VR?

[Son of the Desert]

I have been playing ED for a while and I love it but one thing I don't like and many people don't is the lack of scale. I used to play Star Citizen before I bought ED and in that game your tiny fighter seems like a big ship because you can walk around in it. but in ED I used to fly a type 6 and when I had money I bought a type 7 and it was a big upgrade but it didn't feel that different apart from the type 7 being slower. One user told me to get VR and I told him that many of us don't have that because of the price(And i'm not sure about this but does you PC need to be beefy to handle VR?). Is it worth it getting VR for this game and what options would you recommend? Don't get me wrong I love this game but it is sometimes hard to get immersed in and I think many of you feel the same. btw I heard about this osvr thing a while back and i heard it was going to be cheap and open source does anyone here use that?

 

[Ian Skippy]

I have been playing ED for a while and I love it but one thing I don't like and many people don't is the lack of scale. I used to play Star Citizen before I bought ED and in that game your tiny fighter seems like a big ship because you can walk around in it. but in ED I used to fly a type 6 and when I had money I bought a type 7 and it was a big upgrade but it didn't feel that different apart from the type 7 being slower. One user told me to get VR and I told him that many of us don't have that because of the price(And i'm not sure about this but does you PC need to be beefy to handle VR?). Is it worth it getting VR for this game and what options would you recommend? Don't get me wrong I love this game but it is sometimes hard to get immersed in and I think many of you feel the same. btw I heard about this osvr thing a while back and i heard it was going to be cheap and open source does anyone here use that?

Proper VR is expensive. The following are the minimum specs, plus you need a VR set which costs a minimum of +-$400 (OSVR) to more than twice that for Vive:

Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
Intel Core i7-3770K Quad Core CPU or better / AMD FX 4350 Quad Core CPU or better
16GB RAMV
Nvidia GTX 980 with 4GB

You can do a basic test to see if your pc is up for it:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/323910

 

[Franc Kaos]

VR in this game definitely gives you that missing sense of scale, I went back to monitor and found it really difficult to play in that mode - but, even tho' Oculus and Vive have just had fairly big price cuts there's a few new headsets coming to market this year, including VR friendly Windows update, so it may be worth waiting and seeing what shakes out.

If you can't wait and your PC has (very minimum I would say), i3 / Nvidia 960 (don't know AMD /Radeon equivalents), then (personal choice only) Oculus (via Amazon - better returns policy).

I literally bought the Rift just for this game and am very happy (but there's some awesome .... out there, like life size dino's and technolust (brilliant cyberpunk game) to experience. [yesnod]

EDIT: sleutelbos specs are more realistic for best experience, I'm getting away with an i5, GTX 1060 and 16GBs RAM - can run ED on mostly medium settings, some high.

 

[Ian Skippy]

AMD RX480 is probably the minimum you'd want from their products. Not much point in getting one know, its widely expected AMD will reveal their re-branded RX500 series within the next two weeks.

 

[Son of the Desert]

thanks for the info atm I'm just saving up for a high end pc and vr so I can wait .

 

[Pyrotiger]

I've just started looking into the possibility of VR and have begun reading up...tentatively...

From what I read, it's all about the graphics card, so hopefully I won't have to change my AMD A8 but the 350W PSU wouldn't cut mustard. I've a 950 and I know that won't cut it. A 960 could do the job, rather poorly - but why buy the Occulus or Vive just to have a poor experience?

 

[Herbrand]

Elite Dangerous is also very CPU intensive.

 

[Heater]

I made the switch about a month ago,

all I can say is if you can afford it do it it's a huge difference.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Elite Dangerous is also very CPU intensive.

It is not. I just upgraded from an mid-range cpu from 2009 to the latest 7th gen intel and I got practically no improvement whatsoever. Same with going from 6GB DDR3 to 16GB DDR4. ED is almost wholly GPU dependent.

 

[Son of the Desert]

I run ED fine on high with a AMD A8-7600, 8GB RAM and 950 gtx and my CPU sucks **s but will most definitely not be enough for VR

 

[Ashnak]

It is not. I just upgraded from an mid-range cpu from 2009 to the latest 7th gen intel and I got practically no improvement whatsoever. Same with going from 6GB DDR3 to 16GB DDR4. ED is almost wholly GPU dependent.

Disagree there. Just because there is not really a big jump in CPU performance with Intel doesn't mean that ED doesn't use it all.

VR player here. Check out the other various VR threads, but I think my rig and experience is pretty much representative. CPU is i5-4690k oc'ed to 4.2 GHz with a GTX 1080, RAM is 32 GB.
Although there is that much RAM available, I've never seen more than 4 GB used while playing ED. However, whenever I see throttling in the FPS, the CPU is running at 90% or more (in Task Manager). That usually happens when approaching stations or inside stations (or while accessing the Station Services) with my current settings.

 

[CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned]

I first tried VR on a 5 year old PC, it was a good PC at the time Skyrim came out but it's a bit long in the tooth now...

Intel Core i7-2700K 3.5 Ghz Quad Core
8 Gb DDR3 1600Mhz
Asus AMD Radeon HD 7970
USB 2 as well (VR recommends USB 3).

It just about ran VR on very low settings, the stations look like gaudy Christmas tree baubles. It still blew me away.

Changing just the Graphics card to 1080 GTX made a huge difference but it still dropped frames (I don't suffer VR sickness at all - so I can cope with this). I'm now upgrading the rest but not had chance to see if it's any better.

First thing to upgrade is the Graphic Card, that's where the biggest benefit is. The rest you can get away with lower.

