Is the vive worth it for ED?

[Darkfyre99]

Last year, around this time. I considered treating myself to a Vive. I'm not really interested in the Rift as I think it does the transmit/receiver the wrong way round. However I decided not to bother for two reasons:

1. Limited games to use it in (although I am playing ED 90% of the time)
2. Cost (I can afford it, I just find it a lot to justify as a luxury purchase, for what it is)

I decided to wait a year to see if the situation got better, if the tech got better, and if the price dropped. But today, on the vive site, they are still showing at £760.


So my question, to Vive users, is, is it worth it for ED (and whatever else I might use it for)?

Both headsets have their own quirks. I have the Vive, and I love it, and I would highly recommend it if you intend to play room scale games as well.

That being said, if you're only going to use it to play Elite: Dangerous, I'd say go with the Rift. As I understand it, the Vive's pixel layout does not make it easy to read small text in the game without hacking the HUD colors, which has detrimental visual effects because Frontier chose not to give us a customizable HUD.

The Rift is also supposedly more comfortable. Unless you have a larger head than average, or if you need glasses in the HMD. In that case, go with the Vive.

In a perfect world, I would recommend giving both headsets a try before buying.

edit: one of my favorite past times when on long super cruise trips is to get up out if my chair and pace the bridge. The level of detail Frontier put into each cockpit or bridge is incredible, and exploring them in VR is still fun, even after almost a year of owning a Vive.

 

[SystemShift]

Go on ya no ya want to, just remember to come back and let us all know what you think, well if you can stop smiling lone enough

 

[Globusdiablo]

...So my question, to Vive users, is, is it worth it for ED (and whatever else I might use it for)?

Oh, and if you do get an HMD, DON'T use the VR presets. They are rubbish. Check the VR forum for optimal settings. But depending on your PC, here are the most important settings:

• Turn AA off. it's a resource hog and does more damage than good in VR. Use HMD-Quality instead.
• Turn HMD-Quality as high as you can. Preferably 2.0
• Turn SS down to .65 leaving more resource for HMD-Quality.
• Turn dash board brightness off, or almost. This will eliminate most of the inherent glare in the HMD lenses.

Check your GPU and CPU loads under stress to make sure they don't bottleneck. VR brings most PCs to their knees, depending on settings and environment of course.

And as others have said, it might be prudent to wait a while and see if Vive responds to the Oculus price drop.

 

[govny]

I think now Oculus Rift is a better choice: it costs mutch less and is better for seated experiences like ED.
If you are not in a hurry you should wait some months till LG VR and Microsoft VR get out, they will have a better resolution.

 

[etarm]

I echo all the positive comments about going VR. It's a game-changer. I've played very few non-VR games since I got my Vive last August. If you can afford it, you should give it a try. While the Vive says it requires a 970 or better, I'd recommend at least a 1070. I had a 970 when I started, but shortly upgraded. That was before Steam incorporated asynchronous reprojection, though, so the 970 might fare better today.

 

[h347h]

I had the DK2 for forever and it was amazing even with the graphics kinda meh. A few days ago I got my CV1 and I can't tell you how much more enjoyable the game is with VR. The Rift IMHO is the better headset over the Vive, but the Vive is better for the full room stuff. Which I have zero use for. So if you plan on playing only Elite with it and plan on playing Elite for a long time then I highly suggest getting a Rift. I honestly can't wait for the next few generations of GPUs to really let the experience mature and come into its own.

 

[Saool]

Again thank you all for your input. I think it's fair to say I will join the VR crowd soon. I'll do some serious thinking about which brand though.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Again thank you all for your input. I think it's fair to say I will join the VR crowd soon. I'll do some serious thinking about which brand though.

I think you would be happy with either, but yes the rift is probably the better for Elite and sim type games by a small hair.

But if I had a powerfull enough rig I actually suspect I might pick my vive over my rift.
But in all honesty, after the new price on rift even with the touch controllers it will be the more affordable option, and quite capable for room games.

And definitely get the motion controllers, the xbx controller that first came with the rift was a stop gap solution and they suffered for it, and looking at the rift store, there really isn't any games there that doesn't require them, or those games can be played via just the little puck thingie.
And it honestly suck as a game controller. (It's basically a d-pad with one button)

As for one over the other, it probably doesn't truly matter.
I have both. Both are awesome to use.
It's way to early to decide which form factor will take the win.
I think valves lighthouse tracking has the leg up, it's better for larger areas, and it's open, anyone ((sort of i guess) can start using it and it will become very flexible with the new tracking pucks that can almost make anything into a Vive controller.
So even if neither rift or oculus is the HMD of the future the lighthouse system is likely to stay.

