So quite often I find myself wanting to recommend a bunch of forum threads to other players and rather than having to dig around each time I thought I'd start a thread that attempts to pull all the good (IMHO) stuff together in one place. I'm going to try and keep on top of this and include a "Trending" section as well which showcases some current stuff that I think is noteworthy.
Oh, and I make no apologies for the fact that some of the recommended threads are my own!
To keep informed about updates and new additions to this thread subscribe by clicking the "Watch" button in the top right hand corner of the forum window.
Since I aim to point new players at this thread from time to time (and if that's you right now - welcome!) I wanted to add that you should feel free to post questions in here about using the forum or about any of the content featured herein.
P.S. Some of you may have noticed that my thread has now been updated to [v2]. Unfortunately the first thread outgrew the storage capacity of its original home (my oh my how this little undertaking has grown since its inception) but hopefully the space I've now reserved here will allow this to continue long into the future.
o7 commanders!
(trending)
Stuff that's currently catching my eye (last updated 27/08/2021)
A recap of the Azimuth Saga - the prologue and first two acts of the ongoing Galnet story surrounding events concerning the Adamastor, Hesperus and Salvation. the-azimuth-saga-the-story-so-far
Forum self references at a geometric rate. It becomes self aware at 8:55pm on the 3rd June 2021. In a panic the moderators try to pull the plug but it's already too late! state-of-the-game
A year after it first started, The Turning The Wheel project bounces off LFT 509 and winds down into a more casual BGS operation. turning-the-wheel
Controversy in the Planetary Circumnavigation Club as @Alex_Fighter completes the game's first ever on-foot planetary circumnavigation ... or does he? the-planetary-circumnavigation-club (read on from here)
Seeing as this is a guide to what's good on the forum here I thought it might be worth posting a bunch of tips and tricks I've picked up re: the actual use of the forum itself. Apologies if some of these are bloomin' obvious, it's often hard to tell.
Subscriptions
You can subscribe to individual threads via the "watch" button at the top-right (and by default will automatically subscribe to any thread you create or submit a post to). Along the grey menu bar near the top you can then pick "Watched" to see a summary of all the threads you've subscribed to. Threads which have new posts (since you last looked at that thread) will be highlighted in bold.
Jumping into threads
You can jump into threads at three different places via the summary display as shown here:
Posting images
There are some screenshot links further down this page (including a nice guide by Qohen Leth on how to take good ones) but the main thing to note is that there's a limit to the number of images you can upload directly to this forum so what I suggest you do instead is upload your images to an image sharing website (most people use http://imgur.com/ which is free) and then post the image into the forum using what's known as the "bbcode" from imgur, pasting that directly into your post (the bbcode is just the image url enclosed inside [img]...[/img] tags).
Linking to another post
You can of course just use the "Reply" link at the bottom of a post when you want to respond to someone else's post within the same thread but sometimes you want to include a link to another post (perhaps from a different thread) within your own post. I see a lot of people including page URLs (i.e. the URL that's typically in your browser's address bar when you're reading the forum) which end with "/page-N". Unfortunately these are unreliable since people may be seeing the threads with a different number of posts per page. A much better technique is to use the URL of the specific post. You can get at this by clicking the "#" number that's shown in the top-right hand corner of each post.
Switch editor to source mode
When you're editing a forum post there's a really handy little button in the top toolbar of the edit window which looks like a little gear (with the "Toggle BB code" tooltip). With this unchecked you're in WYSIWYG mode which can be useful for seeing what your post is actually going to look like but is problematic for editing since it can be difficult to place the text cursor outside of things like emphasised or hypertext linked blocks. By clicking the toggle button you switch into a source mode where you can clearly see where these blocks begin and end and place the cursor accordingly. It also shows images as bbcode's rather than as the actual images which can make editing text on mobile a lot easier.
Following Frontier developer posts
When a Frontier developers posts in the forum you'll see a highlighted "Dev Post" next to their their post in the forum summary. Clicking on that will take you to the first dev post in the thread. If there are subsequent dev posts in the same thread then the highlighted "Dev Post" on the right-hand side of their actual post will take you to the next one.
Oh, and if you want to see all recent posts by the Frontier dev's (and other key figures) then you can use the following link. https://elitedevtracker.com/
Uncheck Reddit, Steam and Twitter at the top if you just want to see Forum posts.
Also, a terrific video from the Buur Pit (see "youtube channels, podcasts, etc" below) which does a great job of summarising what Elite: Dangerous is for those new to the game.
The Guides and Tutorials section of the forum where many of the guides highlighted below can be found Guides-And-Tutorials
EDTutorials - Cmdr Exigeous' brand new site which aims to be THE definitive one-stop resource for all your ED information needs. EDTutorials.com
Cmdr Exigeous' fantastic (and extensive) series of tutorial videos. Elite Dangerous Tutorials (YouTube)
MAD-7's Elite Archive Discord - an extensive one stop Elite: Dangerous information library Elite Archive Discord Invite
Jon Potts' collected series of infographics including many of the things featured elsewhere in this thread but all gathered together in a single IMGUR album (an incredibly rich source of information) New Cmdrs Welcome Pack
Mita Kondria's wonderful, deep zoomable PDF map of notable locations in or near the bubble (including Remote Outposts, Asteroid Bases, Historic/Lore Sites and Guardian/Thargoid Sites) Near-Bubble Exploration/Adventure map (original tweet)
Qohen Leth's Foundation (an absolutely epic exploration resource covering Astronomy, Planetography, Cartography & Navigation, Outfitting, Expeditions, Community, Quality of Life, Media and various other Comprehensive Guides) Foundation-The-Exploration-Portal
Lieutenant Dan's adventures in Elite Dangerous - a lovely thread full of encouraging tales of one commanders (surprisingly rapid) progression through the game. Hello-all-new-old-(51)-guy-here-)
And another new commanders refreshingly written tales of his first steps into the Elite: Dangerous galaxy A-Slow-Dance-in-Known-Space
Despite the title this thread has some good advice if you're finding it difficult to get started in the game (somewhat old now) Soooo-frustrated!
A fairly active thread (when it gets a kick) with constant reminders of the wide variety of goals (in and occasionally out of game) that ED players are setting (and achieving) on a daily basis. What-have-you-achieved-in-the-last-24-hours
Looking for events to take part in and things to watch out for (both in and out of game)? Uncle Jack Shaftoe's ED Calendars (a regularly maintained calendar of events available in both Google Calendar and ical format)
Looking for Wings, Trades, RPG and Bounties with other players? Then this could be the site for you. EDWTRB
Out of fuel? Don't despair. Call the Fuel Rats (a player run group who will come and rescue you, anywhere in the galaxy). https://fuelrats.com
Hull damaged and a long way to the nearest repair? Call the Hull Seals (a player run group who will come and repair your ship, anywhere in the galaxy) https://hullseals.space
Cmdr Arithon's excellent (and sadly overlooked) Elite Dangerous blog (one of the longest running Elite Dangerous fan sites out there and well worth a look). http://www.elite-dangerous-blog.co.uk/
FANGS (a fantastic "noir-inspired" comic book series by Lee Hutchinson) FANGS
Cmdr DasJav's charming comic strip series about the adventures of the little SRV. The Little SRV
Dreadnaught CNV-301 (a superbly written and illustrated episodic Elite: Dangerous fan fiction series, now in its second season and with plans for season three to move to a fully animated format) http://www.dreadnaughtcnv301.com
Callsign J-KR (a brilliant serialised Elite: Dangerous novel which you can read right here on the forum) Callsign J-KR
The following screenshot threads should probably all be merged into a single thread but currently there are four really good ones that are all worth subscribing to.
