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HTC Vive Launch Thread -- Computer, activate holodeck

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SomTervo

Member
Cool. Looking forward to it then. May have to wait for my GTX 1080 to really dig into it since it looks so good at higher resolutions.

Technolust is the game that introduced me to the method and it works great. That game does 45 degrees and it works fine since you can see everything in between by turning your neck. But maybe that only works because a city is all 90 degree angles anyway and the environments are smaller. The larger environments set in nature might require something a little smaller. Would have to test it.

Apparently The Solus Project's director and programmers managed to optimise the heck out of it, so it should look good with a 980 or above.

I was wondering about snap-turning in terms of the level design, yeah. TSP has a lot of natural formations - caves, irregular bends, lava hexes. I guess if your head turns the body it's OK. Could be weird, though!
 

Zalusithix

Member
Honestly if Nvidia fully funded a game and locked it to their hardware I wouldn't care. It's their money, they can do that if they want with the product they finance.

Without Oculus and their headset some of their games don't even get made so those without Oculus headsets lose nothing.

Oculus doesn't see their headset as a peripheral, they see it as a platform.

You're free to be fine with that hypothetical fragmented PC ecosystem where you'll need multiple of everything to play anything. Likewise, corporations can do whatever they want with their money. That doesn't mean I have to agree with their actions, especially when it's diametrically opposed to my best interests as a consumer. (Corporations do love people that acquiesce to anti-consumer practices though.) In the end, they spend money to make money. If everybody votes with their wallets and tells them to change or take a hike, they'll have two options. Change or go bankrupt and die.

If Oculus wants act like a console, they can build one instead of trying to piggyback off the existing PC platform like a Trojan horse.
 

Durante

Member
Finally!

piratevczfp.png


Still not enough for the global top 10, but getting there.

Oooh, dat salt
That's not "salt", that's realizing the long-term advantages of an open platform both for individual gamers and gaming as a medium. Just think how great movies would be if you could only watch ones made by Sony on a Sony TV.
 

StudioTan

Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
You're free to be fine with that hypothetical fragmented PC ecosystem where you'll need multiple of everything to play anything. Likewise, corporations can do whatever they want with their money. That doesn't mean I have to agree with their actions, especially when it's diametrically opposed to my best interests as a consumer. (Corporations do love people that acquiesce to anti-consumer practices though.) In the end, they spend money to make money. If everybody votes with their wallets and tells them to change or take a hike, they'll have two options. Change or go bankrupt and die.

If Oculus wants act like a console, they can build one instead of trying to piggyback off the existing PC platform like a Trojan horse.

So consoles are inherently anti-consumer?
 

SomTervo

Member
That's not "salt", that's realizing the long-term advantages of an open platform both for individual gamers and gaming as a medium. Just think how great movies would be if you could only watch ones made by Sony on a Sony TV.

I don't disagree with you - but the quoted indicated super defensiveness about Oculus' use of PC as a platform rather than discussing the benefits of broadening its horizons.
 

vermadas

Member
I understand that PC is one of the last bastions of the "open" platform and the opposition to Oculus trying to put their semi-closed VR platform in it, but people need to stop regurgitating the same lame analogies.

"It's like if Sony movies only played on Sony TVs!"
"It's like if Sony VR games only played on a Sony VR headset!" Oh...
"It's like if nVidia's G-Sync only worked on nVidia GPUs and monitors containing their module!"

I'd like it better if Oculus Store supported the Vive and we didn't have to deal with the DRM BS but I understand it from their perspective. The battle cries from the supporters of the open platform have been drowned out by the immense amount of money Apple made with their locked down iOS devices. Feel free to keep fighting but I don't really care much anymore.
 

Durante

Member
I understand that PC is one of the last bastions of the "open" platform and the opposition to Oculus trying to put their semi-closed VR platform in it, but people need to stop regurgitating the same lame analogies.

