VR hotswap

[halufpv]

As we all know, VR can be very finicky, unstable and requires a lot of tweaking. It's common to have something in the VR pipeline crash (headset, Oculus link, cable, oculus software, graphic driver, game itself) and it's also very common to want to tweak settings (headset frame rate or resolution, vrperfkit settings...)

 

I recently picked up MSFS2020 and the fact that you can ctrl-tab to switch in and out of VR, while seemingly a gimmick, fixed or greatly reduced all my VR pains:

 

- Need to tweak settings? Out of VR, change settings, back in. Feedback loop 10 seconds instead of a full game restart + mission load

- VR crash of any type? In and out and continue as if nothing happened

- Headset runs out of battery? Put it to fast charge for a bit while continuing in 2D

- Dog trips on VR cable and disconnects the headset? No problem!

This isn't even touching on the more obvious reasons:

- People who get sick VR after a while

- Switching to combined arms without needing to restart

- Switching out of VR for specific missions within a flight (to better see ground targets for instance)

All in all, while this seems like a minor nice to have, it's actually an indirect solution to so many problems. 

Edited July 1, 2022 by halufpv

[halufpv]

@BIGNEWY

[BIGNEWY]

Hi, 

we have no plans for switching between VR and 2D currently. 

I will mention it to the team, but can not promise anything. 

[halufpv]

9 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

Hi, 

we have no plans for switching between VR and 2D currently. 

I will mention it to the team, but can not promise anything. 

Thanks for the response. I'm surprised the team working on VR wouldn't want this even for their own testing/development process. I'm a software engineer myself and feedback loop time is so important! I'd love to hear their thoughts 

Edited July 4, 2022 by halufpv

[Gigafiga]

Need 100%!

[Mars Exulte]

Need something, for sure. Anytime there's any kind of hiccup in DCS, it's a full restart as your only option. Even just a way to reboot the VR portion, if your headset dcs or crashes for some reason, would go a long way. Literally ANYTHING requires a full restart as it is, and that's just unnecessary. If everybody else can do it, we should be able to, as well.

[Shifty2805]

Hi,

I am not sure whether this has been requested before, but would it be possible if there's an option for the VR users to be able to reconnect without restarting the game. My VR-setup sometimes disconnects and after that I am not able to get right back into the game via my VR-glasses. When this occurs I usually get a black screen.

I believe MSFS has the function where you can easily get in/out VR-mode, even after your VR-setup was -unexpectedly- disconnected for a short while.

I really hope something like this would be possible! It is definitely gonna make me (and probably many others) very happy. 

Thank you.

Kindest regards,

Shifty

Edited January 13, 2023 by Shifty2805

[ricktoberfest]

59 minutes ago, Shifty2805 said:

Hi,

I am not sure whether this has been requested before, but would it be possible if there's an option for the VR users to be able to reconnect without starting the game. My VR-setup sometimes disconnects and after that I am not able to get right back into the game via my VR-glasses. When this occurs I usually get a black screen.

I believe MSFS has the function where you can easily get in/out VR-mode, even after your VR-setup was -unexpectedly- disconnected for a short while.

I really hope something like this would be possible! It is definitely gonna make me (and probably many others) very happy. 

Thank you.

Kindest regards,

Shifty

Just recently tried msfs. I was so surprised by the ability to turn on and off VR so quickly and easily. Why don’t more games do that?  Makes it so easy to set up a flight on pancake and then pop into VR for the actual flight. 

[Lace]

15 hours ago, Shifty2805 said:

Hi,

I am not sure whether this has been requested before, but would it be possible if there's an option for the VR users to be able to reconnect without restarting the game. My VR-setup sometimes disconnects and after that I am not able to get right back into the game via my VR-glasses. When this occurs I usually get a black screen.

I believe MSFS has the function where you can easily get in/out VR-mode, even after your VR-setup was -unexpectedly- disconnected for a short while.

I really hope something like this would be possible! It is definitely gonna make me (and probably many others) very happy. 

Thank you.

