Elite on the Rift S

[Cmdr Andrew Johnson]

My Rift CV1 has recently stopped working (headset died, but it had become flaky anyway), so I'm wondering whether to get the Rift S or wait for something else later this year. I just wanted to get views on the black levels - are they an issue for ED, as some reviews suggested they might be? Also, are god rays eliminated now (I found them quite annoying against a dark background on the CV1)?

Im loving my Rift S having switched from the CV1. Had a few teething problems like my mic stopped working right in the middle of combat (survived by the seat of my pants - had to whip the rift off to get to the keyboard!)
Fixed the problem I hope - last night played for 3 hours without any issues.
Have managed to sort out the positioning on my head and now have no problems with the edge blur as commented on earlier in this thread.
I would say go for the rift s - you will see a massive improvement

 

[Cmdr Andrew Johnson]

Submitted a support ticket to Oculus regarding the mic cutting out as it happened again last night. Seems I can sit in a High Res for two hours and have no issues then suddenly off goes the mic

 

[Gortron]

For some reason mine keeps deciding I haven't set it up and forces me to go through that again every so often. That has become extra annoying since the only way to stop the controllers floating around in front of my face in some games that don't use them it to take the batteries out. You can press 'Skip' as much as you like with a mouse but until you turn a controller on and show it where the floor is it won't let you play anything including Elite.

Edit: Not just me then.

 

[Dipso]

Just got word my S being shipped from my retailer. I'm really nervous with all the issues i have read people having with the S. Thankfully good consumer protection, especially on purchases made online here, gives me a good out if i receive a dud.

 

[RoundAbout]

Hi Cmdr! Just rent an Oculus Rift S to check the resolution and setups. And YES it's better than the previous one and I can read the text in the menues.. even with my old eyes... lol
Rift S comes now with two Touch controllers, but I would like to use my Saitek X56 HOTAS... even when the Touch controllers would fit better into 3305.

So when I start ED and switch to HDMI the HOTAS is gone...

Any clue if I can fix this?

 

[Gortron]

I replied to your PM but if that doesn’t help, you could try taking the batteries out of the touch controllers.

 

[RoundAbout]

Hi Gotron,thx for reply. I do have the X56 and VA... and I love it.
Let me get this right: The old Oculus I used over Steam Home. And it worked in VR but text was pain to read.

With the Rift S I should only run Oculus software and starting the ED launcher. Then I switch in ED grafik mode to HDMI ...That's right?

 

[RoundAbout]

YES! Its working. Deleted SteamVR and the HCS Oculus Touch bindings too.
So I guess I had to add the ED launcher into Oculus Home / Settings / General / Library Location / ED Launcher folder!!!!

 

[Gortron]

YES! Its working. Deleted SteamVR and the HCS Oculus Touch bindings too.
So I guess I had to add the ED launcher into Oculus Home / Settings / General / Library Location / ED Launcher folder!!!!

Good to hear you got it working. Enjoy!

 

[Frank]

For some reason mine keeps deciding I haven't set it up and forces me to go through that again every so often. That has become extra annoying since the only way to stop the controllers floating around in front of my face in some games that don't use them it to take the batteries out. You can press 'Skip' as much as you like with a mouse but until you turn a controller on and show it where the floor is it won't let you play anything including Elite.

Edit: Not just me then.

The way the controllers float around the front of your face sounds horrible. The CV1 worked pretty well with an XBoxOne controller. Have they gotten rid of that compatibility with the Rift S?

 

[Gortron]

The way the controllers float around the front of your face sounds horrible. The CV1 worked pretty well with an XBoxOne controller. Have they gotten rid of that compatibility with the Rift S?

Unlike with the CV1 you can’t turn them off (at least I can’t work out how other than removing the batteries) and they just switch themselves on when you put on the headset. It seems that until you look at them the rift doesn’t know where they are and the just appear to be right in front of your face.

Once you have looked at them you can move them out of the way which is fine with Elite but in other games like flight sims they always seem to be hovering somewhere irritating.

I’m not sure if the Xbox controller still works with the interface. I’ll have to try it but with the current resetting bug you would still have to use a touch controller to show it where the floor is and which direction is forward.

 

[Gortron]

My Rift S got a driver and firmware update today. Fingers crossed it solves some of the teething problems!

Edit: just remembered to see if the Xbox controller still works in Oculus home with the interface etc and it does so that’s good.

Edit2: If the Xbox controller is on it doesn’t moan about the touch controllers not being detected and so far I haven’t had the reset bug.

However I did read that the resets might not actually be a bug. Apparently if there is a significant change in what the Rift S thinks the room looks like it makes you run through the setup again. Big light source changes and large objects changing location or lack of things to track can affect it. My Rift is in a fairly small room pointing right at a window in a newish house with magnolia walls so.... doh!

 

[Dipso]

So really impressed with the clarity, and tracking is good. (I'd say its not as good as the original rift, but it might just be a nocebo, either way it is good enough that I don't really think about it when i use the headset)

I had a problem with the cameras apparently crapping out and no tracking when i first started using it, but i swapped to a different port (and a separate bus) from most of my other connected things, and that fixed it.

I get static flashes every now and then (maybe once pr hour or so) but occulus is said to be working on that, and its not really that annoying for me at the moment. (its just really brief, like a single frame)

Currently my feeling is that its a solid step up from the CV1.

