Half Life 2 now has official Rift support if you opt in to the Steampipe beta: https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=957
Edit: Nevermind. Beaten.
Edit: Nevermind. Beaten.
Oculus Rift - Dev Kit Discussion [Orders Arriving]
- Thread starter Gowans
- Start date
plagiarize
Banned
and after I spent ALLLLLLL that time trying to get it to look right with Virieo tonight. hah. hopefully the Hydra control mod gets updated soon too. I'm going in!
Oneironaut
Neo Member
plagiarize
Banned
DOWNLOAD FASTER DAMNIT.
plagiarize
Banned
it doesn't have one? hmmn. it supposedly has all the same cvars. there's probably a way to match the calibrations you got from TF2 pretty easily.
so yeah, look up what tf2 has for these cvars:
vr_ipdtest_left_i
vr_ipdtest_left_o
vr_ipdtest_left_t
vr_ipdtest_left_b
vr_ipdtest_right_i
vr_ipdtest_right_o
vr_ipdtest_right_t
vr_ipdtest_right_b
vr_separation_user_inches
vr_separation_toein_pixels
then put them in an autoexec.cfg for HL2.
Doesn't seem to. I hope someone figures it out soon because I restarted the game and I think that part in the intro where the G-man is all up in your face may have damaged my ocular muscles
I've been a 3D lover for a few years now and one of my earliest equipment purchases was a parallel viewer. I just tested it on the Minecraft gameplay and it looked awesome 
I also made a video to explain what it is and where to get it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEug0o5eAw
I also made a video to explain what it is and where to get it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEug0o5eAw
This definitely seems to have helped. I've only spent like 10 minutes in this so far but I think this might be the most impressive thing I've tried on my Rift yet.
plagiarize
Banned
Doesn't seem to. I hope someone figures it out soon because I restarted the game and I think that part in the intro where the G-man is all up in your face may have damaged my ocular muscles
yeah. something is really out of whack. it might be the fov, which is capped at 90 for some silly reason.
plagiarize
Banned
i'm struggling to get this to feel anything approaching right. looking up and down feels REALLY weird.
It looks mostly right to me after copying my VR settings from TF2.
plagiarize
Banned
dropping my FOV down to 75 actually fixed it. there's still a few things that feel a bit weird, like climbing ladders, the wall feels too close, but other than that it plays and looks fantastic. i'm midway through the airboat section and calling it a day.
it's the episodes as well.
w00t !
*status will be changed to processing, check your address data*
I'm in the Netherlands, so let's see how fast that new European fulfillment center is
got the above notification on the 2nd of May
just now received the shipping conformation and delivery date (today!)
so they ship from the UK for Europeans now, (which avoids customs as well I guess though that isn't much of an issue in the Netherlands nowadays) and they still send out shipping information only on the expected date of delivery I guess
lets install HL2 right now hehe
Shadow2222
Member
Just preordered yesterday. I know I won't get one until around September, in all likelihood, but I just can't wait for a consumer model. If they announce the consumer version before mine ships, ill cancel it.
plagiarize
Banned
I'm kind of hoping the talk of an improved second dev kit isn't true, because at this point I can't see how I'd talk myself out of buying that AND buying the consumer version next year. comparing this to buying a console or buying a new graphics card and what I expect to get out of a purchase like that, how many fresh experiences and improved visuals, this thing has been a complete steal at $300 and I felt that way BEFORE HL2 got support.
TF2 was obviously just for practice on Valve's part because it really didn't demonstrate what VR can do for a game at all, from the perspective of playing the final product. Doom 3 and Half Life 2 are both drastically improved by the addition of it though, and they're both almost 10 years old.
Doom 3 and Half Life 2 are the freshest things I've played this year, and while Half Life 2 remains one of my favorite games Doom 3 never really used to do much for me. I've always bored of Doom 3 before reaching Delta labs, aside from completing co-op on the Xbox version. The loop of 'nothing happening, hit blatant invisible trigger, action' never worked for me in single player, and only worked in co-op because it added a random element of a human that was going to hit triggers when I wasn't expecting it.
In VR though, Doom 3 works incredibly well, because I get drawn into just wandering around looking exploring the environments, and blunder into invisible triggers. The 'nothing' has become 'breathing room to take it all in'... and now that even imps can be intimidating the jump scares finally work on me. Opening a door or walking around a corner to come face to face with an imp didn't get me in 2D, but now that it actually feels like I'm face to face (or more accurately, face to chest... I feel like a ten year old kid bumping into a six foot tall bully) it has me leaping about in my chair and swearing out loud.
