Frontier, you need to hire this group and put them in charge of cockpit UI.

[eyeonus]

I don't think game development works like that. Especially not with UI, which is a very difficult area to change drastically.

To be totally honest, in the case of E: D this would be more of a "customize you flight chair" deal as I see it. The holo-panels wouldn't be involved. As in, instead of having the current HOTAS setup that your avatar lovingly fondles, (which, I have to say, ruins immersion for me when game-me takes my hand of the stick to stretch my fingers and real-me doesn't,) you could have whatever your actual physical cockpit is, and your avatar('s hands) would do what you're doing, when you're doing it.

 

[thistle]

Okay, this is a very simple argument to refute, and I shall do so with a mere eight words: The cockpit in that teaser is fully customizable.

It doesn't matter that how the cockpit was set up in the teaser video, because you can set it up however you like. Oh yeah, and obviously the actual, physical buttons, knobs, lever, and what-have-you that you are currently using to play E: D will function perfectly fine.

What does your IRL E: D cockpit look like? Are you running double-stick, or full HOTAS, om KB+M? Tinker Pilot's main premise is allowing you to make the in-game cockpit match your IRL cockpit, as well as adding on in-game only stuff likes the buttons shown in the teaser.

You mean the Unity demo they have created is fully customizable. This is true, that's what their software is for, for Unity.

Applying such a system to Elite, on a different engine, is a rewrite of Elite Dangerous entirely.

 

[thistle]

And the OP says hire this man, it's a development team of 4 people.

 

[Cocalarix]

To be totally honest, in the case of E: D this would be more of a "customize you flight chair" deal as I see it. The holo-panels wouldn't be involved.

As a VR player, I'd love some of this stuff. But I only see Frontier doing this kind of stuff if VR truly blows up. And seeing Sony going hard with VR this year + if the new console generation arrives before the 2020 update, it's not totally out of the question.

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

you can't beat a good DCS cockpit

 

[eyeonus]

Than if you can't use it, what's the point of adding it?

Huh? I'm going to assume English isn't your first language, because I have no idea how else you could've gotten "you can't use it" from what I said.

 

[Crank Larson]

(which, I have to say, ruins immersion for me when game-me takes my hand of the stick to stretch my fingers and real-me doesn't,)

You can turn that off, and have been able to do so for a long time.

 

[Cocalarix]

Why doesn't Planet coaster have a vr mode?

Main reason: performance.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Huh? I'm going to assume English isn't your first language, because I have no idea how else you could've gotten "you can't use it" from what I said.

I said Voice Attack was superior to this, and in line with the games 34th century.

Seriously, why would you push buttons in 34th century when you already have AI that will do it for you.

 

[eyeonus]

You mean the Unity demo they have created is fully customizable. This is true, that's what their software is for, for Unity.

Applying such a system to Elite, on a different engine, is a rewrite of Elite Dangerous entirely.

No, it'd be a rewrite of THEIR software, which would be integrated into E: D. I'm not saying there wouldn't be some changes to the E: D code, but "a rewrite of Elite Dangerous entirely" is definitely more than would be required. The vast majority of the E: D code would be untouched. The cockpit rendering code would need to be modified to enable putting custom assets on the flight chair, and it's fairly likely that the code that handles player input would need to be overhauled, but that's about it as far as I can foresee. I wouldn't bother with the virtual buttons part shown in the teaser, except in as much as I would like that to work with the currently existing holopanels that we have right now.

Honestly, I'd be super-thrilled just to be able to actually poke the headlights button on the holopanel to toggle them on/off. That in itself would be SO SWEET, even if none of the other stuff happened.

 

[eyeonus]

You can turn that off, and have been able to do so for a long time.

I was not aware of this and will now hunt through the settings to do just that little thing. Thank you!

 

[eyeonus]

And the OP says hire this man, it's a development team of 4 people.

I didn't know it was a group until after I'd already written the title and posted the OP. I was way excited when I saw this. But yes, it's actually 4 people. W/e. I still say Frontier still needs to hire them.

 

[Crank Larson]

I was not aware of this and will now hunt through the settings to do just that little thing. Thank you!

It does make a huge difference.

Once you enable it, the next thing that will irritate you in VR is that horrible triangle that regularly appears in the corner of your eye. It's in loads of my videos, and quite often it is so distracting that I turn my head to look at it. It seems to have got worse recently too (or maybe it is just more noticeable when driving around planets).

