[Rift Core 2.0] Oculus Dash & New Home being released in public test channel today

[Woozie 732]

Just a heads up for Oculus Rift users, the new Dash and Home environment (Rift Core 2.0) will be released on the Oculus public test channel today. 

Here's how to join public test channel: https://support.oculus.com/200468603765391/

The virtual computing capabilities of Oculus Dash are pretty exciting, some features are particularly interesting for flightsims. However, P3D would require an update (full native Rift support) in order to be able to use dash features. 

This would allow us to finally use one of flyinside's best features in native P3D VR: Placing any type of content directly into your VR environment, be it other apps/addons (running outside of P3D, like an EFB), charts as PDF or image files, and even videos (showing the challenging approach you are about to fly). 

Here's the part i'm talking about: 

 

 

and here's the full Rift Core 2.0 keynote

 

 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

The latest release has just hit PTC — here’s what you can expect. The updates for this month center on the new Rift Core 2.0 beta! In addition to the usual channels, we're introducing UserVoice as a way to organize feedback and suggestions (visit the Oculus blog to learn more). Don't forget you can log bugs right from the reporting tool in Rift. Thanks for testing! https://forums.oculusvr.com/community/discussion/59825/rift-si-1-21-now-available-on-public-test-channel

Features

• Wishlists: You can now add apps you'd like to purchase or download later to your wishlist in the Oculus Store. You can choose to see updates about sales and other promotions for apps on your wishlist.
• Rift Core 2.0 (Beta):
• The core software experience in Rift has been rebuilt, replacing the existing Universal Menu and Home with a new Touch-native interface.
• Note, core functionality of Rift Core 2.0 should work fine with Windows 7 and 8.1, but some features, like Oculus Desktop virtual computing and Dash as an overlay may require you to have Windows 10, update your graphics card drivers, or make other system adjustments to use all of the features of Rift Core 2.0 as intended. For more information, see https://support.oculus.com/1702745539746285 and https://support.oculus.com/551671135186908, as well as https://www.oculus.com/blog/rift-core-20-updates-beta-coming-soon-plus-redesigned-desktop-app-experience/ and https://www.oculus.com/blog/introducing-rift-core/.

Dash:

• Dash is a redesign of our VR system interface from the ground up that opens up new possibilities for VR and immersive computing.
• An overlay system lets you use all the features of Dash without leaving your current app.
• Bring your Windows desktop apps into VR so you can listen to your favorite music, watch a show, or create something in VR based on a pinned photograph, all without removing your headset.
• Oculus Home:
• Completely overhauls your personal space in VR to let you customize your environment, share it with your friends, or visit their space.
• Collect interactive objects you and your friends can play with in VR, such as bows and arrows, targets, and stackable objects.
• Use decorations and furniture to make your Home uniquely your own.
• Show off your accomplishments in VR with achievement elements.
• Oculus desktop app:
• Redesigned user interface provides improved top-level navigation and a dark theme to make things easier on your eyes.
• A brand new landing page includes:
• more engaging app previews
• clearer announcements for new features and updates
• faster access to your recent VR apps
• more social features, including seeing which multiplayer and social apps your friends are playing, as well as ways to connect with people you may know or have met in VR
• Graphics: We'll now let you know the graphics card driver version you'll need for the latest update. See https://support.oculus.com/1702745539746285/ for details.

Bugs

Fixed graphics issues related to recent Nvidia driver updates.

Required GPU drivers:

AMD: 17.11.2

NVIDIA: 388.31

[Woozie 732]

I quite like Rift Core 2.0, especially the desktop features. The UI and controls need some work but thats whats the public beta for.

The desktop window pinning is bloody brilliant! I watched a football game while playing Elite Dangerous :)

 

NB: @vgbaron or any other mod, would you be able to convert the second (reddit) video in my OP to a standard link? The embedded video auto-starts for some reason which is a bit annoying. I cant edit it myself. Thanks :)

[HiFlyer 9,343]

14 minutes ago, Woozie said:

The desktop window pinning is bloody brilliant! I watched a football game while playing Elite Dangerous :)

I was thinking simmers might be more interested in the ability to pull up charts and etc.........

[Woozie 732]

32 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

I was thinking simmers might be more interested in the ability to pull up charts and etc.........

