General VR discussion thread

[Kaido]

Graffiti simulator...actually looks pretty awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhIxY6G-UHE

 

[SexyK]

I'll most likely be trying to Step Up the 980 Ti that I bought for the VR machine. Although, I need to see how much better for VR it is as I may just put it in my main desktop (also has a 980 Ti) instead.

I have a Titan X in my main desktop and just purchased a 980Ti for my VR machine. Had the same thought process on stepping up. Should I move the Titan X to the VR box and use the 1080 in my main machine, or vice versa? Ultimately, it seems like the 1080 has some VR-specific features that suggest it would be better used in the VR machine. Of course, the extra horsepower could never hurt on the desktop, and I haven't seen any VR content yet that pushes the 980Ti below 90fps, so.... still kinda a tough call.

 

[Sabrewings]

I haven't seen any VR content yet that pushes the 980Ti below 90fps, so.... still kinda a tough call.

That's been my experience with the 980Ti. The only exception to that is Elite. Part of that is their problem because it has a rendering bug. You have to run it at 1.5x supersampling to get rid of some readability issues (nothing wrong with the Vive's pixel density, it's actually rendered crappy). In some instances (around stations, on planets) that would drop me below 90 and cause reprojection to kick in. That was at factory settings, so I restored my 1545MHz OC and no issues. Hopefully they fix the rendering issue so people don't have to brute force it to get smooth text. 2.1 is supposed to bring graphical performance improvements as well as some fixes for the Vive issue, so it should be a good update all around.

 

[ImpulsE69]

So far my 290x has been great. I haven't checked any fps but haven't seen any instances where it seems laggy or stuttery or missed frames - keep in mind anyone with top end cards were probably playing at 1440p and high to maxxed settings on most things and this is at least somewhat lower res. Most of these cards "should" handle this. Haven't (and probably won't) try Elite, but one thing that concerns me with most of these 'demo's is there really are no graphics settings. You get what you get.

 

[SexyK]

That's been my experience with the 980Ti. The only exception to that is Elite. Part of that is their problem because it has a rendering bug. You have to run it at 1.5x supersampling to get rid of some readability issues (nothing wrong with the Vive's pixel density, it's actually rendered crappy). In some instances (around stations, on planets) that would drop me below 90 and cause reprojection to kick in. That was at factory settings, so I restored my 1545MHz OC and no issues. Hopefully they fix the rendering issue so people don't have to brute force it to get smooth text. 2.1 is supposed to bring graphical performance improvements as well as some fixes for the Vive issue, so it should be a good update all around.

Good point - I've only been playing the native room-scale games/experiences so far. Haven't tried Elite or any other similar software (e.g. flight sims, racing sims, etc.). Horsepower will definitely be more of an issue there I would imagine.

 

[HeXen]

That's been my experience with the 980Ti. The only exception to that is Elite. Part of that is their problem because it has a rendering bug. You have to run it at 1.5x supersampling to get rid of some readability issues (nothing wrong with the Vive's pixel density, it's actually rendered crappy). In some instances (around stations, on planets) that would drop me below 90 and cause reprojection to kick in. That was at factory settings, so I restored my 1545MHz OC and no issues. Hopefully they fix the rendering issue so people don't have to brute force it to get smooth text. 2.1 is supposed to bring graphical performance improvements as well as some fixes for the Vive issue, so it should be a good update all around.

980ti that much more powerful than a 970? I don't have VR yet but hell I get 20fps on a heavily modded GTA 5. Project cars is like 42 fps...those 1080 gtx's should be really impressive for me then.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I had my first bout of motion sickness playing InCell. OMG. It was hard to keep my balance, even though I knew I wasn't really moving.

Also, Doll City looks to be pretty fricking crazy.

 

[Sabrewings]

980ti that much more powerful than a 970?

The 980Ti is almost double the GPU of a 970.

 

[pm]

980ti that much more powerful than a 970? I don't have VR yet but hell I get 20fps on a heavily modded GTA 5. Project cars is like 42 fps...those 1080 gtx's should be really impressive for me then.

As Sabrewings noted the 980Ti is not quite double a 970 but it's not that far off.

You can get a good idea of the relative performance of the various cards here:
http://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu

It's just one benchmark and it's a bit dated and so it's not correct or fair to imply that this is exactly how they all behave in all games, but all the cards are in one place so I like to use it as my handy yardstick of performance because it's easy.

The 1080 GTX isn't on there yet, but it will be interesting to see how much higher up it lands when when it arrives.

 

[Kaido]

BigScreen added support for Rift headsets:

http://steamcommunity.com/games/457550/announcements/detail/883081105037975544

 

[funks]

Rig:

I7-2600K CPU
16 Gigs of RAM
Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H
Radeon NANO
Oculus Rift CV1

Couple of things I learned with my rig and the Oculus Rift.

It's finicky with USB 3.0 ports. I bought an Inateck Superspeed 4 Port PCI-E to USB 3.0 Card (KTU3FR-4P). Drivers are not available for Windows 8.1 at the vendor's site (Inataeck) but Win 8.1 autodetected and installed drivers for it (microsoft provided). Oculus application keeps complaining that the drivers are old - went to the www.frescologic.com and download the drivers and installed - finally no more complaint from the Oculus app.

I have a RADEON NANO and it has 1 HDMI and 3 DISPLAYPORT. I use the HDMI port for my A/V Receiver which means I have to use one of the Display Ports for the Rift. The Oculus is finicky with certain Display Port to HDMI adapters, it doesn't like my Startech.com (DP2HDMI2) adapter (gives black screen). Went to a local computer store (Central Computers here in the Bay Area) and snagged a Display Port 1.2 Male to HDMI Female (generically labeled as 4K*2K) - part number 2KDPHD01 and it works perfectly without issues. My assumption is that any Display Port to HDMI adapter that supports 4K should work.