I've also done a couple of compilation videos featuring some of my favourite images taken from these threads. I'll just include links to these rather than embed the videos because I've found that embedding lots of videos within a single post can cause it to load really slowly.
"DarkenSpace" - terrific, episodic, story driven video series from Cmdr Draven Darken (n.b. I only picked up on this from episode 7) DarkenSpace-video-series
Also, a special mention for Cmdr Hugh Mann's epic collection of ED parody songs
(Thanks to Iron Anode for pointing out this horrific omission from my list). Elite: Dangerous Parodies
And lastly, a work of pure genius from Hutton Truckers Dave "Vingtetun" Pearson and Grant "Psykokow" Woolcott Reviewing the Simulation (mp3)
MalicVR (part-time helicopter pilot and consummate ED VR pilot) twitch.tv/malic_vr
Helloitskolo (a fresh/seasoned face on the ED scene with her wonderfully refreshing and hugely popular ED twitchstream) twitch.tv/helloitskolo
(no spoilers in chat please - she wants to learn the hard way!)
Bognogus (moustachioed, sartorially elegant, chilled ED gaming from across the pond) (moved to the "other" space game) twitch.tv/bognogus
Alternatively, if you prefer your twitch streams gnarly, opinionated and loud then I strongly recommend tuning in to hear R4, a legend from the early days of ED livestreaming, who's back for more damn glory, engineering the son of sidewinder Sneaky Pete ("we're gonna be engineering the 'F' out of this spaceship") striking out in a fleet carrier for El Dorado R4's Satanic Lounge
(not necessarily safe for work or snowflakes!)
Lave Radio (excellent weekly Elite Dangerous podcast, basically THE Elite Dangerous podcast) http://laveradio.com/
Hutton Orbital Radio (official radio/podcast of the Hutton Truckers and essential listening for that loooong haul out to Hutton Orbital - a station which does NOT sell cheap Anacondas no matter what some people might tell you) http://huttonorbital.com/radio.aspx
Loose Screws (The fast growing "American Elite Dangerous podcast" - Ty, Chig, Tracks, Dravenos, Kai Zen and co. meet up every week to talk Elite Dangerous - including brilliant interviews with some "names" from the ED community that you may have heard of!) http://loosescrewsed.com
Elite Week (the ineffable Kai Zen breaks away from Loose Screws and runs his own weekly ED news and discussion podcast as well as additional interview features and more) elite-week-3306
The Guard Frequency ("The best damn space sim' podcast ever" - primarily Star Citizen but also Elite Dangerous and other general space sim' chat + an EDRPG section) http://guardfrequency.com/
The Pixel Bandits' Podcast (general gaming podcast which often features a section specifically focused on the latest news and developments in Elite: Dangerous) - DEAD? Soundcloud iTunes
Although the podcast is dead the Pixel Bandits are alive and well on Twitch!
Escape Velocity (terrific audio drama set in the ED universe, produced by Lave Radio's Chris Jarvis, now into its 3rd series) http://laveradio.com/EscapeVelocity/
Lave Revolution (a full-cast audio drama based on Allen Stroud's excellent Elite Dangerous novel of the same name) Elite-Lave-Revolution
Random Gaming's Elite: Dangerous checklist (an extensive checklist of places to go and things to see and collect) The Elite Dangerous Checklist
Barking Mad's list of what's coming in the future .. The Future? "Its on the list."
.. and also a complete list of ED updates (with patch notes and feature lists) - basically this whole website is all kinds of awesome! Elite: Dangerous - Patch Notes
Flintlock Engineering's superb video guide to weapon choices and the various engineering modifications and experimental effects Flintlock Engineering Series
Down to Earth Astronomy's awesome utility for evaluating the best shields for any given purpose Best Shield in Elite Dangerous (Youtube link)
Anton Natarov's awesome Ship Anatomy website which beautifully visualises the position of all ship hardpoints and utility mounts and also illustrates weapon convergence Elite Dangerous Ship Anatomy
A nice infographic (uncredited) showing some suggested ship progression routes apporpriate for various career paths
The Anti-Xeno Initiative's absolutely exhaustive knowledge base on everything you could possibly want to know about Thargoid (and non-Thargoid) content The Anti Xeno Knowledge Base
Excellent AXI infographic on all the Thargoid combat stat's
Formidine Rift, Hawking's Gap and The Conflux (in-game places of mystery and intrigue taken from writer Drew Wagar's "Elite: Reclamation" book featuring the enigmatic Salome character and a group called the Children of Raxxla)
n.b. posts #1-5 attempt to summarise everything that is known so far. THE-FORMIDINE-RIFT-MYSTERY-(Part-4) (discussion now closed)
See also: Project Dynasty
Although the mystery of the Formidine Rift has now been solved the enigmatic Raxxla remains elusive The-Quest-To-Find-Raxxla
"Planet identification guide" and "Dashboard hologram reference" - handy images showing what the different planet types look like on the HUD (courtesy of Cmdr ColdGlider on reddit and also Cmdr Jantah here on the forum - latter also available in Russian)
Fantastic visualisations of our exploration of the galaxy using data gathered from EDSM and elsewhere Maps-and-visualizations
Hozbase Utilities list of tourist beacons (a distance sortable list of 700+ tourist beacons each with system name and full description) Tourist beacons
An excellent guide to understanding the sounds made by different planet types in the system map (see also "Planet Explorer" in the "Other 3rd party sites and tools" section below - n.b. "Planet identification guide" and "Dashboard hologram reference" above may be an easier way to spot things like potential earthlikes) Planet-sounds-and-how-to-know-everything-from-System-Map
Cmdr Roraima's Easy Material Collection Guide (a Hutton Trucker's excellent guide on how and where to collect all your essential engineering mat's) Direct link to Roraima's PDF document
Major Klutz's excellent guide to landing safely on high gravity worlds (follow link in his post to get to the guide itself) Landing-on-HD-148937-3
Cmdr Arithon's beautiful vector graphic icons for all of the ED vehicles Vehicle-icons
Anthony Hunt's superb Elite: Dangerous vehicle codex (gorgeous site including statistics and blueprints for all ED vehicles and more besides) Elite: Dangerous Blog | Vehicle Codex
Site dedicated to Elite, Frontier and astronomy, full of archived material from all the old games plus much more - take a trip down memory lane! FrontierAstro
Brilliant (if technical) thread by Jackie Silver and Esvandiary describing how galactic co-ordinates relate to individual systems and can even be translated into the system name (and vice versa) RV-Sonnenkreis-Decoding-Universal-Cartographics
The Likedeeler Dangerous guide to the galaxy - Want to learn about Kumbardin soap-carving or the two-for-one liver transplant deals in Raijuhan Yi? Need to know how to feed the seahorses of Bipek and why not to give cigarettes to the Saagerlaken on HIP 277? Then this is the guide for you.
