• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

HTC Vive Launch Thread -- Computer, activate holodeck

Status
Not open for further replies.

deadfolk

Member
There was a hilarious bug when my flashlight suddenly became upside down. It wasn't a tracking issue because it was fine in the Steam menu.

I'm sure I heard somewhere that is is an option or button toggle. Intended so you can use that hand as a support for the gunhand and point the flashlight outwards - like on TV!
 

Zalusithix

Member
well there is a third option - sit outside of the zone but in clear view of one of the cameras. Doesn't work if you have to turn 360 degrees, but it was useful enough for me on a few occasions - my desk is outside of my chaperone bounds but I can see one of the lighthouses.

That's not a third option. That falls under my "within the 120 degree laser cast". You don't need to be in the chaperone bounds, but you do need to be within the physical lighthouse bounds. My chaperone bounds end multiple feet away from my desk due to the room layout, but I can use it fine at my desk because I'm still within the physical tracking volume provided by the lighthouses. Considering I'm totally outside of the chaperone bounds, I also don't have to deal with chaperone walls coming up while seated like I might have to deal with if my desk was a chaperone edge.
 
Brookhaven didn't have much of an effect on me until I focused too much on one mutant, took it down, turned around and there was a mutant in my face. I was so surprised I literally fell back on my ass and dropped my gun controller. The funny part is I was playing it in front of some friends and one of them put the gun back in my hand before I got up, and I was laying there on my back taking out mutants with headshots because I hadn't quite died yet just like in a zombie movie where you trip and fall and get surrounded. It was a crazy experience.
 

888

Member
My Order finally went to Pending Fulfillment this morning. Hopefully it gets shipped soon. Would love to have it soon.
 

MaDKaT

Member
Same here. But sadly there are no really good seated VR implementations for the Vive yet. So enjoy room scale, because that's basically all you're getting anyway. After almost two weeks with the Vive the library (especially seated experiences) feels so sparse it's almost depressing. If only Assetto Corsa or Dirt Rally was out.., or if even only Elite Dangerous was a good implementation in the first place.. Well, Live for Speed is out, but I frankly don't notice much difference from the DK2 version (I may have bad memory)...

Yeah, Ive been following the state of various racing games and the Vive. I also understand it could be a while. Honestly wasn't planning to jump this early but still really glad I did. I know the games are coming eventually.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I'm looking forward to that set of NV mini-games, all kinds of physical simulation are great in VR.

I need to decide whether to get a 1070 or a 1080.

I've played the game on Rift and it's the game.

It's normal for anything in which the camera is not directly player-driven.


According to PC gamer that funhouse software might not be optimised that well:

One final thing to show off before we go dark (meaning we'll be under NDA embargo) is Nvidia's VR Fun House tech demo. It leverages massive amounts of PhysX, HairWorks, and other Nvidia technologies, and it's apparently more than a little demanding. How demanding? Nvidia had to use three—yes, three—GTX 1080 cards to keep Fun House running smoothly at 90 fps. The system was from OriginPC, and it was doing VR SLI on two of the GPUs, with the third GPU handling all the PhysX calculations.
 

UnrealEck

Member
I bet no one will use the nVidia Flex stuff anyway. It's been around for a while now and no one's touched it.
PhysX is barely ever even used.
 
Can you browse MP3s too? It does seem like it works best with electronic music but I want to try some of my own.

You can. I have all my mp3s on a network share. I just map the folder to a drive on my PC. From Audioshield you can then browse your drives. There's also a search feature but I found it to be a pain to use (not a fan of typing on that virtual keyboard).

BTW, FLAC works too.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
FWIW, Water Bears is bearly playable in a 2x2m space. It complains, and some of the portal positioning is pretty tight - for puzzle pack 3 I was literally squashing my head into the portal space just to trigger the next level - but I haven't come across any of the actual levels requiring that much space.

Durante/anyone else that has played it - are any of the puzzle pack 4 levels really large? It really does seem like just the portal positioning creating the 3x3m requirement which is silly and IMO the devs should work to remove that so more people can play it. I did fall through the floor at one point which was very odd and made my stomach churn - game paused for a second which was disorienting - and then I was under the floor. Oddly the steamVR menu was also above me and I had no chaperon bounds, so it seems like the system thought I'd just dropped 8ft. reboot of the headset sorted it out.


oh, and my wife gives no shits about VR. Did the tutorial and she didn't even watch the balloons go up, then barely tried Vesper Peak in the lab before wanting out. She said she might try it again another time for space pirate trainer so she can let some aggression out. I might download brookhaven just to see if there is any reaction..
 

