Horribly stupid VR question - how do I see my buttons?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Don Rudi, Oct 17, 2018.

  1. Skybird

    Skybird Well-Known Member

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    There are different ways and workarounds in XPlance and FSX/P3D to implement VR, but I must say that they all are not really satisfactory if you do not limit your gaming to VFR in small planes, but use big airliner cockpit modules. The low resoluton gets in the way, and the need to use complex cockpits with mouse and TrackIR, if you do ot have all functionality moved to a HOTAS (and the HOTAS might run out of buttons before you have set all commands you want/need).

    I tried VR in Xplane, and it is the best concept so far of how it could be made working, but still it has rough edges and inherent problems that with current headsets cannot be avoided. If I would ever set up a fully modded FSX installation with plenty of addons for approach and airport scenery and PMDG cockpits, i would set them up for use with TrackIR, not VR.

    In racing sims I see no problem. I would say racing sims and VR - that is even a favourite, natural combo, combining the typical characteristics and strengths of both. People who do not have a button box-heavy cockpit, could use a HOTAS throttle grip for a button box. My CH ProThrottle is ideal for such abuse, if there would be need.

    Developers can also help by allowing a Shift-command, so that you can map two commands to one button, while sacrificing just one button for the Shifting. If that then gets combined with even a timing feature (press+hold), you could even have four commands per button on your wheel, as an example, like in ACC.

    You only have to keep all that in your memory. :)

    Developers can also help by making the interface fully VR-compatible.

    Personally I see no need to use a button box at all. My wheel has buttons enough on RR, AC, and even ACC.

    However, VR interface optimization should never exclude mouse or keyboard control. Mouse remains to be the fastest, most ergonomic and most natural control method of all for many people, including me. Console-typical limitations are a big no-go on PC, I run a policy of getting furious in no time when I stumble over such an exmaple. :)
     
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    Last edited: Oct 18, 2018
  2. Don Rudi

    Don Rudi Well-Known Member

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    A big thanks to all who helped me out in this thread, I received my Rift last weekend :)
    I was pretty sure, I would unbox it, set it up, test it, box it again and return it, due to my bad right eye. I also thought of people saying "once VR, you never go back" were swaggers, as VR is nothing different than an expensive TrackIR. How wrong I was :D What a blast, especially in Raceroom. So immersive, I never drifted and slided so much before :D
    Now I just need to get AC/ACC looking good in it as well :)
     
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  3. Skybird

    Skybird Well-Known Member

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    Make sure you get Google Earth VR - I still think of this as a wonderful modern miracle - and also the free Oculus demos Aircar and Robo Recall. The first is a Blade Runne- style interactive demo , the second is a full-blown playble game. They are all free, and they fully deliver on all accounts. Google Earth VR is a must-have.
     
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  4. Don Rudi

    Don Rudi Well-Known Member

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    Thanks, I'll have a look :) I was looking for some sort of rollercoaster demo, do you happen to know any?
    It is fascinating how easy our brain is betrayed - I wanted to drive the BMW M1 the other day, but Raceroom had a hickup and the shifter did not react. So my first reaction was to grab the shifter stick in the cockpit - autsch, I just hit my table doing so :D
     
  5. BrianBosch

    BrianBosch Well-Known Member

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  6. FormelLMS

    FormelLMS Well-Known Member

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    Yes, Google Earth VR is wonderful. Just wonderful. I don't know, how many hours I've spent there.

    Rollercoaster are a few, with at least one freee track. But I really feel sick the whole evening after trying those for a few SECONDS.
     
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  7. Don Rudi

    Don Rudi Well-Known Member

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  8. Skybird

    Skybird Well-Known Member

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    Nolimits also on Steam, demo and full title alike. But beware the differences between demo, standard and pro version. Steam has no pro version.
     
  9. Skybird

    Skybird Well-Known Member

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    You should have seen me doing my first serves in First Person Tennis. :D That the controllers still work and are not broken, is a miracle.
     
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  10. Don Rudi

    Don Rudi Well-Known Member

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    First person tennis? Now you have me hehe. I need to clear some space around my racing seat lol
     
  11. Skybird

    Skybird Well-Known Member

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    Well, to get you started into VR, the best you already know: racing games (AC, RR, ACC, Dirt Rally, the others I do not know in VR), and Google Earth. Racing games and VR, that is just the best combo in VR gaming on the market currently, it just all fits in. Dirt Rally is very intense. If you need more time to get used to the nausea-prevention, leave Dirt Rally for some time later.

