As it just striked me to recap what has been improved in recent years I decided to go through the release notes tryin to find things related to VR. The list of all bug fixes and feature improvements is somewhat endless for this game in general, and says a lot about the effort and passion on behalf of the developer team. But compared to those the improvements for VR there are only a few.
Here are my findings as an extract including month of release and I also made some "highlights".
I'll try to keep track....
Oddly enough there is only a single entry related to SteamVR. With the new HMDs in 2018 I think it's about time for a statement from the development team.
I wonder what your thoughts are about this.
Here are my findings as an extract including month of release and I also made some "highlights".
I'll try to keep track....
At least they would need to update to Oculus SDK1.18 if they ever plan to support Vulkan for VR, and 1.19 is needed for Oculus Dash.(04/2019) Update-3-4-01
(01/2019) Update-3-3-02
- Ensure the mist at Thargoid sites displays correctly in both eyes
- Fixed light flares from stars flickering in the right eye display
(12/2018) Update-3-3-01
- Fixed pulse wave scanner effects not rendering correctly
(12/2018) Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-Chapter-Four-3-3-Patch-Notes
- Fixed hardlock that could occur when entering the Notable Stellar Phenomena
- Corrected a visual mismatch between the left and right displays when probing planets
- Fixed missing scan effects in the FSS mode when using a Vive HMD
non for final release that weren't mentioned in the much more detailed beta notes(11/2018) Beyond-Chapter-Four-Beta-(Week-4)
(11/2018) Beyond-Chapter-Four-Beta-(Week-3)
- Ensured the ring scan effect (and hotspots) are correctly occluded by the planet geometry in both eyes.
- Fixed issue that causes the camera to clip through the pilots body more than usual
(11/2018) Beyond-Chapter-Four-Beta-(Week-2)
- Increase the thickness of orbit lines in the orrery view
- Ensure players can fully zoom into bodies in the orrery view
- Fixed the background on intermediate FSS zoom levels warping
- Fixed planet rings moving with the headset in FSS mode
- Fixed the SRVs full beam lens flare causing visual issues
- Fixed graphical errors when switching between FSS and SAA modes
- Fixed inverted joystick animations
- Fixed missing scan effect in FSS (that highlights areas of interest)
- Fix various fog and jet cone issues
(10/2018) Beyond-Chapter-Four-Beta-(Week-1)
- Fixed Neutron star cones only appearing in the left eye of the HMD
- Fixed FSS help screens not appearing in VR
- Ensure the system scan intermediate zoom background is limited to the overlay grid region (should make intermediate zoom levels more comfortable on VR)
- Probes should fire based on the targeting reticule instead of the direction you are looking
- Popups in the orrery view should now be fixed in space, and not follow the camera
- Ensure bodies discovered with the FSS are centered
- Corrected oversized icons in orrery view
- Improvements to head look control when using the orrery
- Capped the frame rate whilst on the main menu to 90fps, to stop HMD's overheating
(08/2018) Update-3-2
- Imperial Eagle: Fixed gaps in cockpit when using EDTracker or VR
(03/2018) Update-3-0-3
- Krait Mk. II: Fixed outfitting camera issues whilst in VR
(02/2018) Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-Chapter-One-3-0
- Fixed Sidewinder hull panels rendering incorrectly when viewed from inside the cockpit
(01/2018) 3-0-Open-Beta-Patch-Notes
(09/2017) 2-4-The-Return-Patch-Notes
- Adjusted the pilot illumination so it proves less distracting when using VR
- Fixed a rendering issue with some Sidewinder cockpit panels rendering as transparent when using VR
(04/2017) 2-3-The-Commanders-Changelog
- Federal Dropship: Adjusted the nameplate camera for the Federal Dropship when using VR
- Imperial Courier: Adjusted decal 1's camera angle to prevent clipping when using VR
- We have made some adjustments to mouse behaviour when viewing the Holo-Me menu in VR so that it matches other UI screens
- We have disabled the bloom effect when using the VR graphical presets by default, as it could be a bit hard on the eyes
- Fixed a tiling issue that occurred when taking high resolution screenshots when using VR
- Adjusted a variety of outfitting cameras across a range of ships to work better when using VR
- Fixed an issue whereby the HUD target reticle was displayed inside your cockpit in one eye when using VR
(02/2017) 2-3-The-Commanders-Beta-Changelog
(03/2017) 2-3-Beta-4-Changelog
- Made the schematics render in stereo
- Added dithering support to tackle banding in VR
- Fixes to some of the cockpit VR cameras
- Fixed some incorrect scale assumptions when fitting the left eye image to the monitor window. The view should feel a little less stretched. In addition there will be a significant memory saving moving from 2160x1200 to 1280x768
- Added Python ship kit VR hangar cameras
(03/2017) 2-3-Beta-Update-3
- Added VR backdrop to Holo-Me
(03/2017) 2-3-Beta-Update-2
- Leveled off of the VR HoloMe Cameras so they are level with the cockpit floor
(02/2017) 2-3-The-Commanders-Beta-Changelog
- Re-add pilot to chair in holome during VR, but ensure that the head isn't visible
- Improved transition to Holo-me to black out completely before making the camera transition. This should improve VR experience in particular to be less jarring
(01/2017) Elite-Dangerous-2-2-03-Update-incoming
- Added custom mode for commander creator close ups in VR
- Camera Suite: Enabled vanity and free camera to work in vr
(10/2016) The-Guardians-Update-2-2-01
- Enabled dithering for VR to reduce banding
- If we aren't trying to override saved 3d settings don't prevent them loading
- If user has previous saved stereoscopic mode and we want to override with /vr or /novr allow all relevant modes
(10/2016) Elite-Dangerous-The-Guardians-2-2-update
- Prevent spinning ship while docked and using VR mode with Rift CV1
(10/2016) Beta 2.2 - Update 6
(09/2016) Beta 2.2 - Update 2 and Update 4
(06/2016) Update-2-1-03-Incoming
- Fixed crash when finishing VR experience tutorial
- Fixed an occasional crash in open vr on startup. Prevent presenting when SDK Rendering isn't setup
- Removed VR Missions on platforms that don't support VR
- System map performance optimisation for VR
- Cannot see Tail Shipkits on Vulture in Outfitting due to camera angle in VR fixed
- Updated to LibOVR 1.4
- Added new (and improved!) VR graphics presets as faster cards can handle the bump.