Trouble

Banned
FWIW, Water Bears is bearly playable in a 2x2m space. It complains, and some of the portal positioning is pretty tight - for puzzle pack 3 I was literally squashing my head into the portal space just to trigger the next level - but I haven't come across any of the actual levels requiring that much space.

Durante/anyone else that has played it - are any of the puzzle pack 4 levels really large? It really does seem like just the portal positioning creating the 3x3m requirement which is silly and IMO the devs should work to remove that so more people can play it. I did fall through the floor at one point which was very odd and made my stomach churn - game paused for a second which was disorienting - and then I was under the floor. Oddly the steamVR menu was also above me and I had no chaperon bounds, so it seems like the system thought I'd just dropped 8ft. reboot of the headset sorted it out.


oh, and my wife gives no shits about VR. Did the tutorial and she didn't even watch the balloons go up, then barely tried Vesper Peak in the lab before wanting out. She said she might try it again another time for space pirate trainer so she can let some aggression out. I might download brookhaven just to see if there is any reaction..

None of them are that big. I've finished all 4 of the main puzzle packs and I just have a couple left in the 4th bonus pack. My space is 2mx2.1m and yeah while the portals are right next to the edge of my chaperone area it hasn't presented any real problems.

Fun game, btw.
 
Did some Mincraft earlier, and I have to say out of all the games available now it probably is the most convincing in terms of whatever presence is supposed to be for me. I was building this 2x2 tower straight up to take in the view, and had to lean over the edge to place each block to get higher and I was scared to drop the controllers since they would fall tens of meters. I had to tell myself several times that they would literally drop less than a meter if I were to drop them but the feeling was just so convincing.

While neither is my favorite thing to do in the Vive, both this and The Cubicle are the stuff that has gotten me closest to the "being there" feeling. I guess it is something about heights and scale that does it for me.
 

datamage

Member
Did some Mincraft earlier, and I have to say out of all the games available now it probably is the most convincing in terms of whatever presence is supposed to be for me. I was building this 2x2 tower straight up to take in the view, and had to lean over the edge to place each block to get higher and I was scared to drop the controllers since they would fall tens of meters. I had to tell myself several times that they would literally drop less than a meter if I were to drop them but the feeling was just so convincing.

While neither is my favorite thing to do in the Vive, both this and The Cubicle are the stuff that has gotten me closest to the "being there" feeling. I guess it is something about heights and scale that does it for me.

I gotta try Minecraft at some point, that sounds awesome.

Not the same, but, after a decent session of VR, I was messing around with the bow and arrow (in the Lab) for a while. After getting tired I wanted to end my night and I almost found myself putting the controllers on the table in the Lab. It's surreal.
 
I gotta try Minecraft at some point, that sounds awesome.

Not the same, but, after a decent session of VR, I was messing around with the bow and arrow (in the Lab) for a while. After getting tired I wanted to end my night and I almost found myself putting the controllers on the table in the Lab. It's surreal.

A friend of mine lost a shoe while playing Budget Cuts (tripped on the cable) and he tried to put it back on leaning on a table from the game world. We had to catch him before he fell down on the ground xD
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Anyone had their chaperone drift? I noticed today that one of my walls is noticeably inside the chaperone bounds - i hit the wall while my controller still looks maybe 20-30cm inside the chaperone grid. Haven't changed anything and the lighthouse in that corner is screwed to the wall.

Assume I'll have to redo room setup?
 
Anyone had their chaperone drift? I noticed today that one of my walls is noticeably inside the chaperone bounds - i hit the wall while my controller still looks maybe 20-30cm inside the chaperone grid. Haven't changed anything and the lighthouse in that corner is screwed to the wall.

Assume I'll have to redo room setup?
Yeah. it's happened to me. just re-setup
 
Anyone had their chaperone drift? I noticed today that one of my walls is noticeably inside the chaperone bounds - i hit the wall while my controller still looks maybe 20-30cm inside the chaperone grid. Haven't changed anything and the lighthouse in that corner is screwed to the wall.

Assume I'll have to redo room setup?

I noticed some drift with mine last night. I haven't gotten around to resetting it, but presumably going through room setup again will fix it.

I've bought every Vive game I was even moderately interested in (even the smaller, poorly contrived demo-esque content and that Dean Hall game), so I impulsively pulled the trigger on ADR1FT last night just to see if I could force it to work with Revive. It seems like the DRM (Denuvo) is causing issues, and the game closes itself seconds after launching with the injector. One of the developers replied to a post on Steam saying that they'll keep everyone updated about Vive support being released, but it's taking a shockingly long time.

