Oculus Rift and DCS World Discussion

[unclejacko]

So got my oculus today and testing it out. It's a really interesting device in that it was able to fool my body quite a bit into thinking were moving.

 

But I wanted to get some advice from those who've had it a bit to try to make the experience better:

-Is there a way to adjust the pilot seat? In the A-10C it seems I'm right in the control stick way up. Makes it hard to fly so close to cockpit. The Huey was almost dead on with the position and by far the coolest so far. But if there is a way to modify the pilot position so I start correctly it would be cool.

-Is there a method to make thing look a little sharper? It was very hard to read the hud numbers or any of the dials. It seems if I didn't move my head I could maybe read them, but wanted to know if you guys figure out how to view things better.

 

Any general settings you guys could recommend both on the oculus config (which I exit before going into DCS) or in DCS itself would be greatly appreaciated.

[metalnwood]

Jacko, I am not a guru in getting the rift optimised for DCS but it sounds like you need to press the 5 on the number pad.

 

When you get in to the pit you are usually not in the correct position and need to center the rift, by default its numberpad 5.

 

Things will always be a bit fuzzy with the DK2, you will get used to it more over time and with a reasonable knowledge of the aircraft you will know where the needles are pointing even if you cant read without moving in to see more clearly.

 

In some other games an addon called sweetfx made things clearer but I dont know if it works with DCS. I know when 1.5 is released it wont so probably not worth even trying.

[gazdapavo]

Has anyone tried that flyinside FSX? I know you have Derek, from another forum.

 

That is the best flight sim experience I have had in the rift. Not because of planes, flight model etc but because it is smooth, no judder. That timewarp really makes a huge difference and I hope DCS make sure this is implemented.

 

It is very good seeing the framerate a good deal under the 75 frames yet everything is silky smooth.

 

Yep, i completey agree. I used it with P3D, but the experience is the same, i guess.

and the fact that you can read instruments from a tool tip above the pointer helps a lot. Another plus is that mouse pointer is very very accurate against the virtual cockpit. That's something I'm missing in DCS.

 

have you seen a video where the guy demos implementation of leap motion with DK2 within flyinside? being able to click around virtual cockpit with your hands... i am soooooooo looking forward to this.

[unclejacko]

Yep hitting num 5 did the trick. Didn't get a chance to fly, but the seating is much better. It's amazing how big these aircraft look from the oculus.

 

Any tips on other settings like vsync, MSAA, anti aliasing? Hoping to try to get some flights in this weekend to give it a good test.

[metalnwood]

Sorry Jacko, I cant even get DCS world to load on my oculus anymore, bummer, I havent loaded it in a while so I better check that there wasnt an update that broke things requiring me to do something..

[PiedDroit]

Another plus is that mouse pointer is very very accurate against the virtual cockpit. That's something I'm missing in DCS.

The cursor in DCS has fixed distance and doesn't change size.

Depending on the distance eye-panel, the cursor can be floating in the air in front of the panels, or appear to be behind the panels (but still visible), which makes aiming it very akward.

 

The P3D cursor is "following" the panels surface and changing size according to the distance which makes aiming it super natural.

[DerekSpeare]

FlyInside makes FSX a ton of fun! I'm going to stay with the OR 0.6.0.1 runtimes until everything is made to work with Direct.

Edited August 28, 2015 by DerekSpeare

[gtrdrt]

...Is there a way to adjust the pilot seat? In the A-10C it seems I'm right in the control stick way up. Makes it hard to fly so close to cockpit. The Huey was almost dead on with the position and by far the coolest so far. But if there is a way to modify the pilot position so I start correctly it would be cool...

 

I haven't tested this in the A-10, but in the Huey, I can use my middle mouse button (the wheel) to position myself pretty much anywhere, even outside the cockpit if I want (It's really cool to fly while sitting on top of the Huey.).

 

You first have to get rid of the yellow crosshair cursor by turning off 'clickable mouse cockpit mode' (L Alt + c on your keyboard toggles it). Then hold down your middle mouse button and move the mouse. Moving it side to side moves your position to the right and left, forward and back moves your position up and down, and turning the wheel (while still holding it down) moves you forward and back. This all assumes that your middle mouse button is also your wheel.

