What do you think about using VR in VR?

[horizone]

I've just put a suggestion in the suggestion forum (which I feel is often overlooked) to discuss the increasing number of shortcuts Elite takes to move your to different parts of the game with the lore stating telepresence and neural link and what not. I think we should cleary show in-game how it works. Have a look:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/291556-Make-it-clear-when-you-are-out-of-body-in-game

 

[Ca$hback]

I think putting on a helmet to fly a fighter remotely is weaksauce. If you get in the fighter, the NPC controls your ship. I don't see why it's different than an SRV. There's no animation of your pilot getting out of their chair to go to the SRV bay so why do they need an explanation for the fighter. You should be able to dismiss your ship so you can cruise around in the fighter. It doesn't have an FSD but it would be great for scouting planets and joyriding.

 

[horizone]

I enjoy Elite to a big extent because of it's ability to transport me to another world and I don't want it to feel too gamey or arcade like. One of it's strongest points is the simulation aspect. If we will get the walking around our ships in the future I don't want it to be full of instant transitions to different vehicles and places without some clear visual explanation. Sure, you can explain it in lore but that lore is usually outside the game.

I think many agree with me, take for example the ship transfer delay. Instant would be unrealistic.

My hope is the black fade out between ship and SRV will be removed and it will be required to go to the planetary hanger in person and that all the neural link stuff will be managed via your wrist computer which includes a AR/VR/TP device which is shown visually how it works. I believe it would make the world more coherent.

Thanks for your input.

 

[CylonSurfer]

I enjoy Elite to a big extent because of it's ability to transport me to another world and I don't want it to feel too gamey or arcade like. One of it's strongest points is the simulation aspect. If we will get the walking around our ships in the future I don't want it to be full of instant transitions to different vehicles and places without some clear visual explanation. Sure, you can explain it in lore but that lore is usually outside the game.

I think many agree with me, take for example the ship transfer delay. Instant would be unrealistic.

My hope is the black fade out between ship and SRV will be removed and it will be required to go to the planetary hanger in person and that all the neural link stuff will be managed via your wrist computer which includes a AR/VR/TP device which is shown visually how it works. I believe it would make the world more coherent.

Thanks for your input.

Couldn't agree more. I also hate the fade to black transitions, not to fond of the SRV turret mode either.

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

I'd dearly love to see more of the ship interiors but I actually don't mind the fade to black transitions.

Heresy, I know, but I don't think FD has the money or the time to pull off transitions they way Star Citizen is doing (and even that still is one way and clunky in many regards). And in VR we simply don't have that detail level available.

So if FD stays away from the transitions, and spends that time coding more content, we'll be in a better spot than simple 3-seconds of eye candy that gets tiring after 50 hops in the SRV.

The turret in the SRV could be an overlay or drop down monitor over your normal vision (like the StarWars STAY ON TARGET flip-downs in the Y- and X-wings, but maybe that'd just be a pike in the surface...)

 

[Ca$hback]

I don't like the fade to black transitions either but I feel a neural link is a lame excuse. If you do it with the fighter, why not the SRV?

Instead of an animation I'd like to select the option on the roll panel and have to walk to the back of the ship myself.

 

[horizone]

I'd dearly love to see more of the ship interiors but I actually don't mind the fade to black transitions.

Heresy, I know, but I don't think FD has the money or the time to pull off transitions they way Star Citizen is doing (and even that still is one way and clunky in many regards). And in VR we simply don't have that detail level available.

So if FD stays away from the transitions, and spends that time coding more content, we'll be in a better spot than simple 3-seconds of eye candy that gets tiring after 50 hops in the SRV.

The turret in the SRV could be an overlay or drop down monitor over your normal vision (like the StarWars STAY ON TARGET flip-downs in the Y- and X-wings, but maybe that'd just be a pike in the surface...)

I mostly agree, I've seen some SC animations and they must be very nauseating in VR. Here, I am just talking about making it clear to the player what happens, by showing that your avatar enters an out of body experience through attaching a HMD to his/hers face. It could be a very sleek looking device and it would explain well to new players why they suddenly are someplace else but really are not.

Edit:
It would also be possible to see which players are controlling something else when multicrew arrives by looking at their avatar. -Ah, my co-pilot is wearing a HMD, he/she must be controlling a turret, a fighter or plotting a route in the galaxy map.

Imagine this animation more than twice as fast (and with new graphics) overlaid on top of your fps view, covering the screen completely black at the end and then switching to the remotely controlled function.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Zkt-zfCS8

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

I mostly agree, I've seen some SC animations and they must be very nauseating in VR. Here, I am just talking about making it clear to the player what happens, by showing that your avatar enters an out of body experience through attaching a HMD to his/hers face. It could be a very sleek looking device and it would explain well to new players why they suddenly are someplace else but really are not.

Edit:
It would also be possible to see which players are controlling something else when multicrew arrives by looking at their avatar. -Ah, my co-pilot is wearing a HMD, he/she must be controlling a turret or a fighter!

I'm pretty sure SC players have asked for it, but there is no VR support in SC at this time - the detail level is simply too high. Not a regular on the SC forums, although I am a heavy backer (multiple medium and one large ships) so things may have changed on the SC-VR front.

Showing other players your view direction does take a bit of added data (could be compressed, and doesn't have to be real-time like your own VR tracking - it can be a second behind and far less updates than your own head. Smooth inbetween and suddenly you'd be able to see where they're looking.

I am always disappointed when the ED avatar doesn't move with you/your head. In Eve Valkyrie, if you look around, over the side etc, your body gets pulled around too and it looks much more natural. And your collar doesn't come into view if you slump in your seat etc.
A good pilot avatar animation rig is a much needed VR-immersion feature. Not the bolted-in, missing texture model we have now.

 

[horizone]

I'm pretty sure SC players have asked for it, but there is no VR support in SC at this time - the detail level is simply too high. Not a regular on the SC forums, although I am a heavy backer (multiple medium and one large ships) so things may have changed on the SC-VR front.

I got SC too. Minimal backer. SC being 100% first person is exciting but not something I would necessarily want Elite to mimic but I really want all of the sudden: Now you're here, now your somewhere else but your body isn't-things to be more coherent. This includes galnet/powerplay screen, galaxy and system maps, SRV turret and now remotely controlled fighters. It's adding up. New players will wonder who and where they are in the end...

EDIT: This also opens up the possibility to run CQC from within the main game. There are lot of advantages to grounding in-game visually how remotely controlled things work in Elite.