So I switched my cable over to another provider (paying the same, 6x the speed) and, after a couple of nights of attempts with various combinations of the software, have gotten Revive to work streaming The Climb from my Shadow PC to my Quest HMD over Virtual Desktop. I just spent an hour or so sending big walls in the Alps. I’ve been wanting to try The Climb for ages and am pretty happy to have finally gotten the chance! Visual quality was pretty great, though there’s a tiny bit of jitter in the tracking, and occasionally it would glitch out for a half second or two. Very playable and gorgeous though. (Nothing like actual climbing, but it looks right and is still pretty fun.)
Now, in addition to The Climb, I’ve gotten Lone Echo to work: Shadow PC->Oculus Store->ReVive->Steam VR->Virtual Desktop->intertubes->Wifi->my Oculus Quest. The game looks spectacular. The slight control lag means that the acts of throwing and pulling myself around in zero-g have to be done rather deliberately, but it still works. (And now I have to take a bit of a break. My VR legs are a mite wobbly.)
That’s pretty damn cool!
My Index reservation email came in yesterday so I should have it some time next week. WOO!
Mine did too! Just waiting for it to be shipped!
It’s been name-dropped in the thread before but everyone with a Quest should check out Tea for God, demo/alpha now available in SideQuest 0.5.1.
The only locomotion method available is physical walking, around the confines of whatever play area you have. You’re basically walking in circles but hey the effect is pretty awesome.
Vive Pro is $200 off on Prime day if anyone’s looking.
Has anyone tried the free Spiderman VR thing on steam? It looks pretty nifty, I don’t have access to my VR computer for a couple of weeks so haven’t been able to give it a go yet.
Oh
Em
Gee
Thanks! Downloading!
Yay! Been wanting to play this and don’t have PSVR.
Epic exclusive. Boo.
For those unaware, gmg has a sale on at the moment and if you buy a discounted game (not any game has to be a “silver or gold” tier deal, but they aren’t all pricey ones) you get star trek Bridge crew and raw data for free (among with some other stuff). Looking forward to trying both in VR!
Got my Vive Index today… I give it two thumbs up and I can do that with total hand presence in VR!
Set-up was painless and simple. Just plugged everything in, updated firmware, and I was off to the virtual races.
I very much like how the Index is a relatively streamlined headset compared to my Vive and Vive Pro. Yeah, it’s still big n’ clunky technology but it’s getting less so and that’s nice progress. I’m going to miss wireless freedom… but I’m not going to miss the battery charging and the plug-in procedure or the belt clip or the awkward ‘horns’ on top of my headset. But I’m thinking it might be time to look into one of those DIY ceiling rigs to hold the wire away from my legs.
The wider FOV didn’t knock my socks off at first but the more I played, the more I realized how significant it was. I think that’s because Virtual Desktop doesn’t benefit that greatly from the wider view but once I was inside a 3D world, the perception of distance and the horizon was noticeably more impressive. It’s not like looking through a bucket anymore… more like a porthole window on a ship.
One dumb side effect of the lenses being closer to your face is that they’re easier to touch accidentally. I’ll have to break my habit of lifting the headset partially off and propping it on my head when I want to see the world around me. When I do that now, my forehead smudges the lenses.
The higher refresh rate seems to add a sharp, silky smoothness… I’ll have to play around more with those settings.
Sound quality is very good and I like how nothing touches the ears… helps that streamlined feel.
The controllers are a huge improvement. I think I can now safely reveal to you something which I’ve never publicly stated before… I don’t like those Vive wand controllers. Never have. Good f**king riddance.
The adjustable elastic hand strap is really nicely done. I love being able to just let go and flex my stiff, aging, achy, liver-spotted hands in the middle of a game. I loaded up my current VR obsession, Jet Island, and watched my fingers wiggle as I zipped and surfed all around. What a world!