    Similiar, the best and most realistically simulated game which i can only fully recommend without limitations, is Eleven Table Tennis. This is the real deal. There are other table tennis games, some of which offer much better presentation, but none can keep up with the sophisticated physics of Eleven. Its as if you play real table tennis. I picked up ball and racket, and just did like in reality, many years ago. I did the same mistakes. The physics are outstanding. Good training modes, MP possible if wanted, for SP five playing levels, in the highest two levels you better are sure to really know the sports. I recommend this even before First Person Tennis. Tennis must accept more compromises, al the runnign doen in Tennis is not possible in your flat..., obviously, while table tennis must not. The hitting and all related to racket and ball, is well done, the running is abstracted necessarily, and allows two or even three different modes. Its a very good game, and it works out surprisingly well (seeing is believing), do not get me wrong, but Eleven is even better: less compromises, more rafinesse.

    Racket FX. Squash with gameplay at 360°, hitting in all directions, under a round dome. One of the most polished executions of a game concept in VR. Superb game. Excellent.

    Want a workout? BoxVR, the best beat-the-beats title on the market, done by a team of coders, sports scientists, workout trainers and sports medics. Their programs are well-designed and yoiu see the professionality in them, but you can also train to our own tunes. These then will generate not as optimised sequences, but they still work. really, do this daily, and you will see training benefits for sure.

    Also nice, and I say that as somebody who long time ago did martial arts for over 25 years: The thrill of the Fight, a boxing simulator. Its like shadow-boxing with a virtual opponent. They did some clever tricks to simulate the ups and downs of a real fight, the getting-hit, loss of stamina, regeneration. People with a moderate and lower training standard can get their sweat flowing with this. I certainly do not say it is the real thing or compares to real box training, which is pretty much a complete workout, as I said, i did the real stuff for long time. But couch potatoes and armchair warriors will get their life juices flowing and sweat will be spend if you really go into a 12 round bout against one of their stronger opponents, and you do not take it all from the light side of things only. The title sees many updates, the developer is pretty well committed. - Use small weights around your hand wristles to push the training even further. This also relates to BoxVR above.

    And an easy-to-underrate, tiny, cheap precious gem, a real jewel of a hidden precious: A-10 VR. No flight sim, sorry, but a futuristic blazin- laserguns-in-bot- hands-kind of game - but with that certain dose of refinesse. It is not original, but the way it interpretes this worn-out gaming idea, is fantastic and outstanding. Be sure that you do not mistake the training level, which sees no tightening of game difficulty and remains as dull as it starts, with the actual game modes, of which there are four different ones, I think. Many players flal victim to this kistake, and then give the game a bad rating. You can read reviews by players that later were hinted at their fault, and who suddenly turned, no: exploded into true believers. These game modes all are different, and unique. The execution of the concept is most elegant, and straight. Best shooting game I ever saw on VR, or heard off. In the active game modes, the action becomes pretty exciting and tense, until you are overwhelmed either by enemy hits or by time running out. Its abstracted, no shooting on people. Still: it works great.

    As I said, Robo Recall is a complete and very polsihed game, and it does not suffer form being just a demo. It is pretty good in what it does. Very good indeed. For it all being free, you cannot go wrong here.

    Last tip by me: Subnautica. If that game will not overwhelm you with immersion and claustrophobic atmosphere, than nothing ever will. A must have for VR. A very good survival game and the best "diving simulator" in 2D as well.

    Of course there is much more, but I choosed my recommendations by taste and also by that the game does not need the player to accept compromises, but is scoring strong and well in all regards. The workouts need your interest for wanting a workout, of course. If you look for that, these are good.

    And if old-fashioned pinball is your thing: Pinball FX2 VR is pretty good in pinballing indeed.

    But beside racing, Google Earth VR is my most-used app in VR.

    P.S.
    One big game I forgot: Skyrim. Fallout4 caused a lot of criticism in VR, and is not optimised for Oculus anyway (HTC-exclusive release), but Skyrim works very, very good. One of the best games for VR avialable.Very impressive.
     
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    Last edited: Oct 24, 2018
  12. Don Rudi

    Don Rudi Well-Known Member

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    Thanks a lot Skybird for taking the timing for this extensive write up! Sounds like a lot to test this weekend :D
    I just did my first run in the No Limits 2 demo. Okaaaayyyyy... now I feel dizzy and have the urgent need to search for a stomach pill :eek::D
     
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