I finally gave up on reality.

[EDanaII]

Yep, I admit it. I finally abandoned reality for the virtual world. Tried Elite in a Rift for the first time. Pretty awesome.

Looking for some thoughts, opinions, suggestions and all here.

First thing I noted, is that while Elite supports the Rift, it looks like it doesn't fully support it. I can't use the Touch controllers the way they were intended. Can't use it to reach down and manipulate various controls or menus. Instead, they appear to be implemented as two virtual joysticks. At this point, I think I'm better off continuing to use my HOTAS as my main controller. Is my assessment correct, or am I missing something here?

And while it's awesome to be able to get up and "walk about" my bridge, it's a bit disconcerting to be able to look back at my headless body. Again, I'm assuming this is the current state of things and there are no alternatives to this situation. Hoping, of course, if and when we ever get "space legs" the situation will change. Once am I on track or missing some vital clues here?

My first attempts at flight were pretty cool, but I did manage to get myself a bit dizzy. I'm assuming I'll eventually get accustomed to this. I'm loving the free-look and expect it will give me an extra edge in combat and other situations, even make landing more on surfaces easier. Haven't taken the SRV out yet and am expecting that to be a blast too.

Anywho... all thoughts, comments, opinions welcome.

 

[ilo]

Enjoy, what else to say.

I only got dizzy once and it is because of my own fault, was rolling like there was no tomorrow

You will discover the galaxy map constrains soon, a bit problematic at the beginning but you will get over it.

 

[CylonSurfer]

First thing I noted, is that while Elite supports the Rift, it looks like it doesn't fully support it. I can't use the Touch controllers the way they were intended. Can't use it to reach down and manipulate various controls or menus. Instead, they appear to be implemented as two virtual joysticks. At this point, I think I'm better off continuing to use my HOTAS as my main controller. Is my assessment correct, or am I missing something here?

Correct, motion controls are not supported so you are better off using your HOTAS.

And while it's awesome to be able to get up and "walk about" my bridge, it's a bit disconcerting to be able to look back at my headless body. Again, I'm assuming this is the current state of things and there are no alternatives to this situation. Hoping, of course, if and when we ever get "space legs" the situation will change. Once am I on track or missing some vital clues here?

No alternatives to this, until 'space legs' it's the best you'll get - and it's a pretty darn cool thing to be able to do.

My first attempts at flight were pretty cool, but I did manage to get myself a bit dizzy. I'm assuming I'll eventually get accustomed to this. I'm loving the free-look and expect it will give me an extra edge in combat and other situations, even make landing more on surfaces easier. Haven't taken the SRV out yet and am expecting that to be a blast too.

You'll adjust in no time, just be careful in the SRV as it can take a lot longer before you adjust to it, take it slow, if it makes you feel ill stop using it for a while and then try again when you feel better.

 

[Mxpower76]

Before you get in the SVR go to the options menu and look for something called lock horizon. Its pretty much mandatory for driving the SRV in VR. Without it there's a good chance you'll get sick.

If you get the Oculus home beta there's a virtual desktop that will let you pin screens from your desktop into your game. If you wanted to watch a movie or have a web page open. You of course control everything on the desktop with your touch controller or mouse. I like it because you don't have to take the headset off to look at something on the desktop.

 

[EDanaII]

Alright, good advice, all. Thanks.

Le'see other issues with it so far: I'm near sighted, so, without my glasses, I can see but things are slightly blurry. With glasses, things are a bit tight inside, but can see better. Unfortunately, the glasses can fog up a little bit there. Usage is also causing slight headaches, which is a bummer. Just need to take periodic breaks. And as I live in the desert, this things gonna get a bit warm come Summer time.

Took my first combat mission this morning, and, yea, it felt more effective being able to free-look at the target as I went zooming by.

Still haven't used the SRV yet, but it wasn't for lack of trying... got all the way down to a planetary surface only to remember I didn't have one on board. Still, cruising the surface was pretty awesome.

The combat missions earned me Rear Endmiral status with the Feds, so zoomed off Jameson to get me a Corvette. Hopefully, more adventures with that later, but gotta go worry about real world stuff for now. Blech!

 

[Mesolithic]

Get yourself a small usb powered desk fan. It helps address fogging up issues and comfort.

You can get prescription lens adapters for the Rift, search online, or get some smaller glasses . Mine fit okay.

Regards

Meso

 

[[VR] Captain_Obvious]

I play ED on a Vive, using a Saitek 52 Pro HOTAS.
I just want to state: I never want to play that game on a regular monitor anymore.

Sure, some things could be improved, less glow effects on text, for example... But for me nothing kicks in better in terms of immersion than VR. Looking forward to Vive Pro release.

