Using oculus touch to be able grip and control throttle and stick

[THE__PWN3R]

Hi all, I've been getting into dcs more now with all this time on my hands and noticed with some of my modules I can now actually control some aircraft using the oculus touch to 'grip' the throttle and stick, however it seems to only be eagle dynamics modules.

 

To those who will advise me to the benefits of a hotas, I have a warthog, however my game set up is rather unconventional in the living room, so every time I wish to use my warthog I have to set up the stands and lots of time is spent packing up and putting away as I cannot leave them set up. To see I can just pop my headset on and fly with minimal setup is a new luxury to me, even allowing me to happily get some flying hours in even after work where time is even more precious! (I do use rudder pedals as you are a bit scuppered otherwise but luckily there are a case of drag them out rather than set them up)

 

 

I've been wondering if theres a setting I need to turn on or assign something to be able to use this feature with say, the mig 21 or mirage 2000, as I mentioned earlier from some quick testing I can control pretty much all of ED's Modules (the a10C seems a bit borked only allowing horizontal stick movement, but I assume that's just a bug) And the Belsimtek offerings do too (well, tested on the mig-15)

 

 

I was curious as well if anyone else has had a go at using this feature and how you've gotten on with it? It's a bit alien at first but I found I accustomed to it quite quickly. A large benefit i found was i had no worries about smacking my headset into my hotas when trying to look at some pesky low dials (I'm looking at you FW-190 a-8!) Not to mention I find it much easier to quickly flip a switch or turn a dial in vr as the controls are ready on my hands

[ashwad]

The F-18 is fully controllable with VR controllers. That is all I use. No mouse and no HOTAS. The F-16's throttle does not work with the controllers. DCS said they will implement it though.

[THE__PWN3R]

Yes I noticed that with the F-16, to my delight it is working on the open beta version, however it seems you have to bind a button to move the throttle to idle, then you should have full control, in future I would hope you can just push the throttle to idle

[ashwad]

Yes I noticed that with the F-16, to my delight it is working on the open beta version, however it seems you have to bind a button to move the throttle to idle, then you should have full control, in future I would hope you can just push the throttle to idle

 

What button did you bind? I could not find a "finger-lift" type binding before.

[THE__PWN3R]

What button did you bind? I could not find a "finger-lift" type binding before.

 

if you use oculus you're in luck, use this software I found yesterday after pulling my hair out for a good few hours. I had the steam version of DCS where it would allow limited mapping for vr controllers yet the standalone does not (which I switched over to a few days ago)

 

Using the software will allow you to rebind an oculus touch (you can remap everything but oculus still takes control of about 3 buttons X, Y and A I think which are menu, reset position in VR and zoom, I'm still trying to find a way to change those) but I press up on my left pad to set throttle to idle, the FW-190 has the same quirk too where you have to bind a key in order to have free control over the throttle.

 

 

You can map them pretty well, by mapping the circular settings button to a modifier like left ctrl your controllers will have as many binds as some hotas, it seems FC3 style planes (really surprised they can be controlled in vr) may be playable with this due to how reliant those are on keybinds, im going to have a go at mapping the F-15c and see how I get on

 

If you dont have oculus I'm unsure sorry, if not are you on standalone or steam?

[waldorf]

Hi,

 

Thanks to help from THE PWN3R in above posts I have managed to get my head round the Touchbinder plugin.

My aim is to have basic flying controls using just VR. A lot of aircraft have stick and throttle working in VR but rudder control is lacking.

Using the Touchbinder program I have managed to find a solution that provides rudder and wheel brakes for differential braking/steering. Left and right rudder input is via the left and right Oculus Touch index finger trigger switches and braking by pressing the left hand Touch stick down. A very simple solution and after a bit of practice becomes less 'concentrating of the mind' … I have included my settings.txt listing below, Just remove the remarks on the right //etc: before using. If anyone has a better method then please please let me know.

 

I am assuming your rudder keyboard inputs are Z and X and wheel brakes is W

 

bDown|bA|0,a //view zoom

bPressed|bLThumb|0,{w down} //wheel brakes on

bReleased|bLThumb|0,{w up} //wheel brakes off

bDown|bX|0,x //re-center head

bDown|bY|0,y //game menu

bPressed|bLTrigger|0,{z down} //left rudder on

bReleased|bLTrigger|0,{z up} //left rudder off

bPressed|bRTrigger|0,{x down} //right rudder on

bReleased|bRTrigger|0,{x up} //right rudder off

 

Thanks again to THE PWN3R for your guidance.

