Higher resolution primarily. I’d also like an FOV increase, though that’s of lesser importance. They haven’t even matched the resolution of the Quest, let alone the competition from other manufacturers.
Oh, I’d also love to go wireless. But that wasn’t something I was expecting them to do yet.
If you could see my VR hair, you’d know I’ve been getting a lot of play time lately.
I woke up last Saturday in an upgrade kinda mood so I went to Microcenter and picked up a new RTX 2080 video card and the wireless add-on for the Vive. Thanks to @Galadin for the recommendation!
I’ve done plenty of video card upgrades in the past but this is the first time I’ve had two different monitor-environments in which to appreciate the improvements. Pretty f#@%in’ slick.
Setup was relatively painless, not counting a second trip to Microcenter because we didn’t realize the Vive pro required the wireless upgrade kit plus an attachment box of cables, etc, sold separately. It also gave me a chance to upgrade the firmware in my controllers and one base station which I’d been neglecting. This seems to have solved unintentional backwards movement I was getting in some games.
It’s true what Galadin said about not getting your ankles tangled in the cord. Quite freeing. I got some velcro straps and tried attaching the powerbank to the top of the headset but that made it too top-heavy and wobbly. Now I’m using a belt around my waist and attaching the belt clip in the middle of my back so the battery wire never interferes with my arms.
I’d picked up Budget Cuts, Moss, and Fallout 4 during Steam sales last year but never tried them. Well, I briefly tried FO4 but it was too choppy so I stuck with Skyrim.
But, oh my lord, the smoothness! It’s wondrous! Looking down at my little mouse character in Moss or walking through the vault in the FO4 intro was completely astonishing. Outside the vault, trading detail for distance was slightly less astonishing but still, wow. I never played it so it’s all new to me.
I’d also forgotten the simple delight I got from the Budget Cuts demo when a security bot sees you and you physically duck behind a cubicle. I popped up and tossed a knife in his face and it’s a whole different kind of satisfaction when you’re gaming with your whole body. Makes me wish I was 20 years younger.
Last night I experimented with running some older, non-VR games in Virtual Desktop to see if they were playable. Grand Theft Auto V and No Man’s Sky at ultra (and with Steam VR set to run Virtual Desktop at 500% resolution) were choppy but I think I could get them running smoothly with some modest tweaking. Meanwhile, The Witcher 3 was totally playable on my big, floating, personal, face-hugging, wrap-around IMAX screen.
Plus I got Battlefield V, Metro Exodus, and Anthem free with my video card. All three games I wanted but hadn’t yet purchased. Score!
In conclusion, technology is fun.
Give FO4VR a try again, the last patch (last summer? fall? the one that put in proper Oculus support) really improved performance.
Well, with the patch and the new video card, it looks glorious now!
Should I jump into the mod rabbit hole??
As a neophyte sim-pilot, I have to say that the passthrough+ cameras might be enough to get me to upgrade. That was the one HTC Vive feature I was really jealous of. There’s just too many real world charts, manuals, and checklists that I want to use while in VR flight, and while there are some virtual solutions to get at least some of this stuff to show in VR I just don’t think they work as well as the real thing.
Yanking off the googles to check a manual or chart on my iPad is both a pain (particularly since I wear glasses) and very immersion breaking. I will have to wait for reviews on how well the passthrough+ cameras work (I saw someone mention that they’re black and white only). But if reviews are positive, between the passthrough ability and the higher res screen — which hopefully will make the instrument panels easier to read without having to lean way forward in the virtual cockpit — I think there’s a good chance I’ll upgrade.
If anyone wants a free month to HTC Viveport subscription, first one to claim the code wins: SUMEE-W7KN7-MJPH2-6Y65Y
Can redeem it at https://www.viveport.com/myredeem by April 15th. I got it as part of filling out a survey but I returned my Rift so I can’t use it. Supposedly works with both Rift and Vive.
I have four free months of Viveport and went to redeem it a couple days ago… I’m not convinced I need it, even for a free trial. Still unsure about this gamepass, subscription model.
Very nice!
huh, I never thought I would be buying this game, but now I will be. Thanks for the heads up!
It sounds like heaven really, flying around space / planets using the HOTAS on the desk, and then stepping out of the ship while in the real world getting off my chair and moving around my study room with the motion controllers.
4.2 million units sold - not shipped - for PSVR.
HTC just announced specs and pricing on their HTC focus, which looks to have the same specs as the Quest but worse tracking (2 cameras, Snapdragon 835, 2880x1600 screen, etc…) and they are selling it for $799. This makes me think that Oculus is selling the Quest at a good size loss (I doubt their production pipeline is that much cheaper than HTC’s) and banking on the Oculus store to make it up (which they obviously can’t rely on with the Rift).
It wouldn’t be an HTC product if it wasn’t overpriced. This is the company that still charges $130 for a single Vive controller.
Their “excuse” with the Focus pricing is that it’s for the enterprise market. The same reason they continue to sell the Vive Pro for $800 for just the headset.
No excitement about the Valve Index? I am super-stoked.
Edit: Oops. I see there’s a dedicated thread. Carry on.
Picked up Skyworld for PSVR (it’s available on Steam as well). This is a pretty nice strategy game with the Turn-Based overword and realtime battle that play out like Clash Royal. So there’s a deck building component as well. Not super deep, but it’s got enough meat require some thought to how you’ll plot and execute your strats. I haven’t tried multiplayer yet as I’m still making my way through the campaign.
There have been far too many sideways upgrades for me to be excited yet. Need some details.
Definitely need to hear more about specs. And price.
I can’t get over that name. Valve Index. So dull. Did they consult a librarian to name this product?
Interested if the price isn’t up there with the Vive Pro.
Cool to see new headsets coming along. Seems like the ones released around the same time might be much of a muchness though. The wireless and tracker-free approaches are defintely welcome.
A glowing preview about No Man’s Sky in VR:
Well, it’s glowing, but the writer just casually drops this paragraph in between the compliments: