I much prefer E:D on a 1080p monitor vs the Oculus Rift DK2. Am I doing something wrong?

futant

F
Disclaimer: I think my gripes are mostly with the DK2 itself and not with E:D's use of it.

I've seen so many "I started playing with my DK2 and now I can't go back" remarks that I feel I must be doing something wrong. I'm reasonably certain I have everything set up correctly, yet I find the DK2 experience severely lacking for a number of reasons.

On top of these pretty obvious shortcomings:
  • Narrow FOV
  • Poor resolution
  • Super narrow sweet spot
  • Heavy/uncomfortable (esp. when looking around)

I've also noticed:
  • Need to regularly reset the oculus orientation, which is tedious and breaks immersion
  • Anything in my peripheral vision (what little I have with the DK2) is warped by the lenses
  • Terrible sense of depth past the cockpit. For example, looking at another ship during a dogfight is like watching it on a giant, flat, grainy screen right in front of my face.

Overall I feel the game looks much better on a regular monitor, and is of course more comfortable to play without a brick strapped to your face.

Is it possible that I'm missing something? Or maybe it's due to my IPD (61mm)? I also have fairly deep-set eyes which might be relevant.
 

SlackR

Banned
SlackR
Though the experience might not be for everyone, it sounds like you haven't set the IPD correctly and may be running below optimum settings.
 

Denco

D
Much as I thought about 3D feeling in this game. I suspect that many have not experience Stereo 3D in games before trying DK2 in ED because I noticed the same damn thing no 3D effect past the cockpit.

I think it would be better if Frontier team up with Nvidia and TriDef for a better 3D experience.
 

Khaldur

K
There is no sigificant stereoscopic 3D effect in real life past 15m or so. The longer the distace to the object, the less significant the 60-70mm distance between your eyes. Your impression of depth past those 15m comes from other information your brain processes, e.g. the parallax movement of the observed object relative to a more distant background.

So even in a real ife space ship you wouldn't have much 3D impression past your cockpit. In space you usually don't have much background as reference so it's hard to tell the distance to another ship.

I do see a 3D effect outside of the cockpit when I get real close to other ships an have a lot of background, e.g. when looking at other ships flying in the docking bay of a station.

Some 3D animation movies seem to have an exaggerated 3D effect. To me that doesn't look realistic at all - often I get the impression of looking several layers of cardboard 2D objects then.
 

djbordie

D
Pc specs play a large part unfortunately
List yours?

Small fov / hmd should remind you of wearing a helmet, this is why it works well for driving games and space... imo

I read a lot of people needed proper setup and tweaking before perfectly comfortable
For me it required $$$
X99 rig, gtx 980 etc...
 

futant

F
Yes, I have my IPD set correctly (and I even had it measured professionally!).

My PC is more than capable -- I've got an overclocked i5 2500k and an r9 290. I do have to lower some settings to achieve a steady 75 fps under certain conditions (e.g. inside stations), but I suspect almost everyone does.
 

Jericho

Jericho
.
One thing I did early on that made an AMAZING difference is not only adjust the software for my IPD, but I also modified my Rift to accommodate my IPD.
I have wide eyes (69.5mm) and when I first got my Rift I noticed that one eye or the other always seemed a little blurry. There was a very precise location that I could position the Rift and it would be 'good enough' for both eyes but even the slightest shift in position of the headset and one eye would go blurry again. Also, the peripheral vision had very little margin.
.
You are on the other side of normal IPD that I'm on and I bet you are experiencing the same effect.
.
How I fixed the problem:
First I removed the eyepieces from the Rift and I shaved off the plastic ridge on the bottom using an Exacto knife (hobby knife, like a pen razor). This allows the eyepieces to move laterally in relation to the screen.
I pushed my eyepieces outwards a couple of [mm] and then used electrical tape to tack the optics in place. Nothing too scientific, I just kinda eyeballed where they should sit and it worked out pretty well.
Then rerun your IPD in the software. It shouldn't change too much, but since you've now reoptimzed the optical position of the eyepieces you'll have better peripheral vision and you may get slightly different results.
.
Honestly, this single change made an incredible difference for my overall enjoyment of being in the Rift.
.
I must caution you though, that you should be VERY careful not to get any dirt or dust onto the screen. You will notice even the slightest bit of lint on the screen and it will drive you MAD until you get it out. Canned air is effective, but if you use too much you'll end up getting condensation on the screen which will leave a residue and that will also drive you MAD..... Also, don't plan on wiping the screen off, unless you are very good at cleaning optics, you will leave behind a smudge and that will drive you mad as well.
So, basically, don't get anything on the screen!
.
If you need more help with this or have any questions feel free to send me a PM and I'm happy to provide you with more details and answer your questions.
.
Cheers,
Jericho
 