"It's like if Sony movies only played on Sony TVs!"
"It's like if Sony VR games only played on a Sony VR headset!" Oh...
"It's like if nVidia's G-Sync only worked on nVidia GPUs and monitors containing their module!"
Well, that third analogy certainly is lame. The other two are on point. (Why? because those two, and the Oculus situation, deal with content being locked to a specific brand of hardware. The third doesn't, even though it still sucks)

The battle cries from the supporters of the open platform have been drowned out by the immense amount of money Apple made with their locked down iOS devices. Feel free to keep fighting but I don't really care much anymore.
I will, thank you.
 

Zalusithix

Member
I don't disagree with you - but the quoted indicated super defensiveness about Oculus' use of PC as a platform rather than discussing the benefits of broadening its horizons.

The PC is the platform. VR headsets, while not a peripheral in the traditional sense - they're not optional for VR gaming - are just a component of PCs. You need a CPU, RAM, nonvolatile storage, a display device, and an input device to have a functioning PC. You need to add a GPU to make it gaming capable. Software will work on a PC regardless of what brand you have of any of the above. You don't need an Intel CPU in an Asus motherboard with Corsair RAM and the program installed on a Samsung SSD along with an EVGA branded Nvidia GPU for a game to function. It's all hardware agnostic. Now you need a VR headset to make a PC VR capable. The trend should remain where the you don't need X brand hardware for the game, or any other software. Making a hardware locked console on top of the PC isn't broadening any horizons.

Edit:
So consoles are inherently anti-consumer?
Objectively speaking, compared to PCs? Yes. Any situation where you're giving one company complete control over every aspect is inherently more anti-consumer than an open platform that encourages competition. Then there's the nearly infinite backwards compatibility of PC, modding, etc.

That said, I can live with consoles. They are what they are, and always have been. The companies behind them also have to take a greater risk for that closed nature. It's a different story when a company tries to intentionally fragment an existing platform. PCs have been successful because of their open nature, not in spite of it.
 

Durante

Member
Ok, let's get back to talking more concretely about the Vive.

Has anyone launched The Lab after its recent update?

I just did (and played up to Wave 24 in Logbow :p), and I feel like there was a huge improvement in IQ in addition to the more public changes. Seriously, massive.

Just look at anything, even the controller model really. The clarity and edge quality seems like 4xmsaa + downsampling or something ridiculous like that to me. I'd love for someone else to check.



Actually, this session in the Lab just made me feel even better about the Vive again. With the stuff I played recently I had started thinking that maybe I had some rose-tinted glasses at launch concerning image quality in the HMD - now I realized (or, well, recalled, I should have been aware since DK1!) just how much of it really comes down to software and the quality of the rendered image. Everything in The Lab looks fantastic.
 

Zalusithix

Member
Ok, let's get back to talking more concretely about the Vive.

Has anyone launched The Lab after its recent update?

I just did (and played up to Wave 24 in Logbow :p), and I feel like there was a huge improvement in IQ in addition to the more public changes. Seriously, massive.

Just look at anything, even the controller model really. The clarity and edge quality seems like 4xmsaa + downsampling or something ridiculous like that to me. I'd love for someone else to check.



Actually, this session in the Lab just made me feel even better about the Vive again. With the stuff I played recently I had started thinking that maybe I had some rose-tinted glasses at launch concerning image quality in the HMD - now I realized (or, well, recalled, I should have been aware since DK1!) just how much of it really comes down to software and the quality of the rendered image. Everything in The Lab looks fantastic.
Haven't played it since the update, but I don't ever remember it being bad to begin with. It along with theBlu were great even back then. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly a step up from the competition. I'll start it back up tonight, but I doubt I'd be able to tell if they did improve it because of the favorable impression I had of it already. Can't wait for that renderer to make its way to other games.
 

Paganmoon

Member
Ok, let's get back to talking more concretely about the Vive.

Has anyone launched The Lab after its recent update?

I just did (and played up to Wave 24 in Logbow :p), and I feel like there was a huge improvement in IQ in addition to the more public changes. Seriously, massive.

Just look at anything, even the controller model really. The clarity and edge quality seems like 4xmsaa + downsampling or something ridiculous like that to me. I'd love for someone else to check.



