VR & Hotas -No Keyboard?

TireSpin

T
Hi Experts.

I am an older beginner who does not really understand the whole programming thing for Voice Attack. I have a HTC Vive and a Thrustmaster Hotas X to fly with. I bought Voice Attack and I am considering purchasing a Voice Pak so that I can play Elite with never having to remove the Vive to search for specific keys. Is it at all possible to play without ever touching a keyboard? Which combination would you suggest to achieve this vision?

Thanks in Advance for any helpful information.
 

Zeeman

Zeeman
If voice attack allows you to "type" system names, then you could, indeed, fly kb free. I fly with a warthog and CH pro throttle with a Rift, I still need the KB if I want to search a system name.

Z...
 

Hadarmil

Hadarmil
I tried VA to type but it's pretty wonky - it usually works for things like Allioth and Wolf403 but once you get creative and search for more obscure systems things kinda fall apart... for me at least. Normal typing and commands works very well though if you properly trained the windows tool.

In the end I gave up on it - small house and a sleeping 2yo.
 

TireSpin

T
Thanks all for the quick and helpful replies.

It looks like no matter what you do (baring the new virtual keyboard) you will always have to remove you HMD to fiddle with one key or another?
I guess it comes down to where you place your keyboard on your desktop and muscle memory to get the job done? Can someone tell me if the voice paks pretty much take care of all the keyboard commands?

Thanks again for all the suggestions and help.
 

ebbrell

ebbrell
Voice attack can help with things you want your ship to do. But we do need an in game keyboard

i wad hoping vr gloves will be available soon. So your hand could appear in screen and use your ships keyboard instead
 

Zeeman

Zeeman
Jaiotu said:
Not available quite yet but it looks like Logitech is working on a solution:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/3/16602674/logitech-bridge-sdk-htc-vive-tracker-keyboard

https://youtu.be/XVXvk1X1Gbs
Click to expand...

That kinda reminds me of one of my first sessions int he rift. I had been sitting in a station, going through ships and checking out the cockpit of each. I finally settled on the Python (I think), launched, and then started looking at system names on the left hand pane. There is a keyboard in the cockpit on the left of the throttle kinda under that pane, I reached for it to start typing... And was suddenly ripped back into the reality of what I was actually doing. That is when I knew VR was awesome...

Now, having watched that video... why are the RGB LED's on the keys active? I had to LOL.

As Ebbrell says, though, I'd like some sort of hand tracker/glove to type with in game. the ships already have keyboards...
Z...
 
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Zeeman

Zeeman
TireSpin said:
Thanks all for the quick and helpful replies.

It looks like no matter what you do (baring the new virtual keyboard) you will always have to remove you HMD to fiddle with one key or another?
I guess it comes down to where you place your keyboard on your desktop and muscle memory to get the job done? Can someone tell me if the voice paks pretty much take care of all the keyboard commands?

Thanks again for all the suggestions and help.
Click to expand...

I don't have VA myself - but everyone I have ever spoken to about it has said "yes" to that exact question. Just be careful if you are talking to someone else in the game, so you don't inadvertently boost at the wrong moment...

Z...
 

Hadarmil

Hadarmil
Zeeman said:
That kinda reminds me of one of my first sessions int he rift. I had been sitting in a station, going through ships and checking out the cockpit of each. I finally settled on the Python (I think), launched, and then started looking at system names on the left hand pane. There is a keyboard in the cockpit on the left of the throttle kinda under that pane, I reached for it to start typing... And was suddenly ripped back into the reality of what I was actually doing. That is when I knew VR was awesome...

Now, having watched that video... why are the RGB LED's on the keys active? I had to LOL.

As Ebbrell says, though, I'd like some sort of hand tracker/glove to type with in game. the ships already have keyboards...
Z...
Click to expand...

I want ED to support leap motion with hand selection in game and a proper keyboard. Would be amazing to customize the pilot's seat so the HOTAS will be where it is in RL...aside from haptics leap motion is pretty much it.

Wouldn't happen anytime soon, but we can dream.
 

ziddan

Z
Tried voice attack once or twice, got annoyed with having to train it because it didnt like my Swedish accent, just binding all my stuff to my hotas does it for me.

Ive been in Elite in VR for upwards of 1000 hours and rarely need to take the HMD off for anything, touch typing isnt a problem when you HAVE to learn it for VR, the weekend before last i jumped all the way to Colonia via the neutron highway, 260ish jumps and almost as many looks in my browser, copying the next system name, pasting it into elite, all without taking the HMD off once except for a 40 minute break for food in the middle of the 7 hour stretch it took.

Usually keep a drink in a glass forwards and to the right of my joystick, havnt knocked it over once because when you get in the habit of being consistent with where you put stuff you learn.

In a game like elite where you are seated and you should be able to find your keyboard pretty easy, put small dots of bluetac on buttons you need if the default f and j markers dont do it for you, i use extra dots on tab, c, backspace and enter.

The Logitech thing looks very nice for a game where you walk around and have to "find" your keyboard again or for desktop style stuff but otherwise meh...
 
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TorTorden_VR

T
ziddan said:
Tried voice attack once or twice, got annoyed with having to train it because it didnt like my Swedish accent, just binding all my stuff to my hotas does it for me.

Ive been in Elite in VR for upwards of 1000 hours and rarely need to take the HMD off for anything, touch typing isnt a problem when you HAVE to learn it for VR, the weekend before last i jumped all the way to Colonia via the neutron highway, 260ish jumps and almost as many looks in my browser, copying the next system name, pasting it into elite, all without taking the HMD off once except for a 40 minute break for food in the middle of the 7 hour stretch it took.

