VR newbie here. Looking for advice

[198xAD]

I have a somewhat tight budget and have been looking at ebay listings like 'headset only'. Out of curiousity, if I bought something like a used/refurb Occulus Quest with no controllers or anything, do I need anything special to make it work? I'm looking at only using this exclusively for flight sims like IL-2 and perhaps Warthunder.

[shadowgravy]

IL-2 doesn't recognize hand controllers so you should be good with Quest and PC link. A good graphics card is important though; my GTX 970 Ti FTW was baseline acceptable for IL-2 BOS but upgrading to a GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 (and from an i7-4790 to an i7-9770 CPU) helped eliminate 'judders' which can be really unpleasant and even nauseating in a flight sim. War Thunder was comparatively very smooth with my old hardware. As I recall I didn't need the hand controllers for War Thunder except perhaps to reset the VR headset view.

If you use SteamVR, the lobby is very dependent on hand controllers. I use Open Composite to bypass SteamVR. It allows you to launch VR games through Steam without having SteamVR running in the background and using up resources. For IL-2 Sturmovik, that helps improve frames a little.

The most difficult thing I've found about playing flight sims in VR is that they are very reliant on keyboard commands. You're blind to the outside world when you have the headset on, and even if you're a brilliant touch-typist you're going to still have to find your keyboard by touch and orient your fingers. I started using VoiceAttack speech-to-keyboard software and it is a perfect solution for playing IL-2 Sturmovik in VR. It's not a difficult program to learn but it takes time to program key commands to a game profile, and I had to do a lot of trial and error.

I don't know much about the Quest. I have the Rift-S and I think opting for hand controllers is a smart move in the long run for flexibility. The release of the Reverb G2 has been delayed but it should be coming out soon, and when it does you may be able to pick up a used Rift-S or other HMD at a reasonable price.

[198xAD]

Ahh so it is dependent on the GPU for rendering. That's actually a good thing in my case.

Vega Frontier 16gb water blocked
AMD R5 3600 water cooled


I was worried the quality would be bad compared to my 4k panel because I'd be limited by the headset somehow.


It looks like the Quest can be switched to external sensors somehow. I can probably set a toggle on my Saitek x-56.

Thanks for the advice. The way I see it is a headset only option is the same cost as trackir or cheaper. The headset sounds like a very robust option.

[shadowgravy]

I chose the Rift-S because it is tethered to the PC. Quest was designed as an untethered device, and I don't know how similar the PC data link cable makes Quest to Rift-S. I'd look into that very seriously before I bought a Quest to make sure it can be used with PC-based flight simulators. I simply don't know enough about how Quest works. For example, I see it has an internal power supply while my Rift-S has a separate USB cable to power the headset. If the link doesn't also supply power to Quest, battery life might become problematic.

And if you haven't read article yet check it out: https://www.windowscentral.com/oculus-rift-s-vs-oculus-quest

[shadowgravy]

"...Most of the third-party fiber cables you’ll find will work with Quest for data, but won’t keep it charged. You’ll have to stop playing and plug it in every two hours or so. Oculus’s cable is the only one I know of that provides both data and power in a single 15-foot cable."

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3519488/oculus-link-review-this-80-cable-is-worth-every-penny-to-turn-quest-into-a-rift-rival.html

[198xAD]

Will do. The thing that got me thinking about the quest was the higher resolution and the OLED. I♥️OLED!!! Quality is a big deal to me. I already play in 4k almost exclusively and my next GPU is only going to do it better. So I really hope I can make it work.

[shadowgravy]

The reviews comparing Quest with Rift-S say the difference between their specs isn't very noticeable in practicality. That said, the Rift-S's resolution and the 'screen door effect' common to several HMDs doesn't bother me. I've also turned off 4K textures in the sim and lowered resolution to 1280x720 to get better frame rates, and neither action reduced clarity in the headset. Or to put it the other way, choosing highest resolution in the sim is wasted in the headset and only bogs down performance.

I have a Reverb G2 on pre-order because it got gushing praise in preview articles. I'm hoping it won't disappoint.

[198xAD]

I'm kind of a snob when it comes to resolution. The quest only has a refresh rate of 72 and I'm used to 60. 60 is fine for flight sims as long as it doesn't dip. I just don't want to get buyer's remorse because my 4k samsung panel ends up being significantly sharper.

*Edit*

Oh snap the reverb g2 is native 4k lol. I'll keep that in mind.

[gspectre]

One thing you might be interested in, in regards to hand controllers, your hands ;)

http://flyinside-fsx.com/Features/LeapMotion

I'm not sure if it works with anything other than FSX but it was made to work with the Rift.

Of all the HMD out there, the Rift-S seems to be the best based on price and performance. I have not heard of the Reverb G2 but I'll check it out to see if that's better. So far, the Rift-S is the one I'm hoping to get.

[198xAD]

That's cool. I really only like combat sims but I could see that being implemented in the future.

[shadowgravy]

I have FlyInside for FSX and to be honest I find the virtual hands more of a nuisance than helpful. Technically you can operate the virtual yoke or stick with your virtual hands but I prefer the tactile feel of a joystick in my actual hands. That means constantly picking up and setting down the VR controllers, and then they just float outside the aircraft in VR view. I use my mouse cursor instead, and hide my Oculus controllers behind my chair.

DCS has a similar feature to FlyInside's hands except your virtual hands are black gloves. Fortunately you can disable them completely in the game settings.

I like P3Dv5 and its use of mouse cursor in VR mode. The cursor is a good sized orb that lights up when you move it to a click spot in the virtual cockpit.

I also have nonflying VR games where virtual hands are implemented very well.

[Pvt. Meatwad]

Цитата допису VB_333:

Will do. The thing that got me thinking about the quest was the higher resolution and the OLED. I♥️OLED!!! Quality is a big deal to me. I already play in 4k almost exclusively and my next GPU is only going to do it better. So I really hope I can make it work.

oh dude oled isnt that great for VR unless you play lots of dark games. Because it has less sub pixels than LCD and so it will have a slightly worse picture quality even with the higher resolition. I had the quest and the rift s and on top of being more comfortable the rift s looked better for pretty much every game I play except no mans sky. But i have to be honest theyre both really nice. If you dont plan on traveling or playing dark games id go rift s lol. Also I saw you like combat games/sims do you like land combat? Because onward 1.7 is pretty awesome its kind of like arma VR without the vehicles but you need motion controllers. Also theyre making a new medal of honor game for vr coming out December and i can tell you once you go vr for shooters you dont go back lol. I cant freaking wait to use an mp40 with my own 2 hands/controllers.

[198xAD]

Bruh, my phone has an OLED and I fell in love and I just do dumb twitter stuff on it. The colors and contrast are absolutely amazing. They're the most beautiful panels I've ever seen. Maybe my old phone was just a POS though.

Things I care about in order:
Resolution
Screen/Color Quality
Frame Rate

[iSurvivedRKelly]

Цитата допису shadowgravy:

I chose the Rift-S because it is tethered to the PC. Quest was designed as an untethered device, and I don't know how similar the PC data link cable makes Quest to Rift-S. I'd look into that very seriously before I bought a Quest to make sure it can be used with PC-based flight simulators. I simply don't know enough about how Quest works. For example, I see it has an internal power supply while my Rift-S has a separate USB cable to power the headset. If the link doesn't also supply power to Quest, battery life might become problematic.

And if you haven't read article yet check it out: https://www.windowscentral.com/oculus-rift-s-vs-oculus-quest

It absolutely can. Not using the link cable uses the base hardware. Using the link cable uses your pc's hardware.