Allow the VR '2D screen' to be disabled?

[VR Golgot]

Where are the modders? I've been playing Valheim, GTFO, Alien Isolation and Doom 3 with VR mods and thet are really good. All I need is headlook with my hud for on foot and I'm

Yeah modders may be our only hope for the interim ultimately. Although given FDev don't really seem to endorse modding per se, (going as far as the Journal API for 3rd party tools, but no further), I suspect any attempts would be dicing with the ToS. And I'd prefer us not to be out in the realms of having our accounts possibly closed just for trying to access the VR view.

The only legit mods around that I'm aware of are just shaders, which are ultimately non-invasive and so no bother to them, AFAIK.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Yeah modders may be our only hope for the interim ultimately. Although given FDev don't really seem to endorse modding per se, (going as far as the Journal API for 3rd party tools, but no further), I suspect any attempts would be dicing with the ToS. And I'd prefer us not to be out in the realms of having our accounts possibly closed just for trying to access the VR view.

The only legit mods around that I'm aware of are just shaders, which are ultimately non-invasive and so no bother to them, AFAIK.

TECHNICALLY - a VR "Mod" would just be a stereoscopic Shader mod, so it's "Kinda" within their tolerance zone, from a certain point of view, expressed with some cleverly worded descriptions...

 

[VR Golgot]

TECHNICALLY - a VR "Mod" would just be a stereoscopic Shader mod, so it's "Kinda" within their tolerance zone, from a certain point of view, expressed with some cleverly worded descriptions...

Hah, it's a point of view

(I suspect cajoling the engine to render the scene twice involves more fingers in the pie than that. But a world where FDev were happy to see it as a 'cosmetic' alteration would be a good one )

 

[jojon]

Hmm... I don't see how it would be a shader jobbie, unless we're talking stereoscopic reconstruction/approximation from a single camera frame, using its depth buffer, like VorpX in its: "Z-buffer" mode.

Whilst I have no Cobra know-how, I have to think the basic starter bit of the (not mod, but FDev) work should essentially be "simply" supplanting the game camera parent object with one that has two cameras - something they already have for the seated bits (EDIT: ...and vanity-cam).

 

[VR Golgot]

Whilst I have no Cobra know-how, I have to think the basic starter bit of the (not mod, but FDev) work should essentially be "simply" supplanting the game camera parent object with one that has two cameras - something they already have for the seated bits (EDIT: ...and vanity-cam).

We're obviously way off into speculation territory here (and I've got zero dev experience personally), but...

I still can't help but assume that the stereo view would just... work on foot, in the current build, if it weren't for the 2D screen's addition. (Not that it would work in a gameplay or performance sense, just that everything is rendered in the Cobra engine, and it's already up and running while in pilot 'mode').

The vanity cam seems to speak to this. (Either they added VR to the vanity cam mode because it was relatively trivial to do, or... They just didn't get round to adding the 2D screen addition to it, and it rendered in VR as was... )

 

[jojon]

The vanity cam seems to speak to this. (Like what seems more liable, that they added VR to the vanity cam mode, or that they didn't get round to adding the 2D screen addition to it... )

...or that they never got around to removing it. (You set me up to make that response, didn't you? )

 

[VR Golgot]

...or that they never got around to removing it. (You set me up to make that response, didn't you? )

Hah I was just editing to make it clearer. But yep, that's what I'm wondering

 

[CMDR VR]

Returning player here, also my first post.

NOT pushing and doubling down on VR now that VR is finally starting to move towards mainstream (see Oculus quest 2 disgusting high sales, see psvr2 hype) is a 78iq move

Elite IS the VR space game, more resource should have been spent to atleast make it usable. The current implementation seems an attempt made by someone that just started experimenting in VR, this is not 2016 anymore.

 

[mossfoot]

Hopefully someone at VorpX creates a setting that will allow for VR in Odyssey. Y'all might want to look into it, maybe voice your interest there. VorpX is handy to have for turning non VR games into VR experiences

 

[CMDR VR]

VorpX is not a solution. I can count on one hand how many games i was able to play (and enjoy) using VorpX in about 6 years since ive bought it.

But yeah, is better than the current shameless flat screen

 

[Chaz]

VorpX is not a solution. I can count on one hand how many games i was able to play (and enjoy) using VorpX in about 6 years since ive bought it.

But yeah, is better than the current shameless flat screen

I've tried a few of these games that various folks and YouTubers have said work great in VR with Vorpx, but they don't, not really, not even close. It's a real hacky junk bit of software too.

 

[VR Golgot]

NOT pushing and doubling down on VR now that VR is finally starting to move towards mainstream (see Oculus quest 2 disgusting high sales, see psvr2 hype)

They've made their decision on resourcing there, so there's not much to be gained by pulling our hair out over it. Community action can rarely alter broader business strategies.

(The outcry after the announcement of zero VR helped them make the call to retain ship & SRV support for launch, I suspect, and commit to budgeting there. But that's probably about as much as we can expect on that front for now. A full VR Legs port is a much larger affair.)

The success of Quest 2 is great, and Sony committing to PSVR2 is good too (if mainly notional for now, and likely driven by Q2 hoovering up casual gamers). The backdrop for FDev to make a business case for doing a solid VR port is all there. So there's that at least

VorpX is not a solution. I can count on one hand how many games i was able to play (and enjoy) using VorpX in about 6 years since ive bought it.

I've tried a few of these games that various folks and YouTubers have said work great in VR with Vorpx, but they don't, not really, not even close. It's a real hacky junk bit of software too.

