(Opinion) VR in Odyssey is harder than you think.

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EDIT #2: READ. THE. TOPIC. This is not me saying "I don't want VR" in the game. I do want VR in the game. This is me saying "Stop acting like VR could be easy shoved into Odyssey." Edit #3: Also I am focusing on adding VR to "legs". I 100% agree that VR while sitting in your ship and SRV should stay.

Ok I am hearing way too many players who don't understand how VR would be hard to put into FPS gameplay with an none-vr players. Some of the worst examples are people bringing up Skyrim/Fallout VR and other FPS to VR conversation's but they seem to not understand a major issues that VR with non-VR players in a game with PvP could create.

Hitboxes, huge issue. In most VR games likr Alyx, Fallout 4 VR, and Superhot VR, you can use VR to take cover and such. If I low my head to hide behind a box, my hitbox is now behind that box. The problem is, in a game with some VR players, and non-VR players, how would that work? How would my player model work? In the vast majority of VR games you are just a floating head with hands, anything more would require people to purchase a base station, and body tracking in VR has been glitchy at best recently, nowhere near ready for a game like Elite Dangerous.
So that means that VR players may have a pretty huge advantage, they would have much smaller hitbox being just a floating head, or they would require base stations and still have a advantage being able to use cover in a way a non-VR person could not. I doubt Elite Odd is going to add in a "snap to" cover system.

The other side of the problem is that if they don't make any changes to the hitboxes for VR players than suddenly VR players are at a huge disadvantage. Because their hitboxes won't like up with where their vison is, they would need to try and keep their heads very still to avoid their camera separating from their actual hitboxes. A terrible solution would be to let them see their own character model, which would probably cause clipping issues with the camera and at that point the game may as well be third person.

"Ok but what if they just fix the camera to the models head? Well that makes two main issues, camera and movement. Starting with movement, VR FPS games tend to move much slower than non-VR FPS because you don't want to disorient the player or make them queezy. Now I am sure someone is already thinking "HA, I CAN TAKE IT!" sure maybe you can, but a lot of people can't.

Now for the other problem with a fixed camera. Let's say Fdev tries adding VR by making the VR camera fixed to the player's head, basically VR lets you look around like freelook but nothign else. One issue is that making the VR headset only control where you look would probably allow VR players to look behind them without moving character model. It probably wouldn't look good, and it would probably play horribly. Think of it, if you have a gun out, but your in VR with a fixed camera and VR just controls camera direction, does your gun and crosshair follow the VR camera? Does that mean I can turn my heard around and shoot my gun at a target behind me without moving my body? If I am down sights where does the camera go? These are things I don't think can work in VR. At this point you might as well just play normally and I am sure the game will have a "freelook" camera in leg mode.

Quick note btw, I am not trying to verbally bash the people that want VR, I understand perfectly. I just recently got a Valve Index and am loving VR. But I also understand how putting it in Odyssey would be very difficult. People comparing it to "Well they made Fallout, and doom, and skyrim, and even modders turned half life 2 in VR!" Yeah people have made VR into games that didn't originally support it and it worked out fine. But those games were vastly different from Elite Dangerous, with almost all of them being singleplayer or cooperative. I have yet to see a competitive FPS game that wasn't built for VR, suddenly add VR into it's multiplayer game for both VR and none-VR players. Edit: Since it wasn't obvious enough the first time. I want them to put VR in the game, I would love to have VR in the game. I am not saying "Don't add VR" or "They can't add VR." I am saying "Please stop acting like adding VR would be some kind of easy task, because it wouldn't be."
 
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No man's sky for example is multiplayer with pancake and vr players combined, and what you're describing is easily solved. You basically have a character that follows your position that you cant see but other players can, or the head removed for you. From your perspective they can render you anything they like, floating hands or full ik rig, even no body and you would still appear as a full bodied character, same as everyone else. If your HMD's Y-axis goes below a threshold, it triggers that model's crouch animation (shrinking the hit colliders) same as everyone else.

VR players just want to be included as part of the experience, even if it means simply flying in Odyssey and not being able to leave the ship at all.
 
