General VR Catch-All

Screw it, I bought a Warthog.

Serengeti wrote:

Screw it, I bought a Warthog. ;-)

Well, that escalated quickly.

zeroKFE wrote:
Serengeti wrote:

Screw it, I bought a Warthog. ;-)

Well, that escalated quickly.

Poor impulse control. I figure there will be a lot of flight sims in VR in the future though, so why not get something awesome?

I'm gonna hold off even launching ED now until my hotas arrives.

Poor impulse control. I figure there will be a lot of flight sims in VR in the future though, so why not get something awesome?

I fully endorse this line of thinking.

Flight combat VR sim that's not Elite Dangerous:
House of the Dying Sun

Taharka wrote:

Flight combat VR sim that's not Elite Dangerous:
House of the Dying Sun

I'd jump all over this if it had HOTAS support.

Regarding E:D and the Vive, it's not perfect, but it is awesome. It took me awhile to get it looking decent, but it'll never be as sharp as a high resolution monitor... especially objects in the distance. The immersion though is totally worth it.

What works best for me, is setting the graphics quality to VR Low, but set the super sampling to 2x. I also played around with the knob on the side of the HMD, that sets the distance between your eyes and the lenses, finding a sweet spot where the text is more legible. I find I have to wear the goggles much tighter than I did for other VR native games, as well. Which is unfortunate, because it's less comfortable.

I think having VoiceAttack will really help playing E:D in VR. Someone in the main E:D thread recommended some voice packs that you can purchase, which look really cool, but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I set up a few basic commands to learn how it works. Because you're blind with the goggles on, in terms of seeing the knobs and switches on your HOTAS, just saying commands and have them executed via VoiceAttack is huge.

Taharka wrote:

Flight combat VR sim that's not Elite Dangerous:
House of the Dying Sun

I've put so much time into this. It's so good and now that I have a flight stick it's even better. Some missions are reallllly hard though. Despite the stylized art approach, HotDS gives me a mug larger sense of scale visually than ED does as well.

Warriorpoet897 wrote:
Taharka wrote:

Flight combat VR sim that's not Elite Dangerous:
House of the Dying Sun

I've put so much time into this. It's so good and now that I have a flight stick it's even better. Some missions are reallllly hard though. Despite the stylized art approach, HotDS gives me a mug larger sense of scale visually than ED does as well.

Flight stick... so it does support a hotas? Or just the stick and not the throttle?

Serengeti wrote:
zeroKFE wrote:
Serengeti wrote:

Screw it, I bought a Warthog. ;-)

Well, that escalated quickly.

Poor impulse control. I figure there will be a lot of flight sims in VR in the future though, so why not get something awesome?

I'm gonna hold off even launching ED now until my hotas arrives.

I'd fire it up to look at what you need to map, and maybe go through the training a bit. You need a lot of buttons.

Taharka wrote:
Warriorpoet897 wrote:
Taharka wrote:

Flight combat VR sim that's not Elite Dangerous:
House of the Dying Sun

I've put so much time into this. It's so good and now that I have a flight stick it's even better. Some missions are reallllly hard though. Despite the stylized art approach, HotDS gives me a mug larger sense of scale visually than ED does as well.

Flight stick... so it does support a hotas? Or just the stick and not the throttle?

It has two separate input columns under the flight stick so I think it supports full hotas. Might want to check on the steam page though.

Remind me to play my new Vive in a room with a higher ceiling. My poor wand controllers

What about AR? What about this Magic Carpet company stuff?

Serengeti wrote:

So, I kinda wanna pick up Elite Dangerous for my Vive, but never having played it before, and not owning a HOTAS, I'm concerned that it will be too overwhelming to get into and I'll get frustrated. So I guess I have a couple questions.

Is ED playable using a xbox one controller alone, or should I pick up a HOTAS? Are there any HOTAS worth owning that won't totally break the bank?

How approachable is it in VR? Will not being able to see my controller and keyboard present issues?

