fsx/fsx-se? Please put a bundle together for a VR player

[aurel42 10]

Hi there,

 

I recently got an Oculus Rift and I'm ready to return to the current incarnation of subLogic Flightsim (ie. FSX:SE) after eight years of absence. I've tried it briefly with "FlyInside" with several of the included aircraft, but the cockpits were just as ugly as I remembered them, and I had quite a bit of trouble getting used to the user interface in VR, yet it was obvious that a very special experience is waiting for me there.

 

I think I know what I need to enjoy FSX in VR, but I don't know what to get exactly -- I'm simply overwhelmed by the mass of developers and addons.

 

Would someone be so kind as to recommend:

• a speech-recognizing copilot addon (I don't have motion controllers, I'm not happy with manipulating knobs and switches by the "look at it" navigation in FlyInside, so I'd rather tell someone to do the stuff I can't put on my joystick. Is "IYP" the way to go?)
• a small, modern business jet, w/ glass cockpit,
• and something like a old-timey twin turboprop (yet I'd still like to have something like these Garmin thingies, because working with maps or printouts is kinda difficult with that black box strapped to my forehead),
• both aircraft should work with the copilot thingie and have nice, immersive virtual cockpits; I love reading manuals so they don't need to be too dumbed down (but I need the copilot addon for checklists/procedures),
• if my "fps budget" allows it (VR is challenging in that respect), I'd like to have some generic "make scenery, weather, traffic more pretty" stuff, are there any must-have addons or "all in one"-packs that are known to be "fps-friendly"?

I know that some free projects are really, really good, so if for any of this there's a viable free alternative, I'd prefer that, but I also realize that my requirements are pretty specific, so I'm prepared to purchase whatever is within my budget. If there's something on Steam that fits my needs, I'd prefer that over other distribution methods, because, for me, the DRM stuff in most flightsim addons was always a bit of a bother.

 

Help, please!  :smile:

 

[aurel42 10]

Well, thanks. I know what to do now.

[n4gix 4,947]

You know, you just might want to wait a bit longer than six hours for folks to actually have a chance to answer your questions! This isn't "instant chat" after all...

 

In any case, welcome to AVSIM.

[aurel42 10]

You know, you just might want to wait a bit longer than six hours for folks to actually have a chance to answer your questions! This isn't "instant chat" after all...

 

Thanks for the advice, it was 30 hours, though. More than enough time for any of the 50 people who saw the question to speak up in favour of IYP, if it was any good or did have a significant install base.

 

[to explain: Looking at the ads on Avsim and the official support forums, I assume that people will probably not speak out against addons unless they have strong feelings about them, simply because they don't want to harm the site. So if nobody comments on my idea, I assume it wasn't a good idea in the first place and I won't waste money on it. Perhaps I'll check out Twitch streams to see what addons the streamers are using, and see whether I can come up with a new plan.]

[n4gix 4,947]

Opps! Silly me, I noted only the time posted but not the date (July 15th) so managed to thoroughly embarrass myself... Oh well, it won't be the first time!

 

Your logic seems solid however, so now your second post makes more sense to me...

[nealmac 260]

• a speech-recognizing copilot addon (I don't have motion controllers, I'm not happy with manipulating knobs and switches by the "look at it" navigation in FlyInside, so I'd rather tell someone to do the stuff I can't put on my joystick. Is "IYP" the way to go?) FS2Crew is probably the more popular choice but I can't vouch for for the full version. I only have the built in locked version that comes with the Aerosoft Airbus and it works really well.
• a small, modern business jet, w/ glass cockpit, Eaglesoft Cessna Citation X.
• and something like a old-timey twin turboprop (yet I'd still like to have something like these Garmin thingies, because working with maps or printouts is kinda difficult with that black box strapped to my forehead), Carenado B350I KingAir.
• both aircraft should work with the copilot thingie and have nice, immersive virtual cockpits; I love reading manuals so they don't need to be too dumbed down (but I need the copilot addon for checklists/procedures), Sorry but I don't know if FS2Crew will work with either of these birds.
• if my "fps budget" allows it (VR is challenging in that respect), I'd like to have some generic "make scenery, weather, traffic more pretty" stuff, are there any must-have addons or "all in one"-packs that are known to be "fps-friendly"? I don't exactly have the most powerful system, but I love Orbx scenery. It can get quite expensive but I think it's well worth it, and I have very little  drop in framerate.

I tried to answer your questions above. I'm by no means an expert in flight simming but I have been doing it on and off for a long time. In the last 6 months I've raised the bar a bit in terms of hours spent and addons purchased. 

[aurel42 10]

I tried to answer your questions above.

 

Appreciated! I'm not really into heavy metal, so FS2Crew doesn't seem to be an option.  My new alternative plan is to stick with the FSD aircraft I already own (which aren't supported by IYP, so I kinda discounted them in my original plan), and create custom VoiceAttack profiles for them. If I can figure out how to do that, I can even have Brent Spiner as my co-pilot. I'll definitely check out the aircraft you recommended.

 

I also understand that the FlyInside guys are working on improved methods to control all the knobs and switches in VCs, so perhaps I just need a bit more patience there.

 

Thanks for pointing out Orbx. I see they have some freeware stuff, too, that'll help to see if it works for me, fps-wise.

[aurel42 10]

So here's what I learned about my own question in the past few weeks:

 

Beside FS2Crew (mainly for airliners) and "It's Your Plane", there's also "Multi Crew Experience" (which also has a demo). I'm still using VoiceAttack, though, because I already owned that. It works for most of what I want to do, it has the obvious drawback of not knowing anything about the state of the simulation (e.g. the "landing gear up" and "landing gear down" commands both just send the same key, if I tell VoiceAttack twice to put the "landing gear down", it will just retract it again).

 

The aircraft I ended up with are the Lancair Legacy for fun and the Turbine Duke from RealAir for serious business. They both work great in FlyInside and support the Flight1 GTN750 whose touchscreen is much easier to use in VR than the default GPS.

 

I ended up getting the full (new) range of Orbx (Global, Vector, OpenLC) and FreeMeshX (until I can get a mesh for Europe from Toposim). And while I was at it, I also got a GTX1080 to be able to use the highest resolution in FlyInside to reduce the shimmering of the GTN750 display and improve the overall visual quality in VR. It's still not good enough to make out details on the map of the GTN750 without using switching to the adjustable quick-zoom, but all the "normal" instruments are easy to read without zoom.

 

Next challenge: find out how to make the in-game ATC honor the flight plan (including procedures) I have set up in the GTN750.