Actually, this session in the Lab just made me feel even better about the Vive again. With the stuff I played recently I had started thinking that maybe I had some rose-tinted glasses at launch concerning image quality in the HMD - now I realized (or, well, recalled, I should have been aware since DK1!) just how much of it really comes down to software and the quality of the rendered image. Everything in The Lab looks fantastic.

Could it be they've added more auto-scaling options to the engine? so that I now auto adds AA or even say auto-scales the resolution?

Would be great news if so. (and where the hell is my 1080 asus???)
 
Ok, let's get back to talking more concretely about the Vive.

Has anyone launched The Lab after its recent update?

I just did (and played up to Wave 24 in Logbow :p), and I feel like there was a huge improvement in IQ in addition to the more public changes. Seriously, massive.

Just look at anything, even the controller model really. The clarity and edge quality seems like 4xmsaa + downsampling or something ridiculous like that to me. I'd love for someone else to check.



Actually, this session in the Lab just made me feel even better about the Vive again. With the stuff I played recently I had started thinking that maybe I had some rose-tinted glasses at launch concerning image quality in the HMD - now I realized (or, well, recalled, I should have been aware since DK1!) just how much of it really comes down to software and the quality of the rendered image. Everything in The Lab looks fantastic.

Mine still has a weird occasional pixel shift/judder on the logo during loading between scenes. It's still distracting enough that I tend to close my eyes while it is loading. I was hoping they'd fix this by now.
 

Tain

Member
Ok, let's get back to talking more concretely about the Vive.

Has anyone launched The Lab after its recent update?

I just did (and played up to Wave 24 in Logbow :p), and I feel like there was a huge improvement in IQ in addition to the more public changes. Seriously, massive.

Just look at anything, even the controller model really. The clarity and edge quality seems like 4xmsaa + downsampling or something ridiculous like that to me. I'd love for someone else to check.



Actually, this session in the Lab just made me feel even better about the Vive again. With the stuff I played recently I had started thinking that maybe I had some rose-tinted glasses at launch concerning image quality in the HMD - now I realized (or, well, recalled, I should have been aware since DK1!) just how much of it really comes down to software and the quality of the rendered image. Everything in The Lab looks fantastic.

I haven't booted it up yet, and you're probably right, but I have to wonder if Pool Nation VR's success got everyone used to 100% (or perhaps even lower) screen resolution.
 

Lunar FC

Member
Wow - how is this legal?

Do you have to Import your own roms?

That is how it was in the regular game, they were just blank arcade machines and they told you were to get all the roms for them and for the SNES and GB games.

I was excited for them to just update NewRetroArcade for the vive but this whole extra step seems awesome.
 

GlamFM

Banned
That is how it was in the regular game, they were just blank arcade machines and they told you were to get all the roms for them and for the SNES and GB games.

I was excited for them to just update NewRetroArcade for the vive but this whole extra step seems awesome.

Super cool!
 

Sky Chief

Member
Ok, let's get back to talking more concretely about the Vive.

Has anyone launched The Lab after its recent update?

I just did (and played up to Wave 24 in Logbow :p), and I feel like there was a huge improvement in IQ in addition to the more public changes. Seriously, massive.

Just look at anything, even the controller model really. The clarity and edge quality seems like 4xmsaa + downsampling or something ridiculous like that to me. I'd love for someone else to check.



Actually, this session in the Lab just made me feel even better about the Vive again. With the stuff I played recently I had started thinking that maybe I had some rose-tinted glasses at launch concerning image quality in the HMD - now I realized (or, well, recalled, I should have been aware since DK1!) just how much of it really comes down to software and the quality of the rendered image. Everything in The Lab looks fantastic.

I haven't noticed any improvement on my PC (4770k with 980Ti) and I've been playing a lot since the update but I always thought the Lab was by far the crispest and best looking VR experience. Everything just looks more realistic and it definitely gives a deeper sense of presence than other software. Maybe they just got it to run better on lower hardware?
 