But so far it's the rift that's plugged in, my vive is gathering dust in a cupboard
And even though it might not be the solution of the future is probably the better choice right now.

Then again it's Facebook, hating Facebook is a very legit reason to not get it.
Although it might have asked for my face account but it's not demanding it in any way.
It's no more annoying about "connecting" than steam or origin is.

And it just got considerably cheaper and add on the included sound solution, the vive charges $200 for a similar strap. So if you include the audio strap, the rift is actually $400 cheaper, and it is lighter to wear as well.

You will always end up wanting the next hmd as well, when they arrive in a year or two anyways.
And it might be neither htc or ocuface that makes it.

 

[Nelina]

Last year, around this time. I considered treating myself to a Vive. I'm not really interested in the Rift as I think it does the transmit/receiver the wrong way round. However I decided not to bother for two reasons:
1. Limited games to use it in (although I am playing ED 90% of the time)
2. Cost (I can afford it, I just find it a lot to justify as a luxury purchase, for what it is)
I decided to wait a year to see if the situation got better, if the tech got better, and if the price dropped. But today, on the vive site, they are still showing at £760.
So my question, to Vive users, is, is it worth it for ED (and whatever else I might use it for)?

I also use my Vive almost only for ED. And i use it a lot, believe me
If you cant afford a HMD and also a HOTAS, you maybe should'nt get a HMD, because using the keyboard with a HMD is a mess.
Would i now recommend the Vive ? Yes, of cause. With VR you will not only like ED, you will love ED Its a very huge difference. A big Positive one.
Vive of Rift ? Well with the current Prices i would maybe get a Rift.
Only if you will not support Facebook by any price or if you have already steam and dont like to use another online-store i would recommend the Vive. With the 310€ price-Diffrence (899€.- Vive vs 589€.- Rift) you could get also the Warthog as HOTAS and the Rift for the same Price...

Of cause you will also need a good graphic-card (i would recommend a gtx980ti or better) for VR. The Difference between SuperSampling 1.0 to 1.5 is very big in VR...

 

[Magic Man]

Yes, it's expensive, but you simply cannot get anywhere near the same immersion level without a VR headset.

I only got around to trying ship launched fighters on the weekend. Went out to an ice field rez site with my first crew mate and launched him out as I carried on flying my Cutter. Decided to switch over to try out the fighter cockpit in VR.

Whoa! that little, cramped cockpit in VR was amazing. The visuals and feeling of just being there were the best I've had so far (I think because of the small size). Combined with jinking around the asteroids as my crew-mate flew the Cutter around me was simply brilliant.

 

[WindWpn]

Reading though this thread, another complementary topic is sound.

I use a g933 artemis spectrum headset for premium wireless sound and mic. Thus with the VR options available, first, can a headset such as the 933 be fitted with the VR headset and/or how is the sound quality with VR headsets? I believe Rift comes with earbuds, but does Vive have a sound option? Though in all, given quality of the 933, would be great if that would fit with the VR headset as well.

 

[SystemShift]

Yes the Vive come with ear buds but I just use my old head phone It also comes with spear USB on the HMD so if you have USB head phone you should be able to use them to.

 

[etarm]

Reading though this thread, another complementary topic is sound.

I use a g933 artemis spectrum headset for premium wireless sound and mic. Thus with the VR options available, first, can a headset such as the 933 be fitted with the VR headset and/or how is the sound quality with VR headsets? I believe Rift comes with earbuds, but does Vive have a sound option? Though in all, given quality of the 933, would be great if that would fit with the VR headset as well.

The Oculus comes with built-in headphones. The Vive has ear-buds that plug into a female 3.5mm stereo headphone jack on the headgear. In another month or two, a new headpiece will be sold for the Vive that will include build-in headphones. Not sure if you could replace the Vive's ear buds with your 933 or not, but there are people using wireless headsets with the Vive, so I suppose it's possible. Hopefully it doesn't require cutting and splicing into the audio cable coming from the breakout box.

[Edited to add: Oh, Duh -- you don't need to plug the wireless headphones into the Vive -- you just leave the Vive audio cable unplugged at the headgear and configure Steam VR to send sound to the wireless headphones that are already connected to your computer.]

 

[dogbite]

Both the Rift and Vive allow for the use of optional headphones.