AH won't start in VR. Going nuts.

[DmdFiat]

So, after 15 years away from AH, I decided to get back in it, big time.

After spending top dollars on the WartThog, Meta Quest 3, and pedals, soon to arrive.
The message from Meta Quest link is NOT GOOD.
It alleges that my older laptop doesn't meet the minimum requirements, but it does (NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti or better).
Apparently, this issue is also preventing SteamVR from starting AH in VR.
I tried all kinds of combinations. Oculus, no Oculus, VR, steamVR, starting AH from Steam, form the DX11.
Nothing opens AH in VR.
It would be crazy having to buy a new laptop because of this.
Any advice??

Attached are the screenshots.

[Eagler]

I think you need a usb-c/display port on the laptop..and it has to connect to the laptops graphics card not any on-board graphics

I had to get one of these for my vive pro to connect to its usb-c port https://a.co/d/iIiYsTT

When you open just steamvr do you see the headset?

Eagler

[Wiley]

Think I see the reason for the banner.

https://www.meta.com/help/quest/140991407990979/?srsltid=AfmBOor4tfOCA0bqC28j8d358BtvckIkQGUlA4vd1cBezOeJ7HQ0XBlH

By that, 1060 desktop is min spec.  Laptop GPUs don't perform as well as desktop ones either generally speaking, so a 1060 laptop isn't the same thing as a 1060 desktop GPU.

However, unless they've changed their stuff, it should still allow you to attempt to run it.  I ran my quest 2 on a below-spec PC for a while and don't recall having to do anything special.

It needs a USB 3.0 port to run Link.  They can either be A or C.  If your laptop doesn't have one, that would likely be a show stopper.  USB 2 to 3 is an enormous difference in throughput.

If you go into Meta Quest Link and look under Devices, what's it showing for your Quest 3?  I assume you've got some kind of cable connecting it, if you click the arrow beside it and run the USB test is it happy?

The above is where I'd start.

Wiley.

[DmdFiat]

Buonasera.

First of all, thanks for the quick responses.

I must say, it's been F*#%* overwhelming, and I consider myself pretty PC-savvy. I not only had to learn for the first time about VR, Arlink, Steam, and SteamVR, (oculus being the friggin same as Meta Quest), brand new Warthog and throttle, but after 15 years, it took quite a while to navigate through the AH settings and mapping again, with the addition of the different VR versions (DX11, Stean AH).
Wow!

So, even though I DID use a quality USB 3.0 high-speed, specifically for VR sets, it was as you guys said. I'll have to get that connector to the vid card.
The device was showing in Meta but not in Steam. Don't ask me how I did it, but I found where to change the connection from cable to wifi and suddenly I had lift off! The problem is that I can't find that setting again.

It's quite a beautiful and surprising experience flying around now. Too bad the AH graphics are antiquated.

It's definitely not a clean system. You have to jump from Air-link to steam and to steamVR, then once in a while, one of these applications closes.
Christ.

My graphics card is actually 1050, yet, it worked out ok. This may explain occasional jumpy graphics and low quality imagery. Thankfully, I don't have to buy a new laptop now. I'm currently in Italy, and the choices and prices are not the same as those found at Best Buy or Costco.

Thanks again for the invaluable tips!

-----------------------------------
Now, since you guys are so nice May I ask for some more help/opinions? There are quite a few, so don't feel obligated to answer them all.

1- Once in a while, I lose the HOTAS mapping - don't know why. Luckily, I saved the config files, so I just paste them back in. I'm just curious to know what causes it.

2- The transitions/movements are not smooth. Is there a setting that can use to make up for the graphics cards' shortcomings?

3- Do the nausea and eye strain go away because of VR, eventually?

4- I used to be a very good AH fighter (it used to piss of REN quite a bit), with excellent aim. I once landed 35 kills in a Tiffy. NOW I can't hit a damn thing, and I think it's because the change to VR and not having the twisty rudder. Is it possible that VR/3D makes it more difficult?

5- Does your Air-Link shut down once in a while? Not during playing, but as I put down the headset, even for a few seconds.

6- The head positions in the cockpit. Christ, if I got frustrated. I don't know what I pressed, but I got the head position stuck outside the cockpit, to the right, and even if I found the key "home" or F5 to put it back, I still think it's not back where it is supposed to be. The gunsight seems to sit a bit too low. How do you re-center it for sure?

7- I can no longer find where I successfully changed from Cable link, to Wifi link connection for the headset (which made it visible to Steam). I tried for like 30 min inside Meta. Any ideas??

8- Last but not least, for the life of me I can't figure out how to bring back the "hands" inside the Meta headset VR environment (even by double tapping the headset to switch to mixed reality). I can only use the two left and right hand controls. Even if I put them down, the hands don't come back to do all the clicking, swiping, and dragging inside the VR environment.
Are you guys familiar with the Quest 3 and how it is done?

Once again, thanks a million.

