3053

Interesting. Steam only shows Fallout 4 VR compatibility with Vive and Index.

Thanks!

3054

Yeah support for Touch controllers was patched in at some point last year, I guess they never updated that part of the store.

3055

Wow yeah I picked this up the other day and it’s really cool! They also just added cross-platform multiplayer.

Cross-buy on Rift but I can imagine how tangled up in the cable you must get playing it there.

3056

Thanks to you both for the recommendation! I just tried it out and had a blast.

It almost makes me miss the wireless headset I just sold on ebay… but not quite. The in-game cable reference on the floor beneath you is ingenious!

3057

Ah yeah I read it had some cable indicator thing to help with that, clever. Haven’t tried it on my Rift, much less space for jumping around at my PC.

3058

I had a friendly contest with my brother to be the first to successfully complete the Beat Saber song Overkill by Riot from the MonsterCat pack on Expert. He beat it first, but I got the higher score (599,177) ultimately. It took me maybe 30 attempts, each one a sweat-soaked ordeal that left me quivering. And here’s Rachel, just murdering Expert+ without even breaking a sweat.

3059

That was mesmerizing. She never misses. And she does it with style, too.

3060

That is cool as heck. Superb. But goddamn what a godawful racket that music. Ugh.

3061

I hadn’t put on my Rift in probably 4 or 5 months due to our move but broke it out last night. Tried some Catch & Release to relax, broke some rocks in Not Miner Dig Deep but can’t remember the title, then played a little of the new Raccoon Lagoon. The latter is supposed to be a mix of Animal Crossing and Stardew Crossing and looks pretty good so far. I got a bit nauseous during the mining game though so I stopped playing after about an hour total. Need to get my VR legs again!

3062

To be fair she does miss quite a few times throughout (hard to see the X and miss marks with all the particles but you can notice the combo counter resetting sometimes). Still impressive.

3063

So, just putting this here in case anyone needs something similar down the road.

When I finished my basement, I put in grid ceiling to with a thought to VR, among other things. I got my Index a few weeks back and I have an open space I want to be able to use, so I started looking into options at extending the cable length. The idea is to run the USB/DisplayPort cables up through a conduit into the ceiling, then run the cable across so it drops down in the middle of the room. No more cable dragging along the ground for me to get tangled up in or my dog to step on.

Problem is, that meant I was looking at a 13-15 foot cable extension minimum, as most of that length is taken up from running up the wall and back across the ceiling into the room. What I discovered during this little project is that the Index pushes to the DisplayPort 1.2 standard to the limits, which means adding length to cable can get really tricky.

I tried a 15’ cable and that resulted in no signal whatsoever. I next tried a 10’ cable and while I got signal, I was getting “sparks” and other visual artifacts, as well as the display cutting out periodically. 10’ also wasn’t long enough to give me any extra room, so I had to try other options.

My first attempt was successful, but not ideal. What I went with was a 13’ DisplayPort 1.4 cable as well as an active signal booster instead of a passive DisplayPort coupler. I went with a DisplayPort 1.4 cable because it’s significantly higher rated in terms of resolution/refresh/distance and is fully backwards compatible with 1.2. I thought it was worth a shot at least. Here were the specific items I went with:

Booster:

Cable:

They also had a 16’ cable so I was going to try that, but another idea struck me: what about a fiber optic cable instead of using a signal booster? The rated ranges on the fiber optic DisplayPort cable were better at distance than the standard 1.4 cables. Maybe that would work better? So I ended up going with this:

It offers 8K/60hz or 4K/144hz at 30 feet, which sounded exactly like what I needed. More length than I needed (20 would likely be ideal), but I wasn’t able to find much shorter than that. The total cost of this solution was a little less than the booster + cable, I get twice the length, and it’s been working flawlessly.

So, yeah, in case anyone gets it in their head to do something like this, my experiences say go with the fiber cable + a regular $5 coupler and enjoy.

3064

Whoa. Nice!

3065

I got the 50 foot version of the ATZEBE fiber cable and it works great with my Index. The only thing to be careful of is that the ends are not interchangeable. I was fighting with it for a good 20 minutes before I noticed the ‘source’ and ‘display’ labels.

3066

Haha, yeah. Thankfully I just happened to notice that warning of their Amazon page, so I made sure to double check which end was going where before I ran the cable.

What did you end up using for the USB 3.0 extension?

3067

This powered one:

3068

I just ran into the same issue with my desktop monitor. 15 foot display cables are useless and 12 foot wouldn’t go over 60hz with ultra wide. Had no idea fiber optic cables existed. Pricey but good to know it’s an option that works.

3069

Finally got the faulty speaker on my Index replaced, and had a bit of time to goof around in VR this weekend.

All in all, I am really happy with the upgrade from my OG Vive. For cockpit sims such as IL2 and Elite, the additional resolution and lack of screen door effect pushes the visuals to a place where it no longer feels like such a compromise. For most games, in terms of visual quality, I’d say it’s comparable to playing on a 1080p display. I don’t think it’s actually quite at that level (it’s only 1440×1600 per eye, albeit with supersampling), but I’m no longer straining to read text and gauges. In short, it’s a level of good enough that tips cockpit sims into being great in VR.

For demanding games, I keep the refresh at 90. For lighter fare, such as Beat Saber, running with a bunch of supersampling and 120hz is a real treat.

Even with a beefy system, I am trying to find a good compromise of quality and performance for demanding games. Elite was relatively easy to find a sweet spot, and it feels like the most polished VR sim experience. IL2 pushes the CPU in career mode, and I’ve encountered a bit of visual stuttering in furballs. Aerofly FS 2 runs fantastic, but it’s a sim that has gone nowhere in the last couple of years in terms of development, so I’m holding out for the new Microsoft sim for GA flight.

No Man’s Sky has a ton of potential, but the visuals vary between beautiful and janky as heck, and the jankiness gets compounded in VR. The performance patch helped quite a bit, but I’m tempted to just chill and play on desktop for improved clarity. I wish there was a viable option for anti-aliasing.

Still a bunch of games to try.

3070

How is DCS?

3071

I’ll have to admit to not owning it. I’m just not a button-ology guy, and don’t have the level of skill required to learn how to fly high fidelity planes.

3072

Well gosh, it is free to download and the included P-51 is hardly a bottony experience.

Definitely recommended as a lark just to check out the VR greatness. Who knows, might get you hooked enough to pick up another non-buttony plane, like the Spitfire. If not, delete and forget.