I just got off a 2 hours session with the DK2 in elite. Its awesome, really great, there is no going back to DK1!! At the moment I am taking a break because its a bit tiring at first, pretty much like the DK1 was however it is not making you dizzy, its just soo awesome that it drains your energy because you keep looking at everything and being amazed at it all. Awesome overload!!
So might as well take the time to write my very first impressions after using the DK2 for 2 hours. (Ok this is becoming a wall of text, if you want detailed feedback, have fun reading thru. Else you can jump strait to the conclusion down there!)
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The good:
What strikes me the most right now is how good the tracking is, even in some crazy angles. I had read quite a bit about that and I was honestly expecting to fight with it, NOPE. I look behind my shoulder and I still have good tracking! I have no idea how it manages to keep tracking so far back like that but it does! I move sideways, up down and it still tracks fine. If I go crazy with the movements, move my chair a few feet on the side, It will lose tracking but that's just really going out of the way to find an issue. I certainly see no reason to do that, not in ED anyways. I would have to test other games. I know that FPS games where you would play standing up to be able to turn 360 degree would probably become problematic and that's quite important for me so there is still some fear left and the next few days will say more (Mirror's Edge would be one such example I fear). At least its not required for ED.
I have placed the camera at about 5 feet in front of me, a bit below eye level. I tested with the demo and I could optimize the camera location a bit, move it further back a bit more but the tracking is good enough so its gonna stay that way for now. The tool for testing this is really good, excellent representation of the limits of the tracking so it's just a question of placing the camera to give you the best angles. (don't underestimate this test, do it properly and you'll have great DK2 experience)
I had DK1 before and TrackIR 5 before that too. With TrackIR, I would have lost tracking a long time ago while the DK2 would still track. TrackIR was not meant for that so it's not the best comparison but enough to get an idea of what the DK2 can do.
The other added bonus of camera tracking. NO MORE VIEW DRIFTING!! I had quite alot in ED, no need to reset the view every 5 minutes anymore, oooh the joy!!
The resolution boost is making a huge difference. I CAN READ THE TEXT NOW!!! No need to guess anymore!!! The added ability to move around helps too as you can just move yourself towards the screen to have a "zoomed in" view and have even more easier time to read the text, bravo for 3d positioned HUD. I barely need to zoom in, I had to do it once on the galaxy map, was trying to search for "AULIN" but I wasn't sure if I was typing "AYLIN" or "AULIN" and it was hard to see the difference on the screen, so I just moved closer to that part of the hud and could read it fine!
The stations are sooooo much more beautiful too, so nice. The added rez really helps, I am discovering a new ED all over again! I do have some blur at times, not quite sure whats up with that. One time I was leaving a station and after turning 90 degree left once exiting the toaster rack, I was looking at the station going behind me, but I wasn't putting it at the center of the screen. My eyes were looking strait at the station tho, at that point it was quite blurry, might be some lens effect, can't really say.
They appear to also have optimized the client in B1 because I get smoother FPS at the same rez that I was running the DK1 at. (the 75hz might help but I know that I had frame drops when docking in PB2, I barely get that now in B1), sooo fluid!
Wiring, much easier to manage, ok more things to connect at first but the removal of the main box is great (The DK1's box kept falling on the floor and I was always reminded of its presence as the wire to the box from the HMD was indeed short.). The main wire's length of the DK2 is not an issue for me, I hear people saying the cable is too short. I have about 2 feet extra, I do agree it could have been longer but its not an issue for me. (Might be an issue for gaming when standing up)
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The bad:
FOV !! Oh noes! We lost some FOV! I can see the boundaries of the screen now, quite easily too. I could see it too on the DK1 but it was much harder, I had to press the HMD hard and look hard on the sides to see it. It is most certainly easier to spot the boundaries now. I do have the DK2's HMD set to the closest possible to my eyes so that won't help but compared to DK1, DK1 had more FOV. Not a huge difference but enough to be disappointed there. Hopefully CV1 will fix that. FOV is soo important for immersion, they can't cut back on this!
I also had some weired color seperation on things not centered on the screen. If I was using my eyes to look down rather than the head, I could see the Red Green Blue color separations quite easily. I guess that's some lens thingie screwing the image up but I don't understand these things enough to explain them tho.
Besides that, I don't see any other faults for the moment here, I need to do more testing tho.
Conclusion: ITS AWESOME!! A few minor issues but leaps ahead of the DK1. Elite was meant to be played with the DK2.
![[VR] Mad Mike](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
