VR and Navigation - How???

[ironk79]

Hallo fellow pilots,

 

a few weeks ago i purchased an Oculus Rift CV1 for a decent price, mainly for flying/racing sims. Of course i couldnt wait to hop into the VR cockpit of the 109.

Dogfights are a blast, the immersion, the felling of height ´7speed and the spacial awareness trump the restrictions of the current VR hardware, at least for me.

 

I changed my Input setup to 2 Joysticks, so i could map all relevant Buttons onto these Joysticks. So far it works great, no need to take off the OR while flying.

 

After weeks of (AWERSOME!) quick mission dogfighting i tried to fly a PWMG ground attack mission and got lost horribly.

 

The "Virtual Map" was basically useless, due to being semitransparent an to small for the given resolution of the OR. Even cockpit zoom wasnt much of a help.

Additional the missions generated through PWMG show just a fraction of the map. In other words, its almost impossible to navigate in VR using the given map and landscape.

 

Are there VR pilots in here who found a solution to this navigation/map issue, one that doesnt reqire to remove the OR Headset?

 

Just for the record, since i was eager to know how playable BOS will before i purchased the OR, my current setup

 

Settings:                            

- High

- Shadows: low

- Landscape Detail: 2x

- Landscape Filter: Sharp

- HDR, Sharpen aktive

- Dynamic Resolution 0,5

- Gras normal

- No SSAO,no AA,

- no Supersampling or ASW in Oculus Tray tool

 

My System:

- i5 4690k @4,1Ghz

- GTX 970 slight overclock

- 8GB

- SSD

 

Just yesterday i did a 4vs4 quick Mission, Stalingrad summer Map with light clouds. Constant 90fps for 99% of the time. Still a little headroom when changing to balanced.

 

thanks and happy flying!

 

[BFsSmurfy]

I was wondering this as well.

[Dakpilot]

I don't use VR but what happens when you press 'O' (main map) in VR

 

(engage auto level first )

 

is the res still not enough?

 

Cheers, Dakpilot

[ironk79]

I don't use VR but what happens when you press 'O' (main map) in VR

 

(engage auto level first )

 

is the res still not enough?

 

Cheers, Dakpilot

I am not really sure, but i think the virtual map is the only one we get (small or large), have to check this evening

[TP_Silk]

Don't use the map in the HUD - it kills framerate. Instead you can use the on on your O button (this can be assigned to a joystick button too as it is a toggle on/off). If you are having trouble seeing your plane on that map, try the I (for India) button as sometimes when you click H to hide the hud it also switches off your plane position tracker. (yeah, I know - not the right terminology, but close enough that you'll know what I mean).

 

The bonus is that the main map (O) in VR doesn't take up the entire screen and you can still fly using peripheral vision.

Edited February 2, 2018 by TP_Silk

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

'O'brings up a full size map that you can use the mouse to move and zoom. You will only see the map whilst looking forward in VR.

 

Head movement will be weird and drag around the cockpit until you turn the map back off.

[ironk79]

@TP_Silk / Tripwire - sounds to good (easy) to be true, will check this evening.

Dont know why i didnt see the "O" map while mapping all the buttons.

 

 

 

[dburne]

Agreed, I use the large (O) map as well - have it assigned to a button on my throttle for toggling on and off.

[Herne]

yep press "o" i've bound this to a button on my throttle, use mouse to position map for your sortie and zoom in as required. Map reading is easy, to find features on the ground to keep track of where you are on the map. If you do happen to get lost though, it can take a while to find your bearings

Edited February 2, 2018 by =FEW=Herne

[Lensman]

Use the full size map as described and map (no pun intended) it to a controller button. Use the mini-map to see very local events (eg who is behind you) and sparingly, switch it off once awareness is gained. As stated, the 'i' key is used to toggle labels and map that to a controller button too. After that it's perfectly feasible and I know because I have 100 hours + in the Rift.

[Jade_Monkey]

VR or not VR, navigation is exactly the same. The large O map is there and all server settings for GPS apply the same way.

[SCG_motoadve]

You have the transparency set to high, this is why is hard to see.

You can change in game settings.

 

I find Navigating in VR its actually easier, everything looks bigger it is 1/1 scale.

[TG-55Panthercules]

I've found using OVRdrop to inject a screenshot/picture of the PWCG mission map into my cockpit works remarkably well for navigating while flying BoX in VR - you can check this thread for details:

 

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/31005-ovrdrop-feasible-map/

[EAF19_Swoop]

 

Don't use the map in the HUD - it kills framerate. Instead you can use the on on your O button (this can be assigned to a joystick button too as it is a toggle on/off). If you are having trouble seeing your plane on that map, try the I (for India) button as sometimes when you click H to hide the hud it also switches off your plane position tracker. (yeah, I know - not the right terminology, but close enough that you'll know what I mean).

This is what I do especially flying offline. I thought the "I" button which shows your plane on the map is server controller and so isn't usually enabled online. The Hud kills frames.

 

 

 

The bonus is that the main map (O) in VR doesn't take up the entire screen and you can still fly using peripheral vision.

