Took the plunge with VR. What to do first

[Alex Brentnall]

So Black Friday like many others I suspect I've purchased an Oculus rift and 1080 GPU both arriving tomorrow with a bit of luck.

What to do first?

I've got my opening gambit of starting in an Eagle and doing the whole station fly around/loop etc then slowly swapping up to the bigger ships decided.

Then I'm between
1) Res combat with my FDL
2) Passenger missions/exploration
3) Surface low level flying/base attack
4) Fuel ratting and seeing other players close up
5) Fighter/combat with my FGS

Each have their advantages and I will do all of them, I just don't know which ones first or if there's any other suggestions people have.

My current format is: 3/1/2/5/4 but I'm very much open to suggestions and/or thoughts.


Edit: Many Many thanks to those at Lavecon who allowed me to try both Vive and Rift headsets

 

[Globusdiablo]

So Black Friday like many others I suspect I've purchased an Oculus rift and 1080 GPU both arriving tomorrow with a bit of luck...

Congrats Commander. Did you find a Black Friday deal on the Oculus? I didn't see one when I checked.

I opted for the Vive yesterday, and have spent most of today tweaking graphics during training misssions. And getting my sea legs. Good lord. Flying in space is all right. But when I enter the SRV I get car sick almost immediately... Short sessions should be the trick.

Resolution takes a big hit, even with a 1080. But the immersion. It's hard to explain.

I need a break and some fresh air before settling back into the SRV... May even have to lower settings some more for smoother frames. Surfaces are a killer.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Congrats Commander. Did you find a Black Friday deal on the Oculus? I didn't see one when I checked.

I opted for the Vive yesterday, and have spent most of today tweaking graphics during training misssions. And getting my sea legs. Good lord. Flying in space is all right. But when I enter the SRV I get car sick almost immediately... Short sessions should be the trick.

Resolution takes a big hit, even with a 1080. But the immersion. It's hard to explain.

I need a break and some fresh air before settling back into the SRV... May even have to lower settings some more for smoother frames. Surfaces are a killer.

Only one I found was the Game.co.uk £100 oculus store voucher when buying online. Means I get £100 off the touch controllers if/when I get them or a bunch of games as they get added to the Oculus store. I wasn't overly stoked on that deal but figured there's probably not much better coming round this side of Feb/March.

Yeah I looked at the Vive quite seriously but went to the Oculus as it's more comfy over the longer play sessions. Vive is a ton better for other stuff with the lab and other games. Much easier to justify for parents/SO's/family.

Yeah I've already looked at a few threads here like this:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/278996-Rift-hdmi-port-users

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

Seems I have a busy few weeks ahead optimising

 

[Globusdiablo]

...Seems I have a busy few weeks ahead optimising

A quick heads up from me would be to use the EDProfiler by Dr. Kaii to change the colour scheme. I couldn't get the orange HUD legible, so I used EDProfiler to get a nice blueish scheme. Now text is pretty much crystal clear. Even the little stuff. Give it a go. There are a lot of different schemes to try, and you can even create your own.

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

Congrats Commander. Did you find a Black Friday deal on the Oculus? I didn't see one when I checked.

I opted for the Vive yesterday, and have spent most of today tweaking graphics during training misssions. And getting my sea legs. Good lord. Flying in space is all right. But when I enter the SRV I get car sick almost immediately... Short sessions should be the trick.

Resolution takes a big hit, even with a 1080. But the immersion. It's hard to explain.

I need a break and some fresh air before settling back into the SRV... May even have to lower settings some more for smoother frames. Surfaces are a killer.

You're right - take easy in small steps - the SRV can be pretty unnerving, even for those who have iron sea/air legs. VR sickness is a bit different to your normal car/boat/plane nausea.
Have a breather when you feel odd - not when you feel nauseous. Don't push too hard - you will acclimatise over a few days to a few weeks.

Yes, the apparent resolution in the Rift /Vive is pretty low as those panel's pixels are being stretched over a much wider area than they are when displayed on a 2D monitor. Resolution is what it is, regardless of the card you run it on. Even the lowest POS GPU will show the same resolution in VR.- its fixed.
This can't really be avoided except by using higher density panels in future HMDs. They already exist, but the problem becomes maintaining the GPU power to render to higher resolution panels at 90fps. You have to learn to see through the limitations, as supersampling (ED's SS or the HMD Quality setting) will make text clearer, but even on 1080-class GPU's, its a big hit to performance.

Touch is close to shipping for me; I believe the Touch controllers and a second sensor will bring the Rift into the same room-scale game that the Vive enjoys. I don't have a large area to play in (2mx2m-ish) so having a large-room-scale setup as can be achieved with the Vive is a waste for me. Some people do have enormous spaces set up for the Vive though, which is definitely cool. Tracking in the Rift is spot on and sub-millimetre, and I suspect the Rift and Touch controllers will be very similar to the Vive wands in responsiveness and overall fidelity of tracking/control.

2017 will be a big year for consolidation of input/output schemes, more VR product delivery, and a lot of experimentation on the part of the software developers on the games/app front, but also on the technical front. Loving it so far.

 

[[VR] Merkir]

Have a breather when you feel odd - not when you feel nauseous. Don't push too hard - you will acclimatise over a few days to a few weeks.

Good advice I can attest to first hand. You'll feel like persevering after the "feeling odd" stage. Don't. You'll only regret it. After a few weeks you'll likely be zig-zagging around the asteroids outrageously, without a second thought.