I just want more games to play, and it feels like there's nothing.
 

XaosWolf

Member
Back from a month in NZ and finally got to my Vive.

After the setup was finally complete (an absolute chore driver-wise) I tried it in my room with the standing set-up and then in the loft space with the room scale stuff. Most of the day gone setting things up for both.

Spent ages just with The Lab, which I downloaded whilst going through the super charming tutorial.

Then moved on to Audioshield briefly... and holy shit is it cool! I did pick "THE HERO !!" by JAM Project on the hardest difficulty though, so that helped a bunch. =D

Too late to play any more with those creaky floorboards, so will save Fantastic Contraption, Job Simulator, Space Pirate Trainer and Holopoint for tomorrow and I can't fucking wait.

Even if all we get on VR are arcadey type games these have all been fantastic and energetic and the creativity can only go up right now.
 

Mazre

Member
Have you checked if the HDMI cable is well plugged in the headset (there is a small cover that can be open to access the plugs)?

Yes, one of the first things checked.

I got a response from Steam support, they recommended a quick edit in the steamvr.vrsettings file but that didn't work either. On the bright side at least there is a dialogue going now. I think the hardest part of this is coming up with something new to try and getting excited that it might be a solution and nothing changing.
 
bought a Display port to hdmi adapater. Might just be my imagination but things seem slightly smoother.

Also, that xlaxon game in the The Lab is great. They should make a full featured version.

It's nice to be able to come home from work and play with the Vive
 

Zalusithix

Member
After thinking more about internal prescription lenses mounted in the Vive's lenses, the more I realize that the solution is more trouble than it's worth. Considering sharing the headset with another person would necessitate removal of the lenses, the design would have to facilitate quick and easy removal while at the same time remaining secure when in use. Contacts side step this issue, but I have thought about a possible solution for using glasses without risking scratching the Vive's lenses for the times I'm too lazy to put in contacts: bumpers.

Given that the closest eye relief distance on the Vive is rather glasses friendly aside from the potential of scratching its lenses, all that's needed is a way to keep that from happening. To do it, create a lens attachment that stays on there 24/7 and comes out to the side and away from the lens. Either design it to hit the edge of the glasses frame, or line the protruding edge with microfiber cloth and have it interact with the actual lenses of the glasses. It would never interfere with non-glasses users as the eyes/face don't come that far into the headset, and would allow people that use glasses to wear it without worry. It also would cost a next to nothing as it doesn't require another set of prescription lenses.
 

Korezo

Member
Is it official that having glass messes with the light houses tracking? Never could get the vive to work properly in my room which has the entire left wall with glass double sliding doors and a plasma in the middle. While in the living room it worked ok.
 

XShagrath

Member
I've got a lighthouse problem and can't find anything online. One of my lighthouses turns blue when plugged in, then goes to the standard green and I can see the infrared array, but there's no channel displayed. When I hit the channel button on the back, the light goes red, the array goes off, and the channel starts cycling through a bunch of numbers and other symbols.

Any ideas?


EDIT: I got my issue fixed. Somehow, the lighthouse firmware got corrupted. I had to follow some steps from a Valve developer in order to reset it. I couldn't do it through SteamVR, since the lighthouse wasn't even detected.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/358720/discussions/0/385428458171928063/
 

CaLe

Member
Quick question regarding the lighthouses: do I have to plug them in directly into an outlet or I can use an extender ?

Thanks
 

AwesomeMeat

PossumMeat
Quick question regarding the lighthouses: do I have to plug them in directly into an outlet or I can use an extender ?

Thanks

You can use an extension cable if needed.The cables aren't really that long anyways considering that they recommend mounting them like 6.5 feet up. Most people I'd imagine will need extension cables.
 
Mhh I think my wireless adapater is in an USB 3.0 port and the Vive in an USB 2.0 port.

To be sure I need to check it later.

Uninstall the HTC software if you haven't. My USB WiFi adapter was only getting 1-2 MB/s. Uninstalled the HTC software and it shot up to 5 MB/s.
 

Zalusithix

Member
Got my first lighthouse optical desync today. Not exactly sure how it happened as there was certainly nothing obstructing the two as it happened in the Audioshield menu. And speaking of Audioshield, I don't think I want to listen to the Lain OP for quite some time now. I blame Durante for that. =P
 

thematic

Member
anyone use PayPal to pay?

do we still have to input Billing Address?
and after they ask for PayPal login, it show "ship to" in PayPal page.
will it ship to that address (my local address) or the address we provide in HTC shop?

