Within Visual Range combat using virtual reality in Harrier

Hi Community,

I'm currently trying not to embarrass myself as a new member of a virtual squad who trains WVR PvP combat, and I'm finding that visual acquisition using the Rift at, say, +3nm is a bit of a challenge. For context, I'm flying the Harrier, so no radar.

The TLDR is, "Are there any tips for picking out air targets visually when using a virtual reality headset in the Harrier?" And the following is more of a rambling about possibilities and theories.

Thanks in advance!

...

Now, despite the Rift boosting my situational awareness tremendously at <2nm, it puts me at a bit of a disadvantage for those precious few seconds between BVR and the merge as I am trying to tally that miniscule grey dot on the horizon representing my opponent.

Save for using labels (when available), does anyone have any tips for this critical phase of combat that might help me pick up that little dot out of the blue sky / against the terrain? I've heard from others that this is mainly a "practice, practice, practice..." thing which is fine, but just wanted to know if there are any settings in particular such as Pixel Density or IPD that I might be neglecting.

For example, I know that Pixel Density is mainly to set a compatible resolution between the render and the HMD res. I've read about people bumping it up to 1.5 or 2.0 with adverse effect on FPS, but I fail to see how increasing the render resolution past the HMD resolution could increase fidelity. Bottlenecks, and all that: 1080p is 1080p is 1080p, or something.

EDIT: correction, I have recently read that PD operates kind of like antialiasing & super/sub-sampling. Somewhat complicated; so what are your settings?

As for IPD, I'm under the impression that this is "how far apart your eyes are" so it really just makes things look up-close or far-away depending on the real-life Mk1 Eyeball IPD. Break out the calipers, try not to poke yourself in the eye, and paste the value into the menu. In short: again, a compatibility option rather than performance or fidelity.

Approaching this problem from the side: upon which other sensors do y'all rely for target acquisition in the Harrier/Rift leading up to WVR combat? Could an AIM-9 seeker head help point me in the general direction? Anti-radiation missile seeker head? How about NAVFLIR or DMT?

Aside, on the note of NAVFLIR, I would speculate that in many ways the Harrier's night attack sensors could be uniquely suited to VR players. Night ops are characterized by a lower visual awareness, and many of the Harrier's sensors are built towards increasing this state of awareness at close & intermediate ranges such as 0-5nm. Could the Harrier N/A be the ideal plane for VR users in this respect? Anyways, I digress...

Thanks again

This isn't restricted to the Harrier. All PvP combat in VR is currently at a ridiculous disadvantage when compared to a monitor use. Not only do you not have the resolution to identify aircraft like a monitor user, but you also can't zoom as though you're carrying the Hubble telescope and can't swivel your head around as though you're a parrot (well I certainly can't at my age).

I've had the debate before with monitor only users and have even suggested the idea of maybe a dedicated VR server, but of course they don't want to lose their advantage. I've also suggested restricting zoom capabilities, but have been responded to with comments that some pilots carry binoculars (which I believe for ground target spotting, but somehow have credibility issues with when referring to the use of in air combat).

The reality is that unless ED introduce a way to produce "parity" between the two groups, that we're a bit stuffed.

Visual id issues is not limited to VR hmd. I have both rift and Odyssey and yes Odyssey is a nice step up in visual acquisition. Also have 4k 55 inch and find it's harder to pickup tgts both air and ground with it.

You need to experiment with pixel density. The higher it is the harder it will be to see those air tgts. Just realise all the pancake flyers are using ultra zoom all the time to Id tgts so don't feel discouraged by vr lower res

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This is understandable; thank you both for taking the time to share your insight. For now, I will continue to enjoy the immersion and try out those Harrier NAVFLIR sensor ideas possibly in conjunction with the RWR / seeker heads.

Thanks again!

Visual id issues is not limited to VR hmd. I have both rift and Odyssey and yes Odyssey is a nice step up in visual acquisition. Also have 4k 55 inch and find it's harder to pickup tgts both air and ground with it.

You need to experiment with pixel density. The higher it is the harder it will be to see those air tgts. Just realise all the pancake flyers are using ultra zoom all the time to Id tgts so don't feel discouraged by vr lower res

 

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I agree with this. Flying only in VR for so long it's easy to forget what it was like on a monitor.

I remember upgrading from a 1080p monitor to a much larger 4k screen because I thought the higher res would give me crisper dots to spot. Spotting didn't really get any better.

Once an aircraft is lost in ground clutter for instance it's just hard to spot in general. Spotting planes above in the blue sky is also a nightmare.

I'd love to know how this compares to real life.

The thing i hate about my 4K display is ther stardard font is so small i cant read it

Our group uses a label mod for our VR and 4K fliers. Its a simple dot that turns on from 3-7NM in the range you should be able to see objects. It disappears outside of those ranges. Even at that it is very hard to keep track of a air threat within the 3NM range, but its as realistic as we can make it until ED brings back model scaling or some other feature to resolve the issue.

May we try that mod?

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It's very difficult, easily the most challenging part of VR flying that I've found. I personally still haven't found a way to combat it myself.

I've died many times to the hands of someone I had the jump on simply because I forced myself to wait until I was inside of visual range where I could clearly visually identify the bogey (i.e. inside of 2 or 3nm)...only to then take a missile to the face from 4nm. Alternatively, I've then reacted to those experiences of getting killed by someone I had dead to rights by jumping the gun and foxing on a plane that I thought was outlaw before I could clearly visually ID...when in reality, there was a friendly merged with him and he took my heater for the ever embarrassing TK (team kill).

Wish I could give you a better solution, but for the time being, it's just a limitation you have to deal with as best you can...I'm sure there are pilots much better than myself who could manage to stay "invisible" to the bandits until inside of a couple miles, but it's been hit or miss for me (very average pilot).

May we try that mod?

 

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I'll see if I can get it to you tonight.

I really like this label setup in VR

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=203089&highlight=Label

i like to join your VR pilots group once ED/TFC squares away the hand controllers situation, i have both the rift and odyssey

I've been doing a lot of Harrier VR in the Dynamic server, with some success using these tactics:

Fly on the deck

It will silhouette any other contact in the sky to make it easier to spot.

Turn pixel density up

To get something to register as a dot it helps to oversample the render (just like antialiasing). It'll still be a dot, but get used to it.

Know your SA and vector in

Ask GCI if available on discord/SRS for a vector. Watch your RWR popups to see where a contact is likely to be, watch that sky. Turn in that direction and peek over the HUD to get a better register on any of those dots.

Know if they are friendlies or not

Kind of goes with the above point, you have no IFF in the Harrier so you are going to need to ask everyone to flare each time your heaters lock on. Not ideal. Best to know if the area you are attacking is 100% going to be threats, and just fly in.

Cross your fingers

You have no range measurement! So you need to watch that dot and figure out how far it might be. Be careful, firing too early will give your position away! You didn't think this would be easy did you? At least you can hide reasonably well when on the deck ;)

Edit: One advantage you do have, is that flying on the deck with full depth perception is damn fun and easier than using a 2D monitor. Use that advantage.