Longtime player new to VR - things to consider?

[ithinkiam]

I've been playing ED for over 5 years now and still not bored with it. A friend is selling me his old Rift for cheap so am going to be moving VR - if it doesn't make me sick!
I've been reading around setting up steamVR from the usual Frontier launcher and have a couple of questions that I haven't found the answer to.

I see I need to copy the bindings file, but is there anything else I need to copy as well? Like the user logs. I use EDDI to log all my travel and will all that history be lost when I move to steam? Is it essential to delete the existing install before moving to steam or can I just move it somewhere temporarily?

Finally, if I don't get on with the VR for long sessions am I stuck with steam for pancake mode or can I move back to the frontier launcher.
Thanks!

 

[Arioch]

I've been playing ED for over 5 years now and still not bored with it. A friend is selling me his old Rift for cheap so am going to be moving VR - if it doesn't make me sick!
I've been reading around setting up steamVR from the usual Frontier launcher and have a couple of questions that I haven't found the answer to.

I see I need to copy the bindings file, but is there anything else I need to copy as well? Like the user logs. I use EDDI to log all my travel and will all that history be lost when I move to steam? Is it essential to delete the existing install before moving to steam or can I just move it somewhere temporarily?

Finally, if I don't get on with the VR for long sessions am I stuck with steam for pancake mode or can I move back to the frontier launcher.
Thanks!

A quick question - why are you trying to move to Steam if you’re getting a Rift?

I’ve been using my Oculus headsets with the Frontier Launcher since I got them.

 

[Ashnak]

Don't know what you've read, but if you now play a non-Steam (i.e. FD) version of the game, you don't need to (probably can't) move to Steam - SteamVR is not Steam! SteamVR is an independent utility that you can obtain via Steam which will help ganes to run in WMR VR devices.
Which brings me to the next point - I'm not sure (it's been some time since I played on the Rift), but IIRC, SteamVR and WMR are useless for the Rift, as that one uses its own environment instead, the (at that time) Oculus environment. I'd say (but please someone correct me) that if the Rift doesn't work with WMR, it won't work with SteamVR. You will need the Oculus software.

So, since you don't need to move your game account (assuming you're running from a pure FD account) to a different platform, you'll stick with your current game installation -- that includes all the bindings and CMDR logs.
Regarding bindings: I even think that at least Steam and FD installations (if run from the same Windows account on the same machine) share the same bindings, even if they don't share the game files. Source: I recently moved my third (steam) account to my VR rig and played on that in pancake for a session, necessarily reconfiguring the Gamepad bindings. After relogging into my FD/VR account, my HOSAS bindings were gone. After restoring from backup, I also used this opportunity to rename them according to @STRONTIUM DOG 's excellent how-to.

 

[ithinkiam]

A quick question - why are you trying to move to Steam if you’re getting a Rift?

I’ve been using my Oculus headsets with the Frontier Launcher since I got them.

Ooh. Tell me more! I'm just going on what I've read.

Is it simply a question of installing the Oculus software and then launch Frontier. That would be ideal!

 

[Arioch]

Ooh. Tell me more! I'm just going on what I've read.

Is it simply a question of installing the Oculus software and then launch Frontier. That would be ideal!

That’s pretty much it - I’ll give you a rough idea of the steps I took:

• Installed the Oculus software and ran through the setup process
• Enabled “external sources” in the Oculus launcher
• Started ED in flatscreen
• In the graphics options, select “HMD headphones” in the 3D menu drop-down
• Quit out of ED
• Restarted ED and donned the headset
• Go “wow”

You’ll probably need to reset the headset orientation after you’ve started the game, f12 is the default.

If all has gone well, you should be placed in the bottom of the hangar looking up at your current ship.

Good luck!

 

[ithinkiam]

That’s pretty much it - I’ll give you a rough idea of the steps I took:

• Installed the Oculus software and ran through the setup process
• Enabled “external sources” in the Oculus launcher
• Started ED in flatscreen
• In the graphics options, select “HMD headphones” in the 3D menu drop-down
• Quit out of ED
• Restarted ED and donned the headset
• Go “wow”

You’ll probably need to reset the headset orientation after you’ve started the game, f12 is the default.

If all has gone well, you should be placed in the bottom of the hangar looking up at your current ship.

Good luck!

That did it. Super easy!

Am so glad I asked here before ripping out my old install .

Thanks CMDR o7

 

[Franc Kaos]

Pretty sure you can just get an Oculus version of the game. Frontier support will give you the code to buy it for free (as a pre existing owner) - tho I doubt it would run any more smoothly than doing it Arioch's way.
I went the other way, bought it thru Oculus then when I upgraded to the Valve headset, Fdev gave me a Steam key.