Nothing new happening on the VR front?
- Thread starter kiario
- Start date
Next generation is still in "deep development" nobody is really talking.
But both oculus/HTC steam was said from day 1 that they are not doing the hell phone type train with annual small updates.
But more like a console like model cycle with about three years between each major update, maybe even more.
Now I don't expect them to be much more than a few years away from gen 2.
Certainly nothing like the seven year gap as there was between ps3 and ps4.
As for patches etc. It's being tinkered on patch for patch but last week beta showed some marked improvements in VR so I'm having my fingers crossed it carries over.
But both oculus/HTC steam was said from day 1 that they are not doing the hell phone type train with annual small updates.
But more like a console like model cycle with about three years between each major update, maybe even more.
Now I don't expect them to be much more than a few years away from gen 2.
Certainly nothing like the seven year gap as there was between ps3 and ps4.
As for patches etc. It's being tinkered on patch for patch but last week beta showed some marked improvements in VR so I'm having my fingers crossed it carries over.
It will take a while... but who knows...
https://www.roadtovr.com/vr-headsets-based-kopins-2k-display-expected-end-2018/
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I think it might be a little while yet. The biggest improvement they can make to the current VR in my opinion is to increase the resolution to eliminate the SDE, but event the top of the line GPU today has a hard time driving a smooth 90 FPS at max settings. If you double the resolution of the headset you are going to need a GPU that doesn't even exist yet. I wonder why they don't do some sort of internal scaling solution where they double the pixels in the headset but still have the GPU render it at the current resolution and then scale it in the headset like current 4k TV's scale up a 1080P signal.
My prediction is that we'll see one of two things:
Small increment in resolution once the next generation of GPUs are out. OR Keeping the existing (or slightly upgraded) models as entry level and releasing new high end models with eye tracking to keep from overloading GPU.
Small increment in resolution once the next generation of GPUs are out. OR Keeping the existing (or slightly upgraded) models as entry level and releasing new high end models with eye tracking to keep from overloading GPU.
Like Dibiase said we're at least 2 generations of GPU's away from properly supporting noticeably higher resolutions with the necessary fidelity to make it worthwhile.
If anything newer games will likely do ok, since they might incorporate newer tech or make better use of of multi GPU setups, but Elite would likely need a full engine upgrade.
The only possible hope might be that going to a 64 bit only client might remove a bottleneck that could help scale it up as well.
If anything newer games will likely do ok, since they might incorporate newer tech or make better use of of multi GPU setups, but Elite would likely need a full engine upgrade.
The only possible hope might be that going to a 64 bit only client might remove a bottleneck that could help scale it up as well.
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@imski
The exception is if they can get good enough and cheap enough eye tracking in place. That way they could render at full resolution only where your eye is pointing, and at lower resolution outside that, where your eyes themselves are "lower resolution" reducing the GPU power needed for rendering at a higher perceived resolution.
But taking _full_ advantage of something like that will likely need to be supported by the game engine itself. I'd expect unity, unreal and the like to have their stuff in place fairly quickly but Frontiers engine is another matter, hopefully they'd make it a priority.
The exception is if they can get good enough and cheap enough eye tracking in place. That way they could render at full resolution only where your eye is pointing, and at lower resolution outside that, where your eyes themselves are "lower resolution" reducing the GPU power needed for rendering at a higher perceived resolution.
But taking _full_ advantage of something like that will likely need to be supported by the game engine itself. I'd expect unity, unreal and the like to have their stuff in place fairly quickly but Frontiers engine is another matter, hopefully they'd make it a priority.
The game development makes a big difference as well. Most of my VR time is in Elite and I think it works pretty well on the rift, but it is far from the best VR experience. My personal gold standard for the best VR experience at the moment would be Lone Echo. It looks amazing even at the current resolutions.
I hope foveated rendering is the next big thing and is used to springboard to 4K VR displays. Modern GPUs ought to be more than enough for 4K VR panels since only a very small area actually needs to be rendered at full resolution.
The hands-on I've seen with the headsets coming out from new vendors this fall state they are on par with the Rift and Vive, so unfortunately they seem more like a continuation of gen 1 and not gen 2 :-(
I did a little reading on foveated rendering and it seems like it is pretty much ready to go. They are just lacking headsets with proper eye tracking and displays. The eye tracking tech already exist and companies like Kopin are really close to releasing high res micro displays. All that seems to be needed is someone to put all the tech together in a headset. This is really promise tech as I asumed we were years away from high res VR because of the GPU power but with foveat that limitation goes away. Hopefully we will see a gen 2 headset within the next 18 months.
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The better the GPU, the more you can super sample. The more you can super sample, the better the VR image.
Even if higher resolution headsets do come out,the older headsets will benefit because they will be lower resolution, meaning you can up the sampling without losing FPS.
Imagine four years from now, 4k headsets may be out but will need crazy GPU and CPU to hit 90fps.
The VIVE and Oculus will probably be able to have 4x or more super sampling with those GPUs.
Not so bad being an early adopter if you can do that.
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Slopey
Volunteer Moderator
Imho, VR won't achieve critical mass until consumers have machines which can run it. Then it's just a headset buy, rather than the HMD but you need a new GPU and then you need a PSU and oh you'll need a faster proc and more memory etc.....
PSVR is the first tranche of this - if MS adds VR to Scorpio, that'll generate more traction. For now though, there's an awareness of it - it's starting to make in-roads in corporates, but it won't hit mainstream for a while yet. Something like Ready Player One might also push it along in the public's mind (and someone should really make a film version of Snow Crash!).
Anyways - I figure another 2-3 years by which time 1080 capable GPU is effectively entry level.
PSVR is the first tranche of this - if MS adds VR to Scorpio, that'll generate more traction. For now though, there's an awareness of it - it's starting to make in-roads in corporates, but it won't hit mainstream for a while yet. Something like Ready Player One might also push it along in the public's mind (and someone should really make a film version of Snow Crash!).
Anyways - I figure another 2-3 years by which time 1080 capable GPU is effectively entry level.
LG demoed a higher-res SteamVR headset back in February. There still isn't any announced ship date from them, but it looked like the next step up from the Vive: it used the nicer PSVR-style headclamp+visor (rather than an elastic band), and the resolution was a 50% bump over the Vive/Rift (1440x1280 per eye).
I think that today's high-end GPUs would be able to handle that (especially as all these novel new VR optimization methods seem to keep appearing and improving)
I think that today's high-end GPUs would be able to handle that (especially as all these novel new VR optimization methods seem to keep appearing and improving)
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There was this news article in a post here...
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/364524-What-oculus-have-in-the-pipe-line
flimley
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/364524-What-oculus-have-in-the-pipe-line
flimley