Htc Vive pre order Available

[fro2do 10]

Well I've been following the VR world since the early 90's and today I pulled the the trigger on the Htc Vive.

I couldn't decide between the HTC or the Oculus. I finally went with the Vive, I think you get more for your money. Plus a lot more....I think today's children have the best tools....look into it.. you can design in 3d... electronic's. 

 

And of course it's Steam Compatible and so the sky is the limit.

The only thing which is a concern........  You better have a beast of a PC.

I think Oculus missed the boat.

What do you think?

 

Just received my confirmation from Htc their shipping in May.

can't wait.

[Robert455 15]

Hi Fro2do,

 

Have you tried VR flight before? Just curious. If you haven't, it's absolutely amazing! There are a bunch of us over on the FlyInside boards and we all love it. Being in the airplane is so different from looking through a monitor-sized viewport. But you are right. It does take a lot of computer to run especially with detailed aircraft and add-on scenery.

 

I think both headsets will be really amazing. Dan might get support for the Rift in place sooner since he has been working a lot more with the Oculus SDK, but he got in on the first shipments of the Vive so by the time yours arrives, it could be supported.

 

It's truly the future and nothing we say really makes sense to those who haven't tried it yet. That's probably the worst part of VR. There is just no way to convey how the ground drops away, how you feel the height, how it all just looks so cool. At least for me it's what I had always wanted in computer flight and driving simulation - to actually enter the sim and see it from the inside.

 

The Vive is a really nice system. I like the tracking and some of the other applications that use the wands too. The technology is finally here for us to be able to do this stuff. I just wish more simmers could try it for themselves. I was looking at the Steam community boards for Vive and so many of the gamers are put off by the price (admittedly high but it's just what it costs for twin displays, the tracking, the wands, the optics, etc). Yet many of them drop even more on SLI setups or whatever. But the common bit is the way they talk about it, it's obvious they haven't tried it. But as more try it, the word will spread.

 

I should have a Rift in the first batch and am really really looking forward to trying what gen 1 is like. I was a beta tester on FlyInside and have been flying VR since Dan published DCOC for P3D. There's just no going back, at least for me! ;-)

[Robert455 15]

One more thing - I agree to some extent on the Oculus missing the boat comment. I think HTC/Vive do have the better tracking solution and have been wondering about the Touch delay. Those are just plastic, some LEDs, and some simple electronics. That those not only aren't shipping with the Rift and are delayed even later than originally announced is curious.

 

But on the other side, the Rift has the field of view more set for horizontal while Vive is more in the vertical, has the hybrid optics, and is lighter and apparently will breathe better, are all pluses for the Rift for the kind of simming I do. I think the best headset would be a combination of Rift and Vive.

 

Aside from Vive shipping with tracked controllers and Rift's being delayed, I think the other differences are small and people will be very happy with either. But the Vive tracked controllers shipping now may be very important to a lot of people. We need them both, though. The competition will keep them both on their best game and we win.

 

It's very, very cool!

[ohsirus 241]

I had Oculus for a month, even got a 980ti to run it. Was I impressed at first, yeah, the games/demos that are wholly designed for it are amazing. Using Vorpx you can sample alot of other games (GTA5) and get a VR experience...hit or miss. 

 

Ok, I found out I can't stomach VR...Nope..Nope..I started having serious headaches that didn't seem to end. I purchased FLyinside, but never got to try it as I put the Rift away. Having straps squeezed around your head and tiny screens flush to your eyes combined with your eyes saying you're moving, but your inner ear saying no you're not...was too much chaos! 

[Robert455 15]

Hi Ohsirus,

 

I don't know what all you tried, but stuff with a first person shooter aspect like GTA5 in Vorpx is hard on people judging by the posts I've seen. I've never personally tried it but have tried some architectural walkthrough demos and some other experiences where you move with a mouse. The disconnect between what you see and what you aren't feeling is really large in the fps kinds of things and that disconnect leads to feelings of nausea and discomfort. The locomotion aspect is a tough nut to crack and there is a lot of experimentation going on to find ways that are easiest on people.