- VR Low (unchanged from current VR Low)
- VR Medium (is currently ‘VR High’)
- VR High (Mid preset with x1.25 supersampling) VR Ultra (High with medium shadows and medium Terrain Sampler)
- Added backgrounds to textual elements on menu and option screens. Greatly improves readability in VR
- Draw the Mouse Control UI as far away as we draw other gunsights in VR
- Cannot see Tail Ship kits on Vulture in Outfitting due to camera angle in VR fixed
- Cannot see Spoiler/Wing Shipkits in Outfitting on Asp due to camera angle in VR fixed
- Fix the missing text on the wall in the VAR Main Menu hangar if you look behind you
- Fix for mouse cursor size when HMD is present
- Memory optimisations for Oculus
- Only show VR tutorial in challenges list if VR is supported on this platform
(06/2016) Elite-Dangerous-Horizons-update-2-01-02
- Only control input focus through HMDs if they are rendering (don't affect regular mono modes)
- Fix for the VR camera flicker in supercruise transitions
(05/2016) 1-6-and-The-Engineers-(2-1)-update-incoming
- Fix for VR crash entering a location
(05/2016) Beta-1-6-and-The-Engineers-(2-1)-incoming, Elite-Dangerous-Beta-5-incoming and Elite-Dangerous-Beta-6-update
The UI scaling mentioned in the patch notes below is actually done automatically depending on your VR device's field of view to maximise readability. We hope that this will allow players to have the best VR experience possible as we continue to refine this functionality.
(04/2016) Elite-Dangerous-PC-and-Xbox-One-update-incoming
- Fix a crash from a missing texture while in VR
- Adjust UI scale in VR with a maximum and default of 0.7 for Vive and 1.0 for Oculus
- Added support to overwrite the audio engine's internal settings for samples per frame and refill buffers. That way players can increase frame rate / reduce the latency to match VR frame rates
- Added new VR High and Low graphics options
- Fix HMD cockpit position for ships
- Fix VR performance issue in glide mode
- Fix for no head look when in hyperspace
- Updated the main menu hangar
- Fix headlook not working when playing on a 3D TV
- Make 3D mode revert to off when options attempt to set HMD when it is not present
- Update hangar VR cameras
(03/2016) Elite-Dangerous-Horizons-patch-2-0-08
- Fix VR launch option not working (being overridden by your graphics saved display settings)
(03/2016) Update-incoming-2-0-07-patch-notes
- Oculus Store: Improved information during registration
(12/2015) Horizons-(2-0)-and-Ships-(1-5)-change-log
- Added support for Oculus 1.3 SDK
- Added new VR specific graphics presets (VR Low and VR High)
- Added Hangar main menu background when HMD is present
- Added VR experience demo as a scenario in the tutorials menu
- Added option for SRV to maintain level horizon if player finds motion uncomfortable - Please note: This will not be on by default, users will need to select this option to activate it
- Added option for SRV blackout when rolling if player finds motion uncomfortable - Please note: This will not be on by default, users will need to select this option to activate it
- Adjusted VR and panel positions in the SRV
- Improved UI mesh tessellation for rendering the front-end on VR
- Preflight checklist can be completed with just a controller
- Updated various warnings when using Head Mounted Displays
- Crash fix when entering open play with HMD active
- Crash fix when entering CQC with HMD active
(12/2015) 2.0 Beta 3 to 2.0 Beta 6
(11/2015) 2.0 Beta 2
- System Map VR: Added the concept of a Base Scale that scales all GUI, planet miniatures and dolly ranges to make everything pleasantly bigger and further away (as we deal with locked FOVs in VR opposed to orthographic)
- System Map: Add a different global scale to the label manager for VR to make the text larger
- Added specialized VR mesh for the outfitting screen
- Fix values for inertial camera spring on VR HMDs
- Improved VR camera positions in SRV
- Keep the camera in the cockpit position for interior Outfitting view in VR
- In VR remove inertial camera simulation entirely
- Present an option in AppConfig to disable rendering to the monitor window in Steam VR
- Fix VR rendering of surface schematic
Oddly enough there is only a single entry related to SteamVR. With the new HMDs in 2018 I think it's about time for a statement from the development team.
I wonder what your thoughts are about this.
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