VR Honeymoon?

[HiFlyer 9,336]

4 hours ago, BBDev said:

Interesting what you say about motion sickness, I liked the idea of VR but all my experiences have led me to fealing nauseous - which is no fun!

Anybody else got any recommendations for combinations of hardware and software that eliminate this problem?

I know that the designers are trying many different techniques to help alleviate the issue for those susceptible, but there's really no silver bullet at this point. I guess it might be like going to the amusement park. There are some rides you just need to avoid if you have a sensitive stomach.

(And no sausage with onions and peppers just before you ride on the spinny thing!) o.O

[flibberflops 74]

Although there is no doubt that some are more prone to VR sickness than others, there are things you can do to help out.

Hardware

 The first thing to remember that it is critical to keep high frame rates in VR. This is especially important when you move your head around. Low frame rates will cause slight lag, stutters when you move your head up/down/left/right (especially if you do it quickly). It may not seem much at the time but it will induce VR sickness. The temptation in VR is to dial up the detail to 10 at the sacrifice of VR. In some Vr situations you can do this, others it is not so wise. Generally, if we are talking about Flight sims, you ought to be thinking top end hardware for VR. Yeah you can get by with lesser hardware but really VR min specs are only going to raise as resolution increases.

Eyes and body in conflict

One of the other causes of VR sickness is due to your eyes and body sending out different messages. For instance if you are on a VR rollercoaster, your eyes are teling you that you are twisting all over the place but your body knows you are stationary. Therefore, VR experiences differ greater depending on what you are doing. If you are in an experience where you are sat in a chair and are just looking around in a room then you are very unlikely to get into trouble. However, full on Top Gun F15 dog fighting is probably going to make you as sick as a dog.

Games / Sims

 Some VR experiences can actually differ massively depending on what you do. Driving on a wide open race track is a lot less likely to give you VR sickness than Rally driving wheer there are lots of roadside trees etc whizing past you quite close to you. Also the act of physical movement helps. If you drive with a steering wheel and pedals you are less likely to run into trouble than using a game pad. If you can also add some kind of motion simulator then that also helps to keep your eyes and body in sync.

In flight sims, Bigbird flying is probably the most safe as you are mostly sitting in a chair looking around a cockpit with a 30,000ft blue sky and clouds. Light Aircraft flying can also be quite safe as long as your flying normally with slow movements. If you try whizing through the Alps at low altitude you may start running into trouble etc. Obviously the worst flight situation is fast action combat, esplecially low altitude. Again if you have proper flight controls and motion simulation it will help some. The worst game situation is probably FPS. Anything where you walk forwards and turn on the spot can be really bad.

 Notice your VR sickness

 VR sickness tends to start with getting hot and clammy, a hot face / sweating can also occur in early stages. If you take a break at this stage it is quite easy to recover. Next comes the sickness in the stomach which can increase until you feel really bad indeed. If you leave it this long until you stop you will probably find it will take a long time to recover. Some say that you can break through this sickness by keep going, however doing that is a bit like seeing how long you hold off before you go to the toilet.... if you get it wrong it will be very messy!

 

Everyone is different

 Very few people don't get VR sickness. The rest of us do. A few have extreme VR sickness and never really improve. The majority of us can mitigate it and get used to it in some way. The key is to experiment and find boundaries that you can tolorate. Some things work better standing, others sitting down. Most oculus experiences are rated for "comfort". I suggest starting with "comfortable" experiences to start and then try "moderate". Find what works for you and try not to get too influanced by people pushing you into directions because it doesn't make them sick. Find your own way. Good luck!

[caaront 109]

Thus far 2 things have made me nauseous, the Alien game-while looking at the computer terminal screen for directions, and once while turning and walking backwards at the same time in MineCraft VR.

 

I deleted Alien because I could go no further without getting sick, but could not recreate the motion sickness in the Minecraft demo so I bought it.

 

But Lone Echo was designed just for VR, and done right, so MS should not occur.

[flibberflops 74]

6 hours ago, caaront said:

But Lone Echo was designed just for VR, and done right, so MS should not occur.

