ED on Oculus Rift - basic questions

[imacken]

I am trying to run ED on my new Rift, and am confused by the advice I can find.
1) Some people say, that getting a Partner Key from ED site and inputting into Oculus home is the way, but AFAICS, that involves a new full install which I would like to avoid.
2) Others say running native from Steam will work by changing some option. I can't see how to do that.
3) I can get it to work if I select run in Steam VR, but some say that is not the way to go.
Help!

 

[Flapdrol1337]

I could never get the steam version to run in vr without steamvr. The non steam version (just the client from frontier) can start the oculus rift version, maybe you can copy a bunch of files so you don't need to download everything again.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Should be able to just find the EDlaunch.exe in the steam library folder and start that directly.

ED relies on the launcher to verify and not steam so the only thing you miss will be the steam overlay, which only annoys me personally so no loss there, and doesn't work in VR and Dash interface for oculus is better than the steamvr interface imo.

As for launching outiside of steamvr you could try adding the launch option of -othervr to the steam library launch options, I kinow this how I start pcars2 directly, but haven't used the steam install for ED for ages now.

I would try just making a desktop shortcut directly from the EDlaunch.exe and if you want you can add " /VR " to the end of the shortcut, this will log you in and start the game itself without having to click the play button in the launcher.

 

[Dooguk]

I am trying to run ED on my new Rift, and am confused by the advice I can find.
1) Some people say, that getting a Partner Key from ED site and inputting into Oculus home is the way, but AFAICS, that involves a new full install which I would like to avoid.
2) Others say running native from Steam will work by changing some option. I can't see how to do that.
3) I can get it to work if I select run in Steam VR, but some say that is not the way to go.
Help!

You do not need another install. You can start ED from Oculus Home or the launcher. You just need the key. You have ED, you have an Oculus Rift, why on earth would you need to involve Steam VR. Makes no sense at all unless you have a Vive.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

As for launching outiside of steamvr you could try adding the launch option of -othervr to the steam library launch options, I kinow this how I start pcars2 directly, but haven't used the steam install for ED for ages now.

I would try just making a desktop shortcut directly from the EDlaunch.exe and if you want you can add " /VR " to the end of the shortcut, this will log you in and start the game itself without having to click the play button in the launcher.

Adding -othervr to the launch options doesn't seem to do anything. Adding /VR to an edlaunch.exe shortcut works though, neat. If I knew that I wouldn't have bothered with the oculus key and have facebook take a slice of my so far nonexistent ingame item purchases.

 

[Jon flint]

Honestly the easiest way I've found is simply to open the occulus app (with the rift +sensors connected) then minimise it and leave it running in the background, then open Elite as normal via your launcher (no need for steam or occulus keys). Elite will then either auto detect the attached rift and start up in vr mode, if not just goto settings and select hmd (under 3d options I think or is it headphones?). Then you're good to go.

Elite is even smart enough to detect when you've not got the rift connected and start up in "normal" mode with your normal display resolution.

 

[Alec Turner]

OK, here's what I do.

I have a simple desktop install of Elite Dangerous from Frontier (no need for a separate Steam installation and no need for a separate Oculus installation).

Startup Oculus Home, select Settings in the left hand menu, select the General tab, next to "Unknown sources" click to allow content from unknown sources (you'll only need to do this once).

Now startup Elite as normal from your desktop shortcut.

Go to the graphics settings and under the 3D option select "HMD headphones".

That should pretty much be it. You may have a problem with not hearing sound from the Oculus. If this happens you need to click on the speaker icon in your Windows system tray, click the top where it says something like "Speakers" and pick the Rift option instead.

Re: the graphics settings for Elite in VR - I STRONGLY recommend installing DrKaii's EDProfiler utility which allows you to set up different "profiles" (collections of graphics settings, etc) for both VR and non-VR gameplay. Then what you do is pick which profile you want to use before launching Elite.

You can read about and get EDProfiler over here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...er-Robust-Settings-Profiler-Switcher-Detector!

