Any way to make your VR cursor stick to a button/switch/dial like your mouse does, and other questions.

[James DeSouza]

Hello;

1)  Is there any way to make the cursor for your VR stick to an interactable in the same way a mouse cursor does when you hold LMB/RMB?  The jittering in VR causes me to "slip off" buttons and switches that need to be held.

2)  Is there any way to have both hand's laser pointers active at one time and have each hand tied to a different mouse device, for if you have a ring mouse on each hand for example, allowing you to interact with more than 1 button at a time?

3)  This isn't specifically VR related, but is there any way to have the game multiply the number of mwheeldn/up operations you do (so that one physical click/notch on the mousewheel registers as more in game)?  Voice attack gives you this functionality but a large portion of the mousewheel inputs that voice attack is sending to the game don't get registered.  Alternately is there a way to reduce the amount of mousewheel inputs needed on modules which have obscenely large amounts of mousewheel scrolling to rotate dials (the P-47 for example).

 

Thanks.

[mrsylvestre]

18 hours ago, James DeSouza said:

1)  Is there any way to make the cursor for your VR stick to an interactable in the same way a mouse cursor does when you hold LMB/RMB?  The jittering in VR causes me to "slip off" buttons and switches that need to be held.

Sadly not at this time. In DCS VR, if you move your head, the mouse cursor moves. This is appreciated by some, as by binding a "mouse click" action on a HOTAS button, it allows to "look and click" in the cockpit, without the need to pick up the mouse. Others including myself would like to have an option for the mouse cursor to behave like in MSFS: when you point to a control in the cockpit, the cursor stays there until you move the mouse, as a metaphor for the pilot's hand, irrespective of any movement of your head (also in MSFS, after some time if the mouse is inactive, the cursor disappears and the position is reset to the center of your field of view when you start to used it again so you don't have to look everywhere in the cockpit to find it).

This approach, if implemented in DCS, would allow much more precise interactions with the controls and some may argue that it would also be more realistic. IRL, when you are adjusting something with you hand, you don't have to compensate if you change your head position or gaze away. Also real pilots cannot "look and click" cockpit switches, knobs etc without letting go either the throttle or the stick. But to each its own, I don't advocate removing the current mouse behaviour in VR, just implementing the option for the more natural behaviour explained here, which shouldn't be that complex considering that it is the default in VR in several other sims and games.

Now that VR is showing all its potential and taking off within the user base thanks to the more affordable Q2, Q3, Pico 4 plus the higher-end headsets combined with current higher-end GPUs, I believe adding this feature should be a priority, but what do I know...

Edited December 9, 2023 by mrsylvestre

[James DeSouza]

3 hours ago, mrsylvestre said:

Now that VR is showing all its potential and taking off within the user base thanks to the more affordable Q2, Q3, Pico 4 plus the higher-end headsets combined with current higher-end GPUs, I believe adding this feature should be a priority, but what do I know...

If you're comfortable with using mods I did see this mod a while ago

but I am personally hesitant about mods.  Also I don't know if it will allow you to transfer mouse inputs through to where the motion controller is pointing which is the approach I am wanting.  I am using vive trackers as these let you track your hands without needing to continually drop and pick up a motion controller to also use the HOTAS.

[mrsylvestre]

I am confortable using mods (e.g. VAICOMPRO community for natural voice communications with the AI - once it is correctly setup, it is a game changer for single player). IvyVR seems well-designed, thanks for the link. One still need trackers (but indeed Vive trackers seem to be a viable option) which add an additional layer of complexity compared to the mouse implementation for VR in MSFS. IvyVR may ultimately be even more realistic, requiring larger gestures and body movement for switches that are not close to the HOTAS but may be less convenient to players that have a chair with armrests or that use a stick and throttle on a desk.

[splash]

+1. I’ve just started in VR and find very difficult to interact with cockpit controls.

[Qcumber]

1 hour ago, splash said:

+1. I’ve just started in VR and find very difficult to interact with cockpit controls.

Set DCS VR to “use mouse” then set a joystick bind to toggle the cursor on/off (this is module specific). You can then use JoyToKey (3rd party software) to bind a joystick key to reset the mouse cursor to centre. You can also set other keys to toggle the cursor to off-centre positions. I use this for a left and right offset so I can access cockpit side panels easily without using the mouse. Just look left or right and press a button to “push” the cursor into a position which otherwise would give me a neck problem. It might sound tricky but it does work very well, until we get ultimate hand tracking. 

[splash]

Thanks! I will try it.

[Tomcat388th]

I use voice attack and have a command set up that will pop up the mouse curser right in the middle of the hud. Then use my trackball mouse after that

J

 

[James DeSouza]

Using the mouse is undoubtedly a more effective method.  I am more wanting to physically interact with the cockpit in VR in the most effective way however.  The ability to "reach out and touch", as limited as it is, is part of my enjoyment.

 

Maybe one day we'll get haptic powerglove support