Oculus Rift, Vr And Fsx

[Pilatus Matt 8]

Even though VR is a technology still very much in development, I have to say that I am very surprised at the lack of discussion that VR, and in particular the Oculus Rift has had within the fourums here at avsim, and amongst the FSX community in general.

 

It stands in contrast to the interest it has garnered with other flight sims, such as DCS, P3D, War Thunder, and X-plane 10. Racing sims have also caught the VR bug, as it's been said that VR offers the most in games where there is some sort if seated cockpit environment. Of course those titles benefit from having a staff around to implement native support. Still though, there are programs which allow for older games to have support ported in with the help of some clever programmers and tweakers. One thing FSX has over those types if games is a fan base that has grown accustomed to tweaking the software to suit their needs, and a host of commercial 3rd party developers.

 

Now I know that there are those of you who think that VR may never catch on as a replacement for a good triple screen setup, and of course it would be next to impossible to use any sort of cockpit hardware while wearing a VR device. While this may be true for some, at the very least it could offer an affordable replacement for the more expensive home cockpit hardware, and may offer a greater sense of realism (visually), and a greater sense of presence within the cockpit environment. I think the future is bright for VR, I just hope FSX doesn't get left behind.

 

Microsoft Flight simulator is my sim of choice and has been for the last 20 years or so. I think it would be quite a shame if folks like myself were forced to choose a different sim because of the overwhelming appeal of VR. In the back of my mind, I think I knew the day would come, I just hope we can get a few more years out if FSX and help from the community when it comes to VR.

[WotanUK 289]

FSX is already (kind of) supported by OR, here is a, fairly poor, video:

 

 

I guess the reason it doesn't feature highly is that FSX is no longer in development, so far only development OR's have been released.  I imagine it will take off when the consumer version is finally released.

[clayton4115 51]

they will have to increase the resolution alot to see the guages in the 3d cockpit

[z06z33 574]

I ordered the DK2 its supposed to be 1080P so idk it might look ok if not I'll just put in on ebay and wait for the CS version. I bought it for IL2 BOS mainly.

 

The DK2 is working in DCS

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Oculus-Rift-Dev-Kit-2-/321478334516?pt=US_Video_Game_Headsets&hash=item4ad99a1834

[clayton4115 51]

$300 here https://www.oculusvr.com/order/ and that guy is charging over $1000 am i missing something?

[z06z33 574]

$300 here https://www.oculusvr.com/order/ and that guy is charging over $1000 am i missing something?

Sorry I meant to post a forum link to a topic about DK2 working with DCS but I guess that one was still on my clipboard but yea I have no idea why that guy thinks he's gonna get that for it. Maybe if he had the units in stock but he claims he won't have them till September which is when I'm supposed to get mine...............If anyone wants to buy mine it'll be $2000 but mine is special as it will come autographed by me a 20 victory ace in IL-2 BOS lol.....Yes I'm keeping track of my kills.

This is the link I meant to post.

https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11328&start=40

[clayton4115 51]

i tell you what, i read what threeeyes wrote there and i can tell you that is the exact feeling i get now with my projector and 3d glasses, the depth adds so much to the visuals, it is amazing, i suppose the the oculus rift it maybe even better because you do not have light coming in from the 3d glasses i have (from the sides)

[zenomat 1]

I know this thread has been opened long time ago but since I'm a big fan of VR i wanted to say a few words.

 

I've tried both versions : the DK1 with FSX and the DK2 with P3D.

The DK1 (shown in the first video) had, indeed, a very low quality. You could almost count the pixels on the screen. But the feeling you had was wonderful. The first time I flew through a cloud was indeed a WOOOOOW moment. The freedom, the looking around with your body instead of joystick feeling is just great.

 

The DK2 comes with a higher resolution, with the 6 degree movement thanks to the camera and it's even better than the first one. The fact that you can lean forward to see the cockpit or the runway ads a lot to the realism.

But, here comes the but: so far I found no integration for DK2 and FSX. I talked to one guy who developed some functionality for Prepar 3D, still in testing, but working great. For FSX seems to be much more complicated. Only time will tell if it will ever be integrated in FSX or P3D is indeed the future ...

 

Anyway, as a conclusion: it's very promissing Imho the feeling you have using the Rift can not be compared to 2-3-4-5 or whatever monitors you have And after a while you will not miss the panels you have. I always loved flying low and slow and using turbo props. For this the Rift is just wonderful

[ZG862 1]

I wonder if anyone will come up with the technology to combine all that's best about real panels with the OR concept? I'm thinking, what if you could identify an area that you wanted to be virtual (e.g. by colouring it in some way) and the rest of the real view was captured with forward facing cameras and merged into the virtual image? A kind of enhanced reality rather than 100% virtual.

Obviously there is no way that the cameras could be at true eye position but maybe you could compensate enough programmatically.

 

Wait a minute, haven't I just invented Google Glass all over again?

 

Z

[clayton4115 51]

I know this thread has been opened long time ago but since I'm a big fan of VR i wanted to say a few words.

 

I've tried both versions : the DK1 with FSX and the DK2 with P3D.

The DK1 (shown in the first video) had, indeed, a very low quality. You could almost count the pixels on the screen. But the feeling you had was wonderful. The first time I flew through a cloud was indeed a WOOOOOW moment. The freedom, the looking around with your body instead of joystick feeling is just great.

 

The DK2 comes with a higher resolution, with the 6 degree movement thanks to the camera and it's even better than the first one. The fact that you can lean forward to see the cockpit or the runway ads a lot to the realism.

But, here comes the but: so far I found no integration for DK2 and FSX. I talked to one guy who developed some functionality for Prepar 3D, still in testing, but working great. For FSX seems to be much more complicated. Only time will tell if it will ever be integrated in FSX or P3D is indeed the future ...

 

Anyway, as a conclusion: it's very promissing Imho the feeling you have using the Rift can not be compared to 2-3-4-5 or whatever monitors you have And after a while you will not miss the panels you have. I always loved flying low and slow and using turbo props. For this the Rift is just wonderful

 

 

good, but how does one solve the problem of having to press buttons and turn dials in the cockpit while using the DK2?

[SimonC 109]

good, but how does one solve the problem of having to press buttons and turn dials in the cockpit while using the DK2?

 

I guess the easiest would be to have two mouse-modes, which could be switched by a shortcut:

1) keep the position-reference relative to the screen (normal mode) - for clicking on stuff like ATC panel

2) keep the position-reference relative to the virtual cockpit (alternative mode) - so that the head-movement doesn't pan the mouse and when you position it over the button, it stays there no matter how you move your head - kind of a cockpit hand ;-)

 

Or you could just add the virtual hand which is controlled by the mouse... lol.