Meta Quest 3 (512GB) OR Somnium Titan or Ultimate Edition

[SnowTiger]

I have/had a Reverb G2. It was great. Sadly I only used it a couple times because of being away from DCS for a long break and now the G2 is a Paper Weight.
I got jerked around for a few months with Poomax so I won't be doing that again. Totally incompetent company.
So now I'm left with either a $5000+ CAD or $6000+ CAD Somnium Titan or Ultimate Edition OR Quest 3 (512 GB). I don't expect miracles from the Quest 3 BUT I am wondering if the Cockpit Gauges will be clearly visible ? I'm hoping someone who already has this headset can inform me regarding this question.
I'm not happy about Battery Operated crap but at least I know I can use a Cable to charge while playing.
The real downside is that I have a smokin' PC including a GTX 4090 Gaming Trio and all of that goes to waste using the Quest 3.

Am I going to be at least reasonably happy with the graphics or should I just splurge and buy a Somnium and quite dilly-dallying about it ?
Anyone here have experience with either the Titon or Ultimate Edition ? Should I choose one over the other for any specific reasons ?

PS> I'm 63 years old and not in great health. I suspect this will be my last big purchase to enjoy DCS while I can but potentially $6000+ (Canadian) is nothing to sneeze at. I need all the advice I can get.  Please and Thanks in Advance.
PPSS> I forgot that I had replied to another post with similar questions but I have expanded my query to include expensive options. I really need some help with this important decision.

Edited January 18 by SnowTiger

[Nighthawk 117]

I have a quest 3 and don't regret buying it for a minute. with a few simple settings in oculus debug I can clearly read all gauges in cockpit and run at a decent rate (current GPU 3080 and 12700 CPU) 

Connected to PC by AMVR v2 cable with no power drain on the headset so my advice is get a Quest 3 save the extra money to treat yourself to other things. Hope this helps and happy flying 

You will need new head strap and face gasket for comfort

Edited January 18 by Nighthawk 117
added Info

[Phantom711]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb SnowTiger:

The real downside is that I have a smokin' PC including a GTX 4090 Gaming Trio and all of that goes to waste using the Quest 3.

What is this supposed to mean?

Also the 512GB on the Q3 is not getting you anywhere with PCVR.

Edited January 18 by Phantom711

[Aapje]

Quote

Am I going to be at least reasonably happy with the graphics

If you were happy with the G2, you should be happy with the Quest 3.

The Somnium is enormously more expensive. The value for money is not really there, IMO, but it is better quality.

[Nightdare]

7 hours ago, SnowTiger said:

The real downside is that I have a smokin' PC including a GTX 4090 Gaming Trio and all of that goes to waste using the Quest 3.

 

The 4090 can't handle much more than the Quest-level of VR headsets anyway

At least with that price/performance bracket, you can set things mostly at full fidelity

[SnowTiger]

Thanks for the replies. They are very helpful.
I will go ahead and purchase a Quest 3 with the AMVR v2 cable and maybe even an add-on head strap if need be. At the very least, it will hold me over until high-end VR headsets come down in price a bit (if I live that long ?).

BTW - In an answer to Phantom711, the point I was/am trying to make is that I chose a processor and graphics card (etc) specifically with VR in mind. I had hoped to utilize the graphics card to run a High-Resolution VR Headset without having to sacrifice anything (ie. great graphics, great refresh rate, all the bells and whistles with little to no sacrifice). Instead I am settling for "the next best thing" for a reasonable price.

Anything is better than having to deal with Poomax's Incompetence.

Thanks again for each of your replies.

[Raketenfrosch]

I came from G2 and got a Quest 3. It's a good VR headset overall, but I am still struggling with DCS.
It has almost the same resolution on paper, but when I adjust the Quest 3 on PD 1,0 native resolution it looks like the G2 on PD 0,5.
And the overall picture quality and colors are not as good as the G2 (in the sweet spot). The FOV is almost the same. Big advantage is the huge (or not existing) sweet spot of the Quest 3.

 

Half Life Alyx via Steam VR looks much better. Maybe I should play DCS via Steam too.

Edited January 23 by Raketenfrosch

[Nighthawk 117]

Get Side quest which is free this will allow you to change headset options and trust me you will see a diff the default the headset is set to is not the setting you can push to.

I only have a 12700 CPU and 3080 GPU but can run DCS well and can read all cockpit gauges easily

Also I use quest foveated by Mbuccia and this gave me a bit more performance

PS use oculus debug tool as well there are many videos for settings or I'm happy to share mine

Edited January 23 by Nighthawk 117

[SnowTiger]

On 1/23/2025 at 4:05 PM, Nighthawk 117 said:

Get Side quest which is free this will allow you to change headset options and trust me you will see a diff the default the headset is set to is not the setting you can push to.

