Old non-VR ED player, new VR (Rift) owner

[Dedlite]

I've finally got round to upgrading my rig (Z170 / i5-6600k overclocked to 4.5Ghz / 16Gb DDR4 / 980TI) and played with my stock Rift headset, I'm ready for the main event ; there seem to be a plethora of tweaks for existing VR ED users, but first how do I make my ED installing VR-aware? I'm guessing I'll have to reinstall the whole ED/Horizons shebang?

Then which of the tweaks/tools will I definitely have to use?

 

[[VR] Merkir]

I've finally got round to upgrading my rig (Z170 / i5-6600k overclocked to 4.5Ghz / 16Gb DDR4 / 980TI) and played with my stock Rift headset, I'm ready for the main event ; there seem to be a plethora of tweaks for existing VR ED users, but first how do I make my ED installing VR-aware? I'm guessing I'll have to reinstall the whole ED/Horizons shebang?

Then which of the tweaks/tools will I definitely have to use?

DrKaii's EDProfiler is very good. It allows you to quickly switch between VR or monitor use, and easily change/tweak the important graphics settings and save your own profiles. You won't need to reinstall the game. Link to thread and website:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/262552-EDProfiler-A-New-Display-Switcher-Robust-Settings-Profiler-Switcher-Detector!
http://www.drkaii.com/tools/edprofiler/

My sequence for starting up ED in VR, including optional software, is:

While in Windows:
- Start Oculus Client
- (optional) Start Virtual Desktop. This allows use of Windows while in VR. Switch between ED and VD using the Pause/break button.
- Change windows volume control to select Rift Audio
- Start EDProfiler and apply one of the four pre-defined VR profiles. Note that after the first time, this step is only required if you switch between VR and monitor. If you play VR exclusively, your VR settings will not have changed. But you will probably want to tweak some of the VR settings to adjust the visuals/fps to your taste.
- Launch ED and click PLAY

Put on Oculus Rift headset. While wearing headset:
- Play the game like you've never played before


IMPORTANT
Make sure to read the EDProfiler thread and other VR threads to ensure you choose the correct VR settings for your system. There's a lot of info in the ED forums about optimising the rift experience. This is a must to obtain a good VR experience. You'll be disappointed otherwise.

 

[Cornelius lucius]

@ Merkir, that is certainly a lot of opening programs to get in VR.

@ OP, you don't need to re-install ED/Horizons. When the oculus client is running, go to settings and and tick the allow outside content button (cant remember what its called but it is something like that)
Then just start ED from the normal launcher. When the game has started go to gfx settings and set to HMD head set, (again can't remember exact name of button, at work and can't check).
You only need to do these two the first time you set up.
That will let the game run through the Rift, then you can go and play straight away or have a play around with the gfx settings.
Oh and before you launch the game, make sure you have the rift headphones set as default audio device in Windows, just right click on the speaker icon on bottom right of your desktop, select playback devices and set rift head set as default.

The only third party tool I use is Voice Attack as it makes things so much easier in VR, plus I still grin when I can say 'Engage' to start the FSD.
I'm sure there are plenty of tools around to use, but personally I haven't found a need for any ymmv.

 

[[VR] Frank_G]

The first thing to do, is to go into the settings of Oculus home and activate the option, that it recognizes third party software. The second step is to go the the ED settings and set your 3D settings to "HMD and headphones". Then restart both Oculus home and ED and it will automatically launch in VR mode. No need to reinstall anything. After you have done that, you can start looking at the posts above this one, to tweak your settings accordingly. There are already several threads, that describe in detail, how and what you change in the ED settings to get the best VR experience.

And hopefully you know, that there is no way back from playing Elite in VR. Try it one time and playing on a monitor is a thing of the past. Right on CMDR o7

 

[Dedlite]

Brilliant stuff fellas - I won't have to reinstall ED is a definite plus! @Merkir I'll def hae a play with EDProfiler! Sounds like I'll have to trawl the many threads to make the most of ED VR!

One other question; what's your method of controll, when in VR mode? Before, I was a keyboard/mouse pilot, but won't be able do re. HMD - is HOTAS the way?

 

[dape]

definetly get the EDProfiler to quickly change between profiles. Couldn't live without it. Also I recommend to switch HUD colours to something blueish. It is much better to read in VR than orange.

I guess with mouse/keyboard it is kinda difficult. I use a HOTAS X52 pro and don't need the keyboard at all except chatting or typing system names in the galaxy map.

I have a very similar Rig, 980 instead of 980Ti (wich one is faster?). I basically run the game at high VR settings, in game SS 0.65 and 1.9 set via the Oculus Debug tool. If you like I can post pictures of those settings. I have played about a week with all kinds of settings... (still work in progress)

 

[Dedlite]

980TI is faster - yummy!

 

[Darkfyre99]

Brilliant stuff fellas - I won't have to reinstall ED is a definite plus! @Merkir I'll def hae a play with EDProfiler! Sounds like I'll have to trawl the many threads to make the most of ED VR!

