It's 10x better. I haven't touched ED or DCS since it came out.
Another 'I'm using Oculus Rift and it's amazing' Thread
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It's 10x better. I haven't touched ED or DCS since it came out.
Good to hear. Any decent starter-mid range wheel suggestions?
Check out Logitech and Thrustmaster. Lots of good reviews on YouTube. But brakes are even more important in a sim like this, so look for one with a load cell, or you’ll be locking up all the time.
I got a rather cheap Logitech DriveForce GT and are happy with it. Im no hardcore racing guy, just wanted to enhance the fun in Assetto Corsa and the wheel hat good critiques in the forums. I dont regret it and it is alot of fun, though i am a terrible driver.
Still have to test it in VR, but ED got me hooked.Well I've been a lifelong Thrustmaster user since the days of the Professional Flight Control System in the early 90's. The thing for me is that the Thrustmaster stuff seems to feel more solid and realistic and has a higher proportiojn of metal in it. If you feel a Thrustmaster Warthog or joystick and then pick up a Saitek or CH you find the Thrustmaster will be made of metal and will weigh a ton whereas pretty much everybody else makes PC peripherals from plastic. For that reason I have always stuck with their gear because it feels more real to me. I use a Thrustmaster T500RS for driving sims but that's a pretty expensive piece of kit and frankly the pedals are better engineered than the ones in any of my real cars!! They do make various cheaper models like the T300 which might also be worth a look.
Logitech make the G27 which is very well regarded too and Fanatec make some high end stuff although I have never used their gear.
Hope that's helpful.
Birdseed
Logitech make the G27 which is very well regarded too and Fanatec make some high end stuff although I have never used their gear.
Hope that's helpful.
Birdseed
Congrats! It is amazing, you'll never go back to playing non-VR again - I'm currently experiencing this the hard way. My graphics card died and is going for a RMA swap. I tried to play with TrackIR and only lasted 2 minutes before calling it quits. I'll wait till my Graphics card comes back <sniff>.
I went into the holo-me creator thingy today, just to get a screenshot for a website, and all of a sudden there was this fully sized bloke in front of me. Then when I went to edit the head, the torso appeared right in front of me, and I could look around it, and rotate it, and it was like it was sitting right in front of me. Amazing.
The only thing I worry about with VR is my inability to show people what I am experincing. I keep taking these screenshots from in game, using Voice Attack, and when I take it, it looks so cool, and imersive and stuff, then when I look at the BMP later, it's just another static screenshot.
I guess I need to do some video. If only I could get that Windows Key+G thing to work that windows keeps telling me about, but which doesn't ever seem to do anything.
The only thing I worry about with VR is my inability to show people what I am experincing. I keep taking these screenshots from in game, using Voice Attack, and when I take it, it looks so cool, and imersive and stuff, then when I look at the BMP later, it's just another static screenshot.
I guess I need to do some video. If only I could get that Windows Key+G thing to work that windows keeps telling me about, but which doesn't ever seem to do anything.
I don't think that will be a problem for me, once my Pimax arrives in Jan/Feb. Games which are not ED no longer interest me at this point
(and it drives my best friend nuts, since ED is not the sort of game he can enjoy).So, about a week and a bit later, here are my thoughts on the OR with ED in VR.
This biggest disappointment to me is how little time I can find to play ED in VR with the OR. It seems as though I just log in, goggle up, head on out, then all of a sudden I am looking at the clock and two hours have passed and I need to go do 'Real Life' type activities. It really pulls at my soul. However, today (lowers voice to a whisper so he cannot be heard by SO), I did manage to get a fairly prolonged session going, a couple of hours before lunch and then three after toast and tea.
In the first session I took my Vulture out to a High res site and did some PewPew. Man, I can't get enough of that. Tracking ships with the OR, moving my head about in this natural fashion to find ships. Today, while cruising over an astroid belt, I found myself glancing down looking for ships, then spotting laser fire, heading down, and getting a nice juicy bounty. Love it. Even docking is cool with VR, and I find now that I am more confident with FA off, something that just left me spinning in space, and I think it's due to the fact that I can turn my head to orientate myself, rather than just watch stuff whizz past my front window.
