PointCTRL - Finger Mounted VR Controller

22 minutes ago, DirtyMike0330 said:

It doesn't feel weird not having the "feel" of pushing a button in the cockpit anymore? I'm trying to imagine how going from MFDs and button boxes to using this would work. Honestly, I would mostly use it for the Apache and maybe some random modules, since my current setup is really accurate for the Hornet in terms of MFDs and button boxes. 

Personally I won't sell my mfds and winwing panel; I seriously considered that before the unit arrived, but after several months of usage, I keep everything so I take advantage of the best of both worlds.

I'm loving it so far!

I have to keep reminding myself that I don't necessarily have to find a binding for EVERYTHING in the cockpit to HOTAS now.

I am thinking though that I may need to make a dummy surface for the Apache KU ... my left hand ain't as steady as it used to be.

I didn’t have time to fly it in VR yesterday, only time to set up control axes and cyclic bindings. I’ll have to get the rest going over the weekend.

I also had to spend a few hours figuring out mounting the Virpil collective.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

7 hours ago, DirtyMike0330 said:

It doesn't feel weird not having the "feel" of pushing a button in the cockpit anymore? I'm trying to imagine how going from MFDs and button boxes to using this would work. Honestly, I would mostly use it for the Apache and maybe some random modules, since my current setup is really accurate for the Hornet in terms of MFDs and button boxes. 

Well I never used button boxes or MFD's myself, only buttons on my HOTAS and mouse.  Loving Point Control. I am pushing buttons on the FCU's so it really gives me more immersion over buttons on my HOTAS or Mouse, I have my finger hovering over the button and I press it by pressing the button on the FCU. For me that is about as close as it gets to actually manipulating the switch in the cockpit.

In other news I was pleased to see my calibration I had for using it with the Hornet is working great as well for the Apache. 

3 minutes ago, dburne said:

 

Well I never used button boxes or MFD's myself, only buttons on my HOTAS and mouse.  Loving Point Control. I am pushing buttons on the FCU's so it really gives me more immersion over buttons on my HOTAS or Mouse, I have my finger hovering over the button and I press it by pressing the button on the FCU. For me that is about as close as it gets to actually manipulating the switch in the cockpit.

In other news I was pleased to see my calibration I had for using it with the Hornet is working great as well for the Apache. 

 

I'm convinced to try it and put a pre-order in 

14 hours ago, DirtyMike0330 said:

I'm convinced to try it and put a pre-order in 

Going to be a wait but it is so worth it.

Hi All, I have my new pointctrl , and it seems to be working. now just trying to get it dialed in... but one thing is bugging me the blue cursor is still there all the time. I have set the LED Time Out to 5 seconds ... 

What seems to happen is that the cursor moves to the top left corner of the screen at 5 seconds and then if i move my head it moves into the field of view ... anyone else having this ? 

I typically run in full screen mode?

N.b. for clarity the cursor would always vanish previously 

1 hour ago, speed-of-heat said:

Hi All, I have my new pointctrl , and it seems to be working. now just trying to get it dialed in... but one thing is bugging me the blue cursor is still there all the time. I have set the LED Time Out to 5 seconds ... 

What seems to happen is that the cursor moves to the top left corner of the screen at 5 seconds and then if i move my head it moves into the field of view ... anyone else having this ? 

I typically run in full screen mode?

 

N.b. for clarity the cursor would always vanish previously 

 

Apparently it´s an issue from thursday patch, rather than pointctrl.

5 minutes ago, Ala12Rv-Tundra said:

Apparently it´s an issue from thursday patch, rather than pointctrl.

1 hour ago, speed-of-heat said:

Hi All, I have my new pointctrl , and it seems to be working. now just trying to get it dialed in... but one thing is bugging me the blue cursor is still there all the time. I have set the LED Time Out to 5 seconds ... 

What seems to happen is that the cursor moves to the top left corner of the screen at 5 seconds and then if i move my head it moves into the field of view ... anyone else having this ? 

I typically run in full screen mode?

 

N.b. for clarity the cursor would always vanish previously 

 

Is there a source of IR (window) in view of the HMD?

Prior to PointCtrl, did you use a HOTAS ministick as mouse cursor? If this, then you may want to unbind it or add some dead zone.

