GaryK

Finally decided to use Virtual Desktop and it's a marked improvement on the Meta Link software. It's now giving me a useable level of graphics, bearing in mind I have a low level PC (see sig) it's really quite impressive. Colours seem a bit washed out. I'm still getting some juddering in the cockpit and very blurry instrument labels. The controllers (be it Mouse or quest controllers) seem very unreliable. They sometimes work, sometimes not, sometimes only half working. The later issue is still keeping me from using VR-MSFS regularly. The added layer of techno research, trial and error that comes with VR is a right pain in the a**e......I'm semi retired with a family to enjoy. I've been involved with computers, CNC, 2D-3D design for most of my working life so I know I can do it but I'm reaching a point in my life were I just don't want to do it anymore. I need a pay and play sim experience now, the tweaking bit has lost it's appeal. Virtual desktop is improving other PCVR titles though with the added bonus of being wireless.

I know very little about the other headsets........and..... Meta are selling a console experience that you wear on your head so a lot of their marketing is pushing a stand alone VR unit (which is their primary concern) that can also do PCVR. Being and Android device it's not particularly open to tinkering or investigation. Meta also insist on a phone app to set things up and to control some settings. So I have the meta app link on PC, Meta app on my wife's phone (My phone is old and incompatible with the APP). The whole setup seems clunky and awkward. Also the Quest support is terrible in my experience. If folk have a problem they are urged to send details via PM and no further public discussion regarding solutions is had.

I have a low end rig (see sig). Quest 3 + MSFS 2020 wasn't doable for me either. MSFS on my desktop however works very well. Currently enjoying other VR titles. I am not a really committed flight simmer. Neither am I casual gamer. I fall somewhere in the middle category, in the dark damp winter evenings I use the sim quite a lot but in the summer months I have other things to do.......Why am I telling you this? .........It's about how much people are willing to invest in this hobby, investment in time and money. Quest 3 £400 + PC needed £1500-3000 (guess) Virtual Desktop £18 Dedicated router £60 (guess) Decent joystick ?? Prescription lenses ??? Other obstacles apart from the cash: Hours needed to wade through the black art of tweaking these things Family pressures (variable depending on you circumstances) Physiological impact (nausea (depending on your resistance to it)) Do you wear glasses??? Psychological factors (Variable. Not everyone feels safe being cut off from the outside world for extended periods) I guess Microsoft et al now know that VR headsets are always going to have a very limited market hence the poor support, commitment and optimization from the major players. They know what the market is now....is it worth the effort for them.......remember 3D TV's 😂 Always a niche within a niche.

Using MSFS 2020 As I said earlier, I'm having fun with other titles so still a good investment. Going to give DCS a go.....I may try Virtual Desktop at a later stage. For the moment MSFS is a non starter for me. Lots of useful suggestions here for future options so thanks folks.

AJZip.......Store purchased. strider1........yes I am serious. Published minimum requirements state very seriously that GTX 970 is supported. I have GTX 1080 which they state as supported also. I have been using incarnations of Microsoft flight sim for 20 plus years, I thought I had a fairly good idea what the tech demands would be regarding tweaking. The VR tweaking required for PCVR with MSFS was beyond anything I've previously experienced. My GPU is at the low end as is my rig generally......However, I did expect my setup to give a usable experience with MSFS, albeit with absolute minimum settings. What I got was unusable. There are no vomit bags in the light aircraft I use. I've been a sailor for 20 odd years and I've experienced some pretty bad weather and never, ever had sea/motion sickness. I know I'm rock solid in that respect.......juddery MSFS cockpit yuck. Coincidently: Over Christmas (Plenty of time) I did some research, I dug deep so deep, I spent hours reading and watching this that and the other......... Reinstalling windows 10, reinstalling MSFS, tweaking PC and Nvidia settings, all in a vain effort to get VR working. I now have MSFS running on my PC in desktop mode brilliantly, so much (much, much, much) better than before. With mostly high settings (but the usual suspects, blur, bloom etc switched off) I've just flown from Lydd UK (my local) to London city in the stock Caravan with Photogrammetry, real time weather and a spattering of road and AI air traffic........No stutters, visually good FPS, no popping textures and no post apocalypse buildings.......It was beautiful with no immersion busting glitches. (incidentally, London City was closed to IFR but I went in anyway, twas a bit patchy and bumpy today🤣) Regarding all your suggestions regarding Virtual Desktop and a dedicated router......I'm feeling a little tweaked out ATM but I'll take another look👍. It's the stutters/judders in cockpit view that have killed it for me. If I do go down this path where would you all recommend for VD/MSFS specific tech info and support? (apart from here of course🙂) Thank you all for your replies.

