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PC VR - Hardware, Software, Recommendations & Discussion Thread

People focus on Index (with good reason, I'd buy one if I had the money to burn) but to me the magic happens in the programmed interactions and physics rather than any one controller, this will be sweet as hell even with a Vive or whatever else PC VR one has!

Disclaimer: I recently got a Rift and just upgraded to a 3-sensor setup for 360 degree/room scale and I'm happy with it. I'll upgrade to Index-level when it becomes affordable and after my next PC upgrade to handle future high end VR games. Maybe in 3-5 years or so then.

My brother got the same setup recently but tracking is always so-so. Not sure what's up with that.
Hoping to be blown away by Index in a few weeks.
 
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somerset

Member
Have VR- the MS thing which was so damned cheap it could not be turned down. aiting for a better GPU to give it a real go- but inside out tracking is the *bomb*- never thought I'd live to see the day when the algorthms would give that sweet sweet sub-pixel stability using this method.

But look at the OP and *weep*. On the PC, VR is a total *mess*. A million solutions at a million prices, all pulling in different directions. How the eff are devs supposed to even *think* about making money from such a *broken* platform.

Steam support of VR is boss- without it VR on the PC would be dead in all commercial sense. And the other platforms, my MS one included, really have to be used via steam.

The other biggie is what I alluded to- PC power for driving VR. You can use essentially any GPU that games great at 1080, but you shouldn't. For the framerate and ability to *over-sample* (essential in the race to any good image quality in the future) 1080TI performance is *base* level, and that only for gen 1 VR resolutions.

Sony is going to *slaughter* all other VR solutions- make PC VR look to be the *bad* joke it really is. AMD and Sony are partnered to do VR right. PS5 with the power to finally render *good* ambitious VR games. An amazing headset. A massive market for VR devs. And every VR gamer knowing "it just works".

Meanwhile, everytime Windows updates, it treats my VR headset differently. With each update I fear I'm going to have to spend hours getting it to work again. The headset has the tiniest sweet-spot imaginable, and terrible optics, yet it was the best of gen1 MS MR (as I said, I knew all this going in and only bought cos it was a literal *steal*- and am happy to this day at the price).

To the chumps spending thousands on Windows VR solutions, who are *not* devs I say "WTF man?". I get the enthusiasm, the wishful thinking- the desire to be that kid in Spielberg's rotten movie. But the PS5 VR will just make all the current PC solutions look both silly and hopeless.

If you've got thousands burning a hole in your pocket, yet that money still has meaning, honestly I'd try really hard to be patient, wait for PS5 + VR to launch, and buy that and subscibe to their VR software.

On the PC I'd advise only buying VR at a bargain basement price - around 150 dollars say- and trying to go inside out so you have roomscale with none of the cost nor inconvenience (albeit with some compromises).
 

Ol'Scratch

Member
The biggest thing that has prevented me from adopting is that there are so many and each fucking the other over. Occulus is great but Vive has titles that it does not have and same in reverse. I have heard that it is getting slightly better.
 

Stitch

Gold Member
Vive doesn't have exclusives. There might be some early games that don't support the Rift controllers properly but that should be fixable with Steam VR bindings.
Viveport was Vive exclusive but HTC changed that a while ago and now Viveport supports Oculus and WMR.
 
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Since this is a VR thread, there's a software I've been wanting to talk about since I've discovered it.

3dSenVR. (on Steam)
It's an emulator for VR that makes 2D NES games appear 3D and all. Only a few games are supported and I only own Super Mario Bros (NTSC) of those currently supported and luckily have a pal with a dumper who've helped me get my NES collection into roms. I've got Mario Bros, but only PAL and I'm unsure if it'll work. Might check it out, but I think it said NTSC only, which sucks as I've got most PAL games. But I checked the demo out and it looked really good. Makes me want to go on eBay and get myself Dr. Mario and Tetris and dump them.
Super Mario Bros is pretty cheap on eBay, so that's easy enough, then you just need some way of dumping the ROM image whether buying a means to getting your cartridge's rom image or being lucky as knowing someone with those means already. Don't think I'd recommend it unless you've got any easy means of doing it, since while you can try it out as a demo, there's just a few noteworthy games supported at this moment and I dunno where it might go considering it's Early Access. So not worth sinking the money unless you've got money to potentially waste or if you are okay with the uncertainty and perhaps also kinda wanted to emulate NES games or if you've invested into emulation already.

But yeah, it's really interesting and it felt so awesome to play SMB like it was a new game. Some things didn't work as well in 3D like the Goombas, but the rest worked rather well. I'm interested to see where this goes.

 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
I’m both excited and disappointed. I preordered the Valve Index (and may or may not have gone hands-on with it at great length recently), so my excitement for the hardware is through the roof.

