just got the vive.

[Zwajo]

Finally got around to taking the VR plunge, all I can say after a few minutes messing about in Elite is... why did I wait? I do have one or two questions for the VR vets here...

1. I have usually always played with a joystick (logitec 3d pro) and keyboard... I noticed straight way that with the VR headset on I spent a lot of time floundering around trying to find the correct keys. How do you guys get around that?

2. with the vive and its motion sensors I have noticed that I have to sit just so to be in the seat.. otherwise I am looking through my own head or at the back of the seat.

3. how do you navigate subsystems and the left right panels... I look at them and they come up but much button pushing and swearing later I was still not able to actually use them.

 

[X-Terminator]

Well done - what took you so long

1. Use only those at the edges of the keyboard to find easiest e.g. I use them for flight but ASWD is easy to find with all around them. Use VoiceAttack for most others.

2. Sit back in your seat and rest orientation. You won't see your head again.

3. I use ASWD as it separates from flight. I disable auto popup except for Helm.

I don't use Joystick. Your worst bit is the Map Navigation. The headlook is opposite to direction and simply does not allow you to click where you look! So I use the left panels which is hard when you have no known data for Missions!

 

[bitstorm]

Finally got around to taking the VR plunge, all I can say after a few minutes messing about in Elite is... why did I wait? I do have one or two questions for the VR vets here...

1. I have usually always played with a joystick (logitec 3d pro) and keyboard... I noticed straight way that with the VR headset on I spent a lot of time floundering around trying to find the correct keys. How do you guys get around that?

2. with the vive and its motion sensors I have noticed that I have to sit just so to be in the seat.. otherwise I am looking through my own head or at the back of the seat.

3. how do you navigate subsystems and the left right panels... I look at them and they come up but much button pushing and swearing later I was still not able to actually use them.

1. Joystick with crap loads of buttons. You should be able to use one button as a toggle, so when I hold down the pinky button the other buttons have a secondary function.

2. Bind a key to "Miscellaneous => Reset HMD Orientation". I use \.

3. Dunno it's just when I hold my toggle button (mentioned in 1) and push say left on the hat (which would normally add a pip to SYS) it opens the left hand panel.

I think this is "Mode switches => UI focus => set to your toggle switch"

"Mode switches => UI focus mode => Direction"

And "Interface mode => UI Panel left => set to left on your hat"

I also have it set so that when I look at the panels they don't pop up automatically, as I find it an annoyance.

To do that it's "Mode Switches => Looking at ..... panel => does nothing".

 

[CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned]

Also the F and J keys should have bumps on them so touch typists can place their fingers without looking. You can get used to most common keys but I still find with both the Vive and Rift there's a small gap around my nose to look down at the keyboard.

Not tried voice attack but it is used extensively by VR users.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Finally got around to taking the VR plunge, all I can say after a few minutes messing about in Elite is... why did I wait? I do have one or two questions for the VR vets here...

1. I have usually always played with a joystick (logitec 3d pro) and keyboard... I noticed straight way that with the VR headset on I spent a lot of time floundering around trying to find the correct keys. How do you guys get around that?

2. with the vive and its motion sensors I have noticed that I have to sit just so to be in the seat.. otherwise I am looking through my own head or at the back of the seat.

3. how do you navigate subsystems and the left right panels... I look at them and they come up but much button pushing and swearing later I was still not able to actually use them.

1:

Well, I have a ch hotas with six 4-way hat switches, two 8-way pov and I have set two buttons on the throttle for shift keys, so I have unshifted + shift 1 + shift 2.
Making for a total of 120 bindable button combinations without overlapping, although I probably only come in under <40 or so.
I also have voice attack but doesn't really need it and I don't have to even touch the keyboard when I play, in fact it's mostly out of reach.​

2:

Controls, reset HMD button, I have it bound directly to my HOTAS, but see above...​

3:

Depends on your other controls I suppose, but I use primary fire to select, secondary as back, and with a panel\menu open two hats functions as panel selection and tabbing between menus.
I do not use look at to open menus, that just becomes very annoying if you want to look anywhere so it's all on buttons as well, and after a few hundred hours I could navigate most menus just by memory​

4:

Keep at it, it can take a while to get things right, I was lucky enough to have played with this setup for a year before getting VR so muscle memory was already set.​

A good HOTAS is so worth it, almost as much if not more than the HMD itself.
But I guess you don't really need to be told to go buy a warthog after a vive though....
That's also the same reason I haven't tried any racing sims in VR, I would have to iuse the xbx controller or something, and I don't even like that for 2d racing games..

