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HTC Vive Launch Thread -- Computer, activate holodeck

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Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
I don't know if I would quite recommend XenoboxVR yet..

It is a neat idea. And the graphics are great but its just not quite there yet. Its just a shooting gallery very similar to Space Pirate trainer, Except the twist is you're stuck in a very small room and its mostly about dodging the projectiles. Its actually sorta like being inside a bullet hell shooter, like that arcade game in the lab.

It will make your trigger fingers fall off, you just indiscriminately pump the triggers while ducking and weaving through the field of bullets. Its cool and definitely has a lot of potential, but the feel needs some polish. Still in alpha of course. Its a good workout game. It has unlockables too. Will update again once I get the big hammer.


And OVRDrop is definitely just displaying a white screen no matter what. I just peeked out of my visor and when I rub the vibe wand over the ovrdrop window the cursor on my display is moving but the overlay just a white box. I did a bit of research and It can happen if your monitor and VR headset are plugged into different GPUs but mine are both plugged into the same gpu.

Oh. Its because I have windows 7
4th edit
i guess this old free version works with win7
 

Zen Aku

Member
So I was at GameStop trying to get the Vive. The employee told me her manager said that once I buy it. The purchase is final. I can't return it even if I don't open the box.

Is that true?
 
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Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
I've got to say, I really like using the camera on the front of the Vive. I didn't turn it on or even take the plastic off the lens until like a week and a half ago. I had just read bad impressions about it and wasn't too concerned with it.

But now that it's on and in working order. Its super cool to turn on while you grab your controllers and headphones. Its such a weird wireframe tron version of reality. But it definitely makes suiting up a little more thoughtless. I don't have to look around and memorize where everything is before putting the gogs on. I can just pull them on and then figure it all out. Definitely headachey if you spend more than 2 minutes looking through it though. Having stereoscopic HFR cameras would be amazing. Great feature.
 

FuturusX

Member
So I was at GameStop trying to get the Vive. The employee told me her manager said that once I buy it. The purchase is final. I can't return it even if I don't open the box.

Is that true?

Buy it at the MS store, I'd suggest. Probably have a better return policy.
 
Nothing quite as satisfying as pulling off a panic knife throw in Pavlov.

MasculineCanineKillifish.gif
 

Moondrop

Banned
Project Cars: Too real? The immersion is immediate and intense, limited only by the Vive's resolution (and if you own a wheel). I did feel some twinges of motion sickness, particularly if you have to turn opposing directions in succession. Don't know if I'm even qualified to judge its gameplay other than to say it's for games like this the term "arcadey" was invented.

I didn't make it one lap before realizing I don't know the first thing about driving a race car. I followed all of the devs' starter recommendations and nevertheless crashed into every wall while attempting to turn. I tried the simplest tracks and most sedan-like cars, followed the path in practice mode telling me when to slow down (very nice design btw), but still nothing but walls. Then I read a thread about how actual racing cars turn more sharply... oh. However I still wasn't really enjoying the game much until I switched tracks to one along the coast of France. I do love driving fast on the highway, so perhaps this game will earn its value for me on the two "point to point" maps alone. Though it's hard to imagine actually learning all that's required to truly play this game.
 
Project Cars is heavily lambasted for its driving physics (most would call it the least "simulation"-accurate, whatever that means, of the racing sims released in the past 3 or so years). If you're running into walls, you're probably braking too late, too hard (locking up the wheels, preventing you from turning), or not hard enough. I've heard some complaints about Project Cars handling with gamepads, so that could potentially be an issue there.

Just try going really slow and speeding up a little each lap until you get a grip on how the cars handle.
 

Samaritan

Member
Has there been any word from HTC on the situation with the Deluxe Audio Straps? Has anyone had success sending one in for repairs/a replacement to solve the foam deteriorating problem?
 

Moondrop

Banned
Project Cars is heavily lambasted for its driving physics (most would call it the least "simulation"-accurate, whatever that means, of the racing sims released in the past 3 or so years). If you're running into walls, you're probably braking too late, too hard (locking up the wheels, preventing you from turning), or not hard enough. I've heard some complaints about Project Cars handling with gamepads, so that could potentially be an issue there.

Just try going really slow and speeding up a little each lap until you get a grip on how the cars handle.
Yeah, had to go super slow and started to see some improvement in my handling. But the bolded is kind of what I'm talking about- you have to have real touch just to get around. I feel the desire to improve, but don't want to push the motion sickness. Certainly not about to refund (though not thrilled about the 22 GB).
 

Zen Aku

Member
Alright I got my HTC Vive. Finished setting it up. Any tips for a better experience for this newbie?

Btw, I tried to calibrate the IDP but its still a bit blurry. Using both the little knob and the knob on the left. Is there anything else that can help? I'm running a GTX 970.
 
Alright I got my HTC Vive. Finished setting it up. Any tips for a better experience for this newbie?

Btw, I tried to calibrate the IDP but its still a bit blurry. Using both the little knob and the knob on the left. Is there anything else that can help? I'm running a GTX 970.

Adjusting IPD will only get you so far. Make sure the headset is situated well so you're seeing the sweet spot. In the end, the resolution of the displays is a hard limit. You can get a boost in clarity by super sampling, but you won't be able to do that much with a 970.
 
Alright I got my HTC Vive. Finished setting it up. Any tips for a better experience for this newbie?

Btw, I tried to calibrate the IDP but its still a bit blurry. Using both the little knob and the knob on the left. Is there anything else that can help? I'm running a GTX 970.

Do you know your actual IPD? You can try measuring with a ruler and a mirror.
 
Oh man, I just spent almost all day entertaining friends with my Vive.

What I usually like to do is lure friends over who don't know I have a Vive and who I'm pretty sure haven't ever experienced VR in order to make it that much more of an event for them.

Well this time I had a friend shock me by showing up at my door after not having seen him for years since he moved to Panama! He had no idea what I had in my basement so it sounded a little creepy when I said, "Dude! You have to come over later. I have something to show you in my basement that will blow your mind!" lol his friends whom I'd never seen where with him as well. He had just woken me up and I didn't realize how it sounded till he left to go great everyone else in town and let them know he was back for a while.

Anyway, we ended up having an absolute blast!

He brought his friends as well.

Took so many videos of first experiences. So many wow moments. It was so good.

I showed them some experiences like the blue and The Lab and then we took turns playing Holopoint trying to beat each others high scores.

We played an escape the room game called Belko VR which IS FREE BTW! It was such an a flipping fun time. What I did was have them play but not watch the screen until each had a go at it without giving each other clues and then we chose one person to go and all tried to solve it together.

Then, when they thought it couldn't get any better, I really blew their minds with roomscale Minecraft. The look of pure joy and awe was amazing. One of them seriously cried because they are big fans of Minecraft.

The only time I can ever remember having more gaming related fun was at the old Halo Lan parties that my friends and I would put together. Alas, that seems like a thing of the past.

I'm ok with this new VR party future though. Entertaining others with VR is like one of my new favorite things to do and it doesn't ever get old. I personally haven't had even one person who didn't walk away with a smile on their face. There is just something that feels so good about making others happy.

I think it's important to note that just before I put the headset on them, I ALWAYS temper their expectations. I always explain the limitations of current gen VR and what to expect and what not to expect. I think this is important to do and definitely leads to a better experience overall as people know what to prepare for and are more likely to put any jank down to being a limitation instead of constantly thinking they might be wearing or doing it wrong. This allows them to know that they are experiencing it correctly and helps them focus on the experience at hand.

I also never ever show any non roomscale games unless explicitly asked and even then...

I teach each of them how to measure their IPD's and have them remember what it is.

I also triple check framerate and make sure I am nailing at least 90 fps in any games that I show. The very last thing you want to do is make someone sick.