Interestingly I find it does take up the majority of the screen for me and I can't navigate by looking out the window and having to keep flicking between the map. I wish they made the O map size adjustable and movable so you could have it as a Knee board type map. A small change but would add a lot to the VR missions imho.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

If only the resolution was good enough to have a true VR knee map. That would be sick

[neofightr2]

I flash up the big map via the o key.

 

On realistic mode it's a challenge because you can't see your plane's location on the map but it is more realistic because it mimics referencing a map chart in the cockpit, something I did in real life many times. Except in my day you had radio navaids helping you find things.

 

As already stated you are better off keeping the hud (info overlays) off at all times, because it impacts performance big time.

 

Using the big map without seeing your plane is like a game challenge in of itself because you have to rely on the topography to figure out where you are at in the map, much like it would be in real life. It can be rewarding once you get good at it.

Once you do this a few times you begin to understand why there are many stories of airmen getting lost during ww2 and landing in enemy territory. 

 

I recently saw a documentary where a couple of german aircrew got lost and landed in neutral switzerland. Hitler had them executed once they were returned because their plane had top secret radar equipment onboard and was probably compromised big time by swiss spies.

Edited February 2, 2018 by neostar

[ironk79]

Just to let you guys know, the big "O" was the solution to my pronlem, thank you all for the imput!

[=X51=VC_]

Navigating by sight is great fun and very rewarding... on summer maps. On winter it's like a needle in a haystack especially on Moscow. Hint: rivers are your best friend.

[Solmyr]

Just to let you guys know, the big "O" was the solution to my pronlem, thank you all for the imput!

 

I lost this "full map" key mapping because when I changed my PC and reinstalled Il-2, I started with a clear of all key bindings in order to avoid all that mess when you press a key and 3 things happen at once.

 

The only one setting I know find related is called "Change ingame mapmode", which I set to space bar, but it swithes between "micro" and "mini" map only, never "full map". I can't find how to sort this out, could anyone kinfly help me plz ?

 

Edit : Solved : For those interested, look for "Show/Hide Mission Briefing"  

Edited February 2, 2018 by Solmyr

[dburne]

Just to let you guys know, the big "O" was the solution to my pronlem, thank you all for the imput!

 

 

 

It's a great tool.

[WithStrangeAeons]

The O key is what I primarily use as well.

 

There was a recent post in the manual section covering navigation, it could be useful now that you can see the map.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/33886-basic-multiplayer-map-reading-and-navigation/

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

If only the resolution was good enough to have a true VR knee map. That would be sick

With the latest Oculus software, that is possible and what im doing.

In TAW, when we set mission area and parameters, I cut out a piece if the map and drag it to my knee. Then anchor it, and get back into IL2.

 

You can do all this from within VR, using Oculus' dashboard.

[TG-55Panthercules]

With the latest Oculus software, that is possible and what im doing.

In TAW, when we set mission area and parameters, I cut out a piece if the map and drag it to my knee. Then anchor it, and get back into IL2.

 

You can do all this from within VR, using Oculus' dashboard.

 

I was hoping this would be possible with the new Oculus software - just haven't had enough time to play with it to find out.  

 

One big question - when you say that you "cut out a piece if the map", are you able to get a resulting map image that doesn't have any Windows borders around it (i.e., that's just map edge to edge)?  I can do that with OVRdrop, but the stuff I was reading about the new Oculus software back when it first released was making me doubt whether that would be possible.

Edited February 3, 2018 by TG-55Panthercules

[WithStrangeAeons]

I was hoping this would be possible with the new Oculus software - just haven't had enough time to play with it to find out.  

 

One big question - when you say that you "cut out a piece if the map", are you able to get a resulting map image that doesn't have any Windows borders around it (i.e., that's just map edge to edge)?  I can do that with OVRdrop, but the stuff I was reading about the new Oculus software back when it first released was making me doubt whether that would be possible.

 

It's sort of possible, I was mucking about with it just now. I have a sort of love/hate thing with Dash going at the moment. Chrome is very finicky with being plucked from the virtual desktop on its own, takes a bunch of tries. When you do get it on its own, you still have the borders and address bar and any tabs in that browser window. However, if you go borderless fullscreen (F11), it will become edge-to-edge (except for the small bar Dash puts at the bottom). I was trying it with il2missionplanner.com, and it works quite nicely in the lap. Zoom is adjustable whenever you have Dash open. Performance while doing this might take a hit depending on your system, Dash in general seems to stress things more.

[haltux]

You might just use a lightweight image viewer that can run borderless. Typically Honeyview.

[Wolfram-Harms]

You guys mentioned PWCG - is that "PatWilsonCampaignGenerator", as I know from "Rise of Flight"?

And if so:

- where can I get it from, for the use with BoS ?

- is it a good campaign you recommend?

[Boneboys]

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/99-pwcg-bos/

[dburne]

You guys mentioned PWCG - is that "PatWilsonCampaignGenerator", as I know from "Rise of Flight"?

And if so:

- where can I get it from, for the use with BoS ?

- is it a good campaign you recommend?

 

Yes, it is awesome. And yes, from Pat Wilson of ROF fame.

If you love SP action this is a must have imho for BoS!

He even has the new version now working for the Kuban map.

Awesome tool!!