VR players just want to be included as part of the experience, even if it means simply flying in Odyssey and not being able to leave the ship at all.

You are probably going to get this. Fdev hasn't said anything about changing how VR works in none Odyssey parts of the game. Edit: NVM I misread the quote. Yeah I think it's stupid they are removing VR from ships and SRV's.

No man's sky for example is multiplayer with pancake and vr players combined, and what you're describing is easily solved. You basically have a character that follows your position that you cant see but other players can, or the head removed for you. From your perspective they can render you anything they like, floating hands or full ik rig, even no body and you would still appear as a full bodied character, same as everyone else. If your HMD's Y-axis goes below a threshold, it triggers that model's crouch animation (shrinking the hit colliders) same as everyone else.

No mans sky does not have PvP, not really. You cannot encounter random people in NMS. You don't need to worry about randomly coming across a VR user as a non-vr user and vice versa. But more importantly, I mentioned how the "Model doesn't match the camera" would not work in ED. Most players would not use VR if they run the risk of getting shot behind cover because their model wasn't lined up with the camera. The comparison to No Mans sky does not work because of the game play differences. ED ground combat is probably going to play like a traditional FPS. No mans sky ground combat relies on either 1. Shoot thing that is charging towards you till dead. or 2. Use shield to protect against thing that has ranged attacks.

I play no mans sky btw, so I can compare to the two. ED and NMS do not feel alike at all besides the fact they are both space games.
 
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I see your point, it's still just a case of having your tracked head as an invisible collider instead of the dummy head. These technical and balancing solutions aren't something we even have to delve into, that's what we pay FD for. It's not impossible to do, simply cutting out a whole chunk of players because it's not easy is a mistake.
 
"VR players just want to be included as part of the experience, even if it means simply flying in Odyssey and not being able to leave the ship at all." You are probably going to get this.
This is not true. The current statement is that we should expect all of Odyssey to not be compatible with VR.

But more importantly, I mentioned how the "Model doesn't match the camera" would not work in ED. Most players would not use VR if they run the risk of getting shot behind cover because their model wasn't lined up with the camera.
I think you are overestimating the kind of VR game people are asking for. Nobody (that I have seen) is asking for HL:A level full motion controls and room scale VR. It would be way too much of a hassle to get up from the chair after flying and switching to Index controllers. Instead, I believe most VR players (myself included) would be very happy with a controller (K+M or game pad) driven VR experience where you can control character orientation with the mouse and with an added headlook to look around your surroundings. When it comes to viability in PvP, most players are not concerned as most players are PvE oriented and want to use the first person perspective in other ways such as exploration (really, it should just be First Person Game rather than First Person Shooter). Something similar already exists if you start driving around your SRV in turret mode. Admittedly it can get rather disorienting at first but becomes better once you get used to it. VR players that really want to be competitive would always have the option of going pancake for their PvP sessions.

Edit: I have also not seen any VR player ask for teleportation locomotion. Personally I really do not like that kind of motion and I avoid it whenever I can. All VR players are also going to be acutely aware of the problems of VR sickness and how it affects them. Yet they still want to see this type of game implemented. I am going to take a wild guess and say that most VR owners are adults that can decide for themselves whether or not that experience is worthy for them. Telling VR players that "it would not work because you would get motion sick" is patronising and non-constructive.
 
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I see your point, it's still just a case of having your tracked head as an invisible collider instead of the dummy head. These technical and balancing solutions aren't something we even have to delve into, that's what we pay FD for. It's not impossible to do, simply cutting out a whole chunk of players because it's not easy is a mistake.

This is not true. The current statement is that we should expect all of Odyssey to not be compatible with VR. I think you are overestimating the kind of VR game people are asking for. Nobody (that I have seen) is asking for HL:A level full motion controls and room scale VR. It would be way too much of a hassle to get up from the chair after flying and switching to Index controllers. Instead, I believe most VR players (myself included) would be very happy with a controller (K+M or game pad) driven VR experience where you can control character orientation with the mouse and with an added headlook to look around your surroundings. When it comes to viability in PvP, most players are not concerned as most players are PvE oriented and want to use the first person perspective in other ways such as exploration (really, it should just be First Person Game rather than First Person Shooter). Something similar already exists if you start driving around your SRV in turret mode. Admittedly it can get rather disorienting at first but becomes better once you get used to it. VR players that really want to be competitive would always have the option of going pancake for their PvP sessions.