Cheers, Comanders

 

[shreddog]

A shame FDev has not worked on their VR implementation since the early Alpha days..

Wands/Touch should have been implemented long time ago.

A VR friendly galaxy map should have been here ages ago. It's outrageously bad as of now.

The system map also needs VR fixing.

 

[CylonSurfer]

A shame FDev has not worked on their VR implementation since the early Alpha days..

Wands/Touch should have been implemented long time ago.

A VR friendly galaxy map should have been here ages ago. It's outrageously bad as of now.

The system map also needs VR fixing.

I'd have to disagree on all fronts.

Firstly FDEV have worked on VR in this title throughout the development of the Rift from the DK1 to the current consumer version, which was released way after the early alpha days of Elite and have continued since. Additions to their VR implementation still happen, although not as frequent as most of us would like.

Motion Control support is a complete and utter waste of development time, this game is really built around HOTAS game play and I very much doubt many VR players would even use motion controls in this game even if they were available. Players harping on about motion control support are simply delusional in regard to the mileage they'd get from it, motion control would be nothing more than an impractical novelty. For a start most of those menus you think you want to reach out and touch are far, far out of reach. Don't get me wrong, motion controls in VR games where the gameplay lends itself to them are awesome.

Galaxy and System maps work perfectly well. In honestly the VR Galmap is simply stunning once you have your binds configured correctly.

 

[[VR] scipio_77]

A shame FDev has not worked on their VR implementation since the early Alpha days..

Wands/Touch should have been implemented long time ago.

A VR friendly galaxy map should have been here ages ago. It's outrageously bad as of now.

The system map also needs VR fixing.

Considering it is one of the best, if not the best, VR game there is and one of the few VR games with more longevity than a demo - I'd say they have done a terrific job.

I think you'd be pretty tired of the hand controls after a while, Elite being a game that usually implies long sessions. And the HOTAS support is excellent. Complaining about hand controllers is a bit like complaing about hand controllers in Project Cars. It's really made for a wheel, just like Elite VR is made for a HOTAS.

The Galaxy map isn't very hard to use. I agree that the system map could be better implemented.

 

[ilo]

Complaining about hand controllers is a bit like complaing about hand controllers in Project Cars. It's really made for a wheel, just like Elite VR is made for a HOTAS.

There has to be a bit of salt after all, or this would not be frontier forums.

 

[shreddog]

I'd have to disagree on all fronts.

Firstly FDEV have worked on VR in this title throughout the development of the Rift from the DK1 to the current consumer version, which was released way after the early alpha days of Elite and have continued since. Additions to their VR implementation still happen, although not as frequent as most of us would like.

Motion Control support is a complete and utter waste of development time, this game is really built around HOTAS game play and I very much doubt many VR players would even use motion controls in this game even if they were available. Players harping on about motion control support are simply delusional in regard to the mileage they'd get from it, motion control would be nothing more than an impractical novelty. For a start most of those menus you think you want to reach out and touch are far, far out of reach.

No no no. I want them to rework the menus/ui/maps entirely for VR. The menus could be attached to your controller. Like countless other VR games.

Example: click system map and a holographic screen projects from the side of your controller showing the map. You then naturally use one hand to hold the map at the distance you are comfortable with, while using your other hand to navigate the screen and click on objects. While still seeing your cockpit!


That people think the current map is perfectly fine in VR is beyond me. Firstly. The thing covers your entire view. You're squished into this all covering screen. Then 2nd: there are double mouse markers(unless they fixed that since last time I played). You can't click on anything unless you learn where to place those markers. Or you can resort to scrolling the map until you hit your intended object, and quickly place that marker. DO NOT FORGET TO KEEP YOUR HEAD PERFECTLY STILL WHILE DOING THIS, OR YOU MESS THE WHOLE THING UP!!
The whole thing is a frustrating nauseating experience.

 

[EDanaII]

You can get prescription lens adapters for the Rift, search online, or get some smaller glasses . Mine fit okay.

THAT is an excellent tip, thank you. And since I need a new prescription anyway, good timing too.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

THAT is an excellent tip, thank you. And since I need a new prescription anyway, good timing too.

If you want, you can easily take the facial frame off the Rift, it just simply snaps out and back in, and you can bring it with you to the optician and try frames to find something you both like and fit inside the rift.

Mine are narrow in height but of the wide variety and I have no problems wearing them under the rift for hours on end.

Spoiler

 

[CylonSurfer]

Shreddog, I do agree that a 'in cockpit' Gal / Sys map would be a nice addition, however I cannot agree that 'It's outrageously bad as of now' for not having this option as both maps function perfectly well.

