Homepage › Forums › General vorpX Discussion › A request from a n00b: A new type of virtual keyboard and control binding
- This topic has 1 reply, 1 voice, and was last updated Dec 16, 2019 4:31am by UberDemon.
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Dec 12, 2019 at 7:22am #190904UberDemonParticipant
I have been using this unique piece of software for about a week now, and am getting more and more appreciative of its features. I searched in the forums and found a few references to a “virtual keyboard” interface within vorpX but I could not find a response. So apologizing to begin with if this is a well known subject…
[If some of what I am requesting is already available, please let me know how to access these features!]
I got vorpX in the hopes it would allow me to play the classic IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 series, as well as the multitude of mods available these days. When I got it to work using a Cloud Profile, it literally brought tears to my eyes (you know… allergies). I like how the Oculus Rift S controls are able to display in the game interface, including the cockpit, but as it is a Flight Sim, even in easier settings, there are a multitude of controls, and since the game did not inherently include controls in the virtual cockpit (like mouse click), you can’t do much except use blind/braille to feel the keyboard or HOTAS joystick, or mouse.
So there are three (3) distinct capabilities I would like the developers to consider which I think would add to the value of this already great piece of software:
1) A basic VR keyboard (priority 1) with custom labeling (priority 2):
— vorpX already has a lounge, and controller display options, so it seems like adding a keyboard would be doable feature.
— it may be more resource effective to run the feature within vorpX instead of using an additional program with more bindings to the interface, if even possible
— Oculus application has a keyboard, but you must leave the game temporarily to make it work, and it does not always work as intended
— Probably best way to allow it to work is by either pointing the controllers or using the VR index fingers to click buton
— Would probably need to find a solution for 3-key combinations, like “shift+control+s”
— Would be great if there was a way to label key… maybe with a “tooltip hint.” Say for example instead of “F”, label it “Flaps Up” or maybe have a tooltip when you hover over the key that tells you what it does, depending on user custom input, like “F – Flaps Up; Ctrl+F – Manual Gear Up; Shift+F – Fire Extinguisher” etc… it would be up to the player to label these things, and there should be a way to share these settings with other users.
— possibly having a virtual mouse interface to click buttons, wheel, perhaps some alternative way to move it… sometimes in busy games it is nice to have it all there. At least the buttons and wheel scroll/clicks emulated would be useful.2) Axis Binding to VR controllers (priority 3):
— In many VR applications, the user is able to grab an object and move it around. Say for example in a virtual cockpit which has not virtual controls, as long as you can see the joystick you could move the VR controller or hand (depending on vorpX setting) to where it would be in the cockpit, although not necessary…
— The basic concept is that if I am right handed, when I squeeze the middle finger in the controller, it would automatically bind to the X-Y-Z axis, basically creating a virtual joystick… I pull control back (closer to me), trees get smaller (go up); I push control foward (away from me), trees get bigger (go down). I move it to the left, I roll to left; I move it to the right, I roll to right; I twist it counterclockwise (parallel with floor), I yawn to left, and vice versa.
— In the same thought, my left hand binding would be to the throttle… hand moves forward speed goes up, etc.
— Once you let go of the middle finger squeeze, it is analogous to hands-off, which the games will handle themselves.
— There would be a need to adapt it to left-handed players, although in the real-world you would be out of luck because no one is going to build a left-handed fighter aircraft for you
— Maybe there are other things as well, like twisting perpendicular to ground would be like rolling, or squeezing perhaps using a driving wheel3) Ability to build a VR cockpit by placing “hot zones” in the cockpit or interface:
— This again would be user defined, and not expected from vorpX team. You would build the feature.
— Let’s go back to a non-functioning 3D cockpit or interface/world. There are areas that remain the same, like the imaginary position of a button (here the user would have to use the VR Desktop to use the proper zoom level (user could customize it by guestimating)
— Say instead of using the VR Keyboard I spoke about above and pressing “Ctrl+C” to open the canopy/cockpit, I would click a hot-zone (which could have a level of transparency, or maybe glow then hovering finger/or tolltip) which is placed in an area of the cockpit.
— Although this sounds painful, hardcore flight simmers go through extensive pain to create these environments
— There would be a need to be able to customize multiple cockpit profiles in a single game, perhaps through a VR popup menu in which the user would select from, say “Generic, Bf-109, Mustang, etc” depending on what is available. These configs should also be shareable.Yep, I know this is a complex ask… but a VR keyboard overlay (with mouse buttons, and wheel), and a way to bind axis to controller movement would be a great start.
Thank you for considering my enormously complex (if not thoroughly unreasonable) suggestion.
Dec 16, 2019 at 4:31am #190952UberDemonParticipantActually, I just found out about the 4×4 virtual hot keys in vorpX… super useful, so that is 16 additional commands with your eyes, which is pretty cool…
Could you have, say, two of those interfaces encompassing more keyboard functions?
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