EDIT: Do any of you know any more escape the room games that would be good to show? I think they are my new VR fetish and my friends are begging to let them come back.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Has there been any word from HTC on the situation with the Deluxe Audio Straps? Has anyone had success sending one in for repairs/a replacement to solve the foam deteriorating problem?

I feel like the issue is overblown. I have it for weeks and have no issue, and nobody seems to talk about it now
 

Wollan

Member
First time back in Vive after a longer absence. Just bought Superhot VR on the Steam summer sale and it's very pick up and play and just as cool as envisioned. It's nice to be back in room-scale and tracking that just works in all directions and not merely forward. Though I had forgotten the inconvenience of the strap-on-goggles. My face heats up fast and I had to wipe my forehead after a session of... Superhot. They need to adopt an open design with Vive 2.0 so that we can endure longer play sessions.

It's also the first time I witness Steam VR Home beta. Very nice new SteamVR foundation. I've yet to check out all the features and it seems like there's a Valve office available.

edit: Pavlov VR bought.
 
I feel like the issue is overblown. I have it for weeks and have no issue, and nobody seems to talk about it now

Cool, i should be getting mine next week here in the UK so hopefully i'll have good feedback after a few weeks of testing. It's also going to get me back into the Vive after playing with the Switch for the last few weeks.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Loco Dojo is coming to Steam with HTC Vive/Rift support later this month (27th July)
 

Wollan

Member
How do I actually holster my weapon in Pavlova?
Guide sais have grip in bubble and aim gun -75 degrees downwards. It doesn't seem to react?

I hold my trigger hand, the weapon grip, in the bubble and aim straight down towards the floor and slightly raise the aim about 15degrees up and forwards.

edit: Ah. 'Grip' button on the Vive controller. Got it.
 
Oh. Its because I have windows 7
4th edit
i guess this old free version works with win7

The old version has exponentially worse performance, but it can still work if you have beefy hardware to avoid the framerate drop.

Are there any good tutorials on how to use OVRDrop?

I don't know of a straight up guide, I only know enough to select what I want to view, and attach it to my hand or change how it's displayed in the world. Would either of those help?
 

Wollan

Member
Pavlov VR has to be the ultimate gun porn game.
Doing all the actions manually from loading the magazine, pulling the bolts, off-hand aim grip, pulling grenade pin... That was very satisfying.
Navigation should probably be slower and not CS like speed though, can feel it a bit.
 

Helznicht

Member
So I went and bought Pavlov with all the great talk its getting. Uhm, gameplay is fun but it is by FAR the blurriest VR game I have every played. SS at 1, 1.5, and 2, all AA options, nothing cleans it up. Thinking about returning it, have any ideas on getting the display clear?
 

Wardancer

Neo Member
So I went and bought Pavlov with all the great talk its getting. Uhm, gameplay is fun but it is by FAR the blurriest VR game I have every played. SS at 1, 1.5, and 2, all AA options, nothing cleans it up. Thinking about returning it, have any ideas on getting the display clear?

Blurry? o_O That seems strange, don't think I have seen anyone complain about that before.

I guess you have checked the ingame graphics settings already? Otherwise I can only recommend you head over to their discord and ask the dev about it.

Have you tried any other unreal engine based VR games?
 

Leatherface

Member
maxresdefault.jpg


This game is absolutely incredible. Holy hell!! Not only my favorite VR game by a mile, but one of the coolest game experiences I have ever had. Played this for a solid 4 hours last night, the longest VR session I have ever done. The devs also somehow managed to get the sense of motion down with out me wanting to puke on my shoe. Jumping is a little bit weird at first but only because it really feels like your a ninja that jumped 40ft. It didn't make me feel sick at all though and I quickly adapted to being a bad ass ninja. Before I knew it I was leaping around th environment, running on walls, leaping high in the sky and raining death down onto my enemies. It is fucking MAGICAL!!