 With the deepest of respect, that statement is not entirely a correct reflection of the full situtation. Just because a game is designed for VR, it doesn't neccessarily mean it resolves all sickness issues.

  There is no doubt that Lone Echo is designed very well and they have gone great lengths to try to reduce sickness in a floating body game (which can cause extreme sickness if done badly). However despite there efforts it still can cause issues. I know this purely because I have Lone Echo and it causes me to have mild issues which are bad enough to force me to stop (and I play driving and flight sims all the time without issue). For me, the mild sickness issues outweigh my general interest in the gameplay so although I tried playing several times,  I have now given up completely.

Also if you look at Oculus own "Comfort" rating for this game, it is set as "Moderate". Therefore even Oculus themselves recognise it can cause issues.

Finally, there are plenty of other posts showing other people having issues with Lone Echo...

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/6skl2v/lone_echo_locomotion_not_for_everyone_im_afraid/

 As per my previous post, I think its important that everone finds there own personal VR level of comfort and try not to take to much heed of sweeping generalisations.

 

[caaront 109]

my bad, I am lucky in that area I guess.

[wb5okj 26]

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 9:16 AM, BBDev said:

Interesting what you say about motion sickness, I liked the idea of VR but all my experiences have led me to fealing nauseous - which is no fun!

Anybody else got any recommendations for combinations of hardware and software that eliminate this problem?

The advice that flipperflops gives is very very good advice, another thing that may help at the outset is take a couple of Dramamine. I used this when I got a bit queasy, and it helps quite a bit. For most of your flying when starting out don't do sharp turns or steep dives until you become accustomed to it. I still sometimes feel a bit uneasy after an extensive helicopter run with a lot of really quick turns. By building up to it I can usually do a couple of hours in flight without any problems, but I did have to work up to it first. I was somewhat surprised that I would get motion sickness, in my younger days I never got sea sick at sea or any kind of motion sickness. Age has a way of changing things however.

[wb5okj 26]

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 9:16 AM, BBDev said:

Interesting what you say about motion sickness, I liked the idea of VR but all my experiences have led me to fealing nauseous - which is no fun!

Anybody else got any recommendations for combinations of hardware and software that eliminate this problem?

Didn't mean to double this message. 

[pegruder 65]

I mostly fly airliners and cant go back to 2d monitor flying.  I feel my aircraft control especially landings have improved as I can get a much better feel of what the aircraft is doing.  Taking off I can nearly feel Im being pressed back in my seat.  My only complaint is the low resolution but hopefully that improves in the future.  I pre-ordered the rift and have used it quite often since its release early last year.  I was able to push through some bouts of motion sickness but it does depend on the title.  P3D/Xp I've never had motion sickness with.  One game, 'Adrift' is the only one that really did a number on me, never played it again.  

[HiFlyer 9,336]

3 hours ago, pegruder said:

My only complaint is the low resolution but hopefully that improves in the future.

It will. Already the WMR headsets are a step up in resolution, with the Samsung Odyssey specifically finally boasting readable small type text.

[BBDev 0]

Thanks for all the advice, I'll try some of the suggestions and see if it helps, I'm sure VR is the future so I'd like to be part of it!

[Dannybarnett 0]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 1:28 AM, Henry Street said:

From my experience, your long term relationship with the current VR technology will depend a lot on your current flightsim preferences.

If your preferred flightsim profile is flying VFR GA unbound by most aspects of real world flying such as ATC, you will likely have a long and satisfying relationship.

If your preferred flightsim profile more closely simulates real world flying, especially in the airline and/or military realms, you will quickly find the limitations.

An important ancillary consideration is the length of your typical flight...generally the longer, the more limiting and uncomfortable the current technology can be. Another consideration is your susceptibility to motion sickness, if you are sensitive, VR may provoke the symptoms.

Of course, opinions vary (much like people in general).

The best that can be said, in my estimation, is that we are still in the early stages of VR technology. More development needed for the state of the technology to match my flightsim preferences.

Hope this helps.

totally agree with your opinion .. Bravo