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Rumor: 'Half-Life: Alyx' is coming to PlayStation VR2*

Justin9mm

Member
weird. shit looks amazing on quest 2. i use air link or whatever its called. there is one thing though: launch the game trhough the .exe not steam (make a shortcut) and launch steam vr first. then for the rest, air link or wahtever its called, make sure you just enable it on settings and launch it to connect to steam VR and then launch the game. Make sure when you start steam vr you have the oculust app for windows running in the background, you can check in the devices tab to see if its connected and then just launch the game trhough steam and should take you to it.

am on a 12700k 3080ti 32gb ram, so you should be fine.
I'll try launching the .exe file, have not tried that. sometimes I get 10 minutes in and it crashes but my connection is good, I think its a virtual memory issue. It is on my 2TB NVMe boot drive, I read very recently to not install the game on your boot drive and that may help so maybe I'll try that also if no joy. I know its something simple, I have all the resolution scaling on default 100%, I haven't raised anything. I'm pretty confident the answer is not in the SteamVR settings. I've spent hours upon hours trying to configure and scouring through forums troubleshooting..
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
I'll try launching the .exe file, have not tried that. sometimes I get 10 minutes in and it crashes but my connection is good, I think its a virtual memory issue. It is on my 2TB NVMe boot drive, I read very recently to not install the game on your boot drive and that may help so maybe I'll try that also if no joy. I know its something simple, I have all the resolution scaling on default 100%, I haven't raised anything. I'm pretty confident the answer is not in the SteamVR settings. I've spent hours upon hours trying to configure and scouring through forums troubleshooting..



This maybe? Is it a Steam VR popup?

Honestly, didn't encounter a single bug on HL:A, even when i started it on a Ryzen 1600 and a 1060 6GB wired on a quest 2. Then around the same time as airlink came, my PC had been upgraded to a 5600X + 3080 Ti. You'll be able to raise that resolution scaling way far, 250-300%
 
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https://news.nweon.com/105409
https://news-nweon-com.translate.goog/105409?_x_tr_sl=zh-CN&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

db293bd665cf3d2f319184a851efe8d2.jpg





It's happening?






*The twitter thread isn't entirely clear on this.

If true the agreement better be that Sony ports all their PSVR2 1st party games to Steam. Valve is a headset maker too they need to be careful giving hardware competitors access to their games, Half Life Alyx isn't on the Oculus store for a reason.
 
If true the agreement better be that Sony ports all their PSVR2 1st party games to Steam. Valve is a headset maker too they need to be careful giving hardware competitors access to their games, Half Life Alyx isn't on the Oculus store for a reason.

Is Valve really "competing" though, are they just putting out a headset in limited shipments for profit and to increase engagement with their platform/products just like they did with the Steam Deck?

Valves kind of been letting the Index run on minimal support for awhile now. Worse that could happen by putting this on PSVR2 is they get more money from software sales.

I only see what you say being true if they are working on a better headset that's cheaper than their current one and they are going to actually push that headset harder. But that doesn't seem to be Valves style.
 
Is Valve really "competing" though, are they just putting out a headset in limited shipments for profit and to increase engagement with their platform/products just like they did with the Steam Deck?

Valves kind of been letting the Index run on minimal support for awhile now. Worse that could happen by putting this on PSVR2 is they get more money from software sales.

I only see what you say being true if they are working on a better headset that's cheaper than their current one and they are going to actually push that headset harder. But that doesn't seem to be Valves style.
They are competing, the company you are describing is HTC(Vibe). The index has done well for them and the Steam deck is doing good too, they are working on a next gen stand alone headset(like the Quest) while Sony is still making wired(dated) VR headsets. People buying a Sony headset means that people are likely to buy VR games on Playstation not Steam, that's lost money to Valve. The more appealing Steam looks the more appealing Valves headsets and Steam Deck look, that's business.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
They are competing, the company you are describing is HTC(Vibe). The index has done well for them and the Steam deck is doing good too, they are working on a next gen stand alone headset(like the Quest) while Sony is still making wired(dated) VR headsets. People buying a Sony headset means that people are likely to buy VR games on Playstation not Steam, that's lost money to Valve. The more appealing Steam looks the more appealing Valves headsets and Steam Deck look, that's business.

Valve's prototype name for their next headset is Deckard. 100% standalone and probably a variation/upgrade of the deck chipset. They said that it's very important for them moving forward with standalone. I cannot fucking wait.

Announce that headset with Half Life Alyx 2 and i'll preorder day 0.

Half Life Alyx is legit the most amazing gaming experience i've had in my life.
 