For the afternoon session I thought I might take my Asp Explorer out for a spin, partly to see if VR outside of combat is any good. I feared it would be a bit dull, trapped inside my goggles, supercruising away, but in fact it was anything but dull. So I loaded up with some data and small cargo missions that were heading to the next system across. Four missions in all. The Galaxy map was.... Shall we say... Challenging? If ED seems as though it has been built from the ground up for VR, the Galactic map clearly needs some work.... But you know, I got it to do stuff, so it was all cool
So, out exploring... Shocker. It's not dull in VR. In fact it was pretty cool, and the fact that one of the bases I needed to deliver to had not actually been discovered, So I needed to fly about scanning stuff until I found it, added to the whole experience.
Really, is there anything in ED VR that I am not going to like.
Apart from when I have to give it back to my friend that is
This biggest disappointment to me is how little time I can find to play ED in VR with the OR. It seems as though I just log in, goggle up, head on out, then all of a sudden I am looking at the clock and two hours have passed and I need to go do 'Real Life' type activities. It really pulls at my soul. However, today (lowers voice to a whisper so he cannot be heard by SO), I did manage to get a fairly prolonged session going, a couple of hours before lunch and then three after toast and tea.
In the first session I took my Vulture out to a High res site and did some PewPew. Man, I can't get enough of that. Tracking ships with the OR, moving my head about in this natural fashion to find ships. Today, while cruising over an astroid belt, I found myself glancing down looking for ships, then spotting laser fire, heading down, and getting a nice juicy bounty. Love it. Even docking is cool with VR, and I find now that I am more confident with FA off, something that just left me spinning in space, and I think it's due to the fact that I can turn my head to orientate myself, rather than just watch stuff whizz past my front window.
For the afternoon session I thought I might take my Asp Explorer out for a spin, partly to see if VR outside of combat is any good. I feared it would be a bit dull, trapped inside my goggles, supercruising away, but in fact it was anything but dull. So I loaded up with some data and small cargo missions that were heading to the next system across. Four missions in all. The Galaxy map was.... Shall we say... Challenging? If ED seems as though it has been built from the ground up for VR, the Galactic map clearly needs some work.... But you know, I got it to do stuff, so it was all cool
So, out exploring... Shocker. It's not dull in VR. In fact it was pretty cool, and the fact that one of the bases I needed to deliver to had not actually been discovered, So I needed to fly about scanning stuff until I found it, added to the whole experience.
Really, is there anything in ED VR that I am not going to like.
Apart from when I have to give it back to my friend that is
So, about a week and a bit later, here are my thoughts on the OR with ED in VR.
This biggest disappointment to me is how little time I can find to play ED in VR with the OR. It seems as though I just log in, goggle up, head on out, then all of a sudden I am looking at the clock and two hours have passed and I need to go do 'Real Life' type activities. It really pulls at my soul. However, today (lowers voice to a whisper so he cannot be heard by SO), I did manage to get a fairly prolonged session going, a couple of hours before lunch and then three after toast and tea.
In the first session I took my Vulture out to a High res site and did some PewPew. Man, I can't get enough of that. Tracking ships with the OR, moving my head about in this natural fashion to find ships. Today, while cruising over an astroid belt, I found myself glancing down looking for ships, then spotting laser fire, heading down, and getting a nice juicy bounty. Love it. Even docking is cool with VR, and I find now that I am more confident with FA off, something that just left me spinning in space, and I think it's due to the fact that I can turn my head to orientate myself, rather than just watch stuff whizz past my front window.
For the afternoon session I thought I might take my Asp Explorer out for a spin, partly to see if VR outside of combat is any good. I feared it would be a bit dull, trapped inside my goggles, supercruising away, but in fact it was anything but dull. So I loaded up with some data and small cargo missions that were heading to the next system across. Four missions in all. The Galaxy map was.... Shall we say... Challenging? If ED seems as though it has been built from the ground up for VR, the Galactic map clearly needs some work.... But you know, I got it to do stuff, so it was all cool
So, out exploring... Shocker. It's not dull in VR. In fact it was pretty cool, and the fact that one of the bases I needed to deliver to had not actually been discovered, So I needed to fly about scanning stuff until I found it, added to the whole experience.
Really, is there anything in ED VR that I am not going to like.
Apart from when I have to give it back to my friend that is
Its interesting hearing your experiences. I'm quite keen on VR atm having just tried it for the first time (wow). The VR shop I went to didnt have ED but was impressed with what I saw of the other games.
I wonder if its worth waiting for the Pimax 8k since it sounds superior to the other HMDs out there.
As for the galaxy map I've heard lots of people complain about it in VR. Sounds like there is a lot of scope for improvement. I wonder if they could make if feel like a planetarium.
With many more HMD options coming up I recon there will be a lot more uptake over the coming year.
