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HTC Vive Launch Thread -- Computer, activate holodeck

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Helznicht

Member
Well, i just upgraded from 970 to 1070 to improve image quality on my vive using super sampling, i tested raw data, i set SS to 1.4, and all graphics options at medium and it still lags as hell on some scenarios, is that game really demanding?, because it does not look like it requires such a monster PC to run properly.

I tried RD on a 1080 at the MS store. I have a 970 and to get RD to run smooth on it I have to make it fairly pixelated. The 1080 demo I tried was smooth, but res improvement was marginal at best. I was all in on getting a 1080 this holiday for the exact same reasons, to get some supersampling, but hardware is just not there yet. When a card comes out that can run Project Cars at 4k 90 fps, i will upgrade then.
 

Horsefly

Member
do the base stations NEED to be at opposite corners of the play area? Could they work at adjacent corners?

I have vertical blinds running the length of my room, and the base stations would fit on top of them wonderfully without messing with the feng shui of the room
 
do the base stations NEED to be at opposite corners of the play area? Could they work at adjacent corners?

I have vertical blinds running the length of my room, and the base stations would fit on top of them wonderfully without messing with the feng shui of the room

You're almost certainly going to get blind spots on the other side of the room. The stations have to be able to be pointed at each other (more or less), and that means the side of the room without base stations wouldn't be visible.

I think you might be able to do this if you use optical sync—connect the two base stations with a super long (included) cable. This way, the base stations don't have to be pointed at each other to work, so you might be able to play with the angle in order to get coverage on the far side of the room. But if you're concerned about room aesthetics, I'm not sure how a long cable running between the base stations would be acceptable either, unless you could find a way to hide the cable somehow.
 

Tain

Member
As someone who hasn't done a whole lot of seated VR gaming with the Vive, is the chaperone system something you just set to Developer and try to ignore? Or are there real solutions to temporarily disable it? Or do you just sit in the middle of the roomscale space? Curious as to what people are doing when it comes to something like Elite with a HOTAS.
 
Just played Ghost Town Mine Ride & Shootin' Gallery which is pretty cool, sometimes though I see the Vive desktop (if that's the name of the room when you're not in a game?) flashing up for a split second, at first I thought it was the firewall thingy but I had already taken care of that. Is that a known phenomenon?
 

Tain

Member
Just played Ghost Town Mine Ride & Shootin' Gallery which is pretty cool, sometimes though I see the Vive desktop (if that's the name of the room when you're not in a game?) flashing up for a split second, at first I thought it was the firewall thingy but I had already taken care of that. Is that a known phenomenon?

That's working as intended. If the game's stuttering or loading or otherwise taking too long to give you a comfortable VR experience, SteamVR just renders the home instead.
 

Zalusithix

Member
I tried it yesterday and it's fabulous.

It's better now with async reprojection, but still requires a good GPU to handle the supersampling levels needed to make the HUDs legible and reduce aliasing.

One thing to note is that VR is a pain if you're a trader in Elite and rely on external tools to do route optimization and such. All the ways of playing with that sort of information at your fingertips are rendered moot by the headset (mulitple monitors/windows, typical overlays). Constantly taking the headset off and putting it back on is hardly fun. Meanwhile, Steam's desktop overlay is hardly optimal and a kludge fix at best.

The funny part is that OpenVR makes it possible to integrate this sort of functionality into the game in an extremely natural way. IVROverlay provides the means by which to display an overlay in any OpenVR game at the coordinates that you wish. Seeing as how Elite's HUDs are statically placed in the world, you'd be able to mimic the auto open/close side windows and have it appear when you look at it and go away when you're not. I'm frankly kind of surprised that nobody has done it yet. The closest thing would be OpenVRDesktopDisplayPortal, but that's generic and relying on (slow) desktop capture.
 

zeioIIDX

Member
Edit: Fixed my issue by uninstalling SteamVR and installing it again.

