VR Flight World

First off, I wanted to include my two videos that show the new X-Plane 11.20 Beta. I really love flying in the new version. I can’t wait until it comes out of Beta. With the Native VR support through Steam VR, I find that I can actually run at a higher FPS and it feels smoother than ever before. I am running a GTX 1060 (6GB version) with an i5-7600k. In this video, I am running both the CPU and GPU without any overclocking. Take a look at the two videos, and read my X-Plane 11.20 first impression, which is written underneath the videos.

The first video is a flight in the Cessna 172.

X-Plane 11.20 first experience and review

Ok, So lately I have been transitioning from X-Plane 11 with Fly Inside, to X-Plane 11.20 Beta. Now I wasn’t sure about opting into the Beta, as I really didn’t want to do something that was reversible and glitchy… Turns out it is reversible, however I didn’t need it to be. Here is my experience with the new X-Plane 11.20.

I first fired it up to an instant crash. It wasn’t off to a great start with 11.20 beta. Tried again, and another crash. So this started the testing. Now I obviously wasn’t expecting a really stable product, since I am talking about a Beta version, however I really wanted to get it to work.

The solution to the instant crash

So here is what I determined was happening. In order to install X-Plane 11.20 Beta and in order to run this in virtual reality, you need Steam VR, which was already installed. The problem was, that if Steam VR was open, X-Plane would open and crash…. If Steam VR was closed, X-Plane would open Steam VR on it’s own and it opened without any issue.

So, if you are trying to open X-Plane 11.20 Beta, make sure you keep this in mind. Make sure Steam VR is closed before you try to open X-Plane 11.

Once I got it running

Once it was running, I found it to be great. I really love this version of X-Plane 11. Everything is operated from the VR world. When you first enter X-Plane you are in a plane hangar with large planes all around you. Your menu is a white board on a stand. The menu itself looks the same as the standard X-Plane 11 menu and has all the same sliders, except for a VR checkbox, which you obviously need on if you are going to use VR.

How is it to fly

I first ran into a bit of an issue, as my view was off centered and I didn’t know how to correct this. In fly inside you set a button to correct this. This can be common when you first sit down to take a flight. In X-Plane 11.20 it turned out that you can use the pilot seat button on your menu. This resets your view. You will see me do this in the two videos that I have included above.

So I got my view all setup and the rest was completely immersive.

Flying around was amazing. It felt like the game was actually running faster than I normally run it. As usual I had my settings very high but not maxed out. It turned out that I was getting 45 fps. I ended up looking into this, as it was running at a steady 45 fps. So when it is running at 45 fps, the Steam VR is running some magic in the background to make it feel smoother than 45. Honestly, unless you are big into getting super high frame rates, then this feels smooth and looks great. Below are my settings.

Settings

Steam VR set to 2X supersampling.

X-Plane 11 Graphic settings:

– Visual Effects are set to High (HDR)

– Texture Quality is set to Maximum

– Antialiasing is set to the first notch

– Number of objects is set to high

– Reflection Detail is set to minimum.

Buttons and switches

So, one of my favorite parts about this new version of X-Plane is the touch controllers. When you reach out to flick a switch it feels natural. Also when you pull a leaver or interact with anything the vibrate function in your touch controller makes it feel like you actually touched that item. It does this by adding a small vibration when you touch, or when you pull something.

Now, I do not use the touch controls too much, do to the fact that I have a Cessna 172 type setup in my house. I have the yoke, throttle and rudder pedals. Each of these have buttons, which eliminates the need for the touch controls.

If you are interested in getting my yoke, rudder pedals or throttle quadrant, feel free to use my links. They are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a small advertising earning if you use them (doesn’t affect your price or purchase in anyway). Don’t feel obligated to use the links, but I appreciate it if you do. Helps keep me putting out great content.

Amazon Links for the products

Logitech G Saitek PRO Flight Yoke System

Logitech G PRO Flight Rudder Pedal

Oculus Rift + Touch Controllers

Would I recommend that everyone jumps up the Beta Version of X-Plane 11.20?

It really depends on how things are already going with your current setup. If you are having no issues running your current version and you don’t want to have to tweak anything, I suggest you stay with your current version until this comes out of Beta.

Now, if you are not happy with how your older version is running and you don’t mind tinkering with settings, then I do recommend it. I love the new Beta Version and will be sticking with it.

Word of Caution

As I mentioned above, I found a bug… Actually I found two bugs. Here are the issues I have found.

First problem/solution :

Problem: X-Plane 11.20 Beta crashes when I first open it.

Solution: Close Steam VR before attempting to open X-Plane 11.20

Second problem/solution:

Problem: X-Plane 11.20 Beta starts to stutter and blurs. It runs at a lower frame rate when it was running just fine earlier.

Solution: Restart X-Plane 11.20 Beta. I found that if you start a new flight, for some reason it runs rougher. I found that if I closed out X-Plane all together and restarted it, it fixed the problem. This doesn’t happen every time but restarting seems to be the fix.

Thanks for reading,

If you haven’t already watched, take a look at the two videos I have included.

Dan