I only have a 12700 CPU and 3080 GPU but can run DCS well and can read all cockpit gauges easily

Also I use quest foveated by Mbuccia and this gave me a bit more performance

PS use oculus debug tool as well there are many videos for settings or I'm happy to share mine

Are these easily found and downloaded programs ?
Are they on Meta Website or will a Google Search easily locate them ?
I may have already looked by the time you reply but even if I do, it might be helpful to others in the future.
Thanks again.

[Nighthawk 117]

Side quest has its own site and i completely free there are numerous YouTube videos explaining how to install and use 

I think there is a thread for quest foveated rendering in the forums with a link for d/l yes it was designed for eye tracking but works on the Quest 3 just blurs outer edge so less to be rendered at high fidelity so increases fps but does also meann need to look a bit more in cockpit

[menace]

I JUST picked up the Meta Quest 3 512 last night, I only played with it for about 3 hours and I had a wonderful time flying the A-10C II. The cockpit and ground below the aircraft was very clear and I can understand why people swear by VR. The Neta Quest 3 is now only $499 US, however, don't think that this makes it a "cheap and Junk" headset.

 

I probably am at about the same level as you when it comes to computers, and I'm 61 if it matters.

[Phantom711]

Again, you guys don‘t need the 512GB version unless you also plan on playing several stand-alone games.

Am 23.1.2025 um 22:05 schrieb Nighthawk 117:

quest foveated by Mbuccia

Unless I‘m missing something here, it‘s called „Quad Views Foveated Rendering“ aka QVFR. Just sayin‘ because the OP might want to find these programs.

Here‘s the link:

https://github.com/mbucchia/Quad-Views-Foveated/wiki
 

What it does in a nutshell: It increases performance at the cost of visual clarity at the outer edges of the VR image.

Am 23.1.2025 um 19:35 schrieb SnowTiger:

I had hoped to utilize the graphics card to run a High-Resolution VR Headset without having to sacrifice anything (ie. great graphics, great refresh rate, all the bells and whistles with little to no sacrifice). Instead I am settling for "the next best thing" for a reasonable price.

Trust me, witH DCS in VR, the Quest3 will absolutely bring your 4090 to it‘s knees at times.

It‘s wishful thinking you could just casually run one of these very high resolution headsets. I‘m not saying it won‘t work at all, it‘s just not as easy as you are portraying it.

[EightyDuce]

34 minutes ago, Phantom711 said:

Again, you guys don‘t need the 512GB version unless you also plan on playing several stand-alone games.

 

Pretty sure the 512Gb is the only version of Q3 that is widly available at retail. The 128Gb is now only available second hand, unless you manage to find some old stock and of those i was able to find were more expensive than 512Gb. At least in the US. 

[Phantom711]

@EightyDuce

Ok. Wasn‘t aware of that. I was just mentioning it because people explicitly mentioning the 512GB here when it has absolutely no meaning/benefit for DCS.

[Aapje]

Yeah, they discontinued the 128 GB version. Note that buying second-hand can be a good idea, because lots of people use it only a few times and then sell it on. So you might be able to get a good deal, and if you can inspect it in person, you can check for dead pixels.

[Rosebud47]

@SnowTiger Can't say anything about Quest3 or Meta headset, as I've never owned one. But I also used a Reverb G2 for the last years and received my Somnium VR1 just last week, so I could give some first impressions. Regarding Pimax, I had the 5k, 5k+ and the 8KX from Pimax before the Reverb G2 and I won't ever buy any Pimax again.

The Somnium VR1 is a big step ahead from the Reverb G2 and probably as well a big step ahead from any consumer VR headset currently on the market. At the moment I'm still figuring out all the functionally it provides.

First of all, you don't need the more expensive Titan or Ultimate Edition of the VR1 unless you're in particular interested in gthe additional features of the more expensive editions, like UltraLeap hand-tracking and mixed reality pass through cameras. Mine is the Vision Edition which only has got eye-tracking, which is totally fine for me ( don't need hand-tracking or pass through cameras for VR flight sims ) - but you could do some interesting things with features like hand-tracking and the mixed reality pass through camera. Maybe, when the DCS F-35 gets available, hand-tracking might get very interesting to use the touch screen in the F-35, we'll see ...

The optics of the VR1 are really impressive - so far the best I've ever seen. I can say right now, that I won't need another VR headset in the next 5 - 8 years. FOV is good, better than the Reverb G2 anyways and any other headset on the market, except Pimax. A big FOV always was Pimax' approach, but Pimax lacks massively in terms of quality in my experience.

Just another word about the optics: brightness, colors, edge-to-edge clarity, lenses, sweet spot, FOV, render resolution is all top notch!

Tracking is via Steam light house tracking, so you would need to buy additional Lighthouse tracking boxes with an extra cost, but finally the light house tracking is superior to inside-out-tracking once setup correctly.

Now here is one of the best things the Somnium VR1 provides: Functionality! You could set the VR1 to SteamVR ( OpenVR ) API or OpenXR - it works with both APIs. Dynamic Foveated Rendering only works with OpenXR, so far I could have figured it out at the moment.

