Compsiox
Banned
Physically sat down on top of a tree to watch the sun set in Minecraft and legit thought I could dangle my legs off the edge
You could. You just weren't trying hard enough!
-
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
- Thread starter taco543
- Start date
- Status
You could. You just weren't trying hard enough!
GuitarAtomik
Member
Since I have nothing better to do while I wait for this thing, I've been looking around my room trying to figure out what the best arrangement of the lighthouses would be. Here are the two I'm thinking of:
I think Setup 2 will give me the most coverage, but I'm kind of worried I'll have to tilt the one above the computer too far down to cover sitting experiences. That and most setups I've seen have used a catty-corner approach.
Setup 1 is probably the only viable alternative if I want to keep the sensors in the 16' range but I'm a little worried about occlusion in that low far left corner (where the picture frames are).
Any suggestions?
Code:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/x2nOkt4.jpg[/IMG]
Code:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YJprs0j.jpg[/IMG]I think Setup 2 will give me the most coverage, but I'm kind of worried I'll have to tilt the one above the computer too far down to cover sitting experiences. That and most setups I've seen have used a catty-corner approach.
Setup 1 is probably the only viable alternative if I want to keep the sensors in the 16' range but I'm a little worried about occlusion in that low far left corner (where the picture frames are).
Any suggestions?
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Dreams-Visions
Member
15 minutes of Windlands and I feel like shit. 100% like shit. Probably going to be a refund. I'd like to support the dev but I didn't expect that the game could leave me tilted. Stomach is no bueno. Only game to have that effect. Also the only game where most movement is fast and without teleport. No coincidence.
On another note, theBlue is pretty. I wouldn't buy it again, but I'll keep it. Really relaxing. I wish its modules were longer, though. The Whale encounter was mo more than 90 seconds? The other 2 were maybe 5 minutes. I didn't see a way to just keep them going which I would like to see.
I wouldn't really recommend it either if your budget is limited.
On another note, theBlue is pretty. I wouldn't buy it again, but I'll keep it. Really relaxing. I wish its modules were longer, though. The Whale encounter was mo more than 90 seconds? The other 2 were maybe 5 minutes. I didn't see a way to just keep them going which I would like to see.
I wouldn't really recommend it either if your budget is limited.
Dreams-Visions
Member
It's a disingenuous comparison. But he doesn't realize why. The Rift currently has access to some visual settings the Vive does not yet have enabled. The text is perfectly readable in the Vive *if* you can set the SS to 1.5x. If you can't, the game will look far worse than those screenshots. Further, the SDE is a non factor because things are in motion.
As for comfort, he needed to adjust his straps to not come down so far if they're cutting into his ears. Simple process. The back of the HMD does not need to go down the back of your head. And my really nice headphones > built in headphones 100% of the time.
As I already said, until FDev updates the game to work better with the Vive, the Rift will be the easiest HMD to get the best results from. The Vive essentially has to brute force higher quality that the Rift can access with less effort thanks to the dedicated effort to get those results out of the Rift.
Yeah, I just asked for a refund for it for the same reason, unfortunately.
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Not sure what I did but was just able to play through Budget Cuts with only a couple instances of the frame drop notifications popping up, played smooth. Maybe installing Minecraft fixed it. Yeah, let's go with that
Dreams-Visions
Member
And done. First refund request ever. Hopefully my last.
I get it on a rare occasion if I'm sitting in the back seat of certain sports cars. Otherwise never, no.
Try Windlands at your own risk.
ThatsMytrunks
Member
Unfortunately Windlands needs some work, but once I got it down, I felt pretty awesome.
I've got 6 videos for Audioshield up now, and I'm going to have a video up tomorrow of my friends trying The Lab.
I've got 6 videos for Audioshield up now, and I'm going to have a video up tomorrow of my friends trying The Lab.
Watching the massive Giant Bomb stream they did at launch. Sounds like they think it's not worth it. They basically say it's cool but not practical and not a lot of compelling software.
I'm still interested but I am disappointed that they feel that way. Guess we will find out whenever I get my stuff.