One other thing that has become incredibly fun compared to how it used to be is present in both Doom 3 and HL2. Namely, floating enemies that physically react to being shot. Fighting cacodemons or man hacks is something you have to experience yourself to see how much VR brings to those encounters, but I can't rave about it enough. They're another thing I didn't expect to feel particularly different in VR, but they're orders of magnitude better.
That's been one of the most interesting things about exploring new worlds with the oculus. All the unexpected things, whether they be good or bad. Things that feel horribly disorienting that I never would have predicted... it's a fascinating new frontier.
VR really is something completely new, and we've only just set foot on this Continent. We're only just burying our toes into the sand of an undiscovered land. I never expected that adding VR to an existing title would do so much for it, given all the talk about how the real show pieces will be things custom built for it. I almost don't dare to imagine what those type of experiences might be like.
If you already have the software, and you already have suitable hardware, and have any fondness for Doom 3 and/or HL2, I say spend the $300 if you've got it. Even considering the very low resolution of the headset, once you get a taste of settling in to play something for a few hours at a time like you can with Doom 3 and HL2... you'll never want to play a first person shooter any other way.
It sounds like from some of the comments elsewhere that Valve needs to get the IPD automatic adjustment thing added to HL2 pretty quick, like they put in TF2. Some person/people were having significant problems converging the images, or having a headache, or I think seeing double after taking the Rift back off.
Playing HL2 might be great, but it's not worth it if it screws your eyes up. For now it sounds like copying the TF2 settings can help but I hope Valve still adds calibration.
Playing HL2 might be great, but it's not worth it if it screws your eyes up.
For now it sounds like copying the TF2 settings can help but I hope Valve still adds calibration.A new version of the software that lets you use the Wii Balance Board on the PC is out now. It features fully customizable key bindings so you can also you it for things like foot pedals now too. Also the ability to map you actually jumping on the balance board to in-game jumping. This Would be really cool if used with a Rift.
Here's a video messing around with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGrDjBHFBS8
Here's a video messing around with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGrDjBHFBS8
vanhanz
Member
I've been a 3D lover for a few years now and one of my earliest equipment purchases was a parallel viewer. I just tested it on the Minecraft gameplay and it looked awesome
I also made a video to explain what it is and where to get it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEug0o5eAw
Thanks, I tried putting toilet paper roll tubes over my eyes to get the same effect, your solution looks much better.
plagiarize
Banned
It sounds like from some of the comments elsewhere that Valve needs to get the IPD automatic adjustment thing added to HL2 pretty quick, like they put in TF2. Some person/people were having significant problems converging the images, or having a headache, or I think seeing double after taking the Rift back off.
Playing HL2 might be great, but it's not worth it if it screws your eyes up.
well, it doesn't help that a lot of people will start a new game (as I did) and that the intro cutscene with the G-man is really fucked up in VR, or that FOV settings aren't entirely straightforwards to understand (as I found out).
however, once you put together your autoexec.cfg matching the TF2 settings you can just cut and paste that into the various cfg folders for the different episodes, so at least you only have to figure it out once. the end result is worth the 10 minutes, even if it doesn't quite feel as 1:1 scaled as I have Doom 3 feeling, or as tuscany et al feel. It's damn close.
and lets remember that right now we're talking about a beta release of the HL2 VR support that works for a devkit that only kickstarter backers currently have. there's plenty of time to get things like calibration sorted out, and hopefully made part of the oculus drivers.
Feasibility of 3rd person gaming in VR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K03okCfcXUQ
Very interesting stuff, I always thought that 3rd person VR gaming could be great, and Cymatic Bruce agrees. Now, Remedy needs to port Alan Wake 1 to the Rift and offer few control options. Also for that platforming part of discussion, I want to see Trine1/2 ported for rift.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K03okCfcXUQ
Very interesting stuff, I always thought that 3rd person VR gaming could be great, and Cymatic Bruce agrees. Now, Remedy needs to port Alan Wake 1 to the Rift and offer few control options.
Also for that platforming part of discussion, I want to see Trine1/2 ported for rift. plagiarize
Banned
Feasibility of 3rd person gaming in VR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K03okCfcXUQ
Very interesting stuff, I always thought that 3rd person VR gaming could be great, and Cymatic Bruce agrees. Now, Remedy needs to port Alan Wake 1 to the Rift and offer few control options.
honestly, I already have enough shit to replay! we have two killer VR apps now with Doom 3 and HL2. let me get those out of the way first. I am having some of the best gaming experiences of my life with those two.
Chairmanchuck
Member
I just got my Razer Hydra thanks to the 90% error on their website. Now all thats left is waiting for the Oculus Team to release the Devkit V2.
plagiarize
Banned
I can't focus at all at work. VR has broken me.
