I’ve been flying with MSFS 2020 now for a little over a year. Seeking some additional smoothness I set up OpenComposite with standard (non-Steam) Mixed Reality and OpenComposite, which did help in congested areas, and I’ve been flying like this for several months. However, I recently decided - after purchasing the PMDG 738 - to look into getting back into online flying (specifically on VATSIM). This, however, posed a problem.
I naturally need to bring some windows into the cockpit to be able to do this. I already own FSKneeboard (which is an awesome product), but it doesn’t allow me to bring in the VATSIM window itself so I can see the controllers and respond if I’m pinged (by flying into a controlled space from an uncontrolled space). Sadly - there’s no real way to do this in Mixed Reality / OpenXR… or at least I’ve not found a way, as every time I try to pin a window into the cockpit it crashes the sim. The only other way to do this is to purchase FSDesktop, which I’ve considered, but I’d rather not have to spend yet more money when SteamVR does this perfectly already by bringing a desktop window into the sim.
The problem for me though is that I cannot get MSFS 2020 to run in VR in SteamVR anymore. Every time I enable VR in the sim, it closes SteamVR and runs it through OpenComposite - even when I have OpenComposite set to run with SteamVR as the default. I’ve tried starting MSFS inside SteamVR Home and then enabling VR, but it again immediately turns SteamVR off when I do so.
So, is there a simple way of forcing MSFS 2020 to run in VR though SteamVR that I’ve missed?
What headset are you using?
If you would prefer to stick with OXR without StemVR:
For Reverb G2 you can bring the entire desktop to VR using native WMR Desktop function.
For the other headsets (and G2 as well) you can buy All In One Tablet from Flightsimulator.me and use VNC function - it allows you controlling and seeing the desktop of another PC. If you want vPilot on this other PC you can use vPilot in remote mode.
If you don’t actually need to see the desktop in VR, but you only need to interact with Vatsim world you can use VSR Toolbar app.
I would not recommend FSDesktop, it’s stuck at early development stage with very limited mouse control options (no right click, no drag). Far from the maturity of FSKneeboard from the same developer.
Right - my apologies - forgot to add I’m using an HP G2.
I only need to be able to see the VATSIM app / window. I’ve looked at VSR, but, again, I’d need to bring that window into the VR instance somehow. The issue I have with the native WMR Desktop function is that when I try to use that it either kills / CTD’s MSFS, or the framerates drop so badly it’s a slideshow until I close it.
I have looked at All In One - but, again, I’d rather not spend more money if I can do this without having to do so.
I’d prefer to stick with OpenComposite and OpenXR, but in testing with SteamVR in other games it’s native Desktop function works perfectly and smoothly, so that’s why I’m looking to see about switching back to it.
… I didn’t even realize that. I was so focused on “getting a window into VR” that I guess I completely glossed over that VSR would just open inside the VR instance.
That pretty much solves my problem without the need to return to SteamVR - thanks a lot!
I can second the recommendation for VSR! Have been using it since it was in pre-release status… and it is a total game-changer. Honestly, I don’t think I could fly VATSIM in VR without it…
I know you don’t want to spend money on add-ons, but that all-in-one tablet is also a game changer… VSR integrates with it, as does Navigraph… so you don’t need to have more than the one VR window open (the tablet)… it also has a writing canvas so you can copy your clearances and a good landing rate calculator. It has other features I don’t use, as well. It is resizable, too… so it’s great for airliners or if you fly GA on VATSIM also (like I do) you can make it smaller to fit the smaller cockpits of GA aircraft. Again, I know you said you didn’t want to spend money, but I think it is worth every penny I paid for it. Truly transforms the VR / VATSIM experience.
Here’s a vid I did a while back showcasing these tools in VR (sorry about the click-bait-y title :
No no no no no, please y’all remove the term OpenComposite from your vocabulary. Your game IS NOT using OpenComposite, MSFS is a native OpenXR game, it has NO WAY of using OpenComposite. And just the idea of trying to use OpenComposite with a native OpenXR game is completely absurd.
What happened is that you switched your system to use WMR instead of SteamVR as your OpenXR runtime. This is why SteamVR exits. This is 100% unrelated and different from OpenComposite.
If you want to have reasonable frame rates with native WMR desktop (I mean desktop, not the individual app windows, I never managed to keep the individual app windows in VR stable) you can attach old monitor, set small resolution on it (1280x720) and bring this desktop to VR (see the small switch on the lower left corner of the “bring to VR window” to disable automatic monitor selection for VR). But it will still have some hit on FPS.
If you need only VATSIM - VSR is probably the best.
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