I'm still interested but I am disappointed that they feel that way. Guess we will find out whenever I get my stuff.
VlaudTheImpaler
tl;dr
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
My understanding with theblu is each time thru unlocks a mode..third time thru removes timelimit
It's only fair, we're talking about launch titles. And launch titles for brand new systems that are different than what we usually get.
The software will get there eventually. But by then we'll probably be on like the 3rd or 4th generation so I can wait.
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Wait until towards the end, they do a 180 on it hard. Jeff turns into a little kid once he plays Budget Cuts and Hover Junkers. The dude starts whispering while doing commentary as he tries to evade robots, like they can actually hear him xD
Also the guy lives in a house in San Francisco with very limited space (redundant I know), you can tell he'd like to have one but his setup isn't ideal. Wouldn't be surprised if he got one at some point, he was having a ball with it.
Yeah interested to see what they say this week after another 7 days with it
M_A_C
Member
Plus they never like anything.
bigwinnerx
Member
He doesn't live in San Francisco.
When I gave my first impressions I mentioned that it appeared that the Vive's amp could drive my HD 600s. After doing some A/B testing (with my O2/ODAC) while listening to music, it doesn't appear to be driving them properly. The first thing you look for is volume, and while they can reach a decent volume at ~70-100%, which is what I initially looked for, the bass is under-powered, and the overall sound is flat, anemic and muddy in comparison. Keep in mind these headphones have a 300 ohm impedance, and I probably should have expected as much.
I'd appreciate anyone else's input and testing results, but it looks like I'll have to come up with another audio solution. I'll use the IEMs for the time being, but it looks like I'll have to either run a cable alongside the Vive's to the O2/ODAC direclty, or get an alternative low-impedance pair.
What is everyone else doing for audio?
I'd appreciate anyone else's input and testing results, but it looks like I'll have to come up with another audio solution. I'll use the IEMs for the time being, but it looks like I'll have to either run a cable alongside the Vive's to the O2/ODAC direclty, or get an alternative low-impedance pair.
What is everyone else doing for audio?
| Praxis |
Banned
X2's, easy to drive. Just need to get a shorter cable.
Zalusithix
Member
And the printing of the magnetic lighthouse bracket adapters is complete. Now just the long wait for the actual Vive to get here. Probably end up sanding them down and giving them a coat of black paint before then.
That's what I was leaning towards. I know they're bass heavy, but is it overbearing?
ThatsMytrunks
Member
I hope those are very powerful magnets. The lighthouses are a little weighty.
| Praxis |
Banned
I doubt it will be a problem with them connected directly into the Vive. They can be overbearing with a more dedicated set up. If you're used to the Sennheiser sound, you may think they are though, it's hard to say for sure because your tolerance is probably different to mine.
I really enjoy them myself.
Wanted to do the same for a motorcycle. Still have time to decide.
Zalusithix
Member
They are. I've hung over 5 pounds off a corner of the prototype and its hold wasn't compromised in the least. Considering the lighthouse doesn't weigh that much, and would be centered on the mount, I don't see it being a problem.
Edit: In the off case I decide for some strange reason that it needs even more holding power, I can remake the inner rail with these instead.
Iced_Eagle
Member
Yesterday I got to try a Vive out at a Microsoft Store! I posted similar first impressions to reddit, but thought I'd post them here too. The Vive had prime placement. There was a sign outside the store advertising it, and they also had it at the very front of the store. There was a 60" TV which showed passer-by's what you could see. Tons of people stopped and watched, took pictures/video and often times laughed or tried to mess with the person in VR. They had the "forward" direction set to where you would be facing outside of the store because that way the cable would always be on the left side and the reps could see and help you out (one rep was actually dedicated to cable management so I never noticed the cable at least!).
The entire demo is about 15 minutes per person, so if you go to one and see a line, you'll be able to see how long it will take. Just a note but it is 18 years old only (HTC's rule apparently).
The demo's they had were TheBlue, Space Pirate Trainer and Tilt Brush. A good mix of content I'd say. Their play space was maybe 10ft x 12ft or something. They made sure the play space was a bit smaller than what it actually was too because there was a huge glass wall, a big ass TV and people around you checking it out so they didn't want any accidents to occur.
