Hello fellow VR captains!  I was just wondering, what's everyones flows for VR?  IE: Do you typically do most/all preflight work with the headset off - then shift to putting it on?  Are most people using native vr vs FI?  Since flyinside hasn't had great performance for me lately I've been trying native, but haven't figured out a good flow.  Trying to interact with an FMC/MCDU in VR is a bit rough.  I was thinking of maybe getting everything setup in 2D first then enabling VR.  When you folks fly in VR - do you typically sit in the headset during cruise?  One thing I've noticed - and maybe others have found a fix/workaround is - you can't switch audio sources with P3D (and i think XP).  IE: If i start up in 2d - and want audio on speakers, and then switch to the headset audio, the audio wont switch and things end up getting hosed up.  I'd have to force audio to the headset first, but then when Im doing things in 2d with the headset off, no sound obviously.  My "work arouind" when I flew VR with my oculus was to take off the built in headphones and use my headset - problem solved.  I use a vive pro now and honestly, even with removing them the headset its smooth/flat for a headset to sit on top of properly.

 

Anyway - sorry for the rant - just wondering what the ideal setup would be. 

I usually set up my payload and fuel in the mcdu without vr, then import my flight plan.  I do the remainder of the preflight in vr and stay in vr until I step away from the pc in cruise.  I also haven't used flyinside for quite some time now, I always hated that i couldn't use HDR with it. The audio switching thing is a pain, especially when the headset goes to sleep.  It's such an issue that I hang my headset on an oscillating fan to keep it moving so it won't go to sleep when its off my head.  With the FSL a320, which is pretty much all I fly these days I am able to get sound back by changing and then re-enabling the device from the fslabs sound menu in the mcdu.  

11 minutes ago, Pilot53 said:

I usually set up my payload and fuel in the mcdu without vr, then import my flight plan.  I do the remainder of the preflight in vr and stay in vr until I step away from the pc in cruise.  I also haven't used flyinside for quite some time now, I always hated that i couldn't use HDR with it. The audio switching thing is a pain, especially when the headset goes to sleep.  It's such an issue that I hang my headset on an oscillating fan to keep it moving so it won't go to sleep when its off my head.  With the FSL a320, which is pretty much all I fly these days I am able to get sound back by changing and then re-enabling the device from the fslabs sound menu in the mcdu.  

Ah - thats a good tip!  The FSL bus is all I've been flying these days as well.  The other thing that sucks too is I use my headset mic to "talk" to Pilot2ATC.  This makes it annoying using VR as well.  My rift made things real easy with the headphones off but the resolution just doesn't compare.  Everything is much clearer on the vive pro.  I've been playing with the idea of getting the rift S just to have something strictly for VR but thats just an excessive waste of money.  I need to figure out a way to get everything seamless.  For me once things that should be enjoyable become too much work I just wont end up doing it - which is why I've primarily been flying in 2d.

In X-Plane now it is totally possible to the complete flight preparation in VR. With Avitab, I can not only access Navigraph charts on all planes, but also have my complete Simbrief package readily available. 

It also much more immersive and rewarding to do this while using touch controls. 

Regarding sound glitches, this is typical of WMR devices, reason why I have returned my odyssey and purchased a Rift S. Oculus software is much better. 

Edited June 3, 20197 yr by GCBraun

9 hours ago, GCBraun said:

In X-Plane now it is totally possible to the complete flight preparation in VR. With Avitab, I can not only access Navigraph charts on all planes, but also have my complete Simbrief package readily available. 

It also much more immersive and rewarding to do this while using touch controls. 

Regarding sound glitches, this is typical of WMR devices, reason why I have returned my odyssey and purchased a Rift S. Oculus software is much better. 

I'll have to keep this in mind.  I fly both sims but mostly have been on a p3d kick for a bit now.  XP's native VR is nice but I'm having really poor frame rates lately for some reason.  Sitting in the FFA320 at the default seattle and its a slide show unless I drop the quality settings to low.  Doesn't seem right with the hardware I'm running - this is on a fresh install as well.  I'll have to sit down one day and play around to see why that is.