That moment when you run across a wall, jump off toward a group of people, cut someones head off and slow time to shoot the rest in the face, then land in realtime as their bodies all fall around you is INSANE. Not to mention the bloodspray from the head you just cut off is raining down around you. 😂
Sweet lord. I hope DOOM feels this good! Wowow!
 

SomTervo

Member
So I went and bought Pavlov with all the great talk its getting. Uhm, gameplay is fun but it is by FAR the blurriest VR game I have every played. SS at 1, 1.5, and 2, all AA options, nothing cleans it up. Thinking about returning it, have any ideas on getting the display clear?

No way in hell it's that blurry. People do perfect headshots with crap ironsights from across the map.

Deffo check your in-game settings. Perhaps it defaults to lowest.

IIRC it's like hold the left Menu button (on Vive) and pull the left trigger to swap to the proper in-game menu.
 

Wollan

Member
Jumping between Pavlo VR and Farpoint makes it clear that it's hard to obtain the happy middleground where you would want the sturdy feel of a real gun (as in: actual physical object you hold, a gun controller etc) while still having the full freedom of your arms to do all the interactivity. Aiming with two controllers work but it feels like I'm doing some abstract measurement tool action. But I love the reloading and the whole vest functionality.
 

Wardancer

Neo Member
Jumping between Pavlo VR and Farpoint makes it clear that it's hard to obtain the happy middleground where you would want the sturdy feel of a real gun (as in: actual physical object you hold, a gun controller etc) while still having the full freedom of your arms to do all the interactivity. Aiming with two controllers work but it feels like I'm doing some abstract measurement tool action. But I love the reloading and the whole vest functionality.

Its why people have invested time and money into building stocks to get a better weapon feel and stability for rifles but even without that it feels much better to "fake" hold a rifle with two hands than have it be wielded like a big weightless pistol in one hand. You adapt a much more natural rifle stance and move differently when you find your "stance".

Edit: I use the protube:
 

Zalusithix

Member
Alright I got my HTC Vive. Finished setting it up. Any tips for a better experience for this newbie?

Btw, I tried to calibrate the IDP but its still a bit blurry. Using both the little knob and the knob on the left. Is there anything else that can help? I'm running a GTX 970.

Knob on the left? There is no knob on the left aside from the smooth pull out depth adjustment knob - which is mirrored on the right hand side. If you use either depth adjustment knob, you must use the one on the opposite side equally or the headset will be skewed at an angle. There's also no need to adjust that at all unless you have glasses that risk touching the Vive lenses.

As for the blur, I'd make sure you have the headset properly vertically aligned and with the proper vertical tilt. If you don't have the headset sitting on the head properly, no amount of fiddling with the IPD adjustment will help. Use one hand to move the headset up and down on your face while making minor adjustments to tilt as you look at something like the Steam interface with lots of text. You should be able to find a position where the center is sharp and it gets progressively blurrier to the edges. That'll be the position you want to aim for with strap adjustment.
This game is absolutely incredible. Holy hell!! Not only my favorite VR game by a mile, but one of the coolest game experiences I have ever had. Played this for a solid 4 hours last night, the longest VR session I have ever done. The devs also somehow managed to get the sense of motion down with out me wanting to puke on my shoe. Jumping is a little bit weird at first but only because it really feels like your a ninja that jumped 40ft. It didn't make me feel sick at all though and I quickly adapted to being a bad ass ninja. Before I knew it I was leaping around th environment, running on walls, leaping high in the sky and raining death down onto my enemies. It is fucking MAGICAL!!

That moment when you run across a wall, jump off toward a group of people, cut someones head off and slow time to shoot the rest in the face, then land in realtime as their bodies all fall around you is INSANE. Not to mention the bloodspray from the head you just cut off is raining down around you. ��
Sweet lord. I hope DOOM feels this good! Wowow!

I've got 40 hours into the game, and despite the relatively simplistic gameplay loop, I keep coming back to it. Sairento is second to none when it comes to mating freedom of movement with combat. It plays to the strength of the teleport mechanic while not being constrained by it.