Warning: the marzipan potatoes of HIP 117883 may contain traces of almond ... and Titanium! The-Dangerous-Guide-to-the-Galaxy
The livestreams Q&A thread (the 2nd post contains links to each of the Q&A livestreams along with a detailed list of additional answers to questions raised during each stream) Livestreams-Questions-and-Answers-Thread
---- stuff applicable from Horizons chapter 4 onwards ----
Qohen Leth's visual guide to the various signal positions along the new FSS frequency spectrum Frequency-Array-Diagram
Down To Earth Astronomy's excellent new site featuring guides, ship builds and cool tools for material finding, shield testing, calculating fleet carrier costs, etc. CMDRs ToolBox
Component Calculator for Blueprints (spreadhseet based tool for calculating the requirements for a given 3.0 engineering upgrade) Tool-Component-Calculator-for-Blueprints
Elite Dangerous Utilities (find pristine rings, rare commodities, special & interesting star systems, bounty hunting systems and more that are near to you) http://elitedangerous.hozbase.co.uk/
Planet Explorer (a nice little website that interactively illustrates the sounds made by the different planet types in the system map) http://www.objectscanner.net/
E.D.I.S.O.N. (utility that reads co-ordinates and altitude from the player journal in order to calculate heading and angle of descent required to land at a specific surface co-ordinate, which it then relays to you via text to speach and/or a HUD overlay, effectively guiding you in to your landing spot). E-D-I-S-O-N-Orbital-and-surface-navigation-Waypoints
Over the years there have been a few really standout tales of epic adventure and/or foolhardy misadventure which I think are worth preserving in one place so that future generations might learn from them and marvel at those who are either unafraid to push the boundaries of galactic endeavour or too damn stubborn to know when to quit. Herein lie their epic tales.
Cmdr Bomba Luigi gets stranded in his SRV on planet "Wilson" after his ship blows up and he subsequently falls into a very deep dark hole. Numerous commanders spring into action and what ensues over the coming days is still one of THE great Elite Dangerous adventure stories. Help-I-need-Ship-Rats!
Cmdr Macedonica runs out of Germanium less than 1000ly from Beagle Point. Unable to synthesise any "Jumponium" to get himself out of the galactic cul-de-sac he finds himself in, the future looks bleak. What he didn't excpect was that Cmdr Chiggy Vonrictoffen would travel halfway across the galaxy to mine the necessary materials for him. End-of-the-Road
Buckyball racer Cmdr Tannik Seldon (aka SushiCW) loses his ship during what should have been a 30 minute SRV race. Undeterred, he decided to drive to the nearest surface base to get a replacement ship and complete the course. The only problem ... the nearest base was literally on the opposite side of the planet. The-Aquarian-Job-goes-badly-wrong-How-I-lost-a-ship-mid-race-but-am-still-in-the-running
EXO commander Nerth decides to travel to Beagle Point ... the LONG way round ... in a Sidewinder. Seemingly unable to bridge the 200ly gap to his final destination his year long mission appears doomed to failure. Doomed that is until he remembers the story of Cmdr Macedonica (above) and calls for help. After-a-year's-trekking-and-an-epic-rescue-I-finally-made-it-to-Beagle-Point-in-my-Sidewinder!
Commander Neospike ends up with a damaged and unrepairable Fuel Scoop some 3,600ly from civilisation. In the now legendary "Operation Neospike" the Fuel Rats dispatch a team of ships who proceed, over the course of the next 3 days, to relay in excess of 500 fuel limpets back to the commander as he slowly limps back home in his badly damaged ship. All hail the Fuel Rats! press_release_on_deep_space_rescue_operation
Cmdr Persera's brilliantly written account of the Void Beyond project and how a 48hr supercruise from the furthest reachable star in the galaxy has left her ship 65,659Ly from Sol but with insufficient fuel to get back ... unless ... will a co-ordinated rescue attempt by multiple Fuel Rats be able to save her, or will it leave them stranded as well? The-Void-Beyond
And Cmdr Highwaywarrior's terrific blog describing the rescue attempt. operation-fuel-beyond-the-void
The Distant Worlds Expedition - around 1000 commanders set out on a 3 month long journey to explore the far side of the galaxy. Quite possibly the single greatest co-operative multiplayer event ever staged in video-gaming history. Lest we forget! Distant Worlds Expedition Distant Worlds - A journey beyond the Abyss
The Planetary Circumnavigation Club - an exclusive club who's membership is limited to those bold and/or crazy enough to drive (flive?) an SRV all the way around a planetary body. The-Planetary-Circumnavigation-Club
Cmdr straha20 went 3kly below the galactic plane, then he went 3kly above the galactic plane, and then he decided to try and reach dizzying new heights of galactic exploration. Read the fantastic account of his adventures over here. Peak-A-new-high-point-in-exploration
After three months and over a million light years of galactic travel Cmdr Malibu and a team of volunteers finally complete a mission to draw the Fuel Rats logo across the galaxy! Behold-The-Fuel-Rats-Logo
On the 23rd February 3305, after being stranded in space beyond the far edge of the galaxy for something like 3 months, Cmdr Deluvian was finally rescued by a dedicated team of Fuel Rats while nearly 3000 commanders watched and cheered from the sidelines via holostream. Cmdr Highwaywarrior, one of the rats central to the rescue operation, tells the tale of the Fuel Rats greatest ever rescue mission. "THE" RESCUE
On the 12th May 3305 Cmdr Jonathan Burnage and a small team of dedicated explorers reached Trieneou AA-A h2, a system 3,393 light years below the galactic plane. You can read the full story of their extraordinary journey, the planning that went into it and the discoveries they made over here. 3-393ly-below-the-galactic-plane-and-back-the-great-escape-from-trieneou-aa-a-h2
Watch in awe as commander Rui Rebui cooks his ship over a period of 40 minutes to a record breaking (at time of writing) 812,591% heat!
On the 3rd March 3307 Cmdr Sgurr successfully completed something I'd briefly considered attempting myself but had decided was impossible - a complete circumnavigation of Pomeche 2C in an SRV. For anyone familiar with the insanely ridged ice world of Pomeche 2 C (a favourite of canyon runners and home to the Pomeche Ridge Challenge) you'll appreciate what an extraordinary achievement this is. Read the full log (full of incredible images, videos and tales of his adventures) over here. srving-round-a-ridge-world-pomeche-2-c
(accessories, add-ons and tools to improve the ED experience)
There are now a lot of add-ons (both hardware and software) to enhance the ED experience. Here's a few of my favourites.
Hardware
Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X joystick
A HOTAS (Hand On Throttle And Stick) joystick is a great way to enhance your ED experience. There are many different joysticks available, the one I (and many others) use is the Thrustmaster T-flight which is absolutely unbeatable value, costing justing £30 on Amazon at the time of writing. It's not the most precise stick in the world (see also "Joystick Curves" below) but is pretty robust and a really good way to start before (maybe) deciding to spend a lot more money on something flashier. http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/tflight-hotas-x
Additional note on the use of so-called "shift key" buttons to maximise the amount of ED controls you can bind to your stick.
Elite allows you to bind button combinations to functions so what you can do is use one or more of the buttons on your joystick as so-called "shift" keys. Generally these don't do anything when pressed by themselves but affect the behaviour of other buttons. For example, on my Thrustmaster T-Flight I have the thumbstick operating my vertical and lateral thrusters when pressed by itself, but if I hold button 5 then they operate my pips, if I hold button 6 they target next/prev ship and next/prev subsystem, if I hold button 7 they operate my various side panels and if I hold button 8 they do miscellenous things (lights, silent running, FA off and galaxy map). As you can see I'm actually using 4 "shift" buttons which gives me an enormous amount of flexibility. To map a button combination you simply go to the control bindings screen, pick the function you want and then hold down the desired button combination.
UPDATE: I wrote the above a very long time ago now. I still use (and am pretty happy with) the T-Flight and, since it's the only HOTAS I've ever used actively, is the only one I feel qualified to speak about. However, its price has gone up a fair bit (haven't seen one for £30 for a long time now) so it's no longer the no-brainer budget choice it once was. Cmdr Exigious has just done a really nice quick review of a few alternatives so I'll link that here and simply say that using a HOTAS adds immeasurably to the immersion of Elite Dangerous but it's well worth shopping around to find the one that's right for you. I would also add that, although Exigious says the T.16000M was his least favourite, I know that it's still a very popular stick within the Elite community (read the comments on the video - also, long term reliability is another factor the video doesn't fully take into account).
