Complete beginner

[GeneraLee]

Hi all,
I have the ED game, a set of X52 HOTAS controls and an Oculus Rift headset. I downloaded the Logitech software for the sticks and the profiles that include Elite Dangerous. I can load this onto the sticks so the LCD on the throttle displays "Elite Dangerous". The game loads via the Oculus Launcher and looks AMAZING! The controls are set to Saitek X52 and the basic controls work fine. My problem is a guide to what keyboard buttons are mapped to what controls on the X52. Obviously I can't use the keyboard easily!!! Help gratefully received.

 

[Dan Dare]

I think a lot of VR users have voice attack installed. I use it with a voice pack from HCS that includes a lot of useful commands built in.

For controls that I use most often or in dangerous situations I map them to my HOTAS. If you make one of the buttons work like a shift key you can map additional controls as combinations. The only keys I use on the keyboard are escape and f12. I have marked these with a bit of blu tac so I can find them by touch.

Text entry for comms or galaxy map I remove the HMD and put on my glasses

There is an app I have seen mentioned on here that maps your control keys but I have never used it, and you would have to learn to find them by touch alone, so not as easy as the method outlined above.

Hope this helps.

 

[NW3]

I think a lot of VR users have voice attack installed. I use it with a voice pack from HCS that includes a lot of useful commands built in.

The only keys I use on the keyboard are escape and f12.

I also use Voice Attack (with Obsidian Ant voice). I've added "escape" to the VA profile, as well as "switch" (Alt+Tab to switch back to the Windows desktop), and "recenter" to handle head-tracker drift. I hardly ever have to use the keyboard, except for chat.

What's F12 mapped to? I've never used it.

 

[Borgkube]

From the Saitek profile editor, you can print out a list of buttons and what keys are bound to them.

 

[Dan Dare]

I also use Voice Attack (with Obsidian Ant voice). I've added "escape" to the VA profile, as well as "switch" (Alt+Tab to switch back to the Windows desktop), and "recenter" to handle head-tracker drift. I hardly ever have to use the keyboard, except for chat.

What's F12 mapped to? I've never used it.

F12 resets your view, useful in TrackIR as well as VR

 

[GeneraLee]

Follow on questions

Thanks to everyone who recommended voice attack. Duly purchased and installed. I am about to give it a try in the game.
Follow on question 1
When you are sorting out the bindings via the options menu, following the YouTube video, why are there two columns? The Visio says use the right hand column, but why?
Follow on question 2
If I want to delete a value in this column, how is it done. If I try using the delete key for example, it maps this to the value instead!
Thanks again for all the help.
Ian

 

[zarrazee]

Thanks to everyone who recommended voice attack. Duly purchased and installed. I am about to give it a try in the game.
Follow on question 1
When you are sorting out the bindings via the options menu, following the YouTube video, why are there two columns? The Visio says use the right hand column, but why?
Follow on question 2
If I want to delete a value in this column, how is it done. If I try using the delete key for example, it maps this to the value instead!
Thanks again for all the help.
Ian

1) Not sure why as I dont have voiceattack, but I have watched the "how to" video in case I get it. I guess this is just how the programmers have coded it.
2) Click/Select the option you want to (re)bind, when the screen prompts you for the binding, press ESCAPE key. That'll clear it.

 

[[VR] Frank_G]

I can also recommend voice attack (been using the demo for a week now and will buy it for sure).

If you lack any amount of easy to access buttons, i can also recommend getting a pair of these:
http://www.thrustmaster.com/en_UK/products/mfd-cougar-pack

As you only have 5 buttons in a row, you can easily determine, on which button your finger is, even while wearing the headset. I use them in combination with a Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS and t.flight rudder pedals, which is a pretty convenient combination to use. No need for the keyboard, except when typing in star systems in the galaxy map and text-chat of course.

For playing in VR i have exchanged keyboard and mouse for this piece of hardware:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keysonic-K...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2Z858J67WSH05DT7MEMP

This helps to ease the use of the mouse (where did i left it?) and it is quite small as well and obviously doesn´t require a mouse pad and can easily be integrated into a desk cockpit. Maybe this gives you a few ideas

And welcome to the world of VR. Gaming, especially Elite, will never be the same again on a monitor.

Cheers!

 

[TorTorden_VR]

1) Not sure why as I dont have voiceattack, but I have watched the "how to" video in case I get it. I guess this is just how the programmers have coded it.
2) Click/Select the option you want to (re)bind, when the screen prompts you for the binding, press ESCAPE key. That'll clear it.

It's so you can have multiple bindings for the same command.
Like I have commands mapped to my hotas for most use. but sometimes I get lazy and use voice attack that is setup to use keyboard mappings.

He recommend using the right most column simply because all default control mappings use the left one.
And he would get grief to no end if someone binds VA commands over their normal hotas button mappings.

From the Saitek profile editor, you can print out a list of buttons and what keys are bound to them.

A print out isn't all that useful in vr...

 

[dogbite]

Thanks to everyone who recommended voice attack. Duly purchased and installed. I am about to give it a try in the game.
Follow on question 1
When you are sorting out the bindings via the options menu, following the YouTube video, why are there two columns? The Visio says use the right hand column, but why?
Follow on question 2
If I want to delete a value in this column, how is it done. If I try using the delete key for example, it maps this to the value instead!
Thanks again for all the help.
Ian

As Tor noted, it allows for multiple binds. Ed's default keybinds are in the left column. HCS voicepacks reference these bindings in their voice commands. So, if you change a default keystroke to another of your choosing in the left column you will also need to make that change in the voicepack or it won't work right. Adding a different bind in the right column can avoid this assuming the secondary command is not being used elsewhere.
Once I got familiar with VA, I just made my own commands of those things I wanted to control with voice. Like most, I may use VA to control things like flight assists, power transfer, playing songs from my music library,etc . I also bind the critical time sensitive tasks to my hotas. In the heat of battle, there is nothing worse than a missed or delayed voice command for a crucial system.

I would also recommend (if you aren't on a tight budget) an "Ivona" voice synthesizer. http://harposoftware.com/en/
They have many voices in many accents and languages. It allows you to replace the standard Windows mechanical sounding voice with some of the most realistic voices available. I use the British voice AMY and consider her to be one the most natural and realistic. It is sweet when creating your own VA profile as you can setup TTS responses and have your ship give you sweet replies to your commands using the words you want said. There is also a great free mini-reader that allows you to highlight text and have it read back. I use VA's mini-reader for a couple of flightsims MANUALS, reading webs pages, controlling my WinTV channels and volume, and even reading back this post before posting in an effort to not sound too stupid and maybe catch most of my fat-fingered typos and more.