Then 2nd: there are double mouse markers(unless they fixed that since last time I played). You can't click on anything unless you learn where to place those markers. Or you can resort to scrolling the map until you hit your intended object, and quickly place that marker. DO NOT FORGET TO KEEP YOUR HEAD PERFECTLY STILL WHILE DOING THIS, OR YOU MESS THE WHOLE THING UP!!
The whole thing is a frustrating nauseating experience.

You experience this due to not having your binds configured correctly. You need to configure a controller or HOTAS to the Galmap / Sysmap binds and enable 'Grid View' from the last tab in the Galmap. You seem rather angry with all of your cap lettered words, I can only surmise that your anger is directly attributed to the frustrations caused by incorrectly configured binds and your reluctance to resolve that issue. I don't feel that there is any need for us to continue discussing this particular topic, there is a fix for the source of your frustration, it is now entirely up to you if you use said fix or not.

I want them to rework the menus/ui/maps entirely for VR. The menus could be attached to your controller. Like countless other VR games.

Example: click system map and a holographic screen projects from the side of your controller showing the map. You then naturally use one hand to hold the map at the distance you are comfortable with, while using your other hand to navigate the screen and click on objects. While still seeing your cockpit!

Again, this would be a complete and utter waste of development time and effort. What you want is nothing more than a mere novelty that grows rather old quickly when you have access to a control method that put simply, does the job in both a quicker and much more effecient manor and without the need to swap from the control method you use to fly your ship. Source: I have developed an app which allows me to control the UI menus with Touch, and while novel it didn't take long for me to revert back to HOTAS control as its much quicker to navigate the menus with and I didn't need to swap control methods.

I'll point out again, that while I really like motion controls in VR I see very little point in adding such functionality to games which would gain zero benefit from their inclusion. When (if?) Elite gets space legs I'd be sorely dissapointed if they didn't include motion control support for VR users. Using a 'Lone Echo' type mechanic to pull and push yourself off the different surfaces in your ship would be execellent. I think that's a long way off though.

 

[Frank]

The ISS game used motion controls to simulate a virtual yoke. It does not work. Of course it would be great if motion controls could be incorporated into the game, but this is going to require an upgrade to the hardware itself to make it a worthwhile venture. Maybe they could have motion controller finger rings that allow you to activate buttons by putting your hands through them, and still have the fine control of a good solid HOTAS.

But the gains to include such a technology would be minimal for Elite, and require a hell of a lot of coding, even if such rings (knuckles?) were to become available.

What would be really nice of Frontier to do would be something that I don't think'll take too much effort. They could make the cursor movement in the system map a little faster.

 

[StiTch]

Galaxy and System maps work perfectly well. In honestly the VR Galmap is simply stunning once you have your binds configured correctly.

Just thought I'd offer that I agree with your support of the VR implementation, because it's one of the better things about this game, but it doesn't mean it's flawless...and the galaxy map is one of the only real holes.

I mean dude, it's pretty much objectively awful. They haven't bothered to develop a solution at all for it yet, which is why we have a 3d model displayed in 3d...using a 2d map. You can be bound as well as you want but it's still effectively using a workaround because your mouse doesn't work and there is no substitute, and even well bound it takes considerably longer to navigate as a result - particularly if you are searching through systems.

 

[Chaz]

Le'see other issues with it so far: I'm near sighted, so, without my glasses, I can see but things are slightly blurry. With glasses, things are a bit tight inside, but can see better. Unfortunately, the glasses can fog up a little bit there. Usage is also causing slight headaches, which is a bummer. Just need to take periodic breaks. And as I live in the desert, this things gonna get a bit warm come Summer time.

Just get some of the prescription lens adapters from here. https://widmovr.com/. They're very good.

 

[CylonSurfer]

I mean dude, it's pretty much objectively awful. They haven't bothered to develop a solution at all for it yet, which is why we have a 3d model displayed in 3d...using a 2d map. You can be bound as well as you want but it's still effectively using a workaround because your mouse doesn't work and there is no substitute, and even well bound it takes considerably longer to navigate as a result - particularly if you are searching through systems.

There is no reason to use the mouse in the Galmap - if you do you'll have issues with it, a 2D pointing device is not made to be used in a 3D environment - which the Galmap is.

 

[StiTch]

There is no reason to use the mouse in the Galmap - if you do you'll have issues with it, a 2D pointing device is not made to be used in a 3D environment - which the Galmap is.

I quite agree- because they haven't bothered to develop a full solution.

Using HOTAS/keyboard binds only to steer the galaxy map just shows it was built primarily to be handled by mouse. You have nothing even close to the fluidity or speed you'd have with the standard 2d map.

Honestly, got a lot of love for ED VR. But not for the galaxy map. And I am absolutely not alone; it's one of the few VR features that gets regularly crapped on.