I'm not using PayPal US and would like to ship to my friend place in California

please advise
Thank You
 

RedFox85

Member
Just wanted to give everyone a quick update as I posted I got this thing but never really said how I feel about it. Well I got this thing last week, I was wave 2 which said May and boy did they mean May - it came out of nowhere and I was excited! I have never had the pleasure of playing anything in VR prior to my vive, I have also never used an HMD for anything. I have been following VR since the DK1 and I always looked at it like this thing that was going to be the next "big" or "logical" move for videogames.

For many Mario 64 was the first real exposure we had to 3D gaming. I remember the very first time I saw that game at a blockbuster video and it blew my mind. All year long all I could think about was getting an N64 for Christmas and when that moment arrived and I plugged that game up to my 24" CRT at home I was in complete awe of the world unfolding before me. The thought of virtual reality is the only thing in my life that has come close to that experience and in my mind VR was going to be the next Mario 64 moment that gaming needed.

Opening the box and setting everything up in a rather crude fashion while reading the valve online guide for set-up was quite a site. I didn't have time for mounting things, I just had to get this thing plugged in and on my face as soon as possible! It was only about 45 minutes before I had to get to work that day and I desperately wanted to have my first VR experience right then and there. After fumbling around with wires and the lighthouses the moment came to finally place the device on my head, I clicked steamVR, slid the vive onto my face and closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes I was greeted by the white room.. I looked up at the cieling in complete awe, this place was HUGE.. like literally it was huge, there was nothing in my mind that was telling me otherwise - VR had won, at that very moment I realized that all of my excitement and anticipation had not been for nothing, it was real. My first real blunder also happened within this time frame, the robot instructed me to inflate some baloons and my natural response was to reach up and BOOP those suckers which resulted immediately in the controller getting smacked out of my hand by my ceiling fan which to be fair did not exist within the VR space.

After what was quite possibly the longest day at work I raced home and got into a few of the games. The first was 'The Lab' and I really found myself enjoying this, the scale once again blew me away and the valve charm was oozing from every pixel. Tiltbrush was next and I had a really good time drawing on the snowman, what I realized with this game is that these controllers are awesome in a way that no other controller can be. Within the virtual space the controllers can literally become anything, looking at your left hand in tiltbrush is completely different than looking at your left hand in Windlands even though you are actually holding the same controller in both titles. Speaking of that game I don't know how deep into Tiltbrush I will go but.. there really is some magic there and everyone I demo'd it to has really been amazed by it.

I finished out my night playing around with Job Simulator, first the chef and then the mechanic. Honestly I find Job Simulator kind of one note.. the game is quite charming but in all reality it can wear thin after awhile. There did not seem to be very much difference in the two jobs I tried as it all kind of boiled down to "do whacky stuff while standing in this space!" but I was really impressed with how 'natural' everything felt. The very next day after work I got home and found that one of my friends sent me a copy of Windlands. I hadn't really had that game on my radar however after booting into the world and looking around I was really blown away and I am really glad I own it.

Out of everything I have played so far Windlands comes the closest to feeling like more than an arcade game or proof of concept. The first time I pressed on the pad to jump into the air I thought I was going to fall on my ass! There is something weird about moving forward while physically standing still but after awhile you do become accustomed to it. The sense of scale once again is amazing and I found it really interesting how your brain just accepts the cartoon reality as if it was any other reality, there really isn't any kind of disconnect there. I am currently stuck in windlands on a really high series of floating islands which requires some pretty tough platforming and walljumping. This game is a good example of a title using the strengths of this new tech in a way that makes us learn how to play within the virtual space.

I have a few more titles in my collection, audioshield, fantastic contrap etc etc but the above really stuck out to me in unique ways. I am sorry for the long read but I just had allot of things I wanted to say about this tech. Needless to say I am VERY excited for the future of VR. If you have ever watched a video of people playing VR and told yourself "they are just hamming it up" you really need to try VR for yourself to see that no in fact they were not hamming it up. VR is here and it's the real deal!
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
In dream decks from oculus, is there a way to launch it directly to a particular demo, or control it from the host PC? I want to demo the trex and miniature city scene but don't want to explain the controls to people or grab an Xbox controller just for that


After thinking more about internal prescription lenses mounted in the Vive's lenses, the more I realize that the solution is more trouble than it's worth. Considering sharing the headset with another person would necessitate removal of the lenses, the design would have to facilitate quick and easy removal while at the same time remaining secure when in use. Contacts side step this issue, but I have thought about a possible solution for using glasses without risking scratching the Vive's lenses for the times I'm too lazy to put in contacts: bumpers.