However there are cheaper options to try VR, I got a cardboard kit and ran some of free stuff off my phone to see what all the fuss is about. This can be well worth doing as it'll give you a feel for how much VR sickness affects you. There's even a thread on here about ED in cardboard.

Not tried ED with cardboard but then I've got a Rift and a Vive. For me the Rift is better as it's more comfortable, this is largely down to head shape though so YMMV.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Moved to VR forum, have a look here lots of great info.

I've got the DK2 and it's a game changer for me.

I had it running on a AMD FX6300, Sapphire 7870 2gb card with 8gb ram on med settings and it ran pretty well.

 

[Thetele]

It is not. I just upgraded from an mid-range cpu from 2009 to the latest 7th gen intel and I got practically no improvement whatsoever. Same with going from 6GB DDR3 to 16GB DDR4. ED is almost wholly GPU dependent.

Elite doesn't fully utilize hardware, I can go from 1080p to 4k and frame rate stay exactly same with i7 6700k and gtx 1080. On planets, inside stations, in empty space always same fps in space around 120 and on planets and inside stations around 70-80. And same time elite is only using 60% of gpu and around 50% cpu.

 

[space pilot]

Elite doesn't fully utilize hardware, I can go from 1080p to 4k and frame rate stay exactly same with i7 6700k and gtx 1080. On planets, inside stations, in empty space always same fps in space around 120 and on planets and inside stations around 70-80. And same time elite is only using 60% of gpu and around 50% cpu.

That's interesting. My 1080 is almost always at 100% in VR High. And on the hot side. 7700k at 4.9 GHz. 32Gb memory.

Though I've never seen over 7Gb system memory usage on paper.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I run ED fine on high with a AMD A8-7600, 8GB RAM and 950 gtx and my CPU sucks **s but will most definitely not be enough for VR

Unfortunately true. For example, what is expected versus what you have, GPU-wise:
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-980-vs-Nvidia-GTX-950/2576vs3510



- - - Updated - - -

That's interesting. My 1080 is almost always at 100% in VR High. And on the hot side. 7700k at 4.9 GHz. 32Gb memory.

Though I've never seen over 7Gb system memory usage on paper.

Difference there, ED will pretty much take what you have in VR GPU-wise.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I have been playing ED for a while and I love it but one thing I don't like and many people don't is the lack of scale. I used to play Star Citizen before I bought ED and in that game your tiny fighter seems like a big ship because you can walk around in it. but in ED I used to fly a type 6 and when I had money I bought a type 7 and it was a big upgrade but it didn't feel that different apart from the type 7 being slower. One user told me to get VR and I told him that many of us don't have that because of the price(And i'm not sure about this but does you PC need to be beefy to handle VR?). Is it worth it getting VR for this game and what options would you recommend? Don't get me wrong I love this game but it is sometimes hard to get immersed in and I think many of you feel the same. btw I heard about this osvr thing a while back and i heard it was going to be cheap and open source does anyone here use that?

i wouldnt consider playing ED any other way!.

i love VR, and ED is for me the best VR title on the market right now.... and now SC has put VR on the back burner i do not see anything coming close on the horizon.

there are some who do not think it is ready yet but i am 100% committed to the VR hype train

as others have said tho, expect to put your hand in your pocket. VR ready pcs start around the £700 mark then you are looking at another £500 for a hmd (if only for elite) or £600 if you want motion control

that said. i have run Elite WAY under min spec for vr and it was still enjoyable - in space - i did not even bother going down to a planet..

obviously i was on low detail but it was playable with a GTX670........... but i would not contemplate buying a VR HMD with a rig like that. poor VR can put you off VR for life

 

[A D]

1. I use the OSVR HDK 2. Same specs as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive but cheaper. However, it's NOT plug-n-play so you need to fiddle around and be patient to get it working properly. Once I got mine working, no problem. I use it in direct mode with Steam VR. Note that games for OSVR (and VR generally) are limited right now. Happily, ED is one that is supported.

2. As to the PC specs, what Sleutelbos said, but I recommend at least a Nvidia GTX 1070 graphics card. VR is demanding on the graphics because of the high resolution in multiple display (one for each eye). Despite the high resolution, your eyes are so close to the screen you will see the spaces between pixels. Its called the "screen door effect" because it is just like looking through a screen. Personally, I got used to it pretty quickly, but some players hate it, so check this out before you decide (maybe use a friend's HMD to see for yourself).

3. Would I recommend VR for ED? Absolutely, completely different experience and transforms the game (land a T7 and you will see just how big it is).

 

[Frank]

I thought you needed a fairly beefy machine anyway if you are playing Star Citizen?

The Rift is about £600 compared to the VIVE's £760, but you are going to be wearing it on your head. This is like motorcycle helmets. Nobody can tell you which one is more comfortable because only you have your shape of head.

The Rift is lighter, and the integrated headphones make it a doddle to put on.

The VIVE is bigger and has more padding to make it comfortable, and their tracking system works over larger areas, but is more difficult to set up.

Pros and cons.. The best way to decide which one to go for is to stick both of them on your head. A PC shop might be kind enough to let you demo them, or if you have a chance, get along to one of the Elite: Dangerous get togethers.

 

[Clanky]

Yes I would upgrade your PSU and your 960. I have a 970 and it works, but I will be upgrading it soon to a 1080ti so I can turn the settings back up some. VR right now is very demanding and hardware is struggling to keep up , that will change of course in a few years... then again we might have 4k headsets in a couple of years that are even MORE demanding so it's a never ending cycle.