But to be honest, there wasn’t a lot in the E3VR presser that got me pumped. The only thing I desperately want is Boneworks. But I can’t help feeling that a vast majority of the other games coming out will only hold my attention for a half hour or so.

I don’t just want a “killer app” - I think VR has had a few of those, like Beat Saber, Superhot, and RE7 - I just need more consistently good and polished experiences. Most VR games I play feel very much like tech demos or unfinished/unpolished short games.

What have you been working on, Valve? Save me.
 

Catphish

Member
I’m both excited and disappointed. I preordered the Valve Index (and may or may not have gone hands-on with it at great length recently), so my excitement for the hardware is through the roof.

But to be honest, there wasn’t a lot in the E3VR presser that got me pumped. The only thing I desperately want is Boneworks. But I can’t help feeling that a vast majority of the other games coming out will only hold my attention for a half hour or so.

I don’t just want a “killer app” - I think VR has had a few of those, like Beat Saber, Superhot, and RE7 - I just need more consistently good and polished experiences. Most VR games I play feel very much like tech demos or unfinished/unpolished short games.

What have you been working on, Valve? Save me.
That's why I can't justify spending that kind of money on the Index. Until the software is there, I just can't.
 

Makariel

Member
I have a WMR headset, but still play most my VR stuff on PSVR because it's just simpler to use. PC VR is a bit of a mess IMO and even though I spent a few evenings faffing about it still doesn't quite work as I want it to. I mostly bought the WMR headset for racing sims, but sadly the VR integration is a bit of a mess in a number of sims I play. Without helpful advise from racedepartment and reddit I would probably have fired that thing into a volcano by now.
 

pr0cs

Member
I have a WMR headset, but still play most my VR stuff on PSVR because it's just simpler to use. PC VR is a bit of a mess IMO and even though I spent a few evenings faffing about it still doesn't quite work as I want it to. I mostly bought the WMR headset for racing sims, but sadly the VR integration is a bit of a mess in a number of sims I play. Without helpful advise from racedepartment and reddit I would probably have fired that thing into a volcano by now.
I think perhaps that's a wmr issue more than a generic pcvr statement. At least with my og rift I haven't had any real issues.
I suppose some steam VR games can be clunky but they are pretty rare these days
 

GHG

Gold Member
I have a WMR headset, but still play most my VR stuff on PSVR because it's just simpler to use. PC VR is a bit of a mess IMO and even though I spent a few evenings faffing about it still doesn't quite work as I want it to. I mostly bought the WMR headset for racing sims, but sadly the VR integration is a bit of a mess in a number of sims I play. Without helpful advise from racedepartment and reddit I would probably have fired that thing into a volcano by now.

Are you still having problems or is it all sorted now?

General rule of thumb with WMR headsets is to close the WMR home portal, then fire up Steam VR (which will itself open the portal in the background - far less resource intensive to do it this way), then run your games.

Basically if you don't have SteamVR open and/or if you open things up in the wrong order then you'll likely run into issues.

What sims do you play by the way?
 
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When I bought a PSX ('94/'95) I remember taking a character called Lara Croft, to the edge of a cliff and throwing her off. It was the first time I had seen a game demonstrate that level of 3d graphics. Sure, the game wasn't as polished as its' 2d brothers, but I knew I had seen the future.

My first time with a VR headset was a DK2, messing around on some fan-made demos. It was basic, clunky and not very well polished but I knew I had seen the future of gaming, once again.

Now, I've just watched Rogan. I see all the old classic games I used to love reimagined in a depth I thought only possible in dreams. I can't wait to play a Broken Sword or Monkey Island style, point and click adventure from the perspective of George or Guybrush.

What a time to be alive.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I got Journey of the Gods PC and played a bit. It's not really Zelda-like but it feels good. Nice yet simple combat systems between the sword and shield, crossbow and god powers you acquire. But it's not at all open (so far), you have a hub with a handful of NPCs and open up new areas in a preset sequence as each area is essentially an old school "stage" with one primary quest to complete before going back to the hub and opening a new area and maybe some bonus items off the beaten path. They mix and match some things but they're heavily combat focused, no real puzzling or anything. It feels good, it looks stylish, but, again, so far, it's not nearly of the caliber you might have expected by all the it's like a VR Zelda hype. It's good, I don't regret getting it and if it ever goes on sale I'd say it's a no brainer as the few things they do here they do them great. The different enemy types with their abilities and how you can counter them or exploit their weaknesses and so on. I've upgraded all my gear once so the sword is longer, the crossbow can fire more bolts in sequence and the shield is also larger so it's easier to block projectiles with it. I hope it does well and maybe a sequel can expand on everything and make it a true Zelda-like with puzzles, dungeons, some melee/humanoid enemies that can match your skill, maybe an interconnected overworld and such to give it some breadth and depth on top.
I have this on Quest and it's a good VR game. A little too simple and easy in many respects, but still enjoyable.
 
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