Cripple

Which "bargain" was this? It was my understanding that we all willingly bought in to a beta early-release. I don't recall there being any timescale given for RAZBAM to complete (insert favourite part of aircraft here) either. (@FSKRipper Spot on, mate!)

*A Rift S review* (Caveat: My eyes seem okay and my ears are likely poorer-than-average. YMMV.) TL:DR - If you liked the CV1, but you crave more clarity, buy it. And probably some headphones. As someone who's been using one since early 2017, I'll admit that I packed away my faithful CV1 with something of a lump in my throat. Together we had dived the oceanic trenches, explored the galaxy, climbed the peaks of the world, slaughtered the denizens of Skyrim, flown the skies from Nevada to Normandy, and... er… run about as a small cartoon fox. However, the headset is dead. Long live the headset! Here are my thoughts on the Rift S (as compared to its predecessor), with particular reference to DCS. *Initial Thoughts* The deletion of the trackers means you get less in the box for your money. That said, it has a rather less industrial look that the CV1, seeming smaller and sleeker. *Setup* 10/10 Simple. Plug in. Oculus home spotted it, downloaded drivers, a short vr-noob tutorial and it was up and running. Fewer things to plug in, and half the number of batteries for the wagglies. *Fit and Feel* 9/10 Excellent. Better than the CV1, which was (IMHO) better than the Vive for weight and general fit. The weird wheel-band is actually way easier to use and adjust than the CV1's straps, while the lower button allows for a closer fit to the face. No sweaty mask-mark. Read that last one again. Yup, none. After a 3-hr session last night I had a clear (and dry) forehead. It also feels almost weightless once on. I was never bothered by the mass of the CV1, but the S feels lighter. Smaller too, as those moments of knocking your controllers off your headset seemed reduced. And cooler (both me and the headset), particularly at the end of a long session. I personally like the light-guard at the nose, but you can press the lower button to slide the headset forward for a quick peak of your keyboard if necessary. Still needs a wiggle about once on to find that sweet spot (but the CV1 had that too, particularly until you got the fit right). Fits fine over glasses, and easier to don and doff over them. Interestingly, I had the odd moment of looking-down-bad-binoculars with the CV1, but not in the S (perhaps as it fits me more closely). Not adjustable for IPD. Mind you, I reckon most people got that wrong, and its deletion saves us a few pennies. No trace of motion-sickness, but then I am pretty robust and VR-acclimatised. *Tracking* 10/10 Spot on. Better than the CV1 as it seems harder to occlude or confuse the tracking. Sharp, smooth, and copes well with leaning forward and down in the cockpit (which sometime confused the CV1). Controllers also tracked fine. Some reviewers have reported issues with drawing-the-bow motions with the S, due to the inside-out tracking losing the controller behind your ear. Tested this out in Skyrim VR - no issues what so ever. *Visuals* 8/10 It's not a generational step above the CV1, but then it never claims to be. The cockpit clarity compared to the CV1 is... amazing, and really has to be seen to be believed. I am now able to read compass correction labels in the AV-8B. MFDs have all their text legible without guesswork. No need to mess about with PD to fudge it either. "Screendoor" (which I personally was never much bothered by) is still there on static images like loading screens, but you have to be pixel-peeping to spot it. I did get the odd "sparkly" frame as other reviewers have commented upon. Not often enough to be game breaking, but definitely a bit odd. Maybe they are subliminal messages telling us how great Facebook is (and if you believe that, you need a new tinfoil hat). Code glitch, more like, and hopefully get sorted. Minor reminder you are playing a game, that's all. My IPD is 66mm+/-, so it all looked fine and crispy and all 3D for me. YMMV. Minor niggle at the moment is that everything inside the cockpit looks great, but the canopy perspex and HUD glass seem to be so well rendered that the view outside seems (comparatively) worse. Like looking through a filthy window or smudged glasses. Something the software will catch up with in due course, I reckon. *Audio* 7/10 Probably, the IPD-range notwithstanding, the Achilles' Heel. It's not that the audio is bad, per se. The quality is fine, with an absence of crackles or clipping. It may just be a consequence of a lifetime of loud rock music, but it is just comes across as rather... insipid. Even at full volume, you wish you could crank it up a notch or three. Not a deal-breaker, but definitely a Bad Doggy moment. Salvaged by the fact they have a headphone socket in a sensible place on the headset itself. *Performance* 9/10 In short, same as the CV1 - give or take. My rig is a 16gb i5 SSD with a 1060 6gb GPU. CV1 ran at a solid 45 fps, in downtown Vegas with cockpit textures at 1024 and a PD of 1.2. In similar terrain, Rift S maxes itself at 40 fps with the PD at 1.0 and the visuals improved as described above. In other words, if you can happily run a CV1, you'll run a Rift S. Yet to play with the settings much from what I had the CV1 set at. The lower max fps may be an issue for the more delicate amongst you, but I suspect you'd be pushed to notice the difference without the fps counter up. *Controllers* 9/10 Not used in DCS, I know, but included for completeness. Smaller, lighter, and mostly similar to the last iteration. Oddly, the ring-bit has been reversed in orientation. This makes them initially feel a bit top-heavy, but there was zero impact on my ability to hack-and-slay my way through the snows of Skyrim. Buttons are in the right places - same as the last ones. *Look-through Camera* ?/10 Gimmick? Used it once during set up. Too grainy to be any use for reading knee-boards or the like. Not being wholly uncoordinated, I can move about a 2m.sq empty space without banging in to things. I can also find my own joystick and keyboard by dead-reckoning. Could be cool, but not for me. Haven't used it, so not prepared to rate it, to be fair. *Value for Money* 9/10 It's an improvement visually over the CV1, but is it worth the money? Despite a gut reaction against "S" semi-generational releases, I would argue that it is. Instead of just looking at how much you pay upfront, consider the lifetime cost of the item. I bought the original CV1 for £400 back in 2017. Later that year, I bought the hand controllers for another £100. Have I had £500 of use out of the CV1 over that time? Yup, it looks like it. Steam tells me I have spent 150 hours in Skyrim. I reckon one could easily say I have equalled that in DCS. Add another 50 hours of other VR games (another conservative estimate). Therefore my CV1 setup has cost me 500/350 pounds, or about £1.43 per hour of play. A bargain, particularly for those of us old enough to remember stuffing coins in arcade machines. Two years later, the Rift S cost me 80% of the price for comparable hardware and improved visuals. I've only had 5 hours under it, so it's currently cost me £80/hr. Ouch. However, the more I play the cheaper each hour gets. Assuming a similar level of use as the CV1, even if I end up replacing it at Xmas 2020 the cost of having used it will have been less than £1.50/hour. Or, with there being about 570 days until Xmas 2020, a projected daily cost of £0.70... whether it is used or just an expensive paperweight. Compare to your own income and draw your own conclusions.