 

[dape]

welcome to the Club Zwajo

 

[Franc Kaos]

A good HOTAS is so worth it, almost as much if not more than the HMD itself.
But I guess you don't really need to be told to go buy a warthog after a vive though....
That's also the same reason I haven't tried any racing sims in VR, I would have to iuse the xbx controller or something, and I don't even like that for 2d racing games..

Agreed, VR makes you feel like you're in the ship, a HOTAS makes you feel like you're flying it. I got a cheap 'n cheerful (£35 UK) Logitech Thrustmaster*, and it's brilliant! not nearly as many buttons as the Warthog but allied with Voice Attack (about a tenner) for non emergency commands, and Kics4 (free Elite voice pack with hundreds of programmed commands), I don't need the keyboard at all.

*Keep the receipt and buy from somewhere with good returns policy, buttons are known to die - had to exchange my first one, luckily thru' Amazon so they sent me a new one with 30 days to free return the old one.

EDIT: And welcome to VR - it's awesome!

 

[Korben Dallas]

1) Get a hotas

Cheaper alternative: X55 from Saitek. After you purchase it (it's a set of a throttle and a stick for about 150 bucks) open up the throttle unit by removing the many screws at the bottom. Once you have removed the bottom, you will see two bunched up wires taped half-way only with white tape. Saitek did a half job on the internals and what happens is that fairly quickly (mine broke after a year and four months) the cogwheels teeth sever the thin wires which move when you push the thottle back and forth.

The unit itself is great as long as it works. However do yourself a favor and buy some good tape and finish the half @ss job the boys at Saitek should have done.

or...

more expensive and looks a bit old fashioned: CH Fighter or Combatstick and Throttle. They will last for years. Look up the reviews. My first choice after Saitek.

http://www.chproducts.com/13-28464-Home.php

or...

Real cheap solution - use a cheap joystick and a xbox controller resting on a flat table surface as a throttle. It has plenty of mini sticks that you can map to throttle, and roll. You can use the joystick for regular pitch and yaw.

Here is a screenshot of how that looks:

The xbox controller is tilted 90° and I used both mini sticks for thrust/roll/throttle and the D-pad (cross) for ui control. This was my setup before hotas.


2) Bind a two key combination to the 'Reset HMD orientation' in the 'Miscellaneous' section of the keybindings ingame.

3) See *1 or use the dpad on the xbox controller.



Aah yes, and welcome to the VR jungle.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Finally got around to taking the VR plunge, all I can say after a few minutes messing about in Elite is... why did I wait? I do have one or two questions for the VR vets here...

Congratulations on joining in us in VR.

A word of warning, though: once you go VR, its hard to go back. Being immersed in a three dimensional world is SO much better than staring at a screen displaying a two dimensional world. Be sure to take advantage of the Vive's excellent room tracking abilities, and get up out of your chair, and explore your ship's bridge or cockpit. It's a lot of fun.

1. I have usually always played with a joystick (logitec 3d pro) and keyboard... I noticed straight way that with the VR headset on I spent a lot of time floundering around trying to find the correct keys. How do you guys get around that?

Full blown HOTAS user myself. CH Products Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals. I'm also a touch typist, which turned out to be a valuable skill for VR. Go here for free lessons.

2. with the vive and its motion sensors I have noticed that I have to sit just so to be in the seat.. otherwise I am looking through my own head or at the back of the seat.

I recommend leaning back in the chair slightly when resetting your HMD's position. That way, the VR chair won't get in the way as much.

3. how do you navigate subsystems and the left right panels... I look at them and they come up but much button pushing and swearing later I was still not able to actually use them.

I turned off that feature in settings, because I found it extremely annoying. Then I mapped my (no longer needed) POV hat on my Fighterstick to open up those panels manually. Best thing about doing it this way, is that I can navigate an open panel, without ever having to actually look at it.

 

[rootsrat]

Finally got around to taking the VR plunge, all I can say after a few minutes messing about in Elite is... why did I wait? I do have one or two questions for the VR vets here...

1. I have usually always played with a joystick (logitec 3d pro) and keyboard... I noticed straight way that with the VR headset on I spent a lot of time floundering around trying to find the correct keys. How do you guys get around that?

2. with the vive and its motion sensors I have noticed that I have to sit just so to be in the seat.. otherwise I am looking through my own head or at the back of the seat.

3. how do you navigate subsystems and the left right panels... I look at them and they come up but much button pushing and swearing later I was still not able to actually use them.

1. I use X52 Pro joystick (no keyboard). The in game stick and throttle are prett much the exact copies of it, so it's very instinctive.