Racket: NX out today on Quest. It’s a lot of fun, and super polished. I have to say, for the most part I’m very impressed at how well Oculus has been curating their app store. Even the freebies, like Mission: ISS, are really high quality. Its pretty much the opposite of the Oculus Go store.
I played through this last night and had extreme mixed feelings about it… Except it’s free so I loved it!
Things I liked: Web swinging around buildings. Chasing after the giant robot and shooting off its armor. (That’s pretty much the whole game.)
Things I didn’t: The controls! Trying to move or turn should be simple but you have to squeeze the grip to move forward? What the heck kinda bullshit is that?? Let me use the analog stick! It only felt right in the air once I started swinging around. Any time I landed on the street I’d be stuck like a rock until my brain had time to remember ‘press B to rotate incrementally then squeeze to run’ all while being shot at by a giant (super cool looking) robot. And getting hit by his blasters short-circuits your webs for a time which just made the on-foot control problem worse.
Free play might be fun to mess around with again. The city graphics are super primitive but I can only imagine how cool it will be to swing around an open world once someone does this right. I think it’s an excellent proof of concept for a proper VR Spiderman game nailing the feel of the hero, like how Rocksteady nailed Batman. I’m in for more, please! And with Spiderman on PS4 recently becoming the best-selling superhero game ever, maybe we will get more!
You SOB, I’m so jealous. I don’t get mine until Monday… just in time for another work week from hell where I doubt I’ll have much time to spend with it.
Now, off to read the rest of your post! :)
Oh, no! Sorry you have to wait, Kevin, but I think you’re gonna be really happy come Monday.
I spent some more time with it last night and my love affair only deepened. Lazy f*ck that I am, I stuck with seated experiences like Trover Saves the Universe, Project Cars 2, and Virtual Desktop.
The widened-out view of everything I do now in VR is a constant marvel and pleasure. I’m in complete agreement with the PC World reviewer who sold me on this thing when he wrote, “But I’d almost recommend an Index for the FOV alone. It’s that impressive.”
I also agree with reviewers who’ve said you can comfortably wear it longer. The microfiber lining is a big part of that, plus the improved weight and balance. I’m realizing how much the additional hardware and extra effort required to use the wireless adapter just wasn’t for me. Less friction = more inviting! Strap on and go.
As I’ve said before, I’m a huge fan of using Virtual Desktop to play traditional, non-VR games on my own, personal, giant, floating IMAX screen. It doesn’t work for every game but I love experimenting with screen size, distance, and curvature to see which games play well in that environment at a decent frame rate. Plenty of them do! And even though I feel like the only one around here who uses a VR headset like that, I’m going to continue shouting from the rooftops and proselytizing about how amazing it is.
Well, turns out the Index is really great for it. Being less uncomfortable for extended play goes a long way towards justifying non-VR uses. The back of this headset doesn’t mind if you want to rest your head against your chair-back or a pillow. The knobby Vive Pro wouldn’t allow it but reclining with your feet up and the IMAX screen floating overhead is a treat. I just need to rig some kind of voice-activated bon-bon dispenser to my awaiting, open mouth and I’ll be golden.
I spent a long time playing Sunless Skies with Kieran Hebden’s effing amazing Spotify playlist for a soundtrack and it was kind of a feast for the senses. Well, two of them, anyway. It’s a gorgeous game and all the more so when its vastness surrounds you. A game to get lost in and VR is how you do that. Plus listening to my own music just underscored how great the headset speakers are in both sound and design.
So far the only downside is what Tech Radar mentioned in their review: “The biggest fault we found with the headset after using it for more than a month is that SteamVR can be capricious… and, occasionally, a malicious, dastardly platform.”
I had a number of App is Already Running errors where SteamVR wouldn’t start because it was already running invisibly in the background. It wasn’t as simple to end the process as I would have thought so I had to reboot. I’ll have to read up on that issue to find a solution or hope it gets fixed in time.
This issue is dampening my enthusiasm not one iota. I like this thing!
Y… yes.
“How dry do you want it?”