Yeah, vorpX is definitely the option of last resort IMO.

 

[CMDR VR]

(The outcry after the announcement of zero VR helped them make the call to retain ship & SRV support for launch, I suspect, and commit to budgeting there. But that's probably about as much as we can expect on that front for now. A full VR Legs port is a much larger affair.)

Wait.. they really thought at some point of dropping VR for odissey?

I literally came back to the game 1 week ago after 3 years and i had no idea about this and the outcry.

Since you seem well informed let me ask you, is the ship & SRV VR mode untouched?

What about the performance compared to the current build? I can live whitout the fps "minigame" but not whitout the current VR experience (ship/srv)

Thanks!

 

[willisit]

Wait.. they really thought at some point of dropping VR for odissey?

I literally came back to the game 1 week ago after 3 years and i had no idea about this and the outcry.

Since you seem well informed let me ask you, is the ship & SRV VR mode untouched?

What about the performance compared to the current build? I can live whitout the fps "minigame" but not whitout the current VR experience (ship/srv)

Thanks!

Yep, they said "no VR at launch" until the forums and whatnot moaned so much that they decided to put it back in - but only for ship/SRV.

And, it's untouched (theoretically). Performance should be fine. It's crap in Alpha, but they have stated that there is no VR optimisation (or anything) in Alpha; we're lucky it works at all. Release will be fine I suspect.

 

[VR Golgot]

Wait.. they really thought at some point of dropping VR for odissey?

Not dropping it precisely, but they weren't going to support it at launch. IE the announcement stated:

Is Elite Dangerous: Odyssey coming to VR?

Currently, Elite Dangerous: Odyssey will not be VR-compatible at launch. We’re big fans of VR and we are truly proud of the amazing experience that we currently offer in Elite Dangerous. However, the new gameplay, mechanics and features that will be introduced with Elite Dangerous: Odyssey means that we had to re-examine if we could deliver that same experience without compromise, which, for launch, means Odyssey will not be VR-compatible.

They confirmed that this meant no flying under blues skies in VR etc:

For now best to assume all Odyssey content is not VR compatible.

They then pivoted to a commitment to continue support for existing ship & SRV VR in EDO. (Whether this was influenced by the prolonged community backlash is unknown, but it probably played a role).

Regarding future Legs VR support they're saying they intend to get there, but aren't confirming it categorically. IE:

Bruce G said: ...our VR plans are still as we've stated with full integration a possibility in the future but unconfirmed.

Arthur Tolmie said: However, we do strongly believe that VR should only be enabled for on foot gameplay when we have an experience that truly matches the same quality bar that we set for cockpits.

I'm really glad that we did add VR support because it's pretty awesome, it is quite an experience. Being able to run around on foot, though, is very much a different experience. We're still looking at the way that we would tackle that if we need to. Or if we decide that we think we can get a good way of doing it. And sure, like, that's something that we'll tackle, but for the moment, we have to focus on the actual main experience and getting that working the way that we really want it to feel. So on day one, there won't be any VR support. But we're not saying never, it's just we need to focus our efforts elsewhere right now. Luke Betterton - Game Designer

---

Since you seem well informed let me ask you, is the ship & SRV VR mode untouched?

What about the performance compared to the current build? I can live whitout the fps "minigame" but not whitout the current VR experience (ship/srv)

Essentially ship & SRV VR works in the alpha, but it hasn't officially been added or tested yet. There are various issues that need ironing out (some stuff only rendering in one eye that works in Horizons etc etc).

Performance is currently low across the alpha, but we're on an older branch and they've been working on optimisations for launch apparently (presumably on the trunk build). I found it fine to play though for some reason, in part due to there being no real hitching. It was a 'smooth' 20-30FPS on planets on my 1080

Ultimately I'd expect VR as we know it to work well enough in EDO, but likely with a higher minimum spec / higher performance bar than before.

 

[CMDR VR]

Thanks a lot for the extensive answers.

Hopefully my 3080 and 5800x will be enough to mantain the current performance i have whit a quest 2 headset

 

[Leithal--Weapon]

I had to re-register or re-something or connect my game account to Frontier Forums or something since I have not logged into the forums for a long long long long time hopefully I didn't mess anything up. But I did it to give this a big HELLS YES please...

 

[VR Golgot]

I had to re-register or re-something or connect my game account to Frontier Forums or something since I have not logged into the forums for a long long long long time hopefully I didn't mess anything up. But I did it to give this a big HELLS YES please...

Sweet cheers

(If you get a chance maybe give the OP an upvote to? Trying to use that as a signal to FDev, as we’re hitting historic numbers )

 

[[VR] Captain_Obvious]

Absolutely +1
I think the VR players are quite creative when it comes to workarounds in order to stay in the VR environment. Just give us the option to have 1st person view in VR. Or at least 3rd person view over the shoulder in VR. For controls I would totally just pick up an xBox-controler and would be happy. No need for mind-blowing physics with VR-controllers in the first place imho.

 

[VR Golgot]

Absolutely +1
I think the VR players are quite creative when it comes to workarounds in order to stay in the VR environment. Just give us the option to have 1st person view in VR. Or at least 3rd person view over the shoulder in VR. For controls I would totally just pick up an xBox-controler and would be happy. No need for mind-blowing physics with VR-controllers in the first place imho.

Nice one

Yep, given how many EDVR heads there seem to be, and the inventive 3rd party scene, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the community could fashion something from access to the VR view.

(I do hope FDev get to a proper port, including motion controllers personally. But this would be a good way to tide us all over until that time )