3815

Shame Everspace 2 won’t support VR. :sob:

3816

I know they’ve said that, but I don’t know what the difference would be from the first game. Maybe VR was harder than they thought and they said never again.

3817

Yeah from what I read they said it’s a ton of work, requiring overhauling UI, rebalancing, optimizing. So obviously they had not considered VR from the start.

And there’s a couple of interestingly conflicting (to my mind) reasons they gave too.

One is the usual thing you hear, that they can’t afford devoting limited resources to a small minority of players.

The other is that VR players tend to have performance issues and leave negative reviews, which brings sales down.

So some percentage of this small minority of VR players is still significant enough to negatively impact their business.

3818

No Man’s Sky reportedly supports VR and works really well too.

3819

Who’s up for a personal VR treadmill? Only $1000 USD…
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/katvr/kat-walk-c-ready-player-one-vr-treadmill-at-your-home

Compatible with all major PC headsets, add $120 for PSVR. They are ‘hoping’ to develop a native Oculus Quest mode.

Details on shipping is not overly clear but I can’t imagine I’d be getting one in Australia for cheap…

3820

I mean, you have to accept companies need to try stuff out to move things forward, but man :)

3821

Last time I saw one of those, it was something like $8,000, so that’s really a bargain.

3822

Anyone play Phantom: Covert Ops? Its the stealth “combat kayak” game just released by Oculus. I picked it up and played it for about 30 mins yesterday with my Quest linked to my PC. First impressions are very positive, though I’ve read that its a one-trick pony (like most VR games). Still, its much more polished that Espire 1, which was a big letdown. Also, paddling a kayak is such a fun way to move around in VR (though I’ve heard people are getting motion sick from it).

3823

Eurogamer have one of their VR Corner reviews. There should be more combat kayak games.

3824

The Link works great. You get slightly better latency with a USB 3 cable but even using the charging cable it comes with it’s pretty good.

Also definitely setup SideQuest. The games are not long but there’s a lot of stuff you can quickly try. I recommend Tea For Gods, especially if you have a lot of space to walk around. It’s a game that uses only real world movement, no teleportation, no typical game controls that move your avatar.

3825

My new computer comes tomorrow so we are going to try the link…got a USB 3 cable.

This weekend I played a lot of Beat Saber, Paintball in Rec Room with the kid, and EchoVR. Had a fun time with them all. Really enjoying VR…hard to play a normal game on the TV now!

3826

https://uploadvr.com/facebook-holographic-vr-glasses/

709×367

The prototype isn’t even RGB, before anyone gets excited.

3827

Oculus Link works pretty well. If you want to stay wire free though, the Oculus Quest Virtual Desktop works well.

Quest app
PC Streamer app

If you want to play Steam games you’ll need SideQuest to update the Virtual Desktop Quest app. This is supported by the Virtual Desktop developers.

3828

I am currently considering an Oculus Quest and have a couple of Qs. I know there’s a couple of fine people here who are on top all of this.

I currently have an Acer Windows Mixed Reality headset and it’s pretty good, especially considering the small price I paid. But my biggest barrier to using it consistently is having to plug it in every time and dealing with the two heavy cables to the PC, and the fact that there is no mechanical IPD adjustment (I get eye strain pretty easily on the Acer and I think it’s related to improper IPD). The better tracking would also be really nice.

  1. Is there any known way to test your 5ghz AC wifi router for latency before investing?
  2. Has anyone tried using wireless PCVR in a different room to the PC? I have powerline internet going down to my living room and that also extends the 5ghz wifi network. The internet speed is 99% of what I get connected to the main router, but I wonder if it will affect VR latency.
  3. Provided the set up is good enough, does the wireless latency cause any degradation in quality of experience? Does the latency depend on graphics settings or involve any other compromises?
  4. How quick is the recharge?

Thanks!

3829

  1. I think some time ago I tried something called wifi test connection that installed a app in my desktop and in my phone, to see how good my coverage. You could use it. I think it was this one
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pzolee.android.localwifispeedtester

  2. Yes, but in my case the router is adjacent to my room, only a interior wall of separation. Powerline is usually no good in things that are latency sensitive, they have more jitter, etc.

  3. The latency is fine in most games, only in things like Beat Saber will affect the gameplay.

  4. 3 hours? Not sure now.

But to be honest the biggest issue I see is… is this the time to buy it? There were rumors of a refreshed version for the end of the year, but also said rumors said it could have been delayed to 2021 because of covid19.

3830

Yeah we likely have to wait until Oculus Connect at the end of September to find how long the new/upgraded model is delayed (if we find out anything at all), and which of the supposed prototypes they are going with. Some of them apparently no longer have a physical IPD slider…

For someone keen for VR now, asking them to wait maybe a year is a tough call! :D

3831

Thanks for the reply, good to know! That app will be very handy too.

3832

I’ve never tried Beat Saber or any other rhythm game from the PC, but the wireless experience for other games, including HL:A, Lone Echo, Trover, etc, is not noticeably different than using a cable, except that you don’t have to deal with a cable. I’ve even done remote VR from someone else’s house using Virtual Desktop and latency isn’t a huge issue for most games.

3833

Keep in mind you can play games entirely from the Quest - no PC required. Granted, they are phone quality rather than full PC quality - but phones have gotten pretty good!.

A1/A2: With that said, a 5GHz router purchased in the last few years should be fine. You are talking about an extension of your 5GHz network though. I haven’t had great success with Powerline setups in the past, although the latest MIMO hardware was significantly better. MoCA 2.5 is the way to go if you have coax available.

To check the performance I suggest TamoSoft Throughput Test. Set it up on your computer as a server. Download their client on a phone and run the test with the phone in your VR space. It should give you a good idea of network throughput and latency.

If you’re not happy with the results you may try separte wifi SSIDs for your networks. Some routers only work this way, but increasingly many use a single SSID for 2.4 and 5.8Ghz wifi. Splitting these gives you control and ensures your devices - such as a VR headset - are using the network you require.

A3: You want to minimize the amount of wireless and other latency in your network. This enables the headset to respond more quickly and reduces motion sickness effects. The headset will always be wireless, so you’re going to incur ~50ms of overhead there. Having the PC on wireless would add a bunch more, which is why it is “strongly recommended” you have your PC connected with Ethernet. Going between multiple network devices or transiting to different mediums (Ethernet -> Powerline -> Ethernet) add a very small amount of latency and are generally insignificant.

A4: The Quest gets 2-3 hours of battery life. It recharges to 80% in an hour or so. Generally though the counterweight strap plus battery is the way to go, since it gives you 6+ hours of battery AND makes the headset more comfortable - strongly recommended! Here is the parts list from upthread.

3834

Counterpoint: my PC is using WiFi, as is my headset, and I don’t notice any latency when I’m playing that way. ymmv