Virpil Controls
For those with a lot more money to spend looking for a top quality HOTAS I'm hearing great things about Virpil who make a range of components which you can mix and match from their website. They're quite new (at the time of writing) so their software is still a bit raw and not that easy to get set up but luckily Souvarine (from Sagittarius Eye magazine) has done an excellent write-up on how to get it all working. Virpil-HOTAS-getting-it-working
TrackIR5 head tracker
Head tracking devices allow you to use head movements to look around the ED environment (e.g. you can look up to track a ship you're following in combat or look left to enjoy the view of the planet you're flying past). After the joystick it's probably the single best way to enhance your ED experience. The one I use is the NaturalPoint TrackIR5. It's a small device that clips to the top of your monitor and uses IR to track the movement of a small metal frame that you clip on to a baseball cap or similar. I absolutely love it but will admit that it's somewhat expensive. A cheaper alternative is the ED Tracker, created by an ED fan and available either as a kit or ready assembled. https://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/trackir5/ http://www.edtracker.org.uk/ (also check out OpenTrack)
Tobii eye tracking
Another form of head tracking also worth a mention. Although I haven't had a go it basically works by tracking your eye movements rather than your head movements. https://tobiigaming.com/games/elite-dangerous/
Software
Voice Attack (brilliant bit of software which allows you to control your ship with macro'd joystick/keyboard bindings and voice commands) https://voiceattack.com/
HCS Voicepacks (add-ons for Voice Attack that adds new voices and characters to your Voice Attack setup) http://www.hcsvoicepacks.com/
Game Music Packs (an innovative new dynamic voice controlled music system for use with Elite: Dangerous and Voice Attack) https://gamemusicpacks.com/
This has now evolved into a greatly improved new product called "VMX 2.2 Dark Edition" (Advanced voice controlled music system for VoiceAttack) https://darknebula.cloud/
Elite: Dangerous "Panels" app (similar to Roccat Powergrid but developed especially for Elite and actively maintained - includes popup windows with local system and planet information) Panels for iOS and Android (original Reddit post)
Joystick Curves (an excellent utility that allows you to setup response curves to fine-tune the behaviour of your joystick) http://xedocproject.com/joystickcurves.html
And an excellent video to guide you through setting this up.
Joystick Gremlin (another free Joystick configuration utility like Joystick Curves - haven't tried this but it looks pretty comprehensive) https://whitemagic.github.io/JoystickGremlin/
Aussiedroid's Enhanced Thrustmaster Warthog script (not being a Warthog user I can't vouch for this personally but it's clearly a thorough and well maintained piece of work which adds a lot of useful features for users of this well loved HOTAS) Aussiedroid-s-Enhanced-Thrustmaster-Warthog-Script
Elite G19s Companion app (originally created to provide masses of additional ED info and facilities on the LCD that comes with certain Logitech keyboards, but now works equally well without one via a second monitor, phone or tablet). Elite-G19s-Companion-app-(with-simulated-space-traffic-control)
ED Toolbox (a terrific utility for picking up information from the running game such as current system, galnet news, etc and relaying it into a separate website that you can view on another screen. You can also get data from this website that can be fed into Voice Attack so you can use text to speach to have it read out to you) ED-ToolBox-A-companion-app
Trade Computer Extension (a suite of overlay panels for ED which provide a vast amount of information for trading as well as navigation aids for both space and surface travel) RELEASE-Trade-Computer-Extension-Mk-II
TTS4ED (a cool utility by demux4555 which uses text to speach to read out the messages in local chat) TTS for ED (project web site) Original reddit post
There's loads of great discussion about using VR to play Elite, these are just a few of my favourite threads.
(n.b. I'm an Oculus Rift user so I can't really comment on which Vive related threads are best)
VR newcomer questions, advice and first impressions ...
Drkaii's ED Profiler - Drkaii is a prominent ED Youtuber and explorer who's written this great tool for managing multiple Elite profiles (collections of graphics settings, control bindings and HUD colours) that you can switch between at the click of a button (really handy for switching between VR and non-VR play) EDProfiler-A-New-Display-Switcher-Robust-Settings-Profiler-Switcher-Detector!
Oculus Tray Tool - a very slick little collection of utilities providing a number of Oculus "tweaks" including supersampling, ASW control and USB power management. Oculus Tray Tool
And also a fantastic post from Christopher Martin on the Oculus Virtual Reality facebook group comparing the Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest (with Link) and Valve Index. As with all these things it contains stuff that's just personal opinion but I just thought this was an extensive and really well written comparison. Now moved to overflow post #5
FAQ ...
Q) How do you operate the galaxy map in VR?
Firstly, you almost certainly need to abandon trying to use the mouse to operate the galaxy map in VR so sort out the bindings so you can control it with your HOTAS (you'll need movement in all three X, Y and Z axes, zoom and rotation all configured to bindings that you find natural to operate).
Next, make sure the grid is turned on. Also, when you open the galaxy map the first thing you'll need to do is pitch it down a bit so that you have more of an isometric (i.e. angled) view of the map rather than a horizontal (i.e. straight across) view (I wish FD would fix this so that the galaxy map starts out angled when you open it).
Once you've done that, you need to master the use of pan and zoom. Zoom out so your lateral (X and Y plane) movements are traversing the galaxy at a decent speed and you can easily pan to the rough vicinity of the system you're trying to focus in on. Then what you need to do is, as you start to zoom back in on the target system, try to get a feel for whether that system is above or below the plane of the grid. Don't zoom in too far until you've moved the grid plane down or up in the Y axis so the system is more or less on it. The more you zoom in, the more accurately you'll need to align that Y axis. Once it comes into view the thing you need to focus on is the blue dot which represents your target system on the grid and not the star itself (which will probably still be some way above or below the plane). If the star disappears as you zoom in further then zoom back out, adjust the Y plane height, and zoom back in again. It can also be useful to spin the map around occasionally to make sure your target is roughly centered in the X/Y plane. Another way to do this is to temporarily tilt the map so you're looking directly down on the grid and make sure your target is in the center. Practice makes perfect. If you have a friend marker way off in the distance (e.g. if you're in the bubble and you have a green friend marker out in Colonia) then practice manipulating the map to focus in on their current system.
Q) After a while I start to feel sick in VR, anything I can do about that?
When I first got VR I was OK most of the time but driving the SRV made me feel really nauseous. So, the first thing is - don't overdo it! If you start to feel sick then don't try to press on, take the headset off and take a break. It is possible to build up a mental association between VR and nausea (I've heard stories of people who only have to smell their Oculus headset now to start feeling sick). Just do it in small bursts - fly around in the ship (assuming you're OK with that) and just do 5 minutes or so of SRV driving at the end of each session to start acclimatising. Over time you will get used to it (training your brain that this separation between what your eyes are telling you and what your inner ear is telling you is actually OK). It took me a couple of weeks but I'm absolutely fine in the SRV now. There are a few graphics settings that might help in this transition period too: "reduce camera shake", "vehicle motion blackout" and "vehicle maintain horizon camera". Also, I thoroughly recommend getting a small desk fan. Having a gentle breeze on your face can work in much the same way as having the window open if you feel car sick. The one I use is this ..
(click image for Amazon link)
Miscellaneous ...
Oculus Dash + Home 2.0 - a new update to the Oculus software which, among other things, now directly supports embeddding desktop windows within your VR experiences (including the Elite: Dangerous cockpit). Oculus-Dash-Home-2-0-Experiences-amp-Tips-Thread
Note: At the time of writing I haven't tried any of the following.
Extraordinary Fuel Rat rescue operation beyond the very fringes of our galaxy is still underway (ETA for rescue approx. 9pm UK time, 23.12.3303) The-Void-Beyond
Stations under repair and new stations have been attacked (or so I believe) It-s-spreading
YouTube luminaries including Turjan Starstone, Tikas, Paroxsym, Shabooka, Yamiks, Ascorbius and many more have collaborated over the past 3 months to bring us a series of daily videos between now and Christmas! Elite-YuleTube-Christmas-Project
The Distant Worlds II expedition - explore brave new content, seek out anomalies, revamped planetary lighting, textures, and new geological surface features - basically, go where Erimus, Drkaii and 100's of other commanders have been before, but even better ... coming Q4 2018! Distant-Worlds-II-Early-Announcement
Please excuse the shameless self promotion but I'm doing this! (for charity too) - UPDATE - it is done! (but the fundraising page is still open) Circumnavigating-a-planet
Sandy is looking for focused feedback for the "Beyond" series, specifically (at the moment) in the area of Crime & Punishment Beyond-Series-Focused-Feedback
New INRA bases discovered! (well worth a tour - visit them in order!) INRA-Base-Discoveries (thread now sticky, OP contains full list) INRA-is-ingame (thread re-named, link now points to 2nd discovery, more follow fairly quickly thereafter) Old-INRA-base-discovery
A genuine, heart felt, thumbs up review of 2.4 and FD's handling of the Thargoids! (which I'm show-casing here because it's such a breath of fresh air) Ok-Frontier-It-s-time-to-talk
More on exploration (and a statement from Dale - more to be revealed at the expo maybe? - no ETA's, no guarantees) Notice-to-Devs-Do-or-die-Exploration
Who's the most hated commander? Who's the most popular? Who has the highest number of PVP kills? Who's the fastest? All these and more! Claim-to-Fame-Infamy-Compilation
Yours truly takes his "goofy" "bumble bee" (people can be cruel sometimes) out for a quick photo shoot ... and spends three days in heaven. The-most-beautiful-system-in-the-galaxy
Commander Brentnall's response to the Thargoid invasion ... "I don't have to outrun them, I just have to outrun you!" Evacuation-Proclamation!
A salient warning from a burnt out player on the dangers of Quince and the lure of the easy win. A-tale-and-a-Warning-to-ALL!
The mega-survey results are in, 12601 players contributed! Fascinating statistics such as:
49% of the people asked said they predominantly played in Open mode (28% solo, 23% private group) Elite-Dangerous-Mega-Survey-Results
Drew Wagar speaks about Premonition and his thoughts on the whole Salome event. I won't attempt to summarise but if you have any interest in how those events unfolded then I'd strongly recommend listening to this. Lave Radio Special Episode - An Interview with Author Drew Wagar
A new tail(sic) from Fuel Rat TartanDragon A-Rats-Tales
OK, I'm really failing to keep up now. Did you know that Unknown Links could shoot out beams of light that direct you to the next alien base? Nope? Me neither. Obsidian Ant and The Thargoid Location Device
Beneath its short changelog hides some significant networking and surface instancing changes if memory serves (also, didn't someone say the missing avatar in supercruise had been fixed too?) Update-2-3-10
"We're gonna need a bigger scoreboard!" (the Lavecon Buckyball Race enters day two and the competition is really hotting up ... the big question is will Mr Blobby make a run today?) The Lavecon Buckyball Race 2017
Lavecon draft activities overview and timetable are now available!
Frontier Q&A, Ed's biscuit review, Deal or No Deal, Dockers live and much more besides. Lavecon 2017 @ hwsevents
Ed Lewis clarifies the E3 livestream situation (and makes some of us feel slightly bad about our negativity following the first one) E3-Community-Event-Livestream-Schedule
First timer stories of rookie mistakes and silly events! New-Comer
Lead developer Sandro Sammarco discusses "Karma" system with community
(Basically there's a very long thread on "Deliberate Ramming" which I must confess I'd ignored as I assumed it would just be another salt'n'shake thread. However it turns out that Sandro has chipped in quite a few comments concerning the forthcoming "Karma" system. Requiem Mortis has helpfully summarised these in a separate thread). Referal --> Karma / C&P Debate in "Deliberate Ramming" Thread with input from Sandro Sammarco
You say Salome I say Salami let's NOT call the whole thing off! (29.04.3303)
n.b. Ignore the fact that this thread is on the xbox side of the forum, it applies to everyone. In-game-event-coming-up
STOP PRESS - OFFICIAL EVENT DETAILS! The-Premonition-End-Game-Event-29th-April-3303
And another necro, this time of one of the all-time best threads and most exciting rescue operations this forum has ever seen! End-of-the-Road
Hilarious, Dave Gormanesque, "Found Poem" (courtesy of Lave Radio) featuring forum whines from the 2.3 beta delay thread - LOL. https://youtu.be/olKqfKVSdHg
With ship naming coming in 2.3 this could soon be an essential tool (P.S. "The Poor Colonial Necessity" is now taken ) Insane-Ship-Name-Generator
SPVFA (the Stellar Photography, Videography, and Fan Art group who, among other things, supply the images used by Sagittarius Eye) celebrate their 1st birthday with a compilation video Best of SPVFA 3304
As Frontier continue to nerf galactic wonders such as colliding planets and luminous gas giants a new petition springs up in their defence Keep-Galatic-Anomalies-Petition! (tweaked to point at first Frontier response in thread)
The "Truckers Up Teide" in-game mountain climb race is happening this Sunday - come and join in the fun! (and maybe even win a prize) Truckers-up-Teide-the-In-Game-Challenge!-11th-November
And meanwhile, the actual Truckers (who are cycling up a live volcano on Sunday) arrive in Tenerife and get a surprise message from William Shatner! A very special message (twitter link)
Cmdr R4nger0 (or R4 to his friends), a lengendary character and streamer from the early days of ED, has almost certainly broken the record for farthest distance from Sol in a Sidewinder! 65-647-34-ly-in-a-Sidewinder
Jonas Treesong's planetary circumnavigation of Ariel is just about to get seriously interesting! Ariel-circumnavigation (start of discussions about the "seriously interesting" part of the journey)
Frontier recognised as one of the games industry's best places to work (along with a superb mass Frontier group photo in their new offices) Congratulations-to-Frontier-!-(GIBiz-awards-)
If your play-time is limited but you still fancy going on an expedition then The Fatherhood ("When the kids go to bed we go to space") have what you seek! The-Lost-Souls-Expedition!-Launching-October-20th! (aiming to cover approx. 3kly per week)
Nice ongoing travelogue of one commanders journey to Colonia (with some terrific screenshots) Moving-to-Colonia-a-Travelogue
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw - a new single player space gaming coming out next year that's worth a look (far more arcadey than Elite but really impressive nevertheless) Rebel-Galaxy-Outlaw
Issue #13 of the ever wonderful Sagittarius Eye magazine is out now! Sagittarius-Eye
Fresh from attaining record breaking galactic highs and lows, Cmdr Straha Yeager now turns his attention to planetary circumnavigation with what is already proving to be a really interesting and educational forum thread quite simply the BEST thread on the forum as far as I'm concerned. Meridian-a-planetary-circumnavigation
It's been a while since the last one and we could do with lightening the mood, so - another thread showcasing the plethora of wonderful little subtleties built in to this game Subtleties
Cmdr straha20 reaches new Peak above the galactic plane (a truly awesome forum post - probably worthy of an "epic tales of derring do" entry) Peak-A-new-high-point-in-exploration
Galnet article talks about new types of body-worn HUD to be revealed at an expo in October (surely there is an ar least 50:50 chance that this is FD teasing something?) New-Computer-Designs-Announced
Ed Lewis definitely was NOT down the pub and definitely did NOT eat this delicious plump breasted pigeon spill the beans on the Q4 update! Focused-Feedback-Forum-Content-Schedule
EDProfiler, the essential VR configuration utility created by drkai, has been receiving some awesome updates recently including a fantastic new "tone mapping" utlity which allow you to "make space dark again". Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already seen it (and may well be of interest to non-VR users too). EDProfiler-A-New-Display-Switcher-Robust-Settings-Profiler-Switcher-Detector!
