First flights with the Rift

[whitav8 98]

@J van E and others,

      I took me a  while to find the eyepoint move (seat position) controls and personally, I have a Thrustmaster HOTAS 4 joystick/throttle that has 12 buttons and a POV hat that has 4 possible assignments that I use for seat position fore/aft/left/right and then buttons 11 and 12 at the base of the throttle for seat higher/lower. The assignments are found as follows Settings->Controls->View->Move (you need to scroll down to find them) backward/forward/left/right/up/down. I use them all the time and do the Space Bar recenter once only when I first start up and see the blue screen after centering my gaze on the forward VR sensor and sitting comfortably in my chair but grabbing the joystick and throttle where I intend to sit most of the time. Then I simply "scoot" up into flying position with the buttons whenever I change aircraft. Then whenever I want to relax and sit a little differently or when I look left/right/up/down and find I am hitting the side of the aircraft, I make a little adjustment with the buttons. Also, if I need to study the instrument panel for a while (like on final approach), I scoot forward some.

 

Hope this helps

 

Dave

Also, about seeing other things while in the VR cockpit, I am pretty sure, like FlyInside, we will one day in FS2 have an import window function so we can have a kneeboard for ILS freqs,etc for flight planning and maybe a browser window, plus a moving map. If you can position them like FlyInside, you can put them off to the side so you stay immersed when looking forward but can turn your head maybe 45 degrees or whatever to see them. Programming wise, you simply copy the designated window contents to a texture and then show that texture on a single polygon that is in the cockpit.

[Guest]

Thanks, I will have a look at it tonight!

[Guest]

Just finished my first 'real' flight, something like 40 minutes in the Cessna. What can I say... WOW! I took off with the morning sun in my back and at a certain moment the orange light fell over the radio's and the light made it impossible to read them: I had to lean to the right to read them. I could see grease on the glass. The way the light and reflection changed while moving sideways... something simple like this looks in VR is really breathtaking...

 

BTW The forward, backward buttons etc. work like a charm! Awesome! I use my hat switch for that. Really cool.

 

The only thing that was a bit hard was the approach: everything in the distance simply is blurred and I had a hard time looking at the runway: I noticed I was trying to see things sharp by closing my eyes a bit all the time (what's the English word for that) and that was a bit tiresome. But other than that I had a very relaxing flight... One of the most relaxing flight ever, really, because there is NOTHING else that takes away your focus: you really are in that plane.

 

LOL At one moment I looked out of the right window and I leaned a bit far because I wanted to see the sun come up so to keep my balance I wanted to lean on the right seat... which obviously isn't there LOL! A few times I also wanted to put my joystick away and I almost wanted to put it on that same chair LOL The feeling of being there is incredible.

 

Man, do I love this. I usually fly on the PC to take my mind of things and to pretend I am somewhere else. Well, with the Rift I really actually am somewhere else.

Totally awesome. Despite the very low res. :wink:

[pipeorgan 0]

Glad you like it, the total immersion makes up for the reduced quality of the graphics but what a future there is ahead of us.

 

Once you can fly GA aircraft properly in VR it is not a major step to then fly it in real life so this will really help anyone who wants to progress to this stage. It will also offer lots of fun along the way😊

 

Btw "squinting" is the word you were looking for.

[Guest]

Ah, yes, squinting, thanks! And yes, the immersion makes up for the reduced quality indeed! But let me add that there still is enough quality to enjoy! It's not that everything looks crap LOL! And things only will get better indeed!

[Slayer 190]

 

 

O, one little drawback of the Rift... I am used to doing some other things while I am sitting in the cockpit, like checking the internet in a small screen while flying longer flights: this you can't do with the Rift. It's all or nothing. So I wonder how I am going to keep myself entertained during longer flights... well, probably simply by looking out of the window like I would in a real plane!

 

You can bring in other windows of anything into Flyinside

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Ah, yes, squinting, thanks! And yes, the immersion makes up for the reduced quality indeed! But let me add that there still is enough quality to enjoy! It's not that everything looks crap LOL! And things only will get better indeed!

 

I might eventually become the first guinea pig here and grab one of those so called "4K" PiMax headsets to test. I have too much curiosity for my own good, and I've always been one of the first to try new things. 

[Guest]

I might eventually become the first guinea pig here and grab one of those so called "4K" PiMax headsets to test. I have too much curiosity for my own good, and I've always been one of the first to try new things.