 

Now for some reason, I've been under the impression that if you want DCS to open with you in the same position as when you last closed the program, you could press RAlt + num0 to "save cockpit angles." And until just now, I'd never tried it. Well, it appears I've been under the wrong impression. Saving cockpit angles doesn't do what I had thought. I have yet to learn what it actually does, so it would be great if someone else could tell us. It would also be great if someone could show us a way we can save cockpit position, assuming a way does exist.

[unclejacko]

Num-5 has been doing the trick. It's been very interesting flying DCS with the oculus. I'll probably make a video about it sometime. So far the Huey and the A-10C have been the best to fly. Will try to test out the other modules sometime this week.

 

I haven't tested this in the A-10, but in the Huey, I can use my middle mouse button (the wheel) to position myself pretty much anywhere, even outside the cockpit if I want (It's really cool to fly while sitting on top of the Huey.).

 

You first have to get rid of the yellow crosshair cursor by turning off 'clickable mouse cockpit mode' (L Alt + c on your keyboard toggles it). Then hold down your middle mouse button and move the mouse. Moving it side to side moves your position to the right and left, forward and back moves your position up and down, and turning the wheel (while still holding it down) moves you forward and back. This all assumes that your middle mouse button is also your wheel.

 

Now for some reason, I've been under the impression that if you want DCS to open with you in the same position as when you last closed the program, you could press RAlt + num0 to "save cockpit angles." And until just now, I'd never tried it. Well, it appears I've been under the wrong impression. Saving cockpit angles doesn't do what I had thought. I have yet to learn what it actually does, so it would be great if someone else could tell us. It would also be great if someone could show us a way we can save cockpit position, assuming a way does exist.

[gtrdrt]

Num-5 has been doing the trick...

Sure, but num5 won't put you on top of your aircraft. :)

 

I hope you get a chance to try that sometime. It's fun. You can also move yourself just far enough forward that you're just outside the glass in front of you. You can then have a clearer view like you have when you're in the 'HUD only' view (L Alt + F1 toggles it). But you won't have that 'HUD only view' map to block your view. Plus you'll still be able to see a little bit of your aircraft, which will help to keep you oriented.

 

Keep in mind though that my only experience with this has been with the Huey. (Other aircraft's mileage may vary:))

 

Have fun...:pilotfly:

[unclejacko]

Did a quick test flight with it...while it was fun, hoping dcs 1.5 makes the cockpit a little sharper:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PawaWa16kSo

[DerekSpeare]

Is anyone running DCS in Direct mode? What is DCS 1.5?

[DerekSpeare]

ED is about to update DCSW with their new graphics engine. Once updated it will be version 1.5. They have announced unspecified enhancements to Oculus support in this new version.

 

DCS does not run in direct mode by now.

 

Cheers, and thank you. There's a lot of news to keep track of :smartass: Is this update coming "soon" or is it imminent? I'm also curious to know if the updated version will run with the Oculus 0.7.0.0 runtimes, but that's something likely only the developers would know.

[Etirion]

1.5 will hopefully be out this month in the open beta, dont know a specific date and they could of course find some gamebreaking bugs that could delay the launch a little further.

[gtrdrt]

ED is about to update DCSW with their new graphics engine...

 

"About to " can mean so many things, depending on context, average pilot. Could you tell us what you meant by it? thanks...

[gtrdrt]

1.5 will hopefully be out this month in the open beta, dont know a specific date and they could of course find some gamebreaking bugs that could delay the launch a little further.

 

Where did you hear about the release happening this month? It would be great if it were true, but we've had our hopes up before and been disappointed. How did you find out about this?

[S3NTRY11]

Where did you hear about the release happening this month? It would be great if it were true, but we've had our hopes up before and been disappointed. How did you find out about this?

Mid-late September has been sprayed all over the forum, and I think that time-period was given by wags himself. They sound pretty confident, but I can appreciate people being anxious about it.. We've heard pretty solid dates before.

Fingers crossed! It's looking good. I'm certainly pumped...

 

Now to taste their VR implementation!

[gtrdrt]

Mid-late September has been sprayed all over the forum, and I think that time-period was given by wags himself. They sound pretty confident, but I can appreciate people being anxious about it.. We've heard pretty solid dates before.

Fingers crossed! It's looking good. I'm certainly pumped...

 

Now to taste their VR implementation!

