How is the F-14 cockpit in VR?

[Temetre]

So just kinda curious how is the F-14 cockpit in VR? Especially, how visible are the speed/altitude gauges and stuff visible in VR? I can play native 4k in VR now, but got a Pico-4 headset with wifi/streaming headset, so minor compression included.

The A-4 Skyhawk gauges are extremely clear and readable to me in VR, but theres ofc a lot of talk about F-14 gauges being a bit harder to read in 2D sometimes. Is that, or any other cockpit stuff a problem in VR? Just worn text on switches probably isnt a big deal, considering you memorize those positions in 2D as well.

Would love some opinions; ive did done extensive 2 week test on the F-14, to bridge the wait on the F-4. But considering the 4 seems ever further away, Im considering if I should get the 14 next sale anyway. Its an amazing module and plane after all, even if the price is a bit painful.

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Temetre

[Dentedend10]

I fly mainly the F14 in VR. Altitude and speed gauges are completely fine to me. The only gauges I zoom in are the hydraulics when I check preflight, that’s about it. 
The only drawback compared to some other modules is that the cockpit does not have the same interaction with the controllers as other ED modules (F18, F16). Other modules provide haptics when you press buttons, as well as you don’t need to press the ‘grab’ button on the controllers to interact with the cockpit. In the F14 you do. Hopefully that will be changed at some point. 
otherwise absolutely amazing module and can only recommend!

[Temetre]

vor einer Stunde schrieb Dentedend10:

I fly mainly the F14 in VR. Altitude and speed gauges are completely fine to me. The only gauges I zoom in are the hydraulics when I check preflight, that’s about it. 
The only drawback compared to some other modules is that the cockpit does not have the same interaction with the controllers as other ED modules (F18, F16). Other modules provide haptics when you press buttons, as well as you don’t need to press the ‘grab’ button on the controllers to interact with the cockpit. In the F14 you do. Hopefully that will be changed at some point. 
otherwise absolutely amazing module and can only recommend!

Thanks, thats pretty much all I needed to know. I mostly use mouse and sticks, not VR controllers, so Im probably fine anyway  

[RaisedByWolves]

It’s a work of art, like the rest of the machine.

[eatthis]

the tacan is an arse to read for me, fuel gaugfe is ok but i cant check it while im actually refuelling. icls channel can be tricky to see which 1 its actually on but apart from that everythings ok, for speed i tend to just glance at the angle of the needle anyway rather than reading the numbers

 

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

I find the default texture would be a bit heavy on the frame rate. I would try some mods at the User Section. Some make the labels more pleasing in VR. Also there is a HUD mod out there too.

[diego999]

The worn out style of the Tomcat's cockpit is a pain in the ***, at least for me in the Quest 2. Small and worn text is a bad combination in VR.

Not a problem once you get to know the bird and act by muscle memory, but when you're learning it, man it's frustrating at times.

I use a reskin mod that helps with readability. There are a few on the user files section, you should give them a try.

 

[WarthogOsl]

I play the F-14 on a Rift CV1...probably the lowest res headset currently in use to play DCS.  I do occasionally hit the zoom button to see some gauges, but all the primary flight gauges and navigational stuff are easy enough to see.  Granted, not crystal clear, of course.

[Ahogephilia]

When using quest2, I was hell to check both ass consoles (especially TACAN)
Now that I'm using Quest Pro, I don't have trouble reading instruments and console,

but I still can't read Master test knob.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Ahogephilia

[draconus]

It depends on resolution and antialiasing. Compression can worsen it a bit, I have no experience with that.

I see most intruments no problem, you can always look closer when needed, like for setting gun or mil counter, altimeter baro, but you can't do that with TACAN, so I just zeroize it and count notches

Overall it looks great and the Tomcat is worth every penny

[Temetre]

Thanks for the answers! Good point about readability mods, but im mostly just concerned about flight instruments. I learned most of the pilot stuff just playing trial in 2D. 

 

When you say TACAN, do you mean the pilots manual TACAN on the lower left, which is alternate to Jesters TACAN? That seems like a minor issue, if anything on the front is fine. And I bet the test thingy is hard as hell to read, good thing its optional^^

Oh, and one specific thing: The HSD (the lower pilot display?), how readable is it? I remember the altitude/range text of targeted enemies being very small, and that seems like some of the most important text youll see in combat. Is that readable without zoom?

