I just need to proselytize about VR for a moment.

[CMDR Muy Bien Gato]

Despite the fact that the HTC Vive has some pretty weird (bad) rendering issues at the moment (GOD HALP US, FDev!), I've really come to appreciate the effect of having a sense of depth has on this game.

Having my canopy blow out, and readjusting so I can navigate to the closest station through the remaining fragments of my broken canopy was a very small, but poignant experience. Or being able to land on a distant planet and walk around inside my ship and gaze out through the windows of my Cobra and really take in the fact that I am sitting at the foot of a mountain larger than anything on Earth. Or majorly experiencing phantom limb when I'm piloting with a HOTAS, and watching sparks fly up from my hands and into my face as I'm attempting to flee from a gang of hostile ships. Or watching debris bounce off my canopy as I fly through wreckage (this was especially cool in an Eagle as it felt extremely close).

I could really just go on and on. I would really love to compare my experience in VR to those with a Rift, but for now I'm fairly content. Here's to hoping all the issues get ironed out soon, because this alone has reignited my interest in ED.

 

[Pumabear8]

"...and walk around inside my ship"

What did I miss? is this only possible with VR, or is there a button to get up from the cockpit seat?

 

[milligna]

It changes everything. Multicrew on the big ships with VR and a few friends along with a few ship-launched fighters is gonna be a total blast!

Frontier should be making a lot more noise about their VR implementation.

 

[ElectricZ]

I'm a new Viver myself and had the same reaction. Blurry text and textures with jaggies that will cut your eyes to ribbon, but the ship interiors are top notch. They went for this super-futury holo interface that kinda sorta looks neat on a flat panel, but seeing it in true 3-D, to where the message panels are actually on a different plane than the HUD and the left and right panels materialize when you look at them actually justifies their design. It's way, way, way cool.

And being able to stand up in your ship? Sure, seeing your decapitated body sitting in its chair (occasionally flexing its hands even then) is morbid and creepy but I did the same exact thing as you. Whenever I land, or if I'm in my own little quiet instance of space, I get up and take a look outside. Being able to walk up to a window and see the entire vista sprawl out in front of you is amazing. It's worth just sitting on a pad in a station to watch traffic go by, or to park in a ring and watch the ice tumble by as the sun sets over a planet. Even better is the ability to "press against the glass" as it were and look back to see your entire ship. It really gives you a massive sense of scale and "being there."

It definitely needs some work to pretty it up, but even what is in the game now makes for an incredible VR experience.

"...and walk around inside my ship"

What did I miss? is this only possible with VR, or is there a button to get up from the cockpit seat?

It's a Vive thing. Basically, Vive VR has a "whole room" function that tracks you and lets you move in a small area (like 2x2m). In ED this means you can effectively get up and walk around in your cockpit - though your body still stays in the chair so it's more of an out of body experience than walking around. But FD modeled and rendered everything already, so there are no missing textures or ugly spots. You can walk behind your chair, look under the seat, get close ups of the panels, everything, and it looks great.

Well, it depends on the ship really. On a Cobra or Asp on up, it's like you're walking in your ship. In a small one-seater like an Eagle, your head will clip out of the cockpit.

 

[CMDR Muy Bien Gato]

It changes everything. Multicrew on the big ships with VR and a few friends along with a few ship-launched fighters is gonna be a total blast!

Frontier should be making a lot more noise about their VR implementation.

I agree. FDev really should make more noise... once they clean up the rendering bugs, of course. I feel as though a more "vocal minority" of self-proclaimed diehards could potentially be less forgiving. The real question is going to be how they implement VR once multicrew/space legs hits. I'm hoping it will be less of an out-of-body experiences by then, and more about taking control over your avatar. One of the most transcendent experiences in VR for me was during Hover Junkers. After each match, seeing everyone move around grabbing stuff to throw, and being able to gauge how tall they are IRL... that's some wild stuff man.

 

[CMDR Muy Bien Gato]

Well, it depends on the ship really. On a Cobra or Asp on up, it's like you're walking in your ship. In a small one-seater like an Eagle, your head will clip out of the cockpit.

I just moved from a Cobra to an Asp, and holy hell, the difference in scale is downright staggering. I'm really excited to see some of the larger ships.

 

[Pumabear8]

It's a Vive thing. Basically, Vive VR has a "whole room" function that tracks you and lets you move in a small area (like 2x2m). In ED this means you can effectively get up and walk around in your cockpit - though your body still stays in the chair so it's more of an out of body experience than walking around. But FD modeled and rendered everything already, so there are no missing textures or ugly spots. You can walk behind your chair, look under the seat, get close ups of the panels, everything, and it looks great.

Well, it depends on the ship really. On a Cobra or Asp on up, it's like you're walking in your ship. In a small one-seater like an Eagle, your head will clip out of the cockpit.

Thanks for the explanation, it will be a while before my budget runs to the needed equipment, but the plan is on the table, I can only imagine that it must look fantastic viewing from withing the scene.