The black levels are worse then the CV1 but for me its worth it for the clarity and 90% of the time not noticeable at all. I'd take the clarity over the blacks any day, even in Elite.

---
I'm finding myself revisiting a lot of experiences and games i played before again just to see them with the better panel. Especially Lone Echo is getting another play-through. (That game is just so beautiful and immersive at times... )

 

[Gortron]

So really impressed with the clarity, and tracking is good. (I'd say its not as good as the original rift, but it might just be a nocebo, either way it is good enough that I don't really think about it when i use the headset)

I had a problem with the cameras apparently crapping out and no tracking when i first started using it, but i swapped to a different port (and a separate bus) from most of my other connected things, and that fixed it.

I get static flashes every now and then (maybe once pr hour or so) but occulus is said to be working on that, and its not really that annoying for me at the moment. (its just really brief, like a single frame)

Currently my feeling is that its a solid step up from the CV1.

The black levels are worse then the CV1 but for me its worth it for the clarity and 90% of the time not noticeable at all. I'd take the clarity over the blacks any day, even in Elite.

---
I'm finding myself revisiting a lot of experiences and games i played before again just to see them with the better panel. Especially Lone Echo is getting another play-through. (That game is just so beautiful and immersive at times... )

I’m glad you are happy with it. I’m happy with with mine overall but I don’t feel I can promote it as a device vs the CV1 other than for higher resolution.

Once I got used to the resolution bump I noticed the other things.

 

[jnTracks]

Last night I got my CPU upgrade and things are so much smoother now.
i5-6400 upgraded to i7-7700K (the highest CPU my motherboard can use)

Really nice; even around menus and out of combat where I thought the game was smooth before, I now realize it was really jittery. And with my 1660 Ti I'm able to run with many settings on high, some on ultra, and a very slight total SS. Using SS 0.65 and HMD 2.0 which even when it doesn't total more than 1, shifting it toward the HMD side gives better smoothness on distant objects without increasing GPU load. I think every VR user should have HMD set to 2.0 and then lower SS to whatever they need to in order to maintain performance. Doesn't change the look on near objects, but much better smoothness on distant things.
Really happy with things now.

 

[gpcustoms]

Have been watching from the sidelines about the S for a while now. Overall it sounds like a step above my Rift but what about the audio? Is there a comfortable alternative to ear buds to get that deep base and sound transition from my current rift?....Really looking forwards to the upgrade but one more question for those who already did this. Did any of you using flight sticks etc...lose your bindings from the library when loading the S? I imagine the software is completely different but curious.

 

[Gortron]

Have been watching from the sidelines about the S for a while now. Overall it sounds like a step above my Rift but what about the audio? Is there a comfortable alternative to ear buds to get that deep base and sound transition from my current rift?....Really looking forwards to the upgrade but one more question for those who already did this. Did any of you using flight sticks etc...lose your bindings from the library when loading the S? I imagine the software is completely different but curious.

You can use over the ear headphones, mine just about fit over them at the right angle and there is a 3.5mm jack built in.

I found the wires and putting them on and off really annoying but I’ve not seen anyone else find it that bothersome.

I’ve not had any issues with my HOTAS but my copy of ED is through the frontier launcher not the Rift library.

 

[jnTracks]

Have been watching from the sidelines about the S for a while now. Overall it sounds like a step above my Rift but what about the audio? Is there a comfortable alternative to ear buds to get that deep base and sound transition from my current rift?....Really looking forwards to the upgrade but one more question for those who already did this. Did any of you using flight sticks etc...lose your bindings from the library when loading the S? I imagine the software is completely different but curious.

Rift S is my first HMD but I can comment on this. (I'm a recording/mixing engineer as my career, so I do care about audio) I don't know what the old headphones were like, but these will sound thin compared to actual headphones. What's nice about it is that they don't cover your hears so you have more IRL situational awareness. I like that, but you might not care. If you like full headphone sound you'll be disappointed and you'll want to plug in good earbuds to the 1/8th" jack. Then again, one of the advantages is the light-weight and comfort...
Personally, I use 5.1 speakers, and I've found that I didn't want to change to headphones after switching to VR. Speakers are still better, sound better, give better immersion, etc.

About the bindings, the game puts its prefs in the user folder on the computer, so all installs of the game use the same prefs folder; nothing is lost. I played on Steam before, and installed the Oculus store version for VR. My bindings carried over. (I haven't gotten around to deleting my steam install yet, I will if I have a disk space issue in the future.

 

[gpcustoms]

Well I set up my new S and love the graphics. Did not have any hiccups along the way but did not like the foam alone face pad. Was able to adapt a cloth cover from the CV1 and its now very comfortable. Not sure what direction to go with audio. Have a set of decent ear buds for now or at least until I hear a consensus from owners on head phones that fit well against the head band. Thumbs up gang,...Thumbs up!

 

[jnTracks]

Well I set up my new S and love the graphics. Did not have any hiccups along the way but did not like the foam alone face pad. Was able to adapt a cloth cover from the CV1 and its now very comfortable. Not sure what direction to go with audio. Have a set of decent ear buds for now or at least until I hear a consensus from owners on head phones that fit well against the head band. Thumbs up gang,...Thumbs up!

I have an alert set from VR Cover as soon as they release a good facial interface, this foam is gone!