Excited that you're this impressed.Just hope the rumors of Dev Kit 2 are real. I justify the extra wait by telling myself a lot of the kinks will be worked out by then and I'll have a bunch of software ready to play.
Just hope the rumors of Dev Kit 2 are real. I justify the extra wait by telling myself a lot of the kinks will be worked out by then and I'll have a bunch of software ready to play.
I also hope that positional tracking is a part of DK2, as that is a very major thing that brings a lot of problems that will need to be solved by the time of consumer launch
Just hope the rumors of Dev Kit 2 are real. I justify the extra wait by telling myself a lot of the kinks will be worked out by then and I'll have a bunch of software ready to play.
Same here, but it's sooooooooo tempting to pull the trigger on the current one
Tell me about it. I want to experience it already.
plagiarize
Banned
Just hope the rumors of Dev Kit 2 are real. I justify the extra wait by telling myself a lot of the kinks will be worked out by then and I'll have a bunch of software ready to play.
Well, it surpassed my own hopes. I hope it can at least meet everyone else's. Obviously I'm a bigger fan of stereoscopic 3D and head mounted displays than your average gaffer, and I'm used to having something on my head for extended periods of time, which isn't going to be comfortable for everyone.
also, resolution remains a big problem. it is poor. there's no two ways around it. some people won't be able to get past that.
and while I took to it like a duck to water (probably all that time I'd spent in my HMZ T1 to thank for that) having seen five minutes of it turn other people yellow with motion sickness, and reduce them to a queasy mess for two hours, I can't fault anyone like that if they don't want to fight through it.
but for me? yeah. it's improved two nine year old games substantially to the point where I'm wondering if the VR versions might not be the best things I've ever played, and that's with only the most basic implementations in games that aren't designed around the medium at all.
a modern game with a decent budget that had the rift in mind? I've increased my expectations of what that might be like as a result.
1/3rd reduction in pixel size is going to soften, but not fix the resolution problem, and it is a problem, it's just not something that undermines the experience, thank god, or I'd have a $300 novelty, rather than hands down the best $300 I have spent on a piece of gaming hardware.
I love my HMZs, but it's always been a rocky relationship. They're uncomfortable. If I wear them too long they make me feel ill. They don't work that well for certain types of games. It took me quite a while to feel that the $900 I spent on them had been worth it. While they greatly improved a couple of games in 3D (Deus Ex: Human Revolution), I don't know that I'd say that they greatly improved any games. Was Crysis 3 more fun with them? Sure, but nothing where I'd have tried to sell anyone on them. There wasn't anything that felt like a killer app. I didn't bother trying to get people to try them out that hadn't expressed interest in them.
They got rid of crosstalk and by blanking out the rest of the world aided immersion. The first taste of 1:1 scale I got with my Rift is something I'll always remember, like I'll always remember the first time I played the original Doom, and how it coloured everything I played afterwards. S3D is something I still love, but what it brings to the table is a small fraction of what VR brings to a game.
Or to put it another way, playing Doom 3 in stereoscopic 3D on my HMZs didn't change my opinion of a game that I've only ever really characterized as good, but flawed. To say VR may make Half Life 2 my favorite game yet, is only talking about seeing it leapfrog a couple of other games at the top of my top five... but Doom 3 has never been anywhere near that list. VR has transformed it into an incredible experience that is only matched by what HL2 in VR is doing. Neither may end up at the top of my list of favorites, but we're talking about games I've beaten multiple times suddenly becoming a fresher experience than they were back in 2003.
I never expected that from a low resolution $300 headset I bought through kickstarter.
But bear in mind that my level of excitement for it was probably higher than most people... but then I think it was the same for the HMZs. Those disappointed in ways I wasn't expecting, but ultimately I was happy with the purchase. The rift... the resolution is about as bad as I was expecting, but the benefits of VR are well beyond.
Hopefully that gives everyone enough backstory to gauge the apparent hyperbole I've been spouting all day, but believe me, the last time I was spouting stuff like this it was as I was playing Resident Evil 4 for the first time nearly eight and a half years ago. No game since then has even been in contention for my favorite game ever. Now I'm playing two? And they're nine years old?
Great stuff. I've definitely made peace with the resolution bit. And although I bring up the HMZ resolution and talk about being able to see picture structure, that was never my issue with it. I've just brought it up repeatedly for perspective for people who thought the Rift wouldn't be an issue. Of course, I'm not going to say no to the allure of a 1080p upgrade. Even if I know it's only going to slightly lesson issues.
I too remember seeing VR on TV many years ago and dreaming of how awesome it would be. So I'm glad we've finally started that process.
