VR support 'not at launch' for Odyssey

[Rat Catcher]

Tencent have someone on the board. And all they ever do, and have ever done, is leverage the heck out of whatever influence they have. You cant pretend like they’re a non-issue.

Equally important to their degree of controlling interest in the company, is why Frontier allowed themselves to be partially bought out by such an entity?

Seems like one of the reasons Frontier might be open to such a partnership is because before the buyout, they already wanted to do the kinds of things that TenCent likes to do.

Less than 10% holding by Tencent... I guess that gives them complete control over everything Frontier do then?

Why would Frontier allow anyone to buy shares in their company...

I do love a good conspiracy theory

ETA: So we can expect Loot boxes and PtW addons for our ships next week? You know, bought with real money and allowing us to 'WIN!!!' the game?

 

[Rat Catcher]

No Mans Sky aswell mixes VR and non VR players.

True The VR players are the ones with their arms out in front of them! But it does work, and very well - even I'll admit that it is nice to see many other players around the Hub all 'doing their thing' in both VR & Pancake.

 

[VR Dextrovix]

True The VR players are the ones with their arms out in front of them! But it does work, and very well - even I'll admit that it is nice to see many other players around the Hub all 'doing their thing' in both VR & Pancake.

Yes, I agree NMS works well in that regard. Which demonstrates there isn't a barrier to supporting both in Odyssey, should Frontier decide to fish out and dust off their old 2014 dev kits...

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

The VR players are the ones with their arms out in front of them!

Lol I've never noticed that. It must be funny to see us

 

[Rat Catcher]

Obviously, if you take notice of some of the 'tinfoil warriors' on the forum, it is Tencent's massive influence on the Board of Directors that has forced the Devs to drop VR in Odyssey in favour of Loot Boxes...

I just wonder if they are using the newest Cobra engine (say from one of the management games) which was never written from the ground up to support VR (as was our version) and they don't have the experienced Devs to incorporate it any longer.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Lol I've never noticed that. It must be funny to see us

It is noticable the first time you visit the Anomaly, after a while it doesn't stand out quite so much

 

[VR Murgle]

however you say you don't need room scale movement, but we both know you need to for getting out of the cockpit

No you do not, it's perfectly possible to use a controller or even KB+M for getting out of the cockpit no need for room scale or even standing up.

 

[VR Murgle]

You apparently missed most of the pages of this thread were many players are actually asking vr for the flying and driving part only (as it already is now) and would gladly accept a transition to 2d for the fps part of the game

I would NOT accept 2D for the walking bit , and there's no need for it.

 

[sgurr]

I won't NOT accept 2D for the walking bit , and there's no need for it.

Isn't there? VR FPS will all the required (ie. good experience) non nausea options will take more dev time than the existing cockpit options.

If it's a choice between:

1. no VR at all
2. cockpit only VR (because they already support it and therefore it 'should' have a low development cost)

I'll take 2 every time.

 

[VR Murgle]

Isn't there? VR FPS will all the required (ie. good experience) non nausea options will take more dev time than the existing cockpit options.

If it's a choice between:

1. no VR at all
2. cockpit only VR (because they already support it and therefore it 'should' have a low development cost)

I'll take 2 every time.

Why on earth would I buy Odyssey when 90% of all features won't work in VR? I'll only buy Odyssey when I can walk around in VR is not there is no point.

Either do it well or not at all. I'm not paying full price just for some new shaders and a pretty sky box I need more gameplay!

It can be done, I has been done, so do it!

 

[sgurr]

Why on earth would I buy Odyssey when 90% of all features won't work in VR? I'll only buy Odyssey when I can walk around in VR is not there is no point.

Either do it well or not at all. I'm not paying full price just for some new shaders and a pretty sky box I need more gameplay!

It can be done, I has been done, so do it!

I'm not saying you would, but I would.

Of course VR FPS has been done, but when FD are saying they don't have the dev time to provide the exprience they want to then my main concern is to keep VR in the game in some form.
If that's continuing with cockpit VR only I see it as the least worse option.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I would NOT accept 2D for the walking bit , and there's no need for it.

I'm glad you edited to correct - your original post threw me a little

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

Why on earth would I buy Odyssey when 90% of all features won't work in VR? I'll only buy Odyssey when I can walk around in VR is not there is no point.

Yeah this is another topic.
As it stands now (official information) no VR will be included in Odyssey at launch. Maybe it will be added later but with no time indication (best case few months later, more realistically around one year later, worst case never).

So the proposal is to have some VR content available at launch and while waiting for the full VR implementation. VR in ships and SRVs is already in the game so the option to have access to the new atmospheric planets in VR is more likely to happen if we ask loud enough for it.

On the other hand I'm afraid that having the full VR package at launch will not be possible, no matter how loud is our voice so that's why I believe we should better focus our attention on what is possible and push for it to happen.

