dmwierz

Folks, I just mounted an older trackball vertically, attached to my Saitek throttle quadrant, hoping to use the scroll wheel as a elevator trim wheel....but, I can't get it recognized in DCS. See photo below. Is this possible? The scroll wheel IS recognized in DCS as a mouse scroll wheel.

I have been using a four screen set-up for XP11 for more than a year, 1x50" 1080p front screen, and 2x32" 1080p for the side views and a 21” 1080p screen running Air Manager for my instrument panel. After only 20 minutes in VR, I disconnected the two side screens, removed them from my simpit, stowed the 21”screen, and haven't flown in DCS or XP (or driven Assetto Corsa) in 2D ever since.

So...I own a Gladiator MkII and would like an upgrade path to one of the MCG's. If I purchase the VKB-Sim Gladiator Upgrade Kit Lite, that will work?

The path from a technical paper on display technology to a finished, tested end product, can be long, tortuous, and full of potholes, obstructions and other unexpected delays. I'm just sayin'...

FWIW, I, too, had a three-screen simpit, and since getting my Odyssey, I haven't flown or driven in three-screen 2D one single time; not once. Yeah, when I play a game on the main screen that doesn't have a VR mode I notice the increased sharpness and image quality, but I also MISS the immersion I get in VR. For me, I haven't purchased a game in months that is 2D only. I'm a professional photographer, and REALLY appreciate high quality video and still images, but I still prefer flying and racing in VR, and it's only going to get better. When the hardware and software get better, I'll have a ton of experience using VR, and will be able to instantly transition to the higher quality experience...but for now, I'm having a blast!

Exactly!

Andre, is it possible to get a JetSeat with the black piping, and not the orange?

I could not agree with you more. Not the easiest thing in the world to do - learn to land on an aircraft carrier with a front-line fighter jet, like the soon (eventually) to be release F/A-18.

I've seen videos of the Buckeye in DCS, but it appears this project was dropped. Was any version of it released "into the wild"? Call me nostalgic, but this was my first USN jet trainer, and it would be fun to learn DCS (I'm a newcomer) with the same aircraft as I learned on in the Navy.

As an engineer, I love anal people :) , however, there's another way to perform this test that has worked for me, and doesn't require any measuring. While sitting in my sim chair, with my hand on the flight stick, I can barely see my hand moving when moving the stick left and right. I go into the setup and set the misnamed "IPD" within DCS to where I can barely see my hand as it moves the stick left and right, and that works out pretty well. I found the default setting provided a noticeably wider view than IRL, and once I made the adjustment, instruments were easier to read. I'd also suggest binding the 2 VR view options "VR Zoom" and "VR Center", I believe they're called, to two buttons on your stick or HOTAS. The "VR Zoom" is a push-to-zoom feature that zooms back to normal when released, and the VR Center returns you head to facing forward, which you may need after flying around the sky for a while, like in a dogfight. Some people bind the VR Zoom to a switch that stays latched on, allowing them to remain in zoomed-in mode, then they release this switch to return to normal view. I don't care for this, but to each his/her own. You'll find the 2 VR view options hiding under the Aircraft drop down menu, all the way at the bottom, under "UI Controls". Don't ask me why...that's just where they are. You'll also discover that view hat switches or other keyboard zoom controls from your 2D control binding don't usually work in VR. Actually, the way it works in kinda cool, IMO, in VR. You just look at something, hold down the zoom button, read what you need to read, release the zoom button and you're back to normal. Very intuitive. It also works well while flying around, to identify other bogeys or aircraft, or to zoom in on something on the ground, like the runway or helo landing pad. One other note: some folks on here decry the fact that you need to zoom in sometimes to read instruments in VR. Well, I've got news for y'all - I've been flying X-Plane in 2D for the last couple years on a 1080p 55" flat screen, 5 feet from my face, and I'd have to sometimes zoom in to read some of the instruments then.

There is also a setting somewhere in the SteamVR menu. I randomly found it once, but cannot locate it again. It's buried somewhere inside a menu in a menu in a menu, something about "Performance" "Frame Time Graph" "Show in headset" or something.

The Samsung Odyssey is a Windows Mixed Reality HMD. Also offering WMR HMD's are Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer and Asus. WMR HMD's are relatively new, having been introduced in late 2017. If you're not in the US, though, you might have trouble getting one. You can run Steam and Rift titles via SteamVR and Revive, and the WMR home is call the Cliff House. Here are some intro videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDObrN_DzA

Gizzy makes an excellent point. Adjusting my “IPD” in DCS to where I just barely can see the top of my flighstick (approximately what I’d see IRL; my peripheral vision can barely see my hand when looking straight ahead) made a huge improvement in the readability of the instruments when using the Odyssey. That and setting my PD to 1.5

With all due respect, I don't know how anyone who has experienced VR can say that, but we're all absolutely entitled to our own respective opinions. Time will tell who is correct.

Hey, BC, thanks for getting back with me. Sounds like a decent price, but it’s a wee bit steep for me, as we don‘t even know for sure that it works. Think I might spend a little more for the new DTA unit that comes with a warranty. Thanks again, though. If you get it out and verify it works, let me know. If I don’t get the DTA device, I’d be interested.

Folks, don't buy the Rift or the Vive, because the Odyssey and Vive Pro have better resolution. Don't buy the Odyssey or the Vive Pro (whenever it's available) because the Pimax will be better, if it ever hits the market. Er, um, don't buy the Pimax (whenever it's released) because Google just announced a 5500 × 3000 display that will be out "sometime this year" and your Pimax will be obsolete... The point is, there will ALWAYS be something better that's "right around the corner", and if you continually hold off on your purchase, waiting to be sure you have the latest-and-greatest, you will be missing out on a lot of fun, a ton of learning, and valuable experience, and in reality, you will only have the latest-and-greatest for a very limited time, until the next big thing is released. When you buy a product at the relative leading edge of technology, there is no question you'll be stuck with "old" (if 12 months can be old) tech a year, or even sooner, later, even if you buy the best that's available today.

I just noticed the Samsung Odyssey is back to $499. Too bad. At $399, it was worth taking a flyer to jump into (if you didn't have another HMD), but at $100 more, maybe not so much.

BC, how much are you asking? Do you have photo’s? Back when you could get them, they were priced at $149.95. That would be new, in box, with warranty. I’m also looking at the Desktop Aviator trim panel that includes elevator trim, rudder trim, and a number of other buttons and switches, for $110 new. Thanks.

Oh, and IMO, mode buttons are bad for VR. More than once I’ve accidentally hit a mode shift button, and unknowlingly disabled and/or changed an entire set of buttons.

The profiles listed there are a bit cryptic. I believe you’ll have to download them all, the read the ReadMe file that accompanies each. Might be better if they were labeled in a way that described what they were. I’ll download them and report back here.

Thanks, Andre! Dennis

Andre, your thoughts?

No, I don't want to change their locations. That's not my question. I'm just wondering how having them on the bolster (raised sides) of the seat bottom and back would effect the feel or performance of the transducers?

Thanks. Is it suboptimal to have the transducers on the bolsters Vs the flat of the seat or seat back?

Can anyone give me their opinion on how well the JetSeat will work with my fairly skinny bucket seat, discussed above? Thanks.