OV9

Beany wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:58 pm

RobYob wrote: ↑Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:52 pm Rumour all over the gaming sites.
HL3* to be VR exclusive release in 2020.

*Half Life: Alyx may be the title so who knows what that'll mean for wrapping up the story. Will it end as per the leaked script? Will it just be a tech demo?

It'll be a tech demo that will offer eight minutes entertainment then be dull as fuck.

Rumour is they're going "all in"

It's a bold move. I mean, VR has an entry point of around £1500 if you want any kind of decent experience. Not to mention that room scale stuff also needs a decent amount of space.

It's a really niche market to aim for, especially when you've got the ravenous HalfLife nerds clamoring for more content.

Beany wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:58 pm

RobYob wrote: ↑Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:52 pm Rumour all over the gaming sites.
HL3* to be VR exclusive release in 2020.

*Half Life: Alyx may be the title so who knows what that'll mean for wrapping up the story. Will it end as per the leaked script? Will it just be a tech demo?

It'll be a tech demo that will offer eight minutes entertainment then be dull as fuck.

They've had a decade to do something epic. I recon it'll awesome*

* Possibly only for those with an Index and knuckles but still....

RobYob wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 10:24 pm

Beany wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:58 pm

RobYob wrote: ↑Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:52 pm Rumour all over the gaming sites.
HL3* to be VR exclusive release in 2020.

*Half Life: Alyx may be the title so who knows what that'll mean for wrapping up the story. Will it end as per the leaked script? Will it just be a tech demo?

It'll be a tech demo that will offer eight minutes entertainment then be dull as fuck.

They've had a decade to do something epic. I recon it'll awesome*

* Possibly only for those with an Index and knuckles but still....

Yeah, look at all those SteamOS machines and Steam Controllers and Steam Links that everyone has under their telly!

Valve are as good at delivering on their big claims as they are at counting to 3.

Beany wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 11:47 pm

RobYob wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 10:24 pm

Beany wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:58 pm

It'll be a tech demo that will offer eight minutes entertainment then be dull as fuck.

They've had a decade to do something epic. I recon it'll awesome*

* Possibly only for those with an Index and knuckles but still....

Yeah, look at all those SteamOS machines and Steam Controllers and Steam Links that everyone has under their telly!

Me me me! *Enthusiastically raises hand*
Harsh assessment although probably fair, they've had far fewer missteps on the software side though.

So, with HL:A coming in March 2020, me being fairly thoroughly into Elite dangerous and really liking Beat Sabre when I tried it at a VR arcade it feels like VR is very nearly a worthwile investment for home. With some compromise on quality settings my RX580 gpu should hopefully delilver something adquate for frame rate...

The full fat Valve Index setup of headset, knuckles and base stationsfor £900 is eye watering.

RobYob wrote: ↑Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:20 am So, with HL:A coming in March 2020, me being fairly thoroughly into Elite dangerous and really liking Beat Sabre when I tried it at a VR arcade it feels like VR is very nearly a worthwile investment for home. With some compromise on quality settings my RX580 gpu should hopefully delilver something adquate for frame rate...

The full fat Valve Index setup of headset, knuckles and base stationsfor £900 is eye watering.

I've not used my Vive in about 6 months, mainly because my PC isn't really up to it. Despite that, with HL on the cards I'm still tempted by the Index however, I can use my existing kit so potentially get the headset for £400.

I'd like to try an Index though, I'd be interested to see how much better it is than the Vive....

Matty wrote: ↑Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:40 am

RobYob wrote: ↑Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:20 am So, with HL:A coming in March 2020, me being fairly thoroughly into Elite dangerous and really liking Beat Sabre when I tried it at a VR arcade it feels like VR is very nearly a worthwile investment for home. With some compromise on quality settings my RX580 gpu should hopefully delilver something adquate for frame rate...

The full fat Valve Index setup of headset, knuckles and base stationsfor £900 is eye watering.

I've not used my Vive in about 6 months, mainly because my PC isn't really up to it. Despite that, with HL on the cards I'm still tempted by the Index however, I can use my existing kit so potentially get the headset for £400.

I'd like to try an Index though, I'd be interested to see how much better it is than the Vive....

That's the catch at this point, I want to try VR at home for a week or two before committing to that cash, but renting VR systems is very expensive last time I checked. I've really liked VR in small doses at arcades but will it give me a migraine (like my mates PS VR) when used for hours at a time in Elite and HL:A. Also will the family disown me

Right I’m pretty tempted to go for either a Rift S or a Quest as they’re reasonably priced now plus there’s some good games coming out for them. Reviews say you can link a Quest with a USB C cable which essentially makes it like a Rift S but somehow the games look worse on it despite it having a OLED screen and higher resolution? Erm what
I think the Quest also doesn’t seem to work with all the usual VR games like the Rift S?
Rift S is also £50 cheaper but it has a better PC VR experience.