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Also lots scope for getting the gal map working really well in VR as it is.
I got a DK2 for free this month and have been playing Elite nonstop since then, so I echo everything everyone has been saying. I try to describe it to folks and it just doesn't come across how much fun it is.
The previously boring stuff is so FUN in VR in Elite. Like even just gathering materials on a planet, the way the shadows hit your wheels and getting a good jump going with the SRV's thrusters... it's better than any VR rollercoaster ride. I get that dropping feeling in my stomach, it's great.
AND THE COCKPITS! Previously mostly useless ships like the T-7 or T-9 (ships that do one thing, but other ships do that one thing (and more) much better) have incredible cockpits where it feels like you're flying an entire house, with the canopy towering above you. It's just so damn cool, I love it. And everything feels so much more natural, your spatial awareness and everything, it just flows. Ya don't even think about where things are, you can just look at it.
Combining my free-for-me VR headset with a free-for-me cheap flightstick (both hand me downs cuz I am a lucky boy) along with buying Elite and Horizons on sale has given me the most fun for the price I can remember having in gaming. It'd've been a good deal at 20 times the price.
I had played Elite for a decent stretch the other year, before having the cliched fade away after I got the Asp X that I wanted and being busy with real life, and I didn't touch it for 18+ months or so... having tried Elite in VR briefly before, I knew I had to get back into it if only to fly around and crash a Sidewinder or something, but I'm back to being sucked in. It's just so damn cool in VR.
I actually have a weird bug right now, and I made a new thread about it but since I'm a new poster it hasn't been approved as far as I know (and maybe won't be, but that's fine if I put it in the wrong spot). Everything VR related was working great ever since I plugged it in, but I turned it on earlier today and everything on the forward facing HUD is way out of position. I recentered myself several times with F12, verified game files (which erased my green hud, but I can do that over again), but the problem is still there... it's like everything is a foot closer to me, hovering in front of the dashboard instead of "on" the dashboard.
EVEN WITH THAT, it's still tons of fun. I always loved smuggling, and now boosting and swooping into a dock in my fully packed T-7 is my favourite thing.
The previously boring stuff is so FUN in VR in Elite. Like even just gathering materials on a planet, the way the shadows hit your wheels and getting a good jump going with the SRV's thrusters... it's better than any VR rollercoaster ride. I get that dropping feeling in my stomach, it's great.
AND THE COCKPITS! Previously mostly useless ships like the T-7 or T-9 (ships that do one thing, but other ships do that one thing (and more) much better) have incredible cockpits where it feels like you're flying an entire house, with the canopy towering above you. It's just so damn cool, I love it. And everything feels so much more natural, your spatial awareness and everything, it just flows. Ya don't even think about where things are, you can just look at it.
Combining my free-for-me VR headset with a free-for-me cheap flightstick (both hand me downs cuz I am a lucky boy) along with buying Elite and Horizons on sale has given me the most fun for the price I can remember having in gaming. It'd've been a good deal at 20 times the price.
I had played Elite for a decent stretch the other year, before having the cliched fade away after I got the Asp X that I wanted and being busy with real life, and I didn't touch it for 18+ months or so... having tried Elite in VR briefly before, I knew I had to get back into it if only to fly around and crash a Sidewinder or something, but I'm back to being sucked in. It's just so damn cool in VR.
I actually have a weird bug right now, and I made a new thread about it but since I'm a new poster it hasn't been approved as far as I know (and maybe won't be, but that's fine if I put it in the wrong spot). Everything VR related was working great ever since I plugged it in, but I turned it on earlier today and everything on the forward facing HUD is way out of position. I recentered myself several times with F12, verified game files (which erased my green hud, but I can do that over again), but the problem is still there... it's like everything is a foot closer to me, hovering in front of the dashboard instead of "on" the dashboard.
EVEN WITH THAT, it's still tons of fun. I always loved smuggling, and now boosting and swooping into a dock in my fully packed T-7 is my favourite thing.
I'm curious, did the galaxy map used to be much worse in VR? Cuz for me it seems totally serviceable compared to what I expected (since I always heard it was very hard to use in VR). There are some annoying quirks when compared to using the galaxy map in 2D, but once ya learn those quirks then I've had no real problems.
Some VR'rs seem to wanna close that space between the nose and the headset so they can't see any light poking through, but I find it pretty handy so that I can glance down at the keyboard and type in a system name if I need to. I also quickly learned that once I enter a name and the map centers on the system, I need to not touch anything except for my joystick to scroll to the route or bookmark button-- or the mini-routing-UI thingy disappears (one of the annoying but manageable quirks of the map in VR in my experience).
Also using the Windows cursor instead of the in-game cursor, THAT made a big difference.
I could imagine it being a horrible hassle if it used to be worse though, since it's not like it's perfect now or anything.
For me, the problem is entering star systems in the search box (so much for my supposed touch-typing skills), and moving the cursor over a star system to select the actual star can feel a little random in its success rate. maybe I'm doing it wrong, but for me its an Achilles heel in the ED VR experience.
As for the System map opening up so that the sun is right in my face.... what's that about? has no one tested this?
But, that all being said, I had an Epic Encounter in a High Res field last night. out and about bounty hunting in my Vulture, I made the mistake of taking on a Python while some distance always from the local constabulary. when my shields went down, and the canopy started to crack, I boosted into the asteroid field and used a combination of FA off and thrusters to bob and weave between the rocks so the Python couldn't get a clear shot at me. it was like totally the scene from Star Wars, except I didn't land inside an asteroid or nearly get eaten by s giant space worm that can live in a vacuum surviving on presumably space dust.
But anywayyyyyyyyyyyy. it was epic. and really only possible in VR as I was able to weave in and around asteroids by visually judging how close I was through looking up down and around, with proximity alarm going off pretty much all the time.
It was pretty much the defining moment pf my VR experience. so far.....
As for the System map opening up so that the sun is right in my face.... what's that about? has no one tested this?
But, that all being said, I had an Epic Encounter in a High Res field last night. out and about bounty hunting in my Vulture, I made the mistake of taking on a Python while some distance always from the local constabulary. when my shields went down, and the canopy started to crack, I boosted into the asteroid field and used a combination of FA off and thrusters to bob and weave between the rocks so the Python couldn't get a clear shot at me. it was like totally the scene from Star Wars, except I didn't land inside an asteroid or nearly get eaten by s giant space worm that can live in a vacuum surviving on presumably space dust.
But anywayyyyyyyyyyyy. it was epic. and really only possible in VR as I was able to weave in and around asteroids by visually judging how close I was through looking up down and around, with proximity alarm going off pretty much all the time.
It was pretty much the defining moment pf my VR experience. so far.....
That sounds amazing!
I agree about the issues you mentioned about the galaxy map in VR; I guess I just expected it to be even worse than how it is currently, since I had always heard it was almost not even functional. Clicking on a random star is so finicky and annoying and almost never works (except for the rare times it does), but as long as I can type in a system name and direct myself there then I'm okay I guess.
You're not wrong at all though, and that's an incredibly annoying bug/quirk of the map in VR.
If you turn on the grid its easy to select a star by using the round cursor on the grid.
I think easy is an overstatement but you're right. Perhaps a quick recap on using the galaxy map in VR is overdue, so ...
Firstly, you almost certainly need to abandon trying to use the mouse to operate the galaxy map in VR so sort out the bindings so you can control it with your HOTAS (you'll need movement in all three X, Y and Z axes, zoom and rotation all configured to bindings that you find natural to operate).
Next, as Gunner has said, make sure the grid is turned on. Also, when you open the galaxy map the first thing you'll need to do is pitch it down a bit so that you have more of an isometric (i.e. angled) view of the map rather than a flat (i.e. straight across) view (I wish FD would fix this so that the galaxy map starts out angled when you open it).
Once you've done that, you need to master the use of pan and zoom. Zoom out so your lateral (X and Y plane) movements are traversing the galaxy at a decent speed and you can easily pan to the rough vicinity of the system you're trying to focus in on. Then what you need to do is, as you start to zoom back in on the target system, try to get a feel for whether that system is above or below the plane of the grid. Don't zoom in too far until you've moved the grid plane down or up in the Y axis so the system is more or less on it. The more you zoom in, the more accurately you'll need to align that Y axis. Once it comes into view the thing you need to focus on is the blue dot which represents your target system on the grid and not the star itself (which will probably still be some way above or below the plane). If the star disappears as you zoom in further then zoom back out, adjust the Y plane height, and zoom back in again. It can also be useful to spin the map around occasionally to make sure your target is roughly centered in the X/Y plane. ANother way to do this is to temporarily tilt the map so you're looking directly down on the grid and make sure your target is in the center. Practice makes perfect. If you have a friend marker way off in the distance (e.g. if you're in the bubble and you have a green friend marker out in Colonia) then practice manipulating the map to focus in on their current system.
o7