played pretty much everyday and haven't gotten any warning about the batteries just yet. Will be interesting to see how long they last with normal brand name batteries, not the ones the controllers came with. We have no idea how long they sat on a shelf before they got boxed up. It's even possible that yours weren't fully charged when you installed yours. I think we need to be paying attention to battery life more closely once the included batteries expire and new fresh ones are put in. Madmatt

Just like there are subforums for the various manufacturers of joysticks and HOTAS, I think we are quickly getting to the point where we need new subforums for each of the major brands of headsets out, or about to come out. Madmatt

In addition to the random white flashes, I am also seeing the issue where if I close Oculus Home and then later on relaunch it, I may or may not get a display to show up inside the headset. Sound always works but it seems like it isn't always able to initialize the video. I have tried stopping and restarting the Oculus Service (via OTT) and to date, that hasn't worked for me. The only solution was a full reboot. I'm going to do some more checking on this tonight. Madmatt

Going from memory, engaging Autohover can result in any activated AutoPilot Channels disengaging under several conditions. * If you activate Autohover while too low to the ground i.e. lower than 3 or 4 meters. * If you can try and engage AutoHover immediately after first ramp take off (system needs some time to fully stabilize, not sure how much though). * If you engage Autohover at too steep of a pitch angle. Actually this exception I am less sure about but I saw it mentioned before. In those conditions, when you engage AutoHover you will see the Autopilot channel buttons blink (well you would if the in-cockpit indicator buttons were still working properly but that's a whole other topic) and then turn off as they are disengaged. I believe you will also see your AP channels disengage when your INU is not properly aligned after a ramp start and you try to engage AutoHover. That could be related to the second reason above though. Madmatt

Those Inatek cards are usually running a single controller so all 4 ports are sharing the same USB bus channel. That's why I went with the more expensive StarTech card (https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-SuperSpeed-Dedicated-Channels/dp/B00HJZEA2S/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=StarTech.com+4+Port+PCI+Express+%28PCIe%29+SuperSpeed+USB+3.0+Card+Adapter+w%2F+4+Dedicated+5Gbps+Channels+-+UASP+-+SATA+%2F+LP4+Power&qid=1558993050&s=electronics&sr=1-1) as each USB port has its own dedicated 5Gbps bus channel. To be honest though, I am not sure it's going to make any difference. Hopefully Occulus will figure it out and resolve it in a future update. Madmatt

I just gave this a quick test to see how things looked. Please note, I am not a competent F18 jockey at all. I am still learning the systems and have never tried to land the Hornet in those types of conditions. I believe my gamma is set to 1.6 or 1.7. Probably a bit high for this test. Sorry about that. Starting the mission I can make out some dim lights of a few pockets of buildings and the sky, while definitely not black, is very dark. Reminds me of minor backlight bleed you get on some monitors. You can tell the monitor is on, because there is a slight glow, but its more of a dark gray soupy type color than a obsidian black. I can not see my wings out the cockpit. After contacting ATC and the landing lights pop up I can make them out as small pin points of lights. Looking down I can see the lights coming from inside buildings and street lights and make out their shapes but not many details. Everything looks a bit hazy as opposed to jet black. I would rate the color of the sky perhaps like you might get with a waxing crescent moon. I never made it ON the runway itself but flying it over I can see where the surface of the runway IS due to the position of the landing lights, but again, could not discern any detail because of the darkness all around. Sorry, that's probably all very vague to you but I am just not an accomplished enough F18 pilot to really test out this mission. What I am though is someone that's been playing DCS and its various predecessors for over 14 years and I would say that while far from perfect, the modeling of dark skies in the Rift-S seems to work sufficiently well. Very few flight sims have ever gotten night flying really nailed, and DCS is no different in this regards. I also play Elite Dangerous a lot in VR, and I have no issues with the "blackness" of space as rendered on these LCD panels. Hope that helps some... Madmatt

Not sure I agree. It would seem like as long as people are clear with their subject title that posting new threads is totally acceptable and expected. That main Rift-S thread, of which I have contributed a bunch myself, is now closing in on 100 pages and at that volume and size, it's usefulness and relevancy is beginning to lesson as the larger it grows, the harder it is to pull specific details and current bits of info out of it. Totally my opinion of course, but as a VR-centric subforum, it would seem that posts about VR topics, regardless of if they are specific to certain HMD or not, would make sense to go here and result in new threads being created as long as they properly identify on if it's a general VR topic or a hardware specific one. Madmatt

I've seen them occur randomly in pretty much all the various games I have played in my Rift-S the past few days which include: Assetto Corsa, Elite Dangerous, Dirt Rally, RoboRecall, DCS and Il2. From what I have been reading, it could be related to how much data the USB port and controller is pushing at any given moment. My primary gaming rig has a dedicated 4 port - 4 controller (1 unique USB 3 controller per port) card that I am going to hook into and see if I still get the issue. In the past, this was the card that drove my four Rift Sensors and I got it specifically so that I would never have an issue with available USB bandwidth. When I first installed the Rift-S, I was having issues with it being detected when I used one of those ports, but I haven't tried since updating both Windows and Rift-S so want to try it again and see if it makes any difference. Will report what I find tomorrow or later this week. Madmatt

Brilliant! Can't wait to get home to test this out. For months now I have just got into the habit of disconnecting then reconnecting all my TM devices before launching CTS which was the only way I could assure that I would get only the combined device to show up. Hope this works! Madmatt

After my first day with the Rift-S I wasn't so sure. But now, with a few more days under my belt and that I have found a set of good headphones that fit over the halo (my Bose Quiet Comforts just fit and sound great) and I have seen how well this really works on my second gaming rig, I have to say that YES, it is a worthwhile upgrade. If I can make a few bucks selling off my old CV1 setup, so much the better. I will say also, that this Rift-S has really got me excited about the Index in a few months although I think that will require me to upgrade to a 2080Ti to maximize performance. Madmatt

No, I don't use it.

