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Author Topic: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing  (Read 278696 times)

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RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1240 on: January 25, 2024, 10:23:24 am »
It would also be my dream if a project like this could implement my 80’s TV site and display it on the CRT TV and give you the option to change the channel. https://www.my80stv.com/#yhZNyekqrac

That's a pretty amazing site.  Definitely something to scratch the nostalgia itch.

It looks like the author of the site is already playing with this to some extent:

 

Maybe contact him and request that the VR functionality be added to his site.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1241 on: January 25, 2024, 11:02:44 pm »
Nice! What I like so much about https://www.my80stv.com/ is that it is a perfect encapsulation of what was playing on TV that year; they even added the 1950's to the site. Basically any time period piece, any kind of VR room with a TV you could just link it up to the year of that site and BAM! Instant working time period piece in VR. 

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1242 on: January 26, 2024, 03:17:33 am »
So i finally found a Vo.139 rom pack torrent that was like 80GB big and copied them into the rom folder and can confirm all games now work. This is seriously actually epic. You would think it would run like sh*t  or something with everything going on but it doesn't, I have not had a single missed frame or hiccup inside the app on my 3080 with an intel 13 gen CPU. This is almost like the best VR front end for mame.

The fact that he used the 2010 dos version of mame and it looks like he compiled it himself to get rid of the mame warning screens. I want to say he is around the same age as me and he built his first mame arcade cab in 2010 where as I built mine in 2009. Then he goes and takes it to the next step by creating this.

I wonder how he did it, I wonder how he created all these cabs with a perfect level of detail. I can't even find Arcade cab pictures for my front End that aren't low res crap.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1243 on: January 26, 2024, 05:31:09 am »
I am so impressed with this VR arcade I think I might just build a stand alone arcade joystick and buttons for my room. I have enough spare parts. I just need another ipac. Is there anything now like a 1 player ipac that's cheap?

I wonder If I could build it in some kind of slide out drawer. I still own a drill press. I want to be sitting in my comfortable office chair and pull it up to me about 4 feet off the ground. I need a big enough table to rest my arms on. I also want to be able to slide it out of sight when I am not using it.

RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1244 on: January 29, 2024, 09:10:58 am »
...
You would think it would run like sh*t  or something with everything going on but it doesn't, I have not had a single missed frame or hiccup inside the app on my 3080 with an intel 13 gen CPU. This is almost like the best VR front end for mame.

The fact that he used the 2010 dos version of mame and it looks like he compiled it himself to get rid of the mame warning screens. I want to say he is around the same age as me and he built his first mame arcade cab in 2010 where as I built mine in 2009. Then he goes and takes it to the next step by creating this.

I wonder how he did it, I wonder how he created all these cabs with a perfect level of detail. I can't even find Arcade cab pictures for my front End that aren't low res crap.

I was wondering this myself.  The conclusion I came to (perhaps incorrectly) is that a snippet of the attract screen is rendered to a video file for each game, then cached and applied as a texture to the appropriate screens.  In order for this to appear seamless, it would need to be pre-rendered and of sufficient length to be convincing without obvious loop points.  It could then, of course, transition to the actual game when the user is in proper position to interact with a specific game.  As the titles in use are pre-configured, it would be possible to have done all of this in advance.  Just like video attract screens for a front-end application.  That's not precluding the possibility that several instances of MAME could be running when the user is close to a few machines, to increase fidelity when necessary.  Modern "cell-phone" processors should be able to pull that off, as none of the input handling/game code needs to be active until the user is ready to interact with it.  But it would be no problem for a decent VR-capable PC.

As for the artwork, quite some time ago, there was a 500gb collection of high-quality scans floating around with sideart, marquees and IIRC, control panels taken from actual machines.  It used to take an expensive HD to store it all.  It's hard to believe that it can now fit on a $35 micro-SD card!  It's possible this was used as an initial source for the textures.  The cabinet geometries are also pretty well documented.  Regardless, there is quite a bit of work to bring everything together, and to fill in the gaps, on display in that program, regardless of how it was done.   
« Last Edit: January 29, 2024, 10:39:07 am by RandyT »

mimic

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1245 on: February 03, 2024, 07:24:10 pm »
Hey guys, if any of you plays Onward and has time on the Weekends at 3PM EST (has to be at 3PM, due to Europeans), let me know and I'll PM you pass/host.
 