Oh, and the ride in the Citadel should be pretty awesome in HL2.
metareferential
Member
Having tried all sorts of stereo 3D solutions available prior to the rift (HMZ included), I'm so glad you underlined this aspect.
It really is crucial. I'm currently playing on a 110" screen with a 3D projector, and some games are just too good. The scale is obviously not 1:1 (and FOV is limited) but the bigger screen really made some aspects shine.
I can't wait to play with the Rift. I don't care about the resolution (720p on a 110" screen from 3-4 meters means you get a crisp image; get a little closer and it's a pixelated mess), I want to experience the game world the way it is.
I can't stress this enough: 1 to 1 scale is going to be a huge, huge improvement. And there's 3D, and there's headtracking.
If someone had told me ten years ago that today we would have experienced something like this, I wouldn't have believed it.
do you play HL2 with Cinematic Mod, or does VR not work witht the mod?
Game looks alot better with the mod, hope VR works with it :/
For those trying out the official HL2 support, I could be wrong but setting the interface to fov 75 seems to snap the fov into a 110 degree mode. I noticed that when set to 90, I actually had a 'smaller' fov and there was strange warping. I think they hard coded 75 to be a rift mode.
plagiarize
Banned
yeah. that seems to be the case. same as how only 1280 x 800 works. it took me a while to figure that out, and until I did... yeesh did it look funky.
no. I've always hated how it looked. no idea if it works or not.
So umm... my Rift some how managed to die last night. Can't get the Rift to turn on anymore, there's no video out - not even a "No Signal" screen like I used to get when the Rift was on with no video cable in. Power LED shuts off after 1 second of hitting the power button. Oddly though, the Rift is still detected by Windows display management as a Rift DK and head tracking still works, but I can't get the screen to turn on anymore.
Contacted Oculus, but haven't heard back from them yet. This sucks, I really wanted to try HL2. :/
Contacted Oculus, but haven't heard back from them yet. This sucks, I really wanted to try HL2. :/
Someone else here had the motion sensor die and apparently Oculus support quickly handled it and was quite helpful. If you can't get in touch with support, post here again and maybe that person can share what they did to get a reply.
Shadow2222
Member
Is the Oculus capable of viewing other 3D content such as movies? I understand that they would likely look really funky as it is not meant to play movies, but I wondered if anyone has attempted to do such.
The Sony HMZ is waaaay too expensive considering games come first for me.
The Sony HMZ is waaaay too expensive considering games come first for me.
Of course, it's more of a software thing than a hardware thing.
Only problem with viewing videos in the Rift as opposed to the HMZ is the Rift's resolution is effectively halved by the way it accomplishes 3D. Which means even a 1080p Rift's video will still only have an effective resolution of 960x1080. Less, really, because that assumes that what's left over is taking up 100% of your FOV which as someone who has watched videos in the Rift is a very unrealistic assumption. So realistically, I'd say the resolution is probably only 66-75% of that so about 640 x 720 is about the effective resolution you're look at for video content in the future 1080p consumer Rift.
Which is poor, to say the least, compared to the HMZ's full, 1080 effective resolution.
Huw_Dawson
Member
Any other GAFers lurking this thread with barely-contained excitement for the consumer model?
On my salary it would be foolish for me to invest in this, unless I made my dream Myst-alike game using it. But the consumer model will be superior and have a proper software library behind it.
Of course, if they turn around in July and tell everyone "hey, you can now get yourself a Rift shipped to you within a week of purchase!" I will probably concede defeat and buy one...
Weirdly, I am most excited for fighting games in this. I think having a 3d headset in a fighting game will massively enhance the spacial awareness and contribute to the experience.
On my salary it would be foolish for me to invest in this, unless I made my dream Myst-alike game using it. But the consumer model will be superior and have a proper software library behind it.
Of course, if they turn around in July and tell everyone "hey, you can now get yourself a Rift shipped to you within a week of purchase!" I will probably concede defeat and buy one...
Weirdly, I am most excited for fighting games in this. I think having a 3d headset in a fighting game will massively enhance the spacial awareness and contribute to the experience.
plagiarize
Banned
HMZ is 720p. Just fyi. not that I've ever even considered keeping mine on my head for 2 hours straight to watch a film. my 3DTV is a much better solution for films.
You're right, my mistake, but the point still stands that you lose far more of the resolution using the Rift for viewing 3D videos than other HMZ-like technologies.
From the forum, it looks like there may be some odd issue(s) specific to HL2 and/or the Source engine and how it renders to the Rift: https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=957&start=80
I think the dev and a bunch of other people are looking at it though, so hopefully they will get it all figured out before long.
I think the dev and a bunch of other people are looking at it though, so hopefully they will get it all figured out before long.