So I don't know why this happens but since I got the Vive, I get an error that pops up that says "vr dashboard has stopped working". It gives me an option to close it, that's it. I can play games just fine but pressing the button on the Vive controller does not bring up the Steam VR overlay like it should so anytime I want to play a new game, I have to take the headset off and go to my computer to fiddle about. I searched NeoGAF and Google for an answer but cannot find any reason why this is happening. I did switch from one USB 3 port to another USB 3 port. Maybe I need to try using a 2.0 port instead.
 
That's working as intended. If the game's stuttering or loading or otherwise taking too long to give you a comfortable VR experience, SteamVR just renders the home instead.

Hm, this must be game specific. Universe Sandbox2 doesn't do that but that game get's out of hand really easy performance wise.
 

SimplexPL

Member
You're almost certainly going to get blind spots on the other side of the room. The stations have to be able to be pointed at each other (more or less), and that means the side of the room without base stations wouldn't be visible.

I think you might be able to do this if you use optical sync—connect the two base stations with a super long (included) cable. This way, the base stations don't have to be pointed at each other to work, so you might be able to play with the angle in order to get coverage on the far side of the room. But if you're concerned about room aesthetics, I'm not sure how a long cable running between the base stations would be acceptable either, unless you could find a way to hide the cable somehow.

I don't think the cable will help in that situation (I may be wrong). It is used when the base stations are too far apart from each other.
In the case of them being placed both adjacently, the cable will not magically prevent blind spots - they will always be there if the stations are not facing one another.
 
I don't think the cable will help in that situation (I may be wrong). It is used when the base stations are too far apart from each other.
In the case of them being placed both adjacently, the cable will not magically prevent blind spots - they will always be there if the stations are not facing one another.

I was thinking you could angle both lighthouses toward the far wall. Depending on how wide or far the room is, each lighthouse's cone of vision might be able to cover the whole room. I'm not expecting the cable to magically fix blind spots, it just gives you more flexibility in terms of where the lighthouses are pointed.

As I said though, I could also be totally wrong. I just think it's worth trying if he really doesn't want the lighthouses in opposite corners.

Hm, this must be game specific. Universe Sandbox2 doesn't do that but that game get's out of hand really easy performance wise.

Is Universe Sandbox actually freezing or stuttering though? SteamVR will let a game drop down to 45 fps if need be, and use reproduction to cover it as best it can. The Empty Room only pops up if the game actually stops sending frame data for an extended period. ("Extended" relative to VR)
 
Well the deal continues through Cyber Monday, so depending on what you mean by two days, it might still be available. =P

Business days. Still hasn't come through yet. My payment from Amazon also hasn't been deposited yet so it's just not happening. Will keep my eye out going forward though.
 

Zalusithix

Member
In the new RoadToVR article, they had a picture of the new WIP single rotor lighthouse:
present-and-future-base-station.jpg
The housing is metal. I mean it's a prototype and all, but why prototype in metal when plastic is easier and cheaper? The only thing I can think of is increased mass for damping internal vibrations (an inherent weakness of the lighthouses). The only other reason I could see is using the base as a heatsink, but there's nothing in there that would need it save for perhaps the LEDS, and they're not oriented to take advantage of that in the first place.

Edit: Also interesting that the kept rotor appears to be the side rotor in this prototype (going by the 8 segment alphanumeric LED), not the bottom. Seems kind of odd from a force standpoint on the motor spindle.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
My HOTAS arrived last friday but came without the Mini PS/2 cable to connect the two pieces -_- Had to order one and that just got in today so I can try out Elite Dangerous tonight hopefully! Excited to get VoiceAttack and have William Shatner as my A.I. XD

Also gotta remember to get that floating window plugin for Netflix in my ship.

I tried Climbey out with my nephew taking turns, holy crap is that game fun. I absolutely love the locomotion style in it and really really hope more games will implement it. I guess the downside is that it makes any game more "active" and tiring but it seems like it should at least be a viable option in tons I've played. I'd love it in Spell Fighter VR for example. I don't like trackpad sliding at all and using the teleportation ghost when in combat is super awkward and panic-inducing, lol.
just played climbey that game is super fun its basically spiderman simulator
Windlands fits that description more I'd say!
Super interested in one of those replacement foam covers. The included one gets downright disgusting especially when taking turns with my nephew who really goes all out in the active games.