We used to have a nice group going on a private server, but it fell apart because some people had only Quest 1, and Quest 3 wasn't yet available when Onward decided not to support Quest 1 anymore and guys didn't want to invest in Q2, when Q3 was just around the corner. So we are looking for more people that are at least 30+ y.o. (most of us are in mid 40's to early 50's). Looking for mature enough that we can expect you won't burp, fart, whistle, sing into the microphone.

If you're interested, then if I don't reply right away, then please check your PM, 10 min before 3pm tomorrow's game.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2024, 09:06:25 pm by mimic »

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1246 on: February 15, 2024, 05:14:10 pm »
One more big step closer for my dream of taking these headsets outside and playing a massive multiplayer game in the real world.



fallacy

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1247 on: February 15, 2024, 05:20:18 pm »
I saw this video come up in my feed, a look back in the past from 2013 where it all began.


RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1248 on: February 16, 2024, 01:26:41 pm »
One more big step closer for my dream of taking these headsets outside and playing a massive multiplayer game in the real world.

Somehow, I don't see how $3500 equates to "massive multiplayer", but I guess stranger things have happened :)

fallacy

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1249 on: February 16, 2024, 06:05:06 pm »
Quote
Somehow, I don't see how $3500 equates to "massive multiplayer", but I guess stranger things have happened :)

Saying the tec is one step closer; the apple vision pro itself is still worthless for the consumer market . Waiting for the future version to be 40% cheaper, 40% lighter and 40% more powerful. Thats how it always works out.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1250 on: February 16, 2024, 08:33:28 pm »
Less than ten years ago, the eye tracking tech in those things was $35,000+.

 :dunno

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1251 on: February 24, 2024, 02:23:00 am »
Wouldn't be cool to repurpose something like this with the current headsets like the Quest 3, along with some current mec game.


RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1252 on: February 28, 2024, 10:16:38 am »
That does look pretty nifty.  Do they look like motion platforms to you?  If they are, they probably should have mentioned that in the listing to improve their chances of a sale.  If not, that's a crazy price :)

But to be honest, my self-built 4-actuator racing rig, steering wheel, PC, monitor and VR headset cost less than that in total, and probably does the same thing + more.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1253 on: February 28, 2024, 06:55:05 pm »
Quote
That does look pretty nifty.  Do they look like motion platforms to you?  If they are, they probably should have mentioned that in the listing to improve their chances of a sale.  If not, that's a crazy price :)

But to be honest, my self-built 4-actuator racing rig, steering wheel, PC, monitor and VR headset cost less than that in total, and probably does the same thing + more.

I mean




RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1254 on: February 29, 2024, 05:01:01 am »
IMHO, that would make a pretty poor "mech simulator".  It's basically a tandem 2DOF "seat tilter", with the pivot point between the two seats.  It was obviously designed to be a "mall attraction" roller coaster sim.  The poor person who bought the thing probably believed the "easy money" hype from the promo videos and found out otherwise.  Supposedly, they are 7k new.

A mech simulator really needs some heave to be decent, which this can't do.  Even for simple 2DOF motion, the center of movement would need to be directly under a single rider (?) or it would feel really odd.



This is basically identical to what is moving the egg unit.  Lots of folks make their own, as it's the simplest way to get the seat moving and it's relatively inexpensive compared to other systems.
« Last Edit: February 29, 2024, 05:05:49 am by RandyT »

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1255 on: March 01, 2024, 01:22:15 am »
There are like a million different motion chairs out there. I don't understand how you are supposed to program any of them into a game. I am always hoping one day a cheap popular chair will come out and you will just be able to upload a config file that will allow it to work with most games.

I remember this yaw chair was all over youtube a few years ago for VR but that never went anywhere.



RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1256 on: March 01, 2024, 12:19:29 pm »
There are like a million different motion chairs out there. I don't understand how you are supposed to program any of them into a game. I am always hoping one day a cheap popular chair will come out and you will just be able to upload a config file that will allow it to work with most games.

