I’m baffled by the lack of support for VR controllers. While yes most will be using yokes, joysticks etc. having to use the mouse for navigating around not just the cockpit to hit switches but to interact with the menus is a bit cumbersome. I found myself trying to hit the “sweet spot” with the mouse cursor to interact with the in game menu bar where as if VR controllers were supported it would be so much easier to interact with everything.
I’m glad VR is here no doubt, but I wouldn’t have complained either if they took extra time to work on supporting VR controllers for a better experience. Being able to actually flip a switch or grab a lever and move it using a VR controller would have been a lot better than having to mouse around and while doing so having a giant mouse cursor in your view.
I’m baffled as well. What we have now is half-VR. Still much better than none, of course, but it’s kind of amazing that Asobo and MS have a worse VR implementation than the other otherwise outdated flight sims. I’m sure there will be massive pressure to add controller support, as evidenced by this post and others, so hopefully this will be addressed shortly.
I am absolutely with you. Going hand of stick or horn is okay, but working with the mouse as a VR cursor is not. And … just to mention that … we need a left mouse button AND right mouse button functionality with the controllers, as DCS implemented it recently
What is really needed is decent hand tracking technology that allows you to flip the switches and turn knobs without grabbing a separate controller. However, I’ve tried Leapmotion in X-Plane, and it is clunky at best.
I’m afraid this topic in all is something that will never be without trade-offs when it compared to non-VR flying with tactile controllers with physical knobs and buttons. I like my home sim panel setup so much, that VR feels like a gimmick more than an experience enhancing feature.
Some of the Alpha and Beta tests should have pointed the Devs toward Xplane. There VR is far superior. You can click and toggle anything that functions in the cockpit. Including grabbing the yoke and flying that way if you want (doesn’t work half bad actually). This is NOT what I expected from Asobo and Microsoft. It seems slipshod and rushed. Its like they did a half baked job on everything but the headsets they want you to buy to force that decision. Yes, I’m salty…this is a horrible implementation of VR.
I believe they will add motion controller support down the line. I’ve used them in X-plane AeroFSFly2 and Flyinside. They are very cool and add greatly to the immersion. But, I always go back to using the mouse because I have a yoke and throttle with rudder pedals. Trying to manipulate things in the cockpit is not practical for I kept bumping my controllers on my flight equipment. I even hit my monitor a few times.
If you are going to fly with touch controllers only, then there is no issues. But if you will be using your own flight gear, the mouse is the best way to go, imo.
I hate to be the guy, but my first impression was actually that it’s one of the better mouse-in-VR implementations I have seen so far. For me, using the VR controllers (in other sims) was always a bit gimmicky, something I would try for one flight, before I would go back to my physical controls. But I do have a lot of them – yoke, HOTAS, custom throttle quadrant w/ rotary encoders, rudder pedals – and I understand the grievances of people who expected to be able to use their VR controllers as their main input devices.
you’re talking about a desktop setup with monitor etc in front of you and constraints on where your hands go. Most VR users have a stationairy separate setup that puts the throttle quadrant, yoke, rudders, switch panels all in a place they need to be for a virtual cockpit so their hands dont’ bump in to things. In an pit like that there’s no “mouse” option. it’s designed for full immersion. The problem I have with the mouse only crew right now is they are telling us we should just use a mouse and get over it, “in their opinion”. If the tables were turned and it was only controller support instead of mouse there’d be people on here complaining about no mouse option. Let us have our say instead of justifying why we need or should use a mouse.
What I love about simulations are that we can use them the way that we see fit. When touch control is implemented, use it to its fullest! I am sure Asobo is listening and I want them to add them. The more controllers available to the sim the better! Reading this short thread, I see no enemies here. Cheers.
You missed an entire thread in another topic on this same subject where the mouse crew was trying to tell us it is in our best interest to use a mouse. If I sound harsh, that is why.
Adding proper, not-rushed support for tracked controllers is an immense undertaking. I am actually quite satisfied with how well the mouse cursor works in VR (it’s actually way better than using the mouse not in VR), so I believe it was a good choice to initially release VR support without tracked controllers YET. However, it is very important that they do eventually add good tracked controller support to make it possible to interact with every switch, lever, knob, and yoke on the aircraft for VR support to be complete. And having just experienced the VR version of MSFS, I believe this is absolutely the only way the game can be really played and experienced that even slightly approximates the real experience of flight. A flat screen just will never cut it. So please, Asobo, bring us tracked controllers and spend the necessary amount of time to do it right.
