Budget VR options

[badwookie]

Good morning all,

 

 

I am interested in dipping my toe in the water re: VR.

 

I thought there was a guide about budget VR options but cannot seem to find it.

I am most interested in VR options for the "standalone" DCS, and not the Steam version.

Also if there are any thoughts about playing on the new oculus quest, I'dlove to hear them too.

 

Any direction would be much appreciated.

Lastly, apologies to the mods if this post makes things cumbersome - please don't hesitate to merge/delete/whatever as required.

 

Cheers

Tom

[DeltaMike]

If it was me, and I was just dipping my toe in, I'd try to score a Lenovo for $99. You don't need controllers with DCS, a trackball mouse is probably your best option. Check out this vid

I think it stacks up well against oculus. You just have to navigate the WMR software thing, it's not as zipless as Oculus Home but for $99...

 

For a playable experience you want a CPU that'll burst to 3.8ghz, 16gb of decent RAM, and a 1070 or the equivalent. That should give you a taste of the action. Before you decide to plunk down on an xtal or something ;)

[Mesenzio]

G

I am most interested in VR options for the "standalone" DCS, and not the Steam version.

 

There's no difference between the two, VR-wise.

 

As said, the Lenovo is definitely the best option. You just have to install one software in Steam, unlike the Oculus, everything is already embedded in the OS.

[DerekSpeare]

i5-6600k CPU + 980ti + WMR = cheap. You can get a good used HP WMR headset for 90 bucks on ebay. I have 4 VR systems, and the one above is one of them, using all used components. That one was ~700 IIRC. You could go with a i5-9600k + RTX2070 + WMR for some more money if you wanted. Good luck!

 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Windows-Mixed-Reality-Headset-BB/173889424936?epid=14010448703&hash=item287c9e0e28:g:~n4AAOSwxqZcyJ7c:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!33772!US!-1

[Svsmokey]

You have to consider your system . How many pixels will it push ? A Lenovo Explorer or even an Odyssey are good budget headsets , but it takes a better system than mine to run them at reasonable framerates/eye-candy levels .

You asked about the Quest . Think of it as a console attached to display . No , it will not run DCS . But if you considered it , you may view the Rift S as a budget headset .

Finally , there is the used market . There are gonna be a lot of Rifts for sale soon , with both the Rift S and the Index available for pre-order now . Mine has given me great pleasure over many hours , and likely would you as well if you have a simarly-spec'ed system . It would certainly do for "dipping a toe" and then you could join the upgrade cycle with the rest of us if you are hooked :)

All of this could be rendered irrelevant by the upcoming vr optimisation , but no one knows when that's gonna land .

[badwookie]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for the comprehensive answers.

My thoughts for the Quest is to see if I could use it in the same way that some have used the Oculus Go with ALVR, but hopefully with 6DOF. I can justify purchase of the Quest then to use for it's primary use and for it's portability when I travel for work.

 

Current computer is a Dell "gaming" laptop - i7-7700, GTX1050Ti, and 16GB ram. (saving for a dedicated flight sim system) I know it's on the very low end/possibly not good enough. I have gotten "phone" VR to display but without head tracking and I'm not sure I have the display optimised - i.e. ipd, and display size etc.

@DeltaMike, thanks for bringing up the lenovo option. I had been considering buying a Playstation VR HMD secondhand (about $180 AUD) and camera setup, but could only find details about it's use with Steam VR programs.

@Mesenzio, thanks. I have a lot more to learn and ask about to set something up software wise.

@DerekSpeare, thanks for the link - it's already been a bit of a rabbit hole! I've also saved and started reading setting and tips link too. I'm certainly keeping an eye out now on the secondhand market for system equipment. Just have to be strategic about it lest I incur too much wrath from the Minister for War and Finances.

@Svsmokey, I can't think of the Rift-S as a budget HMD, I was thinkingof the Quest (if it would work) as dual function -wireless VR and tethered flightsim VR.

 

Cheers again all,

Tom

[DerekSpeare]

You can build a system with ALL NEW components minus the video card for < 600 USD. I recommend the i5-9600k CPU since it's #4 (non Xeon CPUs) for single thread performance:

 

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

 

Don't overlook the importance of single threaded performance. It's my opinion that for 265 USD the i5-9600k CPU offers the best performance for the money.

[Thick8]

I just bought an Acer laptop that has a full GTX1060 video card, i7-8750H CPU, 16Gb of ram and an m.2 SSD for under $1000 bucks. I got it to do SkyrimVR modding but found it's quite capable of running my O+ surprisingly well. I haven't played DCS on it yet but will give it a try tonight.

[Eaglewings]

I just bought an Acer laptop that has a full GTX1060 video card, i7-8750H CPU, 16Gb of ram and an m.2 SSD for under $1000 bucks. I got it to do SkyrimVR modding but found it's quite capable of running my O+ surprisingly well. I haven't played DCS on it yet but will give it a try tonight.

I have a almost similar laptop spec,. I have i5 cpu and maxQ version of GTX1060

I will be looking forward to your experience with the 0+.

 

I have taken to the advise here to try a budget VR being a first timer before taking the big leap for the new Gen headsets.

Just got beaten on a bid for Lenovo explorer on eBay.

 

Lenovo explorer I have read has better FOV than the HP mix reality. Not a big fan of the vibrant blue color on the Acer mix reality.

 

Watching eBay closely.

[Harlikwin]

I ran my rift on a 4720/980m laptop. It worked ok.

[DerekSpeare]

I have both the Explorer and HP headsets. The Explorer's FOV is slightly better and the HP is much more comfortable (for me).

[Thick8]

I have a almost similar laptop spec,. I have i5 cpu and maxQ version of GTX1060

I will be looking forward to your experience with the 0+.

 

I thought I had installed DCS on the laptop. Just did it last night. I set the options to VR and had to raise PD to 1.2 to remove the shimmering. I only used the T-51 so I didn’t have to move modules over. It ran at a steady 45 FPS both single player and online. I was sort of surprised by this. I was in the aerobatic server because it’s the only one I could find that allows the T-51. I would have tried the SU-25 but I don’t know how to start it and couldn’t find the auto start cheat.

There was some slow down into the teens when I did an F2 view of 3 F-18s taxiing to the runway in a group. I imagine a lower res headset would work pretty well with this machine and you may even be able to turn more eye candy on.

[Harlikwin]

Yeah I have a whole guide on low end VR if you want to dig it up, its a few pages back.

[Cripple]

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.

[Eaglewings]

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.

Good to know this. Quite reassuring for medium range rigs

I plan to take the rift S and enjoy its reported slight upgrade in resolution over the original rift.

This should launch me into VR. Also I am pretty sure dcs VR optimization will allow for a bumping up some of in-game visual settings for much more better experience.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Eaglewings

[badwookie]

Hi All,

I thought I'd give an update.

 

I purchased 2nd a Samsung Odyssey (not the plus) a few months ago now.

 

I have gotten it to work by following Thud's VR4DCS

https://vr4dcs.com/2019/08/19/preflighting-wmr-steamvr-for-dcs/

(Thanks Thud!)

 

Settings have been left at the VR defaults, which I'll get to sorting out eventually, maybe.

 

I haven't checked FPS or but I have been enjoying slowly learning the Spit and making my playspace more conducive to VR ops.

 

Cheers for everyone's input, and yes my i7-7700HQ, GTX1050Ti 16Gb laptop can drive it.

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[Harlikwin]

Congrats Tom!

 

Welcome to VR.