I do my flightplan in PFPX outside VR - the rest inside, including programming the FMC. With Oculus Home its easy to just bring the desktop inside VR and complete everything in there. Only time it's a bother is if I have to use a keyboard, but that can be done too with the VR keyboard if one whishes.

10 hours ago, GCBraun said:

In X-Plane now it is totally possible to the complete flight preparation in VR. With Avitab, I can not only access Navigraph charts on all planes, but also have my complete Simbrief package readily available. 

It also much more immersive and rewarding to do this while using touch controls. 

Regarding sound glitches, this is typical of WMR devices, reason why I have returned my odyssey and purchased a Rift S. Oculus software is much better. 

Yeah I hate WMR software, I miss that and the comfort of my old rift.  But I couldn't stomach the awful black levels of the rift, I see that the new rift S uses LCD's which would theoretically make this even worse than the OLED's that the rift CV1 used.  How do you feel the black levels compare with the S vs the vive pro or odyssey?

1 hour ago, Pilot53 said:

Yeah I hate WMR software, I miss that and the comfort of my old rift.  But I couldn't stomach the awful black levels of the rift, I see that the new rift S uses LCD's which would theoretically make this even worse than the OLED's that the rift CV1 used.  How do you feel the black levels compare with the S vs the vive pro or odyssey?

Definitely worse, but having sound on my simulator is more important. 🙂

I think I’ll get used to it...

 

3 hours ago, pegruder said:

I'll have to keep this in mind.  I fly both sims but mostly have been on a p3d kick for a bit now.  XP's native VR is nice but I'm having really poor frame rates lately for some reason.  Sitting in the FFA320 at the default seattle and its a slide show unless I drop the quality settings to low.  Doesn't seem right with the hardware I'm running - this is on a fresh install as well.  I'll have to sit down one day and play around to see why that is.

Try with some GA aircraft first and perhaps reducing AA, but you should be fine with your rig. Personally, I get generally better performance in XP11 than in P3D. 

20 minutes ago, GCBraun said:

Try with some GA aircraft first and perhaps reducing AA, but you should be fine with your rig. Personally, I get generally better performance in XP11 than in P3D. 

Ill give the AA a shot, I think i reduced everything overall as a quick test.  I have to say on stock VR im pretty smooth with the FSL bus and decent scenery.

I just do my flightplan thru simbrief outside VR (well and proatc and activesky) then once I put on my rift S I don´t remove it until I turn the engines off. I have the F1 GTN750 on all the planes I use (mainly business jets), and fill the flightplan there manually. 

I also use chaseplane to move around in VR since for me it´s more friendly than the "avatar". Maybe I´m a romantic, but turning your engines off, stand up, open the door of your jet and climb down those steps to discover a new airport is one of the things that I love most. VR Is all about atmosphere after all.

 

Cheers

Carlos

9 hours ago, chass32 said:

I just do my flightplan thru simbrief outside VR (well and proatc and activesky) then once I put on my rift S I don´t remove it until I turn the engines off. I have the F1 GTN750 on all the planes I use (mainly business jets), and fill the flightplan there manually. 

I also use chaseplane to move around in VR since for me it´s more friendly than the "avatar". Maybe I´m a romantic, but turning your engines off, stand up, open the door of your jet and climb down those steps to discover a new airport is one of the things that I love most. VR Is all about atmosphere after all.

 

Cheers

Carlos

Chaseplane is VR compatible?!  When did that happen?  EZCA which I've used pretty much my entire career flight simming doesn't seem to work for me (or at least I havent tried in awhile).

Chase plane works well with VR. 

On 6/3/2019 at 3:20 AM, pegruder said:

IE: Do you typically do most/all preflight work with the headset off - then shift to putting it on? 

Depends on what I fly. In the big tubeliners I wait until pushback before I put on the goggles.

After FMC setup - VR on

Top of climb - VR off

Top of descent or a bit later - VR back on until shutdown

I do the FMC setup and descent/approach planning in 2D since I’m flipping between charts/weather/etc. The Rift resolution isn’t sharp enough to make this comfortable, and I don’t like “typing with my nose” to hit the FMC buttons