Procedural Question Regarding Using My New VR Headset

[MGMSwordsman]

I am new to VR.  I received my Pimax Crystal Super yesterday.  While things are for the most part working properly, I have more of a practical usage question.

This is most likely very much a newbie question as well.

When flying a mission, you have to use the keyboard to press certain keys depending on how the controls are mapped.  I can't use my HOTAS and throttle to map out every command I need to use.  I can't see the keyboard, joystick, or throttle with the headset on, and I don't want to remove the headset when I need to press a key on the keyboard or HOTAS.  How are you guys doing this?

I hope this makes sense and any advice is appreciated.

[GiftGruen]

Quite simple: You need to map all important keys to your HOTAS. IL2 multimenu may help here. Keyboard is rather ‚off‘ in VR, in my opinion.

[MGMSwordsman]

Thanks for the quick response.

[Panthercules]

You can also try one of the third party voice comand apps (such as VoiceAttack), which would let you map some of those keyboard commands to things you could say, instead of having to grope for your keyboard.  It worked great for sub sims, where you're supposed to be the captain barking orders to your subordinates.  It's a little wierd to be talking to yourself in the cockpit, but for some things where you could be talking over the radio to your wingmen or your gunners it would be pretty natural-feeling for a flight sim too.  And you can just imagine that you like talking to yourself for some things - like going through a checklist of sorts upon takeof and landing (for things like flaps, landing gear, etc.).

I did manage to map some things to a few keys that I could easily find by feel because of their special shape or placement on the keyboard, such as the space bar and the cursor/arrow key cluster.  

[Gutholz]

If you do not have enough buttons on the joystick and throttle then there are also "button boxes" which are basically...a box with a bunch of buttons and switches.

As a cheaper alternative you can also use any gamepad that you tape to the desk. 😉

Some buttons feel similar in VR so I put small pieces of tape to tell the difference from touch, after a while you do not need that help anymore.

Also remember not every plane needs every command, so in IL-2 you can create different input-profiles per plane.

With SRS-radio the overlay does not display in VR but in options you can enable "text to speech" and map the "read status" (named something like that) to a button, then it will read out by voice what radio is active and the current channel.

[Aapje]

On 10/9/2026 at 11:14 PM, MGMSwordsman said:

I can't see the keyboard, joystick, or throttle with the headset on, and I don't want to remove the headset when I need to press a key on the keyboard or HOTAS.  How are you guys doing this?

I do most of the mapping in 2D, just testing out what I did with a simple test flight. Then go back to VR once most of it is agreeable.

As for finding the right key, this is a matter of memorization, but I also keep editable PDF files for the throttle and stick so I have an overview of what is mapped to what. That is mainly relevant for a new mapping or one that is only relevant to one or a few specific planes and thus used rarely. Or if something goes wrong and I have to redo it.

A lot of higher-end modern hardware seems intentionally designed to be easier to use in VR, with design features that make it easier to figure out where your hand is. For example, the STECS standard has a lot of buttons, but the attached button box has a lot of different button designs, so you can feel relatively easily where your hand is. And the buttons on the throttle handle and joystick are relatively easy to find, since your hand is in a fixed position, so you can find everything relative to that position.

[spreckair]

I fly in VR only, so this is something that I have had to solve also.  As Panthercules mentioned above, I use VoiceAttack for many things that do not need to be used very often per mission, such as opening a menu, viewing a lobby, or bailing out of my plane.  I also use it for issuing commands to my flight, which adds immersion since I would be using voice in real life.  But it can be used for anything that is activated with a keystroke.   VoiceAttack is $10, and it can be used with just about any program that uses keystrokes, so it is a nice add-on.

Edited October 12 by spreckair

[MGMSwordsman]

Guys, thank you for the great advice.  I'm sure with what you've recommended that I can get everything sorted soon.

See you in the Korean skies!