Introducing War Thunder VR Assistant 2

The Academy - Players helping Players F.A.Q and Tutorials
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Hey everyone!

Some of you may remember my older videos about optimizing War Thunder for VR. Back then I realized there was a bigger problem than just finding the “best VR settings”: War Thunder keeps changing, and many players basically have to choose between having the game configured for VR or configured for desktop.

VR often needs completely different graphics settings, controls, sliders, and profiles. Switching between the two could mean messing up a setup you already spent hours getting right.

That’s why I originally made War Thunder VR Assistant v1.0.

The idea was simple: save your VR and Desktop configurations separately and switch between them before launching War Thunder.

Then somebody commented on my original Reddit post asking:

“Could the app also load different custom control files when switching between Desktop and VR?”

And that question basically sent me down the rabbit hole. :D

I started talking with people from the VR community on Discord and asking what problems we could realistically solve ourselves instead of waiting and hoping they eventually get addressed in-game.

Three months later, I ended up rebuilding a huge part of the app.

WTVRA2
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VR / Desktop Profiles

The profile switching system has been completely reworked.

You can now switch between your Desktop and VR graphics/settings profiles directly from the main screen, including the custom War Thunder control configuration you want to use with each one.

The app can also launch and update War Thunder, so the idea is to make switching between Desktop and VR as seamless as possible.

Neck Assistant

This feature actually came from somebody in the community who uses a wheelchair and can’t physically turn around far enough while flying to check behind them.

I started looking at existing VR rotation tools, but the ones I tested either didn’t work properly with War Thunder or rotated your view in strange fixed-degree steps.

So I built my own system called Neck Assistant.

Instead of just emulating mouse movement, it works with OpenXR / VDXR / SteamVR automatically and offsets the VR rotation itself, giving you additional head rotation while still using your normal physical head movement.

Ironically, while developing this I managed to hurt my neck while playing with my daughter, so for a while I accidentally became the perfect test subject for my own feature. 😂

KeyBind Assistant

War Thunder also has several useful functions that are effectively hardcoded to keyboard keys.

For example, N for the tactical map, as well as some VR head-position controls.

KeyBind Assistant lets you assign those functions to your HOTAS.

So if I bind a HOTAS button to Tactical Map, pressing it causes the app to send the corresponding keyboard input to War Thunder.

This has been especially useful for me in Ground Simulator because I don’t have to start searching for my keyboard while wearing a VR headset.

Advanced HOTAS Switches

Another thing that always annoyed me was physical switches.

On many HOTAS setups, War Thunder basically treats a real ON/OFF switch like a normal button.

So I added Advanced Switches.

For example:

Switch ON → Gear Up
Switch OFF → Gear Down

Or:

Switch ON → Laser On
Switch OFF → Laser Off

It’s a small thing, but having the physical switch actually match what the aircraft is doing makes the whole HOTAS experience much more immersive.

And yes, flipping the laser switch ON before teaching somebody some manners is significantly more satisfying. :D

VTrim – Virtual Trim & Aircraft Profiles

I also added VTrim, which expands what you can do with your HOTAS axes, curves, and trimming.

There’s a Default Profile that represents your normal setup, but you can also create individual aircraft profiles.

So your Spitfire could have one set of Pitch/Roll/Yaw curves while your F-16C has completely different curves and trim behavior.

The app can detect the aircraft you’re flying and automatically switch to its profile, so you don’t have to manually change everything every time you switch aircraft.

VTrim also lets you adjust things like trim speed/intensity and customize your controls further than before.

Experimental Flight Assistant

There’s also an experimental feature called Flight Assistant.

The idea was to provide a smoother HOTAS experience and something somewhat inspired by systems such as auto-trim, while working differently.

It uses telemetry exposed by War Thunder through its local telemetry interface and was designed to assist with aircraft stabilization in certain situations.

This feature is currently disabled.

One of my main goals with this project is making sure the tools I release are designed around War Thunder’s Terms of Service and don’t put users at risk.