What about Non-VR players who don't want to have to put up with it? Your gameplay experience can and will effect other people. If they add VR in and it's glitchy or not put into the game well. It's going to affect the non-VR players also. That's the problem. If Frontier adds in VR it has to be good VR because it's going to effect any player that interacts with a person using VR. If I walk up to someone using VR and their model is glitching out, phrasing into objects, or their hitboxes aren't working correctly, or they are shooting me without looking at me, than that is going to be a negative effect on my experience. That applies to anyone else also.

This wasn't a issue before because were just flying ships/driving SRVs where VR could not effect other players in the slightest. But in ground based gameplay on foot, suddenly the VR experience can effect the non-VR players. That is where the entire problem comes from.
 
FDev doesn’t need you to make excuses for them. If it was easy everyone would be doing it but this is their product. They will have had some 3 years to get it right by by the time Odyssey comes out.

no VR no money from me. End of story
 
FDev doesn’t need you to make excuses for them. If it was easy everyone would be doing it but this is their product. They will have had some 3 years to get it right by by the time Odyssey comes out.

no VR no money from me. End of story

Cool. Not making excuses. The entire purpose of this was to get people to stop whining about "THEY COULD EASILY ADD IN VR, JUST LIKE insert other game." People don't seem to understand that VR cannot just be hap haphazardly shoved into leg gameplay.
 
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No man's sky for example is multiplayer with pancake and vr players combined, and what you're describing is easily solved.
I'm not sure anybody is saying it's not possible to do seamless integrated FPS, but easily solved is an exaggeration.

As others have said, the question I suspect is going to be will fdev do something that allows VR players to play but isn't a seamless polished experience initially? It's a problem for fdev I imagine, releasing something they aren't really happy with. What happens if VR players buy into the game with Odyssey and find it's a bodge, a bodge existing players are happy to accept but new players paying full price ...?

I play in VR by the way, and 2d. I'd love the flight to be VR. Hell, I'd love to EXPERIENCE walking on a planet in VR. I wouldn't do FPS combat in it though. This is tricky for fdev.
 
What about Non-VR players who don't want to have to put up with it? Your gameplay experience can and will effect other people. If they add VR in and it's glitchy or not put into the game well. It's going to affect the non-VR players also. That's the problem. If Frontier adds in VR it has to be good VR because it's going to effect any player that interacts with a person using VR. If I walk up to someone using VR and their model is glitching out, phrasing into objects, or their hitboxes aren't working correctly, or they are shooting me without looking at me, than that is going to be a negative effect on my experience. That applies to anyone else also.

This wasn't a issue before because were just flying ships/driving SRVs where VR could not effect other players in the slightest. But in ground based gameplay on foot, suddenly the VR experience can effect the non-VR players. That is where the entire problem comes from.
You really did not read my post, did you?
 
What about Non-VR players who don't want to have to put up with it? Your gameplay experience can and will effect other people. If they add VR in and it's glitchy or not put into the game well. It's going to affect the non-VR players also. That's the problem. If Frontier adds in VR it has to be good VR because it's going to effect any player that interacts with a person using VR. If I walk up to someone using VR and their model is glitching out, phrasing into objects, or their hitboxes aren't working correctly, or they are shooting me without looking at me, than that is going to be a negative effect on my experience. That applies to anyone else also.

