VR Flight Simulator

An attempt at creating a virtual reality flight simulator solely using the Oculus Rift Touch controllers (and rudder pedals if available). The aircraft is a Piper PA-28 Archer II (presented as a low poly model in Unity).

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Getting Started

Configuring Unity

  1. Download Unity Project from Project Page
  2. Extract the folder from the .ZIP
  3. Open the folder as a new project in Unity

Configuring X-Plane 10

  1. Configure Graphics Settings
    • Select Settings from the menu bar
    • Select Rendering Options
    • Under the Presets section:
      • select Set to minimum
    • Under the STUFF TO DRAW section:
      • deselect runways follow terrain contours (this is to ensure that the runway terrain mapping matches that of the Unity program) alt text
  2. Configure Data Output Screen
    • Select Settings from the menu bar
    • Select Data Input & Output
    • Under Data Set:
      • Select the leftmost check box (labeled as Internet via UDP) for the following data sets:
      • speeds (#3)
      • pitch, roll, headings (#17)
      • Set the UDP rate to 49.0/sec alt text
  3. Configure Net Connections Screen
    • Select the Data tab
    • Under IP for Data Output:
      • enter the localhost IP (127.0.0.1)
      • enter the port number as 55555
      • select the IP of data receiver for (Data Input & Output screen: Data-Set and Dataref-Out tabs) checkbox
    • Under UDP Ports
      • set the port that we receive on field to 49,000 (which is also the default value)
      • set the port that we send from field to 49,001 (which is also the default value)
      • ensure that the port that we send to iPad from is not either of the values listed above alt text

        Deployment

Running X-Plane

  1. Ensure X-Plane is configured properly
  2. Before starting Unity, start X-Plane using the Cessna 172 Aircraft (ideally, you would use a Piper PA-28 II but X-Plane doesn’t provide it as a default aircraft so the Cessna 172 has the closest handling specifications)
  3. Press the b key to disengage the brake

Running Unity

  1. Open the flightSimulator project (or whatever name you called the project) in Unity
  2. Once you have configured and started X-Plane, press the Play button

Built With