Been playing the Rift-S on my second gaming rig which only has a 1070 card, and during a session of RoboRecall (I love that game), I had the same split instant of garbage on the screen as I get from time to time in DCS. This time it looked more like a flurry of colored boxes like you might get in the old days when your VGA cable wasn't installed all the way. Looking forward to the first batch of patches from Oculus. In other news, I am getting used to the halo design and getting more used to the fit. I did take off the entire top strap but I am thinking of reattaching it to aid a bit in vertical stability as sometimes with jerky or fast head motion I do have to readjust it slightly. Another interesting thing I discovered is that even with this gaming rig and its 1070 and I7 9600K running at only 4.7Ghz I am still getting a solid 40+ FPS in DCS with pretty middle of the road settings. I never thought I could reliably play in VR on this rig but so far its doing really well. I think for those with less than killer gaming rigs, the Rift-S really scales well! Madmatt

Looks like I am going to have to check this one out! Madmatt

I just wanted to add to what others have said about this remarkably useful utility. As someone that frequently switches between VR gameplay and a Track IR, I find this tool priceless as it allows me to effortlessly switch between versions. Thanks SkateZilla for all your hard work and talent. It is VERY much appreciated! Madmatt

Easiest way is to just capture a screenshot of the graphics page from within the settings panel in DCS. Just tap the Print Screen button on your keyboard, then alt tab out to your desktop. Launch Paint, or any other graphics program you may use and paste and crop the image then attach it to your posting here on the forum. That's how I do it. Madmatt

Here is a cockpit reposition trick I learned with my Track IR that also works great in VR. When you first start off in a mission, or even in the Hanger Menu and you aren't in the best position, simply move in the opposite direction from your ideal position, then click the Numpad 5 key (or whatever you have recenter view bound to). When you recenter, it will recenter the view from that NEW position you are sitting at, not from where the game thinks it should. So, in your situation, if the menu panel is smack dab in your face, just lean in a few inches and then tap the recent key. For me, the default position in the A-10C is also about a foot too close to HUD, so i lean in about 2 inches to the screen, and I also lower my head just a tiny bit. After I hit the recent key I am further back in my seat and also sitting a bit higher. Keep in mind that this is not a one for one correction. It is magnified. What I mean is that if you lean in just 1 inch (or for those of you on metric a few cm's), when you recenter, the new position will be adjusted in the opposite direction a lot more than that, so it takes some trial and error to get it just right. This also works if you find your default position too far to either side. Again, lean a bit to the OPPOSITE side you want to the new position to center you to, then click the recenter view key. One other thing to try is to use the IPD value within the VR menu of DCS. This actually doesn't appear to effect your focus point like the IPD setting in the HMD itself) but I found that setting this to a lower number pushes the screen further back, but it also begins to make everything else in the cockpit seem smaller, like I am a much bigger person. Setting it higher does the opposite, you will appear to be smaller and smaller the higher the number. Think of it like a cockpit scale adjustment. If I set it to 40, it makes everything in cockpit appear maybe 10% smaller than normal. A setting of 70 and perhaps everything is 10% bigger. Worth a try to see the effect. I think this was added when some people with Windows Mixed Reality headsets complained that the scale of everything did not seem to match what other HMDs had. Good luck! Madmatt

I don't have the Tomcat module but if you could always use the VR Zoom feature to quickly zoom in on just that panel. Another suggestion would be to configure up a dedicated snap view that shows just that panel up close. As I mostly fly in the A-10C, using the CTS software I mentioned earlier, I have configured a hat switch on my joystick to give me a zoomed in view through the HUD when I press up (plus holding down a modifier button), left is my LEFT MFD Panel, Right is my RIGHT MFD Panel and Down is my CDU Panel. A quick double tap in any direction and my view reverts back to normal. I find it very useful as I can quickly get a nice zoomed in clear view of my TADS or Maverick/TGP screens instead of zooming or leaning in to them. I also have the VR Zoom key bound to a button on my throttle but I don't use that as much. Madmatt

It's not that since I don't set a guardian boundary. From reading on Reddit it seems a rather common issue. . interestingly enough I hooked up my Rift-S to my secomd gaming rig and played a few hours of different games and it never occurred. Could be chipset or hardware conflict related. Time will tell. Madmatt

Just flew another test mission and twice during play I got the flash of white static issue that others have reported. It actually kind of looks like the passthrough is kicking in for about 10ms or so. Im sure this has been reported to Oculus but have they commented on it yet? Madmatt

I don't have the F5 module but for most planes where I need to dial in radio frequencies or other devices that require direct input I do use the mouse to click the correct in-cockpit knobs or buttons. If you are playing in Single Player mode you may want to try and use the Active Pause feature. Your plane will freeze in position but all your controls are still useable. It's a great training tool and I used it a lot when learning a new module. Just be advised that while you are paused, nothing else is! All other planes, missiles and vehicles will continue to move, track and fire on you while you are in Active Pause. The nice thing is you can also track and fire weapons as normal too. Only your plane is frozen in place, not your ordinance. Madmatt