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djbordie

D
Thats rough, all this messing around and your eyes are prob to wide for default ipd/rift
Problem being your sweet spot is very narrow and quite possibly also effects your fov...which makes everything
The diy or purchased ipd adjusters (google) will fix this
 

Jericho

Jericho
djbordie said:
purchased ipd adjusters (google) will fix this
Click to expand...
.
I recommend against the purchased ones.
I bought some after I had already done my own modifications, after installing them I actually took them back out and repeated my own adjustment.
.
They have 2 problems:
1. They add some distance between the optics and the screen which degrades performance.
(can't recall exactly what it was but it was noticeable and I didn't like it)
2. They are made from soft 3D printed plastic which flakes very easily. You will not be able to install them without getting crap all inside the Rift an on the acreen.
.
I bought the full series of them thinking it'd be great to be able to quickly and easily swap them out for demo purposes to friends. I wasted my $$$. Now I just makes friends deal with my wide IPD.... (too bad for them, they didn't spend $370 on a Rift). :p
.
 

Gilmour

Banned
Gilmour
No, that was also my experience with it, it looked like a good idea, but isn't quite up to snuff for what I expect it to do.
 

futant

F
Jericho said:
.
First I removed the eyepieces from the Rift and I shaved off the plastic ridge on the bottom using an Exacto knife (hobby knife, like a pen razor). This allows the eyepieces to move laterally in relation to the screen.
I pushed my eyepieces outwards a couple of [mm] and then used electrical tape to tack the optics in place.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea ... do you happen to have a picture of this? It looks like shaving off the bottom piece of plastic on the lens cup would not allow you to move the cups farther apart without rotating them (so not laterally as you mentioned). Maybe I'm not understanding what you did. However, for moving the cups closer together (as I would need to do), it looks like I could hack off the innermost plastic pieces and simply slide them closer together.
 

Zeeman

Zeeman
How do you people with the DK2 type?

This is the one thing that I can' wrap my head around. When I explore, or travel in general, I find I still need to use the keyboard every so often - especially chatting to other explorers during exploration - have you ALL learned to touch type?

Having said that, I also don't play with a desk, and my cat tends to displace the keyboard whenever he feels like it, so this probably doesn't help...

Z...
 

Avago Earo

Banned
Avago Earo
the rolls or the aston martin. oh decisions. still i'm bored so i'll let everyone know what i've got. seriously mush what is your point?
 

Milamber

Milamber
I have the opposite problem, I can't play ED in 2D.

VR gives the impression of owning my ship from the level of immersion. 2D seems too bland, flat and lacks perspective.
 

Jericho

Jericho
futant said:
do you happen to have a picture of this?
Click to expand...

image1.jpg

futant said:
It looks like shaving off the bottom piece of plastic on the lens cup would not allow you to move the cups farther apart without rotating them (so not laterally as you mentioned). Maybe I'm not understanding what you did. However, for moving the cups closer together (as I would need to do), it looks like I could hack off the innermost plastic pieces and simply slide them closer together.
Click to expand...

I didn't remove anything other than the flange on the bottom of the eyepiece cup, just don't click them in and they will slide a few mm before they run into the locking clips. Remember, you only need a millimeter or two.
You really don't have to click them in either, the tape holds them in place just fine; mine have been attached for months now with no issues.


Zeeman said:
How do you people with the DK2 type?
Click to expand...
I have two methods of typing without the keyboard:
.
1. I bought Dragon Naturally Speaking Homes Edition v12 on Ebay for $12 and I use it for voice to text for chatting with other CMDRs. It works pretty well actually. It takes a bit of training the speech engine and then it takes a bit of training of yourself too (speak slowly and enunciate), but it really does the job admirably.
.
2. For typing weird star names and such DNS won't help you, but Voice Attack will.
I have programmed VA to type for me so I can spell out anything I want.
For instance, I say "Type A" and VA types an 'a'.... I say "Press Enter" and VA presses carriage return... I say "Cancel that" or "Press Escape", and VA presses Esc...... and so on and so forth.
It can be a little time consuming, but its better than constantly removing the Rift!
.
 

CylonSurfer

CylonSurfer
Zeeman said:
How do you people with the DK2 type?

This is the one thing that I can' wrap my head around. When I explore, or travel in general, I find I still need to use the keyboard every so often - especially chatting to other explorers during exploration - have you ALL learned to touch type?

Having said that, I also don't play with a desk, and my cat tends to displace the keyboard whenever he feels like it, so this probably doesn't help...

Z...
Click to expand...

Bluetooth keyboard attached to the base of my X55's stick. It's backlit so easy enough for one handed typing with the DK2 on.
 
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