 

[FX2K]

It's a Vive thing. Basically, Vive VR has a "whole room" function that tracks you and lets you move in a small area (like 2x2m). In ED this means you can effectively get up and walk around in your cockpit - though your body still stays in the chair so it's more of an out of body experience than walking around. But FD modeled and rendered everything already, so there are no missing textures or ugly spots. You can walk behind your chair, look under the seat, get close ups of the panels, everything, and it looks great.

Well, it depends on the ship really. On a Cobra or Asp on up, it's like you're walking in your ship. In a small one-seater like an Eagle, your head will clip out of the cockpit.

It's also a rift thing I'm waiting for my cv1 still but have a DK2 and when I first realised I could walk around in my ship I was like
ED is still the first game I use to show off VR

 

[SMcA]

Envy is a sin you know. And you are encouraging me to sin.

 

[Muzz UK]

VR is win.

Even in it's early infant state it's amazing and a game changer if you have a PC that can run the game. Due to the blurred text and other issues I swap between VR and normal but the sense of immersion you get takes Elite to another level. I'll defiantly be investing in a 1080 to boast my settings up even more. Can't wait for full HD VR in the next 5-10 years. Some may not like it now because of bugs and rendering problems but I can live with that.

 

[CMDR Muy Bien Gato]

Envy is a sin you know. And you are encouraging me to sin.

Considering how quickly "the adult film industry" adopted VR, I guess you could call these "sin goggles".

 

[Myristyl]

I love the idea of walking around inside the ship. I am going to get a VR unit sometime soon but which one?! Which works best with Elite?

 

[CMDR Muy Bien Gato]

I love the idea of walking around inside the ship. I am going to get a VR unit sometime soon but which one?! Which works best with Elite?

I only have experience with the Vive, but I thoroughly enjoy it. I would only recommend it if you have the space for it, and have interest in playing room scale games.

It's seriously like having an arcade/laser tag arena in my room.

 

[Noddie]

Much as i'd love to try this - I can't justify spending £600 on a VR headset, and another £600 quid on upgrading my PC to (hopefully!) be compatible with it.

I have an R9 270 and A10-7850k. I doubt even "VR" Low would work well enough with that to be enjoyable. I could just buy the headset and find out. But if it isn't I'd have to upgrade the PC as well, so that's a lot of money I could spend elsewhere.

Tempting, though. I don't think VR is going to catch on right now as the big producers have both failed to bring a viable product to market. They work, yes. Well... Mainly... But they're just too pricey to shift enough units to make a viable business out of it. Unless they introduce some low-cost variants sometime soon I think the VR bubble will be - again - stifled by low sales and poor ROI for investors who'll pull their money.

The new Playstation VR might be the savior, being cheap enough for mass-market and requiring a (relatively) inexpensive games console instead of a high-end PC. But i've been watching VR companies faceplant themselves and blow their startup capital for a quarter of a century. So far, nobody seems to have noticed the need to make something that works well enough (it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be adequate) and has a retail price (working, all in!) that the average consumer can stomach.

Oculus botched it badly. HTC - so far - aren't doing any better. It's like watching someone trying to market an Aston Martin as a Vauxhall Astra (At Aston prices!).

 

[Eloy]

"...and walk around inside my ship"
What did I miss? is this only possible with VR, or is there a button to get up from the cockpit seat?

Same in every other VR, not only Vive. ObsidianAnt made YT videos showing all the cockpits "behind the seats".

 

[Myristyl]

I only have experience with the Vive, but I thoroughly enjoy it. I would only recommend it if you have the space for it, and have interest in playing room scale games.

It's seriously like having an arcade/laser tag arena in my room.

When you say "space for it" I take it you mean room enough to actually physically walk around as opposed to using some sort of controller to move your perspective?

 

[CMDR Muy Bien Gato]

When you say "space for it" I take it you mean room enough to actually physically walk around as opposed to using some sort of controller to move your perspective?

Correct. I think the minimum space for room scale is currently 2x1.5m.

 

[jojon]

Correct. I think the minimum space for room scale is currently 2x1.5m.

Mind you; Nothing stops you from walking right up to a wall and resetting the camera position there, to maximise the range you can get out of those 2x1.5.

Walking through the cabin door reveals that along with your engines, landing gear, hardpoints, and utility mounts, your surface vehicle hangar is rendered to you, when inside the ship - both the outside and inside walls, which may seem somewhat unnecessary at this point, but I suppose it is both a low detail version, and it is usually culled on account of being behind you, out of your view frustum.

Near clip plane may be a bit short, on some things, though; Your hull will peel away if you press your face up against the canopy, and starting the game seated will let you peer through the menu scene hangar pad. :9

 

[Noddie]

Hmm. Tempting to buy a Vive and see how my system manages...

 

[Bartizan]

I have the DK2 and it was a game changer for me. I just received my Vive and installed it yesterday....so much needs to be done to fix it but the first time I stood up and walked around behind my chair on the bridge of my Annie and walked over to look out a side window....it is like nothing else in any other game I ever played.