Another 'I'm using Oculus Rift and it's amazing' Thread

Yes, yes, yes, I know, there are so many of these threads, why does the world need another, well mainly because I've just finished a session with the OR CV1 attached to a GTX 980 and..... Wow! It really is amazing.

It's like ED was built from the ground up to play in VR, and my gaming life now consists of two states, the time I played without VR, and the moment I tried it and became hooked, and wondered why I bothered to play any game without it (other than the fact that it didn't exist until recently in anyusuable form).

So, full disclaimer, the graphicscard and the Rift are not mine, a very good friend has lent me his setup, and after moving some hard drives around to phyiscally fit the graphics card in, buying some 9 pin adaptors to feed the beast, then buying a 4 port USB 3.0 PCIe card, then shuffling more wires around to feed it, I finally got it working and..... WOW! It really is like the line from the Matrix, you can't be told what ED is like in VR, you have to experience it for yourself.

Sure, I had seen the youtube videos, heard about how BIG the docking slot was when seen in VR, and how much better combat is, but what I wasn't prepared for was how BIIIIGGGGG the whole game is, and how much stonking fun combat is with VR!

Utterly incredible. IHyperdrived to another system in an Asp and when I appeared in normal space, the sun was under my feet! UNDER MY FEET!!!! It was like so real I could reach out and touch it. And combat? Oh man. All of a sudden I am Starbuck watching the Cylon buzz over my head and tracking the target by just moving my head back to look over my shoulder. It really is so intuitive that when I took on a Drop Ship this morning, and the canopy blew out (Vultures huh?) it really felt like I was staring out into space! I mean I still got my handed to me by the DS, but at least I had him or her down to 30% shields before my canopy did its impersonation of a kleenex tissue.

Okay, so bad things, the screens (lenses?) can look a little grubby sometimes, the god ray effect I think it's called, but you know, I just imagine that's my visor on my space helmet and it's another level of immersion. The frame rate seems fine, although I dropped stuff to HIGH from ULTRA, so that's cool, and motion sickness tends to only be a problem when I am moved back up to the docking area on the hanger lift thing (it's the way it moves forward and I don't), and also I get a bit ill in the SRV, but hey, it's all part of the VRexperince.

Barn door effect? Not really bothering me.

Fuzzy letters? One tip I found was to lean back in my chair and press F12 to reset the view, and this does seem to help with the front lettering, but the side screens, such as navigation look a bit blurry, and sometimes the docking number is hard to read.

Speaking of docking, oh man, is that so much more fluid andimersive in VR. I may never buy a docking module again, or at least I won't while I still have the OR in my keeping....

So yeah, I am a fan. I make no apologies for it. The game designers are brilliant and the game in VR is simply genius.

Back I go.... VR is awaiting me....

I can see why people get hooked!

[woah]:)[heart]
 
... and wondered why I bothered to play any game without it (other than the fact that it didn't exist until recently in any usuable form).
Yeah, I'm not interested in non-VR games. I was thinking of trying No Man's Sky, or Star Citizen (if it ever comes out), but w/o native VR support, I probably won't do it. And with the money you save you can buy your own OR at 1/2 the price. [yesnod]

Imho, all those negative experiences you mentioned fade to something you hardly notice unless you are specifically looking for them (except maybe VR sickness, but even that can be dealt with).
 
Welcome and enjoy. Putting games on a new display device really changed everything. You might think about some transducers... they enhance the immersion even more.

Be seeing you in the void!

o7
 
Don't worry about posting another "VR is awesome" thread, I never tire of reading these ... and yes, it is awesome isn't it! Have you tried getting out of your chair yet to explore the cockpit a bit? Maybe lie on the floor and gaze out of the side windows. Or stand behind your chair while the docking computer does its stuff. :D
 
Congrats on discovering what ED is really about! Being IN your cockpit is so superior to looking AT your cockpit on a screen.

The only downside is, as most of us have discovered, is that games without native VR support no longer hold any interest. I now play exclusively in VR; space sims, racing cars (try RaceFactor 2 in VR - mindblowing), bowling, golf, table tennis, etc.

I used to love Train Simulator but haven't played it now for over a year as without VR it is sooooooooo boring.

Enjoy. :)
 
  • Like (+1)
Reactions: NW3
I will also recommend Project cars 2 with a caveat.
It unlike the first one, has been made with VR as a part of the core design from the ground up, and all the little issues I had with the first has gone out the window.
Now it is a humongous power hog, you are not going to max out graphics with just one 1080ti.

The main caveat however is you need a decent wheel, It's practically unplayble in my opinion on a controller, woulnd't even think about trying with a keyboard.

