New Occulus User - Keyboard/HOTAS beccome unresponsive while playing.

[Micha]

So I just got an Occulus on the £399 deal, plugged it all in, watched the little demos, and fired up Elite Dangerous.

Switched to HMD in graphics settings and bingo, all is good. Not wanting to trust my actual game with it straightaway (I use HOTAS + Mouse + Keyboard, so figured I might need to do some remapping) I started up the training missions.

Blown away by the immersion (quality not quite as good as expected, still, pretty happy; might need some tweaking?).

But part-way through the combat demo, I suddenly lost all controls. I initially thought my ship had been disabled (it's been ages since I'd done any combat, being an explorer), but no, keyboard didn't work either. Eventually I had to kill the game process, restarted, and all was good again.
Except it happened again.

The only thing which still works when it happens is the mouse pointer, and hovering it over menus highlights them, but mouse-buttons do nothing either.

So after googling there was a note to ensure the game window has focus (Windows popups etc can steal focus) but I checked and it was still (/again) active. After a little bit of trial and error it seems that whenever the game window loses focus, I permanently lose all inputs, even if it's given focus again.

Anybody else experience that? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

 

[Wulf]

Got mine this morning. I had to update the USB driver to sort out the same problem.

 

[Loworbit]

Anything on one USB controller? Maybe your motherboard can't deliver enought power for all your USB devices or the bandwidth is just to low (not enought dedicated controllers).
Take a look here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/365174-Anyone-recommend-a-USB-3-card-for-the-Oculus

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Anything on one USB controller? Maybe your motherboard can't deliver enought power for all your USB devices or the bandwidth is just to low (not enought dedicated controllers).
Take a look here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/365174-Anyone-recommend-a-USB-3-card-for-the-Oculus

i was about to post this too.... i reckon Loworbit is right however, try juggling round your usb plugs.

when i 1st set up i got random usb disconnects, it took a while to spread the load <mental note must make a log of what is plugged in where before moving my pc!>

 

[Micha]

Well, I have an Asus Hero Maximus VIII Alpha, which, according to this Reddit Post, should be fine even with 3 cams (only using 1 so far; tracks perfectly).

I'm fairly certain all drivers are up-to-date, but will double-check, and will also see about moving the plugs around.

I can also get more break-out plugs for more USB3 ports on the board which may be on other controllers; will do some research/playing around and post back.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

So I just got an Occulus on the £399 deal, plugged it all in, watched the little demos, and fired up Elite Dangerous.

Switched to HMD in graphics settings and bingo, all is good. Not wanting to trust my actual game with it straightaway (I use HOTAS + Mouse + Keyboard, so figured I might need to do some remapping) I started up the training missions.

Blown away by the immersion (quality not quite as good as expected, still, pretty happy; might need some tweaking?).

But part-way through the combat demo, I suddenly lost all controls. I initially thought my ship had been disabled (it's been ages since I'd done any combat, being an explorer), but no, keyboard didn't work either. Eventually I had to kill the game process, restarted, and all was good again.
Except it happened again.

The only thing which still works when it happens is the mouse pointer, and hovering it over menus highlights them, but mouse-buttons do nothing either.

So after googling there was a note to ensure the game window has focus (Windows popups etc can steal focus) but I checked and it was still (/again) active. After a little bit of trial and error it seems that whenever the game window loses focus, I permanently lose all inputs, even if it's given focus again.

Anybody else experience that? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

What Hotas are you using. I use an X52 pro and have it plugged into a powered USB 2 hub. If i didn't it would loose power and stop working with the Rift plugged in.

 

[Micha]

What Hotas are you using. I use an X52 pro and have it plugged into a powered USB 2 hub. If i didn't it would loose power and stop working with the Rift plugged in.

An ancient X45, plugged directly into a MB USB2 port. Lights are still on and the Windows joystick test shows it working, so I guess it's fine!

Besides, as I said, I also lose keyboard & mouse clicks in-game, although mouse movement is still there. Out-of-game everything continues to work.

Anyway, I have another 2 USB 3 ports coming tomorrow for a different MB header, and I'll double-check all drivers, see if that fixes it. Sounds like it's not a general issue, so just need to keep playing with my setup. Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

 

[Wood67]

So after googling there was a note to ensure the game window has focus (Windows popups etc can steal focus) but I checked and it was still (/again) active. After a little bit of trial and error it seems that whenever the game window loses focus, I permanently lose all inputs, even if it's given focus again.

I had this problem for a while. Caused by me nudging the mouse/clicking in the heat of battle. I forgot that in VR the screen is windowed on your monitor with a lot of real estate around the edges so it was actually quite easy to change the focus. And as soon as that happend all inputs are off. Head tracking still worked but nothing else.

You've mentioned you checked this, so maybe you have something different - but it certainly flumoxed me for a couple of days. Now I either turn the rodent upside down, or leave it somewhere out of the way on my desk.

 

[Micha]

I had this problem for a while. Caused by me nudging the mouse/clicking in the heat of battle. I forgot that in VR the screen is windowed on your monitor with a lot of real estate around the edges so it was actually quite easy to change the focus. And as soon as that happend all inputs are off. Head tracking still worked but nothing else.

You've mentioned you checked this, so maybe you have something different - but it certainly flumoxed me for a couple of days. Now I either turn the rodent upside down, or leave it somewhere out of the way on my desk.

Well, as I said, the issue is that the inputs -remain- disabled even after giving the game window focus again. In my case the game windows "captures" the mouse, so shouldn't be able to knock the focus out anyway. But good suggestion on moving the rodent to where it can cause no trouble.

 

[Orvidius]

Anything on one USB controller? Maybe your motherboard can't deliver enought power for all your USB devices or the bandwidth is just to low (not enought dedicated controllers).
Take a look here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/365174-Anyone-recommend-a-USB-3-card-for-the-Oculus

This. Totally this.

I had the same problem with my new computer (not my old one though!). I would have USB devices "fall off" randomly, such as the mouse or the HOTAS. The problem is plugging in the sensors and the HMD too close together, sharing the controllers with other USB devices plugged adjacent to them, where there's either not enough bandwidth or not enough current available to them all. The motherboard USB controllers these days often can't provide enough resources to the Rift and these other devices simultaneously.

I would get a multi-channel USB card for the sensors. I use this one for my sensors, but there are many others that will work just as well.

EDIT: I hadn't noticed the followup about already having one, before posting this. Gotta remember to read the thread first. That's baffling then. A dedicated card for the Rift hardware should be sufficient to prevent this.

EDIT 2: Have you tried unplugging and re-plugging the HOTAS/whatever after this has happened? Or moving them to a different port? When I had this issue, I'd either have to reboot, or move the devices to different ports. Just unplugging and reinserting into the same USB port without rebooting wouldn't be sufficient, if I remember correctly.

 

[Micha]

EDIT: I hadn't noticed the followup about already having one, before posting this. Gotta remember to read the thread first. That's baffling then. A dedicated card for the Rift hardware should be sufficient to prevent this.

I don't have a separate USB controller card, but supposedly my MB is "good enough" on the USB front; I've just ordered another backpanel though to utilise another USB MB header.

EDIT 2: Have you tried unplugging and re-plugging the HOTAS/whatever after this has happened? Or moving them to a different port? When I had this issue, I'd either have to reboot, or move the devices to different ports. Just unplugging and reinserting into the same USB port without rebooting wouldn't be sufficient, if I remember correctly.

I hadn't tried replugging the devices as they continue to work perfectly fine outside the game, it's just in-game they stop working until I restart the game.

 

[Loworbit]

I use this one for my sensors

Or without referal and link shortener: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HJZEA2S/

 

[Sir.Tj]

Had similar problems, Bought a cheap USB powered hub off Amazon.. not 100% perfect but a great improvement.

 

[Wood67]

@Micha: when you get the input freeze, does the head tracking still work? If it does, I'd be inclined to think it is not the Rift HMD itself (or USB port) at issue. I did get an Inatek 5 port card but even there it's not for exclusive Rift use. My HOTAS controller (X-52) is pretty happy in any USB2 port.

The Inatek is fairly cheap and probably a reasonable place to start if you've exhausted all other options. Only thing you need to watch for there is make sure you turn off the auto-power off in the system settings. Otherwise, even though you are using the Rift it can just power it down without warning.

 

[Orvidius]

I don't have a separate USB controller card, but supposedly my MB is "good enough" on the USB front; I've just ordered another backpanel though to utilise another USB MB header.

OK, I misread then. Personally I would still suspect the USB controllers getting saturated then. Supposedly mine should have been good enough too, but it took spreading the devices out on separate USB controllers before it started working correctly without anything dropping out. Using additional headers on the MB will probably help, so that might be a good way to save a little money and get it working. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Knot2clever]

I used to get random disconnects, until I read a post about turning USB power management to always on.

 

[Micha]

Hmm, so rather annoyingly it appears to be a case of if ED is configured for HMD, it doesn't accept any input. Head-tracking works, as does the mouse pointer, but no joystick, no keyboard, no mouse-clicks. Alt-tabbing in and out of the game window doesn't change anything.

But if I start ED in "normal" (ie, 2D) mode, then switch to HMD, it works fine, even alt-tabbing in and out of the game.

I've got all the latest drivers, Oculus now has the touch controllers and second sensor setup, and all other software works perfectly. EXCEPT for ED..

 

[Orvidius]

Wow, that's really strange. Are you starting ED via Oculus Home, or Steam, or the Frontier launcher? Maybe grab one of the "partner keys" and try one of the others?

 

[Micha]

Wow, that's really strange. Are you starting ED via Oculus Home, or Steam, or the Frontier launcher? Maybe grab one of the "partner keys" and try one of the others?

From the ED Launcher (after starting the Oculus software). Really don't want to fart- around with Yet Another Weird Install Location now I have everything setup (I normally use several 3rd-party apps such as EDDI and EDDiscovery).

I do have a Steam key already, but really hate the fact that Steam downloads all versions of the game (32-bit, 64-bit, and Horizons) as well as needing to click through half-a-dozen Launchers/Windows to start it up (ok, slight exageration, but seriously, FDev & Valve need to fix this!).


Had a bit of a longer play today and while yes, the immersion is fantastic, the (lack of) resolution is seriously bugging me.. not sure if I'm going to keep it or wait for next-gen VR.

 

[Orvidius]

I haven't played with EDDI, but EDDiscovery thankfully works fine no matter which launcher you use (including switching back and forth between them), since the journal files are stored in your personal AppData area, rather than with the game.

The Oculus Home version installs the game once, and in fact just launches the Frontier launcher, which then auto-launches the game (instead of waiting for you to press the blue "play" button). It also diverts the audio to the Rift automatically, without needing to configure it as a Windows default, or anything like that. So I'd try that one rather than Steam, if you want a second option.