Oculus app also needs some work with minimum requirements, I have a i7-2600K which is faster, or about the same as the minimum spec (i5-4590). Instead of benchmarking the CPU, it strictly checks the CPU string and complains on screen (and there's no way to turn it off) that the PC doesn't meet the minimum specs. Steam VR is actually much better than the Oculus app in this regard as it actually benchmarks your computer (instead of checking the CPU string). Dunno why the oculus app can't do the same (pretty sure it's not that hard to implement). Lots of people overclock their CPU's.

As for the Microsoft Gamepad requirement, not sure why it has to be Microsoft. My Steam Controller doesn't work on the Oculus App (but works just fine on other games). It doesn't have to be the XBOX One Wireless Gamepad though, I'm able to use my XBOX 360 Wireless Gamepad just fine.

90FPS, and the CV1 does not mean one won't get motion sickness playing games. Playing project cars for example, i'm about ready to hurl after a minute (uuuuuggghhhh), and it gives me a persistent headache (same issue when playing FPS). Stationary type VR games don't give me the same nausea.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I never ended up cancelling my Rift order (meant to) but it shipped today so I'll get a chance to do a comparison. I too am concerned about the USB3 ports. The test complained about them and said they were incompatible but the Vive works fine with them. If they don't work, I would say it is a problem with Oculus drivers, not the ports themselves.

I should just forget it and resell it, but most of the games I actually want to play are Rift only. :/

 

[flopper]

90FPS, and the CV1 does not mean one won't get motion sickness playing games. Playing project cars for example, i'm about ready to hurl after a minute (uuuuuggghhhh), and it gives me a persistent headache (same issue when playing FPS). Stationary type VR games don't give me the same nausea.

its why I wait a few years when they have enough improvement done to VR

 

[pm]

I spent a very intense 45 minutes tonight playing Holopoint on the Vive. Definitely a game that you get better at with practice very quickly. And quite possibly the most intense workout from a game that I've played - and I'm in pretty good shape. After 5 minutes I was breathing heavily, after 10 minutes I was starting to sweat, and after 30 minutes it was feeling like a solid cardio routine. You definitely feel pretty badass shooting everything and then ducking. And it runs great on my under-spec rig. About the only problem was my wife came in and saw me ducking and shooting virtual arrows and said that I looked like a super dork... but the embarrassment only lasted a minute and then I was back to shooting arrows like Robin Hood again.

 

[Sabrewings]

its why I wait a few years when they have enough improvement done to VR

There's limits on what will improve that if you're susceptible to it. Apparently surround LEDs around the lenses that simulate a wider FOV help. Also, technology that fools your inner ear into feeling motion when there is none is in the works, but may be many years away.

When it comes to cockpit games, most people are ok with it. I'm usually iffy on artificial movement in games (where the game moves you but you don't really move) but cockpit scenarios allows me to disconnect from the outside motion. This took a little while since I have actual flight hours and not feeling a g increase when I pulled back in Elite felt odd. I got used to it quickly and now thoroughly enjoy it. You can get "vr legs" if you work up to it. However, if you ever try to push through the sickness it will backfire terribly. You have to stop at the first onset and do something else (room scale or no VR at all) to allow your vision and inner ear to come to agreement again.

I should just forget it and resell it, but most of the games I actually want to play are Rift only. :/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3055...culus-vr-exclusives-to-htc-vive-headsets.html

 

[ImpulsE69]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3055...culus-vr-exclusives-to-htc-vive-headsets.html

Yea, I'm aware of this. Haven't had a chance to mess with it though. Sounds like some works fine, others not so much.

 

[exar333]

Rift is shipping today. Skull Canyon is shipping today. Just waiting on Razer Core.

 

[Kaido]

Leap Motion VR Mount + HTC Vive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Dib8GtgU8

 

[Kaido]

'Android VR' confirmed by Google developer site:

http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/13/android-vr-confirmed-by-google-developer-site/

"Android VR will be definitely be announced next week" (at Google I/O). Rojas added that the device will be a "standalone" headset that doesn't require a phone

Well that's some interesting news...Samsung was talking about releasing a standalone VR headset that doesn't require a phone (or computer), wonder if they'll pair with Google or stick with their Oculus partnership.

 

[Sabrewings]

Leap Motion VR Mount + HTC Vive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Dib8GtgU8

I lol'd a bit that they went to all that trouble. There's an onboard USB port.

 

[Aikouka]

I lol'd a bit that they went to all that trouble. There's an onboard USB port.

Leap Motion's site says it doesn't have enough bandwidth if you have the Vive's camera turned on.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Rift arrived today. I'll mess with it over the weekend and give some opinions on each.

 

[Sabrewings]

Leap Motion's site says it doesn't have enough bandwidth if you have the Vive's camera turned on.

*shrug* Works fine for most. The camera's bandwidth can be scaled if need be.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I've yet to even use the camera on my Vive..even still has the plastic on it, the cage works well enough for me.

 

[Aikouka]

I've yet to even use the camera on my Vive..even still has the plastic on it, the cage works well enough for me.

I've enabled it, and it's kinda helpful if you want to see the actual room. When you're on the basic menu, it hooks the camera view to one of your controllers, which can be a little... odd since the actual view itself is controlled by the direction that you're facing and not the position of the controller.