I still keep a mouse handy and only see the cursor during PC timeout if I happen to nudge the mouse surface enough to trigger it.

ah ... cool ... sorry been away

Is there anyway to control or reduce the tracking speed/sensitivity/accuracy of the of the on screen cursor?  In the same way that some higher end mice allow for.

Lately I find it a challenge to the Apace KU to enter coordinates etc. as the point never seems to want to settle or I will physically cause it to jump up or down slightly and hit a number I wasn't aiming for. 

Just got point control last week.  

I’m having trouble with the HMS tracking on my monitor.  It’s plugged in and windows recognizes it as a mouse.  I can click on the buttons and it can close folders.   (So I’m guessing it’s connected). However, i can’t get the arrow to move.  I haven’t messed with the FCUs yet as this was the first step in the video.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Windows 11, Alienware AW3420 monitor, Rtx3080ti card. 

25 minutes ago, CSU453 said:

Just got point control last week.  

I’m having trouble with the HMS tracking on my monitor.  It’s plugged in and windows recognizes it as a mouse.  I can click on the buttons and it can close folders.   (So I’m guessing it’s connected). However, i can’t get the arrow to move.  I haven’t messed with the FCUs yet as this was the first step in the video.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Windows 11, Alienware AW3420 monitor, Rtx3080ti card. 

Make sure you properly press the individual buttons per the instructional video, they should then move. For further help probably best to hit Miles up on Discord he is pretty active there.

After 2,5 years of extensive use, I'm under the impression that the FCU lipo batteries are showing some form of degrading.

Yes, this could be just a placebo effect that I'm fixated on, as it's not easy to compare current battery life exactly with when I just received the FCU's. It of course also depends on how much you use them, which I do a lot in the Apache

But overall, I'm noticing that I need to recharge the FCU's after every 1 or 2 DCS sessions. Whereas when they were new, I had to recharge about once a week (~4 DCS sessions).

Did anyone else experienced this?

DCS is nowhere without Pointctrl, so I wonder if I should start considering replacing the LIPO batteries (if that's even possible for an electronics layman )

1 hour ago, sirrah said:

After 2,5 years of extensive use, I'm under the impression that the FCU lipo batteries are showing some form of degrading.

Yes, this could be just a placebo effect that I'm fixated on, as it's not easy to compare current battery life exactly with when I just received the FCU's. It of course also depends on how much you use them, which I do a lot in the Apache

But overall, I'm noticing that I need to recharge the FCU's after every 1 or 2 DCS sessions. Whereas when they were new, I had to recharge about once a week (~4 DCS sessions).

 

Did anyone else experienced this?

DCS is nowhere without Pointctrl, so I wonder if I should start considering replacing the LIPO batteries (if that's even possible for an electronics layman )

No idea, I guess it would be easier just to buy new FCUs?

You could get replacement battery's from Miles. I ordered them with my set but until now, I don't need them. If you got the monitoring thingy you could check on capacity (I did wrote down the figures after receiving but don't find the notes) 

Long story short, order from miles. You just have to take out the pcb, unplug the old one and plug the new one in, done. 

12 minutes ago, Lt_Jaeger said:

You could get replacement battery's from Miles. I ordered them with my set but until now, I don't need them. If you got the monitoring thingy you could check on capacity (I did wrote down the figures after receiving but don't find the notes) 

 

Long story short, order from miles. You just have to take out the pcb, unplug the old one and plug the new one in, done. 

Ah, so no soldering required, that's great

I did also purchase the USB monitoring thingy, but I never took time to see what it actually does or show me. If you do find those notes, please share them, so I know what to look for and what the charging values "should" be

I have a question, when you use this, does it disable the VR head tracking mouse movement... Like will every twitch you make move the curser? This would be EVERYTHING if I can use my headset separately, as well as this. with no interaction between each other.  

1 hour ago, Lt_Jaeger said:

You could get replacement battery's from Miles. I ordered them with my set but until now, I don't need them. If you got the monitoring thingy you could check on capacity (I did wrote down the figures after receiving but don't find the notes) 

 

Long story short, order from miles. You just have to take out the pcb, unplug the old one and plug the new one in, done. 

cool, didn´t know we have this option

42 minutes ago, HoBGoBLiNzx3 said:

I have a question, when you use this, does it disable the VR head tracking mouse movement... Like will every twitch you make move the curser? This would be EVERYTHING if I can use my headset separately, as well as this. with no interaction between each other.  