I remember this yaw chair was all over youtube a few years ago for VR but that never went anywhere.

I guess "cheap" in that world is relative.  Tossing up-to 300lbs around in near real-time has a cost and weight that puts it out of the consumer mass-market pretty readily.  The YAW outfit is still trying to do it, but it appears that they learned that cheap and reliable don't go hand-in-hand for something like this.  I understand that there are a lot of backers who still have received nothing for their 3k after years of waiting, and a 2.5 version is out now. But that style of unit (basically a geared track riding on skate wheels in a stacked configuration) seems a bit slow to me, making it the most suitable for flightsims and maybe rollercoasters.  For reference, my setup can physically hurt you with the forces it's capable of, whereas this design would probably eat it's own components before that would happen (unless it fell over first).  It's also not appreciably cheaper now than some other approaches.

But these things entail several disciplines, all working together, to get them to work.  The first is obviously the mechanical components.  Second, there needs to be something which can drive them quickly and accurately, and third is the application (driver) layer responsible for delivering game data to the second thing in a way it understands, as well as providing some user adjustable pre-processing for the rig itself.  In all honesty, from a parts perspective, it's like riding a CNC machine with game software telling it what to do.

For this reason, it's important to make sure all parts can talk to each other before purchasing.  So most will start at the end of  the chain and work their way backward, based on the type of system they want to put together.  For many, it's SimRacingStudio => Thanos AASD15A controller => however many directly driven servo actuators the system requires.  But the "seat-tilter" types usually use an open-source solution and arduino, coupled with two industrial gear motors with arm linkages and encoders to track position.  With these, the longer the motion, the beefier the motors need to be, as more power is required when the diameter of the "circle" these linkages are connected to increases.

Finally, one step above DIY is a company called DOFReality.  They have been around for a while and probably offer the cheapest out-of-the-box solution and one that's compatible with SimRacingStudio.  Maybe not the beefiest or most capable of rigs, but certainly the cheapest and easiest.  And if you want to spend some money for the best they offer, they have a 6DOF unit for under 6k (without seat).  They also have a number of much cheaper options.  But you do have to do some assembly on any of them when it arrives.

If you haven't already seen it, here is my post showing the actuators I designed and built, along with the "finished" rig. 
« Last Edit: March 01, 2024, 08:44:50 pm by RandyT »

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1257 on: March 01, 2024, 06:28:25 pm »
Quote
If you haven't already seen it, here is my post showing the actuators I designed and built, along with the "finished" rig.

Cool Build! I have no idea how any of this stuff works, working with motor type sh*it is above my pay grade.  I like how in one of your posts you mention the YAW2 about 2.5 years ago when it was all over the internet.

Quote
*edit*  I now see that there were at least 3 different styles of SEGA motion rigs (not counting the 360).  The Afterburner cockpit was large and had only 2DOF, but the GalaxyForce II design seems to be pretty much exactly the same type of unit as the 3DOF YAW2, but with limited Z-Rotation.  The one I remember was Space Harrier, which is without Z-rotation.  That one also seems to use a different motion platform, more akin to the center mounted pivot design.  But I could be wrong.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1258 on: March 05, 2024, 08:27:51 pm »
Good video going over all the new emerging tec on getting AR headsets into glasses form and the different kinds of inputs they are trying to create with them. At 1330 he starts talking about Neural interface bands, I was not even aware of this one but the tec sounds nuts.

About 10 more years VR/AR will become mainstream! Mark my word we'll be wearing these things in the park. You will also be able to access your content as easily as you can access your content on your phone today.


RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1259 on: March 06, 2024, 11:37:12 am »
Good video going over all the new emerging tec on getting AR headsets into glasses form and the different kinds of inputs they are trying to create with them. At 1330 he starts talking about Neural interface bands, I was not even aware of this one but the tec sounds nuts.

My view is that barring any new technology within the short term, AR/VR spectacles will be short lived.  People literally get surgery to avoid having to wear glasses.  :)

Once the technology is so small that in can be put into glasses, it will also be able to be put into some very light and comfortable headgear.  I suspect at some point, there will either be an implant which is wirelessly tethered to this headgear, or the implant will be unnecessary, using something like external frequency resonance to alter/transmit brainwaves in a way which is tailored to an individual, using AI.

Given the failure of "Google Glasses", I also have to wonder about social implications.  Many people will avoid having in-person interactions with others, simply because they know that they could be surreptitiously recorded by the individuals wearing the glasses.  Of course, this concern won't be that different for implant technologies, considering that those individuals will literally be agents, perhaps unknowingly, for whoever manufactured their technology.  If you think data harvesting is bad now, "you ain't seen nothing yet" :)
« Last Edit: March 06, 2024, 11:40:58 am by RandyT »

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1260 on: May 11, 2024, 09:45:29 am »
Sony may also come to their senses at some point.  At they scale they produce things, it would be hard to sell me on the idea that they lose money at the price these are being offered at.  And the more they sell, the quicker they get a return on their tooling and setup investment, and the quicker they can start dropping the price to bring more PS5 owners into the VR fold.

When Sony was asked about potential PC compatibility, the answer was supposedly a vague "PSVR2 was made for the Playstation5", which doesn't exactly sound like a "never gonna happen".  I guess we will see eventually.

Called it.


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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1261 on: May 15, 2024, 03:11:52 pm »
Quote
Sony may also come to their senses at some point.  At they scale they produce things, it would be hard to sell me on the idea that they lose money at the price these are being offered at.  And the more they sell, the quicker they get a return on their tooling and setup investment, and the quicker they can start dropping the price to bring more PS5 owners into the VR fold.

When Sony was asked about potential PC compatibility, the answer was supposedly a vague "PSVR2 was made for the Playstation5", which doesn't exactly sound like a "never gonna happen".  I guess we will see eventually.

Called it.

But also not really, he says it  will still need a PS5. The PS5 will use a steam software as a receiver from your pc to play the game…Which by the way will make your games look like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. This video is over 2 months old and I still have not heard any updates.

Only reason this is happening if it ever does is because the playstation VR was and is a failure.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1262 on: May 15, 2024, 07:00:20 pm »
Pwnt

RandyT

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1263 on: May 16, 2024, 10:45:23 am »
But also not really, he says it  will still need a PS5. The PS5 will use a steam software as a receiver from your pc to play the game…Which by the way will make your games look like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. This video is over 2 months old and I still have not heard any updates.

Only reason this is happening if it ever does is because the playstation VR was and is a failure.

No.   :laugh:  You will need an extra box, unless you already have an RTX 20 series or other GPU with a VirtualLink port.  If Sony has enabled this functionality in the firmware, you can expect such a HDMI-to-VirtualLink device to follow from them to support the connection.  Game streaming on most local networks is barely playable.  Doing this with VR would be a non-starter. 

*EDIT* Apparently, the native connection to the PS5 is just using it's USB-C Gen2 SuperSpeed port.  The only difference between one of the 20-50 dollar PCIE cards on Amazon (depending on the number of ports you want) which offer this, and VirtualLink is possibly the power delivery capabilities.  If so, an external supply and a passive connector/adapter might be all that's required, with no need to do any fancy video transmogrification.

According to Wikipedia, there are 278 released and/or upcoming titles for the PSVR2.  For a "failed" device, I'd say having that much compatible content in the first year of it's existence is pretty good.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2024, 03:00:31 pm by RandyT »

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1264 on: June 01, 2024, 02:09:04 pm »
Called it again... ;D

*EDIT*

And here it is direct from Sony. 

Looks like they did go the full video signal conversion route with DP.  Obviously, PS5 specific features, like the novel haptic stuff, aren't supported, but it's unclear whether that is because the PC games weren't designed for those features or whether it's unsupported in the Steam app.  If the latter, that could change if game makers wish to support it.  It also states that foveated rendering will be a thing, but without eye-tracking.  Not exactly sure how that would work or what the benefit would be, other than having razor-sharp graphics in the view-center with a lower GPU requirement.  While I haven't seen a PSVR2 first-hand, one somewhat disappointing aspect is that the displays are OLED, but instead of the RGB-stripe of the PSVR, they went with Pentile for the PSVR2.  I have always held that Pentile displays would not be a showstopper at high enough resolutions, so it would be interesting (at least to me) to see how it fares.   

It will also be interesting to see the uptake of PSVR2 by PC users, given the reduced feature-set.  I think they will need to at least allow developers to access all of it's features in order for it to be attractive in the full PCVR market.  I guess we will find out when the holiday season hits.

« Last Edit: June 04, 2024, 01:18:48 pm by RandyT »

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1265 on: September 19, 2024, 12:40:14 pm »
Looks like PSVR2 on PC with the new adapter is, at least initially, a hit.  The reviews have been about 95% positive.

Sony underestimated the demand and actually ran out of stock on the adapters.  Then the scalping started (I'm not for overlegislation, but this anti-consumer and economy crushing practice needs to be ended).  But they can currently be found again at some retail outlets for the correct price of $60, so hopefully the extortionists who firewalled the first batch of them will take an "L".   *edit*:  It turns out that the adapter essentially creates an external Virtual Link in a box.  If your GPU already has one of these, then supposedly only the PSVR2 app is required to get the headset working.  The only gotcha with that is the 2080ti is the last card which had one before it was abandoned, and that's only on par with an RTX 3070/4060ti in performance.  But still a good thing to know if someone is still rocking a GPU with that port on it.

Reports are that the tracking is spot on, which bodes well.  The binocular crossover is supposed to be very good and of course the deep blacks and bright, vibrant colors of the OLED are getting their due praise.  I still wish it wasn't pentile, but an OLED display of much higher resolution than the old Odyssey headsets (also pentile OLED) should be pretty nice.  Everyone comments about the mura that's visible from the diffuser, but most say that it's only really there on plain, blank surfaces, and everyplace else it's not noticeable unless really looking for it.  Direct DP connection with 120hz refresh and no compression is also a big plus.  Cost adding negatives are that no DP 1.4 cable is included with the adapter and compatible Bluetooth is required for the controllers.

Everyone with a Quest3 who also have a PSVR2 with the adapter, seem to say that they prefer the PSVR2, even though the lenses aren't as good and the image isn't as sharp.  The consensus seems to be that everything else it offers, OLED,  "plug and play" Steam wired usability and no compression/lag, makes it a much better PC-connected VR experience.  As an aside, people have reportedly also already been able to make it work with the Vive/Index controllers.

I suspect I will be able to give some first-hand impressions compared to a Reverb G2 at some point if anyone is interested.  I'm a sucker for OLED displays in VR headsets and I'm not shelling out for the high-end :).
« Last Edit: September 19, 2024, 09:24:37 pm by RandyT »

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1266 on: September 28, 2024, 11:14:05 am »
I have to post this whether anyone is interested or not  :D.

I picked up a pristine PSVR2 for $50 less than they were selling for during the recent "stock reduction" sale, which had the kits priced at $350.  The first thing I did was play Aircar (one of my favorite "chill" experiences) with 1.25x oversampling and 120hz on the PSVR2.  I have to say, it is absolutely amazing.  The OLED really is fantastic.  The dark scenery, with the bright neon lighting actually looking like lighting, is a sight to behold.  Items in the distance are not perfectly sharp, but 10X better than the old OLED headsets.  If those older units looked like this, I would have looked no further.

Pinball in VR is great as well.   No lag whatsoever (which would have killed it) and enough resolution and contrast between playfields and lighting to make it a very believable experience at the normal viewing distance above the machine.

I also put a couple of hours into Alyx from the beginning.  That first outdoor scene felt like the first time I saw it as it was intended.  The G2 LCD is so washed out by comparison, it just isn't able to convey the depth of the cityscape and the contrasting brightness of the daytime environment.  The little critter in the glass jar is jaw-dropping in the PSVR2.  In the G2, you kinda just get the feel that the green light on it's face was glowing, but in the PSVR2, the color and brightness is so intense that it feels like looking at an actual light source.  This would be bad if it drowned out the surrounding detail of the creature, but it doesn't.  Every shadow and detail around it remains very well represented.  And when that huge machine came crashing past, it gave me chills.  The dark areas where you need a flashlight to see anything are pitch-black and the laser sight on the shotgun looks like a real laser.  The "dark-gray blacks" of the G2's LCD killed any sense of actually being in those environments.  Even with the slightly softer imagery of the PSVR2, the added depth and contrast of the image brings out detail and a sense of immersion that didn't seem to be possible on the G2, even though the G2 has a slightly higher resolution on it's RGB stripe LCDs.  FOV is also noticeably better on the PSVR2.

The mura people have complained about is there, but you need to look for it.  My brain tuned it out, just like it would an ultra-fine bit of dust on a car windshield.  I.e. it's something you just don't see when focusing on the games as, unlike compression artifacting, it exists at a different perceived focal plane from the environments.  For that, SDE is virtually non-existent, but my farsightedness probably helps a bit there as well.  I have to chuckle when I see the Meta-bots making more of this than it is.  If they can't look past the nearly imperceptible effect, they would be dangerous on the road with anything but a pristine windshield (who am I kidding, they don't own a car :D )

Out of the box comfort (at least for me) is only rivaled by the original PSVR, although both are very similar.  The rest don't really come close.  It's very light without feeling cheap.  People have complained about the lack of audio, but the included earbuds are not cheapies and honestly provide better sound than most headset on-board audio can. But the G2 comes pretty close...when those are working.  Somehow, Sony managed to get 3D audio into earbuds that actually works.  I could easily pinpoint where something was happening only based on audio cues.

Tracking is extremely good, with some caveats below.  The controllers have capacitive sensors on several (all?) of the buttons and they are supported in Steam.  The fancy haptics are only on the PS5, and they are not as gimmicky as I thought they would be.  On the PS5, the StarWars demo showcased the trigger resistance/feedback admirably, and RE:Village has scenes where the player takes knocks to the head.  It surprised the hell out of me when that is where I felt it :) .  The eye-tracking on the PS5 is scarily accurate.

Negatives:

The PC setup, as you might expect, is not as polished out-of-the-gate as the experience is on the PS5.  Everything just works perfectly on the console, as would be expected.  The recommended BT adapter (TPLink UB500) needs to use the "beta" driver ending in 3001.  I didn't use it at first and had my right controller freezing in space for a few seconds every 5 minutes or so.  Played for a couple hours last night with the proper driver and nothing but perfection.  The other issue is one that only previous users of WindowsMR headsets will likely encounter.  Apparently, the setup software relies on some OpenXR stuff in Steam that gets assigned to WindowsMR.  I had to go to Reddit to find the solution, which is to re-assign it to SteamVR in order to complete the room setup.  Sony needs to put this in a troubleshooting guide, or update the software to change this setting (but then WMR will break and the user won't know why, so  :dunno. )

The fresnel lenses are best-in-class, but they are still fresnel.  The sweet-spot is larger than other fresnel lenses, but you still need to adjust on occasion for a perfect image, or invest in an aftermarket strap which I understand will help to lock in your eye position during and between sessions

You only get ~4-hours out of the controllers, but they recharge quickly.  Honestly, if you are in VR longer than that at a sitting, you probably have bigger issues :) .  While the eye-tracking will likely never be implemented on the PC due to licensing issues and the encrypted data the module produces, there's no reason not to expect that the advanced haptics and trigger functions won't at some point be supported on PC.  They aren't now, but that would need to be added to Steam and every individual game for that to work anyway.

Pass-through is grainy B&W, but in stereo.  So no AR experiences.  Honestly, I couldn't care less about that, but some might.

Conclusion:

Visually, it's the best headset I own (and I own 6).  Tracking is better than WMR, and once sorted for the PC installation, is on par with the best inside out tracking.  Sony obviously made a lot of cost VS benefit decisions when designing this unit to meet a price point, and I think they did a great job.  I have no doubts that they could have made an absolutely incredible $1200 VR device, which seems to be what the complainers want, without having to pay for it.  Case in point is the PC (Virtual Link) adapter.  A similar box from Varjo lists for $229.  Sony cranks it out for $60 and people complain about it not including a DP 1.4 cable and Bluetooth  ::) .   That aside, I think we are also at a point where anything more than what the PSVR2 provides, will need more GPU than is, or is likely to be available to mere mortals for some time to come.    Even an RTX 3090 gets stressed out when it tries to get everything possible from the displays on this unit, and there is still more to be had, as evidenced by how much sharper things appear when supersampling less demanding titles.  But unless you have an extra $2.5k laying around for a 5090, you won't see it.