I do have a Rift CV1 so there were some comparisons I can make, but there's only so much you can see in 15 minutes especially when you're focusing on playing the content and not necessarily looking for technical differences.
Comfort wise the Vive seems better for my glasses. I can wear the Rift with them but it does feel a bit tighter than Vive. I also much prefer the soft foam on the Vive compared to the Rift's which is a bit stiffer. The Vive was a bit heavier and it was somewhat noticeable. The floppy straps on the Vive were a bit trickier for people to get on as they would get turned inside out pretty frequently when people put them on. I prefer the Rift's harder straps.
Optics and the display felt nearly the same. FOV may have been better on the Vive by a bit but it was pretty negligible in my short experience. It did seem like the Vive's sweet spot was smaller for getting a clear image. A few people complained about it being a bit blurry but it wasn't really an issue for me since I knew how to get a VR headset on and also knew my IPD going on. I wish the Vive had something like the Rift where it has the calibration cross for getting the image quality tuned in. However, I did like how the Vive's on-screen IPD display displayed things down to the first decimal place whereas the Rift's is only whole numbers.
For audio, they were using some Razer headphones I think and not the included ones (which would be super gross with so many people hopping in and out). I like how the audio port is easily available and is on the headset whereas with the Rift you need to run the cable yourself if you want to use your own headphones. However, the headphones they were using just did not seem as good as what's on the Rift and obviously with the Rift's being a part of the unit, much simpler to put on. I don't know if it was just the demo's I played but the positional audio just didn't seem as convincing as what's on the Rift. Plus, the headphones added weight to your head which didn't help the comfort aspect. I'm really hoping the Vive 2 includes headphones similar to the Rift (but also keeps the cable on the headset for when someone wants to use their own)
There were actually quite a number of tracking problems. I waited a bit over an hour (so like 5 people were ahead of me) and honestly each one had a tracking problem to start. The headset would sometimes stop being tracked (SteamVR had the headset as green but it was flashing) and other times the controllers had tracking hiccups. With one person they had to stop and switch over to a backup unit because they couldn't get the controllers to lock back on for some reason. Another person couldn't get the headset to lock on and they had to have him take it off again (because it was fine until it was on his face), and then move it around the space until it started tracking again. For me, I didn't have problems with the headset, but when they handed me the controllers tracking was fine until I tapped them together. Then WHOOSH they fell to the floor and glided off into infinity even though they were in my hands. In every case they pretty much had the same procedure. Take one step forwards/backwards, turn 90 degrees and for me, they had me hold the controllers out. After I did that, the controllers locked back on.
During Tilt Brush the controllers were unfortunately shaky for tracking. On your left controller you can either swipe to change which panel is displayed, or just rotate the controller. I generally preferred just rotating it but I could see the controller just wiggling back and forth which was annoying. I didn't notice issues like this in Space Pirate Trainer but my hands were generally moving quick anyway so I may not have noticed. My guess is that it's because we were a few feet away from the glass wall at the front of the store which was probably fucking with the tracking. HTC were the ones who did the installation and if that is the case, they should have done something like put some vinyl stickers on the glass which is in view of the lighthouses to stop the reflections or something.
To add to that, I've seen many people complain about their own tracking issues they have. It seems like the Vive's tracking system is sensitive to environmental issues (which makes sense since it requires very precise timing of lasers). I hope Valve will work on the firmware a bit to improve stability even in these cases, but more ideally I hope they could come up with some way to detect if there are environmental issues and warn the user. So, if anyone is setting up a Vive I would be wary of windows/mirrors/large TV's/anything reflective which may be in view of the Vive and cover them up if possible.
Now, for the demo's.
TheBlu was pretty darn cool but wasn't mindblowing as I've used Ocean Rift and other demo's before. However, it was my first taste of room scale VR. Being able just to walk around, lean over the railings (don't forget to check out the airplane!) and push away the fish was neat.