 

[VR Murgle]

I'm not saying you would, but I would.

Of course VR FPS has been done, but when FD are saying they don't have the dev time to provide the exprience they want to then my main concern is to keep VR in the game in some form.
If that's continuing with cockpit VR only I see it as the least worse option.

Horizons and the base game will still support VR so if flying around in VR is all you want you still can. Odyssey on the other hand revolves around legs (FPS?) with some new landable planets and shaders thrown in for good measure but since most (all?) gameplay will be on foot you'd be throwing away money if you were to buy Odyssey just for the flying.

I'm glad you edited to correct - your original post threw me a little

Yeh, double negatives can be a bit confusing

 

[VR Murgle]

Yeah this is another topic.
As it stands now (official information) no VR will be included in Odyssey at launch. Maybe it will be added later but with no time indication (best case few months later, more realistically around one year later, worst case never).

So the proposal is to have some VR content available at launch and while waiting for the full VR implementation. VR in ships and SRVs is already in the game so the option to have access to the new atmospheric planets in VR is more likely to happen if we ask loud enough for it.

On the other hand I'm afraid that having the full VR package at launch will not be possible, no matter how loud is our voice so that's why I believe we should better focus our attention on what is possible and push for it to happen.

I'm not expecting VR support at launch, but until they add it I'm not buying their expansion.

If at some point they add VR support to Odyssey I'll probably get it but not before and lets face it the first month after the update is gonna be a carnvial of bugs anyway.

 

[sgurr]

Horizons and the base game will still support VR so if flying around in VR is all you want you still can.

Yup, but ...

Odyssey on the other hand revolves around legs (FPS?) with some new landable planets and shaders thrown in for good measure but since most (all?) gameplay will be on foot you'd be throwing away money if you were to buy Odyssey just for the flying.

Flying/driving in atmospheres would be totally worth it for me.

...
So the proposal is to have some VR content available at launch and while waiting for the full VR implementation. VR in ships and SRVs is already in the game so the option to have access to the new atmospheric planets in VR is more likely to happen if we ask loud enough for it.

On the other hand I'm afraid that having the full VR package at launch will not be possible, no matter how loud is our voice so that's why I believe we should better focus our attention on what is possible and push for it to happen.

This ^^^

 

[VR StarLightPL]

So you're expecting the player base to transition from sitting HOTAS/K+M play to standing VR play like it's no big deal?

I'm not sure why do you insist on roomscale. It has been done before, in X: Rebirth VR you have space and space legs bits. VR is perfectly playable with a controller while sitting down. Also the same X:R VR had a nice code that switched to 2d screen and controls the moment headset proximity sensor said headset was taken off. So either way no big deal.

I am not so sure about mouse controlling the view though. I think it would be too much even for seasoned vr vets like me with hundreds of hours in Onward, DCS, Elite and whatnot. Mouse would introduce really jarring, anatomically disconnected camera movements which I suppose would make event the strongest stomachs hurl. Or maybe I am wrong, didn't try anything like that yet. All I know is while I do use smooth turning, it's still a weird disconnected sensation, and these moments are a bit immersion breaking. Were the whole experience like this, IDK if it would be any good.

All that said, the decision made is probably purely economical - why support a handful of players compared to the larger user base we will get implementing the first person bits.

Also again, first person perspective does not have to equal combat. It just opens a whole new can of potential gameplay loops, potential which I am not sure FDev can realise tbh. They have an excellent track record in wasting potential though.

 

[VR StarLightPL]

should Frontier decide to fish out and dust off their old 2014 dev kits

TBH I would rather prefer them focusing on top of the game headsets like Index, Reverb, Rift S, next gen Pimax... That way they could appreciate it more for a transformative experience VR Elite is...

 

[Rat Catcher]

Yeh, double negatives can be a bit confusing

Particularly when one is quite aware of the 'stance' of the poster

It was certainly a 'double take' and a "Whaaa..." - then you fixed it and I was much happier

 

[VR StarLightPL]

and they don't have the experienced Devs to incorporate it any longer

The more I watch the game's state over the years the more I think some internal HR "catastrophe" happened along the way. Huge layoffs or resignations and shifting people between departments. Frankly, the quality level of Odyssey will show if I had guessed it right or not, but I'm leaning into the whole core team "not being there" anymore. I played a few hrs recently and VR bugs from 2018 are still in... Orbit lines, blurred asteroid fields, ghastly "one eye objects"... still there. With a lot of bugs staying in pancake. So "all man on board odyssey" or... "all man onboard [new F1 franchise, Zoos, Dinos etc.] and you, you and you, oh and you because I don't like you - work on the Delayed Era!" ;-)

I hope I am wrong. Although with no VR in odyssey it won't matter to me anyway.