If you haven't already done so, make sure you try crouching when coming in for a landing after jumping; it'll put you into a slide. Likewise, when crouching before a dash, you'll do an accelerated dash where you can slice through the enemies as you go. (The game has a crouching indicator - a downward blue arrow mark below the chakra line.)
 

Kodiak

Not an asshole.
I see that the Vive is $750 on Amazon right now. I also have $50 Amazon gift card. Is this a good price to jump in at or should I wait for better deals this holiday?

I'm also concerned about a new version dropping next year and making me regret this purchase...
 

MaDKaT

Member
I see that the Vive is $750 on Amazon right now. I also have $50 Amazon gift card. Is this a good price to jump in at or should I wait for better deals this holiday?

I'm also concerned about a new version dropping next year and making me regret this purchase...

Seems about par for price. May be some deals this holiday but doubt it would be significant. As for a new version, on the horizon are new lighthouses. Headset might get a refresh(ergos/weight) but will likely maintain similar if not the same specs. Maybe a package that includes the deluxe audio strap, new lighthouses and maybe the knuckle controllers. Gen 2 sets are probably still a good ways out. Likely waiting on gpu and screen tech advances.
 

Leatherface

Member
I've got 40 hours into the game, and despite the relatively simplistic gameplay loop, I keep coming back to it. Sairento is second to none when it comes to mating freedom of movement with combat. It plays to the strength of the teleport mechanic while not being constrained by it.

If you haven't already done so, make sure you try crouching when coming in for a landing after jumping; it'll put you into a slide. Likewise, when crouching before a dash, you'll do an accelerated dash where you can slice through the enemies as you go. (The game has a crouching indicator - a downward blue arrow mark below the chakra line.)

I just figured out the whole slide thing toward the end of my play session. I have not done the dash yet though! Thanks!
I want more levels to this game stat!! Take my money devs! Lol 😮
 
I see that the Vive is $750 on Amazon right now. I also have $50 Amazon gift card. Is this a good price to jump in at or should I wait for better deals this holiday?

I'm also concerned about a new version dropping next year and making me regret this purchase...

It also comes with Star Trek Bridge Crew and a $50 Steam Card. I'd say that's a pretty good deal. They'll probably do a similar deal this holiday.

Hard to say when a new version will come out. They're adding modular pieces like the Audio Strap, Knuckles, and wireless over the next year so I think the current headset is going to be around longer than that. Maybe they'll do a "premium" headset that includes all these pieces or something.
 

Zalusithix

Member
I see that the Vive is $750 on Amazon right now. I also have $50 Amazon gift card. Is this a good price to jump in at or should I wait for better deals this holiday?

I'm also concerned about a new version dropping next year and making me regret this purchase...

From a sale perspective, the Vive is available directly from HTC for $750 right now and comes with a $50 Steam gift card + Star Trek Bridge Crew + free shipping. Then you can use the Amazon gift card for whatever you want. Whether there will be better sales later this year is anybody's guess. So far no sales have removed more than $100 total from the price, so this offer is right in line with that with the gift card. The only thing likely to make HTC drop lower is if LG's VR unit hits this year.

As for a Vive 2 next year, that's likely by my outlook, but certainly not guaranteed. HTC might decide it's not worth releasing a new version until Oculus (supposedly) does in 2019. At any rate, there's always going to be something better on the horizon. Only you can decide if it's worth waiting for new tech or jumping in now. If you don't have any burning desire to play a particular game, you might be better served by waiting for the LG unit at least. Unlike the Vive 2, we know that one is coming sooner than later, and it should be at least marginally better than the Vive. That should force HTC's hand on price reduction too - unless HTC is simply unable to reduce further.

It also comes with Star Trek Bridge Crew and a $50 Steam Card.
The Amazon one doesn't come with the $50 Steam card AFAIK.
 