Haha! I am looking forward to your review already! But even if it would work technically, the PC you'll need for that must be extremely expensive... if it exists already.

[Krister 51]

Sigh.... I am not afraid of dying but I am afraid of all the cool gadgets that will be released when I'm dead in 40 years. Gadget freak forever... I will probably die with the stick in my hand!

[FlyIce 354]

I might eventually become the first guinea pig here and grab one of those so called "4K" PiMax headsets to test. I have too much curiosity for my own good, and I've always been one of the first to try new things. 

 

Ah... always nice to have someone volunteering to guinea pig a new gadget. I don't hold high hopes on PiMax based on the review online. But hey, if it works great for you please let us know ... 

[whitav8 98]

@J van E and others,

 

I was wondering if we VR folks should develop some kind of "vision test" so that we can agree that we have our most clear setup - at least for the instrument panel. This might depend on what we have set for some of the graphics settings, our own vision, and whether we have our eyes in the best relationship to the lenses of the Rift. This might also help us compare things like 4K or even 2K new VR systems. I decided as a possible test is to load the Pitts and see how far back from the rear of the lower wing that you can read the top line of little canopy closing box above the glareshield. I can be about a foot maybe two back in my seat (look left or right at 90 degress to estimate) and still read that top line which says:

Open <<<Latch>>>> Lock

 

Note: Midday sun lighting

 

 

And the second part of my vision test is to start over San Martin (mid California somewhat near the coast - South and East of San Jose) and see how high you can get before the words "South County" that are printed on the center of the runway aren't clear anymore. I made it to 7500 MSL.

 

Note: Early morning sun and Visibility = high - 1

 

and I have an old DK2! Try it and see on your system. Maybe there are better suggestions for the test. 

 

Dave

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Does the Dk2 use an oculus runtime that allows supersampling?

 

Also, have you tried FSX or Xplane with Flyinside? It would be interesting if someone else who has used AF would, because oddly enough, 3D gives me slight vertigo in FSX (Wondering if its FPS related?) and I get nothing like that in AF, so i'm wondering if it might be common or just me.

[BaldyB 20]

 

 

I wonder though how you can move your eyepoint...? Seems to me the position is fixed? In most planes the position is quite okay but the Baron has me setting way to far back!
BTW Good info about larger cockpits needing more pixels and hence looking less good. Some VC's look indeed a bit sharper than others. Still, I am an Airbus fan and I really love seeing everything in 3D!!!

With Flyinside you can fix your eyepoint  for any aircraft on a permanent basis. Once fixed it stays there. Look at Flyinsides message board, they explain the whole procedure. I posted my results, perhaps I wasn't clear enough? It is nice to not have to make any adjustments for eyepoint or position every time you fly.

If I remember right you can download the Wiki user manual that also has what you need.

Best

BaldyB

[Guest]

With Flyinside you can fix your eyepoint for any aircraft on a permanent basis. Once fixed it stays there. Look at Flyinsides message board, they explain the whole procedure. I posted my results, perhaps I wasn't clear enough? It is nice to not have to make any adjustments for eyepoint or position every time you fly.

If I remember right you can download the Wiki user manual that also has what you need.

Best

BaldyB

You made yourself very clear but this is the Aerofly forum and I only fly in Aerofly at the moment and so I don't use Flyinside and hence those great Flyinside options are of no use to me. Would be nice if IPACS added similar functions though!

Also, have you tried FSX or Xplane with Flyinside? It would be interesting if someone else who has used AF would, because oddly enough, 3D gives me slight vertigo in FSX (Wondering if its FPS related?) and I get nothing like that in AF, so i'm wondering if it might be common or just me.

Isn't his simply because Flyinside uses tricks to get fps high enough? Because obviously FSX (or P3D or XP) fps doesn't come near to AFS2 fps.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

 

 

Isn't his simply because Flyinside uses tricks to get fps high enough? Because obviously FSX (or P3D or XP) fps doesn't come near to AFS2 fps.

 

Well, that would be the obvious conclusion, which is why I won't automatically trust it without at least a bit of evidence. (I'm weird that way)

 

My instinct says it's probably right, but I don't really get any strong sense of lag while using it, so it seems hard to believe something I can't even consciously perceive might be giving me vertigo.

 

On the other hand, Oculus and HTC pushed the specs for VR to 90Fps for a reason.  :unsure:

 

Again, I wish some other users would pop up to say if they are getting any similar sensations.....

 

Guess I should haunt the flyinside forums, if they have one.......