I have almost 2000 hours of VR time on my belt so far but going 250-300kph down the Nürbürgring or Le Man's Mulsanne straight with VR and a FFB wheel has almost scared the pants off me.
I need a 3dof rig now...
 
Thanks for all the tips, I'll take a look.

Managed to drag myself away from ED last night (bounty hunting in a vulture in haz res) and had a quick look at Google Earth. man that was addictive!
 
Wordsmith,

It's good to read your experiences as I too just got a Rift (2 days before the price cut!!) and have just started playing Elite again after a gap of nearly thirty years. Everything you say is absolutely true - the effect of putting those goggles on is astounding - I amn literally transported to another world.

I have spent over thirty years gaming, have built my own cockpit for flight simulation and have flown real flight simulators many times but nothing prepared me for the sense of being transported into a different parallel universe as the Oculus Rift on Elite. I truly feel that I now can exist in two separate worlds - both the game and the Rift are a magnificent technical and emotional achievement. The sense of genuinely flying through space around tangible planets is almost spiritual.

Here's a copy of the cockpit I built by the way (currently resides in the attic but toying with getting it out again for Elite VR)

8800ca41.jpg


48cdd5af.jpg


I'm going to send this one back anyway due to the price cut even if I just immediately rebuy it. I'm also curious about the new Samsung Odyssey that might be launching in Nov but having experienced VR I'm now hooked and am not sure I want to wait months for these other possibly slightly better headsets to get launched and integrated with Steam.

My thoughts on the Oculus

The Field of View is fine. Chances are if I was in space I might be wearing some kind of bone dome or helmet anyway so while the Pimax will offer a wider FOV I'm not bothered by only having 110 degrees and I'm certainly not prepared to wait 4 months for it.
Resolution/screen door - now I've tuned it for my 7700/GTX1080 rig (so everything's on high/ultra etc) the image quality is very good indeed. I do see screendoor and we're not yet at the clarity of a decent monitor which is my benchmark and where I would like to get to. I suspect the forthcoming Samsung might move us closer to that which is why I am interested in it. The Pimax8k will get closer still but I'm not sure anyone had the hardware to drive it yet and its launch is too far off for me.
Turning off the headphones and running with home cinema 7.1 sound and bass kickers is more immersive
Can get a bit hot in there but you adjust to it.
Trailing wires for motion sensors are a total pain in the and are trying the patience of my wife!! The new Microsoft VR headsets are thus appealing due no wires!

Overall though if you're running three monitor setups etc just get rid and buy one of these - miles miles better with a real sense of 3d and being there!

Birdseed
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't put too much stock in the Samsung, it's just more of the same with added support for windows AR.

The pimax 8k is far more interesting if you are thinking of switching it up.
But there are a few unknowns with it still.
But the more I see from them the more I'm intrigued.

Now I currently have both the vive and the rift, so getting yet another HMD....
This vr thing is making me bonkers...
 
Wordsmith,

It's good to read your experiences as I too just got a Rift (2 days before the price cut!!) and have just started playing Elite again after a gap of nearly thirty years. Everything you say is absolutely true - the effect of putting those goggles on is astounding - I amn literally transported to another world.

I have spent over thirty years gaming, have built my own cockpit for flight simulation and have flown real flight simulators many times but nothing prepared me for the sense of being transported into a different parallel universe as the Oculus Rift on Elite. I truly feel that I now can exist in two separate worlds - both the game and the Rift are a magnificent technical and emotional achievement. The sense of genuinely flying through space around tangible planets is almost spiritual.

Here's a copy of the cockpit I built by the way (currently resides in the attic but toying with getting it out again for Elite VR)

http://i1249.photobucket.com/albums/hh515/u744261/8800ca41.jpg

http://i1249.photobucket.com/albums/hh515/u744261/48cdd5af.jpg

I'm going to send this one back anyway due to the price cut even if I just immediately rebuy it. I'm also curious about the new Samsung Odyssey that might be launching in Nov but having experienced VR I'm now hooked and am not sure I want to wait months for these other possibly slightly better headsets to get launched and integrated with Steam.

My thoughts on the Oculus

The Field of View is fine. Chances are if I was in space I might be wearing some kind of bone dome or helmet anyway so while the Pimax will offer a wider FOV I'm not bothered by only having 110 degrees and I'm certainly not prepared to wait 4 months for it.
Resolution/screen door - now I've tuned it for my 7700/GTX1080 rig (so everything's on high/ultra etc) the image quality is very good indeed. I do see screendoor and we're not yet at the clarity of a decent monitor which is my benchmark and where I would like to get to. I suspect the forthcoming Samsung might move us closer to that which is why I am interested in it. The Pimax8k will get closer still but I'm not sure anyone had the hardware to drive it yet and its launch is too far off for me.
Turning off the headphones and running with home cinema 7.1 sound and bass kickers is more immersive
Can get a bit hot in there but you adjust to it.
Trailing wires for motion sensors are a total pain in the and are trying the patience of my wife!! The new Microsoft VR headsets are thus appealing due no wires!

