Mixed Reality and the HP Reverb G2

[Charl]

Played with the HP Reverb G2 over the weekend.
It’s essentially a Plug ‘n Play affair, interestingly Asobo Studios are listed in the Microsoft Mixed Reality title page! So I guess when VR comes to MSFS it might be a fairly well integrated affair.

In my instance, I used a spare USB port labelled USB 3.1
Turns out that is a big mistake, and led after some frustration to my pulling out every cable on the box and by elimination finding out USB 3.0 is what it needs.

I learned that my computer which is 4 years old:
• Intel Skylake Unlocked Core i7-6700K 4 Core 4Ghz (Max Turbo of 4.2GHz)
• Nvidia GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X, DirectX12, DVI, HDMI, Display Port
is at the bottom end of what could run VR for this headset.

AFS2 is beautiful in VR and this headset is streets ahead of the last Oculus I tried.
Instruments are crystal clear, and textures just splendid in 3D.
But for the first time ever, the fluidity that hallmarks the sim was impacted by the higher resolution of the G2.
Not enough to ruin the experience, but just slightly choppy at times.

Alas I can’t bridge the gap between the VR hands and aircraft controls and real-world input hardware.
To the extent that I used up all the mapping points on the joystick for things like flaps, gear etc. and basically hand flew everything.
I’m not sure this is something that can easily be resolved.

Some of the other software I tried was pretty buggy.
I installed 35 GB of DCS but found half the time it wanted mouse input which involved peering out with one eye while attempting to keep the plane on course.

And I can’t wait for the wireless headsets; this one has a 3m cord which is great, but I kept getting wound up in it, as the computer chair is on castors.

I’ll be interested to see what MSFS delivers for VR.
Perhaps that would be the time to shell out for a current hot games computer tuned for VR.
Then I’ll rent the Reverb or whatever is current from Graham Parker again, for a last looksee to decide.

Despite the finger trouble, I had a blast with this, unbelievable where the time went.
It just sucks you in.
Do try it.

[jpreou]

Thanks for that. Looks like I my need to wait for the next PC as mine is older than yours I think!
There's no PC for me on the horizon for a couple of years, so the waiting game is on.
Yeah, the hardware issue as well - I have a bunch of Saitek gear that would get shelved in the move to VR - like you, I just can't see a workable way to integrate the two.
Cheers

[Radar88]

AFS2 is beautiful in VR and this headset is streets ahead of the last Oculus I tried.
Instruments are crystal clear, and textures just splendid in 3D.But for the first time ever, the fluidity that hallmarks the sim was impacted by the higher resolution of the G2.
Not enough to ruin the experience, but just slightly choppy at times.

Alas I can’t bridge the gap between the VR hands and aircraft controls and real-world input hardware.
To the extent that I used up all the mapping points on the joystick for things like flaps, gear etc. and basically hand flew everything.
I’m not sure this is something that can easily be resolved.

Interesting when compared with this YT video of the HP Reverb G2 being used with X Plane Zibo B737 Night Flight with the VR Pilot YT Content Creator here he is seated wearing the Reverb G2 in the Picture within Picture which sees him using the HP Reverb G2 in conjunction using the Honeycomb Alpha Yoke real-world input hardware and a single HP Reverb G2 Handheld Controller testing the Controller tracking in a Full VR flight Test.

Watch on youtube.com

You might also like to watch this video from a few years ago using the Oculus and also the Saitek's Pro Flight Yoke real-world input hardware controls being used in VR in a Picture within Picture.

Watch on youtube.com

Must be something specific in the way that you've setup within the AFS2 settings that you might have missed.

Also you might like to check out this How To Optimize HP Reverb G2 Resolution In SteamVR has just been uploaded on the BambinoTech YT Channel, it might be of some use to compare with a similar setup using X Plane and Steam VR with his PC configuration ( i7-6700, EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2, 32GB RAM,)

Watch on youtube.com

[Charl]

Interesting clips, as ever half the story is about the story, the meat of the video is about a minute long!
I subscribe to the view that the game should be Plug 'n Play and all settings should be maxxed.
In fact "settings" has all sorts of implications, mostly to do with inferiority of one thing or another but that's another discussion.

The human/machine interface is presently a cobbled-together affair.
RW pilots have the benefit of years of feedback and design optimisation, but flightsimmers have it 3x as complicated.
In the above B737 clip:
14:55 shows how awkward it is to turn a simple knob: instead of using your hand, your hand uses a VR controller which doesn’t appear in the sim as a hand. Then you have to translate the controller into hand movements by using different hand movements from what you’d actually use.
Straight after the wireless headset, I am waiting for the Virtual Glove which would translate hand movement into the sim.

I'm really looking forward to the MSFS implementation, as it will be as close to Native MR as you get.

[SA227]

I got my headset a couple of days ago and love it. This is my first ever experience with VR.

I'm using it driving the FA18 in DCS. In-flight refuelling is now much easier

It certainly wasn't plug and play but I haven't adjusted any settings in DCS and it still looks fantastic.

[Charl]

Great to hear... tell us a bit about how you interface with the thing.
I did try DCS - just the freebie download bit - but I suspect you have to be more committed than I to make it all work.

[SA227]

I'm probably well setup, having the thrustmaster warthog throttles and joystick with the replica FA18 attachment. Also some rudder pedals

I have had to change a couple of things in my setup to move functions from the keyboard to my throttles. Other than that I have made no drastic changes.

You can setup a mouse cursor which is viewed in the headset as a dot or small crosshair and then you click the mouse to activate buttons and switches. I will have to move my mouse location as it's on the desk in front of me and I keep having to find it

I can operate the aircraft either via mouse clicks or HOTAS with no issues. Only glitch I have discovered is that the mouse cursor does occasionally not interact perfectly. Now that I think about it I may be able to use the push function on one of my hat switches as a mouse click and that would delete the requirement for the mouse completely. Something to test.

Aerial refuelling is now way easier. There is definitely a sweet spot in the views and the edges can seem out of focus when looking in the cockpit. Other thing if have found is the helmet mounted display can go out of focus slightly if I move my head too fast.

At some stage I may adjust some settings but currently it's all default and I am very happy.

[Charl]

Sounds good... Augmented HOTAS, perhaps?
How d'you do the fiddly bits, like setting heading, airspeed, flightplan stuff etc?

[SA227]

How d'you do the fiddly bits, like setting heading, airspeed, flightplan stuff etc?

That's all mouse clicks via various buttons. Which is a good point, it's left and right clicks. Now how to emulate that via HOTAS. Research required

[Radar88]

VR is here in the Update scheduled for next week NZ time Wednesday 23 December with the free VR update with the Sim Update 2

Watch on youtube.com

[Charl]

Thanks for posting!
Not too late for a massive Xmas prezzie then?

2021 looks like being the Year of the Flightsim