Tips for a new Rift S player?

lesscode

L
I've been playing ED for some time but have just now picked up the Oculus Rift S. I've been enjoying the VR experience so far, but it's going to take some getting used to.
I have some questions on how to optimize the experience.

1. The main problem I've had so far with the Rift is the crappy Oculus software - it just seems to be constantly in the way. I don't use the hand controllers, yet every time I start a session the Rift software wants to calibrate "Guardian", even though I've been through the process several times already. I play seated and I'll never need to be kept safe from the "boundaries of my play area". Also, about half the time I start ED, the Rift won't show it to me, insisting on bringing up the standard Home menu and Oculus store.

2. Even though I've only used it for two days, the right controller battery is low (even though I've only used it for setup). This apparently means that half way through a play session I'll get a "Critical Error" and can't get back into ED. This is unnerving because the game continues and I have absolutely no control -- I can't even use the controller or the mouse to quit the game and I have to quickly kill the process in Task Manager before I crash into something.

Is there a way to setup my environment so that the Oculus software stays out of the way?
 

lesscode

L
Also, after changing the battery in the right controller, the device panel in Oculus shows four right controllers, all low battery, and I have to dismiss the "Critical Error" four times. Is this the level of quality I can expect from this POS?
 

[VR] Frank_G

[VR] Frank_G
At first make sure, that you have the latest Oculus Home and firmware versions installed. I had a lot of problems with the Rift-S, concerning detection of the devices, recognition of the display port and such things. This also resulted in problems with the Guardian system. Since the new updates, these issues are gone. Andysonofbob is also correct in his assumption, that you can turn off the Guardian system. Just go to the settings in Oculus home to do so.

I don't know what problems your controller has, but i strongly recommend to get rid of the batteries and replace them in both controllers. I also recommend to take them out of the controllers immediately. I had a flawed battery in one of my CV1 touch controllers and it damaged the left hand controller beyond repair. Better to check with a new battery and if it drains power faster than the other controller again, i would contact Oculus support and ask for replacement or a solution.

Edit: The overall quality of Oculus products are great in my experience. I have never encountered technical issues, other than driver or software related ones. The issue with devices listed multiple times is not unknown. I guess, the software update will take care of that, otherwise i recommend using the repair function of oculus home, which will reinstall the software without killing your settings and installations.

And excuse my bad manners... Welcome to Elite in VR. :)
 
Last edited:

lesscode

L
In Settings I see two options: "Rift and touch safety" and "Rift S and touch safety". Both are off. Still, today I fired up Elite and was almost immediately dropped into the Guardian "play area" setup again.

I've taken the batteries out of the touch controllers and they're now sat in the box. Fortunately I can skip the Guardian setup with the XBox controller while looking towards the buttons in Guardian. It's just really annoying when it happens.
 

Kemo

Kemo
I'm not sure if it's an option for you, but I tend to use the ED launcher from FD rather than go through Oculus dashboard and i've never had an issue (CV1 or Rift S) with the controllers.

The Oculus software does open up when I fire up ED from the launcher, but the controllers are sitting on a shelf behind me and and are inactive, there are batteries in them.

Welcome to ED:VR... it's brill (FD... it's brill... please keep ED in full VR goodness!) :)
 

lesscode

L
Kemo said:
I'm not sure if it's an option for you, but I tend to use the ED launcher from FD rather than go through Oculus dashboard and i've never had an issue (CV1 or Rift S) with the controllers.

The Oculus software does open up when I fire up ED from the launcher, but the controllers are sitting on a shelf behind me and and are inactive, there are batteries in them.

Welcome to ED:VR... it's brill (FD... it's brill... please keep ED in full VR goodness!) :)
Click to expand...

I don't use Oculus to launch ED - I have a desktop shortcut for the Official FD launcher. Oculus starts automatically when I start the game from the FD launcher, and will sometimes (not always) quickly drop me to the white grid and the play area setup. On one occasion it did this while I was actually flying...
 

TorTorden_VR

T
The oculus software is needed, it's the running service with drivers, for tracking and rendering.
Without that it's a paperweight, and you might as well ask if you could drive your car without that pesky engine.
 

BIMJOHN

B
I've just set up a Rift S too. It is brilliant when it works (most of the time) but twice now I've had it refuse to recognise the Rift and wasted hours of plugging and unplugging both cables and restarting the Oculus software to no avail. Then the day after, it was fine!
 

