F-Zero GX getting Oculus Rift support!

[isamu]

A guys named Biolizard is working on making the Oculus Rift compatible with F-Zero GX! Making good progress on the game too!

http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-oculus-rift-support

I had some time this evening to play around with the camera aim matrix in F-Zero GX. In the Green Plant (Intersection) stage, I first simply opened up the game in Dolphin, and used Free Look to look 180 degrees behind me. A vast majority of the polygons were not rendered.

Then I opened up the game in Gecko.NET on my Wii, found the camera aim matrix in RAM, set a write BP on it, stepped to the end of the function, and poked in a new matrix that was about 180 degrees behind me. I then let the game advance to the next frame, and was delighted to find that the camera instantly was aiming 180 degrees backwards, with all the polygons rendering properly.

So, I think this confirms that (a) the camera aim matrix in the game's RAM is definitely a feasible way to do camera rotation for head tracking, and (b) it gives much better results than using Free Look in Dolphin.

So now all that's necessary is to write a hook function for it which applies a head tracking transformation, have it receive that transformation matrix via a USB Gecko, and write a quick Rift SDK program that feeds the head tracking data via USB Gecko. Since Dolphin supports USB Gecko via TCP, my guess is that this will work for Dolphin equally well as for a physical Wii.

I don't have much time to continue working on it for the next week or two (school...), but this is certainly good progress.

Also, the left/right frames in the video are offset by one because right now the Wii is alternating between left and right views each frame. Presumably there is a better way to handle this in Dolphin, but doing so isn't something I have any experience in. So I'll let other, more competent people handle that component.

Here's another good video on the Oculus Rift...



I can imagine what other arcade racers can potentially look like in 100% complete virtual reality. Man, I can't wait until the consumer version comes out in a year or so!

Imagine in a year or so from now Howard gets OutRun 2k6 Daytona 2 or Super GT working with the Rift!!!!!!!! 

[Fursphere]

Did you see the video of the guy who couldn't walk after he wore then for about 30 minutes?  Serious problems focusing and adjusting to non-VR afterwards?

[Howard_Casto]

Agreed.... I'm not a fan. 

The problem about VR goggles is we still don't have the tech to do them right.  Until they can shrink a 1080p 120mhz display (actually a higher resolution would be better) down to about an inch in size without the need for a 2 pound headset VR isn't viable.  I would seriously love to be wrong on this one, but I see that thing and just see the virtual boy, and the myriad of overpriced vr headsets from the late 90's that never went anywhere.

[RamjetR]

Actually I'm very keen to see and try an Rift. I own a VR920 for a few years now and whilst the FOV is limited, the problem with HMD's has always been the static focus point. You try to look into the distance but the focus is determined by the two 2D images pretending to be 3D. It's always going to be what holds back true stereoscopic 3D unless there is a feature to monitor the eye focus point and adjust the image focus for near and far objects. If you'd ever stereoscopic 3D a HMD. You'll know exactly what I mean.

Rift has widened the FOV and dramatically increased the resolution. But the biggest triumph for RIFT comes in tieing all that in with instant head tracking. And that's what I think will make this itteration of HMD's different (not perfect but definately a step in the right direction). An SDK which appears to have widespread indie and user support will give it the best chance for quality development.

Remember it was user hacks of the kinect which sold millions of kinect units... not the M$ games! I'm very excited to see where RIFT will take sim's and especially sim racing!

[isamu]

Good post Ramjet. Did you pre-order one?

Oh and LOL



A couple other good ones