Elite's VR: It's Really Great, But... My Rift Experience

[Micha]

Well I don't know if I've got it working. I do use SteamVR, but it initiates Oculus Home which sits in the background. I have to use SteamVR because I need to monitor my ED hours that I've played. I uninstalled ED from Oculus Home because of this reason and only use the Steam version.

You do know that ED shows you how many hours you've played in the Stats panel, right..?

I also agree with the OP though: immersion is fantastic, but the lack of interactivity with anything outside (eg a mug of tea, EDDiscovery) coupled with the severe downgrade in graphical quality (1440p@144Hz at "Ultra" vs VR at "Medium") means I've barely used my Oculus so far with ED.

 

[masCh]

You do know that ED shows you how many hours you've played in the Stats panel, right..?

The stats are not for me, but more for me wife.

 

[CylonSurfer]

Why not? I'm using SteamVR with the Rift.

Well I don't know if I've got it working. I do use SteamVR, but it initiates Oculus Home which sits in the background. I have to use SteamVR because I need to monitor my ED hours that I've played. I uninstalled ED from Oculus Home because of this reason and only use the Steam version.

You are not using the SteamVR runtime to play Elite in VR - We were talking about OVRDrop and it's requirement for you to run the SteamVR runtime on your Rift in order to use that application and how running the SteamVR runtime instead of the Oculus runtime is a bad idea for most users as it will disable core features such as ASW, which SteamVR currently has no alternative for.

You are actually using Steam to launch Elite Dangerous which in turn starts the application using the Oculus runtime (hence why you see Oculus Home start).

Elite Dangerous also has an time played stat on the right hand menu just incase you are interested.

 

[DAB42]

With the Oculus Home and Voice attack you can now easily work with web pages. press the menu button rift controller select monitor # then use a voice attack command to return to ED ( I use a button press)

Begin Text Compare : [{ACTIVEWINDOWPROCESSNAME}] Does Not Equal 'Elite:Dangerous Executable'
    Press Left Win+D keys and hold for 0.2 seconds and release
    Display window 'Elite - Dangerous (CLIENT)' as [Normal] (pause up to 0.7 seconds for availability)
    Move mouse cursor to Application Center
    Say, 'Focusing E D'
End Condition

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Well I don't know if I've got it working. I do use SteamVR, but it initiates Oculus Home which sits in the background. I have to use SteamVR because I need to monitor my ED hours that I've played. I uninstalled ED from Oculus Home because of this reason and only use the Steam version.

You have a true game counter in the games stats section.
Steams counter is horribly inaccurate, and can, and will reset randomly. On top of not actually tracking the game but the launcher.
Forget to close the launcher...
And running Steamvr over oculus is just wasted resources. I bet you would get 20% more performance from dropping steamvr.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

With the Oculus Home and Voice attack you can now easily work with web pages. press the menu button rift controller select monitor # then use a voice attack command to return to ED ( I use a button press)

Begin Text Compare : [{ACTIVEWINDOWPROCESSNAME}] Does Not Equal 'Elite:Dangerous Executable'
    Press Left Win+D keys and hold for 0.2 seconds and release
    Display window 'Elite - Dangerous (CLIENT)' as [Normal] (pause up to 0.7 seconds for availability)
    Move mouse cursor to Application Center
    Say, 'Focusing E D'
End Condition

Seems ellaborate.

I mainly just use the dash desktop when I need something, when I'm done I just click the ED mirror window and have full control ingame when I exit dash.

This also keeps any pinned windows pinned.
Using autohotkey and or VA to focus an application pulls it above the Dash layer so if you want to watch netflix or something in your cockpit that pinned window will disappear.

The dash desktop is far from perfect so still find myself occasionally firing up Bigscreen via a VA command, sure AH could do the same, but I find voice just easier to use in VR for obvious reasons.

 

[Athracht]

I really love the sense of scale and wonder of Elite in the Rift. It's fabulous. And in a CZ or combat scenario, the game really excels and VR definitely make you amazingly spatially aware, making combat more fun and "easier".

I must admit though, I still prefer to play Elite on my big monitor. It's my go to game for relaxing, drinking beer, reading about things going on on the forums, making notes, rolling cigs, playing music and chatting to the family whenever they pop in to see if Dad/Husband is OK .

I also specifically have problems in the rift with the Galaxy Map, System Map, the menus and general "usability" and that is frustrating as hell. I've probably not got things well set up on the X52, as I have always multi-controllered: The SRV is set up like GTA for driving, with mouselook, WSAD etc. and I use keyboard shortcuts as well as the HOTAS to manage flight and systems - awkward in the rift, even with a bright blue backlit Aivia keyboard. :S

I love the rift, but some titles that I thought I would love (Serious Sam, Rick and Morty) have controller problems or my play area is too small, while I'm in love with Defense Grid 2 and can't wait for Brass Tactics, another top-down RTS. Google Earth is hands-down a gem, with astonishing 3D details in unexpected places. Horror/experiental "games" are fun too. Might try Alien: Isolation if I can get the mod working. I'm told it's really brown-trouser stuff

I would love a Shogun: Total War for VR, or Sim City. [yesnod]

You'd get spanked in Battlefield 1 - Snipers shoot a moving pixel on their 4K monitor, while in the rift you'd struggle to see as clearly or as far as a monitor user.

Anyhoo, there's some thoughts on my Summer of Rift.

o7 CMDRs!

Yeah, one thing about VR.... It really cuts you off from the rest of the world (which is one of the appeals, for me...)! As for the times when you do feel like getting away from it all, you can set up your HOTAS so that the Galaxy and System Maps are controlled fully and easily without taking your hands off the stick and throttle. It actually turns out to be much more seamless and simple than the mouse and keyboard, once you have it set up. I also recommend, if you haven't already tried it, adding Voice Attack to your toolset. Between HOTAS and Voice Attack, the keyboard and mouse never need to be touched while in VR. I even use VA to control iTunes while I'm on a long exploration bender. I have playlists set up just for the purpose.

Anyway, whatever your preferred methods, happy flying!

o7

 

[Athracht]

I bought it for that reason, though so far haven't been able to get it working with the Rift. Mind you, I don't think I tried the mod method - there was another way that was meant to work by editing config files (as the game was actually written with VR support, then it was dropped before release). Editing the config files doesn't work.

I wholeheartedly recommend grabbing the mod. It's nothing more than a .dll file that you pop into the Alien directory and you're good to go. The game will blow your mind in VR. So incredibly scary and immersive. Note that some folks are having trouble, myself included, with the current 0.4.0 version. The 0.3.0 version still works great. Also note that there are some issues that the modder hasn't yet worked out, such as managing the radial menu and so on (there is no motion controller support... it is keyboard and mouse all the way...), but it is still an incredible experience. Just search for "mothervr" and grab the file(s) from Github.

o7

 

[DAB42]

I created a set of map tools to work with voice attack so i do not need to change trust-master controls for the map they can be found on the va forum

http://voiceattack.com/SMF/index.php?topic=1748.0

 

[Durden T.]

I love ED in VR, but I also play with my monitor depending on the activity I'm doing. I usually prefer the rift for action and combat, so I have all the immersion and take the best out of the experience.

Then, to do other repetitive and not so fun stuff, like gathering mats or rolling engineer mods (which I am now at for my Cutter), I do it with my monitor.

I find that is a good balance and I really don't feel the need of doing everything in VR. But combat, I can no longer do it without VR...