In the beginning..... I built myself a new computer. Here are the basic specs. MSI B450 gaming pro carbon AC motherboard, Ryzen 7 3700X CPU, AMD Radeon RX 5700, 16 gigs corsair vengeance ram and a 750 watt power supply.
Now as far as I could tell this should have been VR ready according to oculus. Plenty of USB3 ports and processing power Ect. But alas no after spending several days hunting for the lowest price on a Rift S that I could find I pulled the trigger and in a couple days it showed up at my house during lunch break and I was so excited to get out of work that night to play with my new toy..... Oculus did the Nelson laugh from the Simpsons "HA ha" at me when I plugged the thing in and had to begin a 3 hour long download of the software ending at 9:30 that night GRRRRR. For what these things cost you would think they could include a disk for install...
But ok I wait and fiddle with other things around the house until, finally its downloaded and I start the install.. Only to have it get stuck checking the sensors. Over and over and over. I messed with it till midnight trying all my USB ports and looking up possible fixes and finally have to give up on it till the next day after work.
After making sure everything was up to date driver wise I finally ran into town and spent another $50 on a USB 3 hub with its own power supply and poof it worked fine... Guessing the Rift S has super tight tolerances on power usage or something.. Something Oculus should have figured out before selling this thing because I'm far from the only one to have this problem.
Other than that I feel I can recommend this headset. It works great once you get it working lol. The main reason I bought it was so I wouldn't have to mess with external sensors and it hasn't disapointed. Tracking has been excellent other than occasionally when I take it off to set head position or type something. That being said I would say the Voice attack software is a must for anyone thinking about getting into VR especially on a game like Aces High where you need to change gun positions in a bomber and so on.
Upon jumping into game I just had to sit and stare around the tower for a bit and enjoy the 3D and I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I dropped one of my new shiny controllers on the floor when I tried to put it down on the counter top not making the connection that the counter wasn't real lol
Pro's: The planes look amazing and VR really gives you the feel for how large they actually are while at the same time giving you the feel for how cramped the cockpits really are. Something you just don't get from the monitor. It's totally different to look out the side and see a large wing and engine out there. I guess a massive change in depth would be the best way to describe it. Things passing under you really FEEL like they are down there as you peak over the side of your plane when flying over a bomber or what not and it feels like you are at altitude so if you have a problem with heights (I would hope not because you are playing a flight game) I wouldn't recommend VR. At one point I actually felt slightly dizzy when looking down until I got control over myself, and I have no problem with heights at all.
I've also noticed that I seem to be able to see GV's better. Possibly a lil more 3D or something because they seem to stand out and look more like an actual object moving along the ground not to mention being able to just turn your head to track their position though my dive bombing seems to be a bit hit and miss but I think that is more partially due to learning where to have my head when I line up to drop. It's taking some practice as I'm not used to being able to move my head off the sight.
Gunnery may be better in fighters. I seem to be able to take quick shots and at least get a few pings in a merge more than I used to again possibly due to the better 3D?? Maybe I'm feeling more like I'm one with the plane so to speak or something. Bombing is interesting in that you actually have to look down at your lap to look through the bomb sight. I can only imagine what I must look like when I'm flying in VR lol.
Cons: First off there is the usual possibility of motion sickness. I've never had motion sickness before and figured I wouldn't have a problem with VR but I have experienced slight instances when doing quick maneuvers and I'll feel slightly dizzy or queasy especially if I'm looking out the side at the ground. I get the feeling that this is mainly due to your eyes telling you that you are moving violently but your body saying no you're not and I usually manage to power through those moments by actually thinking about it and getting control over myself again. It probably doesn't help that I have some form of stomach flue at the moment and don't feel great to begin with stomach wise so I may be less affected once I shake this bug.
I have had a lil bit of a problem getting all the widows (chat, damage, Ect.) positioned in places that don't feel like they are in the way. This is especially problematic for the text buffer because I want it in a place where I see it easily so I know when people are talking to me or important info pops up but yet not have it in a place that blocks instrumentation or views. I think I finally have it in a place that works but still find I'm not able to keep half an eye on it as much like I did on a flat screen where you could just stick it in the corner or what ever.
And now for the worst problem and it's one that is almost game breaking depending on your favorite plane. In planes that have small sight glasses, mainly Japanese aircraft (have not flown any German ones) and some bomber guns the sights come out double no matter what I do and that has actually made me feel more sick to my stomach than the motion. Feels like you are flying with crossed eyes the entire time. Or like you are to close to the sight and are unable to back away far enough to see through it right. So far all the american planes I have flown have been near perfect with their bigger sight glasses. As others have posted the A6M5B is one of the worst and that really sucks because that was one of my favorite rides along with the KI61. I have not tried all planes or GV's. I thought at first it was Due to the Rift S having software based IPD adjustments and maybe it wasn't working with my eyes but everything else looks fine and again I'm not the only one with this issue soooo.
HiTech if you're reading this I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on why the smaller sight glasses are doing this in VR and if it's something that could be adjusted some how..?? Though I am thinking it might be your obvious bias toward American rides as so many seem to think in game and on the boards over the years lol
(and no I don't actually think that).
I am thinking about jumping into photoshop and seeing if I can come up with a sight that might merge the two together since they usually tend to overlap some I think. Possibly chop the sides off and make one big fat sight somehow.
I'll have to check and see if the place they merge at is still where the guns converge.
Anyway that's most of what I've discovered on my first day of VR and I hope this helps others thinking of jumping into VR and I'll try to update this if I find any other issues or fixes.
Quick Edit I just now found that the JPtype 4 sight seems to work ok in the A6m though it is to large to fit on the sight glass. Don't know why some sights work on it others don't as of yet....