Overall though if you're running three monitor setups etc just get rid and buy one of these - miles miles better with a real sense of 3d and being there!

Birdseed

WOW! Taking VR to a higher level! I must do something like this myself.

But yeah, it is strange that suddenly I am sitting in the cockpit and I am okay at combat! Before Rift I was staring at a screen and a bit crap at combat.

One thing, does anyone else feel cold when they play this? I look around my cockpit, and the empty space, and space beyond the windows, makes me feel cold.

Had the canopy of my Vulture blow out last night and it was like I could reach out and touch the dark matter out there.

Very, very cool!
 
Here's a copy of the cockpit I built by the way (currently resides in the attic but toying with getting it out again for Elite VR)

http://i1249.photobucket.com/albums/hh515/u744261/8800ca41.jpg

http://i1249.photobucket.com/albums/hh515/u744261/48cdd5af.jpg


Birdseed

Hi Birdseed

Nice setup and that's an Akers Barnes Cockpit if my eyes do not deceive me - a great design (had one myself before starting the current project).

If anyone wants the plans follow the link on this page http://www.62ndfightingfalcons.com/62-abc-cockpit.html

It can be made from one or two sheets of plywood and can be easily modified for other addons or racing seats etc.
 
One thing, does anyone else feel cold when they play this? I look around my cockpit, and the empty space, and space beyond the windows, makes me feel cold.

Had the canopy of my Vulture blow out last night and it was like I could reach out and touch the dark matter out there.

Very, very cool!

Well, you seem to be getting a good dose of immersion if you can feel the "cold" of space. Your name wouldn't be Khan would it? hehe

Welcome to VR commander. When you start to look for new VR stuff to try, I highly recommend Lone Echo, The Climb, Dirt Rally, DCS World, and Alien Isolation (MotherVR mod) as all are uniquely different and extremely immersive VR experiences. There are many others, of course. I personally have about 20 favorites installed and nothing that isn't VR (I'll never go back).
Have fun.
 
Last edited:
Your summery reminds me a lot of my first experience when I picked up my Rift back in July. I had an idea in my head of what VR was going to be like but it didn't do it justice. I haven't played Elite outside of VR since I got my rift, I keep telling myself I should try it on the monitor again but I can't bring myself to do. I added a butt-kicker a couple weeks ago and that added even more to the immersion. Now I just need to build a cockpit and I'll be set. If you decide to get your own setup it really runs nice with a 1080 Ti.
 
Mr Teatime,

It is indeed an Akers Barnes simpit and as you say it's such a wonderful design. I find the seating position incredibly comfortable and since those pictures were taken it now has a really thick memory foam seat back and base covered in black fabric. I don't think I have ever been as comfortable simming anywhere else. The drawback to it though is it does take quite a bit of room and you really need to assign a spare bedroom to it. My spare room is currently a photographic studio so I'm probably going to carry on simming in the recliner in the lounge at least for a while yet.

I strongly recommend the Akers Barnes design though - if you can afford the space it's so worth building and it's a fun project anyway.

Birdseed
 
Vr is pretty cool. I’m still having wow moments with it. Last night dropping into check out Victoria’s Song was another one!
 
Have you tried getting out of your chair yet to explore the cockpit a bit? Maybe lie on the floor and gaze out of the side windows. Or stand behind your chair while the docking computer does its stuff. :D
OH! try an SRV then external camera, stand on the surface of a moon! then get a friend to do orbital bombardment on your position!
If you are really brave then get out in an alien base!
 
Last edited:
I will also recommend Project cars 2 with a caveat.
It unlike the first one, has been made with VR as a part of the core design from the ground up, and all the little issues I had with the first has gone out the window.
Now it is a humongous power hog, you are not going to max out graphics with just one 1080ti.

The main caveat however is you need a decent wheel, It's practically unplayble in my opinion on a controller, woulnd't even think about trying with a keyboard.

I have almost 2000 hours of VR time on my belt so far but going 250-300kph down the Nürbürgring or Le Man's Mulsanne straight with VR and a FFB wheel has almost scared the pants off me.
I need a 3dof rig now...