Space Pirate made you feel completely badass. Had a huge fucking grin when I looked down and there were pistols in my hands. I saw trailers for it and went "meh" but I was surprised how engaging it is. I took a look at their steam page last night and I really hope they get around to adding more variety to the game. Right now it's a neat proof of concept, but unless you're someone who will replay the same thing over and over to get to the top of a leaderboard, it doesn't seem super replayable once the new-ness will wear off. If they add co-op support, more weapons, more enemy types I am there day one. Seriously, the bullet time mixed with using your shield while getting flanked was sweet. I was really getting into it. Died once and got to wave 7 before the demo timer ticked over and it started the next demo. This was definitely my favorite demo.
Tilt Brush was the last one and it was pretty neat. Lots of cool effects. I was in the space environment and made plasma rings around the planet and basically tried to play with as many brush types as I could before my time was up. I'm not a great painter by any stretch, so I hope you can easily share your creations with other people and see them because I would love to check out some from actually good artists.
Overall, I was very impressed. Chapperone worked great. The Rift NEEDS a system like this when Touch hits because it just gives you so much confidence in moving around. I also hope the tracking problems will be able to be worked out and Valve will continue to add features such as guided ways to improve your IPD/eye-relief for the best image quality and FOV. I think at this point it's more about polished content than anything. There are some awesome room scale experiences and games out there, but many of them are early access so they need polish and expansion on their ideas. Hover Junkers is probably the #1 game I want to play, so hopefully by the time I get mine it's going to be a bit better (and also with a larger player population). VR is finally here though, and it's amazing!
The entire demo is about 15 minutes per person, so if you go to one and see a line, you'll be able to see how long it will take. Just a note but it is 18 years old only (HTC's rule apparently).
The demo's they had were TheBlue, Space Pirate Trainer and Tilt Brush. A good mix of content I'd say. Their play space was maybe 10ft x 12ft or something. They made sure the play space was a bit smaller than what it actually was too because there was a huge glass wall, a big ass TV and people around you checking it out so they didn't want any accidents to occur.
I do have a Rift CV1 so there were some comparisons I can make, but there's only so much you can see in 15 minutes especially when you're focusing on playing the content and not necessarily looking for technical differences.
Comfort wise the Vive seems better for my glasses. I can wear the Rift with them but it does feel a bit tighter than Vive. I also much prefer the soft foam on the Vive compared to the Rift's which is a bit stiffer. The Vive was a bit heavier and it was somewhat noticeable. The floppy straps on the Vive were a bit trickier for people to get on as they would get turned inside out pretty frequently when people put them on. I prefer the Rift's harder straps.
Optics and the display felt nearly the same. FOV may have been better on the Vive by a bit but it was pretty negligible in my short experience. It did seem like the Vive's sweet spot was smaller for getting a clear image. A few people complained about it being a bit blurry but it wasn't really an issue for me since I knew how to get a VR headset on and also knew my IPD going on. I wish the Vive had something like the Rift where it has the calibration cross for getting the image quality tuned in. However, I did like how the Vive's on-screen IPD display displayed things down to the first decimal place whereas the Rift's is only whole numbers.
For audio, they were using some Razer headphones I think and not the included ones (which would be super gross with so many people hopping in and out). I like how the audio port is easily available and is on the headset whereas with the Rift you need to run the cable yourself if you want to use your own headphones. However, the headphones they were using just did not seem as good as what's on the Rift and obviously with the Rift's being a part of the unit, much simpler to put on. I don't know if it was just the demo's I played but the positional audio just didn't seem as convincing as what's on the Rift. Plus, the headphones added weight to your head which didn't help the comfort aspect. I'm really hoping the Vive 2 includes headphones similar to the Rift (but also keeps the cable on the headset for when someone wants to use their own)
There were actually quite a number of tracking problems. I waited a bit over an hour (so like 5 people were ahead of me) and honestly each one had a tracking problem to start. The headset would sometimes stop being tracked (SteamVR had the headset as green but it was flashing) and other times the controllers had tracking hiccups. With one person they had to stop and switch over to a backup unit because they couldn't get the controllers to lock back on for some reason. Another person couldn't get the headset to lock on and they had to have him take it off again (because it was fine until it was on his face), and then move it around the space until it started tracking again. For me, I didn't have problems with the headset, but when they handed me the controllers tracking was fine until I tapped them together. Then WHOOSH they fell to the floor and glided off into infinity even though they were in my hands. In every case they pretty much had the same procedure. Take one step forwards/backwards, turn 90 degrees and for me, they had me hold the controllers out. After I did that, the controllers locked back on.