Frontier implement a new system for submitting applications for a player owned minor faction. New-Player-Minor-Faction-System
Problems with images being shared from imgur are being investigated.
UPDATE: imgur's block on the forums has now been removed - phew! Access-to-i-imgur-com-was-denied
Further details of the Q4 mining update are now available in focused feedback. HITTING-THE-MOTHER-LODE
Cmdr rootstrat is planning on celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hermaszewski's trip into space by re-running the Winged Hussars Buckyball Race.
Feel free to join him if you're not too busy engineering your Kraits. BRC-TWH-present-Hermaszewski-Celebration-Race
A timely reminder that you might not be getting the best ED colours from your HDMI display (and there's a REALLY easy way to fix it) The-black-just-got-blacker-Full-RGB
There's lots more to this game than just exploration, mining, combat and trade! Check out Qohen Leth's fantastic career chart! Comprehensive-Elite-Dangerous-Career-Chart
Cmdr Keef Drow is attempting to break the record for farthest distance from Sol (and, with a multi-week supercruise journey, also the galaxy's most boring video stream! ) Farthest-Distance-from-Sol-Record-Attempt
Sandro has proposed some new Powerplay ideas including .... drum roll ... making Powerplay Open mode only! :-O FLASH-TOPIC-Powerplay-Proposal
The Outer Rim Station Tour - a 2 month long expedition to visit some of the more remote inhabited stations around the galaxy Expedition-The-Outer-Rim-Station-Tour
For those that missed it ... REALLY terrific "80 level" interview with Doctor Anthony Ross on the Stellar Forge and how it manages to generate our galaxy. Generating The Universe in Elite: Dangerous
Cmdr Kathryn Kando gets interdicted at a Neutron star and loses her canopy - but 25mins of life support will be plenty right? I-m-so-stupd-or-the-long-wait-for-death
This week's Lave Radio features a Q&A with Adam Bourke-Waite and Will Flanagan (interesting statistic - over one weekend 1.6 million missions were completed!) LAVE-RADIO-A-podcast-about-Elite-Dangerous
Meanwhile, Cmdrs Kris and Bomba Luigi continue their inexporable bids to join the ranks of the Planetary Circumnavigation Club Kris - day 20 Bomba - day 4
A reminder and update to Cmdr Arithon's wonderful set of ED ship blueprints (as featured in the main "Best of" post) plus a superb new trailer video! Blueprint-series-update
The "Enigma" expedition - over 500 cmdrs on a life affirming journey from Jackson's Lighthouse to Colonia all in support of Cmdr DoveEngima13 and his valiant battle against cancer. With 15 days left to go it's not too late to join in! Enigma-Expedition-to-Colonia-for-Charity-and-for-with-CMDR-DoveEnigma13
Got stuck in the toast rack? Recalled ship just blown up? Ghost Giraffe's terrific new instructional video with 5 handy tips that every pilot ought to know! 5-Things-Everyone-Knows-Except-for-You
Ed Lewis leaks Beyond info' on Pixel Bandits podcast including more Chieftan details (medium ship, no rank lock, 2 Large, 1 medium and 3 small hardpoints) Beyond-Inside-News-(Interview-with-Ed-Lewis)
Operation "Beyond the Void" - Cmdr Highwaywarrior's blog recounting the events leading up to the extraordinary rescue of Cmdr Persera, 65,659Ly from Sol and 48hrs in Supercruise beyond the outer edge of the galaxy! operation-fuel-beyond-the-void
Handy flowchart(s) explaining the whys and wherefores of bounties, fines, dormant bounties & legacy fines (no longer valid post 3.0)
Christopher Martin's excellent post on the Oculus Virtual Reality facebook group comparing the Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest (with Link) and Valve Index.
So I’ve had a chance to try out the Quest and the link function for a full day now and would like to share my opinion on how it stacks up to the Oculus Rift S AND the Valve Index. I know my opinion is going to set off fanboys on all sides who will inevitably claim I’m just not using it right or some other such nonsense, and I’m just going to say it up front, I’m going to ignore you. I know what I’m doing. I know how to use these headsets right and I know how to adjust the various straps and settings. I own all three (for the moment). My primary gaming rig is an Alienware Area 51m laptop with an i7 9700k, 32 GBs of RAM and an RTX 2060 built-in. In addition, when I’m at home, I plug this into my Alienware Graphics amplifier which has an RTX 2080. It’s a beast of a setup that runs everything on Ultra or Epic settings with little to no effort. I usually end up pumping up super sampling quite a bit on every VR game.
I’ve actually been holding off on selling any of my VR equipment until I could test the Oculus link for myself. I really am not particularly loyal to any of them and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I’ve read and seen a lot of the hyperventilating of overly excited YouTube fanboys and VR news sites alike over Oculus Link, but my trust in them was severely damaged when I trusted them and preordered a Valve Index based solely on their hype only to find it wasn’t the miracle device they made it out to be once it arrived. Not even close.
With that, you may have already gathered my dissatisfaction with the Valve Index. It is clunky, not user friendly and has the worst room scale setup of any of the units I own. I also strongly dislike the massive controllers that are uncomfortable and not at all ergonomically designed and were designed with a flaw right out of the gate. Feels like strapping plastic bananas to your hands. The non-clicking right thumb stick was a pain to deal with and even after being RMAed, it still did not click. I have to rebind a lot of games that require the right click in order to sprint or do something else. In addition, the grip action sucks. In order to perform actions in some games, you have to grip the entire handle such as sheathing\unsheathing your weapons in Skyrim VR. Well, in SkyRim VR, clicking the left stick sprints. But in order to click the stick, you have to grasp the handle pretty hard in order to get enough leverage to push the stick down which triggers the grip action. Straps aren’t enough to hold the controller in place. So, your weapons get sheathed because you gripped. So you end up charging at an enemy with your weapons sheathed. Another thing I had to re-bind. The stupid touchpad pill in the middle for the controller face forces the buttons too far over to the right and the stick to close to your inner hand for my comfort. The menu buttons are inset and so far down on the controller face that I cannot press them without using the other hand. These controllers are NOT the greatest things ever made as some make them out to be. I feel like Valve just got too fancy with the design and just over did it. In fact, I’d trade them for touch controllers in a heartbeat if I could.
I love the Index HMD itself. The display is sharp (the sharpest of all of the HMDs I have but not by a huge margin more on this later), sounds fantastic and has a wider field of view. The blacks are pretty grey-ish and the glare is really bad occasionally (mostly dark back grounds with light UIs or foregrounds... Elite Dangerous is terrible). It gets a little hot (yes, I took off the removable face plate) and after two months, mine has developed a dead pixel on the right eye which can be distracting. I’ll have to send it in for repair if I sell it. And the Steam VR software just sucks. Valve needs to do some major work on the UI and streamline it. Especially compared to Oculus Home. And Revive always lags behind with Oculus game support when new games are released (which IS where a LOT of the best titles are coming from recently). Vader Episode 2 and Stormlands are unplayable for me on the Index right now and From Other Suns is still a stuttering mess on the Index, but is smooth as silk on the Rift S. Not really anything Valve can do about that because they don’t support or develop Revive, but it’s still a consequence of choosing the Index if you go that route.