Durante

Member
I haven't noticed any improvement on my PC (4770k with 980Ti) and I've been playing a lot since the update but I always thought the Lab was by far the crispest and best looking VR experience. Everything just looks more realistic and it definitely gives a deeper sense of presence than other software. Maybe they just got it to run better on lower hardware?
Yeah, since you have a 980ti it could be that it always scaled higher, but now also does so on my lowly 970. Or I simply forgot just how good it looked.

ANYWAY

PSA

I was just playing Holoball, and this happened:
dsc_00271sjxt9.jpg


So basically I lost the controller on a swing, the lanyard broke, and the controller was flung into a wall at pretty ridiculous speed. My first thought was "WTF just happened", the second was "Oh shit, so much for VR for however longit takes to get a replacement".

Well, the good news is that the controller still seems to work - and from cursory tests tracks as well as it did before - which I find pretty incredible. These things are built like tanks. On the other hand, the fact that the very thing supposed to prevent this from happening simply broke is also pretty incredible.

So yeah, get some better lanyard if you are like me and prone to really get into these physical games.

Just to give you an idea of the force we are talking about here, this is where it hit the wall:
dsc_002813zyer.jpg
 

Despera

Banned
Yeah, since you have a 980ti it could be that it always scaled higher, but now also does so on my lowly 970. Or I simply forgot just how good it looked.

ANYWAY

PSA

I was just playing Holoball, and this happened:
dsc_00271sjxt9.jpg


So basically I lost the controller on a swing, the lanyard broke, and the controller was flung into a wall at pretty ridiculous speed. My first thought was "WTF just happened", the second was "Oh shit, so much for VR for however longit takes to get a replacement".

Well, the good news is that the controller still seems to work - and from cursory tests tracks as well as it did before - which I find pretty incredible. These things are built like tanks. On the other hand, the fact that the very thing supposed to prevent this from happening simply broke is also pretty incredible.

So yeah, get some better lanyard if you are like me and prone to really get into these physical games.

Just to give you an idea of the force we are talking about here, this is where it hit the wall:
dsc_002813zyer.jpg

Already made a PSA 2 days ago (same damn game as well lol)...

Quick PSA

I highly recommend Vive owners to invest in stronger straps than the ones provided by HTC. Mine snapped when the controllers slipped from my hand while playing Holoball. I swung a bit too hard and the straps couldn't handle it.

Controller is still working fine, at least for now. There's a crack that goes across one of the side receptors though as a result of it hitting the wall pretty damn hard.

So I suggest either:

a. investing in some better straps.
b. applying padding to the walls to soften any blows.

So yeah, I don't know if straps failing and leading to controller physical damage is covered under warranty. I would like to get at least one spare controller though just in case, but I doubt parts are sold separately at this point.
you should've listened, Durante :p

I guess we're both lucky our controllers still work. Next victim may not be as lucky, so I think it's time to seriously consider investing in better wrist straps. I guess HTC didn't trial test the ones that come with the Vive sufficiently.
 

Zalusithix

Member
Yeah, since you have a 980ti it could be that it always scaled higher, but now also does so on my lowly 970. Or I simply forgot just how good it looked.

ANYWAY

PSA

I was just playing Holoball, and this happened:
dsc_00271sjxt9.jpg


So basically I lost the controller on a swing, the lanyard broke, and the controller was flung into a wall at pretty ridiculous speed. My first thought was "WTF just happened", the second was "Oh shit, so much for VR for however longit takes to get a replacement".

Well, the good news is that the controller still seems to work - and from cursory tests tracks as well as it did before - which I find pretty incredible. These things are built like tanks. On the other hand, the fact that the very thing supposed to prevent this from happening simply broke is also pretty incredible.

So yeah, get some better lanyard if you are like me and prone to really get into these physical games.

Just to give you an idea of the force we are talking about here, this is where it hit the wall:
dsc_002813zyer.jpg

You're the second one I've seen with the lanyard itself break. I guess it's out of freak incident level now and can be considered a legitimate flaw. Either in the strap itself being too weak, or the controller being capable of breaking it (sharp edge?). That line should not be capable of fraying/breaking under any reasonable use case. I guess I'll be looking to see what alternative options are out there.
 