[Gizmokev]

if you use oculus you're in luck, use this software I found yesterday after pulling my hair out for a good few hours. I had the steam version of DCS where it would allow limited mapping for vr controllers yet the standalone does not (which I switched over to a few days ago)

 

Using the software will allow you to rebind an oculus touch (you can remap everything but oculus still takes control of about 3 buttons X, Y and A I think which are menu, reset position in VR and zoom, I'm still trying to find a way to change those) but I press up on my left pad to set throttle to idle, the FW-190 has the same quirk too where you have to bind a key in order to have free control over the throttle.

 

 

You can map them pretty well, by mapping the circular settings button to a modifier like left ctrl your controllers will have as many binds as some hotas, it seems FC3 style planes (really surprised they can be controlled in vr) may be playable with this due to how reliant those are on keybinds, im going to have a go at mapping the F-15c and see how I get on

 

If you dont have oculus I'm unsure sorry, if not are you on standalone or steam?

 

Hi guys....this is exactly what I was looking for and rather than using the trigger buttons I wanted to use the left control stick to control the amount of rudder input.....is this correct....

 

bPressed|bLLeft|0,z

bPressed|bLRight|0,x

bPressed|bB|0,b

bReleased|bLLeft|0,

bReleased|bLRight|0,

bReleased|bB|0,

 

The B button was to apply brake btw

 

Also I am slightly confused....does this only work in the steam version or standalone or both.....i set it all up and just tried it in the steam version and it didnt work as in no rudder input control which I am hoping is going to be linear along with the deflection of the left control stick.....am I doing something wrong....more than likely it is me but I am a newbie on this platform and VR...thanks in advance.

[waldorf]

Hi Gizmokev,

 

For full VR control try reading through the info on the link.

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=270404&page=3

 

enjoy

[TobesyFlyer]

On 4/17/2020 at 1:50 AM, ashwad said:

The F-18 is fully controllable with VR controllers. That is all I use. No mouse and no HOTAS. The F-16's throttle does not work with the controllers. DCS said they will implement it though.

Does that mean you can interact with everything with VR Controllers and it doesn't bug out?

[THE__PWN3R]

On 03/02/2021 at 9:04 AM, TobesyFlyer said:

Does that mean you can interact with everything with VR Controllers and it doesn't bug out?

From what I recall yes, I am just awaiting my quest 2 to start flying again, 

 

A strange quirk however due to the dual throttle setup is it can sometimes bug a bit (like trying to grab both but it just grabbing the left) also I found that occasionally when you let go of the grip the virtual hand actually stays on and still controls it (had a panic when the hornet immediately lost power only to realise the virtual hand had dialled the throttle right back) 

 

It seems all aircraft released by Eagle dynamics are fully compatible with the touch controllers, which I think is great. The third party ones however are not. 

 

It's a shame really, I have the harrier, viggen and m2000 all sat on the HDD waiting for the day they hopefully support control of the throttle and stick with VR Controllers. 

 

Just an FYI the mig 21 actually had this feature but it resulted in a serious bug, it seems they have just killed the feature off currently as of mid 2020 but I keep my eye on the changlelog in the hopes it will be implemented again (love the mig 21)

[StevanJ]

On 2/5/2021 at 8:03 AM, THE__PWN3R said:

From what I recall yes, I am just awaiting my quest 2 to start flying again, 

 

A strange quirk however due to the dual throttle setup is it can sometimes bug a bit (like trying to grab both but it just grabbing the left) also I found that occasionally when you let go of the grip the virtual hand actually stays on and still controls it (had a panic when the hornet immediately lost power only to realise the virtual hand had dialled the throttle right back) 

 

It seems all aircraft released by Eagle dynamics are fully compatible with the touch controllers, which I think is great. The third party ones however are not. 

 

It's a shame really, I have the harrier, viggen and m2000 all sat on the HDD waiting for the day they hopefully support control of the throttle and stick with VR Controllers. 

 

Just an FYI the mig 21 actually had this feature but it resulted in a serious bug, it seems they have just killed the feature off currently as of mid 2020 but I keep my eye on the changlelog in the hopes it will be implemented again (love the mig 21)

Have you tried sending a PM over to Razbam and the others to see if its going to happen?
Ive tried to raise this in the forums, but it always gets ignored.

No one i fly with uses a HOTAS anymore..