Meresiga

Meresiga
You need to disable Beta mode in the settings. This mode is for continuous testing of programs from Oculus. Switch to Normal mode and you will receive only the official stable updates, not the test ones that come almost weekly.
 

BIMJOHN

B
BIMJOHN said:
I've just set up a Rift S too. It is brilliant when it works (most of the time) but twice now I've had it refuse to recognise the Rift and wasted hours of plugging and unplugging both cables and restarting the Oculus software to no avail. Then the day after, it was fine!
Click to expand...
I did finally get to the bottom of this issue. It seems that the Rift S is very fussy about what other devices you have attached to your PC. Multi-screen setups are an issue, and it is particular about which ports you use for your monitors. In my case disconnecting my second screen and moving my main screen from the HDMI port on the graphics card to the mother board HDMI port solved my Rift S issues.
 

Comrade Napoleon

Comrade Napoleon
Well I got my hands on a Rift s too and I am not impressed not at all! Its a pain to set up with the controllers and the annoying Oculus store webthing pops up all the time. At first it would not work at all, I had a x52 also plugged in the PC, no siree, to little juice, got a powered USB 3 hub and put the x52 in there and at least got a picture in the Rift S. my mother board is an Asus Rog Strix. Hrmff!
But the picture quality is really good
 

BIMJOHN

B
The Rift S seems to stop working after every Windows update. I just unplug it, remove it from the Oculus devices list, then set it up again. Definitely NOT a plug and play device! But so sweet when it is working, I could not do without it now.

Oh! It also stops working when the hand controller batteries run down, which they do even though I don't use them!
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
I didn't read all the answers, so maybe somebody said this, but if your PC can handle a higher HMD Quality in ED's settings, DO IT! I am amazed at how much a difference this makes to the clarity of the image I see in my Rift S. Even going from 1.0 to 1.25 is very noticeable! If I had to chose between getting a new VR headset or a computer that could drive ultra settings at 2.0 HMD, I'd pick the latter.
 

Meresiga

Meresiga
BIMJOHN said:
The Rift S seems to stop working after every Windows update. I just unplug it, remove it from the Oculus devices list, then set it up again. Definitely NOT a plug and play device! But so sweet when it is working, I could not do without it now.
Click to expand...
You may have problems with Visual C in Windows, not problems with Oculus.
BIMJOHN said:
Oh! It also stops working when the hand controller batteries run down, which they do even though I don't use them!
Click to expand...
This is true for everyone. Replace the non-chargeable battery with rechargeable battery and charge them regularly.
Old Duck said:
Even going from 1.0 to 1.25 is very noticeable!
Click to expand...
How do you achieve this when using an Oculus S helmet?
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Another tip for Steam users - once you've launched ED in VR mode from Steam, the Oculus app should register ED in its library. This will allow you to launch ED directly from the Oculus app. You'll still need Steam running, but now you can play the game without the Steam VR app running in the background, which results in better framerates.
 

Evang

E
I am getting ready to build a new computer to be able to run ED in VR. I have a couple of questions. I don't use steam, will I have to get it to be able to use the Rift S? I use an X52 HOTUS. can I disable the hand controllers? remove them from the system? Lastly some of my controls are on the keyboard. How can I see the keys? Oh one more question, while I have the VR goggles on, what is displayed on the monitor?
 

Meresiga

Meresiga
Evang said:
I am getting ready to build a new computer to be able to run ED in VR. I have a couple of questions. I don't use steam, will I have to get it to be able to use the Rift S? I use an X52 HOTUS. can I disable the hand controllers? remove them from the system? Lastly some of my controls are on the keyboard. How can I see the keys? Oh one more question, while I have the VR goggles on, what is displayed on the monitor?
Click to expand...

You can use the Elite Dangerous game and the Oculus s helmet without Steam installed on your computer. This is not necessary for the game at all.
Manual controllers cannot be disabled. They simply do not interfere with the game and are not used.
The buttons on the keyboard are easy to remember. Well, or at least a little peek from under the bottom of the helmet. I pasted protruding rubber hemispheres on important buttons (I cut the rubber caps from some medicine bottles).
When you play in VR, the same thing is displayed on the monitor, but not in VR, but in 2D mode.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom