Discussion Tools Question for VR Players

[hawkeye91]

Hi All,

I've been away from ED for a LONG time, but am starting to get the itch to get back into it. Among the things I loved about it in the past were the many amazing tools created to help navigate the game. My previous setup included a laptop networked with my ED machine on which I would run those tools.

As I ponder returning to the galaxy, I'm weighing the pros and cons of going the head/eye tracking (e.g. Tobii) route versus the VR route. For me, one of the biggest negatives of the VR route is that it seems like using the tools while in a VR headset would be much more cumbersome.

I'm curious as to what thoughts and/or experiences folks have had with this.

Thanks!

 

[cmdr chequers]

Long time user of TrackIr till the third one packed in. I now use the following and it's actually better than TrackIr once you have your curves ect set up.
Camera: Netumscan Full HD Web cam search on on Amazon, Perfect especially the light on it if you like playing in the dark like me.
Feeding into AiTrack: https://github.com/AIRLegend/aitrack
aitrack sending to OpenTrack via UDP: on port 4242 :

GitHub - opentrack/opentrack: Head tracking software for MS Windows, Linux, and Apple OSX

Head tracking software for MS Windows, Linux, and Apple OSX - opentrack/opentrack

github.com

So smooth no lag, loved TrackIr for years both in MSFlightSim and Elite Dangerous but this setup is better.
The camera is £19.99, aitrack and opentrack is free

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Every VR ecosystem provides some kind of way to pin windows in the virtual space in some form or another. I use a Reverb G2, which is a WMR headset, and WMR allows very easily to position a desktop window in VR, so I do that. There are other means and dedicated application that are more sophisticated, but a virtual desktop window is all I need. There are some hurdles and inconveninces to overcome (the ED window needing to be in focus to be able to read joytick inputs for example), but that's all managable one way or another.

Short answer: I pin a desktop window in my "lap".

 

[hawkeye91]

Every VR ecosystem provides some kind of way to pin windows in the virtual space in some form or another. I use a Reverb G2, which is a WMR headset, and WMR allows very easily to position a desktop window in VR, so I do that. There are other means and dedicated application that are more sophisticated, but a virtual desktop window is all I need. There are some hurdles and inconveninces to overcome (the ED window needing to be in focus to be able to read joytick inputs for example), but that's all managable one way or another.

Short answer: I pin a desktop window in my "lap".

As in, if you look down at your lap in the cockpit, you see this desktop window with the tools on it? And it's read-able?

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

As in, if you look down at your lap in the cockpit, you see this desktop window with the tools on it? And it's read-able?

yes. I can adjust distance and size, but not the angle. In WMR, that window appears perpendicular to the headset axis when you open it, so I look down slightly to have it angled. I then resize and position it to my needs.

SteamVR offers similar functionality, as did Oculus way back when I was still using it; I assume it still does. There are also various SteamVR apps like XSOverlay, OVRDrop and OVR Toolkit that allow to place multiple windows and also remember their position and size. Those tools never really worked for me, but I am content with a simple desktop mirror.

When you get it to work you need some kind of tool to bring ED back in focus when you switched to the browser, for instance, otherwise it might not read your controller input. I use ahk-joystick-focus for that. There is a compiled version available so you don't need AutoHotKey for it.

ED might also cover other windows when it is in the foreground (I run the desktop mirror of ED as a small window, not fullscreen), I solved it by moving the ED window al the way to the bottom by dragging its title bar all the way to the bottom of my screen.