Seeking advice: Oculus with two gaming locations

[Rowander]

I'm jumping into the VR ship in the coming days, and I'd like to ask for advice on how to setup Oculus Rift for two gaming locations. How do you do it?

I intend to use the Rift primarily for Elite Dangerous and Project Cars 2. When flying ED, I am on the couch. I have two "platforms" that I use to hold the HOTAS stable while playing ED and at the same time talking to my wife. But when playing Assetto or Project Cars, I move to a dedicated "sim pit" just behind the sofa. Same PC, two monitors, two locations. How do you do it? Do you need to move all the tracking stations every time? Is it doable moving only one?

Any insights on this kind of setup would be appreciated. Thanks! o7

 

[VR Skinnerer]

I don't do this, but...

If you can exactly place the tracker relative to your headset when you move between locations, you'll be good.
With two trackers, which I think you get with the hand thingies, you'll have two to place. Get them exact in relation to each other and the headset as you can. The relative distances and height will be the thing.
So, if you can find places to put them when you set up, it will save a lot of time later on.
Maybe tie the trackers together with string, to keep the distance apart the same each time. Put them on stands too, and mark them L and R, or 1 and 2.

 

[ziddan]

How far apart are your locations? Is there line of sight between them?

The Rift has tracking leds all over the visor itself as well as on the back of the headstrap so no matter which direction you are facing it should be tracked as long as you are in view of at least one sensor.

If you are lucky you could get away with not moving the sensors at all and just hitting the "reset hmd" buttton in the games when you are seated in the location you want.

Here is some guy testing sensor range https://youtu.be/wtAPjBZvxl0 and he gets 15-16 feet from the sensor before the tracking cuts out.

Edit: im on vive myself and i have my flight seat in one corner across my 2.2m square room scale area and it still works great while on my couch on the other side of it, the luxury of the lighthouse tracking system

 

[evanevery]

If you haven't already pulled the trigger on the Rift (or Vive), most of the new VR equipment (Windows MR, Pimax) uses "inside-out" tracking technology and doesn't use/require any external tracking stations...

 

[Rowander]

Thanks for the replies, commanders.

About distance, the "starship" cockpit and the "car" cockpit are very close, 1m apart. The thing is, the car seat is looking 90º left. But as per your experience, I guess there sould be a sweetspot where the trackers can see the headset in both seating positions.

About the new Windows VR devices, I'm not really impressed by them. They seem to lack some basic aspects that are quite polished now on the rift, like software, stabilty, sub-par controllers, and in some of them, comfort. Inside-out tracking is nice, and a bit less SDE is also nice, but they're not deciding factors for me.

 

[evanevery]

Well... As someone who's been running a Rift for over a year. I'm about ready to shelf it for my New Samsung. I don't know where you have been getting your info but I have both of them (with a Pimax on the way) and I don't see any issues with the software, stability, anything about sub-par controllers, and tracking is spot on. The image quality is so much better than the Rift. Brighter and much more detailed. ...and its not "a bit less SDE", its "NO SDE"!

I get a couple of dropped frames now and then but only in very dense environments and the "Windows MR for Steam VR" component is only in open Beta. The headset is already outperforming the Rift and the software is not even officially done. I have to spend a couple more hours with it tonight but I'm expecting I'll be unhooking my Rift permanently...

I just brought another long time ED/Oculus player home from the office at lunch to try the Samsung and he hadn't even had the HMD fully seated before he said "Holy Crap"...

 

[Rowander]

Well, then it seems I'll have to take another look at the Samsung one. Most of the info I gathered on Reddit puts the Windows MR headsets on par with the Rift at most, and some of the things I said are coming from people leaving small reviews there. But... I'm not in a hurry, and not a fanboy of anything, so I'll take a good look at the Odyssey. Thanks

 

[evanevery]

You're coming in to this at a very "interesting time". I would NEVER tell anyone to wait to pull the trigger on VR for ED (as its a complete game changer), but now you have several different options available and some potentially massive ones in the near future (Pimax8k).

I've posted a couple of reviews of my new Samsung specifically with ED here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...sung-Odyssey-1440x1600)?p=6137530#post6137530

..its not all positive but I'm thinking the greatest shortcoming I saw was related to the relative immaturity of the "Windows MR for Steam VR" component which is still in Beta/Preview and expected to be fully done "by the holidays". This "image disruption" also only appears to happen when the on-screen mouse is active in ED (running station menu's). So while annoying, its not a game killer. And hopefully it will be resolved in very short order...

 

[Exigeous]

You're over-thinking this, it's very simple - if you can move your camera(s) for each setup just move the camera, sit down and recenter your view. If you can't move the cameras just get them pointed so they cover both seating areas. If that's too big add a third (or fourth) camera. I do this all the time - not an issue.

As for Rfit vs. "Others" (mainly Windows MR right now) I'd strongly consider the Samsung Odyssey. If I were buying a headset right now that would be it and I'm a die hard Rift fan (kickstarter backer, had mine since day 1 of release). The early reviews are very positive, the extra brightness and resolution will be a very welcome upgrade.

 

[Rowander]

You're right Evanevery, it's a difficult time to start... but let's analyze my options: (I hope it helps somebody else...)

VIVE - Not an option right now - too expensive for what it is, particularly for somebody who won't do roomscale most of the time.
RIFT - It's not the best at anything, but it works. It's also the only one with an almost reasonable price.
WMR (All except the samsung) - Reviews and opinions put them on par or even below the Rift. Some things better, some things worse. Software needs some polish but I guess it will come soon. General consensus is: take the Rift.
WMR Samsung Odyssey - A step above the rest. Some people has various issues with it, but most people like it enough to recommend it above the rift. Particularly, the screen seems much better than the rest. It has a big drawback for me though: it's not on sale in Europe right now. Getting one would be expensive, and I feel I won't have any kind of support if it breaks.
Pimax 8K - Promising product, but I'm not a backer, and that means getting hold of one is at least 6 or more months away. It's also expensive, but at least looks like it's really worth it.
LG HMD - we don't know anything, apart from the fact that they're working on it.