Edited May 14, 2023 by Temetre

[Temetre]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb draconus:

It depends on resolution and antialiasing. Compression can worsen it a bit, I have no experience with that.

Got a Pico4, which supposedly is pretty good in resolution/image for a wireless headset? Tbh im not so concerned anymore considering the many positive responses.

vor 8 Stunden schrieb draconus:

I see most intruments no problem, you can always look closer when needed, like for setting gun or mil counter, altimeter baro, but you can't do that with TACAN, so I just zeroize it and count notches

Yeah I was mostly concerned about stuff like altimeter, speed, hud/HSD text and other gauges that are important. Stuff you often just want to do a quick glance on while flying/fighting. If those are fine like that, then it should be alright.

Fun anecdote, on the A4 Skyhawk I found the gauges in VR somehow easier to use than on a 2D screen. Just somehow easier to do a quick glance at them.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Temetre

[PD919]

I believe there is a Tomcat VR mod that makes it more readable.

[diego999]

4 hours ago, Temetre said:

Oh, and one specific thing: The HSD (the lower pilot display?), how readable is it? I remember the altitude/range text of targeted enemies being very small, and that seems like some of the most important text youll see in combat. Is that readable without zoom?

It is. No problems on that front.

[Quid]

I have an HP Reverb G2 and I can read everything in the Tomcat cockpit, no mods needed (not that I'm going to criticize anyone who uses a clean cockpit mod, I love the look of a "just delivered" Turkey myself!) and I also haven't figured out how to zoom with a headset on and consider it irrelevant because I can see clearly everything I need to.  If there is anything I really want to get down precisely, I lean forward.

[Temetre]

Thanks again. As far as Im concerned, my doubts are pretty much all gone.^^

vor 5 Stunden schrieb diego999:

It is. No problems on that front.

Oh yeah thats perfect then. Sometimes thats even a bit difficult to read in 2D at 90 fov xD 

Edited May 15, 2023 by Temetre

[diego999]

20 hours ago, Quid said:

 haven't figured out how to zoom with a headset on 

Have you tried "VR Zoom" in the UI Layer bindings? It's a pretty agressive zoom but it gets the job done.

Edited May 15, 2023 by diego999
typo

[Nealius]

Quest 2 with LINK running 72Hz at 1.2x resolution, DCS PD 1.0, MSAAx2. The stuff I need to read is usually fine. At worst I have to zoom to take a quick glance. My only major gripe is the TACAN digit display. I have to zoom, decypher it for a bit, then mentally count as I click the dials. With the click zones for the two dial adjusters being so close together it's easy to click the wrong one and FUBAR my mental count.

[draconus]

7 hours ago, diego999 said:

Have you tried "VR Zoom" in the UI Layer bindings? It's a pretty agressive zoom but it gets the job done.

He meant "I've never needed it so I didn't even bother to look for it"

[Temetre]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb Nealius:

Quest 2 with LINK running 72Hz at 1.2x resolution, DCS PD 1.0, MSAAx2. The stuff I need to read is usually fine. At worst I have to zoom to take a quick glance. My only major gripe is the TACAN digit display. I have to zoom, decypher it for a bit, then mentally count as I click the dials. With the click zones for the two dial adjusters being so close together it's easy to click the wrong one and FUBAR my mental count.

Sounds good indeed. My Pico4 has slightly higher res and lenses, so im sure its just fine.

What would be annoying to me is if during a dogfight, I had to zoom on the speed gauga to see if im 400 or 450 knots, or if I had to zoom every time to see the range/atltidue on an enemy on the HSD radar display. If hud elements/numbers were hard to read. Maybe if reguarly checked instruments like navigation coordinates/range were hard to read.