Valve's prototype name for their next headset is Deckard. 100% standalone and probably a variation/upgrade of the deck chipset. They said that it's very important for them moving forward with standalone. I cannot fucking wait.

Announce that headset with Half Life Alyx 2 and i'll preorder day 0.

Half Life Alyx is legit the most amazing gaming experience i've had in my life.
Yea I'm pretty hyped. Valve has done a great job delivering high quality hardware with the Index and Steam Deck(I like my steam controller too). Finally having a stand alone headset without Facebook cancer will be glorious, not to mention I expect the (optionally) wired experience to be far better on it than the mess it is on Quest 2.
 

Justin9mm

Member


This maybe? Is it a Steam VR popup?

Honestly, didn't encounter a single bug on HL:A, even when i started it on a Ryzen 1600 and a 1060 6GB wired on a quest 2. Then around the same time as airlink came, my PC had been upgraded to a 5600X + 3080 Ti. You'll be able to raise that resolution scaling way far, 250-300%

Wouldn't the pagefile size affect the lifespan of the SSD dramatically? This is what I've been reading anyways. If this also fixes the issue, I'm concerned about how my setup has this issue but others don't when they haven't fiddled with pagefile size.
 
Valve's prototype name for their next headset is Deckard. 100% standalone and probably a variation/upgrade of the deck chipset. They said that it's very important for them moving forward with standalone. I cannot fucking wait.

Announce that headset with Half Life Alyx 2 and i'll preorder day 0.

Half Life Alyx is legit the most amazing gaming experience i've had in my life.
Uh is this true? Because Alyx was the most amazing experience for me as well - this would be incredible
 

Freeman76

Member
If it is happening then why isn’t it a launch title? 🤦‍♂️

This rumour is bollocks. It says launch window. If this thing was coming to PSVR we would know about it. The hype of the new tech, coupled with an announcement like that, would shift big numbers. Sony doing a SoP the day after release, will include anything they have to entice players into buying it. They pretty much don't have anything mindblowing planned or we would know about it for sure.

I own the VR2 and am impressed by it, but god damn its a tough proposition on the games front. Not a whole lot to look forward to atm. What worries me is if the unit doesnt sell good numbers, big devs won't want to waste time making games for a unit that has such small numbers of ppl to buy it.

Sony should be paying their studios to develop games for this, maybe games that work in both VR and flat, to make it less risky.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Uh is this true? Because Alyx was the most amazing experience for me as well - this would be incredible

I mean it’s Valve right, they could have this prototype, sit on it for years and cancel the whole damn thing, or release it.. who knows

But



Rumours/patents/SteamVR code so far indicates the following

  • 4x4k micro-OLED displays
  • pancake lenses
  • Eye tracking
  • Pass through
  • Hand tracking
  • Varifocal with adaptive resolution to focus only on what you are looking at to mimic real life and boost performance, eye tracking mixed with adaptive resolution makes it so you see everything clearer while getting a huge performance boost to take advantage of the 4k displays,
  • Modular! It seems they are exploring this, front would handle optics and displays, can even rotate the display units for wider FOV. Back would handle the connection /processing. Either the data mining indicates that they are playing with many alternative prototypes, or they’ll have a modular solution. Meaning if you connect to PC only, it’ll be a cheaper module, if you want connection + wireless, that’s another option, if you want full stand-alone capability with SOC ala Quest, that’s a module.
  • Controllers with tracking ring
  • Again modular for tracking, can apparently still use the index tracking towers, hybrid solution with existing towers and headset inside out tracking, or just the headset’s inside out tracking.
  • Don’t use the patent drawings as reference, they’re never representative. Pancake + micro-OLED would make the front of the headset super small ala Quest Pro.
Even their job posting.

https://uploadvr.com/valve-job-vr-headset-deckard/

And interview with the verge

https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/6/22612886/valve-steam-deck-handheld-gaming-pc-hands-on-preview

“But Coomer did light up when I suggested maybe we could see the Steam Deck’s custom APU in a standalone VR headset, like the Oculus Quest. He said he loved the question. “We’re not ready to say anything about it, but it would run well in that environment, with the TDP necessary... it’s very relevant to us and our future plans,” he said.”

Again, might end up to a few dead ends, as the video says, Valve had a previous high end headset in prototype before index called project Vader. It was almost like deckard but too ahead of its time, too expensive back then so ultimately, the index was the heavily cut back result.

Whatever Valve releases next, I buy.
 
