Ok... I get it.

[Pville_Piper]

So I'm on the road again and finally got a day off here in Charlotte, NC. With the laundry done I decided to head over to the Microsoft store to see if I could get into a VR demo and I got to try both the Samsung Odyssey and the Oculus Rift... My mind is now blown...

I tried the Samsung first and I the first thing I got to see was some kind of Mars landing. I was blown away by the detail, first you were outside of the ship as it began its entry and then inside. I was amazed at how clear the image was. looking over the planet from a 100 miles up was a bit disquieting but when the view switched inside the capsule you really felt like you were there inside the ship. I then did a 360 degree video where you were on a yacht and then in the water with a school of Dolphins. It was pretty neat, but you really noticed the lesser quality of the screens (from a perspective of a good monitor) as things were a bit grainy due to the screen door effect. I then played the Holo trainer till my session timed out. It was really neat.

For the Oculus session I opted to just do the tour as I was interested in how the screens compared more than games. I didn't get to see anything that wasn't computer generated such as the 360 video but I was very impressed. The second cut had you standing on top of a building at night in a very large city. It was pretty awesome, I had prepared myself for the look over the platform so I didn't feel afraid, but then, unsuspectingly I caught myself as I was looking around suddenly wondering where my feet were in relation to the edge of the platform! Then there a village made of paper that looked so real and cool, leaning down to look around things was really neat. But the final thing was the T-Rex coming around the corner and walking up to me, roaring and bending down to look me in the eye. As it walked over me and exited I was amazed by the scale of it. Just mind blowing!

So if I were to buy a headset?

The pros of the Oculus are that it has many games and is $100 cheaper than the Samsung. The Samsung has a nicer screen, I like the way it fit my head ands the weight of it felt better. It's cables and lack of light houses were a plus. I would say that the Samsung is my favorite and were they closer in price it would be a no brainer. Still, I really like the Samsung.

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

My advice would be, if you can afford it go for the Samsung, as the Rift will likely be turning into a "budget" entry into VR with the new MR and PiMax headsets coming onto the market.

Wait until you see Elite In there - everything makes so much more sense once you are in your ship rather than watching it on a flat screen.

 

[Pville_Piper]

That's what I'm leaning towards. The sense of scale is so amazing!

 

[NW3]

That's what I'm leaning towards. The sense of scale is so amazing!

That's what everyone says.

Years ago, I was able to experience the very first consumer VR headsets, which had a resolution of 320x240. Even then, the 3D effect was quite good. I haven't yet tried VR in ED, but based on everyone's comments, I chose to back the Pimax 8K headset. I hope the wait (until January or later) is worth it. (I think it will be.)

 

[Pville_Piper]

That's what everyone says.

Years ago, I was able to experience the very first consumer VR headsets, which had a resolution of 320x240. Even then, the 3D effect was quite good. I haven't yet tried VR in ED, but based on everyone's comments, I chose to back the Pimax 8K headset. I hope the wait (until January or later) is worth it. (I think it will be.)

I think it will, I just didn't have the money at the time to make the commitment.

 

[Ryder35]

Before you decide have a read of the review thread for the Galaxy. 2 people who have tried it in ED seem to prefer their other solution (rift and Pimax 4k)

 

[TorTorden_VR]

That's what everyone says.

Years ago, I was able to experience the very first consumer VR headsets, which had a resolution of 320x240. Even then, the 3D effect was quite good. I haven't yet tried VR in ED, but based on everyone's comments, I chose to back the Pimax 8K headset. I hope the wait (until January or later) is worth it. (I think it will be.)

Here's hoping.

I'm a little concerned about performance since I find myself turning down settings on the CV1 with the 1080ti...

And after buying this Coffee Lake build to house it I couldn't afford to go Volta.
Then again I still expect I would want the card to come after Volta to run the Pimax anyways...

 

[loribee]

Before you decide have a read of the review thread for the Galaxy. 2 people who have tried it in ED seem to prefer their other solution (rift and Pimax 4k)

Yeah - the Mixed Reality plug-in for SteamVR is not ready for prime time, and the Samsung headset has a miniscule sweet spot.

Elite was basically unplayable for me on the Samsung and I returned it the next day.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Just for lulz, I set my graphics settings to VR medium, did some tweaks and fired up the oculus debug tool and set the supersampling to the magic number of 1.68654.
And it was actually quite playable, of course I only did some light flying around obsidian orbital and nearby moon.

And I did have a fair few minor stutters, common to my experience of fairly high SS.
But all in all, if I got twice the FOV I might be ok with these settings.

 

[evanevery]

My advice would be, if you can afford it go for the Samsung, as the Rift will likely be turning into a "budget" entry into VR with the new MR and PiMax headsets coming onto the market.

Wait until you see Elite In there - everything makes so much more sense once you are in your ship rather than watching it on a flat screen.

I would suggest you check out my reviews of the Samsung unit first. Be sure to read the WHOLE thread:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/390741-ED-and-Windows-MR-(Samsung-Odyssey-1440x1600)

 

[Pville_Piper]

Yeah - the Mixed Reality plug-in for SteamVR is not ready for prime time, and the Samsung headset has a miniscule sweet spot.

Elite was basically unplayable for me on the Samsung and I returned it the next day.

Actually, I didn't have an issue with either of the headsets as far as visuals. The Samsung was better. I can see no issues that you are talking about but then my IPD is 65 so then that might make the difference.

 

[Pville_Piper]

I would suggest you check out my reviews of the Samsung unit first. Be sure to read the WHOLE thread:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/390741-ED-and-Windows-MR-(Samsung-Odyssey-1440x1600)

I did, and I haven't seen anyone else talk about the issues that you point out with the mouse. Getting to actually try the headsets on was something I really needed to do to judge if I wanted to do VR. Honestly, both the Oculus and the Samsung were both up to the task visually.

As far as the other issues with the "driver" it could be that it needs some optimization. I find it interesting that you felt that the issues that Loribee had were likey a driver conflict but you don't seem to feel this way about your issues with the mouse. Again, it may need sorting out with a later driver. IF I buy a VR headset it won't be until after the 30th and then only after I see how high I can push my GTX 970 with low settings. If I can average 120 fps in stations and planets then I might buy one but is I can't then it is very likely the GTX 970 won't be able to drive the HMD well enough.

Buying a HMD and a video card isn't likely to be an option right now.

 

[loribee]

I did, and I haven't seen anyone else talk about the issues that you point out with the mouse. Getting to actually try the headsets on was something I really needed to do to judge if I wanted to do VR. Honestly, both the Oculus and the Samsung were both up to the task visually.

As far as the other issues with the "driver" it could be that it needs some optimization. I find it interesting that you felt that the issues that Loribee had were likey a driver conflict but you don't seem to feel this way about your issues with the mouse. Again, it may need sorting out with a later driver. IF I buy a VR headset it won't be until after the 30th and then only after I see how high I can push my GTX 970 with low settings. If I can average 120 fps in stations and planets then I might buy one but is I can't then it is very likely the GTX 970 won't be able to drive the HMD well enough.

Buying a HMD and a video card isn't likely to be an option right now.

For what it's worth, I did see the same issue with the mouse, but I don't use the mouse at all when I play, and the more pressing issue for me was the text clarity.

Quick question: do either of you guys wear glasses? I don't wear them when playing, but I do wear them for distance when driving. I am wondering if maybe Elite was rendering the panel 'further away' with the Samsung and that was why I could not read it.

 

[Pville_Piper]

I use Bifocals actually, but I didn't wear them during the demos and I felt that for me, both screens were in focus so I lucked out. My IPD is also closer to the "average" so that help as well. I didn't notice anything that was out of focus with either headset.

I know the Oculus will run on the GTX 970 so I might get that instead, that way I can save up for a really good video card, maybe the next gen will be out by that time.

 

[loribee]

thanks that's good to know - i am at a complete loss as to why I had this issue to be honest - it only seemed to effect text and not the actual models

 

[evanevery]

I did, and I haven't seen anyone else talk about the issues that you point out with the mouse. Getting to actually try the headsets on was something I really needed to do to judge if I wanted to do VR. Honestly, both the Oculus and the Samsung were both up to the task visually.

As far as the other issues with the "driver" it could be that it needs some optimization. I find it interesting that you felt that the issues that Loribee had were likey a driver conflict but you don't seem to feel this way about your issues with the mouse. Again, it may need sorting out with a later driver. IF I buy a VR headset it won't be until after the 30th and then only after I see how high I can push my GTX 970 with low settings. If I can average 120 fps in stations and planets then I might buy one but is I can't then it is very likely the GTX 970 won't be able to drive the HMD well enough.

Buying a HMD and a video card isn't likely to be an option right now.

