Developer Diary, Part 150 - Discussion

[roadczar]

As others have stated VR (Oculus in my case) has ruined simming and general gaming for me. It is that good. Since I got rift in December I did not play anything else. For racing it is fantastic. As an ex motorcycle racer being on the same track in VR as I experienced in real life is nearly identical, even my lap timings are similar. Trust me, whatever deficiencies there are, “being there” more than compensates for resolution etc, you are invested with your life. This is what “simulation” was meant to be. It’s like comparing radio to TV , no comparison. 

[LLv24_Zami]

I hope you realize that publishing that information obligates you to a full review in this forum!

 

Seriously, I would love to know how a non early adapter responds to Rift+ BoX.

Don't worry, I will do my duty and report my feelings to the forum as soon as I get flying with Rift

[JG4_Sputnik]

Here are many VR reviews if someone wants to read more:

https://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=497

 

But I've yet to read one that says "meh, staying with my TrackIR"

[dburne]

Here are many VR reviews if someone wants to read more:

https://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=497

 

But I've yet to read one that says "meh, staying with my TrackIR"

 

Indeed, my trusty Track IR5 which I loved so much is now officially retired...

[dburne]

Don would you be willing to Put your VR experiences in one new Thread ?.. The Pros the Cons etc. How the Latest Patch affects VR etc.

At least all of Your VR experiences would be in one Thread. I ,for one would very happy read your opinions with Updates etc.

 

 

Had some time this afternoon, so went ahead and posted my detailed impressions in the hardware forum.

You can find it here .

 

Hope this helps, any questions feel free to ask in that thread.

[Wolferl_1791]

Would those of you who've used VR for a period of time speak to whether you have experienced significant eye fatigue or headaches from extended use? And on average, how long of a period do you normally fly using VR? Is it minutes at a time? Hours? And lastly, can any of you say you've noticed any degradation of your eyesight since your start of using a VR unit?

 

I can't say the average time, since I am a smoker, so I have to take a short break from time to time. But I used to fly around 12 hours per day in WT. My longest game without a break was a long flight in DCS Huey, around 3 hours. Time spent in Vivecraft (Minecraft for the Vive) is comparable. Eye fatigue is better than using a monitor. No headaches of any kind. On the sickness side, it depends on the person, so you should test it first. After a few months I actually miss the "Weeeeee!" feeling I had in the beginning. The only place where I get dizzy is when I play a car sim and I lose control and go head to tail, stopping suddenly. My eyesight is actually better. I use eye glasses, but not with the headset (I could but, they fit, but no need), so it actually relaxes my eyes.

 

Anyway, fighters are not as bad as people say, at least for me. In WT I've mainly played maneuverable fighters. 4vs1 was not uncommon. Aiming is much harder (but then again WT has a weird damage model so potshots are not very effective), because you need to take into account your body position as well, but defense is much easier, because you can take advantage of their difficulty to keep their eyes on you. All of your movements are calculated, while they usually have no idea where you are. So if as IL-2 manages to deal somehow with the low resolution for identification(pray for zoom or some form of unintrusive labels), it should actually improve your fighter abilities. 

[chiliwili69]

 

 

if they'll speak to us to solve

 

Surely VR industry is looking for killer games like BOX could be in the VR industry. If I would be Oculus I will fully support your Dev efforts to solve and fine tune all the issues that we will see along the next months and years. BOX VR support will bring many new flight simmers or old flight simmers who like me forgot the hobby many years ago but now get full interest in the genre because VR is a full game changer. I remember when 30 years ago used my ZX spectrum to do my first sim flights and later in the 90´s with the PC and color videocards! we were having fun with F-29 Retaliator and Comanche helicopter and others.

 

It has been a long wait, so YES WE ARE EXCITED since the moment a reporter said how good was BOS with the DK1:

 

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/09/06/best-of-gamescom-il-2-sturmovik-and-oculus-rift/

 

All we know that support VR is much more complex than dump a map of bits to a flat 2D monitor, and we know that the VR APIs and standards are been written as I write this lines, so we know that this initial releases with VR will not be perfect.

 

It will require a considerable amount of work to fine tune the VR and keep them updated with future standard, techniques and new cards and VR devices. It will be a forever work in progress.

 

Sorry, but we can not be no excited!

[chiliwili69]

 

 

In the Rift ASW is enabled by default, but can be disabled

 

One of the things that first came to my mind when Devs announce the use of OpenVR to support in one shot both Vive and Rift was if the Oculus techniques (ATW and ASW) are also supported by the OpenVR standard. 

 

Probably I can get the answer after some hours by googling the question, but someone in this forum will know the answer for sure.

[chiliwili69]

but I'd gladly buy them again just to play in VR in RoF 2

 

Yes, many of us have that on mind as well. Let Devs get the VR coding know-how and let´s see what 777 can think about ROF. A ROF-2 with VR will generate a nice amount of money for them!

 

Flying a WWI biplane in VR, were there is not cockpit and the air is in your face could be a much more immersive experience that in a WWII plane. I can think on many of us putting a fan in front of our face with a variable speed sync with wind speed!!!  

Edited March 11, 2017 by chiliwili69

[chiliwili69]

 

 

You have to turn your head directly at the direction, where you want to look at.

 

Uhmm... And what do you do in the real world?

 

My real flight experience is limited to gliders and checking six is not an easy thing taking into account how the belts prevent you to move your body.

I could figure out that real WWII pilots were having the same problem 80 years ago, perhaps if anyone of this forum who has the pleasure to really fly one of the BOS planes could confirm that.

 

In the real world you don´t have TrackIR or a swivel chair. I play BOS in a fix Playseat chair with the joystick between the legs. And yes, checking six is not easy, as it should be.

 

Fortunately I am not interested in MultiPlayer, sorry for all these cheating TrackIR users, but they will have not the opportunity to shot me down!  

 

It is also true that VR , because VR FOV versus Human-Eye FOV, makes checking six more difficult. It is like flying a plane with scuba-dive glasses, but hopefully this VR FOV will be wider and wider along the years.

[chiliwili69]

 

 

I would say if you are a die hard dog fighting competitor and this is your only joy in fligh-siming, don't get it. But if you are like me, who want's the immersion more than anything else, if you can have fun just flying and navigating, bombing and ground attacking, then the Rift (or the Vive) is just a must have.

 

Fully agree. VR is for the ones that put first the experience over the arcade. 

[chiliwili69]

 

 

But for me, this is the biggest revolution in flight siming ever,

 

Yes, for me it also like that.

 

But I have also learned that the VR is not for everyone. I have demoed the rift with many people, and I thought that 100% were going to be as amazed as me. But about 20-30% of them were not. The causes are multiple. Using glasses doesn´t help, but they are not a stopper. Liking videogames helps. And it is also true that 100% of the kids that I have showed (just 3-4 min demo) they have just loved it.