Plan-G connectivity?

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Plan-G connectivity?

Postby frankturley » Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:40 am

I have flown FS for years now, currently using FSX and P3Dv4. I have a flying PC, and a "navigation" PC, linked over a network, the navigation PC runs Plan-G, which gives me a moving map display together with my aircraft's location and heading.

I am looking at updating my hardware, and switching from a monitor to a VR headset. My research to date tells me I need a higher powered PC and graphics card, an Oculus Rift plus controllers, and FlyInside. However, I am not sure how I can get access to my moving map monitor if I have a VR headset on. Can someone point me in the right direction please?

Thanks
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Re: Plan-G connectivity?

Postby Conceit » Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:20 am

Well, as I do not use Plan-G, I really just point you in the right direction. First, you are right with the equipment list. Oculus Rift takes quite some resources, and a neat GPU (I have an GTX1070) is a requirement, anfd generally, bigger is better here. Same for CPU and Memory. You find a lot of advice for a neat Oculus-Ready rig setup on the web.

I play FSX, and I believe P3D is somehow similar in that: You don't actually NEED the hand controllers, and I found the FlyInside experience with them very underwhealming. They're good for other games, and if you can afford them, definitely go for them, but as of yet, I don't think they really can replace a yoke or joystick. Maybe other users made other experiences, and P3D might still be different, but they didn't work well for me, at least.

When it comes to controllers, you must have some considerations in mind: You can't see your keyboard, and keyboard/mouse based flying (or gaming) isn't a good option. So, you need a nice joystick or yoke. It depends on your budget and preferences, but whatever you choose, consider that you need a lot of buttons that you can find blindly. With that in mind, my choice was an X52pro, which does a nice job after getting used to it, and has plenty of controls. I also got me the Saitek rudder peddals, but they are no requirement of course. There is a broad a variety of controller options, and you have to find out what works best for you, which is quite a job.

With Plan-G and VR, there are some options. FlyInside allows you to have custom windows as sort of "flying 3d panels" in your vr cockpit and you can freely place them. That's basically how map view, gps panel, motor panel, radio stack etc is possible in VR (I'm playing FSX, but should be similar in P3D I hope). Also, you can pause the sim by a button press and have a large desktop panel in front of you, which allows you to grab the mouse and do things on your pc without taking off the headset. This all has some restrictions: The Plan-G window must be on your PC, not on a second PC. Also, the resoultion of a VR headset is not so very high. Trying to read things that once have been full-screen windows and now are some shrunk panels in your cockpit might become uncomfortable if not impossible sometimes. Even in the large desktop panel in pause mode, reading small fonts (like in browser window) works, but is uncomfortable.

You see, using VR probably requires some re-learning and a lot of change in what you are used to, and also a big time and money invenstment. It simply won't work out of the box for most people. Let me add that I never went back to 2d-screen playing. I cannot imagine to sit in my room in front of a monitor anymore. That's simply not an option after you have flown with vr goggles.
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