I'm pretty torn on whether to get the 18mm or 6mm though... Anyone want to weigh in?
 

cakefoo

Member
In the new RoadToVR article, they had a picture of the new WIP single rotor lighthouse:

The housing is metal. I mean it's a prototype and all, but why prototype in metal when plastic is easier and cheaper? The only thing I can think of is increased mass for damping internal vibrations (an inherent weakness of the lighthouses). The only other reason I could see is using the base as a heatsink, but there's nothing in there that would need it save for perhaps the LEDS, and they're not oriented to take advantage of that in the first place.

Edit: Also interesting that the kept rotor appears to be the side rotor in this prototype (going by the 8 segment alphanumeric LED), not the bottom. Seems kind of odd from a force standpoint on the motor spindle.
Same pic, but I think it helps to see the new basestation rotated 90 degrees because the A/B/C display and led array line up. That means the single motor is on the right, not the bottom.

 

Durante

Member
In the new RoadToVR article, they had a picture of the new WIP single rotor lighthouse:

The housing is metal. I mean it's a prototype and all, but why prototype in metal when plastic is easier and cheaper? The only thing I can think of is increased mass for damping internal vibrations (an inherent weakness of the lighthouses). The only other reason I could see is using the base as a heatsink, but there's nothing in there that would need it save for perhaps the LEDS, and they're not oriented to take advantage of that in the first place.
I think you missed the most likely reason: the lighthouse tracking system is metal as fuck.

Sorry. Interesting find on the picture!
 

I have the 18mm ones, and they are really comfy. Much, much, MUCH better for wearing for long periods of time than the stock ones, and very easy to just wipe off sweat instead of it being semi-permanently sponged in.

Only problem (and this is with both of them), is you won't be using glasses with them.
 

Durante

Member
For people who wear glasses that still want to demonstrate or share use the Vive (and also to maintain some general hygiene) I can vouch for the original VR covers.

Since they just add a layer of fabric they allow you to wear glasses just as well as with the standard foam, and you can just put them into the washing machine when they get icky. The only "issue" is that you need some practice to put them on (when I first received them I felt like that "I have no idea what I'm doing" dog).
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
I have the 18mm ones, and they are really comfy. Much, much, MUCH better for wearing for long periods of time than the stock ones, and very easy to just wipe off sweat instead of it being semi-permanently sponged in.

Only problem (and this is with both of them), is you won't be using glasses with them.
I'm lucky to say I still have a few years in me before needing glasses. I guess the 6mm would likely be a lot less comfortable..
 
For people who wear glasses that still want to demonstrate or share use the Vive (and also to maintain some general hygiene) I can vouch for the original VR covers.

Since they just add a layer of fabric they allow you to wear glasses just as well as with the standard foam, and you can just put them into the washing machine when they get icky. The only "issue" is that you need some practice to put them on (when I first received them I felt like that "I have no idea what I'm doing" dog).

I've bought 2 ski-masks and cut the lower half off so the nose and mouth are not covered by the fabric, maybe a bit extreme but it works quite well for me.

.....

Is Universe Sandbox actually freezing or stuttering though? SteamVR will let a game drop down to 45 fps if need be, and use SteamVR to cover it. The Empty Room only pops up if the game actually stops sending frame data for an extended period. ("Extended" relative to VR)

I think your right, it just stutters. Btw the magic shop demo in The Lab seems to be quite the performance killer too. Everything else in The Lab is smooth except this demo.
 

urge26

Member
Just got my Vive setup and I was pretty blown away. Without having to back track through the entire thread, what is the MUST have software? Played around with the Lab and Google Earth VR:

Assuming:
Tilt Brush
Job Simulator
 
Just got my Vive setup and I was pretty blown away. Without having to back track through the entire thread, what is the MUST have software? Played around with the Lab and Google Earth VR:

Assuming:
Tilt Brush
Job Simulator

I'm in the process of going through the available software myself, the free stuff (there is some good stuff there) and what you have already mentioned aside, I was extremely impressed with The Blue.
It's only a short and passive demo of 3 different scenarios but it is also extremely effective showcasing the 3d/in your face VR effect because you are under water and have fish swimming and particles floating close to your face all the time. Out of all non-interactive demos (there is a little bit of interactivity but it's not really worth mentioning) this is still the most impressive to me.