 

 

as far as I know, no, both systems complement each other

1 hour ago, HoBGoBLiNzx3 said:

I have a question, when you use this, does it disable the VR head tracking mouse movement... Like will every twitch you make move the curser? This would be EVERYTHING if I can use my headset separately, as well as this. with no interaction between each other.  

 

 

The thing is, you have to look where you point, at least it has to be in the field of view. If you would move your head rapidly, you "finger" would lose focus but small movements are ok. I most often look at the switch (hud brightness in the F-14 for example) , get my finger there and look up to the HUD before I press the button, it works fine, as long as the fcu is in the FOV of the tracker, so switches all the way to the back of one side won't work. 

Long story short, the cursor is more moved by the " mouse then by the head".

As much as I understand, Miles want to get the positioning data from the headset to make the mousepointer more stable, in regards to the head movement, in a future iteration of the firmware. 

I can wholeheartedly recommend this technical marvel. It brings flying in vr to the next level. 

Yep have had mine a few weeks now and absolutely love them. I use them for several flight sessions a day and so far charging once a day is working well for me. I wondered if that might degrade with time.

On 4/1/2022 at 12:25 PM, CSU453 said:

Just got point control last week.  

I’m having trouble with the HMS tracking on my monitor.  It’s plugged in and windows recognizes it as a mouse.  I can click on the buttons and it can close folders.   (So I’m guessing it’s connected). However, i can’t get the arrow to move.  I haven’t messed with the FCUs yet as this was the first step in the video.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Windows 11, Alienware AW3420 monitor, Rtx3080ti card. 

Hey there CSU,

That's a strange one, the FCU should only work when the FCUs are visible and being tracked, unless there is another IR source that that the HMS is tracking.

I would try moving the the HMS around with the FCUs off and see the the cursor moves. If it does, continue to move the HMS until the cursor is centered in your 2d monitor.

At this point the HMS should be looking at the source of IR interference, ie window, light, or track ir. 

Let us know how you make out. You can usually reach me pretty quick on discord, where we can go voice and screen share to sort things quickly.
 

Good luck

Miles

17 hours ago, HoBGoBLiNzx3 said:

I have a question, when you use this, does it disable the VR head tracking mouse movement... Like will every twitch you make move the curser? This would be EVERYTHING if I can use my headset separately, as well as this. with no interaction between each other.  

 

 

Hi Hobo,
PointCTRL replaces the gaze cursor. When you put your hands down and stop using PointCTRL, the gaze cursor parks itself in the upper right hand corner of your HMD display, usually out of your FOV until it times out. It does not replace your standard mouse, they work together, with PointCTRL overriding the mouse when the FCUs are active and visible,

Note to current PointCTRL users. After the recent DCS update that makes the gaze curser persistent, you may continually see it parked in the upper right hand corner of your FOV. This parked location references your "cursor targets". Therefore if you widen your cusor targets and recalibrate it may move it out of your FOV even though it is persistent.

While PointCTRL does it's best to keep the cursor stationary (on the control you are pointing at) while you move your head, it's still needs a bit of work. If you pan your head slowly, the cursor will remain mostly where you are pointing. However, with quick head movements, the cursor will  move away with your head movement for 1/10 to 1/4 of a second from where you are pointing before settling back down to where you are pointing.

I hope that helps

Miles

19 hours ago, sirrah said:

After 2,5 years of extensive use, I'm under the impression that the FCU lipo batteries are showing some form of degrading.

Yes, this could be just a placebo effect that I'm fixated on, as it's not easy to compare current battery life exactly with when I just received the FCU's. It of course also depends on how much you use them, which I do a lot in the Apache

But overall, I'm noticing that I need to recharge the FCU's after every 1 or 2 DCS sessions. Whereas when they were new, I had to recharge about once a week (~4 DCS sessions).

 

Did anyone else experienced this?

DCS is nowhere without Pointctrl, so I wonder if I should start considering replacing the LIPO batteries (if that's even possible for an electronics layman )

Hey Sirrah,
Wow 2 1/2 years. I remember you. I think you were one of the first adopters. After 2 1/2 years and those v1 batteries are getting on. You usually lose between 10% and 20%of capacity  per year from Lipos. When it becomes a problem they can be replaced.  I went with standard RC LiPos with a connector for easy replacement.

Glad your still enjoying PointCTRL.

Miles