IMHO, for the money, and despite Zuck's army of Meta-bots (probably AI at this point) saying otherwise, it's currently the best PC connected VR experience out there at anywhere near this price point.  It actually makes me want to play VR again.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2024, 03:20:37 am by RandyT »

pbj

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1267 on: September 28, 2024, 08:49:19 pm »
I cannot rustle any enthusiasm for a PS5 or this headset.  Surprised to hear it has eye tracking but we knew that was going to be obtainable some day.

Some day.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1268 on: September 29, 2024, 10:22:29 am »
I cannot rustle any enthusiasm for a PS5 or this headset.  Surprised to hear it has eye tracking but we knew that was going to be obtainable some day.

Some day.

Why not?  Did you ever get a new VR headset after the original PSVR?  If not, this is certainly a good one.  The PS5 is pretty sweet as well, if you like console gaming, but personally I would always go with the model which has a media slot.  If they get rid of that, it'll probably be the last console I ever buy.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1269 on: November 01, 2024, 05:08:07 pm »

This is what I am talking about. I can't wait until we have Augmented Reality in a pair of glasses, complete with eye tracking, AI, internet access and now this EMG wristband control.




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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1270 on: November 03, 2024, 02:58:44 pm »

This is what I am talking about. I can't wait until we have Augmented Reality in a pair of glasses, complete with eye tracking, AI, internet access and now this EMG wristband control.


46 degree FOV ...  Physics is a cruel mistress.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1271 on: November 27, 2024, 07:14:31 pm »
I just had to post this. One of the coolest things I have seen in VR so far is a room in virtual desktop. I tracked it down and it looks like this picture/video was taken from the Chestnut Tower Apartments in Chicago. I even added a picture of what you see in VR and the google map street view of where you are seeing it.

What's so amazing about it is that it is not just a photo it is actually a looped video, you can see all the cars driving on all the roads, look closely enough you can see bikers and people walking on the sidewalks with so much clarity that if you were actually in that building looking at the view it might be less clear.

Just think of what it could mean for video games. You start in some cyberpunk world and you look out your window to see crazy ass ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- as far as the eye can see.



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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1272 on: November 28, 2024, 06:20:28 pm »
Seems like they’re giving away the Meta Quest things… any good?

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1273 on: November 28, 2024, 10:13:29 pm »

Anyone considering a PSVR2 should probably jump in right now (Black Friday Sale.)

$349.00 for the PSVR2+Controllers+Horizon: Call of the Mountain.  $42.55 for New 3rd Party Adapter for PC, which unlike the OEM, comes with all cables needed.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1274 on: November 28, 2024, 10:31:05 pm »
If the psvr2 didn't have fresnel lenses I'd probably get one but i just can't get another hmd with them. The god rays drive me crazy. Maybe I'm more sensitive to them like i am the rainbow effect on DLP projectors and bad geometry on CRTs.. if there's a flaw in the image, it's going to drive me nuts. 🤷

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1275 on: November 28, 2024, 10:33:08 pm »
Well, meta quest 3s is $300 with some Batman game and a $75 Amazon gift card.  I’ve already got a large Amazon purchase slotted up, so that’s same as cash at the moment.

Haven’t seen a single remarkable deal on a PS5.  The Xbox deals seem to be higher than what I paid a year ago.