 

[eyeonus]

I said Voice Attack was superior to this, and in line with the games 34th century.

Seriously, why would you push buttons in 34th century when you already have AI that will do it for you.

Yeah, I wasn't talking about what you said AFTER the line I quoted. I'm not talking about Voice Attack. I'm not talking about the relative merits of VA versus buttons, although I will say, not to start an argument, that I personally do not like it. I'm talking about making the in-game controls match your real, actual controls. I have the Thrustmaster 16000m HOTAS, and I would absolutely love it if my in-game cockpit's HOTAS looked like my real-life HOTAS. I would love it if my in-game hands were always doing exaclty what my real life hands were doing, right down to pushing the exact same button, pushing the exact same throttle, twisting the exact same stick.

This has very little to do with HOW you play. Whether you prefer buttons or VA or macros or what, this wouldn't affect that. It's about the immersion. When in-game me does what real-life me does, and when in-game controls look like real-life controls, and when in-game me does the same thing to in-game controls that real-life me does to real-life controls, that's much, much, MUCH more immersive than what we've got right now.

 

[eyeonus]

It does make a huge difference.

Once you enable it, the next thing that will irritate you in VR is that horrible triangle that regularly appears in the corner of your eye. It's in loads of my videos, and quite often it is so distracting that I turn my head to look at it. It seems to have got worse recently too (or maybe it is just more noticeable when driving around planets).

I actually hadn't noticed that, and I've been playing E: D in VR ever since I bought my Vive like two years ago now. Are you also on a Vive, or are you using a different HMD?

 

[Crank Larson]

I actually hadn't noticed that, and I've been playing E: D in VR ever since I bought my Vive like two years ago now. Are you also on a Vive, or are you using a different HMD?

I use a Rift. I had a Vive but sold it quite quickly as the text in E: D was really blurry (and I really only use it for E: D). I find the Rift much clearer for E: D (I've just ordered the Rift S, and am very much looking forward to testing that out - the inside out tracking was the decider for me).

The black triangle isn't limited to VR, and has been reported for a long time. Various updates have changed it, but not eliminated it entirely. And I think it's only noticeable on planets (I've never seen it elsewhere, thinking about it).

 

[eyeonus]

I use a Rift. I had a Vive but sold it quite quickly as the text in E: D was really blurry (and I really only use it for E: D). I find the Rift much clearer for E: D (I've just ordered the Rift S, and am very much looking forward to testing that out - the inside out tracking was the decider for me).

Yeah, I remember the blurriness back when I first got mine. I also remember the absolutely hideous and extremely distracting god rays that prompted me to after-market non-Fresnel lenses from a used GearVR. Now, no god rays, and while still blurry, it's better. I can read all the regularly sized-stuff, anyway. The smaller text makes me feel like a near-sighted old man, but, well, I kind of am one. Not so much old (38), but definitely near-sighted (3.5 contact prescription). So feeling near-sighted doesn't annoy me as much as I expect it would if I had 20/20.

I got the Index, for multiple reasons:

• I don't have a problem with having base stations. I've got them mounted to the walls out of the way.
• I DO have a problem with tracking blind spots. (Which any current inside-out tracking HMD DOES have.)
• I hate walled gardens.
• I didn't want a side-grade, I didn't want a down-grade, I wanted an up-grade.
• Probably other reasons, I just can't think of them right now.
• OH! A real important one: I don't trust Facebook.

I won't pretend that my reasons are valid reasons for anyone but myself. Everyone has their own opinions and priorities when it comes to which, if any, VR system to buy.

The black triangle isn't limited to VR, and has been reported for a long time. Various updates have changed it, but not eliminated it entirely. And I think it's only noticeable on planets (I've never seen it elsewhere, thinking about it).

Ah, that might be why, then. I don't go planetside very often.

 

[eyeonus]

But yeah, back on topic, Frontier please hire these guys! OMG it would so amazing. I mean, come on, you can't get much more immersive than that with current tech.

Please?

 

[Robert Maynard]

How many players would actually use it, to justify the development cost?

 

[Crank Larson]

• OH! A real important one: I don't trust Facebook.

In full agreement here, and this was why I went for the Vive first. But while the room tracking was awesome (I also had no problem mounting the stations), that was the only thing about the Vive that I thought was better. And I have little use for it. The price of the Rift is also much more reasonable. I don't mind paying for things if I think they are worth it, but the Vive didn't pass that test. Had it been priced at less than £500, it may have done.