Is VR worth it in DCS?

[Deft]

I had one of the first TIRs in c.1998 and it was revolutionary but it was only ever a placeholder until VR came along. The problem VR has is it has to change people's ingrained habits and that's very hard for any consumer product. Not a problem for those of us that have been waiting but some people don't even understand what VR is. A few weeks back someone was claiming the only 'true VR experience' could be had by using things like Touch controllers and using HOTAS in VR wasn't 'proper VR gaming' but he'd completely missed the point.

 

 

Technically VR's been around in gaming since the first "real world" environment was simulated on a screen. Tech has just increased the immersion factor 1000% over the years. People have been moving the goal posts on what defines what is and what is not VR is ever since.

[Mule]

Here you go. It still says WW2 asset pack required for the PG one.

 

Night mission over Iran. Full fuel. Trotted out a quick briefing and moved some stuff around. Not tested, so no idea if you will encounter the enemy or not.

 

Missus is insisting I go down for a beer so no time to test.. its a hard life. ;)

 

Fighter sweep from Al Dhafra:

 

 

 

[ATTACH]200986[/ATTACH]

 

 

And a Quick one for NTTR... CAP for a A10 Strike, nightime, AWACS controlled.

]

 

[ATTACH]200987[/ATTACH]

 

Superb!

 

Thanks for taking the time to share this. Much appreciated.

 

 

Cheers!

 

:thumbup:

[sze5003]

No remorse about the 38" ultrawide OR the Odyssey+ here.

What's the difference with the Odyssey+ ? I don't notice much screen door effect with my Odyssey. Whereas it's more apparent in my Rift.

[hansangb]

So.... can we sum it all up as follows?

 

If you’re a simmer, go VR now!

 

If you’re a gamer, wait for the next gen.

 

If you have extra cash, go VR either way just to try it.

 

EXACTLY right. GTFreeFlyer FTW!

[Deft]

What's the difference with the Odyssey+ ? I don't notice much screen door effect with my Odyssey. Whereas it's more apparent in my Rift.

 

 

I think it's just a modification of the original for more comfortable fit and the anti-SDE that was added.

 

 

I doubt it's worth upgrading over and would wait for the next round of higher resolution headsets to emerge.

[Pyker]

So.... can we sum it all up as follows?

 

If you’re a simmer, go VR now!

 

If you’re a gamer, wait for the next gen.

 

Yes for me you can.

 

I'm a casual simmer who plays only in SP.

 

In the years 2000 I was playing with 3D shutter glasses on a CRT monitor with a Fresnel lens to increase the FOV, and a TrackIR. Back then, I was already dreaming of an affordable HMD.

 

Next (around 2011) was a 50" HD plasma television set, trading 3D for better image quality, higher resolution and a simplified setup. The TrackIR was still there of course. Not bad but I missed the 3D.

 

Then came along the Vive and the Rift. I bought the Rift as soon as the price went down to 450 Euros. Now I have to play again with minimum graphics settings and I have plenty of SDE in the Rift, but I would NEVER go back to 2D. The Rift might not be "good" in terms of image quality, but in terms of immersion it is, for me, better than anything else for the price.

 

I don't buy or play anymore games which are not Rift-compatible.

 

The only thing I miss (not Rift-compatible) is Falcon BMS. But not much, because I have the Hornet.

[sze5003]

I think it's just a modification of the original for more comfortable fit and the anti-SDE that was added.

 

 

I doubt it's worth upgrading over and would wait for the next round of higher resolution headsets to emerge.

Yea I thought so too. The Odyssey isn't as comfortable as the rift. It squeezes my nose a bit too much but the magic spot where you can see everything clear is easier to find than in the rift.

 

I saw people returning the Odyssey + because they said it wasn't comfortable. So I'm definitely waiting for the next gen.

[BigDuke6ixx]

Yes for me you can.

 

I'm a casual simmer who plays only in SP.

 

In the years 2000 I was playing with 3D shutter glasses on a CRT monitor with a Fresnel lens to increase the FOV, and a TrackIR. Back then, I was already dreaming of an affordable HMD.

 

 

I had the same setup.

 

Do you remember how people struggled with the idea of TIR, scaled head movement and setting up their gaming environment so the tracking would work? It was a similar debate to the current VR one with a general lack of understanding and inability to overcome small hurdles.

[MADLOU1]

Never wait. The only problem current VR has is the high resolution entitled generation of spoiled gamers who have terminal buyer's remorse about their high end monitors.

 

I believe it is more likely the other way around given the high cost of VR and the requisite hardware. I always buy high end used monitors very cheaply and would never get buyers remorse if i didn't like the monitor.

 

I have tried VR and stay current on the development of the technology. At this point, its not for me. As said by others, in time, Im sure it will reach a stage I will use it exclusively.

 

Lets' face it, pc hardware is like choosing sneakers. What one person likes may be different than what another person likes. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If a person likes a brand of sneaker different from what we like, should we preach how wrong that person's decision is? Of course not. Different strokes for different folks as the old saying goes.