 :dunno

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1276 on: November 29, 2024, 11:33:36 am »
If the psvr2 didn't have fresnel lenses I'd probably get one but i just can't get another hmd with them. The god rays drive me crazy. Maybe I'm more sensitive to them like i am the rainbow effect on DLP projectors and bad geometry on CRTs.. if there's a flaw in the image, it's going to drive me nuts. 🤷

I think the only reasonably priced current headset without fresnel lenses is the normal Quest3.  I would have gladly paid more for the PSVR2 if it had wide FOV pancake lenses, but the pancake lenses limit FOV to some extent, not to mention having a negative effect on image brightness.  That said, I haven't really noticed god rays on the PSVR2.  They were terrible on the early units, like the original Vive, but fresnel has become much better in this regard.  I half-expected to see godrays the first time I used the PSVR2, but was happy to see that they weren't a thing I could notice.

Personally, I am done with headsets using LCD panels.  Contrast and black levels are extremely important when conveying depth, which is kind of the whole point with VR.  I was blown away in Alyx, specifically in dark scenes where a flashlight an/or laser sights were the only light source.  Any bit of grey matting of the background is completely immersion breaking in dark areas.  While it's less important in well lit or cartoony environments, the absolute blacks and extended contrast afforded by OLED makes a huge difference in perceived environment depth.

There is no perfect solution, especially in this price range.  It's all going to be what is most important to you, while considering any possible negatives.  For me, it's high resolution OLED, a reasonably large FOV, solid tracking, comfort and price.  The PSVR2 offers all of these points (and others not mentioned), so I'm willing to overlook the tiny bit of mura and somewhat limited sweet spot.  There are supposedly solutions for these, but I have yet to explore them.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1277 on: November 29, 2024, 01:52:16 pm »
Well, meta quest 3s is $300 with some Batman game and a $75 Amazon gift card.  I’ve already got a large Amazon purchase slotted up, so that’s same as cash at the moment.

Haven’t seen a single remarkable deal on a PS5.  The Xbox deals seem to be higher than what I paid a year ago.


I think the uptake on the 3s is poor.  My gut tells me that the target market for this unit is those who didn't get a Quest2 and want in at the lowest investment possible.  It also tells me that this segment isn't huge, given the number of Quest2 units out there.  The fact that support is being deprecated for the Quest2 may also be leaving a bad taste in the mouths of those who purchased in the last year or so.  The crap economy isn't helping either.

The PS5 is a solid machine, but I'm not crazy enough to risk standing it on end.  They use liquid metal for heatsink compound and I have heard of some seal failures.  Other than that, I have zero complaints.  The disc version has the rough equivalent of a $180 Sony 4k Blu Ray built in so there's that too. The VR stuff is really nice.  Plug in one cable, no fuss and you are playing with all of the tactile feedback frills.  But PC connection opens up tons more gaming possibilities.  Didn't you say you had a go fast GPU at one point?  Which one?  A 2080 would be enough to get you going, and it already has the plug and play port for the headset.  With one of those, you would just need a compatible BT dongle and the free software from Steam.

And I don't care what anyone says about PC use with the Quest units.  It's not going to be as good as a wired connection.  If someone has to buy expensive dedicated routers and add-on software to almost (but not really) get there, I fail to see the point.  When they actually put a mini-DP plug on them for direct display connections, a reasonably wide FOV pancake lens system, a decent headstrap out of the box and nice OLED displays, I'll consider one, but probably not before.  But I'm not interested in a cut-down mobile experience or AR, so I guess I'm funny in that way :)


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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1278 on: November 29, 2024, 05:27:52 pm »
The compute power is impressive with the Quest 3 unlike the Quest 2. Seeing how they are not investing in PC dedicated only titles like Half Life Alex anymore, having a dedicated PC VR headset is just a waste of potential at this point. PC wireless works pretty good, better then you would expect. Steam came out with their own wireless software called Steam link for free just because they are always investing in VR and it works pretty good even on my 5.2 router.

I still have steam base stations in my room, after the Quest 3 came out I realized they are now obsolete, they will never make a new headset that needs base stations anymore.

I would like OLED but I also want them to get rid of the other issues with it.

Quest headsets and their platform\operating system\store front  is the future and the PSVR is antiquated and there will be no future development for it.

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Re: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing
« Reply #1279 on: November 29, 2024, 11:22:49 pm »
I wish that I could get into this stuff but I have had enough trouble dealing with actual reality for a while now as it is.
It does seem really cool though.
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