Should I play it in old fashioned 2d for a while to get a handle on it before switching to VR?

DO NOT buy elite dangerous if you aren't a hardcore flight sim person.

I bought it because it looked cool, I was like yeah, I'm going to just putz around in there, fly around do some simple missions, not take it seriously.

Worst experience ever. Terrible tutorials, terrible guidance, had no idea what to do, things attack me because reasons. I really tried it for a few days and quit. Would love to get my money back on that one. I mean, if flight sim is your thing it looks very deep and satisfying, but I don't have the time or patience for that.

If you want a space sim where you can do quick missions, get in/out combat ala wing commander or tie fighter then get house of the dying sun.

I love ED but I definitely agree it isn't for everyone. I'd actually say if the act of just sitting in a VR cockpit looking at your displays and role playing that you're a commander is fun to you with no other gratifying outcomes necessarily included, then you'll probably enjoy ED. Otherwise HotDS is the best VR space game out right now.

karmajay wrote:

What about AR? What about this Magic Carpet company stuff?

Eh, AR is still at least a year, probably more from any kind of retail release. I was mostly interested in things available to the general public while AR is still mostly in the 'this is what it could be' land.

bandit0013 wrote:
Serengeti wrote:

So, I kinda wanna pick up Elite Dangerous for my Vive, but never having played it before, and not owning a HOTAS, I'm concerned that it will be too overwhelming to get into and I'll get frustrated. So I guess I have a couple questions.

Is ED playable using a xbox one controller alone, or should I pick up a HOTAS? Are there any HOTAS worth owning that won't totally break the bank?

How approachable is it in VR? Will not being able to see my controller and keyboard present issues?

Should I play it in old fashioned 2d for a while to get a handle on it before switching to VR?

DO NOT buy elite dangerous if you aren't a hardcore flight sim person.

I bought it because it looked cool, I was like yeah, I'm going to just putz around in there, fly around do some simple missions, not take it seriously.

Worst experience ever. Terrible tutorials, terrible guidance, had no idea what to do, things attack me because reasons. I really tried it for a few days and quit. Would love to get my money back on that one. I mean, if flight sim is your thing it looks very deep and satisfying, but I don't have the time or patience for that.

If you want a space sim where you can do quick missions, get in/out combat ala wing commander or tie fighter then get house of the dying sun.

Yeah, it may not end up being a good fit for me, but it's $30, so no biggie if not. I've spent more on Steam sale games I've never even installed, so...

There is an 'Elite Lite' of sorts. You can get Elite Dangerous: Arena for $7.50 and apparently the expense gives you a discount on the full game if you upgrade. It's PVP dogfight mode essentially but it lets you get a taste. Im not sure if there's any kind of tutorial.

polypusher wrote:

There is an 'Elite Lite' of sorts. You can get Elite Dangerous: Arena for $7.50 and apparently the expense gives you a discount on the full game if you upgrade. It's PVP dogfight mode essentially but it lets you get a taste. Im not sure if there's any kind of tutorial.

ED lost me when I first brought up the map. I've never seen anything so complicated in my life. I understand more about women than I do about that map.

bandit0013 wrote:
polypusher wrote:

There is an 'Elite Lite' of sorts. You can get Elite Dangerous: Arena for $7.50 and apparently the expense gives you a discount on the full game if you upgrade. It's PVP dogfight mode essentially but it lets you get a taste. Im not sure if there's any kind of tutorial.

ED lost me when I first brought up the map. I've never seen anything so complicated in my life. I understand more about women than I do about that map.

Arena has no map. You pick a ship and start shooting things.

bandit0013 wrote:
polypusher wrote:

There is an 'Elite Lite' of sorts. You can get Elite Dangerous: Arena for $7.50 and apparently the expense gives you a discount on the full game if you upgrade. It's PVP dogfight mode essentially but it lets you get a taste. Im not sure if there's any kind of tutorial.

ED lost me when I first brought up the map. I've never seen anything so complicated in my life. I understand more about women than I do about that map.