Usually keep a drink in a glass forwards and to the right of my joystick, havnt knocked it over once because when you get in the habit of being consistent with where you put stuff you learn.

In a game like elite where you are seated and you should be able to find your keyboard pretty easy, put small dots of bluetac on buttons you need if the default f and j markers dont do it for you, i use extra dots on tab, c, backspace and enter.

The Logitech thing looks very nice for a game where you walk around and have to "find" your keyboard again or for desktop style stuff but otherwise meh...
Click to expand...

I never take the hmd off.
And virtually every bind I can think of is directly mapped to my hotas no-problem.
VA is only really used for other things or when I'm too lazy to put the beverage down, and toggling orbit lines and hud (hardcoded keyboard command).

As for plotting long jumps.
heck we got 20k ly plotting and the game finds neutrons for you.
Couldn't be easier.

What I use VA for the most is honestly controlling the base buttons on my Spotify, and making sure ed is the focused software. so no alt-tabbing needed.
 

ziddan

Z
The built in plotter took more jumps than the 3rd party one so i used it instead, over 22kly it makes a difference.

The only key on the keyboard i use except for typing is escape, all else is on my hotas as well.

I wanted to use VA for a single macro, go to contacs, pick the station and request docking permission but since the program didnt agree with me i just said fk it.
 

Variform

Variform
TireSpin said:
Thanks all for the quick and helpful replies.

It looks like no matter what you do (baring the new virtual keyboard) you will always have to remove you HMD to fiddle with one key or another?
I guess it comes down to where you place your keyboard on your desktop and muscle memory to get the job done? Can someone tell me if the voice paks pretty much take care of all the keyboard commands?

Thanks again for all the suggestions and help.
Click to expand...

Maybe you can work with something like OnTopReplica. I am not sure if this will work in a VR setting, but it allows you to overlay on your game any windowed entity and make it always on top. So the idea would be to use the windows screen keyboard and make it pop up using a VA command or assign it to a joystick button.

This is one of the reasons I don't do VR as of yet. I want AR so I can see the world and have HUDs and all sorts of virtual stuff parade around my actual desktop. You could have a mini Braben avatar right there sitting on your space key and waving at you. Better than a bobble head. And who invented those sick filthy annoying things anyway.
 

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
TireSpin said:
Thanks all for the quick and helpful replies.

It looks like no matter what you do (baring the new virtual keyboard) you will always have to remove you HMD to fiddle with one key or another?
I guess it comes down to where you place your keyboard on your desktop and muscle memory to get the job done? Can someone tell me if the voice paks pretty much take care of all the keyboard commands?

Thanks again for all the suggestions and help.
Click to expand...

i have an X55 and it has enough buttons and switches to handle just about every control without touching the keyboard.
VA is great but i find it gets confused when chatting with mates, nothing disasterous, sometimes i fire off the odd SCB or chaff, but so long as i am not already overheating at some sun when an scb fires its no biggie. the main issue i have is it tends to ignore commands if i am chatting at the same time. on my own its superb tho.

the only place where i need the keyboard is if someone messages me OR if i want to type a system into the galmap.... then i use a mixture of touch typing and a cheeky look through the nose hole.

but for the most part the X55 has me covered, even VA, i keep the controls backed up for emergency on my hotas. (shame the build quality of the x55 is gash)

if you do not want to buy one, then there is a free one... its no longer supported but still works well.

KICS... i think 4.1 was the last supported... not sure where you can find it but am sure someone will help. if not if you PM me i can try to look for it and host on the cloud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2hx7FzfjrE

edit i am blind the link to it is on the youtube vid i supplied

https://mega.nz/#!1E9BzbZA!4thQyVVf3EADrEHERX16M0ythjWp6qMdHbozONrjC7o
 
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Sphinx2k

Sphinx2k
If you are having trouble with VA while talking to others you can easily setup a stop listening voice command as well as an override voice command in options to start listening again. Alternatively you can setup the override command as a prefix for VA to start listening for all your commands such as "Computer..", just like Star Trek, etc.
This is what "Alexa.." and "Ok Google.." appliances/apps do to avoid accidental voice commands.

Or setup stop/start hotkeys/joystick buttons, etc. It's very configurable.
VA Manual link: http://voiceattack.com/VoiceAttackHelp.pdf
 
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Athracht

Athracht
Howdy!

I'm using Voice Attack with an old 12-button joystick, no HOTAS yet, and it works beautifully. You mention downloading a voice pack, but that's not necessary for your voice input. You can fully program Voice Attack and map it to every function in the game as is. Voice packs, as I understand them, are just for voice feedback customization, but maybe they offer their own VA configuration presets? Is that what you refer to? But even in regard to voice feedback, you can simply use the native Windows speech-to-text system, which Voice Attack supports. I chose the Hazel voice, as it most closely resembles the native ED ship's computer voice.

BUT.... I don't see any way yet to effectively get around needing to type on the keyboard for galaxy map searches, although you could program VA to do it, a letter at a time, as it looks like some people have. But it would be ponderous to both program and use. So until that crazy newfangled Logitech keyboard makes its debut, you'll either have to polish up your touch-typing skills, or push back that headset to have a look. Beyond that, I am a VA fan, as it really works for everything outside of typing!

So to answer your original question, you can do VR & Hotas, no keyboard, 95% of the time.... ;)

Happy flying!
 
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