Spot on. Whilst this thread does raise a valid point about the practicalities of having audibly "tactile" switches/buttons, the premise seems to be based upon the unlikely scenario that a (currently active) mirage/harrier pilot is taking issue with the realism of the simulated engine noises. Additionally, I can't personally say I've noticed any seam in the engine loop on the harrier. Possibly because the general immersion is distracting me as I fly along...

Erm, you do all remember we willingly bought in to a 3rd-party Beta product? I don't recall it saying "buy this early access and it'll be finished in Two Weeks" either. Caveat Emptor, and all that.

Have you considered a secondhand Rift CV1? They'll be on the market now the successor is coming out. I've been running one in DCS with a 6gb 1060 gpu and an i5 cpu for a couple of years now. Solid 45fps once you dial the settings in, natively supported by DCS, and I haven't had problem with reading HUD/gauges or the dreaded "screen door". Was working on a budget myself back when I bought in to VR, and the 1060 has been entirely adequate.

I "measured" it in VR via the very rough method of grabbing a tape measure where my fingers seemed to hit the keys. Reckon it's about 14cm or 5.5". (Loving your build btw)

Looking great! Seems we are thinking in similar but different ways. I shall follow this with interest. :)

Greetings! After lots of fun and games in my spitfire, I've started a second simpit (as one does!). This time it's the AV-8B Harrier, which I picked up in a sale and *love* flying. Premise behind this build is slightly different to the Spitfire. Now that I've flown in VR for a few years, I know (despite the nay-saying "Worthies" on these fine fora back in '16/17) that one can happily twiddle knobs and flick switches with a headset on. So this build will be optimised for VR and light-weight over nit-picking realism, as I plan to add it to a motion platform in due course. So, what have we got so far? Decide to scale the thing around the TM MFDs, as there are 40+ buttons straight up. They are a little underscale for the Harrier, I believe, but close enough for sim work. Then I pixel-counted the dash image in the RAZBAM manual. That, and waggling a real tape measure in a virtual cockpit gave me a 22" x11" dash to play with. I also measured the distance from the dash to the top of the UFC keys, and made it to be the width of an MFD (14cm or 5.5" in old money). All good. The black box is a plastic 1.6ltr Really Useful Box, to give the required offset and hide the electronic gubbins. The UFC keypad is a 23 key Koolertron usb keyboard from Amazon. Cuts down the wiring nicely. Intention is to use a number of Bodnar boards to interface the rest of the switches to the pc. Used 'em, love 'em. Again, it takes a lot of the skiddling about out of it. Using a CH Fighterstick for the wiggling, TM rudder pedals, and a Saitek triple throttle for the thrust/stop/nozzles. The latter works wonders, and I can heartily recommend it for flying the Harrier. Currently hacking an old usb analogue thumbstick controller in to a throttle grip. (Should be pic here. Let me know if it doesn't show.)