Edited December 30, 2018 by MADLOU1

[Pyker]

I had the same setup.

 

Do you remember how people struggled with the idea of TIR, scaled head movement and setting up their gaming environment so the tracking would work? It was a similar debate to the current VR one with a general lack of understanding and inability to overcome small hurdles.

 

Not really. For me (and for most people, as far as I was aware), TIR was just a huge improvement over the POV hat switch and padlocking. It saved a hat switch and made looking around easier and more natural, so more immersive.

 

So for me the Rift (or any 1st-gen HMD) is an improvement over the TIR just like the TIR was an improvement over what existed before.

[Digitalvole]

I bought my oculus rift shortly after they were released with the one intention of playing flight sims.

 

I hadnt played a flight sim in the best part of 30 years but having always wanted to fly and having played falcon 3.0, 4.0 janes f117a ah64 etc (apologies if I’ve got the names a bit muddled) as a kid and bloody loving it, the idea of vr suddenly made sense; it’ll be like flying, right!?

 

Well let me tell you, as some one with zero hours flying real planes, I have no idea.

 

But oh my do I love it, I still get a sense of vertigo occasionally, I try and explain it to my friends and family but it’s tricky. Closest I can manage is that when I play a game in 2d it’s like I’ve played a game. But when I play dcs in vr it can feel like a real experience, one that can stay with you for days.

 

All that being said there is the issue with the visuals. And those who don’t like vr because of that have a valid point I reckon. I’ve never used track ir so I can’t comment on that, or monitor for dcs for that matter but having been playing rdr2 in 4K recently (sweet baby Jebus that game looks good!)I can imagine what a jolt it must be.

 

But for me I it’s been a bit of a life changer frankly. It’s not perfect, and holy swear word I can’t wait till headsets come out at affordable prices with better resolution and fov (though god knows how much we’re going to have to spend on a gfx card to run it.)

 

If one of my friends asked me today should he wait to see what gets announced this year or just jump in I would urge him to do the latter.

 

None of my friends play flight sims mind :(

[hansangb]

Not really. For me (and for most people, as far as I was aware), TIR was just a huge improvement over the POV hat switch and padlocking. It saved a hat switch and made looking around easier and more natural, so more immersive.

 

So for me the Rift (or any 1st-gen HMD) is an improvement over the TIR just like the TIR was an improvement over what existed before.

 

 

I would use a different reference scale. Yes, it's an improvement over TiR in immersion. And TiR was much better than POV hats.

 

 

POV hats: walking 26 mile road march. Sucks, but can be done.

Tir: Horse and buggy. Much better.

VR: Camry/Accord/Sonata. WAY WAY better than horses.

Next Gen VR: Ferrari/Lamborghini

 

 

I guess the next next gen is us just flying in the real thing! :D

[SkipCarey]

Well I pulled the trigger but am starting to get cold feet about the rift ,I think they cut the price because the next gen is around the corner (6 months )but it will be pricey for first adopters,400 is not a lot of money so Ill keep it and work on my hardware overclock my cpu spring for another card also I bought FA 18C today so Im jumping in again Ive loved simming since 97 anyone remember EF2000? falcon 4.0 2 years later that was before graphics cards........so here I go again

[sze5003]

Well I pulled the trigger but am starting to get cold feet about the rift ,I think they cut the price because the next gen is around the corner (6 months )but it will be pricey for first adopters,400 is not a lot of money so Ill keep it and work on my hardware overclock my cpu spring for another card also I bought FA 18C today so Im jumping in again Ive loved simming since 97 anyone remember EF2000? falcon 4.0 2 years later that was before graphics cards........so here I go again

I think during the holidays it was going for $299 but enjoy it. You are in for a treat the f18 cockpit looks great in VR.

[javelina1]

EXACTLY right. GTFreeFlyer FTW!

 

Well I pulled the trigger but am starting to get cold feet about the rift ,I think they cut the price because the next gen is around the corner (6 months )but it will be pricey for first adopters,400 is not a lot of money so Ill keep it and work on my hardware overclock my cpu spring for another card also I bought FA 18C today so Im jumping in again Ive loved simming since 97 anyone remember EF2000? falcon 4.0 2 years later that was before graphics cards........so here I go again

 

 

Hold no regrets brother! You'll love it. Trust us! VR all the way! :thumbup:

[freehand]

Well I pulled the trigger but am starting to get cold feet about the rift ,I think they cut the price because the next gen is around the corner (6 months )but it will be pricey for first adopters,400 is not a lot of money so Ill keep it and work on my hardware overclock my cpu spring for another card also I bought FA 18C today so Im jumping in again Ive loved simming since 97 anyone remember EF2000? falcon 4.0 2 years later that was before graphics cards........so here I go again

 

I still own both boxed versions of EF2000 & falcon.

 

IF you remember them days VR will bring a tear to your eye and think you have reached heaven.