Actually, this session in the Lab just made me feel even better about the Vive again. With the stuff I played recently I had started thinking that maybe I had some rose-tinted glasses at launch concerning image quality in the HMD - now I realized (or, well, recalled, I should have been aware since DK1!) just how much of it really comes down to software and the quality of the rendered image. Everything in The Lab looks fantastic.

That's what I keep saying since launch.

Everything in the lab is just at the right distance and with the right art direction.

It relies to the HMD's strenght rather than going for a traditional approach.

The archery game is the perfect example: the arena is big while still being quite "short": you never really notice low resolution since you're rarely focusing at distant objects. And the stylized graphics help keep shimmering and other nasty artifacts to a minimum (while pushing AA and framerate).
 
ANYWAY

PSA

I was just playing Holoball, and this happened:
The flimsy lanyards are so notorious at this point that Nintendo sold out their Wii replacements the first few weeks after Vive started shipping.

Also, Holoball must be the game that has done the most property damage by far. Only game where I smashed my controller into something (my ceiling). They've allowed you to reduce max height now, but I am still afraid to lose myself in this game since it basically requires you to be reckless.
 

Durante

Member
Already made a PSA 2 days ago (same damn game as well lol)...


you should've listened, Durante :p

I guess we're both lucky our controllers still work. Next victim may not be as lucky, so I think it's time to seriously consider investing in better wrist straps. I guess HTC didn't trial test the ones that come with the Vive sufficiently.
My fault for not following the Vive thread closely all the time :( (I mean it)

But my PSA has dangerous red text and scary images, so maybe more people will pay attention ;)

(Fun fact: I was playing with an open window, so if my VR space layout was different... it's actually scary to consider)
 

Paganmoon

Member
My fault for not following the Vive thread closely all the time :( (I mean it)

But my PSA has dangerous red text and scary images, so maybe more people will pay attention ;)

(Fun fact: I was playing with an open window, so if my VR space layout was different... it's actually scary to consider)

Geez, with that amount of force, and the sturdiness of the controllers, you could've killed someone.
 

Tain

Member
y'all convinced me, I'll grab my one Wii wrist strap. I've actually been holding off on Holoball and waiting to get a couple Wii straps after seeing Despera's post, but maybe I'll swap with the single one I already have and play some tonight since it's a one-handed game.
 

bj00rn_

Banned
Just did "theBlu" with my new MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X, and surprisingly everything appears to be a slightly clearer, and with a bit more presence..

I can only think of two reasons for that: Either the mountain of money I paid for the card makes me want to see things.. or, my old 970 needed some help from reprojection which led to image artefacts.

The GTX 1080 "broke" the display port arrangement to the vive breakout box btw, spent an hour troubleshooting with absolutely no result before I randomly saw a forum post saying it was a widespread problem.. Luckily I reached the store before they closed so I could get my hands on a displayport to HDMI cable for my monitor..
 

Durante

Member
Just did "theBlu" with my new MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X, and surprisingly everything appears to be a slightly clearer, and with a bit more presence..

I can only think of two reasons for that: Either the mountain of money I paid for the card makes me want to see things.. or, my old 970 needed some help from reprojection which led to image artefacts.
It could also be that theBlu does dynamic quality scaling to keep in the target frametime, like Valve's stuff.

I'm getting more and more convinced that that's really the way to go for VR.

The GTX 1080 "broke" the display port arrangement to the vive breakout box btw, spent an hour troubleshooting with absolutely no result before I randomly saw a forum post saying it was a widespread problem.. Luckily I reached the store before they closed so I could get my hands on a displayport to HDMI cable for my monitor..
Can you elaborate? I'm planning a similar upgrade and am currently using displayport for the Vive.
 

d00d3n

Member
Ok, let's get back to talking more concretely about the Vive.

Has anyone launched The Lab after its recent update?

I just did (and played up to Wave 24 in Logbow :p), and I feel like there was a huge improvement in IQ in addition to the more public changes. Seriously, massive.

