A VR experience like none other: multicrew!

[Bannok]

I believe most here can agree that playing ED with a VR headset makes a great game into a kind of its own. VR in ELITE is better than anything else I've seen so far, and it's the details that keep surprising me. Yesterday, out of pure coincidence, I tried something new - and was floored.

I was flying with a friend of mine, and she got me to try multicrew. Now, the one true advantage the VIVE has over the other headsets is its positional tracking that also allows room-scale VR. Although currently set up as a seated experience for ED, the VIVE tracks you when you move about, and exploring the cockpits of the various crafts is fun, and impressive (e.g. the way the backside of your seat's backrest is modelled - something few people ever see).

Now, my friend is flying the Vulture - the immense glass cockpit itself commands an impressive view. But when I "telepresented" into the upper-floor gallery seat, my jaw dropped. You are sitting in a glass bowl! I got up, and moved about a yard to the right, dead center of the upper bridge. If you haven't done this, you should try this *now*:

Crew in a Vulture as idle role, get up, move to the right, make sure you have something to hold on to just in case - and then tell your helmsman to launch and exit the station. I promise you an experience like you haven't had before - roller-coaster rides are nothing in comparison. My pilot took her ship out, boosted outside the 5K range, flipped around, and then re-docked at breakneck pace. All I could do was to laugh exuberantly and applaud for the best show I've had in weeks. Maybe multicrew is broken otherwise, but this... incredible!

I'm not sure if this works with other headsets - but it is definitely worth a try.

Have fun,
-ch

 

[Baggy MacDouche]

I've done similar before multicrew. Piloted my FDL(with auto-dock module) out of space station, stood up, and walked around the cockpit(almost "hitting" my head on the glass). Enjoyed the ride back in while Strauss played in the background.

 

[Dread Lord]

I believe most here can agree that playing ED with a VR headset makes a great game into a kind of its own. VR in ELITE is better than anything else I've seen so far, and it's the details that keep surprising me. Yesterday, out of pure coincidence, I tried something new - and was floored.

I was flying with a friend of mine, and she got me to try multicrew. Now, the one true advantage the VIVE has over the other headsets is its positional tracking that also allows room-scale VR. Although currently set up as a seated experience for ED, the VIVE tracks you when you move about, and exploring the cockpits of the various crafts is fun, and impressive (e.g. the way the backside of your seat's backrest is modelled - something few people ever see).

Now, my friend is flying the Vulture - the immense glass cockpit itself commands an impressive view. But when I "telepresented" into the upper-floor gallery seat, my jaw dropped. You are sitting in a glass bowl! I got up, and moved about a yard to the right, dead center of the upper bridge. If you haven't done this, you should try this *now*:

Crew in a Vulture as idle role, get up, move to the right, make sure you have something to hold on to just in case - and then tell your helmsman to launch and exit the station. I promise you an experience like you haven't had before - roller-coaster rides are nothing in comparison. My pilot took her ship out, boosted outside the 5K range, flipped around, and then re-docked at breakneck pace. All I could do was to laugh exuberantly and applaud for the best show I've had in weeks. Maybe multicrew is broken otherwise, but this... incredible!

I'm not sure if this works with other headsets - but it is definitely worth a try.

Have fun,
-ch

Actually that's not an advantage of the vive... I can do the same in the Rift and did the cable is 4 m long, you can wonder around all bridges! But the scale in the rift is proper which means the bridge size is not as small as in the vive which still has up scale wonder if that ever gets fixed...

 

[Chaz]

Now, the one true advantage the VIVE has over the other headsets is its positional tracking that also allows room-scale VR. Although currently set up as a seated experience for ED, the VIVE tracks you when you move about, and exploring the cockpits of the various crafts is fun, and impressive (e.g. the way the backside of your seat's backrest is modelled - something few people ever see).

News flash. You've been able to get up and walk around the ships cockpits like that in Elite with the Rift since the DK1. Even with just 1 sensor it still tracks you as you move about. Now with the optional Touch controllers which include a 2nd sensor you can do proper roomscale too. You can even add a 3rd and a 4th sensor to make your play space even larger.

But yeah VR is pretty great isn't it. My favourite thing in VR in Elite, still has to be parking up on a moon in close orbit around a nice looking ringed gas giant, then setting the camera so that it looks like I'm stood next to my ship or SRV. I can just sit in my chair and stare at the view for ages. Absolutely amazing. The vast scale of it all really hits home then, when you're not flying around at several times the speed of light. That's often how I'll try and end my play sessions if I can, especially if I've been exploring. I'll pour myself a shot glass of something nice to warm the heart and sit there sipping it, relaxing and enjoying the view after a long session. Other favourites are just sitting in a station and watching the comings and goings, or getting out into the SRV and parking up on a ridge overlooking a surface port and chilling out watching the scene. There's nothing else in the world quite like it.

