Returning Player Looking At Trying VR

MottiKhan

MottiKhan
Most of you won't remember me. I haven't played ED for several years and haven't bought the new DLC.

I'm building a system that should be able to handle VR, but from what I'm reading here, there are issues. Most of what I read looked like old information.

The headset I'm looking at getting is the HP Reverb G2 V2. If there's a better headset, please let me know. I'm a complete noob as far as VR goes.

The system will be an i9-13900KF, 32GB DDR5, 2TB NVMe SSD and an RTX 4090. Parts are still arriving and it looks to be about a week out.

Also, any hints as far as setup would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 

Rat Catcher

Rat Catcher
Just set up Ultra VR - you have enough grunt to run it.
No issues with Nvidia graphically in EDO VR (unlike AMD currently) so you should be able to 'just play'.
Be aware that on foot drops from VR to projected flat screen in the HMD - you'll either not be bothered (I'm not) or mortally offended, there appears to be no middle ground with many of the VR enthusiasts here...
 

M. Grey

M. Grey
Welcome back! That's been quite some time...and of course some remember you! ;)

Have no idea about VR but that's a high end system, should handle VR easily.
 
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Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
I have the G2, running the game on a 5900X with 32 GB @3600 MHz and a 3080 Ti. I like the headset a lot, but I have not tried the current competitors. I would never buy a Meta headset, and the other big player is the Index, which needs lighthouses for tracking. The G2 does inside-out tracking, which is less hassle to set up, but tracking can be more unreliable especially with the motion controllers. If you plan to mostly play flight sims and racing stuff, the G2 will be great. For playing a lot of roomscale games headsets like the Index, which has better controllers and better controller tracking, might be the better choice. It also is able to run at a much higher refresh rate, but the drawback is the much lower resolution.

Nerdy stuff: I have no idea how performance will scale on your system, but with the G2, you might want to take a look at SteamVR's resolution scaling. The default scale for this headset 150%, which results in a render resolution of 3884x3792 pixels per eye (the G2 has a panel resolution of 2160x2160 per eye). VR headsets need oversampling to account for pincushion distortion of the lenses to improve visuals at the edge of the image, but 150% seems a bit excessive. 100% results in a render resolution of 3124x3056. I run my G2 at 60% for performance reasons; I try to avoid dropping into reprojection when possible - when the system cannot maintain the frame rate, the frame rate is reduced to half and the missing frames are interpolated. It works well, but you get some artefacting. I run my G2 at 60%, and with my lenses (which can vary), I personally don't see any visual improvement beyond 80%. The center of the image does not get sharper anymore, and the edges are blurred anyway because of the limited sweet spot of the lenses. Your mileage may vary, but it is likely you can reduce the scaling without visual impact.

That being said, I really like the G2 and find it comfortable enough to wear it for hours without problems. The face gasket is pretty narrow, if you wear glasses be prepared to get prescription lenses from places like vroptician.com .

Expect some performance issues even with your high-end hardware in environments where a lot of NPCs are around. Nothing you can really do about it, it is a principle issue with the threading of the game. As for the on-foot content, there is no support for motion controllers, and the game is displayed on a virtual 2D screen once you disembark. You control the on-foot portion like any other "normal" game through the various input methods.
 

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
Rat Catcher said:
Just set up Ultra VR - you have enough grunt to run it.
No issues with Nvidia graphically in EDO VR (unlike AMD currently) so you should be able to 'just play'.
Be aware that on foot drops from VR to projected flat screen in the HMD - you'll either not be bothered (I'm not) or mortally offended, there appears to be no middle ground with many of the VR enthusiasts here...
Click to expand...
I am a middle grounder...... I would prefer the option of VR (and with a 4090 you can get a taste of how it could be using a well positioned external camera). but I still do play all of the game from within my headset and am appreciative of the fact we have any vr at all as there was a time when we were told to assume no VR at all in EDO.

I find performance in ship VR ok in EDO now (after a rocky start!)

I have a reverb G2. it's a good headset for elite (make sure to enable open XR) see the vr forum for more info as I have to do school run. now
whether a G2 is worth a buy now is a tough question. in UK I think not. but if you can get for $350 or so in the state's still then sure.
I am contemplating replacing both my quest 2 and reverb G2 with a quest pro.

but that is about more than just elite. I really fancy some garden scale VR after getting a taste of it at a mates but the quest 2 controllers will not track outside.
 
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Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
[VR] Mad Mike said:
I am a middle grounder...... I would prefer the option of VR (and with a 4090 you can get a taste of how it could be using a well positioned external camera). but I still do play all of the game from within my headset and am appreciative of the fact we have any vr at all as there was a time when we were told to assume no VR at all in ED:O.

I find performance in ship be ok in ed:eek: now (after a rocky start!)
Click to expand...
isn't "not bothering" technically the middle ground between "The 2D screen is the best thing since sliced bread" and "oh my god the game is doomed, ded game because no VR on foot!!!!!"? Anyway, I don't mind the 2D screen, I prefer it to having to take off my headset when going on foot. A full VR implementation might bring its own set of issues integrating with the seated ship experience and pairing VR players with 2D players in combat situations. I don't see any on-foot VR on the horizon anytime soon, and the virtual screen is a workable solution if people just get over their personal "OMG incompetent developers" offence.

Sorry, I tend to rant. Point is: The 2D screen is fine if entitled VR players just get over themselves for once.
 

Maro-Val

Maro-Val
Welcome back. I tried VR odyssey with an a quest 2 and a 3060 and only by using virtual desktop it was close to acceptable, but frames was all over the place. Your rig should run pretty ok.
If you plan to only run legacy elite, then it will be perfect and stable everywhere.
 

