Hey Commanders!
So this game has now cost me a small fortune. Got the game a few weeks back, then decided I needed a controller, which made the ship handling much better. Now I've gone and bought the OR DK2, which I got set up just in time for the Gamma 1.01 breakage... Thanks Ben!
That little glitch aside, I am loving the highly immersive feel whilst flying around the galaxy. Being able to properly track the direction you want to head in is so cool. Whether in combat, overshooting your destination or just adding a bit of flare to your docking style (aka crash landing), the effect is awesome! I'm not regretting spending ~£400 on all this in any way
I do have some observations that I'd like to raise, but these are just details for potential future improvement...
I found the set up instructions for the OR a little confusing at first, but it is actually very simple and really didn't take too long considering what a clever bit of kit this is. I was initially a little disappointed with the resolution on the device, as I took the 1920x1080 HD selling point as meaning more than it is. Not having played with any other VR kit, I didn't expect to be seeing the individual screen LEDs as highly magnified as they are. This limits the graphics quality available to ED and that is a shame, but I accept that as a current technical limitation and don't have a major issue about it. It's not spoiling the game for me, so I just look forward to things improving over time as they always do. This is the future of gaming!
As far as in-game settings go, I tried many of the suggestions such as over-sampling to improve the readability of the text but didn't find it any better. In the end I've simply settled for the low quality preset which gives a smooth frame rate and, as long as I look directly ahead at the text I want to read, rather than using eye movement alone to scan across, the text is easily readable.
Finding out about the F12 reset view option was a big help. For some reason the camera position sometimes recalibrates in-game and I end up looking out from my virtual chest or having an out of body experience, floating high up above where I should be. Not sure if this is the game or the OR drivers but, once I'm sitting comfortably, if I use F12 to set my position then I would expect it to remain that way without auto-magically choosing to mess with my set up, and not only that but then get it wrong.
Some additional work would be very welcome on improving some of the flat views, such as the maps and game options. Wrapping them around the field of vision in some way might work. I don't really want to keep straining myself to stretch across so far just to read what's down the far left hand side.
The side HUD panels can also be a little awkward as they keep closing whilst I'm trying to read the info and navigate the menus. It seems like they need to be a little less sensitive to head movements once they are active. This is more of a problem whilst flying due to the acceleration head-bobbing effect which, as others have posted, does not work well as part of a VR experience for me and should be made configurable.
Finally, I get regular random pulses of brightness across the screen. Not flashes like the Hyperspace lightning, but just a slight momentary increase in the overall brightness level. This could be from the game or maybe a fault on my OR, I'm not really sure. Does anyone else get this? It's not something I've seen in any of the discussions I've read so far.
[Edit: This problem was quickly solved by Mark D in post #2, and was due to hyperthreading being enabled on my i7]
In conclusion very happy and thoroughly enjoying the ED universe through my OR eyes
So this game has now cost me a small fortune. Got the game a few weeks back, then decided I needed a controller, which made the ship handling much better. Now I've gone and bought the OR DK2, which I got set up just in time for the Gamma 1.01 breakage... Thanks Ben!
That little glitch aside, I am loving the highly immersive feel whilst flying around the galaxy. Being able to properly track the direction you want to head in is so cool. Whether in combat, overshooting your destination or just adding a bit of flare to your docking style (aka crash landing), the effect is awesome! I'm not regretting spending ~£400 on all this in any way
I do have some observations that I'd like to raise, but these are just details for potential future improvement...
I found the set up instructions for the OR a little confusing at first, but it is actually very simple and really didn't take too long considering what a clever bit of kit this is. I was initially a little disappointed with the resolution on the device, as I took the 1920x1080 HD selling point as meaning more than it is. Not having played with any other VR kit, I didn't expect to be seeing the individual screen LEDs as highly magnified as they are. This limits the graphics quality available to ED and that is a shame, but I accept that as a current technical limitation and don't have a major issue about it. It's not spoiling the game for me, so I just look forward to things improving over time as they always do. This is the future of gaming!
As far as in-game settings go, I tried many of the suggestions such as over-sampling to improve the readability of the text but didn't find it any better. In the end I've simply settled for the low quality preset which gives a smooth frame rate and, as long as I look directly ahead at the text I want to read, rather than using eye movement alone to scan across, the text is easily readable.
Finding out about the F12 reset view option was a big help. For some reason the camera position sometimes recalibrates in-game and I end up looking out from my virtual chest or having an out of body experience, floating high up above where I should be. Not sure if this is the game or the OR drivers but, once I'm sitting comfortably, if I use F12 to set my position then I would expect it to remain that way without auto-magically choosing to mess with my set up, and not only that but then get it wrong.
Some additional work would be very welcome on improving some of the flat views, such as the maps and game options. Wrapping them around the field of vision in some way might work. I don't really want to keep straining myself to stretch across so far just to read what's down the far left hand side.
The side HUD panels can also be a little awkward as they keep closing whilst I'm trying to read the info and navigate the menus. It seems like they need to be a little less sensitive to head movements once they are active. This is more of a problem whilst flying due to the acceleration head-bobbing effect which, as others have posted, does not work well as part of a VR experience for me and should be made configurable.
Finally, I get regular random pulses of brightness across the screen. Not flashes like the Hyperspace lightning, but just a slight momentary increase in the overall brightness level. This could be from the game or maybe a fault on my OR, I'm not really sure. Does anyone else get this? It's not something I've seen in any of the discussions I've read so far.
[Edit: This problem was quickly solved by Mark D in post #2, and was due to hyperthreading being enabled on my i7]
In conclusion very happy and thoroughly enjoying the ED universe through my OR eyes
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