 

[[VR] Merkir]

What to do first?

I've got my opening gambit of starting in an Eagle and doing the whole station fly around/loop etc then slowly swapping up to the bigger ships decided.

Then I'm between
1) Res combat with my FDL
2) Passenger missions/exploration
3) Surface low level flying/base attack
4) Fuel ratting and seeing other players close up
5) Fighter/combat with my FGS

Each have their advantages and I will do all of them, I just don't know which ones first or if there's any other suggestions people have.

A great list.

What you'll likely do first, regardless of the list, is simply stand up and have a walk around your cockpit/flight deck. The painstaking detail and love FD have put into this aspect is very nice indeed, and a huge credit to them. I wish the rift cable was longer than 4m, but it's still a great experience, and I still do it sometimes even after two months.

6) Go to a USS with ship debris and be in awe of the massive (and I do mean massive) pieces of space junk rotating near you, appearing to just about crush your ship as you fly by. Use your ship lights.
7) Go to a tourist beacon and look at the very fine detail of the beacon itself, as well as whatever "touristy" sights are on offer (and wish your ship had the same defensive features as the beacon - lol)
8) Throw out a collection limpet, watch it work, and then when it's finished and still beneath your ship, use the dev camera to look at it up close, and inside to see the mechanisms.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

A great list.

What you'll likely do first, regardless of the list, is simply stand up and have a walk around your cockpit/flight deck. The painstaking detail and love FD have put into this aspect is very nice indeed, and a huge credit to them. I wish the rift cable was longer than 4m, but it's still a great experience, and I still do it sometimes even after two months.

6) Go to a USS with ship debris and be in awe of the massive (and I do mean massive) pieces of space junk rotating near you, appearing to just about crush your ship as you fly by. Use your ship lights.
7) Go to a tourist beacon and look at the very fine detail of the beacon itself, as well as whatever "touristy" sights are on offer (and wish your ship had the same defensive features as the beacon - lol)
8) Throw out a collection limpet, watch it work, and then when it's finished and still beneath your ship, use the dev camera to look at it up close, and inside to see the mechanisms.

Ooh, I really do like the idea of 6. 7 would come under the passenger missions for me but consider mining and debris field added to my list

+1

I may also try to visit a capital ship if I can find one

 

[[VR] Merkir]

Ooh, I really do like the idea of 6. 7 would come under the passenger missions for me but consider mining and debris field added to my list

+1

I may also try to visit a capital ship if I can find one

System 19 PHI-2 CETI (body 19 PHI-2 CETI AB 2) had a Farragut Class Battlecruiser last week and it's likely still there. Amazing location. It's sitting in orbit around an earth-like with rings and very close by is a blue gas giant with rings.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

1) Res combat with my FDL
2) Passenger missions/exploration
3) Surface low level flying/base attack
4) Fuel ratting and seeing other players close up
5) Fighter/combat with my FGS

6) Go to a USS with ship debris and be in awe of the massive (and I do mean massive) pieces of space junk rotating near you, appearing to just about crush your ship as you fly by. Use your ship lights.
7) Go to a tourist beacon and look at the very fine detail of the beacon itself, as well as whatever "touristy" sights are on offer (and wish your ship had the same defensive features as the beacon - lol)
8) Throw out a collection limpet, watch it work, and then when it's finished and still beneath your ship, use the dev camera to look at it up close, and inside to see the mechanisms.

So, just to feedback here in case anyone else finds this list and wants to know my thoughts:
Eagle fly around station was great. Died twice, controls failed once and the other time I was too busy standing up looking around to realise I was flying full speed into a station wall.

1) was a bad idea, got disorientated fairly quick, better after a few weeks in the rift but damn bad idea for first flights
2) was good but I tended to swap between as I was doing long hauling sessions so having a second screen for films/streams etc was needed
3) Was epic. Even swapped to beta and re-made my 870m/s Imperial Courier.
4) Not done this yet, not had time to try getting the irc into the rift screen, have seen other players close up which I have to say is amazing especially if you are in a small ship and you have corvettes/cutters around you
5) Fighter combat similar to #1 but more ugh.
6) Not had chance to do this yet, on the list still
7) Mining is next on the list
8) Capital ship not done yet

Overall very much enjoying VR, still need to play with graphics setting etc and sort the irc out but I'm slowly slowly getting through the list above.

 

[bitstorm]

Then I'm between
1) Res combat with my FDL
2) Passenger missions/exploration
3) Surface low level flying/base attack
4) Fuel ratting and seeing other players close up
5) Fighter/combat with my FGS

For (1), go find an ice ring or some well lit ring and have fun. Maybe try a SLF too if you have a chance.

For (3), with the mysteries thread I've spent quite a bit of time doing surface reconnaissance, ie looking for stuff on planets. Honestly in VR it's just incredible...

So find an ice world, one with rock and icey bits. Get a fast ship, head to 10km above the surface, throttle up, go external view, move the view port forward a bit and just look down. It'll give you a newfound appreciation for ED's proc gen, breathtaking at times.

edit: oh right, date

 

[Verlaine]

First thing I did was transfer my fleet to my current location just to see what they looked like in VR. Then I took each ship for a spin into a RES, after which I purchased the various low-end ships I'd yet to fly - such as the Eagle - and took them to a RES as well.

I forgot how much I enjoyed the Viper MK IV, and the Eagle was a new experience with its small cockpit and HUD.

Flying the ships in VR is like flying them again for the first time.