[hansangb]

Well I pulled the trigger but am starting to get cold feet about the rift ,I think they cut the price because the next gen is around the corner (6 months )but it will be pricey for first adopters,400 is not a lot of money so Ill keep it and work on my hardware overclock my cpu spring for another card also I bought FA 18C today so Im jumping in again Ive loved simming since 97 anyone remember EF2000? falcon 4.0 2 years later that was before graphics cards........so here I go again

 

 

Pimax is starting to ship. But it's not proven and costs a $$$. I Kickstarted and RAGE had a good write up on it.

 

I don't think there will a Rift until late 2019 if that. There's been a lot of rumor of Rift getting out of desktop HMD business, and lot of denials by Oculus. There does seem to be a lot of smoke, but who the hell really knows?

 

They are coming out with a mobile version that is useless since we don't play DCS on phones. So again, I don't think there will be a new Rift coming out anytime soon.

[FragBum]

Well I pulled the trigger but am starting to get cold feet about the rift ,I think they cut the price because the next gen is around the corner (6 months )but it will be pricey for first adopters,400 is not a lot of money so Ill keep it and work on my hardware overclock my cpu spring for another card also I bought FA 18C today so Im jumping in again

 

If the Rift was on sale with a reasonable saving it will be fine, I do like the idea of HTC Vive Pro, however that increased 1440*1600 per eye takes some GPU/CPU horse power under DCS, even Rift at 1080*1200 per eye requires some heavy lifting to keep VR smooth albeit at 45FPS.

 

Besides Primax is looking interesting. :thumbup:

 

 

Ive loved simming since 97 anyone remember EF2000? falcon 4.0 2 years later that was before graphics cards........so here I go again

 

Hahaha,:D Even the IBM XT/AT compatibles had slot in Graphics Adapters with a thriving Graphics Adapter market. :)

[Tinkickef]

Superb!

 

Thanks for taking the time to share this. Much appreciated.

 

 

Cheers!

 

:thumbup:

 

 

I had the chance for a very quick check this morning and found the mission was glitched. After some headscratching I found the culprit was a static object placed too close to the runway edge (a soldier and some humvees) and this rendered all the AI air assets on the base immobile including the strike packages and your flight.

 

Delete the fighter sweep mission in your saved games folder and substitute it for this one that appears to be working so far:

PG Hornet Fighter Sweep AlDhafra.miz

Edited December 31, 2018 by Tinkickef

[adrianstealth]

I use a rift CV1 & love it

 

Couldn’t go back to monitors , DCS really shines in VR too

[eaglecash867]

Hahaha,:D Even the IBM XT/AT compatibles had slot in Graphics Adapters with a thriving Graphics Adapter market. :)

 

I remember those days. If you had one with 1MB of memory on it, you had a real hotrod.:D

 

On the issue of performance, the latest 2.5.4 Beta has really porked things for me performance-wise with my Rift. I'll keep my release version at 2.5.3 until ED gets that figured out.

[FragBum]

I remember those days. If you had one with 1MB of memory on it, you had a real hotrod.:D

 

Yes my first "hotrod" Diamond Stealth64. :lol:

 

On the issue of performance, the latest 2.5.4 Beta has really porked things for me performance-wise with my Rift. I'll keep my release version at 2.5.3 until ED gets that figured out.

 

Interesting I had/have some oddities with Rift and DCS 2.5.4 mostly to do with image quality but I think I have it sorted. For now at least. :thumbup:

Edited December 31, 2018 by FragBum
<typo>

[eaglecash867]

Interesting I had/have some oddities with Rift and DCS 2.5.4 mostly to do with image quality but I think I have it sorted. For now at least. :thumbup:

 

I noticed last night that MSAA doesn't seem to have a noticeable effect on image quality anymore. In fact, the image quality almost seemed to improve when I went from 2X to off. Turning it off did seem to increase frame rates, but not enough. Its still this weird, jittery experience that has a lot of shimmering at a set distance from where you are. The buttons on the MFDs don't randomly shimmer anymore though, and all of the placards in the cockpit seem more readable than in 2.5.3, in spite of my lowering pixel density from 2.0 to 1.5 to see if I could get good frame rates. Its weird, everything outside the plane almost looks like its being redrawn twice. Might explain why people aren't seeing a significant increase in CPU or GPU load. Those things are still doing the same work, just taking two clock cycles for each instruction.

 

Anyway, sorry for the OT. In 2.5.3, VR is definitely worth it. :D

[0414 Wee Neal]

Hi

 

I have found significant improvement in the picture quality and smoothness with the latest Beta.

 

Neal

[Mule]

I had the chance for a very quick check this morning and found the mission was glitched. After some headscratching I found the culprit was a static object placed too close to the runway edge (a soldier and some humvees) and this rendered all the AI air assets on the base immobile including the strike packages and your flight.

 

Delete the fighter sweep mission in your saved games folder and substitute it for this one that appears to be working so far:

 

Cheers!