Recently played through Ghost Town Mine Ride & Shootin' Gallery, you need some VR legs before you start that one. It's about 45 minutes of riding minecarts and walking through mine tunnels while shooting at all sorts of stuff, can be scary at times.

I also quite like Space Pirate Trainer, can't play it for longer periods of time but that goes for most VR games.

If your a fan of Portal then of course Portal Stories though it is also rather short.

I have yet to try:

A Chair in a Room: Greenwater
The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed
Dead Secret
Final Approach
The Solus Project
Subnautica
RedOut
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter VR
Vanishing Realms

Those are the "bigger" games I expect a bit more from than the other, smallish games and Demos. I got most of those in the Autumn Sale at a discount though so most under 20 bucks.
 
Just got my Vive setup and I was pretty blown away. Without having to back track through the entire thread, what is the MUST have software? Played around with the Lab and Google Earth VR:

Assuming:
Tilt Brush
Job Simulator

I'd recommend:

Audioshield - Nice basic "rhythm" game that makes use of your own music and turns it into custom beats that you hit/block with shields on your hands. It can be a good workout too!

Hover Junkers - If you want a pretty cool MP shooter that doesn't have any teleporting or other stuff. Not really any modes other than death match from the last I played of it but it's just a awesome shooter.

Rec Room - First off, it's free and the amount of content in it is absurd. From first glance it just looks like a social space program but it is way more than that. The paintball mode in it could be its own game. And hell the social aspect of it is also really awesome and the best one I've seen of all of them.

Pool Nation VR - It's mostly based around pool but they've add air hockey and skeeball. I'd get this one when it's on sale if you aren't interested in the pool area fully. It's a pretty cool area just to mess around with cause of its physics.

Space Pirate trainer - It's probably the best VR game when it comes to a repeatable action. It's basically nothing but an arcade shooter but pretty well fleshed out and visually awesome.

Budget Cuts Demo - Seriously, it may just be a demo but it is absolutely one of the best experiences you can have in VR right now. Awesome stealth game, and when it fully comes out it'll probably be pretty amazing.

This one I'm not too sure on, but Out of Ammo is neat, I like it and if you really just want more shooting games it's decent. It's basically a really light base defense game where you can take control of the soldiers on your field at any time.
 

Business

Member
Just got my Vive setup and I was pretty blown away. Without having to back track through the entire thread, what is the MUST have software? Played around with the Lab and Google Earth VR:

Assuming:
Tilt Brush
Job Simulator

Get the Budget Cuts demo and Rec Room.
 
I will continue to posit that Job Simulator is one of the most overrated games I've ever played, and absolutely skippable.

But maybe I just missed something. *shrug*

I think it's best as part of a first time VR thing, and it came free with the Vive originally which was nice. It's just an awesome experience where most of the stuff you think you should be able to do, you are able to do, which is part of that first time VR magic.
 

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
Just got my Vive setup and I was pretty blown away. Without having to back track through the entire thread, what is the MUST have software? Played around with the Lab and Google Earth VR:

Assuming:
Tilt Brush
Job Simulator


space pirate trainer
climbey
raw data
budget cuts demo
art of fight
onward
vanishing realms
hover junkers
pool nation
eleven table tennis
google earth vr
 
It's just an awesome experience where [b[most of the stuff you think you should be able to do, you are able to do,[/b] which is part of that first time VR magic.

But most of those things are boring.