I’m tempted to push the button on PC2 but struggling to decide on the best wheel. Also the first one didn’t do it for me so got a refund. How much better is it?

I have a Nissan GTR IRL so would be nice to experience virtual track racing in one!
 
Funny you guys should mention the Nissan GTR because I've just been driving it in Assetto Corsa. It's a magnificent car but the game after Elite is slightly disappointing visually on the rift I think. I gather project cars has better eye candy and Asseto Corsa has better physics/handling but I haven't tried the former. The most annoying thing is that because the overall scene (i.e. a racetrack) is brighter than the blackness of space in Elite you notice the screen door effect more. To be fair though I haven't done any real tweaking of the settings for the Rift though so maybe that will improve things. One thing that did astound me was my new Alienware Aurora with 7700/GTX1080 was running Assetto Corsa at over 200 frames per second when I benchmarked it on my 4k monitor. I must say that this is the first time I have ever had a machine that really is up there with the best and it is incredible to see it perform so smoothy with everything I throw at it - nothing ever seem to stutter! In the past even when I bought a gaming laptop things like Microsoft Flightsim with detailed scenery were still a juggling act to get running well whereas I just seem to be able to set everything to ultra and it flies.

I never watch football on TV and only really played as a kid but for some reason I do enjoy things like Fifa games. I haven't bought one for years - the last was something like Fifa 2007 on the PS3 but I'm sorely tempted by Fifa18 now - I'm loving being able to play all these incredible modern games for the first time in years!

Sorry didn't mean to take the discussion off track - I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on project cars if you get it. The other driving sim that I think would be fab on the VR is Dirt Rally 2 - I'm very tempted by that because of all the sliding tail out gravel driving!

Birdseed007
 
Funny you guys should mention the Nissan GTR because I've just been driving it in Assetto Corsa. It's a magnificent car but the game after Elite is slightly disappointing visually on the rift I think. I gather project cars has better eye candy and Asseto Corsa has better physics/handling but I haven't tried the former. The most annoying thing is that because the overall scene (i.e. a racetrack) is brighter than the blackness of space in Elite you notice the screen door effect more. To be fair though I haven't done any real tweaking of the settings for the Rift though so maybe that will improve things. One thing that did astound me was my new Alienware Aurora with 7700/GTX1080 was running Assetto Corsa at over 200 frames per second when I benchmarked it on my 4k monitor. I must say that this is the first time I have ever had a machine that really is up there with the best and it is incredible to see it perform so smoothy with everything I throw at it - nothing ever seem to stutter! In the past even when I bought a gaming laptop things like Microsoft Flightsim with detailed scenery were still a juggling act to get running well whereas I just seem to be able to set everything to ultra and it flies.

I never watch football on TV and only really played as a kid but for some reason I do enjoy things like Fifa games. I haven't bought one for years - the last was something like Fifa 2007 on the PS3 but I'm sorely tempted by Fifa18 now - I'm loving being able to play all these incredible modern games for the first time in years!

Sorry didn't mean to take the discussion off track - I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on project cars if you get it. The other driving sim that I think would be fab on the VR is Dirt Rally 2 - I'm very tempted by that because of all the sliding tail out gravel driving!

Birdseed007

Thanks for the feedback. I may give it a try with the controller first before investing in a wheel.

It would be interesting to see how much I can crank it up with my Titan Xp
 
Your summery reminds me a lot of my first experience when I picked up my Rift back in July. I had an idea in my head of what VR was going to be like but it didn't do it justice. I haven't played Elite outside of VR since I got my rift, I keep telling myself I should try it on the monitor again but I can't bring myself to do. I added a butt-kicker a couple weeks ago and that added even more to the immersion. Now I just need to build a cockpit and I'll be set. If you decide to get your own setup it really runs nice with a 1080 Ti.

I got my CV1 in Feb and have loved every moment in it, specifically ED.

Previously I was using a 27" 1080p monitor and TrackIR and thought it was the bees knees. I do miss the resolution and the sharpness of everything, so I thought I'd give it another go last week. What a disappointment. Everything is so flat, the scale of things has gone, the feeling of flying, actually being 'in' the cockpit was nowhere to be seen. It didn't seem to matter whether I was in a DBS or a T9, where's the scale gone!

Yep, VR has ruined ED/2D for me, if I can't play in VR, I don't play, nothing comes close. It's so good.

I hope the next generation solves the screen door effect (which I don't normally see for the most part) and the resolution + FoV gets a good boost, I'd certainly be investing in it.

Can't wait for the Beyond series in Q1 to start, with the planet texture update, major 'squeee' factor when in VR I wager.
 
Back
Top Bottom