On many plane cockpits in DCS in VR I just dont need to zoom at all, havent even bound the VR zoom key. Which is really nice imo, tho I probably should use it sometimes.

vor 2 Stunden schrieb draconus:

He meant "I've never needed it so I didn't even bother to look for it"

BTW are you guys actually manually setting your TACAN on a F-14? I always had jester do it during my trial, I found the TACAN number difficult to set on the weird circly thing with my mouse, even in 2D. At least with A4 its much easier to reach^^

And honestly I just like to make Jester do it. I like my solo-pilot fliers, but with the F-14 Heatblur actually made me kinda enjoy having a co-pilot, have him do TACAN, NAV coordinates or spotting. I hope Jester v2 means I can make him do much more math and busy jobs. Like, Jester, calculate me fuel range, remind me of the bomb table nonsense, make me a coffee.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Temetre

[draconus]

11 minutes ago, Temetre said:

Sounds good indeed. My Pico4 has slightly higher res and lenses, so im sure its just fine.

What would be annoying to me is if during a dogfight, I had to zoom on the speed gauga to see if im 400 or 450 knots, or if I had to zoom every time to see the range/atltidue on an enemy on the HSD radar display. If hud elements/numbers were hard to read. Maybe if reguarly checked instruments like navigation coordinates/range were hard to read.

Afaik Pico4 is on the top shelf of VR headsets currently - so your worries are unfounded.

I never look at the numbers on the speed gauge because it just takes a glimpse at the needle position (or movement to notice the trend) to know the speed plus Jester reports you the speed in BFM. But the numbers are readable nontheless if you still want to look. No problem with HSD numbers either. I may need to look closer to tell if it's U or V on IFF'ed contacts.

Yes, Jester can do much for me and I appreciate his job, but I still like to fiddle with stuff like TACAN or specific radio tuning, when I can do it myself. Looking forward to new Jester.

[Temetre]

vor 26 Minuten schrieb draconus:

Afaik Pico4 is on the top shelf of VR headsets currently - so your worries are unfounded.

Its more a good "budget" headset, but apparently one of the best wireless headsets out there. Has slight compression (like all wireless headsets), but its actually not bad at all. Im pretty confident now that itll be enough.

vor 26 Minuten schrieb draconus:

I never look at the numbers on the speed gauge because it just takes a glimpse at the needle position (or movement to notice the trend) to know the speed plus Jester reports you the speed in BFM. But the numbers are readable nontheless if you still want to look. No problem with HSD numbers either. I may need to look closer to tell if it's U or V on IFF'ed contacts.

Yes, Jester can do much for me and I appreciate his job, but I still like to fiddle with stuff like TACAN or specific radio tuning, when I can do it myself. Looking forward to new Jester.

All good to hear. I do find it easier to use needles in VR, its kinda funny. Almost like finally you can use gauges like theyre supposed to be used^^

I do like my fiddling, be it the god tier F-18 avionics, or making primtive A-4/Mig-21 avionics work, but personally I find it enjoyable to take a break and just drop work on Jester. Not like hes doing anything meaningful back there anyway, just pushing buttons :^)     (stick monkey most important monkey!)

Edited May 16, 2023 by Temetre

[Dunska]

I have a Pico 4 using Virtual Desktop in godlike mode (4090) and use this F-14 cockpit mod for better readability and performance.

F-14 VR Ultimate Xperience (F14VUX) (digitalcombatsimulator.com)

[Temetre]

vor 6 Minuten schrieb Dunska:

I have a Pico 4 using Virtual Desktop in godlike mode (4090) and use this F-14 cockpit mod for better readability and performance.

F-14 VR Ultimate Xperience (F14VUX) (digitalcombatsimulator.com)

Ty I check it if I got issues. I supposed with a flier as popular as the F-14, theres always gonna be cockpit liveries to improve readability.

Seems mostly useful for RIO work, now that I look at it.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Temetre

[eatthis]

On 5/15/2023 at 2:50 AM, Quid said:

I have an HP Reverb G2 and I can read everything in the Tomcat cockpit, no mods needed (not that I'm going to criticize anyone who uses a clean cockpit mod, I love the look of a "just delivered" Turkey myself!) and I also haven't figured out how to zoom with a headset on and consider it irrelevant because I can see clearly everything I need to.  If there is anything I really want to get down precisely, I lean forward.

go into ui layer in controls, near the bottom you have 2 zooms.
toggle vr zoom i  medium, great for reading instruments) and
toggle vr spyglasses is a high mag version. useless in the pit but good if just barely see a dot, 
personally i have thing that physically dont render in normal and then magically appear in zoom!