KnobFS BETA build

[Malaromane]

I would be interested in an unbiased review of the RG2 if you get time. Be as critical as you can be - good and bad.

Honestly, I'm so new to VR that I'm not sure that my review would be worth the time it takes to read it. What I can say is that initial setup of the Reverb G2 was relatively simple and painless. But tweaking my settings to get the best performance out of my flight sim is an exercise in madness and confusion. Do I tweak a setting in MSFS or do I tweak a setting in OpenXR Tools or do I tweak a setting in XR Toolkit? To this newb, it's all still very overwhelming. But I don't think that this is a problem that is unique to the Reverb G2. I suspect that this is true for all VR headsets to some extent.

I will say that the image I see in the headset is quite good with little to no screen door effect and decent resolution. Unfortunately, my current gaming machine (a Core i7 8700K w/an RTX2080) is only considered a "mid-range" PC for VR at best so I have to really dial down the settings in order to get consistent framerates. But even at these lowered settings, I can see the potential of what this headset will be able to do once I build a new machine to run it.

[Ralph]

Those keystrokes would have to come from MSFS, but I'm not sure if it is possible to add custom events to their keyboard configuration. I'm afraid not. We can check it out.

You don't have to open and close it. The idea is that you place the window somewhere in your cockpit, on your yoke for example, or the passenger seat. Then you can look at it when necessary.

[Malaromane]

<snip>
You don't have to open and close it. The idea is that you place the window somewhere in your cockpit, on your yoke for example, or the passenger seat. Then you can look at it when necessary.

Understood. That's what I ended up doing (putting it down in front of the passenger seat). But my co-pilot gets a little irked with me constantly looking down at her crotch so perhaps I should find a different spot for it.

[jph]

<snip>
You don't have to open and close it. The idea is that you place the window somewhere in your cockpit, on your yoke for example, or the passenger seat. Then you can look at it when necessary.

Understood. That's what I ended up doing (putting it down in front of the passenger seat). But my co-pilot gets a little irked with me constantly looking down at her crotch so perhaps I should find a different spot for it.

When Ralph said

You don't have to open and close it

I am not sure which bit of the copilot is being referred to now )

[AJZip8]

Excellent!

Really pleased with this. I got the Knobster to use on X-plane shortly before MSFS VR came out and have generally used MSFS since so have never really used the Knobster properly...until now. Works really well for all of the stock MSFS aircraft I've tried so far and for most of the standard commands for a number of 3rd party aircraft too.

Thanks to the developers - great step forward

[Malaromane]

Excellent!

Really pleased with this. I got the Knobster to use on X-plane shortly before MSFS VR came out and have generally used MSFS since so have never really used the Knobster properly...until now. Works really well for all of the stock MSFS aircraft I've tried so far and for most of the standard commands for a number of 3rd party aircraft too.

Thanks to the developers - great step forward

Agreed. My main issue now is that I need to mount my Knobster in a spot that's a little more convenient when I have my VR headset on. But that's a personal problem.

[AJZip8]

Agreed. My main issue now is that I need to mount my Knobster in a spot that's a little more convenient when I have my VR headset on. But that's a personal problem.

Yes indeed. I had a think about it on my rig and then remembered the screws that are fitted on the top of my Honeycomb Bravo quadrant for fitting other Honeycomb units to.

Ahah! And a hardware store bracket later:



But - I hear you say - the Honeycomb already has that bank of buttons and a rotary knob to do the same thing! So why do you need a Knobster?

Well...not for VR. The Honeycomb buttons and knobs are a great addition for 2D but pretty much unusable for VR because you don't know which parameter is being set or which button you are physically pressing. The Knobster, on the other hand, with the VR pop up is just the ticket!

[Malaromane]

Yes indeed. I had a think about it on my rig and then remembered the screws that are fitted on the top of my Honeycomb Bravo quadrant for fitting other Honeycomb units to.

Ahah! And a hardware store bracket later:
<snip>

That's a great solution. I'd steal the idea but alas, I have my Bravo mounted to the underside of my desk so I'll have to come up with something else.

But - I hear you say - the Honeycomb already has that bank of buttons and a rotary knob to do the same thing! So why do you need a Knobster?

Well...not for VR. The Honeycomb buttons and knobs are a great addition for 2D but pretty much unusable for VR because you don't know which parameter is being set or which button you are physically pressing. The Knobster, on the other hand, with the VR pop up is just the ticket!

After a weekend of flying in VR, I've gotten pretty good at using the Bravo's buttons and dials based simply in feel. It's not completely natural yet, but I'm getting there. That let's me limit the Knobster to controlling items that aren't already mapped to my Bravo which, in turn, keeps the list of controls on the KnobFS small.

Once I get really comfortable with the Bravo, I'm going to reintroduce my X-Touch Mini to the mix. I've got some custom 3D printed knob caps that I'm going to replace the stock knobs with that will make each knob easier to identify by touch as each one has a different shape to it.

But back to KnobFS: so far, I have no major complaints with the software. It just works. I'd still like the ability to collapse/expand the window without having to reach for the mouse but if that's the biggest complaint I can come up with for this utility, then it's a homerun in my books.

[AJZip8]

After a weekend of flying in VR, I've gotten pretty good at using the Bravo's buttons and dials based simply in feel. It's not completely natural yet, but I'm getting there. That let's me limit the Knobster to controlling items that aren't already mapped to my Bravo which, in turn, keeps the list of controls on the KnobFS small.

Once I get really comfortable with the Bravo, I'm going to reintroduce my X-Touch Mini to the mix. I've got some custom 3D printed knob caps that I'm going to replace the stock knobs with that will make each knob easier to identify by touch as each one has a different shape to it.

But back to KnobFS: so far, I have no major complaints with the software. It just works. I'd still like the ability to collapse/expand the window without having to reach for the mouse but if that's the biggest complaint I can come up with for this utility, then it's a homerun in my books.

Some good logic there, especially limiting the number of items on the list. And, with some on the Knobster, then there may be few enough for me to be able to use the Bravo for, say, the Alt - then I just have the left knob set to Alt and adjust it with the right one. Hmmmm....got me thinking.

Thanks for the inspiration!

BTW Just had quite the most immersive VR flight yet from EGNX to EGBB in the stock Cessna 175 G1000 with live air and ground traffic, using the fabulous FSLTL freebie, the KnobsterFS, Live Weather with a modest set of FSRealistic effects in there. Short flight, sideslip landing due to the crosswind, pockets of turbulence on the way down, landed, parked up and then just watched Easyjet/Ryanair/Air Lingus/Loganair landing, taxiing and taking off. There was no more than 3 minutes difference from what I was seeing in MSFS in full VR and the Flightradar24 live feed from EGBB. Fabulous

[Malaromane]

BTW Just had quite the most immersive VR flight yet from EGNX to EGBB in the stock Cessna 175 G1000 with live air and ground traffic, using the fabulous FSLTL freebie, the KnobsterFS, Live Weather with a modest set of FSRealistic effects in there. Short flight, sideslip landing due to the crosswind, pockets of turbulence on the way down, landed, parked up and then just watched Easyjet/Ryanair/Air Lingus/Loganair landing, taxiing and taking off. There was no more than 3 minutes difference from what I was seeing in MSFS in full VR and the Flightradar24 live feed from EGBB. Fabulous

That sounds excellent. I know that this is a thread to talk about KnobFS but if you felt like taking a brief minute to talk about it, I'd be interested in your opinion on FSRealistic and how well it works in VR. The added sound effects seem reasonable but do you use the camera effects when you're flying in VR as well?