Given that the closest eye relief distance on the Vive is rather glasses friendly aside from the potential of scratching its lenses, all that's needed is a way to keep that from happening. To do it, create a lens attachment that stays on there 24/7 and comes out to the side and away from the lens. Either design it to hit the edge of the glasses frame, or line the protruding edge with microfiber cloth and have it interact with the actual lenses of the glasses. It would never interfere with non-glasses users as the eyes/face don't come that far into the headset, and would allow people that use glasses to wear it without worry. It also would cost a next to nothing as it doesn't require another set of prescription lenses.

That is gloriously simple. Actually surprised neither headset has something like that built in
 

Zaptruder

Banned
So I've written a paper on an immersive solution to VR traversal - which I think is pretty much, as good as it gets in your standard home VR situation, without powerful mobile VR, or jacking into a brain computer interface.

Need some feedback/proof reading on it though. Anyone wanna take a look? It's about 25 pages long, with graphics/diagrams. Will probably take an hour or so to read.

Need feedback on the writing (easy enough to understand?), graphics/diagrams (illustrates the concept adequately) and the general concept/argument as well.

PM me for a copy. Cheers.

Gonna requote myself, just in case anyone's interested, but missed it yesterday. Already got a bit of useful feedback, but more is appreciated.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Is Audio Shield fixed yet or does it still crash regularly?
 

HT UK

Member
I have the minimum amount of space (2m x 1.5m), however there's a ceiling light in this area that's hanging down.

Now I could remove the lampshade, but there'd still be a bulb hanging down.

Is this likely to prevent me from being able to use room-scale VR? Either by getting in the way of the sensors, or just by being a risk while playing.
 
My roommate finished moving the rest of his stuff out, so I spent a bit of time rearranging my room for VR activities. The playspace is 4.4x4.8-ish now, which feels great. The furthest corner is almost a bit too far for the cable length.

I got bored at work today and spent about 20 minutes making some Portal themed posters to amuse myself. Just slapped them on the wall with some washi tape. I also totally forgot to hang up the "DO NOT INTERFERE WITH TEST SUBJECT" one, which seems the most important in retrospect.

0BRp36S.jpg


M3tN6Eg.jpg



Bonus Portal themed lighting:
8f4ZdqU.jpg

Excited to add my Rift to this setup tomorrow (albeit for only a few weeks at most).
 

the licensee

Neo Member
I should have my Vive by the end of the week and was planning on borrowing some light stands similar to these while I decide if I'm gonna buy my own or mount the stations to the wall.

Am I right in thinking that the lighthouses come with something to attach them to the stands?
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Trying out some Oculus stuff right now.


Dreamdeck, These were awesome. Dat Trex encounter...


Henry was cute.

Farlands is pretty awesome.


Going to try more soon.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I have the minimum amount of space (2m x 1.5m), however there's a ceiling light in this area that's hanging down.

Now I could remove the lampshade, but there'd still be a bulb hanging down.

Is this likely to prevent me from being able to use room-scale VR? Either by getting in the way of the sensors, or just by being a risk while playing.

I have 2x2m with a pendant light. I've bumped it a couple of times but not hit it hard. But then I've avoided Holopoint so far :)

I think its important to keep the shade on, as it'll help protect the bulb from being hit directly by the controller - which is likely to be an immediate smash with glass falling on your head. I am hoping to get that replaced with downlighters eventually, but it'll be a few months before that can happen.
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
So for Audioshield, by default it's set to 1280x720 and rendering quality is not at max. You can hit the cog in the upper right hand corner and change the settings. Might've been obvious, but I missed this at first.

On a different note, is VorpX worth it?

If you desperately want to play GTA V ,Skyrim, Falout4, and Alien Isolation in vr then it sounds like it. tho be prepaired for low fps motion sickness , etc
.if your more curious then anything probably not
 

hodgy100

Member
So I had a go on a Vive yesterday and I'm sold! I only played like 20 minuites of the gallery but I was instantly immersed. This tech makes "walking simulators" absolutely fascinating you just want to inspect absolutely everything.

Is safe to put down a pre-order with a debit card now after the launch shenanigans?

EDIT: also I may order it from scan or overclockers being as its a good £50 cheaper
 

cheezcake

Member
AUSGAF

Long shot but does anyone know where to get those quick support rods in Australia? The amazon link doesn't deliver here :(
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
If you desperately want to play GTA V ,Skyrim, Falout4, and Alien Isolation in vr then it sounds like it. tho be prepaired for low fps motion sickness , etc
.if your more curious then anything probably not

VorpX adds back in the Alien Isolation VR capability?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom