Daube

Yes, some expert user had analyzed this and reported that somehow, it's the decoding phase of the signal which is more time-expensive in USB than in Wifi. I'm not 100% of the details or if my summary is correct, but it was something like that.

Indeed, for MSFS the latency that you get from the USB connection is probably not a real issue. I use only the USB tethering technique (USB-C to USB cable) because my Wifi routers at home are not Wifi6 compatible, and I don't want to replace them all. I understand the latency is better via Wifi than via USB, there were some discussions about this a few months ago. But I can leave with that, as I use my VR headset only for simulators anyways.

Yesterday I reactivated the OpenXR toolkit in order to display the scale/IPD setting in game. Having an IPD of 63, I had to set the scale to 101% in OpenXR Toolkit to match that measure. This has made a minor change to size perception in my sim, and I'm still testing. At least I'm glad I could access to that setting. The one in the UI of MSFS shows only a percentage and not an actual distance between the viewpoints, right ?

Only 4 thousand ? Why so cheap ?

So this confirms we not only have to adjust the "physical" IPD in the headset, but also somehow adjust the IPD in game, to define the distance between the left-eye and right-eye cameras.

Side question: does VisualXP work in VR ?

I'm not sure about that. Perception depends on what your eyes see. We all go through the same 3D engine. From what I understand, it all depends on the IPD "in-game". If the distance between the left and right eyes in game is not the same as your IPD, then you'll get an incorrect scale. Hence my question earlier: does the IPD adjustment in the headset impacts the IPD adjustment in game ? If yes, then you don't need world scale. If not, then world scale adjustment is needed. During my research earlier, I saw some related setting in OpenXR toolkit. Might be better to play around with that one, instead of the "world scale" which doesn't tell anything precise.

I found an older conversation right in this section, from 2019, in which it was implied that the IPD adjustments of our various headsets might not adjust the "Stereo separation" which is the actual IPD in game. Is that still true today ?

The fact that people have different IPDs doesn't lead them to see things differently. If one person has an IPD of 62 and another person has an IPD of 65, as long as their headsets are set properly, they should see the things in the exact same proportions in the sim. Unless the IPD adjustments only affects the lenses position and not the corresponding eyes positions in sim ?

It's actually one of the first times I see XP12 with something that I could call 'realistic colors'. I know the consensus here is to often say that XP12 lighting is the most realistic, that anything colorful is cartoonish etc..., but most of the XP12 screenshot I had seen until the ones here above just seemed bland to me. Sure, it sometimes matches what I can see in some situations in real life, but only like when weather in bad, in winter or something (keeping in mind that a sunny day in winter is where we often get the most colorful world here, due to the dryer air). VisualXP is a payware addon that alters the shaders, right ?

You shouldn't have to play around with the world scale option. If something appears out of scale, there are two possible causes only: 1- your IPD is not adjusted properly in your headset: IPD directly impacts your perception of sizes and volumes, you need to get it carefully measured and to set it properly in your headset configuration tools. 2- the aircraft model is wrong: in that case, there's nothing to do excepted stopping to use that model. If you modify the world scale, the cockpit might appear at a better scale maybe, but everything else, all of the rest of the world is going to be wrong. I'd rather have a correct world scale and get rid of the planes which are not modelled properly. The DC-3 is a good example: the cockpit looks like it's 30% of the actual size, like a model for kids. The model is actually wrong. The default Asobo avatars (pilots/copilots/passengers 3D models) are a good point of reference. If they look right in the cockpit, then the cockpit proportions are probably right.

Have you configured your Pico4, and created a Pico "account" (I mean a user, like an account on the forum or something) ? I think I had to install the application "PicoVR" on my smartphone (and log into it with my Pico username) to browse the Pico Store and buy Virtual Desktop from there, but I'm not 100% sure anymore 😕 EDIT: should be possible from the PicoStore within the headset menu, you don't need to install the smartphone app I think....

You're welcome ! 🙂 I used the Pico4 in XPlane 12, unfortunately the performance on my old PC is not great, so I cannot really recommend any settings. That being said, I would insist in using Virtual Desktop, to be purchased from the PicoStore, any other version will not work with the Pico if I understood properly. VD recently provided a new support for the Pico4 which allows to get rid of SteamVR. SteamVR is, to me, just an additional layer of troubles, and I'm glad I can finally get it out of the way, both in MSFS and in XPlane12. You simply have to launch XPlane with an option in the command line (something like "--openxr", I don't remember) and ensure you select the VDXR method in the Virtual Desktop Streamer application on your computer, and you should be good to go. The rest will just be able configuring your sim properly to achieve the best balance between smoothness and graphical quality.

Ok I understand your use case now. Honestly I might not recommend VR. My view about VR is that it's more a tool to improve the immersion for pleasure and fun. I'm not sure it would bring much to your experience which is more aimed at learning and serious practise. 😕 I'm afraid to recommend you something that might end up being useless or not enjoyable (-enough) to you...

Concerning your hesitation between triple screen and VR, I would give some small warning: It depends on what kind of flights you are planning to perform. Sounds stupid but it's important. Nothing beats VR when it comes to the view you actually get in the cockpit. There is NOTHING more immersive, not even a real cockpit. On your triple screens, you will still be looking at a 2D picture, whereas in VR you will see in true 3D, with depth perception... (and also you will see the actual cockpit around you, no matter which aircraft you chose. No more flying a Tomcat from your 737 real cockpit 🙂 ). THAT BEING SAID the clarity of the picture will not be as nice as on 2D screens, and in case you plan to fly mostly liners, a VR headset might not bring that much improvements at all. It might even actually degrade a part of your experience, due to the lesser ease of use of your various tools and other controls in the cockpit. If you are planning to fly various aircraft types, including smaller ones, open cockpits, helicopters, military jets etc.... then VR will beat out any 2D screen setup you might have, due to the view you get. Sure you'll get less distant details, but truth is, you won't really care about this.