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I mean it’s Valve right, they could have this prototype, sit on it for years and cancel the whole damn thing, or release it.. who knows

But



Rumours/patents/SteamVR code so far indicates the following

  • 4x4k micro-OLED displays
  • pancake lenses
  • Eye tracking
  • Pass through
  • Hand tracking
  • Varifocal with adaptive resolution to focus only on what you are looking at to mimic real life and boost performance, eye tracking mixed with adaptive resolution makes it so you see everything clearer while getting a huge performance boost to take advantage of the 4k displays,
  • Modular! It seems they are exploring this, front would handle optics and displays, can even rotate the display units for wider FOV. Back would handle the connection /processing. Either the data mining indicates that they are playing with many alternative prototypes, or they’ll have a modular solution. Meaning if you connect to PC only, it’ll be a cheaper module, if you want connection + wireless, that’s another option, if you want full stand-alone capability with SOC ala Quest, that’s a module.
  • Controllers with tracking ring
  • Again modular for tracking, can apparently still use the index tracking towers, hybrid solution with existing towers and headset inside out tracking, or just the headset’s inside out tracking.
  • Don’t use the patent drawings as reference, they’re never representative. Pancake + micro-OLED would make the front of the headset super small ala Quest Pro.
Even their job posting.

https://uploadvr.com/valve-job-vr-headset-deckard/

And interview with the verge

https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/6/22612886/valve-steam-deck-handheld-gaming-pc-hands-on-preview

“But Coomer did light up when I suggested maybe we could see the Steam Deck’s custom APU in a standalone VR headset, like the Oculus Quest. He said he loved the question. “We’re not ready to say anything about it, but it would run well in that environment, with the TDP necessary... it’s very relevant to us and our future plans,” he said.”

Again, might end up to a few dead ends, as the video says, Valve had a previous high end headset in prototype before index called project Vader. It was almost like deckard but too ahead of its time, too expensive back then so ultimately, the index was the heavily cut back result.

Whatever Valve releases next, I buy.

Sounds like a very nice headset, sounds also like it's going to cost 3000 dollars like the Apple product. If they'd create this thing and sell it for 999, I'm in day 1! I should be complaining a lot about how expensive it is though like all those PSVR2 reviews for all the wrong reasons :D.
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
Sounds like a very nice headset, sounds also like it's going to cost 3000 dollars like the Apple product. If they'd create this thing and sell it for 999, I'm in day 1! I should be complaining a lot about how expensive it is though like all those PSVR2 reviews for all the wrong reasons :D.

Will cost more than Quest 3 for sure. Just to remove Meta data mining you’ll be a couple hundreds more expensive right off the bat, same technology. But as a current Quest 2 owner, can’t wait to ditch meta.

Valve will find balance in the end. If pricing doesn’t make the headset a multimillion seller, they’ll adapt to lower price. They’ve been pretty good at negotiating prices for their hardware so far.

Apple is just bonkers
 

Crayon

Member
If true the agreement better be that Sony ports all their PSVR2 1st party games to Steam. Valve is a headset maker too they need to be careful giving hardware competitors access to their games, Half Life Alyx isn't on the Oculus store for a reason.

We've seen Ms and Sony now putting their games on steam. Console <> pc users don't migrate easily enough for it to hurt much. Valve would be the last company worried about that anyway.
 

8BiTw0LF

Banned
Then why not officially announce it? Sony wants to keep this a secret so less people will buy their headsets?

Sony: "Yeah, guys dont let people know about the valve deal ok? It might increase the sales. We might make more money. Lets just keep it a secret for.....reasons."
A game like Alyx needs a proper introduction?
 

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
I'm sure it will happen. No point having it as a launch title, they will probably sell most of their initial allocation and it gives time for the first party and indie titles to breathe, then after the summer when the launch window has been exhausted they can announce this and reignite the media cycle for the whole product.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
That's what will make me get the PSVR2. What's there right now just isn't enough to make me jump in, as I already have a Quest 2 that runs most of this stuff just fine.
 
Valve had always, ALWAYS, been happy to port their games on consoles. There just had been a lack of suitable titles recently. I personally see Alyx being ported as a done deal and only a question of when.
 
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If will look absolutely stunning on this headset. I played through the game on an Index and that thing objectively pales (quite literally) in comparison to the PSVR2 from the resolution, to the HDR brightness, to the deep blacks, and the OLED color vividness. Even on the Index there were moments when I looked at it and it visually looked more impressive than current gen desktop games, I can't imagine how much better those visuals will look on a much more modern headset.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Curious - when people say there's really not a whole lot to look forward to on PSVR2 - what are they comparing it to? What big AAA stuff is there to look forward to on PC or whatever other VR platform they mean?
 

Freeman76

Member
Curious - when people say there's really not a whole lot to look forward to on PSVR2 - what are they comparing it to? What big AAA stuff is there to look forward to on PC or whatever other VR platform they mean?

Maybe they arent comparing it to anything, just that there isnt anything to be excited about on that platform?

Not everything is a platform competition
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Maybe they arent comparing it to anything, just that there isnt anything to be excited about on that platform?

Not everything is a platform competition

I guess, just can't make everyone happy no matter what! Though if you're coming at it as someone new to VR I can't imagine feeling like there's not enough games for it, when there's already well over 100 due out in the near future. Ultimately it's the mentality that the only games worth playing are the AAA ones that I don't understand, but then again if you're someone with 3 or 4 VR headsets already, the proposition is a lot lower I'd agree. But if you have that many already, I'm sure the impressions of GT7 and RE8 are half enough to get you to add one more to the collection lol.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I'm still trying to get it to run through SteamVR without crashing, what hardware do you run it on? I've tried running it on SteamVR through oculus and virtual desktop, I have a 7700X + RTX 3080 with 32GB DDR5. I'm trying to run it wireless and my internet and connection is no issue, I'm next to my Wifi 6 router on 5ghz, I have 250Mbps down fibre connection and still cant get it to run even on medium to low settings. I can't yet work out what is causing it to crash. I've even lowered my monitor resolution. I'm out of ideas.
What headset do you have? You should be more than equip for such task. It is probably some software issue...
 

SCB3

Member
Valve had always, ALWAYS, been happy to port their games on consoles. There just had been a lack of suitable titles recently. I personally see Alyx being ported as a done deal and only a question of when.
I mean if that was true we'd have PS4/Xbox One ports of the Orange Box by now right?
 

Bogroll

Likes moldy games
This could temp me to get one sooner rather than wait for a price drop. Was so tempted with GT7 but this could tip me over.
 
Valve's prototype name for their next headset is Deckard. 100% standalone and probably a variation/upgrade of the deck chipset. They said that it's very important for them moving forward with standalone. I cannot fucking wait.

Announce that headset with Half Life Alyx 2 and i'll preorder day 0.

Half Life Alyx is legit the most amazing gaming experience i've had in my life.

After Index, unless they convince people they will support it and it's not chunky and overpriced, that's going to be a hard sell.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
After Index, unless they convince people they will support it and it's not chunky and overpriced, that's going to be a hard sell.

"After index..." the index that is still $1000 and was still in demand 3 years after launch? #2 after the way cheaper Quest 2 on PCVR?

Poor Valve, how can Gaben cope with that.

gabe-newell-responds-to-paid-for-mod-controversy-143012391697.jpg

Deckard is rumoured to be with pancake lenses. That's already Quest pro form factor.
 
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"After index..." the index that is still $1000 and was still in demand 3 years after launch? #2 after the way cheaper Quest 2 on PCVR?

It's not in demand at all, it's a niche headset that's barely been supported and has been out of discussion for years outside of Alyx.

If you look at PCVR stats you can get a good hint of where the sales are.

SteamVR-November-2022-Marktanteile.jpg





If HTC is 3rd with 7% less than Index and that's a low selling brand across all their headsets, than the Index is also not doing much better than HTC.

The 3 Quest headsets have 63% (actually more by now) of SteamVR (not PCVR) for a reason.

You can pretend that the lack of support, and dry spell won't impact a follow-up but that wouldn't be true. People are going to remember the price and remember that they were not getting the support from Valve expected, and other releases they can get elsewhere.

EDIT

I found the more recent chart from last month,
7db0ae567047f2411c5d9028cdf2f0da.jpg


As has been happening for months, everything down but Quest 2. Which is the only headset with significant units.

With that being said, Valve has probably produced only enough headsets to where they can make a slow burn profit, but that's not going to help Index or Index 2 sell over 1 million headsets, which no one has done since 2018 outside the Quest headsets. I'm not even sure any of the headsets on this list not from Facebook even hit 500k.

Pico 4 had some marketshare gains in general and on SteamVR, but they ended up losing a lot to compete with Quest, and there's a thread where they announced layoffs and cutbacks.

Zucker himself sold ~8 million or so Quest 2's and whatever other headsets on top of that, with more software in the VR market, and lost almost ~14 billion the entire year.
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
It's not in demand at all, it's a niche headset that's barely been supported and has been out of discussion for years outside of Alyx.

If you look at PCVR stats you can get a good hint of where the sales are.

SteamVR-November-2022-Marktanteile.jpg





If HTC is 3rd with 7% less than Index and that's a low selling brand across all their headsets, than the Index is also not doing much better than HTC.

The 3 Quest headsets have 63% (actually more by now) of SteamVR (not PCVR) for a reason.

You can pretend that the lack of support, and dry spell won't impact a follow-up but that wouldn't be true. People are going to remember the price and remember that they were not getting the support from Valve expected, and other releases they can get elsewhere.

EDIT

I found the more recent chart from last month,
7db0ae567047f2411c5d9028cdf2f0da.jpg


As has been happening for months, everything down but Quest 2. Which is the only headset with significant units.

With that being said, Valve has probably produced only enough headsets to where they can make a slow burn profit, but that's not going to help Index or Index 2 sell over 1 million headsets, which no one has done since 2018 outside the Quest headsets. I'm not even sure any of the headsets on this list not from Facebook even hit 500k.

Pico 4 had some marketshare gains in general and on SteamVR, but they ended up losing a lot to compete with Quest, and there's a thread where they announced layoffs and cutbacks.

Zucker himself sold ~8 million or so Quest 2's and whatever other headsets on top of that, with more software in the VR market, and lost almost ~14 billion the entire year.


You're trolling at this point.

You're not providing any information i didn't already say. Its number 2. It gained market share after the manufacturing slump from Covid and has been steady 15-17% for a long time.

You do understand that if Quest 2 sold bonkers during that period and Valve is keeping steady percentage that it's in demand right? Otherwise it would have been eaten up by Quest 2 a long time ago.

But sure, do tell Ben Lang the founder of road to VR that his article is bullshit, Eddie-Griffin's coming hot with stats :rolleyes:
 
You do understand that if Quest 2 sold bonkers during that period and Valve is keeping steady percentage that it's in demand right? Otherwise it would have been eaten up by Quest 2 a long time ago.

An article from June 2022 that isn't talking real demand, they are using that term from SteamVR's own user stats as I posted already, which clearly does not show unit sales, only percentages of who uses VR on steam, which of course is a small percentage of users overall and you'd have to be joking to not get that. I know you do. So Valve being 2nd on that for some time doesn't mean it's in demand, it only means that it's being used by a similar group of people. If you loo at those charts going abck months, outside of PICO which is slowllllyyyy gaining, everyone else is in the same spots they always were for months and months.

You are trying very hard to make it seem that Valve with a low support for some time headset, is "in demand" based on being 2nd on a chart where HTC which barely sells headsets is only 7% away from Index, and Index had been decreasing for months consecutively while Quest 2 went up.

You are trying to make it seem that Index 2 is going to launch to a big audience and nothing about the dry support of the Index 1 along with the price won't have an impact on the successors performance. It will.

To say it gained marketshare is also misleading as several also-rans dropped and are hard to find or no longer are being sold, which continues now.

I do think that the Index 2 can still be profitable for Valve.

Of course, that profit will come from now actually directly competing in the space with PSVR2, Quest 3, Pancake1, Samsung, Apple etc, and will sell to an established niche group with limited units, with high margin. Similar strategy to the Steam Deck except that was more accessible and appealing and it blew up more, relatively.

But let's not think Index 2 is going to be moving 1 million headsets. As shown by the Index 1 Valve is strategic, they play for money, they won't lose ~14 billion in a year like Zucker did over VR.
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
Then why not officially announce it? Sony wants to keep this a secret so less people will buy their headsets?

Sony: "Yeah, guys dont let people know about the valve deal ok? It might increase the sales. We might make more money. Lets just keep it a secret for.....reasons."

They might not have said it to let the other VR games sell like Horizon. Alyx would of made the other games sell less lol
 

sachos

Member
When you upload a video to youtube you can select what game it is you are uploading, if you don't select anything Youtube will try to automatically tag your video anyway based on title and description and content. This most likely means Youtube just auto tagged with Half Life because it read VR a bunch of times.
 

pasterpl

Member
The saddest thing with Alyx is that after VR reboot with first oculus, there is still only 1 game on VR that can be called AAA system seller.
 

Crayon

Member
The saddest thing with Alyx is that after VR reboot with first oculus, there is still only 1 game on VR that can be called AAA system seller.

GT7 is right there. It's pretty much down to what kind of game a given person likes, though. You'd have to ask someone who like both fps and sims.
 

Justin9mm

Member
What headset do you have? You should be more than equip for such task. It is probably some software issue...
Quest 2.. I've increased my page file on my drive to 10GB to deal with virtual memory. It looks like it has fixed the initial crashing but now loading into second part of the game when you step into a train, not sure if it's second chapter, it crashes when loading. Researching this, it seems it is common to crash on loading chapters and sections. Game is apparently bugged as fuck. I don't have issues with other VR games so this game has got issues.
 
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