One of the best things: Since I started VR with the original HTC Vive headset, I always wished to have a headset which let's you adjust the render resolution in the headset. The Somnium VR1 finally let's you adjust the render resolution and it's great. With that you could easily run it absolutey smoothly and with high frame rates in every application. I'm currently experimenting with it, but DCS runs more smoothly than the Reverb G2 with much, much better graphics as I run the VR1 currently at 65% render resolution, which is lower than the Reverb G2's 2180 x 2180, but with the impressive graphics of the VR1.

There are lot's of adjustments in the software tool, which make a lot of sense.

I guess Somnium made another approach into the market than its competitors, like Somnium provides a really enthusiast's headset, which gives you high quality optics and tools to adjust the graphics to the performance of your PC, while the competitors sell headsets, which are slightly better than their previous iteration, having in mind to force the customers to buy the next iteration of their product, because of a little improvement. As said before, with the VR1 I could be happy and state of the art for the next few years with regard to the slow development of the technology. And the VR1 is perfectly downgradable by the tool as it probably can't reveal it's full potentional at the moment.

Hope I could give some impressions to make your choice reasonable.   

[evanswillo]

I have had my Somnium VR1 Titan since just before Christmas, as stated here it is an expensive option but if you are looking to fully dive into VR then its a price worth paying as visuals are simply best in class. As the software matures, we are expecting first major update this month, I cannot see anything on the market that will match it for the next couple of years and iterations of graphics cards. Happy to answer any other questions.

[SnowTiger]

Hi evanswillo - I already purchased the Quest 3.
If I live another couple years, I'll certainly consider taking the next leap.  I appreciate your offer to answer Somnium-related questions.

[SnowTiger]

On 1/26/2025 at 5:32 AM, Rosebud47 said:

@SnowTiger Can't say anything about Quest3 or Meta headset, as I've never owned one. But I also used a Reverb G2 for the last years and received my Somnium VR1 just last week, so I could give some first impressions. Regarding Pimax, I had the 5k, 5k+ and the 8KX from Pimax before the Reverb G2 and I won't ever buy any Pimax again.  .....
Hope I could give some impressions to make your choice reasonable.   

Thank you for the detailed information about the Somnium. I did end up getting the Quest 3 which will likely suffice for now .. otherwise I'll give it to my grandson and purchase a Somnium but I'm hoping I can get a couple years of satisfactory use out of the Quest 3 first.
Thanks again for the information.

[SnowTiger]

I guess my remaining question is whether there is a dedicated Thread in ED Forums for using Meta Quest 3 (or Meta) in DCS ?
I tried a few things this weekend and couldn't fly effectively.
I tried connecting with the cable .. that was a S**T Show so I went o'naturale via AirLink but even that was terrible.
Even after following Settings offered by one person who replied to this thread (thank you) the Sim was 80% unflyable for 2 main reasons. One is that the screen was shaking violently at times, mostly when DCS was loading .. and even then I wasn't sure if I needed to load DCS from withing Quest 3 OR from my Desktop ?  It seemed to require a bit of both.
And when I did get in to a cockpit, it was almost impossible to accurately click on or select anything whether I used a Controller (my preference) or my Mouse. I think most of that was because of a serious Delay. That same delay made flying dangerous because all of my actions within the cockpit (stick, rudder, throttles) was also subject to a Delayed Response of about 1 to 2 seconds lag.
SO .. I don't know if I need to start a New Thread or if there is a Quest Dedicated Thread or continue trying to get help from within this Thread ?

[Phantom711]

@SnowTiger

Are you using the official Meta Cable or at least a quality substitute? Has it tested ok in the Meta App on your PC?

[SnowTiger]

I actually sent the Meta Cable back because it's expensive and a couple people suggested getting a cheaper alternative.
This is the one I purchased which I believe to be good but have no way to tell.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BRQMFDQ3?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

I didn't have much success with the cable so I connected in DCS with AirLink only (no cable).

PS> I have no idea how to Test the Cable in the Meta App.
PPSS> I'm a little confused between the App on my Phone versus the App on my PC. I don't even know why I need it on my phone ?
 

Edited February 1 by SnowTiger

[Phantom711]

Did. The. Cable. Test. Ok. In. The. Meta. App. On. Your. PC?

[Aapje]

You should really make or use a different thread instead of this on, since it is offtopic. Anyway, this is how you speed test:

 

[SnowTiger]

5 hours ago, Aapje said:

You should really make or use a different thread instead of this on, since it is offtopic.

Thank you.  Meanwhile, I did reconnect the Cable today and was able to successfully Link and the cable tested fine. Nothing wanted to work correctly yesterday.
Today, I ran the test without any peripherals connected (ie No HOTAS) and went into SP Mission in DCS just to see if the Controller worked properly. Yesterday, there was a significant delay. Now it doesn't seem to be an issue. So now I'm going to start over with my HOTAS connected and hope for the best.
IF I run into further issues, I will start a new thread.
Thanks again.