I've put about 12 hours into ED and I still don't get the map. Just get a mission, click plot route and then make sure you don't run out of gas as you go from jump to jump. You can do most missions this way.

OK, so I have had my Rift since Monday, and have tried a few games.

The first one I tried was Dreadhalls. I like first person in VR, and VR horror sounded interesting. I'm a ways into the 3rd hub of levels and am finding it very enjoyable. Horror games really don't scare me, but things feel different in VR, very tense, and I've had a few genuine jump scares so far.

Radial-G sounded like F-Zero in VR, and it was on sale in Steam a few weeks back, so yes please. I'm terrible at this game, but find it fun despite my suckage. A friend tried this one and liked it, but felt nautious for quite a while after playing.

Lucky's Tale is both charming and surprisingly effective as a third person game in VR. I love the art style, and really want to play Wind Waker in VR now. I like leaning in to look at Lucky and seeing some of his reactions.

I haven't even played Eve yet, mainly because I am usually terrible at flying games. I also just bought Chronos and Edge of Nowhere, as they seem to be the most interesting on the Oculus store.

After playing Radial-G, I'm really interested to try an on Earth racing game. I'm not into simulation racers though. I like a little bit of arcadiness or assists like the modern Forza games have. IRacing and Project Cars seem to simulation for me. Are there any other racing games that work with the Rift?

I saw some YouTube footage of Dirt Rally working with the DK2. I own Dirt Rally and like what little I've played. I'd love to try this in VR but the Steam version doesn't list it as compatible with any Vr headset on its store page. Has anyone tried getting this to work? I'm all for a Rally or arcade racing game in VR.

BGFH wrote:

Lucky's Tale is both charming and surprisingly effective as a third person game in VR. I love the art style, and really want to play Wind Waker in VR now. I like leaning in to look at Lucky and seeing some of his reactions.

I've been doing this the last few days. It works surprisingly well in Dolphin VR.

I definitely need to check out DolphinVR, I've seen quite a few videos demonstrating Metroid Prime and it looks amazing.

In the meantime I'm completely addicted to The Lab's Longbow game. I can only go a bit above wave 32, but it's still endlessly compelling to me. That and Xortex have occupied a good amount of my time on the Vive these past couple days. Still working my way through Job Simulator 2050, which has been a blast. And I need to boot up Fantastic Contraption and give that a spin.

Any recommendations for first game purchases on the Vive?

mr_n00b wrote:

I definitely need to check out DolphinVR, I've seen quite a few videos demonstrating Metroid Prime and it looks amazing.

In the meantime I'm completely addicted to The Lab's Longbow game. I can only go a bit above wave 32, but it's still endlessly compelling to me. That and Xortex have occupied a good amount of my time on the Vive these past couple days. Still working my way through Job Simulator 2050, which has been a blast. And I need to boot up Fantastic Contraption and give that a spin.

Any recommendations for first game purchases on the Vive?

Metroid Prime is cool but it definitely made me motion sick, if you're susceptible to that kind of thing.

Fantastic Contrapion is fantastic. I still play it regularly.

Definitely try Vanishing Realms, the Budget Cuts Demo (my favorite) and Space Pirate Trainer. If you don't mind the lack of content but want to try a very polished early access game, I'm a big fan of Cosmic Trip and can't wait for the full game to be released. If you like dogfighting House of the Dying Sun is one of the best games out right now.

I'd say Holopoint because it's really fun but the bow feels so different than Longbow that it might be really hard for you to get into it.

bandit0013 wrote:
polypusher wrote:

There is an 'Elite Lite' of sorts. You can get Elite Dangerous: Arena for $7.50 and apparently the expense gives you a discount on the full game if you upgrade. It's PVP dogfight mode essentially but it lets you get a taste. Im not sure if there's any kind of tutorial.

ED lost me when I first brought up the map. I've never seen anything so complicated in my life. I understand more about women than I do about that map.

Yes but if you learn the ED map it will be like that next week. The same can not be said for women.

mr_n00b wrote:

I definitely need to check out DolphinVR, I've seen quite a few videos demonstrating Metroid Prime and it looks amazing.

In the meantime I'm completely addicted to The Lab's Longbow game. I can only go a bit above wave 32, but it's still endlessly compelling to me. That and Xortex have occupied a good amount of my time on the Vive these past couple days. Still working my way through Job Simulator 2050, which has been a blast. And I need to boot up Fantastic Contraption and give that a spin.

Any recommendations for first game purchases on the Vive?

I'm a bit obsessed with Longbow as well, especially after the latest update. Such a fun mini-game.

As far as bow combat on the Vive though, I'd still have to give the nod to Holopoint for sheer action and accuracy. Once you adjust to the aiming, and get in the zone for dodging incoming fire while lining up your next shot, it's amazing. Holopoint really shows off what room scale brings to the VR experience, and definitely benefits from more physical space to move around.

At first reaching behind you into your quiver to pull a new arrow out will feel clunky, but once you adjust to it you'll be grabbing and knocking the next arrow before your first even hits its mark. Can't wait to see how this one continues to evolve.

A few that I like:

The Cubicle (it's free!) is a good one to show people some of what's possible. Advanced warning: there's a lot of movement that might cause nausea. Only a 5 minute affair.

TheBlu- again a great way to show people what's possible. It's not a game as much as an experience. Short too. About 5 minutes for each of the 3 available.

Starseed is great, but short.

Honestly I would suggest HordeZ. I've gone back to that a lot. The developer is responsive to requests as well.

My previous post got me thinking about how I've been introducing friends to VR. Was curious what everyone else does.

Below is what I run each person through their first time. If it's multiple people I usually switch things around so that everyone is varied. Typically, I'll launch the game for them via the PC as it's easier. I try to ease them into it with "spectator" type stuff first and then expand it into actual involvement.

1. SteamVR tutorial
2. TheBlu (if it's more than 1 person I'll put each person through a different module.)
3. The Lab: intro, robot repair, slingshot, longbow
4. Tilt brush
5. If they're coordinated enough and grasping the idea....HordeZ.

If people are really gung-ho, I'll strap them into Elite Dangerous and have them do the VR tutorial to get an idea of the scope that's possible. If I find out that house of the dying sun now has hotas support I'll buy that and do that one instead.

JC wrote:

A few that I like:

Honestly I would suggest HordeZ. I've gone back to that a lot. The developer is responsive to requests as well.

Am I the only one that has a problem when I load HordeZ that the main angel is behind me. It is really annoying. I know I can re-setup room scale and flip it but then every other game is off. 90% of enemies do not come from behind and it annoys me to have the cord the wrong way so much.

I've only shown one person VR so far with the Rift, and made my first mistake. It started out fine. I showed him the Invasion short film just to get him used to looking around in vR. That went well. I hadn't tried many games yet, other than Dreadhalls and Radial-G. We went right to Radial-G. he loved it, but got nautious for a while. For something more interactive, I'd maybe now have them try Lucky's Tale because it can be played at a slower pace.

Well, This Dolphin VR seems interesting. I'd never heard of it, but will check it out now.

Speaking of other side apps, I just tried VorpX which is some crazy thing that tries to make existing games work in VR. Well, they kind of do... I haven't figured out how to make things look better though. I tried left 4 Dead 2 and got just past the part where you bring the guy cola. I had to stop because I felt a little weird.

I don't have a problem playing first person games where you move with WASD or the controller. In fact, I prefer real-time movement over the point and click method many VR games are adopting. But the zoom and perspective of L4D were off enough to feel not right, and when I got a gun, it looked like my crosshairs were more to the left of my vision than center.

What does everyone else prefer for in-game movement. Does actual movement make you motion sick? do you prefer point and click movement? If the perspective were right, and hud worked, I think I'd love a game like L4D or a WASD shooter in VR. I do really like the first person exploration, and horror of Dreadhalls.