Infuse VR - Hand and peripheral tracking
- Thread starter pFVD
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My TL-DR - Maybe not for joysticks in ED, though it certainly works, but if you can't touch type, then this could help you a lot.
So I got access right away ...
My SteamVR really does NOT like ALVR. Locks up my PC for about 20-30 seconds, and then either just crashes SteamVR, or SteamVR disables all plugins, so I have to re-enable ALVR and then it restarts and locks up, wash rinse repeat. To be clear, this is my SteamVR not liking ALVR (which InfuseVR is based on), nothing to do with InfuseVR itself.
However, works on my sons PC. So, joystick placement is an issue in that my physical joysticks don't match perfectly with the ingame joysticks; the result is they look like they are floating above in the ingame controls. To be clear, InfuseVR matches perfectly with the physical controls. The physical controls in my/my son's setup do not match with the ingame controls.
That's not the end of the world, and what I would use the Xray mode in InfuseVR for. It looks like you can adjust the transparency of each controller individually. Ultimately, for joysticks, I decided it probably wouldn't be for me, at least not with my limited experience with it in ED.
But, the big one for many here could be keyboard (and mouse). Being able to "see" your keyboard for the non-touch typer ED VR'ers, this could be what you've been looking for. The keyboard model in InfuseVR is a default keyboard, but as long as you move it into the correct position for the keys, it shouldn't matter what keyboard you have for the main keys to "fit". I admit I didn't look to see if there was different keyboard types (QWERTY, ANSI, ISO, etc) so that would be a consideration.
You can save a profile which references one of your headsets controllers as a fixed point, and InfuseVR provides a 3D print template if you need/can use it, but just having a location that the controller would return to everytime should work.
For me personally, I would like to get it working if only for the keyboard; I think the joysticks might be a little distracting in my setup.
And before anyone asks, no, you won't be touching your side panels; Elite doesn't have that kind of control in the game since you need to navigate in directions.
So I got access right away ...
My SteamVR really does NOT like ALVR. Locks up my PC for about 20-30 seconds, and then either just crashes SteamVR, or SteamVR disables all plugins, so I have to re-enable ALVR and then it restarts and locks up, wash rinse repeat. To be clear, this is my SteamVR not liking ALVR (which InfuseVR is based on), nothing to do with InfuseVR itself.
However, works on my sons PC. So, joystick placement is an issue in that my physical joysticks don't match perfectly with the ingame joysticks; the result is they look like they are floating above in the ingame controls. To be clear, InfuseVR matches perfectly with the physical controls. The physical controls in my/my son's setup do not match with the ingame controls.
That's not the end of the world, and what I would use the Xray mode in InfuseVR for. It looks like you can adjust the transparency of each controller individually. Ultimately, for joysticks, I decided it probably wouldn't be for me, at least not with my limited experience with it in ED.
But, the big one for many here could be keyboard (and mouse). Being able to "see" your keyboard for the non-touch typer ED VR'ers, this could be what you've been looking for. The keyboard model in InfuseVR is a default keyboard, but as long as you move it into the correct position for the keys, it shouldn't matter what keyboard you have for the main keys to "fit". I admit I didn't look to see if there was different keyboard types (QWERTY, ANSI, ISO, etc) so that would be a consideration.
You can save a profile which references one of your headsets controllers as a fixed point, and InfuseVR provides a 3D print template if you need/can use it, but just having a location that the controller would return to everytime should work.
For me personally, I would like to get it working if only for the keyboard; I think the joysticks might be a little distracting in my setup.
And before anyone asks, no, you won't be touching your side panels; Elite doesn't have that kind of control in the game since you need to navigate in directions.
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While hand tracking technology as such is interesting, I can't see it being useful in anything you play with physical controls in front of you, be it sticks and throttles in ED's case, or yokes, steering wheels... you name it. Unless you build a one to one replica of the in-game controls, there will always be a mistmatch.
And then I think having "ghost hands" and a faint representation of my real controls appearing in my virtual space will completely ruin the immersion. While currently I totally believe that I am this body sitting in this space ship (well I don't totally believe it... I'm not nearly as slim as the ingame body), suddenly having ghost hands appear in 3D space would completely rip me out of the immersive experience. But maybe this is more for... dare I say casuals for whom it's more important to flip off the NPCs they shoot than being immersed in the cockpit...
I know there are people who complain about positional mismatch between virtual body parts and the player's physical body parts, but I would guess for the most players (as it is for me) seeing is believeing. In ED I look down, see the chest, arms, legs, hand and feet and at no point doubt that, yep, that's me. Having a reminder that, nope, not me, here's your real hands sounds counterproductive to me.
