1990

What gpu are you using to drive it?

1991

GTX 980Ti… got the new PC about two years ago to power my first Vive headset.

1992
1993

Meh… I like it.

OTOH, “CCP Newcastle was picked up by Sumo Digital, a leading UK indie studio. They are now collaborating with CCP on Project Nova, a multiplayer FPS that will eventually tie in to Eve Online.”

Brilliant idea with a proven track record!

1994

Only $1500 if you early bird it:

1995

So I wound up opting for Skyrim VR instead of Fallout 4 VR to go with my new HD goggles and HOOOO-WHEEEE, MAMA! GOT-damn!

I spent Wednesday night marveling and drooling over how cool it was to be inside the wagon on that first trip down the mountain to Helgen… then with my head on the chopping block as the dragon appears screeching overhead, this time literally.

I have no dizziness or nausea from the smooth movement. The realistic sneaking (crouch down low) and swimming (windmill your arms like a buffoon) is a hoot. The interface is a bit fiddly but I’m getting the hang of it. Of course, bow and arrow combat is awesome. I haven’t done much melee fighting yet but I did square off with a mud crab and had a giddy ol’ time.

Then, last night, I went deep down the modding rabbit hole. I couldn’t get the new Vortex mod manager to work but once I reverted to Nexus Mod Manager and Loot for load order (plus an .ini edit and a copy/paste trick you need to remember each time you change mods) and I was off and running. Lighting, weather, textures, all of it reshaping the world around me. Absolute nirvana.

I don’t want to get carried away with hyperbole but this is a Very Different Thing. Unlike pretty much every other VR title I’ve tried, this one isn’t just neat to poke into for a 15-minute look-around… this is good-old gaming addictiveness setting in. I never got all that deep into the game (maybe 10-15 hours) so much of the experience will be brand new if I do keep going.

From Atari 2600 Combat to this in my lifetime… Astonishing and absolutely bonkers.

1996

I’m sold on the VR aspect, but the idea of opening up the whole which mods to use question AGAIN makes me wilt.

1997

Ha! I hear ya. Fortunately, I’ve been away from all of that for so long that it was more appealing than soul-crushing.

Plus the whole 360-degrees-of-mods-surrounding-you thing adds a fresh coat of enticement to the whole turgid affair.

1998

Yeah I’ve had a REALLY good time with Skyrim VR for PC so far. Same interface issues as Fallout VR more or less, yet somehow more engaging.

Diego

1999

I’m playing Skyrim VR as well (used the 20% off code on GMG). It truly is an amazing VR experience.

I’ve only installed a few mods so far. The default NPC skins are pretty rough so I installed Caliente’s Beautiful Bodies Enhancer mod, which is a huge improvement. I’m using the Vortex beta instead of Nexus Mods and so far it’s working fine for me.

What’s interesting to me is how personal it feels when you interact with an NPC. They look you directly in the eyes while speaking. I’m actually enjoying the NPC interactions whereas in 2D I’d be tempted to skip through the dialogue.

I was tempted to buy a PSVR just to play this on my PS4, so for me $47 is a steal. Plus, I can see how important mod support is, so I’m glad I waited for the PC edition.

2000

I spent HOURS on the stupid Mods setting screen trying to make sense of the three directories you need to set up for proper deployment and couldn’t get it working. Might have had something to do with having the game installed on another drive. I finally gave up and NMM did the trick.

I’m downloading Caliente’s! You’re right about the “more personal” thing… it’s so neat how you can get right up in their faces.

2001

Apparently skse is coming out for Skyrim VR, which is an unexpected bit of good news.

2002

Doesn’t that just do nude female bodies?

If you want proper all-round character graphic improvement try WICO. I think it’s the best one, it does facegen and face textures that stick close to lore style. I use the ‘less flush faces’ option. (it has nude female bodies if you don’t want to lose that, though it also has vanilla-based variant)

2003
2004

Yeah Boris Vorontsov is working on a new version of his famous ENBSeries for it as well. It’s all happening!

2005

Is there a good resource to compare graphics cards and CPUs to make a “You must be this tall to ride” line for VR?

My rig is about five years old, and gets the job done, but I have no idea what VR takes.

(GeForce GTX 650, i5 3570 CPU @ 3.40 GHz quadcore, 8 GB memory)

2006

GeForce Experience app seems to recommend 970 and higher.

Capture

2007

I spent a lot of time mucking around with the mods too. Have to be real careful with performance. I used to swear by SMIM but even the Lite version is tough to keep running over 90 so I no longer use it.

So I finally ended up using these visual improvements!

Textures, the best I’ve found so far is Skyrim Realistic Overhaul:

overlaid with Noble Skyrim:

Noble looks different to Vanilla style but it gives a really nice unified look, like it was done by actual artists rather than randomly cobbled together (cough Skyrim 2017 Textures cough)…
For textures that Noble doesn’t cover, then you get the Skyrim Realistic Overhaul textures showing instead.

Weather; Obsidian, which includes the nice mountain fog:

Vegetation; Simply Bigger Trees is nice as the default trees do look kinda small in VR. Others I’ve found are just too expensive or have issues, esp. grass stuff like Verdant or Flora Overhaul:

Water; Realistc Water 2 is better but I’m not sure it’s the best. Not tried any others, open to suggestions!

Enhanced Magic VSFX, improves the horrid flat sprites that appear in your hands when casting spells:

And as mentioned earlier, WICO greatly improves the character faces while not going too overboard. ‘Less flush faces’ option reduces the heavy eyeshadow look:

2008

The headsets have min & recommended specs, just like games do: https://support.oculus.com/1773584749575567/

Oculus has a tool you can download: https://ocul.us/compat-tool

2009

Thanks, folks. Just what I needed to know. If I keep drinking milk, eventually I’ll be tall enough to ride that roller coaster.