 

[TorTorden_VR]

My startup procedure is simply to put rift on.

Then I open the dash desktop view, start my launcher shortcut with the vr option appended, cause it save me a button push.

While ed launches I pop back into the dash desktop, which fills my entire view, and start discord, Spotify etc etc.

Before dash I would use bigscreen to switch between a deskrop view and game.
Using voice attack commands to launch, focus between the two applications and close as needed.

It's been a very very long time since I have ever needed to peek out from the rift to look at my screen.
I keep my right touch right above my flight stick.
It's now to the point where my right touch runs out of battery three times faster than the left touch.

 

[imacken]

Thanks for all your help here guys, but I am still struggling with this.
If I run ED from the desktop, I don't see the HMD headphones option at all. However, if I run from the Steam interface and select 'Run in Steam VR', then everything is OK. I also then see the HMD headphones option. After this, sometimes it will run just from the desktop launcher, or sometimes the 'HMD headphones' option disappears again, and I have t run in Steam VR!
I have no idea what is going on.

 

[The Lawful]

FWIW, I got two installs (one Steam, one Oculus) and use the latter one 99% except for betas. The additional download doesn't bother me much im times of terabyte storage, so I keep the Oculus version on the SSD and the other one on my large HD (note that in recent versions of Dash, you can finally move Oculus apps somewhere else to save space, just like the Steam Library). That said, the main advantage of the Oculus variant is convenience: you can just put on the Rift and then start ED via a button click from inside Dash.

O7,
[noob]

 

[Alec Turner]

Thanks for all your help here guys, but I am still struggling with this.
If I run ED from the desktop, I don't see the HMD headphones option at all. However, if I run from the Steam interface and select 'Run in Steam VR', then everything is OK. I also then see the HMD headphones option. After this, sometimes it will run just from the desktop launcher, or sometimes the 'HMD headphones' option disappears again, and I have t run in Steam VR!
I have no idea what is going on.

OK - I suggest you install EDProfiler. Then you'll be able to set the 3D HMD headphones option before you even launch elite.

The option you'll need to set for your VR profile is this one ...

 

[imacken]

OK, thanks. I tried that profiler, and although it looks useful, there aer 2 immediate issues. Firstly, it doesn't switch sound to the Rift headphones, and secondly, it has changed the colour palette to something horrible! How do I get the default palette back?

 

[Alec Turner]

OK, thanks. I tried that profiler, and although it looks useful, there aer 2 immediate issues. Firstly, it doesn't switch sound to the Rift headphones, and secondly, it has changed the colour palette to something horrible! How do I get the default palette back?

OK, I didn't realise that EDProfiler gave you different HUD colours by default. What you need to do is go to the GUI colour section and pick a different preset. I can't check right now but my guess is that there'll be a default option in there somewhere (although, for what it's worth, the default HUD colours do not make for the most readable text in VR - I use Dr Kaii's "Spiritual Teal" colours which I find much better).

As for the sound, this is an issue outside of what EDProfiler has been created to do.

What you'll need to do (for now at least) is manually change the default audio output device. If you have Windows 10 then you should just be able to click on the speaker icon in your Windows system tray, click at the top of the popup (where it says something like "Speakers") and change the selection to "Rift headphones" (or something like that). If you don't have Windows 10 then you need to right-click on the speaker icon, pick the "Playback devices" option, then select "Rift headphones" (or something like that) from the list and click the "Set Default" button.

There are ways of automating all this to make it a bit slicker but I don't want to confuse the issue right now, let's just see if we can get you up and running in VR first.

 

[imacken]

OK, so here is a summary of the situation.
If I run
1) from Steam VR, everything is good.
2) from desktop launcher, I don't get VR, and there is no HMD headphone option.
3) from the ED Profiler, everything is good except the audio doesn't switch.
What is the issue with Steam VR? I hear people moaning about it.

 

[Strangepork]

I am trying to run ED on my new Rift, and am confused by the advice I can find.
1) Some people say, that getting a Partner Key from ED site and inputting into Oculus home is the way, but AFAICS, that involves a new full install which I would like to avoid.
2) Others say running native from Steam will work by changing some option. I can't see how to do that.
3) I can get it to work if I select run in Steam VR, but some say that is not the way to go.
Help!

I have both installed on separate drives, ED native and ED Oculus, there is a shared settings folder on my C: drive however.

They both work for me just fine. If I run ED from the desktop, Oculus just kicks in.

I don't do steam however.

 

[imacken]

OK, so here is a summary of the situation.
If I run
1) from Steam VR, everything is good.
2) from desktop launcher, I don't get VR, and there is no HMD headphone option.
3) from the ED Profiler, everything is good except the audio doesn't switch.
What is the issue with Steam VR? I hear people moaning about it.

This situation is unbelievably frustrating. Why is this so hard? I still can't get ED to run properly except using SteamVR, and I am also having similar issues with the other 2 games I tend to play a lot, i.e. dirt Rally and DCS. Both of these - like ED - work fine if I run them from the desktop, but if I try it within OH, then I just get the loading music and a freeze on the generic grey loading screen.
This shouldn't be so hard, should it?

 

[A D]

I am trying to run ED on my new Rift, and am confused by the advice I can find.
1) Some people say, that getting a Partner Key from ED site and inputting into Oculus home is the way, but AFAICS, that involves a new full install which I would like to avoid.
2) Others say running native from Steam will work by changing some option. I can't see how to do that.
3) I can get it to work if I select run in Steam VR, but some say that is not the way to go.
Help!

I purchased the Steam version (don't know that I would now, but at the time seemed right). Anyway, I only use Oculus to run the game. This should work for you:

Make sure the option in the Steam app "start with Windows" (or similar) is not selected. Don't want Steam running at all if you're using Oculus. Just as a precaution, also check the Steam VR app settings to make sure it hasn't got a similar setting like "start with VR games". I don't recall it, but if it does it will be fairly obvious. Restart your computer if necessary. You only need to do this once and Steam and Steam VR will be off every time you use your 'puter unless you start them manually.

To play the game:

- Start Oculus Home app (as you would with any VR game).
- Start ED using the launcher (just as you would if you had ED installed as standalone game).

ED should then start automatically in VR mode. If it doesn't probably means you have simply forgotten to select the "3D" option in the game settings.

You don't need to start ED inside Oculus Home. You may do, but I've found it just as easy to click the ED launcher and then put the goggles on as ED takes time to load anyway. It's just one extra click and avoids any mucking around trying to get ED to work inside the Home app.

 

[neurokinetik404]

I purchased the Steam version (don't know that I would now, but at the time seemed right). Anyway, I only use Oculus to run the game. This should work for you:

Make sure the option in the Steam app "start with Windows" (or similar) is not selected. Don't want Steam running at all if you're using Oculus. Just as a precaution, also check the Steam VR app settings to make sure it hasn't got a similar setting like "start with VR games". I don't recall it, but if it does it will be fairly obvious. Restart your computer if necessary. You only need to do this once and Steam and Steam VR will be off every time you use your 'puter unless you start them manually.

To play the game:

- Start Oculus Home app (as you would with any VR game).
- Start ED using the launcher (just as you would if you had ED installed as standalone game).

ED should then start automatically in VR mode. If it doesn't probably means you have simply forgotten to select the "3D" option in the game settings.

You don't need to start ED inside Oculus Home. You may do, but I've found it just as easy to click the ED launcher and then put the goggles on as ED takes time to load anyway. It's just one extra click and avoids any mucking around trying to get ED to work inside the Home app.

I only ever get "could not login to authentication server" when I try to launch this way. I have the key entered in Oculus.

 

[imacken]

I only ever get "could not login to authentication server" when I try to launch this way. I have the key entered in Oculus.

Does entering the key in Oculus involve a new install/download?

 

[neurokinetik404]

I did not do a new install or download, just added the 3rd party key using the directions I found around here somewhere.