VR?

[Slick Wilhelm]

As soon as Pornhub supports VR, I'm in.   

[acctingman]

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This

[Staggerwing]

Stay tuned...

[MC]

I'll be sure to keep abreast of the latest news.   :D

[ArizonaTank]

I am saving my quarters, and informed the wife to expect the hole in our bank account. 

She didn't threaten to divorce me...so all is "green to go."

I  am really looking forward to it.  Planning on a new rig and full VR system.  So really appreciate thoughts on what works and what doesn't.

[Yskonyn]

I have tested the HMD in DCS World and in Elite Dangerous and I was completely awestruck! The experience is something you really *have* to experience to be able to talk about it!

I've been saying this repeatedly since day 1. Its nice to have someone else around here who now understands.

JH I presume you own a vive ? Occlus with the price reductions and the new touch controllers now might be an option. Do you have any views on the vive vs Occlus ? I have read the vive is a "better experience" but is more complex to set up and you need more space... just be interested to know if you have experience of both what your view is....

Yes. I have the Vive, which is generally regarded as the superior, more capable product out of the box. However, for every one thing the Vive does better, there is something else that the Oculus excels at. One major factor that had me considering a rift purchase is the touch controllers. However, Vive is working on their comparable product called the "knuckle" controllers and once again, they look to be superior to the touch. Vive is also working on a whole series of peripherals, including guns, swords, etc.

Oculus definitely had the edge on more and better exclusive titles, but revive software that permits Vive players to run oculus exclusives eliminated that advantage. Finally, I hear it's the Vive that is easier to set up when compared to the rift, but I've never set up a rift so I'm not sure.

At the end of the day, there really seems to be no Reason to own both systems. They are very comparable and both use basically the same generation of technology. It would just be a lateral move.

That being said, if I didn't already own the Vive, the current sale on the rift would be a no brainer and would definitely be a major determinative factor for me. It's a superb deal.

I don't know about 'superior'. That sentiment might be lingering from the pre-'Oculus Home' days or the time the Rift didn't offer Roomspace support yet?
There was a lot of fiddling around with settings and utilities in the Developer Kit versions (and maybe early CV1?), but the current state of the Rift and its software is solid as can be IMO.
First installation of the system is guided by a very nice interactive setup wizard which tests connections, gives tips about getting a perfect fit of the headset, how to clean it, what the different parts and buttons are used for and then guides you through sensor setup.
It even gives tips to rotate the sensors slightly if it measures the angle should be altered a bit.
A very intuitive experience and makes setting up the system a breeze, really.
Of course I have no experience with the Vive, but the way Oculus handles setup at this point is easy, even for novice users.

The Touch controller setup comes with a super cute tutorial! First, you stand in a white futuristic 'sterile' space where an omni-present voice teaches you the basics of how to translate your hand movement and motor skills into the VR world by using the controllers.
The layout and shape of the controllers make it effortless to do this! Really well though out. The controllers feel where you rest your fingers and this translates naturally into the VR world.
For example, you can put up your thumbs, or point at stuff with your index finger. You can make a first and you can grab things. All very naturally by doing pretty much what you would do in real life! Mind blowing, really! Seeing your VR hands do the stuff you want is an awesome mind-fuck!

Then the tutorial teleports you to a mobile-home kind of setup where a cute little robot wakes up after you have inserted its boot-disc. The little guy reacts on your movements; shying away when you touch it, for example. And it goes on offering you discs you will have to insert into a 3D printer. That thing will then print items you can interact with, teaching you various gestures and techniques to learn more about controlling whats in the world around you with your Touch controllers.
I'll refrain from any more spoilers, cause its best when going in as blank as possible. Truely captivating!  :clap:

I have no spent two evenings playing around with various titles; Dead and Buried, Robo Recall and SuperHot VR. All mindblowing in their own right! I can see where the criticism came from pre-Touch days, cause the Vive was the rightful King at that time. Touch (or any version of other brand that does the same) is PARAMOUNT to the VR experience, imo.
The controllers make it so easy and natural to do whatever you intend to do in the VR world, but it comes with risks as well. Soon enough (especially with SuperHot) you get comfortable and start acting like the badass the game wants you to be; I have knocked over stuff on the desk already (not with any damage yet luckily) and I have smashed the Touch controllers into the desk and closet to my shame.  ::)
I only have about 1.5m x 2m room to play and you need to set up the Guardian System with some buffer zone to keep it all safe.

I don't think Guardian System has been a feature for the Rift for long yet (something the Vive had from day one IIRC?), but it works great. It's basically a play area you define during Touch setup which is safe to move around in, free of obstacles in the real world. Whenever you get to the edge of this area you will see a raster or fence-like representation in your game world fade in subtly to alert you that you are near the safe edge of your defined area. A must-have feature imo in smaller rooms. :)

So in closing; the Rift (or Vive) just in 'freelook' mode without Touch is great for games like DCS and Elite. It really ups the immersion tenfold and the best thing about it is that everything is just at the proper scale around you!
But the true VR immersion only comes into play when using Touch (or its equivalent)!! Truely MINDBLOWINGLY great! :D :D

As for which system is the best? I can't say because I have no experience with the Vive, but the Rift with Touch has been a natural and flawless experience for me so far!  O0
In case you're wondering if the Rift is SteamVR compatible; yes it is. You can setup the Rift in SteamVR just like you can the Vive.
For large play areas I read that the Vive's Lighthouse system is better suited, but I have to go by what I read for that.
For game room setups I doubt the one is better over the other at all. And the price of the Rift can't be beaten at the moment (you get Dead and Buried, Robo Recall, Echo Arena, and a load of other free content free with Touch as well), which are all top notch experiences.