I can see hand tracking replacing controller tracking for games that rely on VR controllers, or maybe games designed for hand tracking. But for sim-like games, I think it's really stupid. Sorry
. I looked at the reddit video, and having two sets of hands, virtual and tracked ones, on the steering wheel (or not quite on it) looks confusing. But hey, the person could do rude gestures with his one set of hands while driving the car with the other one.
I kind of understand the usage for keyboard input, but unless you calibrate the position of the keyboard really well and then never move it, this seems to spell disaster. Maybe I'm too old school, but just build up some frikkin' muscle memory for the controller you use, and learn to touch type.
And then I think having "ghost hands" and a faint representation of my real controls appearing in my virtual space will completely ruin the immersion. While currently I totally believe that I am this body sitting in this space ship (well I don't totally believe it... I'm not nearly as slim as the ingame body), suddenly having ghost hands appear in 3D space would completely rip me out of the immersive experience. But maybe this is more for... dare I say casuals for whom it's more important to flip off the NPCs they shoot than being immersed in the cockpit...
I know there are people who complain about positional mismatch between virtual body parts and the player's physical body parts, but I would guess for the most players (as it is for me) seeing is believeing. In ED I look down, see the chest, arms, legs, hand and feet and at no point doubt that, yep, that's me. Having a reminder that, nope, not me, here's your real hands sounds counterproductive to me.
I can see hand tracking replacing controller tracking for games that rely on VR controllers, or maybe games designed for hand tracking. But for sim-like games, I think it's really stupid. Sorry
. I looked at the reddit video, and having two sets of hands, virtual and tracked ones, on the steering wheel (or not quite on it) looks confusing. But hey, the person could do rude gestures with his one set of hands while driving the car with the other one.I kind of understand the usage for keyboard input, but unless you calibrate the position of the keyboard really well and then never move it, this seems to spell disaster. Maybe I'm too old school, but just build up some frikkin' muscle memory for the controller you use, and learn to touch type
.I don't disagree @Helmut Grokenberger, and personally I can touch type, but it would be quicker to ID the keys/keyboard visually for my setup. Also, seen at least 3 posts on here asking how vr players type in ED; I think this could help them.
The whole hands thing, yeah, for me too it would ruin the immersion in ED. You can turn them off, but then I guess you're left with joysticks moving magically; the right transparency might work there.
I am interested for Assetto Corsa though, especially since I'm not bothered by a lack of OpenComposite like I would be in ED. In AC its easier to move things around, obviously something we can't do in ED without moving ourselves and peripherals. My setup is actually intentionally pretty close positionally to the ED cockpit so I could make this work ... if I could make it work and if I lowered my seat an inch or two.
The whole hands thing, yeah, for me too it would ruin the immersion in ED. You can turn them off, but then I guess you're left with joysticks moving magically; the right transparency might work there.
I am interested for Assetto Corsa though, especially since I'm not bothered by a lack of OpenComposite like I would be in ED. In AC its easier to move things around, obviously something we can't do in ED without moving ourselves and peripherals. My setup is actually intentionally pretty close positionally to the ED cockpit so I could make this work ... if I could make it work and if I lowered my seat an inch or two.
The real issue is that ED VR is not a native VR game. If you look at other games like DCS or VTOL VR, where the virtual controls can be manipulated, that is a native VR game. When you move your hand, the in-game hand moves to match. I'm not sure how immersion can be broken when it was never really there. Unless you pose in the exact same position of the virtual pilot and stay there (which does not sound like an exciting game) it'd be impossible. If, in the real world, you are fumbling with controls you cannot see or scratching your head or doing virtually anything, and you look down and see your virtual body still in its persistently static position, that must break the illusion a little. I know it does to me, but to each their own.
If one really want to see one's keyboard, and don't mind the real world intruding, I believe I once scrolled past some overlay application on Steam, which, if I got the right impression from a two-second view of an auto-playing video, lets you cut out little volumes in your playspace, which come through in the form of box-shapes of passthrough video in your game environment. No idea what HMDs it may work with.
I've seen video of DCS players using that; InfuseVR brings a virtual object, matched to a physical object into the game world rather than cutting out a hole in the virtual world into the real one which sounds much better to me at least.
Personally, I've set my physical controls in the real world to match as close as possible to Elite's controls, so InfuseVR by description at least would have worked for me, but in practice not so much*. However, I can see it as a great option for those who can't touch type, especially if there was a way in InfuseVR to hide your peripherals with a hotkey for Voice Attack or directly with voice control from InfuseVR. "Show keyboard" - and your hands and your tracked keyboard appear so you can type in the chat window or galaxy map, then "hide keyboard" and the keyboard and hands disappear.
*It works fine, but would work better if the InfuseVR models could match the game control models rather than real world ones, especially since there are no VKB models yet. Maybe an option to hide your hands if they are on your joystick automatically, or simply voice control to hide/unhide.