Well, sometimes I dare to play other stuff...crazy, innit? ;)

Pinning charts and other stuff in P3D works flawless, although it stutters quite a bit when opening the dash in P3D. Once back in P3D i dont see much of a performance penalty when using pinned pdfs or websites. Didnt try video in P3D though, this might have a small performance hit.

However, interacting with those windows (scrolling, clicking..) is currently a bit of a nuisance as you need to use your touch controllers for that. Mouse support should come soon, but i suspect that it will only work while in the dash

Good to see that this feature doesnt require tight oculus intergration, i didnt expect it to work with P3D

[MarkJHarris 128]

Flyinside is brilliant in concept and execution, Dan is to be applauded. I had no hesitation in paying up for my flyinside  licence. That it's found it's way into the main Oculus software is just the nature of these things. Just think how many apple third party ios apps became included in the ios as updates came.

It's progress though. Wouldn't have happened without Dan Church's inspiration. Kudos to him.

[Woozie 732]

2 minutes ago, MarkJHarris said:

It's progress though. Wouldn't have happened without Dan Church's inspiration. Kudos to him.

I doubt that Flyinside inspired Oculus to implement this feature ;) Its available to all Oculus apps/games and not just a P3D feature. Virtual- or multi-computing concepts for desktop VR exist for quite a while, Flyinside didnt invent it. 

The feature is much more than just pinning PDFs. As the oculus desktop VR supports true multi computing, you can pin any window on your desktop into your VR world, and its content will update in realtime. It looks like you can even task switch between VR apps without leaving dash which wasn't possible before

[MarkJHarris 128]

Ok, well, I had virtual desktop before, and Flyinside was my first experience of being able to bring windows inside the flightdeck. A novelty to me and very much appreciated. I've been away from it since the Spring, as I've been flying my word not allowed off in real life, but now it's Winter I'm looking to move from FSX to P3D. What aircraft I fly depends on my future employment..... 

[GCBraun 2,390]

How can I pin charts into the P3D window? I have played a bit with this yesterday night, but was just able to go back to a big Desktop View where I would see P3Ds 2D Window and nothing else.

[Woozie 732]

34 minutes ago, tgcbraun said:

How can I pin charts into the P3D window? I have played a bit with this yesterday night, but was just able to go back to a big Desktop View where I would see P3Ds 2D Window and nothing else.

First open the chart and make sure its window isnt fullscreen. Then switch to desktop view within dash and alt+tab to bring the charts window in front. Then grab the charts window and move it away from the desktop and place it whereever you want. Then hit the (way too small) pin symbol in the bottom right to ensure its shown in P3D

[whitav8 98]

@Woozie,

       What is the performance loss with the pinned chart? Does it matter if it is in view? (assuming you move it so you can't see it unless you turn your head)

 

Dave

[Woozie 732]

1 hour ago, whitav8 said:

@Woozie,

       What is the performance loss with the pinned chart? Does it matter if it is in view? (assuming you move it so you can't see it unless you turn your head)

 

Dave

Hey Dave

I didn't notice any performance degradation with pinned windows, but this is purely based on visual observations. I didn't perform any FPS analysis.

However, static windows shouldnt have much effect on performance anyways, no matter if its currently in view or not. I even tried a youtube video and didnt notice any visible framerate hit.

I'm running a GTX1080 though, dont know if last generation 9xx cards can handle all the dash features without taking a hit

 

[FuriousBird 6]

I just tried this beta. Awesome...I can finally have charts on board perfectly readable (adjust zoom/distance and placement). I use the navigraph charts desktop app with moving map.

On 07/12/2017 at 9:53 PM, Woozie said:

However, interacting with those windows (scrolling, clicking..) is currently a bit of a nuisance as you need to use your touch controllers for that. Mouse support should come soon, but i suspect that it will only work while in the dash

 It would indeed have been good to be able to resize, move the windows from p3d vr directly instead of switching to the dash (which doesnt show where exactly the window will be placed in your cockpit environment, so its a bit of a guess work to get to place it down the left window in the pmdg 737).

I believe its actually possible to interact with them if the touch controllers can be used in native p3dv4.1 (i couldn't see them active in the cockpit at all...).

Regards,

JP