I see that the consumer edition of the Oculus Rift VR headset is slated to come out in Q1 2016. Will the headset need a special driver or software to work properly with P3D? (I'm pretty sure I've seen videos of it working wth P3D already...). Also, will using the Rift be less taxing on the GPU, beign that it is only powering two small eyepieces rather than possibly multiple large monitors?

Check this out:

 

http://flyinside-fsx.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1232710074/flyinside-fsx/description

 

http://www.avsim.com/topic/471444-flyinside-fsx-virtual-reality-flight-simulator-kickstarter-stretchgoal-prepar3d-support-announced/

 

That is the best currently available approach these days.

 

edit: LM provides also a Oculus Rift Plugin for showcasing the possibilies.

Please enlighten me, as I know nothing about Oculus Rift (yes I have Googled but....). 

As I understand it, you put on a pair of glasses and you are "in the middle of the scenery".... or? BUT where is the "cockpit feeling"? I still want to see my monitors as "cockpit windows" see and feel the cockpit around me. To me it sounds to technical. Yes I kow i might be wrong, but thats why I ask the question.

 

 

Jack

the Swede in Spain

It is all about presence (maximum immersion)

Basically the tech is here. Currently in Form of Devkits for the last two years and soon arrives on the consumer Market.

 

It tricks your Brain to think what you see is real.

Just check out the avsim thread linked above for some infos.

 

I could try to explain it but this video does a better job

 

https://youtu.be/iACAS_RAneE

 

edit: keep in mind that what you see in the video is the DevKit 1 rather old and dated right now.

WOW! Great news! Cant wait for it to get released. I think we're approaching a new age of desktop flight simulation

Believe me, Once u`ve tried P3D on VR, u´ll never come back to a 2D monitor. Ever.

 

It´s about being there, and I`m talking about Oculus DK2 whith a resolution that makes it somehow difficult to read the gauges. You can get closer to read them tho, like a track ir. With the new HTC Valve Vive coming on holidays and the new Oculus early next year (both have higher resolution) there´s no other way I´ll use a flight simulator but on VR.

 

U won´t need to see your monitors, because you are in the flight deck, everything´s there, life size.

Actually, the main problem is how do you interact with the cockpit. U still have to use the mouse and your real yoke, but the vive and the new oculus (this one sold separetely) will have yokes to help you interact with your VR environment, allowing pushing buttons and so on.

 

 

I`ve been demoing P3D with VR to many friends, some of them 737 pilots (I work for an airline too,as a flight coordinator), and all of them were absolutely astonished, (I`m too everytime I put the googles on). They couldn´t believe it. You can explain it a thousand times, but you have to experience it to fully understand it.

 

Flyinside is the tool I use for VR with prepar3d right now.

 

Cheers

the new Oculus early next year (both have higher resolution)

 

I was just looking at that... I know some people were complaining about resolution in the development kit. From a google search: "the DK2, it's noticeably less sharp, with 1080p overall resolution (or 960 x 1080 per eye)."

 

The consumer version will have 2160x1200 (1080x1200 per eye).

 

Also, per my original post... do you think this will be easier on the GPU?

Also, per my original post... do you think this will be easier on the GPU?

No. It will eat up your Hardware like a hungry Bear.

 

Good thing is, nvidia released the first VR SLI Driver some days ago. I need a second gtx970 soon

I was just looking at that... I know some people were complaining about resolution in the development kit. From a google search: "the DK2, it's noticeably less sharp, with 1080p overall resolution (or 960 x 1080 per eye)."

 

The consumer version will have 2160x1200 (1080x1200 per eye).

 

Also, per my original post... do you think this will be easier on the GPU?

 

Actually is far worse. Have in mind that in VR your field of View is huge (about 110º) that means it´s rendering an enormous dome al arround you.  So if you stretch your 2D resolution of 1080p to cover such huge field of view, you´ll end with pixels as big as a fist and the famous screen door effect. So, the solution will be higher resolutions (4K being a good milestone) but the companies have some shortcuts and the next generation of VR devices will be pretty good (resolution and frame friendly talking) with resolutions not as high as 4k. Anyway imagine the beast you need to move those resolutions at high frames. That´s the main problem.

 

 

No. It will eat up your Hardware like a hungry Bear.

 

Good thing is, nvidia released the first VR SLI Driver some days ago. I need a second gtx970 soon

 

I´d say a dozen of hungry bears to be precise

 

 

Cheers

Chass32,

 

What has your experience been in regards to motion sickness?  From what I've read, although newer hardware has improved this - and it's supposed to be even better with production models - with current hardware, it's still a major issue for some, to the point where they start to sick up and even get flashes of vertigo after playing.  That said, I also read it's not as bad for cockpit type VR environments?  Have you or any of your friends suffered from motion sickness when trying it out for more than just a few minutes?

 

Thanks,

JB

 

 

Believe me, Once u`ve tried P3D on VR, u´ll never come back to a 2D monitor. Ever.