 

[Dread Lord]

and Drinking is actually a big advantage the Rift has over the Vive which is too bulky to drink anything while wearing it!

- - - Updated - - -

News flash. You've been able to get up and walk around the ships cockpits like that in Elite with the Rift since the DK1. Even with just 1 sensor it still tracks you as you move about. Now with the optional Touch controllers which include a 2nd sensor you can do proper roomscale too. You can even add a 3rd and a 4th sensor to make your play space even larger.

But yeah VR is pretty great isn't it. My favourite thing in VR in Elite, still has to be parking up on a moon in close orbit around a nice looking ringed gas giant, then setting the camera so that it looks like I'm stood next to my ship or SRV. I can just sit in my chair and stare at the view for ages. Absolutely amazing. The vast scale of it all really hits home then, when you're not flying around at several times the speed of light. That's often how I'll try and end my play sessions if I can, especially if I've been exploring. I'll pour myself a shot glass of something nice to warm the heart and sit there sipping it, relaxing and enjoying the view after a long session. Other favourites are just sitting in a station and watching the comings and goings, or getting out into the SRV and parking up on a ridge overlooking a surface port and chilling out watching the scene. There's nothing else in the world quite like it.

totally agree with you! Elite in VR = something I want to never miss again! I have over 500 hours with VR in it and it never gets old! Totally with you with that drink and enjoying scenery just chilling! VR with Elite is a second life I am blessed to being able to live when I feel like it. Childhood dream came true, I own my own spaceship!

 

[dogbite]

and Drinking is actually a big advantage the Rift has over the Vive which is too bulky to drink anything while wearing it!

I'll drink to that, hehe. Love the handy peek down the nose to see where my beer is.

 

[Derek Speare [VR]]

Multicrew in VR is really great!

 

[Bannok]

News flash [...]

Sigh. Silly me - it was definitely NOT my intention to sleigh any other headset. I wanted to cheer ED and the newfound fun I've had with my headset. Sorry if that brushed anyone the wrong way. In my defense, English is not my mother's tongue.

I'll pour myself a shot glass of something nice to warm the heart and sit there sipping it, relaxing and enjoying the view after a long session. Other favourites are just sitting in a station and watching the comings and goings, or getting out into the SRV and parking up on a ridge overlooking a surface port and chilling out watching the scene. There's nothing else in the world quite like it.

NOW we are talking! I was looking for other things to experience, and thanks for the idea of taking out the buggy. I have been known, from time to time, to take my ship out to an ice ring, and drop to a location where the sun is 'setting', parking my ship next to an icy rock, and just marvel at the sun sparkling off the ice.

... as I sip a good wine. Wine aficionados stop reading here - because in order to really enjoy the wine I first open it an hour before, and then pour it into one of these steel flasks with a drinking nipple (you probably use it for quenching your thirst whilst running). Not only can I drink with the HMD on, but should I accidentally drop it - done that because I absentmindedly tried to put it on the virtual rmrest - no liqid runs out.
I can recommend the 2012 Marques de Riscal Riserva. Goes well with sunset

-ch

 

[X-Terminator]

Who will be the first to use a real ladder to scale and walk from the 2 decks of the Asp?

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

i have a 2.5m extension lead for my rift. i went as close to my cameras as they could track, reset the view, which then meant i would wonder around my ships. sadly i walked into the wall (ouch) before i could get to the interesting areas at the back of the conda bridge. i will try again in MC.

still, it is quite cool when i have a 5 min trek in supercruise stretching my legs and walking arounf my ship.

(top tip...... for a change of scene try poking your head out of the roof of your sidewinder and piloting that way.

 

[Derek Speare [VR]]

Just my two cents: I have been enjoying ED in VR since it was first offered back in the Beta days...then it stopped working, and I quit playing when it didn't work. Fast forward to the holidays of last year and I have been enjoying ED as my game of choice in VR since. Personally I think the MC addition has made the game much more social and terribly immersive for us VR Commanders. It's really fun.

However, there are some glaring shortcomings with the way Frontier does the matchmaking in their first iteration of the feature; it's just "click and hope" right now. While this is not directly on topic, a more organized way to present to Commanders who is hosting what is much preferred - remember how they do it in FPS games? This is what I'm advocating here too. And in that organized presentation of hosted MC sessions, the host can select if he's using VR so other VR Commanders can join in. Moreover, I've found it's just really impossible to use VR and type if the MC host does not use voice.