This wasn't a issue before because were just flying ships/driving SRVs where VR could not effect other players in the slightest. But in ground based gameplay on foot, suddenly the VR experience can effect the non-VR players. That is where the entire problem comes from.
I don't know why you think that adding vr would turn the game into Garry's mod. Why does allowing vr players to see through the camera mean players will be glitching all over the place? Hell even force vr players camera follow behind the same model with a third person camera. Even separate servers. What's it going to take? I get the feeling you're overestimating what we're going to get here. We're not talking about cod close range combat. We're more likely going to never see eachother and pvp combat only allowed in a separate game mode or some arena type environments. The rest will be authorities gunning you down if you shoot someone.
 
Please actually read the topic before posting. Never said I don't want VR. Never claimed to not want VR for everyone. Because I myself, use VR. All things you could have figured out by reading.



Cool. Not making excuses. The entire purpose of this was to get people to stop whining about "THEY COULD EASILY ADD IN VR, JUST LIKE insert other game." People don't seem to understand that VR cannot just be hap haphazardly shoved into leg gameplay.

no. They couldn’t easily add VR, but they should add VR no matter how hard it is. It’s part of the game.
 
no. They couldn’t easily add VR, but they should add VR no matter how hard it is. It’s part of the game.
...than you agree with the post. THE ENTIRE POST IS SAYING "They can't do it easily." Not "They shouldn't do it" or "They can't do it." The post is just trying to say "please stop screaming that adding VR would be easy because it really wouldn't!"
 
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Maybe they just want to make sure Odyssey is stable and working as intended before putting VR in as an additional layer of complexity that needs it's own level of QA to make work right.
 
...than you agree with the post. THE ENTIRE POST IS SAYING "They can't do it easily." Not "They shouldn't do it" or "They can't do it." Just "please stop screaming that adding VR would be eazy because it really wouldn't!"

I never screamed or said it would be easy. I said I don’t care and it should still be in the game on launch.
 
Please actually read the topic before posting. Never said I don't want VR. Never claimed to not want VR for everyone. Because I myself, use VR. All things you could have figured out by reading.

I did read it. I just thought you were exagerating about your status of VR owner because it honestly sounded like you were stating assumptions that people without VR tend to do.

But benefit of doubt...

Soz, you are new to VR so you have no idea that VR existed before motion controllers. All of your points are entirely moot.
So I will be a bit more constructive...

Hitboxes, huge issue.
Limit z axi above or below a certain point, use head reset point for relative 0 - fade to orange if you go too far below or above. I have controlled X axis using Unreal Engine. Don't see why it will be hard to do in z.
Use space to jump and CTRL to crouch.

The other side of the problem
Are you sure you have VR? This is still a problem in ED for VR users now. No-one cares. Clip away.

Now for the problem with a fixed camera.
Erm... what about HMDs without motion controllers? Just use xbox controller, crosshair in the middle like everyone else.

As you can see, all moot.


edit
Just in case you thought I was lying about Unreal Engine
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzkTY3ewR-k
 
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What about Non-VR players who don't want to have to put up with it? Your gameplay experience can and will effect other people. If they add VR in and it's glitchy or not put into the game well. It's going to affect the non-VR players also. That's the problem. If Frontier adds in VR it has to be good VR because it's going to effect any player that interacts with a person using VR. If I walk up to someone using VR and their model is glitching out, phrasing into objects, or their hitboxes aren't working correctly, or they are shooting me without looking at me, than that is going to be a negative effect on my experience. That applies to anyone else also.

This wasn't a issue before because were just flying ships/driving SRVs where VR could not effect other players in the slightest. But in ground based gameplay on foot, suddenly the VR experience can effect the non-VR players. That is where the entire problem comes from.
If it's that big a deal make vr experimental but only allowed in PG or solo so we don't sour the game for anyone. Given according to some (not you perhaps) we are such a tiny irrelevant number it's not like we will affect open population (I won't anyway I have not played in open for 5 years.
 
However it may be, I really wonder who thought a Space ARMA would be a good idea for a space sim like ED in the first place, in particular as it affects the space ship part too apparently by making it incompatible not only with VR, but all previous iterations of the game. So say goodbye to all your ALT CMDRs or buy them an Odyssey upgrade each. Clever.

Well, they say miracles never end, but then, some miracles are never gonna start to happen at all.

O7,
🙃
 
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