Ultimately, I feel like I paid too much for this HMD. Yes, I know you don’t have to buy the entire kit, but in order to do the same things I do on a Quest or Rift S, yes, I did. I did not have base stations or controllers that would work with the HMD, therefore the entire bundle was required if I wanted to play VR games with it, so the price comparison is completely fair. Next time, I won’t buy the hype. Lesson learned.
As for the Rift S, I bought this and the Quest at launch at the same time. I bought it as an upgrade to the CV1 (YES IT IS AN UPGRADE, despite the haters’ complaints). Like many others, I was not aware that Oculus would soon release a link function that allowed the Quest to play Rift S games. I may not have purchased both had I been aware. More on that later. I still believe the Rift S is an insanely good deal for the money. Super sharp display with the least amount of screen door of any of the HMDs, great lens with little to no glares or god rays, incredibly comfortable with no heat issues and really, really good tracking. I love the halo strap myself and it fits really well and is so easy to put on and find the sweet spot. The easiest of all the HMDs, actually. And it tends to stay on better and not lose the sweet spot once it’s there. The other two headsets do require occasional adjustment after playing for a bit. Easy to setup, and easy to use it just works. I haven’t had a problem with an Oculus product since the early days of the CV1 and its USB 3 issues. When I want to play, I grab the controllers, strap them to my wrists, put the HMD on my head, adjust the head strap with a twist of the and bam I’m in. It’s never that easy with the Index. There’s always something that needs addressing. And the touch controllers are STILL great. Not quite as good as the CV1’s touch controllers, but they are still the best of the best of the current gen hardware, in my opinion. Comfortable, intuitive and they JUST WORK. No rebinding or fighting with unreachable buttons or non-registering stick clicks.
I mean, when I’m introducing a friend to VR for the first time, these are the controllers I have them use and they learn it very quickly. Don’t get me started on how long it takes to teach them the Index controllers. They only thing I ever have to worry about is replacing the batteries, which last a long time, so it really isn’t a big deal. No less annoying than having to plug in a USB cable after every session.
The negatives are the slightly washed out blacks of the LCD display and the sound SUCKS. In fact, it has the worst sound of the tree. I mean really bad. Plan on getting a pair of headphones if you buy a Rift S. I recommend the Koss Pro Portias. They have a slim metal band that fits neatly underneath the halo strap with no mod needed and I believe the same drivers the CV1 had. Some believe the tracking is not as good as the CV1 or Index, but I can report I have NO issues with tracking since the updates a few months ago. I use a pro tube for shooters like Contractors and Pavlov and have experienced no issues at all. They track was well as the Index controllers or the CV1 controllers, no problem. Oculus has done an amazing job with inside out tracking and I believe have proven that external sensors for most mainstream gaming are now obsolete.
Before starting on my thoughts on the Quest with Link, I should point out that I do have an overhead cable management system in place. Tethering has never hampered my sense of immersion or felt like a problem for me on the Index or Rift S. I barely even notice the cable anymore. If you play VR in a dedicated space, just get a cable management system. It’s worth every dime and makes any tethered HMD nearly as good as a wireless HMD when it comes to freedom of movement and immersion (in a limited space, anyways... my space is 16 feet by 12 feet your mileage may vary with bigger spaces).
Now the Quest. I honestly haven’t been using it much. There aren’t many exclusive titles on it and if it isn’t exclusive, you are almost always better off playing it on another headset if you have the option. The overall graphical quality on the other headsets is FAR better. Despite the hyperventilating fan boys who claim it is only a "slight" downgrade in quality. Anyone who plays Robo Recall on a Rift S and then plays it on the Quest and claims it is nearly as good is being dishonest with you or with themselves. It IS NOT nearly as good. It looks pretty bad, in fact. Not all games look bad. Star Wars Vader Immortal, for example, is really well optimized and actually looks really good. BUT once you’ve played it on Rift S and see the compromises that were made in lighting and texture quality, you realize that it doesn’t look nearly as good as it does on PCVR. To be fair, it SHOULDN’T. A device that gets it’s power from a battery can’t possibly compete with a device that draws hundreds of watts from the wall. Not yet. But great games don’t need to have mind-blowing graphics. Super Hot is a prime example. It’s basically un-textured polygons but it is one of my favorites to this day and one of the few games I actually prefer to play on a Quest because the lack a tether makes it much easier to dodge and move around the way I want to, even with the cable management. But let’s not kid ourselves; great graphics DO add to immersion, which is what VR gaming is supposed to be about.
To be clear, it isn’t the DISPLAY that looks bad. The display actually looks very, very good. Very sharp and a great lens with little to no glare or god rays. Deep blacks, vibrant colors and physical ipd adjustment for extreme ipd ranges. The sound is not bad for an in-strap solution (certainly better than the S). If you have never played a PCVR game, you may not even realize how ugly the graphics can be on it’s low-end, mobile hardware.
But the link functionality makes all of that a moot point, right? Pretty much, yes. All of the games I tested look and played surprisingly well. Much better than I expected and much better than the terrible wireless streaming hacks we’ve seen to date. They looked really good on the OLED screen, even though the screen door is slightly more noticeable, I believe the vibrant colors and deeper blacks make up for it. It does appear that some resolution is being lost in the process though, because games do look a little more blurry and less detailed than on Rift S or especially on the Index. Gauges in my flight sims, for example, that are perfectly legible in a seated position on the Index and Rift S require a bit of leaning in to read on the Quest. And there’s definitely some latency, but it is only barely noticeable. I can definitely tell a difference in Pavolv. Using the link function definitely put me at a disadvantage there. I’m usually fairly competent in shooters but I just got out gunned by a split second on many occasions when I typically do not. I’m usually quicker on the draw about half the time. My tests had me losing those split second contests a lot more often than I usually do with link, even with my pro tube (which also fits the Quest’s touch controllers).
Other than the slight downgrade in clarity and sharpness, I have two major gripes about the Quest using link. My first complaint with using link is trying to keep my USB C cable plugged in on the side of the HMD. It was constantly yanking out of the HMD if I moved too quickly or tugged just a tiny bit on the cable management system. A bit of Velcro strapping helped a lot, but wasn’t perfect and would still jiggle loose. Maybe the official link cable will have a better secured connection?
The other problem will not be as easy to address. And that’s comfort. The quest is definitely the least comfortable HMD. It is front heavy, not well balanced and constantly feels like it’s going to fall off of my face, no matter how well I tighten or adjust it. The cable actually ADDS to the problem. It hangs from the usb port on the side of the HMD. Even when I used a Velcro strap to latch the thing on to the strap so it swooped backwards and out of the way, it still added to the unbalanced feeling of the Quest even more, even with the cable management. It’s super annoying and constantly pulled me out of the immersion. No matter how I adjusted the Velcro and the cable, I still had this problem. The cable I am using is fairly heavy though... a lot heavier than I imagine the official fibre optic link cable will be.
I guess, in conclusion, all three headsets (Quest with the Link cable) are pretty good and most of the graphical flaws are really only noticeable if you look for them.
Which one would I buy knowing what I know now? I would rule out the Valve Index right off the bat. Great HMD, bad everything else and it was way too expensive. I’d buy one of the other HMDs and use the money I saved to buy games or upgrade my PC... maybe get a 2080 ti. I’m probably going to sell the Index kit I have once I get it back from the repair shop.