Some reviews say you can’t tell the difference between them unless you have both headsets but the quest is overall better as it can be used standalone and the OLED display is far superior.

Which do I go for?

Rift S has vastly superior image quality to the earlier Rift, I don't notice sde at all. Not tried a quest though.

Mito Man wrote: ↑Wed Nov 27, 2019 7:41 pm Which do I go for?

This video might help, compromise between, mobility, finger tracking, comfort, manual IPD and cost.

Yep gone for the Rift S, the Quest weights the same as the PSVR which I never found comfortable and struggles with tracking in some situations. Ordered it from John Lewis because of their guarantee but didn’t realise they’re one of those businesses which still take 5 days to ship something.

Thoughts on this after a few hours, very easy to set up and just works. Feels cheap compared to the PSVR but it’s lighter and much more comfortable, head tracking is excellent. Passthrough is amazing, I heard my phone vibrate and went to check it, can just about read messages and reply on it via the headset! No more fumbling around blindly.
Graphics are ok, I spent few hours on ACC, can read the car dash well enough but during the night race I struggled to find my braking points. Found it unplayable in the rain in the cockpit cam as the fast wipers ghost and you really lose clarity.

I’m still happy with it but they really need a few more years to further mature as the graphics are like stepping back to a PS3.

Mito Man wrote: ↑Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:42 pm

I’m still happy with it but they really need a few more years to further mature as the graphics are like stepping back to a PS3.

You need to mess around with the graphics settings - many of these can be massively improved by tweaking settings to be more suitable for VR displays. I'm not sure how powerful your PC is, but check out "supersampling" - it puts massive strain on your system but can make a big difference in clarity :

I have a 1070 so can try it but it does say that SS is automatically activated in SteamVR which is what I played it through.
Will have to wait till next week as I’m all out of time now.

Those on Nvidia cards should/could just use the tray icon/control panel thing instead and set supersampling etc in there for each and every game/application. Done that with my GTX1070 and now AC, ETS2 and ATS work a treat in the Rift on fairly high settings. AC especially looks excellent (through Content Manager with SOL installed).

How are you playing AC and ATC in VR?

Mito Man wrote: ↑Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:42 pm Thoughts on this after a few hours, very easy to set up and just works. Feels cheap compared to the PSVR but it’s lighter and much more comfortable, head tracking is excellent. Passthrough is amazing, I heard my phone vibrate and went to check it, can just about read messages and reply on it via the headset! No more fumbling around blindly.
Graphics are ok, I spent few hours on ACC, can read the car dash well enough but during the night race I struggled to find my braking points. Found it unplayable in the rain in the cockpit cam as the fast wipers ghost and you really lose clarity.

I’m still happy with it but they really need a few more years to further mature as the graphics are like stepping back to a PS3.

You need an absolute flying machine to play ACC with settings high enough to make it playable, my machine (i7 9700, RTX2080ti) just about manages. Everything else looks superb though, iRacing especially is awesome.

Mito Man wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 1:02 pm How are you playing AC and ATC in VR?

For AC - Start the game up with Content Manager, use a profile too to ensure the audio comes through the Rift (don't need to worry about setting the PC audio settings, very handy unlike ETS2 and ATS where you need to change the PC audio settings first), select your car, track, conditions etc and put the Rift on your head but don't pull it down over your eyes. Get mouse ready, hover over start button. Drop Rift over eyes and click start. And ideally, until it loads (mine takes 3 or 4 seconds) keep your head still to ensure you're centred when it starts. Then you're fine.

ETA - Oh and in the graphics settings have the resolution or whatever it's called, set to Oculus Rift. Game still starts on the monitor though, even then.

Cheers, figured out AC, kept getting an issue with the oculus homepage displaying permanently over the game graphics but it seems to have sorted itself out. Curiously AC works better in VR for me as you can move the HUD items with your mouse to any location you want whereas ACC no longer has that feature and I find that the HUD items are too far off centre.

Driving the F2004 at Brands, through the dip at Hailwoods and getting that sinking feeling in your stomach is worth £250. Shame it only happens once eh.

Fired up AC again for a short blast, predictably I ended up lapping brands for 90 minutes in the F2004 with the time set to 6pm
The sound is pure fappery and it’s so satisfying to drive.

Other VR I’ve recently enjoyed - Rick and Morty - it’s well worth £5 for a few hours of laughter.

Automobilista 2 is out on early access but I’ll wait till there’s a bit more content. It’s based on Project Cars 2 so unfortunately the handlings taken a bit of a hit. If you want to drive a F1 car without VR then the previous game was the best for that.