 

It´s about being there, and I`m talking about Oculus DK2 whith a resolution that makes it somehow difficult to read the gauges. You can get closer to read them tho, like a track ir. With the new HTC Valve Vive coming on holidays and the new Oculus early next year (both have higher resolution) there´s no other way I´ll use a flight simulator but on VR.

 

U won´t need to see your monitors, because you are in the flight deck, everything´s there, life size.

Actually, the main problem is how do you interact with the cockpit. U still have to use the mouse and your real yoke, but the vive and the new oculus (this one sold separetely) will have yokes to help you interact with your VR environment, allowing pushing buttons and so on.

 

 

I`ve been demoing P3D with VR to many friends, some of them 737 pilots (I work for an airline too,as a flight coordinator), and all of them were absolutely astonished, (I`m too everytime I put the googles on). They couldn´t believe it. You can explain it a thousand times, but you have to experience it to fully understand it.

 

Flyinside is the tool I use for VR with prepar3d right now.

 

Cheers

Chass32,

 

What has your experience been in regards to motion sickness?  From what I've read, although newer hardware has improved this - and it's supposed to be even better with production models - with current hardware, it's still a major issue for some, to the point where they start to sick up and even get flashes of vertigo after playing.  That said, I also read it's not as bad for cockpit type VR environments?  Have you or any of your friends suffered from motion sickness when trying it out for more than just a few minutes?

 

Thanks,

JB

None on simulator cockpit VR environments (perhaps a little on assetto corsa, but I think that's related at being forced to watch the track carefully at high speeds and a not very sharp resolution). I've been hours on P3D, not a single second of motion sickness, me or my friends. Been many hours, several in a row, with elite dangerous and no sickness at all. Same with DCS (feeling a bit weird if u start to loop like a madman, but I'm pretty sure u'd feel the same in real life).

On the other hand I get massive motion sickness with many games, mainly those where you have to walk around ( alien is awesome, u are in the spaceship, literally, being chased by the alien, it's awesome but I can't play it for more than 5 minutes when I star sweating and getting sick.

I'm pretty sure they'll get rid of motion sickness eventually, but if VR only worked safely with simulators it would be worthy.

I've been hours on P3D, not a single second of motion sickness, me or my friends. Been many hours, several in a row, with elite dangerous and no sickness at all. Same with DCS (feeling a bit weird if u start to loop like a madman, but I'm pretty sure u'd feel the same in real life).

 

What is in your opinion the minimum frame rate necessary to have a good experience with the Oculus Rift?

Here are some official Details about what is generally required performance-wise,

The Rift runs at 2160×1200 at 90Hz split over dual displays, consuming 233 million pixels per second. 
At the default eye-target scale, the Rift’s rendering requirements go much higher: around 400 million shaded pixels per second. 
This means that by raw rendering costs alone, a VR game will require approximately 3x the GPU power of 1080p rendering.

The current available DK2 needs 75fps, the consumer Version is designed for 90fps.

 

However, the Dev behing Flyinside FSX (and before DCOC) implemented "asynchronous timewarp" this means if you have constant 30fps you can achieve a more or less judder free and smooth visual quality. I can confirm this works very well with DK2 but i dont think this applies for the CV1.

What is in your opinion the minimum frame rate necessary to have a good experience with the Oculus Rift?

 

The more you can get the better, of course, but if you want a smooth experience on DK2, the frames should be around 75 (don´t scare just yet) and in the consumer version should be aorund 90fps. That´s a lot, indeed, but Oculus created a technology called Timewarp. What is it? I quote from flyinside kickstarter campaign "If you look to the left, but the last picture the Rift has is not quite in the right place, it will stretch and move the image to match. Even if the software falls behind, the illusion is maintained and the virtual world feels real!  If FSX stutters a little bit, or it misses a frame, FlyInside picks up the slack. It uses timewarp in a parallel manner, sometimes multiple times in a row, to fill in the gaps while FSX is busy. You can turn up your graphical settings, and even while FSX is stuck loading a new chunk of landscape or buildings, FlyInside will keep your view smooth and immersive."

 

It´s witchcraft, believe me xD I`ve got an i7 with a 780 and Asynchronous Timewarp gives me a constant 75fps and with some carenado planes (I don´t have PMDG 737. Hard to get 75 with it, probably). The truth is, that since you use oculus DK2 with its graphics limitations, you don´t need all the graphic  sliders to the right. Flyinside takes care of it for you (if you want of course), and personally I don´t use auto-gen since I fly with photoreal scenery and that´s a big hit on frames. The immersion is so overwhelming that you don´t really miss those nice HD graphics . The only problem is reading the gauges properly. You have to get close to them phisically, but that will be solved with the consumer version of the googles.

But with the consumer version, and its improved graphics,I`m afraid we´ll have to get a 980ti to fully enjoy it (I might be wrong tho)

 

Has anyone come across any updates on how this will all work with the retail version.. will the reports of gauges being blurry still be an issue.. is the flyinside fsx software still the best bet for making it all work the best..

 

I've pre-ordered the retail kit.. i've got a 780ti 3GB and i'm hoping its at least the equivalent to the min required 980 gtx baseline (seems to be) and will work well enough.. very curious here.