During Tilt Brush the controllers were unfortunately shaky for tracking. On your left controller you can either swipe to change which panel is displayed, or just rotate the controller. I generally preferred just rotating it but I could see the controller just wiggling back and forth which was annoying. I didn't notice issues like this in Space Pirate Trainer but my hands were generally moving quick anyway so I may not have noticed. My guess is that it's because we were a few feet away from the glass wall at the front of the store which was probably fucking with the tracking. HTC were the ones who did the installation and if that is the case, they should have done something like put some vinyl stickers on the glass which is in view of the lighthouses to stop the reflections or something.
To add to that, I've seen many people complain about their own tracking issues they have. It seems like the Vive's tracking system is sensitive to environmental issues (which makes sense since it requires very precise timing of lasers). I hope Valve will work on the firmware a bit to improve stability even in these cases, but more ideally I hope they could come up with some way to detect if there are environmental issues and warn the user. So, if anyone is setting up a Vive I would be wary of windows/mirrors/large TV's/anything reflective which may be in view of the Vive and cover them up if possible.
Now, for the demo's.
TheBlu was pretty darn cool but wasn't mindblowing as I've used Ocean Rift and other demo's before. However, it was my first taste of room scale VR. Being able just to walk around, lean over the railings (don't forget to check out the airplane!) and push away the fish was neat.
Space Pirate made you feel completely badass. Had a huge fucking grin when I looked down and there were pistols in my hands. I saw trailers for it and went "meh" but I was surprised how engaging it is. I took a look at their steam page last night and I really hope they get around to adding more variety to the game. Right now it's a neat proof of concept, but unless you're someone who will replay the same thing over and over to get to the top of a leaderboard, it doesn't seem super replayable once the new-ness will wear off. If they add co-op support, more weapons, more enemy types I am there day one. Seriously, the bullet time mixed with using your shield while getting flanked was sweet. I was really getting into it. Died once and got to wave 7 before the demo timer ticked over and it started the next demo. This was definitely my favorite demo.
Tilt Brush was the last one and it was pretty neat. Lots of cool effects. I was in the space environment and made plasma rings around the planet and basically tried to play with as many brush types as I could before my time was up. I'm not a great painter by any stretch, so I hope you can easily share your creations with other people and see them because I would love to check out some from actually good artists.
Overall, I was very impressed. Chapperone worked great. The Rift NEEDS a system like this when Touch hits because it just gives you so much confidence in moving around. I also hope the tracking problems will be able to be worked out and Valve will continue to add features such as guided ways to improve your IPD/eye-relief for the best image quality and FOV. I think at this point it's more about polished content than anything. There are some awesome room scale experiences and games out there, but many of them are early access so they need polish and expansion on their ideas. Hover Junkers is probably the #1 game I want to play, so hopefully by the time I get mine it's going to be a bit better (and also with a larger player population). VR is finally here though, and it's amazing!
Yeah, mine is a May order, so I have time. I'm leaning pretty heavily towards cancelling, though. Which sucks because I'm pretty sure I'd have a blast with it, but it's time to put my current car to rest in the near future. I'll have to stop reading VR threads completely, it will be too tempting.
SmiteOfHand
Member
Looks like new pre-order estimates have bumped to June, in the US. Not sure elsewhere.
(Apologies if this was mentioned already. News to me and figured anyone else still on the fence, like myself, would like to be aware.)
(Apologies if this was mentioned already. News to me and figured anyone else still on the fence, like myself, would like to be aware.)