2. Press F12 (be default, configurable in the options) to reset the view once your seated comfortably.

3. I turned off automatic panel opening and just assigned all of them to buttons on my stick (designated "shift" button + HAT switch). Now when I open one, it stays on, regardless whether I look at it or not. Remember to switch off the camera focus when you open the panel).

 

[shadragon]

Finally got around to taking the VR plunge, all I can say after a few minutes messing about in Elite is... why did I wait? I do have one or two questions for the VR vets here...

1. I have usually always played with a joystick (logitec 3d pro) and keyboard... I noticed straight way that with the VR headset on I spent a lot of time floundering around trying to find the correct keys. How do you guys get around that?

2. with the vive and its motion sensors I have noticed that I have to sit just so to be in the seat.. otherwise I am looking through my own head or at the back of the seat.

3. how do you navigate subsystems and the left right panels... I look at them and they come up but much button pushing and swearing later I was still not able to actually use them.

1. Voice Attack gives you a lot of flexibility. I also use this keyboard with depressed surfaces on the keys.

2. Reset key is F12 unless you remapped it. Get into comfortable position and then hit the HMD Reset key. I bound my F12 to Voice Attack commend "Reset" which does the same thing when I say it.

3. The depressed keys really help for navigating the side panels, but you can use Voice Attack as well. Check out this video I did for Voice Attack commands.

[video=youtube_share;9ZMNd-iLNYQ]https://youtu.be/9ZMNd-iLNYQ[/video]

 

[Kyennamo]

Finally got around to taking the VR plunge,

Any particular reason u chose a Vive over The Rift?

The rift is far superior for ED. I am not biased based on purchasing one over the other like most people here. I own and use both HMDs regularly.

The vive is totally fun for other stuff but when it comes to ED it is crap compared to the rift. The rift is SO much better I was initially going to return the vive but i found i enjoyed the vive too much for other things so i kept it. But i generally dont use it for ED because it is clearly inferior (for ED). The rift also just got a price cut

Moving on.......

Get an x52 pro and a set of rudder pedals. Build a mount to hold them in the positions you see them in game. Since it matches the in game flight stick it adds to the level of immersion

 

[VR StarLightPL]

Just to expand over already excellent responses:

Regarding 1. Use a hotas/joystick with buttons and learn the "technique" called "modifier keys". They can be any key you want, and it changes the meaning of the other key pressed when holding the modifier. It is far simpler than it sounds actually. I can go with example of my own controls: https://www.mcdee.net/elite/binds/gqaytw (scroll past the wheel to the HOTAS section), you will find that I have a set of modifier keys on the throttle (represented by colours) and depending on which one is being held down, they change the meaning of for example the hat switch on the joystick (represented by matching colour).

Also, if you have spare controllers lying around, don't be ashamed to plug them in, E: D will handle them just fine [If only we could name our devices to know which JOY6 it is referring to ;-) ]. As you can see from my linked binds, I use a hotas and a steering wheel (with pedals which are not shown on the diagram, and have thrust up / down and srv throttle bound).

Regarding 3. It's because you have the options for the panels to "show" and not "focus". I use "show" only for the comms panel, all other are set to "focus". That being said, the suggestion provided by rootsrat (by opening them via a command) is better if you have to spend a bit more time in this panel. For example going through power priorities or transactions. Just remember to have UI back bound somewhere and use it to close the panel. For quick glances its fun enough to "aim" with your head.

 

[VR StarLightPL]

Oh and before you try to use the galaxy map via the mouse in VR, please stop and read this thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-in-VR-what-are-devs-thinking-It-is-RUBBISH!? (ignore the childish title), It can be very confusing to people at first (you need to change camera pitch because you are looking at 0 angle to the galactic plane). I've explained that in the thread, there's also a nice instructional video on it. Galmap works just fine when using joystick or even gamepad.

 

[rootsrat]

All you need to do really is turn on the grid on the map. Otherwise the system markers won't be visible to "hook" the cursor. The grid is of course only visible when you tilt the map, as StarLight said above.

 

[pudkud]

1. I have usually always played with a joystick (logitec 3d pro) and keyboard... I noticed straight way that with the VR headset on I spent a lot of time floundering around trying to find the correct keys. How do you guys get around that?

As far as the keyboard goes, I use an ergo keyboard (Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard) and then I added some "markers" to specific keys (F, J, Ctrl, C, V, Enter). Specifically I used Velcro tape I cut into squares and stuck to the keys. Some of them are the fuzzy side and some are the rough side. The combination of all of this helps me find home row quick as well as the most commonly used keys.

For the galaxy map I followed a YouTube video on setting up an xbox controller.

Edit: Oh and for positioning it is easy just sit a little back, reset the HMD position and then move forward to your natural spot.