Why won't my g2 controllers work with Elite Dangerous?
Why can't I use my g2 controllers with Elite Dangerous
- Thread starter Casual Ray
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because it isn't a motion controller game.
Exactly. Exactly. Support only for keyboard, mouse, and joysticks.
More to the point. Why would you want to?
If you have the patience and want to attempt to adapt the G2 controllers, you could try the Elite VR overlay http://edcodex.info/?m=tools&entry=475 But if you're experience is like most other's you'll quickly discover that VR controllers just don't cut it in a VR Space Sim game, PERIOD!!! The problem is in the inherent nature of VR. Once you're under the goggles, one needs the tactile feedback of a physical controller which VR controllers simply do not have as of yet. The experience I had using the third party overlay with the rift controllers was totally unplayable. To be candid, ED is a game that is just best suited for a HOTAS. Sure, you can play with a mouse but after getting a HOTAS, you'll never want to play it any other way.
I have both a Rift(not Rift S) and a G2. Like you, I had a new hammer and I wanted to find every nail to use it on. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work with most games even if the game was adapted after the fact. Unless the game is designed from the ground up using VR inputs, no game I've found thus far adapts well to VR controllers.
Now on the topic of the G2 controllers in general. Let's be candid, the G2 controllers are a joke. HP really screwed the pooch on this design. If one could imagine being in the room with the G2 design team the design review probably went something like this when it came to design choices A or B:
Designer: If we design it using method A it will be more playable but method B will be quick and get it out cheaply.
HP Program Manager: Let's use option B then.
Designer: But method B will only take a little longer and it will be suited for VR.
HP Program Manager: You're right, let's use method A anyway.
HP didn't even try to make their controllers usable. They just took the MR controllers from the Microsoft reference design available to any developer and implemented the most minimum options to meet the design requirements for Mcirosoft's MR. I mean hell, they couldn't even be bothered with creating an HP specific utility to leverage the G2.
By comparison, when Valve released their Index, they went out of their way to support competitors games by adding the SteamVR custom bindings utility to Steam. Anyone could adapt any third party controller to a SteamVR hosted game. HP did nothing like that and in fact, they always have the option today create SteamVR bindings for HP G2 which would solve a lot of the evils plaguing their design. But do thay do so? Nooooo!!!
One could argue that it would be in HP's best interest to go back and add an HP G2 binding to the top 100 Steam VR games because it would increase adoption of their product. So why not do it? Answer: Because HP didn't design the G2, Valve designed the Headset and the Microsoft designed the controllers. All HP did was productize it and distribute it. In marketing parlance, they give this a name; MVP (Minimum Viable Product). This is a concept where a company releases the bare minimum design just to gauge whether a product will gain any market traction. Which means it doesn't have to be good, it just has to be available.
Don't get me wrong, I love my G2 headset but the sole reason to buy the G2 was for the headset only, not the controllers. No serious or experienced VR player uses them beyond initial menu navigation.
That is IMHO so far from the truth that it hurts. X-Rebirth VR has excellent motion controls, and after you mentally switch to them you will be wondering why did you even use hotas in the first place. Motion controls offer a range of movements a traditional hotas setup cannot. When implemented properly, they (to me) feel like a neural link to my Albion Skunk. Some people are unable to switch mentally, and that's okay too. Hotas isn't half bad, but motion controls on a space sim are BETTER, not worse. The only bad thing you could do is to design motion controls around gripping a virtual HOTAS - that's awful and it doesn't work for me (tried in DCS). Otherwise the X-Rebirth controls are the classic example on how to realise VR properly.
As for OP's question: VR in Elite is a one week hack that worked brilliantly (CEO's own words), but has been neglected ever since. The built from the ground up for VR was a lie, and was taken down from the website around 2018. Don't count on motion controls anytime soon, because even the huge success of the Oculus Quest 2 didn't help in changing stance towards VR in general. Maybe if Quest continue to take the market by storm something will change. In 5 years or so.
Many Pro PvP players seem to prefer mouse over the HOTAS, citing better precision. I don't PvP in ED so I wouldn't know.
Sighhh!!! It really hurts when some folks just hit reply before they actually read through a thread.
I guess you missed this part of the post:
"X-Rebirth VR" The operative word here is "VR". Just in case you missed the fine point, it is a VR-Only game. Of course it's going to be playable using VR controls. Isn't that obvious? But I wasn't talking about VR based games was I? I was instead excluding that class of games from my post, wasn't I?
I have X-Rebirth VR and won't comment on how well they implemented controls but the fact is, it is a "VR game from the Ground UP". Which is why I took the extra effort to denote that I was excluding that class of game from my comments.
I must agree and can certainly appreciate why that is. My gaming mouse definitely gives me greater precision than my HOTAS ever will but in VR I find that the immersion I feel with having both hands on dedicated controls is far more pleasurable. That said, I too do not participate in PvP so the mouse doesn't offer me any greater advantage. In fact, the combination of Voice Attack, HOTAS and VR during mining and exploration is almost like a completely different game altogether. Generally when I do bounty missions, I don't find VR to be all that advantageous so I generally stay with my 4K display which logically shouldn't make sense but somehow it works for me.
But XR:VR isn't built from the ground up. It's Rebirth with added VR. It isn't a VR only game. They just added controls to it, you can exchange between the HOTAS at will and also you can take the helmet off and play in 2d. Which makes the "fact" factually wrong. Now if I have compared Elite to HL: Alyx, your objection would hold merit, but XR: VR is just a Rebirth build based on the home of light expansion. Or maybe I am wrong and @AkenBosch will correct me, he knows how things run in Egosoft
Well, I just checked my install and that does not appear to be the case. This game is only playable as a VR-only implementation on Steam at least. As you can see by my screengrab, I have it available as both an Oculus and SteamVR option but no other option to play it otherwise.But XR:VR isn't built from the ground up. It's Rebirth with added VR. It isn't a VR only game. They just added controls to it, you can exchange between the HOTAS at will and also you can take the helmet off and play in 2d. Which makes the "fact" factually wrong. Now if I have compared Elite to HL: Alyx, your objection would hold merit, but XR: VR is just a Rebirth build based on the home of light expansion. Or maybe I am wrong and @AkenBosch will correct me, he knows how things run in Egosoft
X Rebirth Screenshot 2021-04-10 092229 hosted at ImgBB
Image X Rebirth Screenshot 2021-04-10 092229 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co
You seem to love arguing semantics so I will humour you on this:
EGOSOFT official FAQ said:
Source: https://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_answer_de.php?answer=2398&version=10#q8
As for the controls there's extensive video from Egosoft themselves:
and a good one from VR Oasis:
That XR VR vid was amazing!
Makes me feel like buying it. I used to love the X games. Memories of university and a mix tape a mate made me.
Makes me feel like buying it. I used to love the X games. Memories of university and a mix tape a mate made me.
Just triple make sure you're getting the Oculus Touch version (there are two, especially on Steam, see the FAQ I linked).
Also, warning, it's Rebirth. The initial reception was very bad (think almost NMS levels of bad) but IMHO Egosoft turned the game around nicely akin to Hello Games. It was controversial compared to previous games, as you have only one main ship and cannot change it. In my opinion Rebirth is a cool game, but I wasn't heavily invested in previous X universe games. YMMV. I can only say I wish we had this touch steering controls in Elite.