The purpose of VR is to take us to new realities—to places we wouldn't normally travel, or worlds that couldn't normally exist. Job Simulator expends an immense amount of effort meticulously recreating the most banal, everyday scenarios I can imagine. It certainly finds room for inventiveness within these locations—photocopying a stapler is amusing enough the first couple times— but it's not enough to carry the package, especially once you get a sense of the game's extremely predictable sense of humor.

I can kind of understand its value as a pack-in game, but it isn't packed in anymore, and buying it separately costs thirty dollars.
 
But most of those things are boring.

The purpose of VR is to take us to new realities—to places we wouldn't normally travel, or worlds that couldn't normally exist. Job Simulator expends an immense amount of effort meticulously recreating the most banal, everyday scenarios I can imagine. It certainly finds room for inventiveness within these locations—photocopying a stapler is amusing enough the first couple times— but it's not enough to carry the package, especially once you get a sense of the game's extremely predictable sense of humor.

I can kind of understand its value as a pack-in game, but it isn't packed in anymore, and buying it separately costs thirty dollars.

I can agree with the cost, if I bought it at 30 right now as a whole it wouldn't be as impressive for the content included. But imo I think the Humor was done well enough for what you get the first time through all the jobs. It is definitely harder to recommend now with it being a separate purchase, but it continues to be one of the first things I have someone new try for their first time in VR. It's got a nice amount of goofiness to it.
 

Helznicht

Member
Just got my Vive setup and I was pretty blown away. Without having to back track through the entire thread, what is the MUST have software? Played around with the Lab and Google Earth VR:

Assuming:
Tilt Brush
Job Simulator

For me, Elite Dangerous (with Hotas and Voice Attack) is such a great experience. I get lost in it every time I play.

Other games I have really enjoyed:
Audioshield
Budget Cuts Demo
Rec Room
Space Pirate Trainer (would be my 2nd pick)
Vanishing Realms
Thrill of the Fight (boxing, will wear you out)
 

Durante

Member
One game which hasn't been mentioned yet is Water Bears VR. It's a rather standard puzzle game, but it's also really polished and makes good use of room-scale VR.

And I'll second the Raw Data and Solus Project recommendations. Both of those need quite a lot of GPU grunt to play at good IQ, but IMHO they are the best VR action game and best large-scale exploration experience respectively.
 

Durante

Member
That depends on how you personally define an issue. I have "issues" with the game performance-wise (though I love it) with a 1080, because I can't run it at the IQ I'd like to and still get good performance.

They are working on improving that situation though.

(Water Bears on the other hand runs beautifully on a 970)
 

marc^o^

Nintendo's Pro Bono PR Firm
My two favorite Vive games at the moment:

New Retro Arcade: Neon
, with this fully customized content: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU11tm...cwdM3V4HVV_wng
It is a magical place to be in, incredible.

Eleven Table Tennis, with its perfect physics. If you play Table Tennis, this is so close to the real deal you will justify the Vive just with this game. I play it daily : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQBaEKvbSFg

Other favorites:

Space Pirate
HoloBall
Holopoint
SelfieTennis
The archery game from The Lab
Rec Room
Final Goalie
BlazeRush (with Revive)
 
I think we're about at that point where the OP should be updated with most of the mainstay suggestions (preferably broken down to genre or something), so we can just point to that. Then if someone wants to know something from the past month or so we can give more suggestions. I feel like half of this thread lately is someone new joining us asking for recs and then a page and a half of people listing more or less the same games lol.
 

Padinn

Member
Hmmm I bought the vr memory foam cover and have glasses. Run roh. But I swear the demo vive I tried in ms store had one because he was wiping unit down with a antibacterial wipe....
 

Durante

Member
My two favorite Vive games at the moment:
[...]
Holopoint
[...]
I haven't tried Holopoint in a while, have there been any updates in the past months?

It's a great workout, but also one of the few cases where the cable is actually a bit of an issue.
I'd play it a lot more if I had a working wireless solution. Or maybe even just the new cable (I''m still waiting for confirmation that no old one ship any more to order).
 
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