Evening All, Bought a jetseat 908 a couple of years ago. Lovely product, and works so well in VR. However, it seems that the right side seat motors have ceased to work. Noticed it in vibe-test a couple of days ago. Now, before I assume it's a hardware/wiring fault and start digging... - anyone else had a similar issue? - any ideas on how to fix it? Ta

That worked for me too. Thanks! :)

"Chuck", a marvellous guide! Where were you in 2012 when I started my spitfire sim planning? :P Seriously though, it's concise, comprehensive, and factual - ED should give you the job of producing their official tutorials.

That's pretty text-book though. Note that just before the cut-away at 3:09, he seems to be pumping the ki-gass (as per Pilot's Notes). Pity we don't see if he held the booster longer than the starter. Note also how the Wobble Pump, well, wobbles... which it doesn't in the released DCS vid. (2:44) The pilot does seem to use the Idle Cut-Off out of (normal?) sequence though, a la "Wags". However, he seems to be sliding it forward (on) before priming, rather than some P-51-esque press-and-flip-the-lever waggle-ballet. Given that the voice-over is out of sequence here (the narrator mentions the propeller control going fully forward - don't let's get started on that again!) we may be looking at a TV balls-up, but I am willing to concede that one. Looks like they are BBMF too. That gives them slightly better credentials than the "this simulation was voiced by my old pal Wiggles, who must have heard it from his acquaintance Biggles, who owns some old 'planes, so it must be true - and bugger all the historical documentation!" line on here, wouldn't you all say? Speaking of old aeroplanes... perhaps you (Alan) should "at least google before talking" yourself, particularly before giving me that sort of passive aggressive negative rep. I know that (Sir?) Stephan Grey is an old Shekel-Farmer of some renown who also owns The Fighter Collection... However, and feel free to correct me on this one, TFC don't seem to have a Mk IX Spitfire on their books. http://fighter-collection.com/cft/tfc-aircraft-directory/ Only, nobody is even impugning his knowledge or experience. Grey is only being used (erroneously?) as prop to shore up someone else's professional reputation by (presumably well-meaning) third parties.

Okay, this is something that tends to bog-down discussion elsewhere, so I might as well open it up in a separate thread: What sort of Spitfire IX is being simulated here? a) a generic period (1944?) Mk IX? b) a specific period Mk IX, based upon MH434 - as she was during that period? c) a generic vintage Mk IX, circa 2016? d) a specific vintage MK IX, based upon MH434 - as she is circa 2016? e) an "ED Special" - based upon ...? f) something else? In other words, should we (the Customers) expect to be seeing period or current characteristics, systems, and procedures?

Amen! :) I've got a pic somewhere of a Spit with exhaust shields fitted - I'll try and dig it out. Anyone know if they were fitted to avoid ruining the pilot's night vision, or to avoid giving away one's position at night? (The Spit had a short run as a night fighter. They removed the landing lamps pretty early on IIRC.)

Afternoon Yo-Yo, Para. 36 of the Pilot's Notes (as linked), as also referenced previously, was for the Bendrix-Stromberg carburetted Merlin 66 (although it also covers the 70 and 266 models). I believe the Spitfire Mk IX currently being simulated by ED was confirmed as using this engine. You may wish to look over paras. 24 and 25 of the Pilot's Notes (as linked). These indicate that the presence of the Idle Cut-off Lever, rather than a ring in the dash, would indicate this has a Bendrix-Stromberg carb. Note that this lever is where the Mixture lever would be on earlier marks of aircraft. (For all of you who are following this in your own facsimiles of period documents, look section within 8 of AP1565J&L for confirmation of the above. Figure 8A in the 1944 edition, and Figure 3 in the 1945 one.) I'm afraid I don't quite follow your second question. Care to elaborate? (Here's a wee e-link for convenience...) http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Images/spit/SPIT9MANUAL.pdf