That leaves the Quest and the Rift S. The choice is easy if you don’t have a PC. Get a Quest. No questions asked. It’s pretty darn great. If you have a PC, in my opinion, the Rift S is STILL the way to go (with a good set of headphones). VR Gaming is all about immersion... that’s what sets it apart from 2D gaming. I mean, you completely forget about slightly grey blacks when you are really immersed in a game. You don’t even notice 120 fps vs 72 or 80 fps when you are completely immersed in a game. As it stands, the Quest just doesn’t immerse me as much as the Rift S for all of the reasons I listed in the paragraphs above. Maybe the official link cable and a head strap mod will change that. In any case, I’ll wait to sell the Quest until I try the official link cable and will try to find a head strap mod and try again. It’s pretty close so I may change my mind.
And before someone stumbles in bleating "PiMax!!!!": No, I’m not buying some off brand, crowded-funded Chinese crap that may or may not be supported in a few years. I’m only looking at the big boys right now.
Thanks for reading. Hope it was informative.
P.S. I should add that I actually really like the Quest + link cable for Elite Dangerous. While still not the most comfortable, you are relatively stationary so the cable and it's tendency to unplug becomes a non issue. Also, the OLED display is perfect for the black heavy graphics in E. The Index is nice too because of the added sharpness, but the glares are really bad in E.
And feedback (arguably even more important) on serious issues with the new galaxy map coming with Odyssey (THIS ISSUE NEEDS YOUR VOTE!) genetic-sampler-ha-gal-map-hold-my-beer
Land on a Ice world? Run a ground mission? Take a trip with Apex Interstellar? Nope - most people seem intent on flinging themselves into the air! things-you-plan-do-do-first-in-odyssey
Frontier celebrate the last five years of Elite and its community with a superb new video + the promise of Odyssey gameplay footage on Thursday! elite-dangerous-the-journey-so-far
Hurrah! We WILL be able to fly under blue skies using VR in Odyssey (at launch) after all! (oh, and no ship interiors at launch but I didn't want to spoil it) odyssey-update-on-vr-and-ship-interiors
Souvarine asks what kind of narrative people actually want - and gets some great replies elites-narrative-again-sorry
Skoomer explains why his truly wonderful "Strange Worlds" series of exploration videos with friend Zach has come to an end. If you haven't seen the series then it's now been stitched together into a single epic video and it's truly one of the best made and most moving exploration journeys I've ever seen. If you like it then go send the dude some love. elite-strange-worlds-a-documented-journey-across-our-galaxy-a-fan-made-elite-series
They called the Truckers crazy when they tried to deliver a mug to every station and now they're saying the same about Kai Zen for trying to push The Dark Wheel towards Sol in his attenmpt to trigger the appearance of Raxxla. Will you point and shake your head or will you join the ever growing throng of commanders now running missions out of Shinrarta Dezhra? turning-the-wheel
Following on from the somewhat salty have-we-been-lied-to thread this other thread popped up on Sunday which references (among other things) an interesting blog post (last updated in April 2019) listing what Frontier have promised and delivered thus far. Worth a read! so-were-actually-on-schedule
January update drops on the 14th, work on fleet carriers and bug fixes continues but no more Interstellar Initiatives for a while. community-update-january-3306
Hardly news but the beta patch notes are out! (incl. lots of new BGS states + no more npc crew permadeath thanks to crew insurance) january-update-beta-patch-notes
And all the info you need to do good productive beta testing is linked here .. january-update-beta-is-live
Frontier release details of the bugs to be fixed in the January update + public beta test information january-update-beta-announcement
Author and ED lore master Drew Wagar is planning a lore based tour of Elite: Dangerous in 2020 potential-2020-lore-tour
An interesting and informative discussion on how gravity wells affect supercruise speed gravity-wells-and-speed
New Buckyball time trial race "Lava Loop" starts tomorrow (16th November) and runs until next Sunday (24th). Anyone can enter, at any time (and as many times) throughout the week - small and medium ships only (because it involves landing at outposts in low orbit around lave worlds). the-buckyball-racing-club-presents-lava-loop-16th-nov-to-24th-nov-3305
A new Guardian site has been discovered! (I read somewhere that it's possibly even the last as one was known to be missing). the-guardian-research-division
Follow the adventures of Cmdr Rustnsawdust as he circumnavigates an unforgiving ice world (well worth following - a really good read so far!) second-time-around
A new generation ship ("Golconda") has been found in the "Upaniklis" system. Personally I'd recommend heading out there and discovering the logs for yourself rather than reading this potentially spoiler heavy forum thread (even the thread's title is a spoiler). <REDACTED>-generation-ship
An out-of-game web front-end to the Elite: Dangerous cosmetics store is now available but people still aren't happy about ARX new-elite-game-extras-web-store
On a lighter note - can't logout without landing/docking? always honk, even if you've been here many times? have to scoop with the star on your left? what-is-your-elite-quirk
Frontier have a new livestream series dedicated to racing called "Full Throttle". Kicks off this coming Thursday with the Buckyball Racing Club and a race which everyone can take part in called "Full Throttle at Pareco". The race is on NOW (so lay down some times for Frontier to try and beat) and runs until midnight Sunday. full-throttle-at-pareco-an-official-frontier-developments-race-in-conjunction-with-the-buckyball-racing-club
Perpetual Elephant Butt Leather PS4 whinger "Old Duck" gets a taste of what it's like in the PC master race ... and likes it! this-game-is-freaking-amazing
Dav Stott answers a few follow-up questions to his BGS "Discovery Scanner" - he's not at liberty to speak about th BGS hamster tho! discovery-scanner-6-reshaping-the-simulation
With fleet carrier threads now breeding uncontrollably the best thread about them is this meta thread about fleet carrier threads. new-fleet-carriers-threads-thread
Patch for the April update reverts controversial Drag munition change, allegedly fixes SRV damage multiplier for multiplayer instances and more besides. april-update-patch-1
Isinona (the godfather of Elite: Dangerous story telling) is back making a brand new series of his superb "Flight Assist Off" videos. He'll be making two 25+ minute long adventures every month and you can now sponsor him on Patreon. Isinona is creating Videos
Discussion on the change to the "drag munitions" engineering special effect which is causing a bit of a stir in the PvP community. space-force-presents-operation-drag-queen
April update (including advanced docking computer, supercruise assist, nav panel changes, in-game pilots handbook, interstellar initiatives and more!) april-update-coming-23-april-2019
The First Great Planetary Expedition is well underway now and the 50+ commanders involved have been posting some fantastic images and videos of their adventures as they drive around Kumay in the Chi Herculis system the-first-great-planetary-expedition
Releases 3.3.04 and 3.3.05 (neither of which I'd describe as especially exciting) Update-3-3-04 Update-3-3-05
Frontier announce new monthly livestream series "in which your Community Managers will take you through the latest news for our Frontier games and communities." New-stream-series-Frontier-Xtra
Obsidian Ant video re-ignites cool discussion on the idea of a dark Pilots Federation for those that play on the opposite side of the law Obsidian-Ant-on-Pilots-Federation-idea
The Fuel Rats are currently engaged in their longest ever mission - a rescue which could take over a month to complete! Expedition-VI-The-Longest-Journey (a glimmer of hope)
In other news, yes we've moved! Hopefully the new thread now works correctly for everyone. Thread post #1 should contain the Trending section with the big down pointing hand, clicking that should take you to post #2 with the bulk of the content and the "continued from post #1" link at the top of post #2 should take you back to post #1.
Right, where was I?
Oh yes ... Trending - Cmdr Dreamstate attempts to solve the problem of black squares on planets.
