PMDG 737 in VR

The most reliable way to control multi-way switches with VR controllers in MSFS is by binding “increase/decrease cockpit interaction” to something on your controller, up/down or left/right on thumbstick works nicely and actually feels a bit like the switch. There is nothing better than actually reaching up to the overhead panel to flick the switch :heart_eyes:

One thing that is slightly annoying is that we need to press trigger to activate 2 way switches, but the increase/decrease keybind for knobs and multi way switches, but this is the same for all aircraft in the sim.

With this method the knobs and switches should work with all aircraft including the 737, the only one that I had some issues with on my (brief!) test flight was the HUD brightness.

However as described in my previous post, there are problems with the larger levers:
-Yoke is not grabbable at all
-Throttle moves extremely slowly when grabbed and also just 1 throttle moves at a time, which makes it unusable
-Gear handle is not grabbable and requires multiple clicks to get to desired position (it sticks in middle position first)
-Speedbrake moves ridiculously slowly when grabbed and dragged. It is possible to instead click the detent that you would like, but this is not ideal and very difficult if sitting in FO seat.
-Flaps also are not grabbable. Again it is possible to click the detent that you would like, but very difficult if sitting in Captain seat.

The above should all be easily fixable, hopefully PMDG will do soon .

Frame rates are excellent in this bird. I hope that this will become the industy standard, and other companies will put some effort into optimizing cockpit for VR frame rates also.

But I have the following issue (don’t think it is necessarily restricted to the B737): every now and then, without any apparent reason, the mouse pointer becomes jerky, rapidly moving back and forth as if jumping back and forth between two nearby points in space. It especially often happens when trying to set/release the parking break.

Anyone have this issue.

I wouldnt really say that the PMDG B737 or MSFS are compatible with VR at all. Unless I am doing something wrong, it is not possible to interact with things by grabbing, so the VR controllers are pretty much useless. If I grab a knob, it just starts turning in a random direction. If I grab a 3 position switch, it moves to whatever direction it wants. And finally and most interesting of all, it is not possible to grab the thrust levers together, only one at time, which doesn’t make any sense. Even grabbing one at a time and trying to move, it just goes so slow that it is virtually impossible to use it like this. Same thing with the speedbrake lever. So, if you like VR, stick to Xplane 11. That is proper VR implementation. Shame that the Zibo mod is not nearly as good as the PMDG… even though its free.

Thanks for that! My exact setup.

Anyway to unlock the boundaries so you can just head into the cabin in VR like other planes sometimes allow?

I remember in FSX after a couple of years most Add-Ons especially, well quality ones would actually make the Sim run smoother & faster. Eg. GEX, REX, UTX etc.

So hearing that this model is running so well, makes me hold hope that this Sim is heading in that same direction.

Also, I am reading so many people making complaints about their performance in VR and I just want to say that I HOPE you guys are using Mbuccia’s OpenXR Toolkit as that (In my opinion) is something that is an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY in VR!

It pains me to think that maybe, some don’t know about it and they come to a negative VR performance conclusion pre-maturely. Which I hope is not the case.

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Im a VR only player, super disappointed by the lack of VR controller support in the pmdg, the only workaround is to use “pmdg interaction” type, as described in the pmdg manuals, very easy to activate, using only primary action and secondary action; but still, no grabbable VR yoke nor thurst levers, nor any other lever… it’s just a click type interaction… it works but if you have NO hotas nor yoke (like me), you are stuck on the ground for f**k sake!

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“Also, I am reading so many people making complaints about their performance in VR and I just want to say that I HOPE you guys are using Mbuccia’s OpenXR Toolkit as that (In my opinion) is something that is an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY in VR …”

Not absolute. I never use OXR Toolkit and have a good performance and visuals with my G2 + RTX3090 …

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Try Little Navmap first, it’s free / no altitudes at waypoint though, you have to correct these after loading, but that’s a minor hassle and forces you to check your waypoints in the cockpit

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Well since you are happy with your performance then I wouldn’t think that it would be something ‘absolute’ for someone in your position.

However, if someone is NOT happy with their performance in VR, then I think that it IS absolute for them to try the Toolkit, prior giving up.

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I’m a prior FSX Flyinside VR user, unfortunately the MSFS PMDG 737 is pretty tax heavy in VR so in certain cases paired with a performance tax heavy scenery/airport you’ll face the same straw that broke the camel’s back dilemma that haunted FSX/P3D. I just found out the hard way trying to run the 737 and Feelthere’s KLAX together, both being pretty hard on VR frames individually. It’s not really an enjoyable experience, unless I start dialing some settings back in VR such as TAA/supersampling slider until the frames smooth out. This is only a problem while at the terminal/taxiway with ai traffic/Aerosoft simple traffic on high. Once you take off and climb out of KLAX the frames will quickly return to normal/smooth. I expected such a combination to absolutely tank frames in VR.

Here are some other VR pairings that will do the same from my experience (I’m running some pretty high/max VR settings though) with the typical performance problematic densely packed areas you’d expect to be a little heavy on performance due to close proximity to other airports and tons of ai traffic.

BAe 146 or PMDG 737(both very performance heavy in VR) paired with airport sceneries such as

LFPG
KMIA
LFMN
KFLL
CYYZ
KDCA

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In the post 2 above yours I described the way that we can control knobs and switches, in the 737 and other aircraft in MSFS. But agreed on the speedbrake/flaps/yoke/throttle… Very surprising they didn’t include this but hopefully they can add it easily as other devs have done.

Which World Scale is the best for realistic Size??

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Could be wrong but I believe the “correct” world scale number will be different for everybody, depending on exactly how your pupils align with your headset lenses etc

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Yeah i know i need a approximately Range at the moment iam on 120 in the PMDG it feels right but i dont know i never sit in a real Cockpit of an 737

I have to use just my left eye to position the “hand” on the FMS buttons using a Reverb G2 (I7-10700, RTX 3070, 32 gb ram). Is this common? If not, what setting needs adjustment?

Thanks.

When you say that you are having a hard time turning the dials etc. Are you meaning that you are doing that with your VR Controller or Mouse pointer?

The only time I ever use my VR Controller is when I am taking pictures while flying in VR. (I can also take pictures in other methods but doing so through the VR Controller allows me to not have to pause the game.) Otherwise, my VR Controller is completely useless as there are a plethora of problems and so, using the Mouse is far more trouble free for me.

Now, what we all really want is true hand tracking where we can physically turn the dials, yokes and alot else via our God given fingers!

This is practically here already as it is being worked on every day by the same person who brought us the wonderful OpenXR Toolkit. You will need to get another device that attatches on to your VR Headset (Leap Motion - Ultra Leap).

Here is the link to the thread. In my opinion, I would take a few days and try to read as much as I can as the information is priceless as I learned so much from just reading what the Programmers amd even the users write.

Same here. Is there a setting for this?

I see some issues with VR, not performance wise as my Reverb G2 with my 3090 shows a very smooth experience.

But there are a lot of small issues, anybody else experience issues with the landing gear.

In VR I bring the gear up (no faults enabled)

Capture.PNG

looking outside shows like this:

Capture2.PNG

Then I switch off VR and shows like this:

Not nearly as good ?? Why ?