[THE__PWN3R]

On 3/12/2021 at 12:57 AM, StevanJ said:

Have you tried sending a PM over to Razbam and the others to see if its going to happen?
Ive tried to raise this in the forums, but it always gets ignored.

No one i fly with uses a HOTAS anymore..

I have contacted razbam and heatblur (even dekka for the Jeff) but no replies. Sadly we are a minority.

 

I even heard some saying that the touch controllers couldn't even have many assigned buttons however, I have bound the options key as Rshift, left click as Lalt and right click as Ralt, so on my right stick alone using those as modifiers I actually have 24 programmable keys, and another 24 on the left. With the face buttons mapped and gun trigger you have well over 50.

 

Im getting by currently just putting a TM warthog on my lap (went back to Il2 for flying circus and remembered how you can't even navigate menus with VR Controllers) , but I really miss looking down and actually holding the stick wherever it is in the cockpit. Not to mention how natural it feels in helis to look down and actually pull the collective 

 

I hope one day all aircraft can have it, as for 'virtual' fliers all you really need then is just some pedals if you want the full immersion, which something like the t16000 can even be used in racing games, having another use in the VR ecosystem 

[StevanJ]

On 3/13/2021 at 7:36 AM, THE__PWN3R said:

I have contacted razbam and heatblur (even dekka for the Jeff) but no replies. Sadly we are a minority.

 

I even heard some saying that the touch controllers couldn't even have many assigned buttons however, I have bound the options key as Rshift, left click as Lalt and right click as Ralt, so on my right stick alone using those as modifiers I actually have 24 programmable keys, and another 24 on the left. With the face buttons mapped and gun trigger you have well over 50.

 

Im getting by currently just putting a TM warthog on my lap (went back to Il2 for flying circus and remembered how you can't even navigate menus with VR Controllers) , but I really miss looking down and actually holding the stick wherever it is in the cockpit. Not to mention how natural it feels in helis to look down and actually pull the collective 

 

I hope one day all aircraft can have it, as for 'virtual' fliers all you really need then is just some pedals if you want the full immersion, which something like the t16000 can even be used in racing games, having another use in the VR ecosystem 

Really ? Wow, Heatblur and AvioDev were really helpful and said that 'they'd look towards getting it done', But i think it was more than a year away from the sounds of things..
Minority were not..
I work away, and myself and two others fly daily from laptops as its not practical to take the HOTAS when we travel.
Plus, there are alot of guys on VTOL VR who jump into DCS, In my squad alone 9 out of 11 of us just stick with the VR controllers.

If you look up Tactical Pascales video on 'DCS WORLD | Oculus Quest 2 : Touch Controls' You can see just how many people in the comments box are doing it too.
I mean why would you buy a HOTAS for nearly £300 when you can get a quest 2 for the same money and play in 3D?

Yeah, I end up having to go back to my HOTAS for Il2, But thats for different reasons.

Maybe we need a new section in the forums to see what numbers we could muster? Alot of these kids who play on quests, arent the type to come chat in the forums..

Edited March 30, 2021 by StevanJ

[StevanJ]

On 3/13/2021 at 7:36 AM, THE__PWN3R said:

I have contacted razbam and heatblur (even dekka for the Jeff) but no replies. Sadly we are a minority.

 

I even heard some saying that the touch controllers couldn't even have many assigned buttons however, I have bound the options key as Rshift, left click as Lalt and right click as Ralt, so on my right stick alone using those as modifiers I actually have 24 programmable keys, and another 24 on the left. With the face buttons mapped and gun trigger you have well over 50.

 

Im getting by currently just putting a TM warthog on my lap (went back to Il2 for flying circus and remembered how you can't even navigate menus with VR Controllers) , but I really miss looking down and actually holding the stick wherever it is in the cockpit. Not to mention how natural it feels in helis to look down and actually pull the collective 

 

I hope one day all aircraft can have it, as for 'virtual' fliers all you really need then is just some pedals if you want the full immersion, which something like the t16000 can even be used in racing games, having another use in the VR ecosystem 

 

Un-noticed info..

[THE__PWN3R]

14 hours ago, StevanJ said:

 

Un-noticed info..

Awesome, once RAZBAM implement it, hopefully they will put it on the mirage 2000 and mig 19 too! I know they're working on a mig 23 and f-15e so fingers crossed those will come with that

 

If heatblur implemented it on their F-14 I would insta buy that module, only way I've talked myself out of getting that one is that it doesn't have VR control lol

[StevanJ]

Heatblur did tell me they are looking at it.
"I feel the need..."