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
Helmut Grokenberger said:
Sorry, I tend to rant. Point is: The 2D screen is fine if entitled VR players just get over themselves for once.
Click to expand...
quite a wide brush you are painting with.
the 2D screen is ok if you have a high resolution headset. i havent played with a low res one such as a rift CV1 or HTC Vive.......... but i would imagine that would be a worst of all worlds scenario of losing the immersion of VR as well as having to put up with a low res high screen door view and worse performance as well.

if i had one of those headsets still i think i would have to plan my gaming in advance and either do ship based stuff in VR or ground based stuff on a monitor. (i havent looked to see if there are settings to auto switch back and too so you can remove your headset when you get out of your ship or SRV..... but that could work too if possible.
 

Arioch

Arioch
@MottiKhan - I remember that avatar, welcome back 😁👍

VR Ultra is an outdated bunch of settings in my opinion - lots of Medium/Low/Off settings and Blur “On” for some weird reason - and I think you’ll be safe manually tweaking them up.

I use an i7 10700 + RTX 4070ti and have High/Ultra settings (except Blur & DoF to “Off”) Super Sampling 1.0 and HMD Quality 1.25 (though I drop this to 1.0 if I’m doing surface settlements, performance isn’t great there), so your much superior system shouldn’t have many problems - though as per Helmut’s post, check SteamVR isn’t pumping things up too high.

Please be aware that there are several unpleasant VR-specific bugs (severe flickering shadows and getting smacked in the eyes when jumping to SuperCruise being my main embuggerances) that have been present for far too long.

The on-foot virtual screen is alright-I-suppose but could really do with some basic customisation options - distance to screen, curvature, surrounding void colour, etc - but I now doubt any further VR development is going to happen. Happy to be proven wrong though 😁
 

[VR] DDM_Reaper20

[VR] DDM_Reaper20
Welcome back! I do remember you. ;) I have a 4090, as well, but still use my old Rift S (I have plans to upgrade to an HP Reverb G2 myself, but I'll have to convince my wife and save up for that. No idea when I'll manage that. :D )
 

[VR] DDM_Reaper20

[VR] DDM_Reaper20
[VR] Mad Mike said:
unless the G2 is a bargain price consider the Pico 4 as well before buying the reverb G2.. or the quest pro if feeling flush
Click to expand...
I quite like the idea of connecting the VR set directly to my graphics card -- wireless connection is cool in theory, but our router isn't exactly the hottest thing on earth as far as WLAN is concerned. Okay, okay, I'm horribly conservative as far as that is concerned. I came from the Rift, upgraded to the Rift S (never look a gift horse in the mouth)... thanks for the suggestion!
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
Also to consider: It seems the Pico 4 has a similarly designed audio system as the Rift S had, which you might not like. The open design of the Rift S was terrible, and I cannot imagine the Pico 4's speaker design to be much better. The speakers of the G2 are the same as on the Index, and they are pretty good. Not stellar, but good while being still able to hear your environment (phone, doorbell).
 

MottiKhan

MottiKhan
Thanks everyone. It's good to see some old friends here.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the G2. It shouldn't be too long before I'm back to flying around in space. I'll buy the DLC after I put the computer together. No point in downloading it to my old machine.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
MottiKhan said:
Most of you won't remember me. I haven't played ED for several years and haven't bought the new DLC.

I'm building a system that should be able to handle VR, but from what I'm reading here, there are issues. Most of what I read looked like old information.

The headset I'm looking at getting is the HP Reverb G2 V2. If there's a better headset, please let me know. I'm a complete noob as far as VR goes.

The system will be an i9-13900KF, 32GB DDR5, 2TB NVMe SSD and an RTX 4090. Parts are still arriving and it looks to be about a week out.

Also, any hints as far as setup would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
You again?... :)
No need to buy Odyssey. Stick to Legacy for the best VR experience. HP Reverb G2 V2 is the best bang for your buck. Highly recommended. :)
With your setup you should be able to run Legacy at ultra with no hiccups. Remember to set HMD settings and SS to default settings. They can kill performance, and the high native resolution of the Reverb means that such stop gaps create more artifacts/problems than they solve.
 

BL1P

BL1P
VR in Elite was amazing, in EDO not so much saddly :(
Too much shadow flicker and a many other nasty bugs, not to mention the Antialias is poor and adds to the flicker.

Maybe on a 4090 you can ignore the flickering because it looks good :)
If not load 3.8 Legacy. Its VR is Brilliant compared to 4.0.

These are just my observasions from playing VR in Both versions.
 

Sylveria

Sylveria
Definitely remember you. Welcome back. :)

I play VR with the HTC Vive Pro 2, but the HP Reverb was my second choice, and the system you've detailed should be more than adequate for playing.

The above advice and recommendations cover just about anything I'd highlight, so I'll leave that part be. I will emphasize that Odyssey doesn't have VR support for on-foot (pancake view only) but that's OK because both Legacy and Horizons 4.0 don't need foot stuff anyway. I play in Horizons 4.0/Odyssey without foot stuff so I'm not concerned with all that, because I enjoy the other upgrades it brought (like search in the Galaxy Map, etc.).

The game hasn't really changed much except a new Thargoid narrative (trying to get more players to engage with CG, I suppose) but VR is definitely a "game-changer" as far as experience goes. It's like night and day difference between VR and "pancake" monitor view, even with a head tracking system. There's just something spectacular about looking around through the windows of the cockpit while taking off and landing, or simply flying around. The perspective is so different.
 
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