I doubt that this is true for the majority of VR users, even amongst dedicated flight simmers. Most users have to manage their restricted space and don’t commit to a single aircraft they can fly with a fixed setup. All the power to cockpit builders, but they are not “most users”.
I’m privileged because I moved since I started using VR in 2016, I picked an appartment with a large enough room for my office space, a racing seat and a reasonable area for “standing experiences” (before the cat moved in, I could play Beat Saber without hitting anything, now she has claimed the area).
I have a separate seat with a yoke mounted to a desk and no monitors (which I haven’t used since August, 18th, for some reason, but even there I would not use VR controllers because I would hit the desk or the yoke when reaching for switches and it wasn’t practical to use the yoke (or throttle quadrant) with clunky controllers strapped to my hands, my experience being limited to the controllers for the Oculus Rift CV1 and the Valve Index.
Anyway, as I said, I understand that people want to be able to use their controllers. It’s a shame that Asobo doesn’t support that from day one. I’m lucky because what they provided fits my profile. Had they launched VR only with controller support and without VR mouse, I would be the one complaining. Been there, done that (X-Plane’s first VR releases used a control method that didn’t work with my custom setup).
On the contrary, I want all the input methods to work. I also want to be able to assign physical controls to all the buttons and switches and whatever in all the cockpits, both within the sim “Controls” settings and via SimConnect, so I can assign them using FSUIPC to make my physical switches work.
I’m for having both mouse and controller support, not against that in any way, shape or form and sometimes it is easier to grab the mouse when you’ve got one hand on the yoke and need to fiddle with something. What gets me is the mouse and the interaction with the UI, also when you look up and scroll to something you get a giant mouse cursor in your face until it realizes you’re looking in a different direction and adjusts. I’m sure all this will be tweak and fixed, I hope so anyways.
I was just a bit surprised by the lack of support for VR controllers, mainly when you’re in the UI because I don’t know what they did but they seem to try and get the mouse to be in a 3D environment while still technically being in 2D and it just feels off and I find some of the menus especially the top bar hard to navigate around if the mouse isn’t tracking right in the “3D” environment.
Then we need Asobo to stop releasing half complete enhancements like VR, which is clearly a mess judging by the forum, and start working on things that don’t work. Vr is great but if it gives me a worse performance than what i already had you (Asobo) just drives me right back to what works and away from their platform.
I’ve only done one flight so far with the default settings (I only adjusted the glass refresh rate back to high, because MAH IMMERSHUN), and my experience was okay-ish.
I don’t like how the sim window now stays on top when I try to tab to another window, I have to put it in windowed mode first (this also messes with loading flight plans in the world map). Visual quality was kinda poor at 0.8 “sub”-sampling, but the performance was flawless.
I spent many days tuning the performance in the other sims (and still had to stay away from large population centers), I feel it will be the same with MFS.
I’m glad they released what they had. Maybe it helps to keep people at home flying instead of visiting remote family and spreading the 'rona.
(Yeah, this is off-topic, but it still keeps the thread on top of the list and adds to the post counter, so this is good for you, right?)
Having used motion controls in X-Plane, I’m not quite as baffled that Asobo has, for now, passed on them.
Using motion controls for joystick and throttle is a total gimmick, at best. Using them to manipulate buttons and switches is far more practical, but in many cases still not as quick or accurate as using the mouse/scroll-wheel. I’d say my time using motion controls vs mouse in X-Plane is probably 75/25, in favor of the mouse; definitely not worth holding up all of VR.
I’m good with the mouse as I have found it to be not too terrible, but I too think they should eventually have a controller option. Then you can choose which one you like better.
I chuckled at hearing people talk about hitting the controllers on the yoke and monitor in X-Plane. I’ve done that myself, but I ended up just using the laser pointer option and that solved the problem for me. I liked being able to set my controller in my lap and grabbing it to tune a radio or flip a switch when needed. I use a physical yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals. I’ve got a lot of physical switches set to things and muscle memory helps me find them quickly.
Regarding the VR in general, if you play around long enough, you can tweak it to give a good balance of performance vs. quality. For those with the Rift S I just posted a long message in that thread with my settings. I get a good framerate and the scenery still looks pretty nice. I’d still take VR over pancake any day. Being able to quickly look around and scan my instruments like in a real plane is amazing. Along with better judgement of distances while landing.
Start a thread that says why you want mouse only then.