[Wiley]

I don't have input on all of them, but will answer what I can:

1) It's a bug that's been around for a long time.  That I know of, nobody's been able to pin down how to reproduce it reliably, likely why it hasn't been fixed.  I've had it happen a few times.  My best practice is to only change mappings in the tower.  It seemed like doing it while in a vehicle/plane made the wipeout happen more often.  You've got the right idea though, take a backup when you change something then if it goes sideways you can just restore.

2) If you have reflections on, turn them off.  Beyond that, it would be a matter of systematically lowering settings.  Shadows are another big resource hog.  AH ran ok on my quest 2 with a below min spec video card, but I'd get low framerate over large fields or if things got too busy.

3)  Varies by person.  Some people never get used to it, others take to it like a duck to water.  Part of the problem might be if you're not getting good frame rate.  Choppiness can make that kind of thing worse I'm told.

4)  That's probably rust IMO.  I find gunnery a ton easier in VR than I ever did on a monitor.  Same with pedals vs twisty.  But, everybody's different.  I know people that can manhandle me and most people with a mouse or a twisty joystick.

5)  I only use cable, no idea.

6)  If you move your head and hit F10, it recenters the view wherever your head is.  Same applies if you hit one of the hat buttons to change view, so if you look back with your hat, then move your head to the side and hit F10 while holding the hat back, it will save that position for when you hold the hat in that position.  Same with all views.

7)  I do it through the headset.  If you go to the quick menu in the headset by clicking on the 3 dots by the clock iirc, there's an option to enable link.

8)  No clue, I don't use the controllers in game, only HOTAS and keyboard.

HTH,
Wiley.

[Mister Fork]

My answers below

-----------------------------------
1- Once in a while, I lose the HOTAS mapping - don't know why. Luckily, I saved the config files, so I just paste them back in. I'm just curious to know what causes it.
Yeah, like Wiley said, it happens time to time. I just exit the game and come back in and it fixes itself.

2- The transitions/movements are not smooth. Is there a setting that can use to make up for the graphics cards' shortcomings?
Turn reflections and seeing your hands off, as well as mirroring. Mirroring alone is a FPS killer on a weaker card.

3- Do the nausea and eye strain go away because of VR, eventually?
I don't experience any of those symptoms. Do you wear glasses inside your headset?

4- I used to be a very good AH fighter (it used to piss of REN quite a bit), with excellent aim. I once landed 35 kills in a Tiffy. NOW I can't hit a damn thing, and I think it's because the change to VR and not having the twisty rudder. Is it possible that VR/3D makes it more difficult?
I don't think it's more difficult in VR - you have better situational awareness. Gunnery is more challenging - I have a view setting that when I gun, I press the forward view so my head doesn't move when I shoot. Also, not having rudders kind of sucks.

5- Does your Air-Link shut down once in a while? Not during playing, but as I put down the headset, even for a few seconds.
No, I use cable and airlink - both with zero issues. May try the cable method?

6- The head positions in the cockpit. Christ, if I got frustrated. I don't know what I pressed, but I got the head position stuck outside the cockpit, to the right, and even if I found the key "home" or F5 to put it back, I still think it's not back where it is supposed to be. The gunsight seems to sit a bit too low. How do you re-center it for sure?
I've got a button on my joystick for re-centering the head position. The tracking sometimes gets a little out of center - also, that forward view for gunning really helps.
7- I can no longer find where I successfully changed from Cable link, to Wifi link connection for the headset (which made it visible to Steam). I tried for like 30 min inside Meta. Any ideas??
It's through the headset - not on the desktop. For example, once you connect via cable, the Meta app on the desktop should recognize the connection.

8- Last but not least, for the life of me I can't figure out how to bring back the "hands" inside the Meta headset VR environment (even by double tapping the headset to switch to mixed reality). I can only use the two left and right hand controls. Even if I put them down, the hands don't come back to do all the clicking, swiping, and dragging inside the VR environment.
Are you guys familiar with the Quest 3 and how it is done?
It's in the VR options inside the game under preferences (I think) - same one that has the mirroring (turn that off)

[DmdFiat]

I never thought it would take this long to get things squared away.

2-
Turn reflections and seeing your hands off, as well as mirroring. Mirroring alone is a FPS killer on a weaker card.
I changed the "Max texture size" and disabled Vsync (not sure what they meant by "frame testing only) in the Video Settings at the starting screen of AH.
It has improved the quality of the graphics in the game, particularly the text in the clipboard BUT, I still get the hourglass popping up all the time and the concurrent freezes. I can't figure out how to see what spikes the CPU usage in that moment. I have everything else turned off.
I have also noticed that the few times I press the Radio button, it does the same.
REFLECTIONS - Are you talking about a setting in Meta or Steam? I don't see that.
MIRRORING - It looks like they removed that setting in meta. There are a few instructions online on how to do it but when you get to that part of the menu, you can no longer disable it. I saw many posts online where people say it's been removed because it never caused a CPU usage increase. Weird.

3-
. Do you wear glasses inside your headset?
No but the nausea is getting better.

No, I use cable and airlink - both with zero issues. May try the cable method?
I have rudder pedals and cables/adapters coming.

Thanks.