I ***am*** running the latest Nvidia Driver, the latest Windows Update, the Latest SteamVR software and the Latest "MR4VR" component. I checked all this before/during my experience with the Samsung unit.

...and I never said Loribee's issue was "due to a driver conflict". I suggested her issues MIGHT be due to her original Pimax software tweaking the SteamVR settings and then the new Samsung unit inheriting them. ...and the reason I suggested this was because her settings were quite different then mine. ...and my settings were working relatively well compared to what she was seeing.

But thanks anyway!

 

[evanevery]

For what it's worth, I did see the same issue with the mouse, but I don't use the mouse at all when I play, and the more pressing issue for me was the text clarity.

Quick question: do either of you guys wear glasses? I don't wear them when playing, but I do wear them for distance when driving. I am wondering if maybe Elite was rendering the panel 'further away' with the Samsung and that was why I could not read it.

It wasn't the mouse use specifically. The juddering and flickering simply seems to manifest itself on those screens where the mouse is "available". I was simply trying to figure out why some screens were flicker/judder free (flying, fighting, etc), and some screens had the problem (station menu's, galmap, sysmap). The common denominator seems to be that those screens which support a mouse overlay have the issue and those without mouse support don't. Elite Dangerous has always had issues with on-screen mouse support - particularly in VR. Perhaps the "historically problematic" code FDEV is using for the mouse overlay is causing even greater challenges with the "MR4VR" component...

I use glasses for reading (or sitting in front of a computer). They are not bi-focals. I tried using the Samsung unit both with/without glasses. Glasses seem to work/fit fairly well but, like other HMD's, don't seem to matter that much. I actually had prescription lenses made for my Rift in hopes of improving the image, but the way HMD's "project their image into your eyes" just doesn't seem to really benefit from the use of glasses. (...at least not as much as "real life"). The image is about as good as it gets even without glasses. (at least for me)

 

[TorTorden_VR]

thanks that's good to know - i am at a complete loss as to why I had this issue to be honest - it only seemed to effect text and not the actual models

It has in my experience been most obvious on text, but it does mess with sense of scale and general perception.
So if it is set wrong things feel really weird and can add to a very surreal and unpleasent experience.

And I have heard rumors ED does some odd things with ipd.
like it only reads the IPD measurement on game start, and if you pushed setting to one end, bogged game and adjusted back would leave good readability etc but sense of scale way out of wack.

 

[Pville_Piper]

I ***am*** running the latest Nvidia Driver, the latest Windows Update, the Latest SteamVR software and the Latest "MR4VR" component. I checked all this before/during my experience with the Samsung unit.

...and I never said Loribee's issue was "due to a driver conflict". I suggested her issues MIGHT be due to her original Pimax software tweaking the SteamVR settings and then the new Samsung unit inheriting them. ...and the reason I suggested this was because her settings were quite different then mine. ...and my settings were working relatively well compared to what she was seeing.

But thanks anyway!

You may not have said so but the that was clearly the implication as I saw it. I've had issues before where a driver for something like a mouse caused a lot of issues with something else. I am more worried that the Tobii Eyes I'm currently using will cause issues for me. I can get around the mouse this it seems if I don't use it in the game, but I would hate to have to unhook or otherwise disable the Tobi eyes unless I will go VR full time. I am also worried that the unit won't track in a dim room so using while it the wife is asleep may be an issue as well as I tend to play a lot in the early mornings on the weekends.

On a side note, the Microsoft store has a special on the Samsung unit dropping the price to $449...

 

[evanevery]

You may not have said so but the that was clearly the implication as I saw it. I've had issues before where a driver for something like a mouse caused a lot of issues with something else. I am more worried that the Tobii Eyes I'm currently using will cause issues for me. I can get around the mouse this it seems if I don't use it in the game, but I would hate to have to unhook or otherwise disable the Tobi eyes unless I will go VR full time. I am also worried that the unit won't track in a dim room so using while it the wife is asleep may be an issue as well as I tend to play a lot in the early mornings on the weekends.

On a side note, the Microsoft store has a special on the Samsung unit dropping the price to $449...

We were comparing settings, not driver versions. I was having a much better (albeit not perfect) experience than loribee was, so we were trying to figure out which settings were different and why they may have ended up that way. Although YOU may have had problems with drivers interfering with each other, please don't infer that was what I was claiming and then call it "interesting"...

You're also missing what I'm saying about the juddering/flickering with the screens that "support an on-screen mouse". It has NOTHING to do with whether you actually USE the mouse or not. (Please re-read post #17 above).