Frusheen

There is currently no easy way to subtract platform movement from head movement. The result would be the rift seeing the platform movement and changing your view as a result. There are third party solutions being worked on (external IMUs which subtract the platform movement from the rift). I'm not sure about the total movement of the GS-105 but from the videos I've seen there does seem to be a fair bit of movement applied to the upper body and head. I'd be afraid this could induce unwanted view changes and cause motion sickness. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has tried it with the rift dev kits. I'm currently building a seat inspired by Bergisons solution. A g-seat does not effect the internal rift IMU so will not induce unwanted movement. That's why I abandoned a motion platform design in favour of the seat. It's DIY though so not what you're after.

Great write up. This has given me motivation to keep working on mine. I'm not as brave as you! I'm currently wiring my relays and kill switch before I go any further! I haven't delved into x-sim too much. I wasn't able to find any write up to get my head around the math setup yet. I think a bit of trial and error will be in order. I look forward to further updates as you make changes. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I'm anxious to find out if the ETL vibration is felt in the Huey or if it's just represented graphically in the sim. I need to get back to work on mine.

I think it's Nate Mitchell at Oculus has said many times that he gets very bad VR sickness. The latest 90Hz models at oculus have reportedly cured that for him. What did you try in the rift? Dcs is far from the best experience unless on a top end pc, at least for now. I do get a bit queasy if I spend extended periods in dcs (>1hour). I am certain that my issue is all tied to frame rate and pixel density though. Smoother running titles cause me no issues. VR sickness and motion sickness are not the same thing although they feel similar. I'm looking forward to dcs world 2 and hopefully frame rate improvements.

I was going to ask you to share more info as well. As I progress with my build I'd be interested to gather and share as much info as possible. I'll be starting my own thread when I have more to show and will link to it here. If you have time please do the same.

Plus you double the bandwith with two cables

The latest rift being demoed by oculus has two screens. So has the HTC vive. With nvidia working on VR sli drivers things are looking hopeful for higher than expected resolution. Oh and thanks for the update Wags. Really looking forward to dcs world 2 Edit: Wags can you tell us is the status of timewarp and direct mode in dcs 2?

Sorry as I said I haven't used sim tools yet. I'm still setting up with x-sim. You should have a look here. http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/digital-combat-simulator-–-dcs-plugin.4762/page-4

The only alternative to dcs for helicopter flight dynamics is x-plane 10. Specifically the Dreamfoil Creations helicopters are excellent. Nothing else comes close. To fully appreciate them you need proper helicopter controls (they are a real handful with a joystick). What makes ARMA 3 enjoyable is the graphics. The flight dynamics are better than default fsx but it's the visuals where it really shines. I got it working in the Oculus Rift DK 2 and although it was not proper 3d and had some warping issues it looked stunning. Doing high speed approaches onto rooftops in the little bird with the rift is a blast. It's a game though not a simulation. If treated as such and your not expecting anything more from it then it is a lot of fun. I never tried it on a monitor so mileage may vary. Not sure how much of my enthusiasm is based on wearing the rift. I'd definitely recommend ARMA 3 with the helicopter DLC before TOH though. TOH got extensive community modding to try and improve the FD (Fred who created Helicopter total realism for FSX even tried to improve it) alas it never reached its potential. What good work was done incorporating Rotorlib tables etc found its way into ARMA.

The TOH 'flight model' has since been incorporated into ARMA III. It's not very good.

I haven't used sim tools. Currently doing a build with x-sim. I believe the hook may need a workaround with dcs. The application you use to launch dcs is not the game executable. That is started when you launch a mission from within the dcs Ui. I know with x-sim you have to fool it into connecting with dcs Also this may be obvious but have you modified your export.lua script to get the motion data out of dcs? Could that be where your problem is.

Undoubtedly this or similar AR tech is best for physical pits. I'm worried about the FOV though. Waiting to see what's released.

Pass through in vr is a very bad idea. It defeats the entire purpose of a VR headset. If you've built a home cockpit then continue to use monitors/projectors or wait for augmented reality devices like those from technical illusions or microsoft. A hotas with a trackball is all we need with virtual clickable cockpits at least until descent hand tracking is developed. If you've gone to the effort of building a home cockpit with 163 switches then VR is kinda pointless.

You still need the high refresh rate to avoid motion sickness. Trackir won't cut it.

I don't expect this to have any effect until DCS has been updated. As it removes Directx 10 support along with the previously announced deprecation of Directx 9 I think we will need to wait for dcs world 2 to see the changes.

sweetFX DK2 settings Is anyone using sweetFX with the DK2? I'd be interested in seeing any profiles if someone has taken the time to optimise it for the rift.

I'd like to echo those sentiments. I am so grateful for your detailed notes and guide. I'm making good progress on my build which I could not have done without your webpage. Your seat has been inspirational.

Thanks for letting us know. The rift is perfect for helicopters and having a virtual pilot will greatly aid immersion.

I knew it was in the mi8 and Ka50 but last time I checked it wasn't in the huey. Thanks for the heads up.

Anyone else noticed the pilot body is rendered in the Huey on the EDGE video from Wags? This isn't available in the current Huey model. I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come. Has to have been done for VR. Thats what I'm hoping at least ha. I have high hopes for EDGE and the rift.

Fantastic work as always Pat. I can't wait to have a few new helicopters in DCS. this looks top class. I really hope you are able to implement a really descent flight model. I'm still hoping to see a pilot body modelled in that cockpit for VR ;-)

Keyboard issue could well be solved. Valve Lighthouse will track an arbitrary number of points with sub mm accuracy. It won't take long for a keyboard and other peripherals with the trackers to appear which will allow you bring your keyboard, mouse, switches whatever in to vr with you. All we need now is improved resolution. Something that will be improved over time.

Valves lighthouse announced at GDC this week could allow for switches to now be tracked in VR. "An arbitrary number of points can be tracked to sub mm accuracy". Might this allow for unwired rocker switches with a reflector to be assigned in game. It would make creating a home pit a lot easier (no need to wire the switches). Coupled with a tracker glove we could have hands in the VR world and haptic feedback from the switches. I'd imagine it would require exact switch placement though to marry or real and virtual movement. http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/valve-vr-input/

a few years back I bought a dk1 for a guy to try and create a Rift plugin for x-plane. If it came to it I'm sure as a community we could make sure wags got a Valve dev kit for DCS :)

Nothing from Oculus about CV1 at GDC so far. Very disappointing but not surprising. They have obviously decided mobile is their priority for now. With mass consumer GearVR planned for October how long will they hold back CV1? Lighthouse from Valve looks really good though. It's a cheap free to implement tracking solution. We could have our hands tracked in the cockpit or alternatively physical switches visible in VR for those who prefer cockpit building. It also seems the HTC headset could be the first of many SteamVR headsets all sharing the same Valve developed technology. I hope LG take up the VR torch and we see Samsung v LG competing on the screen resolution front. Exciting times.

Turn on your rift. Set it to extended mode and primary monitor Turn off the rift (desktop display becomes primary again) Launch dcs Click on your mission (dcs UI disappears) Before the mission load screen turn on the rift. The mission will load in the rift with clickable mouse and low persistence. To end a flight click esc and end mission. Immediately turn off the rift so the dcs UI loads on your main monitor.