I'm hopeful that in time Frontier will make MC more attractive to players so that more join in and that they work vigilantly to organize the way MC sessions are created, located and presented to all MC players to make the feature easier (or better) to use.

Who will be the first to use a real ladder to scale and walk from the 2 decks of the Asp?

My Guess it will be Mad Mike

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

When I get up, I see my headless body still in the seat. Is it the same in multi-crew VR? And there is a second level in the Vulture. No way to teleport or move beyond walking. It's not easy to get back to your seat.

Getting back to your seat while blind is a little tricky.

But I'll give it a try.

 

[Bannok]

When I get up, I see my headless body still in the seat. Is it the same in multi-crew VR? And there is a second level in the Vulture. No way to teleport or move beyond walking. It's not easy to get back to your seat.

Getting back to your seat while blind is a little tricky.

But I'll give it a try.

Yes, when you move out of your seat, the model of your body remains behind, headless as always. Being headless I believe is because your own body never shows a head so not to introduce view artefacts (if your head was drawn, moving your headset around would bound to reveal some surfaces of the modelled head.

WRT the Vulture's (and FAS's) raised rear level -- here's something interesting I found out: when you go into holo-me mode, you'll find yourself sitting in the raised rear chair. You can easily get up and walk about from there.

One disappointing tidbit: the multicrew's head (which *is* modelled) does not show which direction the multicrew player is looking at. If it did, it would add so much more interaction (nodding, shaking head, pointedly looking at you, saying nothing). Le's hope this comes soon.

Cheers,
-ch

 

[Henri]

wait so the premise of this thread is that multicrew is amasing because of an undocumented possibility in VR that is not unique to multi crew?
MULTI CREW is a HIT!


can someone post a video? just for giggles

 

[vic]

Yes, when you move out of your seat, the model of your body remains behind, headless as always. Being headless I believe is because your own body never shows a head so not to introduce view artefacts (if your head was drawn, moving your headset around would bound to reveal some surfaces of the modelled head.

WRT the Vulture's (and FAS's) raised rear level -- here's something interesting I found out: when you go into holo-me mode, you'll find yourself sitting in the raised rear chair. You can easily get up and walk about from there.

One disappointing tidbit: the multicrew's head (which *is* modelled) does not show which direction the multicrew player is looking at. If it did, it would add so much more interaction (nodding, shaking head, pointedly looking at you, saying nothing). Le's hope this comes soon.

Cheers,
-ch

I agree with this 100%. Would be great for multi-crew head to track user's real physical head! Just yesterday there was a point in time while I was on someone else's ship where the helm cmdr looked my way and looked like he made eye contact with me for a couple of seconds, and I must say even though I knew that was automated animation it actually felt like an actual personal connection which we just don't get to experience much in video games. Imagine if this eye contact was done on purpose from an actual commander?!! Would bring multi-crew in VR yet to another level!

 

[conceit]

There are further really awesome things I did with my Rift: Take a Sidey and STAND UP. Your head will be over the glass cockpit, so you can fly around while seeing your ship from the outside and looking around. Another thing I love to do: Try "Voice Attack" (voice recognition/scripting software), so you can give voice commands. Now stand up in your favorite (prefarably large) cockpit, stand next to your chair, grab your joystick/mouse for basic directional flight and then command velocity and FSD with your voice. It's hilarious to stand in your cockpit actually commanding "Raise landing gear!" -"Full engines!" - "jump!"

Another awesome thing: SRV to a nice place and *leave* the SRV. Stand up and get out. Loot at the SRV from the outside. Walk on the moon...

But be careful, guys... I once banged my head against the window while trying to look behind and below my pilot seat. So either setup the cage properly or never forget where you actually are.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and another thing: Using the re-center function wisely can put you to entirely new positions in or around your cockpit.

 

[Derek Speare [VR]]

I would like to see a feature added to Multicrew for VR users: It would be very immersive if our Holo-Me avatar was shown as actually looking in the direction as we are looking in "Realspace". I've done a lot of MC and I actually look at the other Commanders when I am speaking to them...like we would naturally in life. It would be cool if they could see my Holo-Me self actually looking at them when I am looking at them!

 

[X-Terminator]

I would like to see a feature added to Multicrew for VR users: It would be very immersive if our Holo-Me avatar was shown as actually looking in the direction as we are looking in "Realspace". I've done a lot of MC and I actually look at the other Commanders when I am speaking to them...like we would naturally in life. It would be cool if they could see my Holo-Me self actually looking at them when I am looking at them!

This was done back in 2003 in the game VIETCONG and even used VOIP for 12 Players. It has never been beaten since.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Jealous