Dreams-Visions
Member
Hey guys, anyone know of a way to adjust the height of the Virtual Desktop screen? I find myself looking down a lot and I'd rather the screen be slightly above eye level. Or to be able to move it as such as I see fit. Possible? I tried resetting the seated whatchamacallit but no luck.
Not at desk, but I think you can use the Floating option. Don't recall offhand how to adjust position when enabled.
Dreams-Visions
Member
reset orientation did it. tyvm!
If it is VR or a car the decision should be a no brainier unless you want to use public transportation.
Iced_Eagle
Member
Can you change screen distance or size in SteamVR theater mode? I was playing Rocket League and it was a bit disorienting with such a massive screen which didn't fit well into the FOV.
They do bring up the space issue quite a bit and they do have a point but not everyone lives in an area where the cost of living (and space) is so high. We have plenty of space here in Australia!
Sounds great and horrible at the same time. I really hope all the issues can be overcome by tweaking and fiddling with the settings/installation.
mrchampipi
Member
I had never ever experienced motion sickness irl before trying VR. I mean, I could read a book while balancing on my head in a moving vehicule without feeling any disconfort. Yet some VR experiences (with an oculus DK2) managed to really fuck me up: a deep and intense physilogical disconfort, that lasted for hours (maybe that's how people experience real life motion sickness?)
Interesting to see the latest Windlands feedbacks with the Vive, as this game was famous for not making you sick despite breaking all "VR best practice rules". One of my favorit demos on the DK2 with a gamepad.
Windlands made me feel sick too, not so much the on foot movement, but the jumping. Just had a sinking feeling in my stomach whenever I did it. I didn't feel as if I could get used to it so just asked for a refund.
Only bad experience I've had out of the 12 or so games I've tried so far.
Only bad experience I've had out of the 12 or so games I've tried so far.
A Grizzly Bear
Member
You'll be told which month and to wait for a tracking email when it's shipped.
Is there anyway to know which month before they drop a $900 charge on my account?
Compsiox
Banned
Out of curiosity, how are you with physical (not virtual) rollercoasters?
Finally finished redecorating and setting this thing up.
First time in VR, and, yeah its cliche by now but I'm pretty blown away. The Blu was the perfect intro, the Lab was just excellent all around, and the Budget Cuts demo was super impressive. So many ridiculous moments- crawling around on my living floor trying not to bump my head, trying to rest my arm on a desk that wasn't there of course to steady my aim- can't wait for the full game.
Two things that are kind of hampering the experience atm- the visuals can be blurry. Like I don't think it's this blurry for everyone else blurry. Looking down right now, I can't even read the text in the topic review below. I've tried adjusting the llittle nob on the side to the limit each way and it only makes a minor difference. Has anyone else had this problem?
Second is the packed in earbuds that come off middle of playing anything. Cord is so short. Easily remedying that this week with a new pair anyways though.
First time in VR, and, yeah its cliche by now but I'm pretty blown away. The Blu was the perfect intro, the Lab was just excellent all around, and the Budget Cuts demo was super impressive. So many ridiculous moments- crawling around on my living floor trying not to bump my head, trying to rest my arm on a desk that wasn't there of course to steady my aim- can't wait for the full game.
Two things that are kind of hampering the experience atm- the visuals can be blurry. Like I don't think it's this blurry for everyone else blurry. Looking down right now, I can't even read the text in the topic review below. I've tried adjusting the llittle nob on the side to the limit each way and it only makes a minor difference. Has anyone else had this problem?
Second is the packed in earbuds that come off middle of playing anything. Cord is so short. Easily remedying that this week with a new pair anyways though.
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Well the full version of Budget Cuts is the big one for me, there's also a multiplayer room scale melee/shooter called Raw Data coming out in the summer. Honestly though I'm just hoping we get to see a big push of new demos and prototypes just like the dk1 days, going through all that is exciting seeing all the experimentation. I hope devs don't necessarily feel constrained to release everything on Steam either, I've already played a few things outside of it on Vive and they run great, don't need a background program or SteamVR running to get things goin. A welcome change from the devkit days (and Oculus CV1).
- Status