VR. Starting from scratch

[Blitzen]

I'm writing this on behalf of a friend who wants to dive into VR because of the upcoming B-17 VR sims from Microprose & CloD. He is a complete newbie and would be starting from basically scratch and at a reasonable ( read low to moderate price- I guess that could include PC's , joysticks ( gee -with a B-17 maybe a control yoke?) ,foot pedals, and VR gear found on Ebay ?)So nothing top of the line, but stuff that would play the various sims at good resolution and fairly smooth FPS, say at least 30-40.

I'd like to simplay hand off the information I get from the experts here and hand it over to him ,so he can decide if he has the budget to do so.

Thanks!

[Argosafe]

Probably a Rift S headset, maybe a Quest 2.  Depends on what PC he or she has really.  Ebay sells some good stuff, maybe a joystick rather than a yoke for IL2.  Secondhand Saitek products are good.  Rudder pedals, I would say yes, but yaw can be automated if budget is low. I wouldn't go mad on expensive vr headset - the issues faced with less expensive ones are enough to start with, just read these forums! 

[Blitzen]

What do you guys think are basic requirements for his PC and graphics card?

BTW I swear by the ReverbG2- I only wish it was cordless.

[[CPT]Bligh]

I have no idea what the requirements will be like for those games you mention, but IMO there is nothing low or moderate budget about flight sims and especially sims in VR.  You're just setting up for a poor experience if that is the mindset going in with BoX and DCS as a baseline.

 

30-40 FPS is in no way smooth to me.

 

I think you really need to establish the budget first for anyone to be able to make any specific recommendations.

 

 

[dgiatr]

On 11/17/2023 at 6:18 PM, Blitzen said:

I'm writing this on behalf of a friend who wants to dive into VR because of the upcoming B-17 VR sims from Microprose & CloD. He is a complete newbie and would be starting from basically scratch and at a reasonable ( read low to moderate price- I guess that could include PC's , joysticks ( gee -with a B-17 maybe a control yoke?) ,foot pedals, and VR gear found on Ebay ?)So nothing top of the line, but stuff that would play the various sims at good resolution and fairly smooth FPS, say at least 30-40.

I'd like to simplay hand off the information I get from the experts here and hand it over to him ,so he can decide if he has the budget to do so.

Thanks!

It has to do a lot with those sims game engines and their requirements as far as resources are needed. For il2 sturmovik for example since its a single core game engine( most of the game load happens in a single core each time) you have to own a decent cpu with good single core performance. When i had rtx 3060 ti with i5 15600 intel ( if i remember correctly) , i had a decent performane most of the time about 60-80 fps at relatively low traffic scenes at about 2600×2600 resolution in open xr and with hp g2 reverb headset. If you are not a maniac for eye candy scenes you will not see a big difference going for higher resolutions, of course its better but not so much that justifies the higher cost if your purpose is a low to medium budjet rig. On the contrary if you play most of your time in multiplayer servers the you have to play in relatively low resolutions to be competitive ( low resolution makes bigger dots for easier spotting but worse identification , its a trade off)..

My two cents...

So a rtx 3060 ti , with g2 headset and a better single core performance cpu than my old  i5 15600 makes a low budget rig for vr which is decent for il2 , i cannot say for sure if its ok for the other sims you mentioned thought.. 

[Dagwoodyt]

On 11/17/2023 at 8:18 AM, Blitzen said:

I'm writing this on behalf of a friend who wants to dive into VR because of the upcoming B-17 VR sims from Microprose & CloD. He is a complete newbie and would be starting from basically scratch and at a reasonable ( read low to moderate price- I guess that could include PC's , joysticks ( gee -with a B-17 maybe a control yoke?) ,foot pedals, and VR gear found on Ebay ?)So nothing top of the line, but stuff that would play the various sims at good resolution and fairly smooth FPS, say at least 30-40.

I'd like to simplay hand off the information I get from the experts here and hand it over to him ,so he can decide if he has the budget to do so.

Thanks!

Who would be responsible for getting such a cobbled-together system to function to the user's satisfaction?

[DBCOOPER011]

On 11/17/2023 at 8:18 AM, Blitzen said:

I'm writing this on behalf of a friend who wants to dive into VR because of the upcoming B-17 VR sims from Microprose & CloD. He is a complete newbie and would be starting from basically scratch and at a reasonable ( read low to moderate price- I guess that could include PC's , joysticks ( gee -with a B-17 maybe a control yoke?) ,foot pedals, and VR gear found on Ebay ?)So nothing top of the line, but stuff that would play the various sims at good resolution and fairly smooth FPS, say at least 30-40.

I'd like to simplay hand off the information I get from the experts here and hand it over to him ,so he can decide if he has the budget to do so.

Thanks!

 

 

A quick search of pcpartpicker looks like he could build a new PC with an AMD 7600-CPU, 4070-GPU, B650-Motherboard, 32GB DDR5, Case/PSU etc.. for a little over 1000 USD. You might be able to find an equivalent PC used for a couple hundred less..

 

I've seen used Quest-2's and HP Reverb G2's going for around 150 USD somewhat regularly. A cheap HOTA's setup for maybe 100 USD used...

 

[354thFG_Drewm3i-VR]

A proper VR setup isn't cheap or easy, but once you have one, there's no going back.

 

I personally think the minimum for a decent experience online are what I have. Keep in mind, CLoD VR is a lot more demanding. Single player in VR in GB is also a lot more demanding. Who knows what the new title will be like performance wise. GB remains the gold standard, but DCS is catching up.

 

Ryzen 5800X3D (Started with a 5600X and it was not nearly enough for online)

Patriot Viper 32 GB 4X8 DDR4 RAM running 3800/1900 MHZ with around CL16-20 timings

RTX 3080 FE

Quality 750-850W PSU

And a decent ASUS TUF Gaming B550 motherboard to run it all with WIFI 6 built in

 

This runs a Reverb G2 at native resolution through open composite (not compatible with CLoD) and IL-2 GB on mostly high settings with reprojection forced on all the time which keeps it mostly smooth and stable without frame drops.

 

I also have a VKB NXT Gladiator stick, WW2 HOTAS, and their all-metal rudder pedals. In VR, a good HOTAS is a must as you cannot see/feel the keyboard very well.

 

I plan to upgrade my system again at some point in the next year or two, probably getting a 5080 at some point when it is in the ~$1,200-$1,000 range.

 

Note: my personal opinion is that I would not build a system for CLoD VR. GB and DCS, yes.

Edited November 19, 2023 by drewm3i-VR

[giftgruen]

I had quite a lot of fun with playing IL2 in VR already with a 3070 video card and a Thrustmaster T16000m HOTAS without rudder pedals.

 

YES. This is a beginners setup.

YES. I upgraded GC to 4080 and HOTAS also to VKB NXT + WW2 + Pedals ( great devices! )

YES. I also changed my VR device ( from G2 to Questpro, which imho is far superior in 'beautyful' picture for single player - maybe not for spotting )

 

Sure, the experience is better with my newer setup.

But this does not mean that I did not have fun with the old one.