Rather than assuming my interpretation of the rules is correct, I’ve contacted Gaijin for clarification regarding this specific feature. Until I’m comfortable that it is acceptable, it stays disabled.

I’d much rather remove a feature than release something that could potentially cause problems for people using the app.

So that’s basically where the project is now.

What started as a tiny tool for switching VR settings somehow turned into a much bigger project built around problems that people in the VR and Simulator community kept running into.

There’s still plenty I want to improve, but I’m pretty happy with how far it has come.

I also made a full video explaining the app, installation, and setup here:

🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRLjRJn_Pq0

And the official website/download is here:

🌐 http://wtvrassistant.com

I’ll keep developing the app and improving the website over time.

And as always, if you’re playing War Thunder in VR and there’s something that constantly annoys you, feel free to tell me. Some of the best features in this app literally started with somebody saying:

“Wouldn’t it be nice if…” 🙂

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The Flight Assistant seems like shaky ground. People don’t need any more assists than the game already gives.

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It’s called Flight Assistant because it helps with things that are either missing from the game or don’t work properly, especially for VR players. I’ve been in contact with Gaijin regarding the app, and I’ve made sure that the features currently included are designed to stay within War Thunder’s Terms of Service. Any features where the rules are not completely clear are still under review and have not been implemented for exactly that reason. I take user comfort and safety seriously — after all, I’m a VR player myself, and the whole point of this project is to make the experience better and easier for other players.

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Part of the uniqueness of aircraft, is what has stabilization features, compared to what doesn’t. This feature throws that right out the window.

You’re basically granting Realistic Battles control assists to Sim players. It doesn’t belong in Simulator mode.

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If you actually look at what the app does, it’s not really the way you’re describing it, but oh well. The app gives you the ability to create custom controls and customize how each aircraft feels with your setup. Good luck trying to fly a prop plane properly using the exact same F-16 stick setup and control curves you use for a modern jet in the game right now. The app solves that problem by letting you have different profiles for different aircraft. I guess it really depends on how people choose to look at things. Context matters.

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So is this an “auto trim” as you described, or is it an axis curve feature? Those are two very different things.

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It’s a suggested feature, and as you can see, it’s not implemented in the game. Aces of Thunder actually has that feature, and like I said in the video, I’m fully aware that War Thunder and Aces of Thunder are two separate games, even though they’re made by the same company.

I strongly believe that user comfort is something we should all strive for, but hey, that’s just me.

The app does much more than that, Warpig_. For example, it allows you to keybind functions that aren’t available in the game’s control menu but are hard-bound to keyboard keys. It also helps VR players who physically cannot turn their head as far as the game expects them to.

The app also lets you customize pitch, yaw, and roll response for each individual aircraft if you choose to. Even with auto-trim in Aces of Thunder, for example, every aircraft feels different. The app doesn’t change the aircraft’s actual behaviour; it changes how your physical HOTAS or stick input is translated so it better fits your hardware and preferences. Nobody would expect an F-16 and a Spitfire to feel right using exactly the same real-world stick setup and response.

It also allows physical switches on a HOTAS to behave like actual ON/OFF switches for things like landing gear, something War Thunder has never properly supported since HOTAS controls were introduced.

And regarding the other feature: IF, and that’s a big IF, it clears verification from Gaijin’s legal team and they confirm that it’s acceptable under the Terms of Service, nobody is forcing anyone to use it.

It isn’t easy building an app around what users are asking for while at the same time constantly checking the Terms of Service, reading through everything, and making sure the features I develop don’t cross a line. At the end of the day, I’m giving the software away for free. People can use the features they want and ignore the ones they don’t.

But humor me on this: if the developers wanted Simulator Battles to be as hardcore and restrictive as you’re describing, would mouse and keyboard and Xbox controllers be allowed there at all, or would it be HOTAS-only?

In some situations, mouse and keyboard can actually give you an advantage in Simulator Battles because you can point where you want the aircraft to go and the control system adjusts the aircraft around that input. Does that sound completely fair compared with somebody manually flying with a stick? Personally, I don’t think it does.