 

I wish you had tried FlyInside, though. Cockpit experiences seem to be a lot easier on people. Driving, flying, and space types of cockpit sims possibly make the best first experiences because there is a frame of reference around you that even though you and it are moving through the greater space, your movements relative to that frame are exactly what you are doing as you look around and move your head, etc. Not nearly as big of a disconnect for the brain to deal with. It's widely known that cockpit experiences are much much easier on people until they get their "VR legs". One thing about the Vive is the way it is being delivered with tracked controllers and full 360 degree tracking all in one box is that you can do the "room scale" experiences provided your space has enough room. But in those where people walk around and interact with their virtual environment, I don't think one single person has experienced nausea or discomfort. The only instance I've heard of with the consumer prototype Rifts was the case of a BBS reporter at CES that got put into a sim called ADR1FT and something/someone had reversed her controls where everything for her was backwards. She got really nauseous and had to go outside and sit on the sidewalk for a long time until she felt well enough to get up again. But that's the only reported instance with the Rift production prototype that I am aware of. But regardless of the benefits of the new ergonomics and higher frame rates, what experiences you choose to do are a big factor in how they affect you. Just as in real life, a lot of the rollercoaster experiences get to people regardless of ergonomics, frame rates, etc.

 

Since you mention the straps and screens thing, it sounds like you may have just had the straps too tight or it just compounded the other issues. The designs for both Rift and Vive now have kind of a triangular cradle around the back of your head and the headsets themselves are significantly lighter than the DK2. Comfort has been reported to be greatly improved. On the screens being so close to your eyes, yep, they are close but the optics in between correct the image to where you are focusing about 5 feet or so out. That's really good for me because to see close up I need glasses but in these headsets, I can see both near and far with no issues or glasses at all.

 

Lastly, this could have also had some contribution from your computer. If you can't keep up the frame rates, below 73 fps the DK2 drops into a high persistence mode to avoid flashing the display right in your eyes at low rates. That can induce photosensitive epileptic seizures and to keep that from ever happening, the screen switches to always being on. But that always on mode shows blurring, smearing, and that can cause problems. Missed frames are another big one. Even if you can't see it, it can still trigger effects. Keeping up frame rates is very important in VR and the game engines are even now dynamically scaling detail in scenes to keep frames high when in VR.

 

If you still have your DK2, you might give it a try with FlyInside. It has a frame rate display so you can see how you are doing. A lot of people have been trying to do VR with laptops though and if you are too, be especially wary. Those frequently don't meet spec and have other issues that make VR not work right on them. Not all, but most.

[Robert455 15]

One last thing - tolerance for VR varies from person to person. It could be that if all the other stuff doesn't apply, you just may not be able to handle it. That's apparently just how it is for some people. Not very many, but some. If that's true for you, that's unfortunate as VR flight is a huge, huge joy for me and for all the guys I fly with who also run in VR.

[fro2do 10]

Ok, I found out I can't stomach VR...Nope..Nope..I started having serious headaches that didn't seem to end.

 

Ohsirus you are absolutely correct. On the decision making on to which product to purchase was that I heard that the Vive will not give you that motion sickness As Robert mentioned. 

It's one to one is instant.

 

 

Have you tried VR flight before? Just curious. If you haven't, it's absolutely amazing!

 

Hi Robert455 thanks for the positive feedback. Have I tried it yet? No I have not, but I have been following this technology for a very long time now and its finally here.

Also I agree with you as far as the total immersion, and it's only going to get better which ever platform you choose.

[Robert455 15]

You are in for a treat Fro2do! Be sure to say hi over at the FlyInside boards and join us for some multiplayer flight. We run FSX:SE mostly since we all have that. Lock FSX frames at 30 in the FSX settings, set ClipMode=Minimum for the virtual cockpit entry in the cameras.cfg file, turn off collision detection if you wish, and prepare to be amazed!

 

Or whatever you feel like doing, it's going to be a ride! ;-)