[Yskonyn]

So really appreciate thoughts on what works and what doesn't.

Regarding the Rift you need to be aware of the fact that the Rift and the Sensors need USB3.0 (blue) ports. Only the 3rd sensor (if you decide to buy it) should be connected to a 2.0 Port.
Obviously you will need to have enough ports and if you don't you need to buy a fitting USB expansion card. Certain chipsets have problems with the Sensors of the Rift for some reason.
Oculus recommends the brand Inateck and some end users have good experiences with StarTech branded cards. Still, there seems to be issues with these expansion cards for some regardless (of any brand), so the best bet it to get such a card anyway, but reroute your connections so that the sensors are plugged into the mainboard.

Regarding playspace; the system works best with areas of at least 2 by 2 meters, but I don't have that available either. So don't be stressed if you haven't got loads of playspace available either.

Jarhead should chime in on Vive related stuff.

[acctingman]

This is a great thread. Thanks to all who have left comments.  O0

[Jarhead0331]

The Vive set-up was also very simple and rendered "idiot proof" with interactive step-by-step tutorials. The hardest part of the entire process was drilling the holes into the wall for my two Lighthouse sensor units. The first experience with VR once its up and running is simply magical. No other way I can think of to describe it.

Once again, I personally do not feel either system is better than the other overall. Yskonyn makes a good point that the Oculus has evolved since it was first released and has definitely closed whatever gap there was between the Vive and Rift at launch.  The future of both systems is very bright. They are both backed by big money. Oculus has the support of Facebook, and Vive has the backing of HTC and Valve. my understanding is that Vive has made their development tools for hardware open source and license free, so the Vive is expected to get a number of unique peripherals and hardware enhancements.

One thing that I think this group should be aware of is that the Vive is native to Steam. That means, you will buy and run and install your games through the Steam platform, that most people will already have on their system, even if begrudgingly. However, with the Rift, although you can integrate your software to run through steam, you will still need Rift's own proprietary software to buy and install your games. Its a nice system, but it is yet another third-party software product that users will have to have installed on their system. 

[jomni]

Thanks for the summary

[Yskonyn]

JH I dont think the last part is true; I can buy my VR games from Steam just as well. In that case the Oculus Home software is just a manager/driver like TrackIR's software.
But if I want to run VR games in Steam I will need to run SteamVR.
A tool called OculusTrayTool can be used to easily integrate SteamVR into Oculus Home. This way it doesn't matter anymore where you get your games.

Oh and one more thing I forgot to add re (3D printed) accessories like Rifle frames and whatnot; I find that the beauty of the small size of the Touch controllers really shines here! I don't feel I would need such accessories because the Touch feels like a natural extension of my hands, where I would suspect a static rifle frame would actually kill immersion when I would be switching to other gun models in-game, yet have the same dimension rifle stock in my hands.

Take for example Robo Recall where you can drop your pistols, reach over your shoulder to grab two shotguns instead: your mind will fool you in translating more phantom weight into your hands when you have swapped to these larger guns! Its a weird sensation. Perhaps it will wear off after a while, but I feel real rifle stocks or similar aparatus won't actually be improving the sensation/immersion.
As it is at this point, the Vive's controllers are much larger and I read they also feel top heavy due to the sensors being in the rings at the top. The Touch controllers have no such 'problem' so they might feel more natural.
Like JH mentioned; the Knuckle Controllers will alleviate this though.

[Jarhead0331]

JH I dont think the last part is true; I can buy my VR games from Steam just as well. In that case the Oculus Home software is just a manager/driver like TrackIR's software.
But if I want to run VR games in Steam I will need to run SteamVR.
A tool called OculusTrayTool can be used to easily integrate SteamVR into Oculus Home. This way it doesn't matter anymore where you get your games.

Interesting. So do you need the Oculus Home Software for anything? You can buy Oculus exclusive software through steam? If that is the case, why are games like Robo Recall not available in the Steam store? I'm assuming the only games you can buy for Oculus through Steam are games that are natively cross-platform.

[Yskonyn]

Yes that's correct. The Oculus exclusive ones aren't available outside of Oculus Home of course. I was merely pointing out that I can buy games on Steam just as well; like SuperHot VR for example.
I can choose to buy it on Steam and use SteamVR or I can choose to buy it from Oculus Home and launch it from there.
Perhaps I misunderstood you earlier.
For clarity; if I buy SuperHot VR on Steam, I cannot automatically launch it natively from
oculus Home. But I can start SteamVR from within Oculus Home.
But I assume this doesn't work any differently for games you want to play on the Vive via re-Vive?
Bottomline is that the 'exclusives' aren't really exclusive for either system I think, if you know the way. :)

[Jarhead0331]

But I assume this doesn't work any differently for games you want to play on the Vive via re-Vive?

Not true, actually. ReVive adds a feature to the Steam dashboard. I can launch all of my Oculus "exclusive" games directly from Steam.

You're right about one thing though, there really is no such thing as "exclusive" titles anymore. users have developed software that circumvents, so to speak, any barriers that Vive/Oculus have tried to erect. This shows that the hardware is essentially identical, sort of like Intel vs. AMD and any actual exclusivity is caused by constraints built into the software that are easily removed by users. 

[Zulu1966]

I have a gear VR. So have played with VR to that extent. One thing really noticeable on that is the screen door effect.
If you had used Gear VR - what kind of order of magnitude are we talking here in difference of experience on either system ?