Watching Netflix/Videos or Using another App while in VR

Possum · Jul 20, 2016

I know this has been a pretty requested feature of ED as well as just having an app to allow it. Someone has finally released an app that allows you to place a window within your game in VR. I just tested it out and it does work quite well.

Here is the github for it (open source).
Here is the author's reddit post about it.

I have given it a quick test this morning and it does work quite well. You can have the mirrored app follow your head movement OR lock it to the world. I locked it to the world, put it near my 'feet' and the radar and angled it up. This is going to be awesome for those long ED trips!

It is still fairly early and not super polished. Getting the coordinates of where you want the window takes a bit of fiddling but not too much.

Here is an image example of it in ED:

I'm not affiliated with the app. Just thought it was awesome. Use your own virus scanners etc to be safe but I and others on reddit have not found anything malicious.

Soda Popinski · Jul 20, 2016

Looks pretty cool. Just to point out, this is for SteamVR. Doesn't seem to work on the Rift (guessing even under SteamVR).

Possum · Jul 20, 2016

I'm seeing mixed reports. It seems like only some games aren't working for the Rift. I'd think ED will be fine if you are running the Steam version of ED.

Monk · Jul 20, 2016

I'll never understand the need for constant stimulation, let alone from multiple content sources...

But I'm also the type of person to sit in a forest for 3 hours doing absolutely nothing but looking and listening. So, my opinion here is probably pointless.

More power to ya, I hope it works...maybe I'll try it out one day.

Captain N · Jul 20, 2016

Monk said:
I'll never understand the need for constant stimulation, let alone from multiple content sources...

That's not the only use case... I found another!

I can't figure how to take a screenshot of it but I managed to overlay a webcam stream of my keyboard and hands into the cockpit. Makes typing very easy.

Monk · Jul 20, 2016

Captain N said:
That's not the only use case... I found another!

I can't figure how to take a screenshot of it but I managed to overlay a webcam stream of my keyboard and hands into the cockpit. Makes typing very easy.

Oooh, nice. That could be handy.

JerryLove · Jul 20, 2016

Would also be nice for the web pages for searching for commodities and the like.

TorTorden_VR · Jul 21, 2016

Excellent.
I can resume watching redtube while playing.

JerryLove · Jul 21, 2016

If I had an actual spaceship: I would definitely be able to watch netflix in it.

subsy · Jul 21, 2016

Captain N said:
That's not the only use case... I found another!

I can't figure how to take a screenshot of it but I managed to overlay a webcam stream of my keyboard and hands into the cockpit. Makes typing very easy.

Thats Awesome

How (if noticable) is the performance hit?

CylonSurfer · Jul 21, 2016

Looks great, hope something similar comes along for the Rift.

Captain N · Jul 21, 2016

subsy said:
Thats Awesome

How (if noticable) is the performance hit?

I tested it only briefly, just to see if it works, but I didn't notice significant performance hit. (running on GTX980 and Low VR)

Captain N · Jul 21, 2016

Recorded a video of it! Just so I can prove it happened.

[video=youtube;oB9HCasvffc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB9HCasvffc[/video]

Possum · Jul 21, 2016

CylonSurfer said:
Looks great, hope something similar comes along for the Rift.

Oddly enough, there have been reports that using Revive (the program that allows Vive users to play Oculus Home games) is allowing this application to work on the Rift for games that are problematic.

777Driver · Jul 21, 2016

Don't know about using it to display a keyboard, it would be great for streaming and monitoring the chat window.

subsy · Jul 21, 2016

Captain N said:
Recorded a video of it! Just so I can prove it happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB9HCasvffc

Sweet! I guess you need the cam on the HMD somehow to feel natural ?

Captain N · Jul 21, 2016

The camera was static, hanging over the keyboard. The overlay software takes care of projecting the image onto a plane in world space.

Even though it's flat it's a surprisingly immersive feel to have your actual hands in the cockpit.

It might be possible to use the Vive's onboard camera for video feed but I haven't tried that and I kind of doubt it would work better than this setup.

Globusdiablo · Jul 23, 2016

Possum said:
...Here is an image example of it in ED:

http://i.imgur.com/JmIl2zH.png

...

Good lord! This looks awesome!

Pyro Steel · Jul 30, 2016

Has anyone else gotten this working for the Rift? I've got the pip window to show up in steam VR, but it doesn't come up in ED. And that's running ED through the launcher, from steam, or while in steam VR. I even tried the reVive mod (im not sure i have it set up right though) and i'v still got nothing.

Im way excited for this. About a year and a half ago i started a forum asking for this exact same thing.

TorTorden_VR · Jul 30, 2016

Pyro Steel said:
Has anyone else gotten this working for the Rift? I've got the pip window to show up in steam VR, but it doesn't come up in ED. And that's running ED through the launcher, from steam, or while in steam VR. I even tried the reVive mod (im not sure i have it set up right though) and i'v still got nothing.

Im way excited for this. About a year and a half ago i started a forum asking for this exact same thing.

I wouldn't be too excited, even when it worked it was like trying to read the text of a website after taking a screen shot at say 1080p, reduced image resolution to 10% and blown it back up.
Netflix only resulted in a black screen.
Media player classic, mostly black screen as well. But sometimes it gave a 3 fps video :/

I'm sure I could do more tweaking with it but honestly this is one case where the HMD resolution takes front and center and I decided it wasn't worth any ingame fps hits.

As for keyboard typing I don't have a problem just typing blindly so no incentive to try