I knew before I purchased the headset that I would probably have to switch everything off or onto the lowest settings. A GTX 1080 being one of the "Minimum Requirements". I also know that the more I spend on my rig the higher my chances are of getting good performance......but..... Many online have good rigs but are also giving up because of stutters and blurriness. The odd issue for me was the consistency of the juddering/stuttering in cockpit mode (really nauseating) whatever setting I used the juddering remained the same. I could improve the blurry instruments in the cockpit slightly but not to an acceptable level. Externally the results weren't too bad, had that been all I could have lived with it. I also wear glasses. One pair work well with the headset (which grabs and pulls the frames whenever I take the headset off) , another pair for PC screen.....so very, very awkward and clunky for me. The very nature of online posts and YT vids on the subject told me that PCVR with MSFS was a black art at best. Lots of snake oil and placebo posts with nobody explaining why stuff was working for them, just posts saying "these are my settings and I find them OK" ......people are shooting in the dark with VR and MSFS.....some hit the target but a significant percentage do not and nobody knows why. Fortunately I didn't buy the headset solely for MSFS.....Elite Dangerous looks awesome and I'm having some fun with other stuff. I did look at VD @ £18 I also looked at OpenXR toolkit but considering the above paragraph I thought "do I have the time to chase things that may not exist?" Thanks for replying. Happy new year to everybody.

Just before Christmas I purchased a Quest 3, keen to try out MSFS in VR......on that front I can say that it was a failure. My copy of the Sim was a store bought version. It worked well on my PC. Sadly not so on a VR headset. The jerkiness and blurry instruments in the cockpit make it unusable. The minefield of settings is a disaster......PC settings, Nvidia settings, OCT, OTT, Link settings, in game settings. It's just too time consuming for me. Videos online offer such a wide variety of magic solutions, none of which work for me. Even on the lowest settings (on everything) the jerky cockpit makes me feel sick and I've crossed the north sea in November without the merest hint of sea sickness. Strange inconsistencies when trying to run the sim tell me that the quest 3 and MSFS relationship is unfathomable.....at least....on my machine and the store version and by me. Reading other posts reveals the widespread confusion regarding PCVR on the quest. The scene is a mess. But there have been some fringe benefits: Tweaking and really digging through my PC and Nvidia settings now has my PC desktop version working beautifully. DX12 works a treat now I've switched it on (it never used to, that's why it was off). It looks sweet. 🙂 Other benefits: Elite Dangerous works a treat so the headset wasn't a complete PCVR disaster. Also as a family we've been having a great time with Walkabout Mini Golf over Christmas.🤣😂 .....just my two penneth.

Heraklion Airport LGIR, named after the author of "Zorba the Greek", will finally be replaced in 2027 (fingers crossed). Nikos Kazantzakis is the second busiest Airport in Greece and was stretched to the limit 20 years ago when we first started flying there. It has charm in buckets and a fantastic approach if you're seated on the port side......but......it is now a mess, labelled as the worst airport in the world, infested with rats and a gents toilet that you can smell 100 yards away. Packs of stray dogs were regular inhabitants, scrounging food while staying just out of arms reach......been there countless times. I'll miss it. The replacement at Kasteli has been on the cards for years but economic, political and covid pressures have halted progress several times. It's about 24 miles away from LGIR and has a higher elevation. I look forward to seeing a decent addon. A short video of the progress:-