But I’m still perfectly fine with it, because I want more people to be able to experience Simulator Battles.

And don’t think I’m picking on you or anything like that. I can see you’re passionate about Sim and I respect that. I am too. I’m part of a small Simulator community in this game, and an even smaller VR community inside that, and I’m simply trying to help make the experience more comfortable and accessible for people like me, you, and everyone else who enjoys this side of the game.

P.S. The way Flight Assistant differs from auto-trim is that it uses telemetry data to make small trim adjustments during aircraft rotation, helping you control the stick more naturally. It doesn’t work like the auto-trim system in Aces of Thunder at all. The moment you start moving the stick yourself, the assistance resets. It was designed for specific situations rather than to fly or trim the aircraft for you, and it only operates above 90 km/h.

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I think what you’re building is great. I just don’t agree with the Flight Assist feature. That’s what Realistic Control scheme does. It’s not about being “hardcore”, It’s about following the intended design of the Simulator controls scheme.

Being required to trim your own aircraft is one of the defining features of Simulator mode.

The thought of an Axis Curve profile selector would be awesome. Just not auto trimming.

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Cool project, i like it! :)

Honestly, extra points for this. I’ve seen to many players that just straight release things that are gray area without checking and just assuming it would be something that is okay.

At first glance it does sound like automated inputs the app sends to the game and that doesn’t sound good, but i can’t make any official statement on things like this as it isn’t something Game Masters deal with. I am curious about the response you eventually get from them though :)

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Thank you War pig for the kind words. Also it’s not exactly as Realistic controls. In my tests when i was configuring it out if you see the video the adjustments are less then 1% in 99% of the cases where telemetry data is needed to adjust anything. How ever I’m trying to be fully transparent and open how things work and share my thoughts on things. If its something people don’t want they can simply choose to ignore it as a feature and have the experience they want. For hardcore players with 1000+ hours war thunder sim can be something that they can dug in to like you and me. How ever if you have noticed not many people enjoy Air Sim in props/early jets just because controls are hard. This is a feature new players may like, but it’s pointless for us to speculate at this point until official response comes back.

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Thank you for the kind words, Necronomica. Some time ago, when I created the Discord for the War Thunder VR community, my main goal was simply to help people. That’s how I met many different players, and so far I’ve managed to help well over 100 people on Discord get a decent VR experience.

From there, I moved on to creating a simple and easy way for people to swap their graphical settings between desktop and VR, and that’s basically how all of this started.

I know the feature in question can come across as automation, but it’s actually far from that. However, wording matters in cases like this, which is why I’ve sent Gaijin a full description of how the app works, what data it uses, how it uses that data, and what the app sends back to the controls.

I’m fully aware that Gaijin is not obligated to respond to me or approve anything, and even if they don’t reply regarding this feature, I’m not going to blindly implement it just because I think it would be cool to have. I respect the game and the product they’re making, and I’m trying to follow their guidelines for fair conduct as closely as possible.

If my goal is to help people, it would go against my basic principles to release something I’m not 100% sure how they would interpret.

The data I’m using comes from the local telemetry interface, and Gaijin representatives have stated on multiple occasions that this data can be used as long as it isn’t being used to make the aircraft fly without player input or to provide an unfair advantage over other players. But as always “Context” matters.

The HOTAS community has honestly been overlooked for a long time, and what the app is trying to do is modernize how physical controls are handled and give players a little more flexibility and control over their setups. At the same time, I have full control over how these features are implemented, and I’m always willing to adjust them based on Gaijin’s feedback or add restrictions and precautions regarding how they can be used if the feature ever gets implemented. How ever if even one of those features I’ve made helps somebody out there…I’ll be happy. Its ok for people to say no. At the end of the day At least I’ll bring attention to the problem if nothing else. I’m trying to look on the bright side of things :)

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I should address the Pro’s.

The Neck Assist, Keybind assist, and Axis Curve profiles are really cool. Being able to correct the dampening behavior is huge as well.

Really cool stuff. 👍

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