Kindest regards,

Shifty

 

I used to have this issue, with occasional disconnects - is this a Rift S? After no luck searching for a solution online (bar the usual reinstall etc.) I found it was a voltage drop on my USB bus.  By moving to a higher power USB-C connected via an adapter I no longer get the voltage drops or the sudden black screen.

Regarding the reconnect, XP11 also allows quick changing between VR/pancake and back within the game.  Would be nice if DCS did the same.  Even better if the menus/ME/MP were 2D and it just changed to VR in the cockpit.

[NIGHTHAWK1]

This is a must.  Every other good sims has it.  Spend less money on the hype videos to sell more and instead fix things you already have.  I have spent $100's on this game and almost every things is WIP

[draconus]

On 1/17/2023 at 1:36 AM, NIGHTHAWK1 said:

almost every things is WIP

Not really, but DCS is continuously evolving and updated platform and it's a good thing.

[FupDuck]

I would also love to see this. True, these disconnects are usually hardware related, but it sure would be nice to get back into the game! Strange thing is when I reconnect I can still hear my plane and control it (I get haptic feedback from my Buttkicker when pulling g's, etc), but the screen is black.

[Mobius_11804]

Hi there, let me just chime in here. I think my request just fits

I'd love to have a possibility to toggle VR on or off on startup.sometimes i just want to get to the Mission-Editor without having to get my entire VR setup up and running. Which is a hassle to say the least...You get felt fifteen error-messages from whatever and have to change settings and restart twice to get to the editor and back out and re-enable everything to VR settings..

[halufpv]

This has been brought up many times before here and on reddit.

 

It's the number 1 reason I end up giving up on DCS every time I get back into it. War thunder has it. MSFS has it. I've had this issue with various Oculus headsets where something about them crashes (eye tracking stops working, artifacts start appearing, VR session bugs out...). On every other VR sim, it switches back to 2D, I can restart the headset and get back into VR. On DCS, the mission is now unrecoverable. The amount of times this has happened to me on the apache after spending an hour sneaking into position on a multiplayer server right before I start the engagement is just too much. 

 

Please please please @BIGNEWY

 

 

[BIGNEWY]

Threads merged. 

Sorry but at this time we have no plans for a VR hot swap. I will mention it to the team again however. 

thank you 

[halufpv]

Honestly, even if we can't switch between VR and 2D, just the ability to "reconnect" to the VR session if the headset disconnects would massively help. This actually "sometimes" works if you do it really quick, at least on Oculus, albeit the eye tracking never works again until DCS restarts, you get insane lag for the first 10-20 seconds, and sometimes DCS crashes anyways before the lag is resolved.

To reproduce:

Use any Oculus quest headset, enter Oculus link then open DCS in VR mode. Enter any mission, then unplug the headset usb connection and plug again immediately. Now, as fast as you can manage, enter Oculus link mode again. DCS will open, but whether it crashes immediately, after a bit, or enters this lagging state is a lottery. If you have the Oculus Quest Pro and are using quad views, eye tracking is always frozen and the quad views high res area is wherever you were looking before you unplugged, though even then in this laggy blurry state you might be able to at least declare mayday and land 

[Dangerzone]

I get not implementing it at the moment - as I'm guessing it would be a large rewrite to accommodate it considering how VR was currently implemented into DCS.

However - I do believe it would be a timely opportunity for it to be seriously considered as part of the Vulkan upgrade. It might save a lot of work down the track if the team are able to consider it and make accommodation for it as they develop for Vulkan.

[Megalax]

Here to put a Plus One for this feature.

[halufpv]

Seems like there's a lot of demand for this... Did you mention it to the team @BIGNEWY? 

[Grodin]

This would be one of the best things for VR. It _really_ kills the mood when you lose a 1-2 hour mission because there is a hiccup with something in the VR and you can't get back in.

Even the ability to trigger a "VR reconnect" by pushing a button where it would restart the VR pipeline or whatever it is called and allow the headset to connect again would be huge.

I still havent finished 2 payware campaigns becaus i was put off by this happening and just don't feel like flying them now with the risk of this happening.

[diego999]

No hot swap between 2D and VR.

No ability to reconnect the headset.

No saving during mission feature.

DCS is seriously lacking in this regard.