hotas-vr-controller

An OpenVR driver that allows the hands-free use of your regular VR controllers, so that you can keep your Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS).

Your hands are the most intuitive way to interact with a virtual clickable cockpit in VR. A regular VR controller is a good way to click buttons, flick switches or rotate a knob. But when it comes to flight controls the use of a physical joystick and throttle are vital for precise flying. But it's tedious to constantly switch your hands between the VR controllers and the physical joystick or throttle as you can't hold them at the same time. True hand tracking would be the solution, but unfortunately, this is in most cases not (yet) reliable and for most of us also not an obtainable solution.

hotas-vr-controller is an OpenVR driver that allows modifying the position and the orientation of your regular VR controllers. This makes it possible to strap the regular VR controllers to the back of your hands or your lower arm, while the virtual hands still appear in the correct position and orientation. In this position, it is not possible to use the normal buttons of the VR controllers. Instead, hotas-vr-controller captures mouse clicks to emulate the grip and the trigger inputs of the VR controllers. "Finger mouse" devices (small mouse devices typically used for presentations) can be worn on the index fingers of both hands to trigger these actions.

This configuration enables a fluid transition of your hands between a physical joystick or throttle and the hand interactions with the virtual clickable cockpit.

Supported flight simulations

• DCS World 2.7

Supported VR controllers

• Should work with any OpenVR compatible tracked device associated with the left hand or right hand and with a grip and trigger input.
• Tested so far only with HP Reverb G2.

Prerequisites

• Two VR controllers
• Two "Finger Mouse" devices
• Strapping material (e.g. old gloves and zip ties)
• SteamVR 1.16.8 or higher
• Interception driver https://github.com/oblitum/Interception (included in the release package)

Installation

1. Download the latest hotas-vr-controller release package.
2. Unzip the release package and copy the contained hotas folder into the drivers folder of SteamVR. By default this is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers

3. Install the Interception driver. The command-line installer install-interception.exe of the driver is included in bin folder of the release package. Note that the installer must be run within a Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) with administrative rights. To do this, click the "Start" button and type in "Command Prompt". Right-click on the "Command Prompt" icon and select "Run as administrator". Then execute the installer with the /install option. For example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\hotas\bin\install-interception.exe /install

4. Run SteamVR and continue with the configuration.

Configuration

hotas-vr-controller is configured via the driver_hotas.ini file located in the hotas\bin\win64 folder. For example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\hotas\bin\win64\driver_hotas.ini

To edit the file, open it in a text editor (e.g. Notepad):

[LeftControllerOffset]
x=-0.125
y=-0.1
z=0.05
rx=-22.5
ry=45
rz=-100

[LeftDevice]
hardware=HID\VID_0250&PID_3412&REV_1001
index=1

[RightControllerOffset]
x=-0.16
y=-0.05
z=0.05
rx=-45
ry=55
rz=-55

[RightDevice]
hardware=HID\VID_0250&PID_3412&REV_1001
index=0

1. Strap the VR controllers to the outside of your hand or lower arm. Choose a position that allows you to grab your joystick and throttle.
2. Modify the offset (x, y, z) and rotation (rx, ry, rz) values until the positions of the virtual hands match with the position of your actual hands. This can be done while SteamVR is running, the values are updated every 10 sec.
3. Strap on the "Finger Mouse" devices. To determine the hardware id of your click device perform a left or right-click with every mouse device while SteamVR is running. The hardware id is written to the driver_hotas.log file located in the hotas\bin\win64 folder. For example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\hotas\bin\win64\driver_hotas.log

4. Open the file within a text editor (e.g. Notepad), you should find entries like this:

[hh:mm:ss] DeviceId: 14 HardwareId: HID\VID_046D&PID_C01E&REV_2200

5. Edit the hardware id of the left device or right device within the driver_hotas.ini file. Note: Never use the hardware id of your regular mouse. All mouse clicks will be intercepted and will no longer reach any application, making your mouse effectively useless while SteamVR is running. If this happens, use ALT+TAB to make SteamVR the active application and use ALT+F4 to close it.

6. Change the device index in case both devices have the same hardware id. The index defines which of the two devices will be detected first after SteamVR was started. So in the example above, do a left-click or right-click with the device of your right hand before you left-click or right-click with the device of your left hand.

7. Restart SteamVR after changing the hardware id and the device index to take effect.

Uninstallation

1. Uninstall the Interception driver. The command-line installer install-interception.exe of the driver is included in bin folder of the release package. Note that the installer must be run within a Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) with administrative rights. To do this, click the "Start" button and type in "Command Prompt". Right-click on the "Command Prompt" icon and select "Run as administrator". Then execute the installer with the /uninstall option. For example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\hotas\bin\install-interception.exe /uninstall

3. Delete the hotas folder from the drivers folder of SteamVR. By default this is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\hotas