Just look at anything, even the controller model really. The clarity and edge quality seems like 4xmsaa + downsampling or something ridiculous like that to me. I'd love for someone else to check.

I played The Lab for the first time right before the patch was released and have now tried it again after the patch. I can't claim to be an expert on judging these things, but it looks pretty much the same as before for me (that is mindblowing, especially when you pick the robot apart in the workshop/Portal demo). This is on a 5820k@4.3, 16 Gb RAM, Titan X SC, installed on an ssd, win 10.

Bad luck with the damaged wall. I think I will attach my disgusting Wii straps to the Vive after all, considering that two of my play area limits are lined with expensive electronics.
 

SomTervo

Member
So, it's my birthday soon, and I just got a beautiful, massive tax rebate of over a grand.

I was planning on getting a Vive and a 1080 in the next few months, but with all this flow and it being my birthday, I might go in one each in the next two weeks.

If I ordered in the next week or two, how likely would I be to receive the Vive and/or the 1080 by Sunday 26 June?

I've not been keeping up to date on the shipping/stock whathaveyou.
 

bj00rn_

Banned
Can you elaborate? I'm planning a similar upgrade and am currently using displayport for the Vive.

Sure. So, with the 970 I had to connect to the breakout box via an displayport to minidisplayport to get it working since, like you know, the 970 also only have one hdmi port..

Today I expected the same setup to just continue to work with my new card, of course! So after I installed and connected everything, SteamVR immediately gave me several types of error messages, one most frequently being "HMD display not found (208)", and then some "Compositor not found (-201 and 400)".

I thought I had done something wrong, so I spent an hour of doing....many...many things.. To no avail..

Then I found this thread: Warning! Upgrading to GTX 1080 breaks mini DP port

So I did a lot of swearing on my way to the car, then pedal to the metal in my car racing to the store to buy a displayport to hdmi dongle which I instead connected to the monitor, and then the hdmi cable itself between the breakout box and the card. ..And it worked immediately!



It could also be that theBlu does dynamic quality scaling to keep in the target frametime, like Valve's stuff.

I'm getting more and more convinced that that's really the way to go for VR.

Could be, it just dawned on me at the time that I could feel and see much of the same thing in Pool Nation VR when the reprojection start working (looking at the fps counter in the settings there).


Anyway, damn this card is so silent..
 

Compsiox

Banned
I really wanna see a developer get brave and use the point and walk method. When you come to a stop you can walk around with room scale.
 

Exuro

Member
So, it's my birthday soon, and I just got a beautiful, massive tax rebate of over a grand.

I was planning on getting a Vive and a 1080 in the next month or two, but with all this flow and it being my birthday, I might go in one each in the next two weeks.

If I ordered in the next week or two, how likely would I be to receive the Vive and/or the 1080 by Sunday 26 June?

I've not been keeping up to date on the shipping/stock whathaveyou.
Steam says they ship between 2-3 business days now.
 

d00d3n

Member
I really wanna see a developer get brave and use the point and walk method. When you come to a stop you can walk around with room scale.

Wouldn't that be experienced as a nausea inducing involuntary movement? (that teleport is supposed to solve)
 

Durante

Member
Sure. So, with the 970 I had to connect to the breakout box via an displayport to minidisplayport to get it working since, like you know, the 970 also only have one hdmi port..

Today I expected the same setup to just continue to work with my new card, of course! So after I installed and connected everything, SteamVR immediately gave me several types of error messages, one most frequently being "HMD display not found (208)", and then some "Compositor not found (-201 and 400)".

I thought I had done something wrong, so I spent an hour of doing....many...many things.. To no avail..

Then I found this thread: Warning! Upgrading to GTX 1080 breaks mini DP port

So I did a lot of swearing on my way to the car, then pedal to the metal in my car racing to the store to buy a displayport to hdmi dongle which I instead connected to the monitor, and then the hdmi cable itself between the breakout box and the card. ..And it worked immediately!
That's... really annoying. Especially since the cable I put through my wall for the Vive is DP->miniDP. Thanks for the warning!
 
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