Kodiak

Not an asshole.
From a sale perspective, the Vive is available directly from HTC for $750 right now and comes with a $50 Steam gift card + Star Trek Bridge Crew + free shipping. Then you can use the Amazon gift card for whatever you want. Whether there will be better sales later this year is anybody's guess. So far no sales have removed more than $100 total from the price, so this offer is right in line with that with the gift card. The only thing likely to make HTC drop lower is if LG's VR unit hits this year.

As for a Vive 2 next year, that's likely by my outlook, but certainly not guaranteed. HTC might decide it's not worth releasing a new version until Oculus (supposedly) does in 2019. At any rate, there's always going to be something better on the horizon. Only you can decide if it's worth waiting for new tech or jumping in now. If you don't have any burning desire to play a particular game, you might be better served by waiting for the LG unit at least. Unlike the Vive 2, we know that one is coming sooner than later, and it should be at least marginally better than the Vive. That should force HTC's hand on price reduction too - unless HTC is simply unable to reduce further.


The Amazon one doesn't come with the $50 Steam card AFAIK.

Hmmm this is all good to know. I'm excited to jump in because I'll finally have a computer that can handle VR, but I'm hesitant due to the huge upfront cost.
 

Matthew23

Member
I've been wanting to pick up a Vive for a while now and since I will be upgrading my pc before years end the time seems right. My one concern is roomscale.

I have a 3m by 3m space which I could probably extend a little further if I had to, but in the center of the space I have a ceiling fan about 7' above the floor. I'm 6' tall so lifting my hands above my head would be a problem. How much of an issue would this be for the majority of games?

I won't be moving for another two years and it's a rental so I'd rather not take the fan down. Does it make sense to use a Vive with no roomscale, or by limiting myself by not lifting my hands above my shoulders? Would I be better off waiting two years for gen 2? Thanks!
 

Zalusithix

Member
I've been wanting to pick up a Vive for a while now and since I will be upgrading my pc before years end the time seems right. My one concern is roomscale.

I have a 3m by 3m space which I could probably extend a little further if I had to, but in the center of the space I have a ceiling fan about 7' above the floor. I'm 6' tall so lifting my hands above my head would be a problem. How much of an issue would this be for the majority of games?

I won't be moving for another two years and it's a rental so I'd rather not take the fan down. Does it make sense to use a Vive with no roomscale, or by limiting myself by not lifting my hands above my shoulders? Would I be better off waiting two years for gen 2? Thanks!

Your floor space is fine at 3x3m. It's actually above the norm. As for the fan, for the majority of games you won't have an issue. Only games that require overhead throwing will be a problem, and they're the exception. I suppose aiming guns straight up could get you in trouble if the fan was on, but that is not common either - generally your arms don't exceed more than ~45 degrees in shooters as if you're looking straight up, you lose sight of what's in front of you.

That said, you'll likely still be able to still play most of those troublesome games if you restrict yourself to standing 360 in them. You'd offset the standing location from the fan so when your arms went up they were clear of the fan while still being clear of the surrounding walls when stretched out. OpenVR Advanced Settings can have multiple profiles saved so you could switch between roomscale and standing as the games needed.

You will have to be conscious to what sort of movement is required when you first start playing a game, particularly when first getting into VR. Eventually you develop a "ceiling sense" much like a "cable sense". I play in an area with an 88" drop ceiling, and while I have hit it a number of times, those were all in the beginning. These days I know what not to do, so I only hit walls when I'm not careful lol. (I have chaperone set to never show anything but an outline on the ground, so it's far less obvious than normal.) Just make sure the fan is off when you first start playing. If you're going to make a mistake, you don't want it to be with the blades whipping around. =)
 

Matthew23

Member
Your floor space is fine at 3x3m. It's actually above the norm. As for the fan... snip

Thanks for the detailed response. This is encouraging to hear, especially how you trained yourself to not bust ceiling tiles anymore.

I won't be using the fan lol but there is a casing around a light at the bottom of it that could potentially shatter. Will chaperone work for objects above as well?
 
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