One other question; what's your method of controll, when in VR mode? Before, I was a keyboard/mouse pilot, but won't be able do re. HMD - is HOTAS the way?

I use a CH Products HOTAS setup myself, including pedals. Once you get used to it (ANY new control setup requires about two weeks of practice to become proficient at it) you'll never go back to keyboard and mouse... much like you won't be able to go back to using a monitor once you've played Elite in VR.

One thing to keep in mind is that you'll want to bind the galaxy map controls to your HOTAS setup. It's not easy to select stars in VR with a mouse, so you'll want to learn how to control the map with your HOTAS controllers. There's plenty of threads on this board on how to do it.

Finally, if you don't already know how to touch type, visit https://www.typingclub.com/ and learn. The lessons are free (afaik), and IMO it's a skill everyone should learn, even if they don't play in VR.

 

[[VR] Frank_G]

Brilliant stuff fellas - I won't have to reinstall ED is a definite plus! @Merkir I'll def hae a play with EDProfiler! Sounds like I'll have to trawl the many threads to make the most of ED VR!

One other question; what's your method of controll, when in VR mode? Before, I was a keyboard/mouse pilot, but won't be able do re. HMD - is HOTAS the way?

For me a decent HOTAS is the one and only way to go. I use a Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS and the new Thrustmaster rudder pedals. Besides being the best sticki ever used, it is not the optimum solution for a spacesim (but still the coolest ).
I recently watched some videos about the new T.16000 FCS HOTAS, also by Thrustmaster, that seems to be a very decent and mid prized solution at 130$. It can also be combined with the new rudder pedals, or if you go for a spacesim only solution, a second stick (they can be configured for right and left hand use). Why a second stick? Because 2 sticks offer maximum comfort when making frequent use of all six axis and maneuvering with FAoff.

 

[Alec Turner]

I'd totally recommend HOTAS for use in VR (I'd go as far as to say it's almost essential). I've been the proud owner of an Oculus for a month now and (following a tempoorary loss of sanity last week) found myself installing a shiny new Asus 1080 at the weekend!

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/304028-Which-GTX-1080

I can heartily recommend the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS joystick which many many ED players use. For the money (£32.99) it's really hard to beat.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/v57/Thru...5&sr=8-1&keywords=thrustmaster+t.flight+hotas

There's also a new Thrustmaster which has just come out that's getting good reviews ..

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/283315-Thrustmaster-T-16000M-FCS-HOTAS-official-thread

There are a lot of other HOTAS alternatives but they start to get pretty expensive (he says, ludicrous graphics card insanity notwithstanding).

Here's a few other good forum threads that I've subscribed to for VR stuff ...

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ral-Discussion-and-OR-Games-to-try-out-Thread

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...er-Robust-Settings-Profiler-Switcher-Detector!

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/278996-Rift-hdmi-port-users

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/241558-The-Oculus-Rift-CV1-General-Discussion-Thread

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/274325-How-to-get-Elite-in-VR-looking-CRYSTAL-CLEAR-D

Oh, and a thread of my own about my early ED Oculus experiences (that was pre-1080 mind you) with some tips that worked for me re: binding the joystick for use on the galaxy map, and some other stuff.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/295207-Oculus-Elite-The-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly

o7

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

You can also use the Xbox controller that comes with your OR. But for the best experience it is HOTAS all the way.

The Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS is the best budget stick out there at the moment in my eyes.
If you have some extra cash, get this one: Thrustmaster T-16000M FCS HOTAS Joystick.

Don't go for any Saitek at the moment.

 

[[VR] Merkir]

Brilliant stuff fellas - I won't have to reinstall ED is a definite plus! @Merkir I'll def hae a play with EDProfiler! Sounds like I'll have to trawl the many threads to make the most of ED VR!

One other question; what's your method of controll, when in VR mode? Before, I was a keyboard/mouse pilot, but won't be able do re. HMD - is HOTAS the way?

As others have said, the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X is a great entry level hotas. I highly recommend it.

When it comes to VR graphics settings, one of the most important since 2.2 is the new "HMD Image Quality" which for your 980TI I would suggest should be set to 1.25 or possibly 1.5 if ASW is enabled. Leave "Super Sampling" at 1.0 for the rift (0.65 was mentioned earlier, but that is only for the HTC Vive).

Being a pentile display, the HUD and text colours should be changed to mainly green (and blue) which will improve text clarity immensely. I've tweaked the recommended DK2 colour scheme a little for my own use. EDProfiler lets you easily change the HUD colour scheme and has a select box option for the rift called "DK2 Friendly", in the GUI Colour section. I'd recommend that, or my variation gives a more correct enemy red in radar. It's the following, which can be pasted directly into EDProfiler.

Red: 0.15, 0.03, -1
Green: -1, 1, 0.5
Blue: 0.15, 0.25, 0.9

 

[Dedlite]

D
- Start Oculus Client
- (optional) Start Virtual Desktop. This allows use of Windows while in VR. Switch between ED and VD using the Pause/break button.

One thing I founmd out (by accident, actually!) is a app called 'bigscreen' on the Occulus store, that can do the same thing, ie. view your desktop right in front of your eye.


But it's free - whereas Virtual Desktop is 10 quid or so!

 

[Alec Turner]

One thing I founmd out (by accident, actually!) is a app called 'bigscreen' on the Occulus store, that can do the same thing, ie. view your desktop right in front of your eye.


But it's free - whereas Virtual Desktop is 10 quid or so!

I love BigScreen ... it was one of the very first things I tried. What I loved about it was the ability to pick a really cool environment (there's a really nice luxury rooftop apartment I'm particularly fond of), then you decide where you want to sit (e.g. out on the balcony by the pool), then you decide where you want your screen, how big, how far away and how curved and then you can just sit there to read facebook or the news or whatever. It's kind of miraculous too because I can't normally read without glasses but in VR (yeah yeah, OK, admittedly I am in effect wearing one enormous pair of glasses I suppose) I can read text perfectly. It also supports social interaction - haven't tried this yet but you can have an avatar, you invite other people to your "room" and then you can allegedly look over at other peoples screens. As well as personal floating screens some rooms have a giant screen (e.g. the entire wall of the living room is a screen) and one person can choose to project their desktop on to it for the others to enjoy (so you could use it to host a "film night" for example).

 

[dape]

As others have said, the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X is a great entry level hotas. I highly recommend it.

When it comes to VR graphics settings, one of the most important since 2.2 is the new "HMD Image Quality" which for your 980TI I would suggest should be set to 1.25 or possibly 1.5 if ASW is enabled. Leave "Super Sampling" at 1.0 for the rift (0.65 was mentioned earlier, but that is only for the HTC Vive).

I use the CV1 and after lots of testing, SS 0.65 + HMD 1.0 + DebugTool 2.0 works best for me. It seems cranking up HMD drops FPS faster on my machine than cranking up SS...

 

[Alec Turner]

I use the CV1 and after lots of testing, SS 0.65 + HMD 1.0 + DebugTool 2.0 works best for me. It seems cranking up HMD drops FPS faster on my machine than cranking up SS...

I'm 99.9% certain that the new HMD quality setting IS the same as the Debug Tool setting. Use of the Debug tool was a workaround but now that this setting is supported directly in the game there is no longer any reason to use it. Set you SS to 0.65 and your HMD quality to 2.0. No need to run the Debug Tool at all (unless you're using its monitoring facilities in some way).

 

[conceit]

I love BigScreen ... it was one of the very first things I tried. What I loved about it was the ability to pick a really cool environment (there's a really nice luxury rooftop apartment I'm particularly fond of), then you decide where you want to sit (e.g. out on the balcony by the pool), then you decide where you want your screen, how big, how far away and how curved and then you can just sit there to read facebook or the news or whatever. It's kind of miraculous too because I can't normally read without glasses but in VR (yeah yeah, OK, admittedly I am in effect wearing one enormous pair of glasses I suppose) I can read text perfectly. It also supports social interaction - haven't tried this yet but you can have an avatar, you invite other people to your "room" and then you can allegedly look over at other peoples screens. As well as personal floating screens some rooms have a giant screen (e.g. the entire wall of the living room is a screen) and one person can choose to project their desktop on to it for the others to enjoy (so you could use it to host a "film night" for example).

But can you switch between ED (vr mode) and desktop somehow? I tried this with big screen some time ago but wasn't successful. Does it work now?

 

[Alec Turner]

But can you switch between ED (vr mode) and desktop somehow? I tried this with big screen some time ago but wasn't successful. Does it work now?

Not sure, I haven't tried that whereas I gather you can with Virtual Desktop? (is it just a matter of starting Virtual Destkop from Oculus Home before you launch Elite and then using Alt+Tab?).

 

[conceit]

Not sure, I haven't tried that whereas I gather you can with Virtual Desktop? (is it just a matter of starting Virtual Destkop from Oculus Home before you launch Elite and then using Alt+Tab?).

I don't own virtual desktop, but it came up in Merkir's post because he states one could switch vr/desktop (which probably is the only reason he mentioned Virtual Desktop in a thread about ED). See:

- (optional) Start Virtual Desktop. This allows use of Windows while in VR. Switch between ED and VD using the Pause/break button.

That would be a reason to spend $10 on it. Anyhow, Big Screen is awesome, but switching to and from vr games could make the deal for me.

 

[Alec Turner]

I don't own virtual desktop, but it came up in Merkir's post because he states one could switch vr/desktop (which probably is the only reason he mentioned Virtual Desktop in a thread about ED).

Found this which might help ...

https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualDes...d_elite_dangerous_vr/?st=ivi47zez&sh=867d3bac