 

I sure hope you're right, S3NTRY. That would be fantastic. Has wags been saying anything about which Oculus SDK version has been used to build Rift support for DCS 1.5? In other words, will it be playable by those who have Oculus Runtime 0.7 installed, which no longer supports Extended Mode? DCS Oculus support would have to have been built using SDK 0.6 or higher. (I hope you don't already know all that and that I'm not sounding all 'teachy' or anything:)). Take care, and thanks...

[S3NTRY11]

I haven't heard anything specific regarding sdk versions.

I am hopeful that the fact that DCS is one of the best VR technology demonstrators means there is some type of ongoing relationship between oculus and ED, and with that, regular review and integration of the latest sdk. Not sure how wishful that is though - fair to say ED have their hands full.

 

I for one am leaning more towards the vive - seems like much better base-tech to build around - especially for things like VR cockpits and the like. Not much news on that front other than that ED have a dev kit, and things are looking good.

 

As a side-note i have not even been able to use my DK2 with DCS, being a soon-to-be former AMD customer.

[gtrdrt]

...As a side-note i have not even been able to use my DK2 with DCS, being a soon-to-be former AMD customer.

What card are you planning to get. I just got a gtx 970, and I don't know how DCS can get any smoother than what that card has now made possible. I love it! I just hope DCS 1.5 will be compatible with Runtime 0.7, because that's what I'm now running. I'm told by Oculus folks that there's no problem with going back and forth between Runtime 0.7 and other versions, and I would probably do that in order to run DCS occasionally if 1.5 turns out to be not ready for 0.7, but I sure hope it doesn't have to be only occasionally.:) thanks...

[metalnwood]

I haven't heard anything specific regarding sdk versions.

I am hopeful that the fact that DCS is one of the best VR technology demonstrators means there is some type of ongoing relationship between oculus and ED, and with that, regular review and integration of the latest sdk. Not sure how wishful that is though - fair to say ED have their hands full.

 

I for one am leaning more towards the vive - seems like much better base-tech to build around - especially for things like VR cockpits and the like. Not much news on that front other than that ED have a dev kit, and things are looking good.

 

As a side-note i have not even been able to use my DK2 with DCS, being a soon-to-be former AMD customer.

 

I have been doing some more beta testing for the flyinside product for fsx. I just jumped back in to DCS to try it with the rift after not trying it for many months.

 

It has me a bit worried TBH. Flyinside is so much more superior in it's implementation that DCS in it's current state is a huge step back. I really hope they do have a good implementation.

 

I will be looking at the rift and the vive as well but as far as I can tell they have the same resolution and the benefit of the vive is outside of cockpit environments as it doesnt have the fixed camera with limited camera fov. I was curious what about the vive yout thought would make it better for a cockpit?

[S3NTRY11]

I have been doing some more beta testing for the flyinside product for fsx. I just jumped back in to DCS to try it with the rift after not trying it for many months.

...

I was curious what about the vive yout thought would make it better for a cockpit?

 

I've recently had a bit of a go with P3D and FlyInside.. I thought it was pretty good too. Like you, I hope ED have met or exceeded that level of quality.

 

Regarding Vive and cockpit, because of the fundamental difference in the way Oculus and HTC do their tracking, the Vive is inherently more extensible, to the point that you should be able to plonk-on some sensors to everyday items, match them up to VR-space models and away you go - that item is now tracked in VR. Perhaps even having entire 3D printed cockpit facsimiles created?

I don't think it will be impossible to do similar with the Rift tracking system, but I think it would harder, and occlusion/frustum/tracking seems like a much bigger issue (actually the facsimile cockpit probably is almost impossible with Rift tracking, but everyday items are likely doable).

There's a great interview by Norm from Tested with the guy that created the lighthouse system discussing its scalability and extensibility:

 

 

@gtrdrt I feel the same about 0.7.

As for my next card: TBA at this stage. I might well swallow my words and stick with AMD if their DX12 performance is all it's cracked up to be.

[unclejacko]

A couple friend of mine with the Oculus Rift started up a Facebook page for Virtual Reality pilots. The site is for DCS, FSX, and any other flight sim that can use the Oculus Rift or other virtual reality system.

 

Were trying to get people to share their experiences....hope you guys can contribute.

 

https://www.facebook.com/VRAviators

[metalnwood]

Good point Sentry, I didnt see any practical advantage of their positional system when sitting in a cockpit but it could be better for the peripherals.

[Chivas]

According to Palmer the reason Oculus went with the camera tracking system over other like Vive's system is that the Rift camera system could track "everything" including body and facial expressions.