Right now, apart from waiting, there are not many options. I can wait until Samsung decides to bring the Odyssey to Europe, or wait for the Pimax, or the LG... but there are no hard dates to any of them.

The only reasonable option to me right now seems to be the Rift... or keep waiting.

EDIT: Thank you Exigeous, I didn't know you could add more cameras. I hope I can position them covering both areas... If I finally get the Rift. I'd like to know if Samsung is bringing the Odyssey to Europe, but it seems right now the answer is a clear "NO"...

 

[AdioKIP]

I do the same thing. When playing elite I have my cockpit setup downstairs. When I want to play a stand up VR game I have to use my upstairs living room. What I did was buy extra sensors. For elite or most "cockpit" games only one sensors is needed. Oculus comes with 2, 1 extra is only $60 bucks now. All I have to do is move my headset when I want to go from one to the other.

 

[shadow133]

Wat AdioKIP said, get extra sensors (3-4 total) and hang them in the corners to cover the entire thing. Only thing is having to reset the view once you center in new location. Or, if the cars thing only needs 1 sensor, then leave one there and use 2 for the other place. Or, for roughly the same price as 3 sensors wait a few months and get the new cheaper $190 Oculus without wires that is coming. Note: If for any reason you are having to disconnect and reconnect the rift cables to move it, get a sacrificial usb and hdmi extension. The Oculus cable connections are and will break with a few plug/unplug operations. I had 3 of these things go bad and it causes intermittent partial failures that are difficult to pinpoint. Plus Oculus will not honor warranty on the cable and the replacement (only by Oculus) cost $50.

 

[evanevery]

The Oculus cable connections are and will break with a few plug/unplug operations.

That's simply not true. Those are industry standard HDMI and USB connectors. They are designed to be inserted/removed and likely qualified for thousands of cycles. (I'm sure you can look up the spec if need be...) As long as you are not yanking on them and abusing them they should last as long as your HMD...

Update: The HDMI connector is rated as follows: (EIA-364-09C) Mate and unmated connector assemblies for 10,000 cycles at a maximum rate of 100 cycles/hour.
The USB Connector: (EIA-364-09) 3,500 mating cycles at maximum rated of 200 cycles per hour.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Neither ED or project cars or racing sims in general care about room calibration.

For largest coverage get a third camera as well, and in my expereince as long as the hmd is in inside 3m of range from any the cameras with a clear line of sight, just use the in game HMD reset to orient.
The rift has tracking LED's all over including the triangle on the back so it tracks from any direction.

 

[[VR] Frank_G]

Neither ED or project cars or racing sims in general care about room calibration.

For largest coverage get a third camera as well, and in my expereince as long as the hmd is in inside 3m of range from any the cameras with a clear line of sight, just use the in game HMD reset to orient.
The rift has tracking LED's all over including the triangle on the back so it tracks from any direction.

That is my experience as well, orientation and distance differences do not seem to affect the tracking.
Simply reset the HMD orientation, when you switch places. A third sensor does take care of any tracking issues, but you should make sure, that all 3 sensors have their own usb controller for best tracking results. Usually a PC has two controllers. Use a USB 3.0 card to get a third one.

 

[shadow133]

Regardless of how you came to these numbers, it is a fact that they have pins that bend easily and are expensive because they are proprietary. Or maybe they are shipping fake cables instead? I got 2 cables in 2 years. Both failed due to pin bending. It caused artifacts in one that I dismissed as being a glitch for months. The other caused a red tinge. On both occasions they refused to replace them under warranty, so i paid $100 in cables. What part of this is not true? Do you want my support tickets? Perhaps you should google Oculus cable pin bent or similar for more facts.

But its up to you, i’ve been using this thing for a while and use a $5 sacrificial extension. Or trust those incredible 10,000 cycles figure and Oculus with their amazing support reputation (check them on BBB).

Well at least part of what you said its true, they will last as long as your hmd. Im on my second set after the speaker stopped working. Also google this one, its pretty common becupause the speaker cable inside is also crappy.

 

[Zeeman]

Well... As someone who's been running a Rift for over a year. I'm about ready to shelf it for my New Samsung. I don't know where you have been getting your info but I have both of them (with a Pimax on the way) and I don't see any issues with the software, stability, anything about sub-par controllers, and tracking is spot on. The image quality is so much better than the Rift. Brighter and much more detailed. ...and its not "a bit less SDE", its "NO SDE"!

I get a couple of dropped frames now and then but only in very dense environments and the "Windows MR for Steam VR" component is only in open Beta. The headset is already outperforming the Rift and the software is not even officially done. I have to spend a couple more hours with it tonight but I'm expecting I'll be unhooking my Rift permanently...

I just brought another long time ED/Oculus player home from the office at lunch to try the Samsung and he hadn't even had the HMD fully seated before he said "Holy Crap"...

WOw... Did not even know Samsung had a VR headset (apart from the ones where you use your phone). I'll have to look into this. Whatever my next headset is, though, it won't be using cameras for tracking, and the tracking devices will be mains powered.

Z...

 

[TorTorden_VR]

WOw... Did not even know Samsung had a VR headset (apart from the ones where you use your phone). I'll have to look into this. Whatever my next headset is, though, it won't be using cameras for tracking, and the tracking devices will be mains powered.

Z...

It's brand new, and not sold in Europe.

 

[bisador]

I play in 2 places as well, same PC. It works just fine, except i have to recentre the headset in Elite using the default key F12, thats it.