VR questions

[dburne]

So I guess you had to buy 3 extention cables, one HDMI, two USB (headset + 1 sensor) ? Did you get official oculus cables?

 

No extension cables and no extra sensors.

The Oculus Rift + Touch only. 2 sensors and cables that came with the Oculus and Touch were long enough for my setup.

My two sensors are on my desk , one on each end.

[Boneboys]

Did you get official oculus cables?

I use amazonbasics cables for 3rd sensor and the headset HDMI & USB.

The cable that came with the 3rd sensor is sitting in the desk draw unused.

They work fine and I have not had any problems.

*******************************

About Rift room scale issues, there are none using 3 sensors.

With 2 sensors you may get a blind spot if you have not correctly set up sensor positioning but even if you do have a blind spot, once you know where it occurs it can be accommodated.

 

I used a 2 sensor 360° setup for four (4) months, the addition of a 3rd sensor removed the risk of the occasional blind spot (kneeling down low to pick up a dropped rifle magazine in Onward).

 

For desktop simulators such as IL-2 Box, DCS or Racing sims Project Cars, Assetto Corsa a 2 sensor setup is fine.

The real advantage of having a 3rd sensor is that you can set up the tracking so that the play area works for both sitting and and free locomotion.

 

I have found the best way to test 2 sensor placement is load up First Encounter or Toy Shop and duck & dive, twist & turn, jump, kneel and squeal while shooting rockets with with a pair of pistols.

Any shortcomings will become apparent soon enough, ghosting hands and blind spots included.

 

You can trick the Oculus sensor setup by skipping to the next step, if required.

All of my sensors are a little offset from my desk position.

 

This is what I mean by offset (none of the sensors are pointing directly at my head(set).

 

Right sensor a little  higher and to the right of my sitting head height position at  (@1.2M).

Left sensor a little lower and behind my sitting shoulder height (@1.6M).

Third sensor at standing head height to the rear of my 360° play area  (@2.6M).

 

This allows for both sitting and a 360° in one play area without having to move sensors.

Both Oculus and OpenVR (Steam) Play Areas are in the same position and size (optimal).

 

Next time I'll make a PS image 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Boneboys

[haltux]

No extension cables and no extra sensors.

The Oculus Rift + Touch only. 2 sensors and cables that came with the Oculus and Touch were long enough for my setup.

My two sensors are on my desk , one on each end.

 

Thanks for the feedback. It's not really a room-scale setup, there are blind spots for your touches. If you turn your back to your desk, and you put your touch close to your body or you try to grasp something on the floor close to your feet, it will be in the shadow of your body for both your sensors and therefore not detected.

 

It might be ok depending on the game, but clearly it is not a robust room-scale setup in the sense of the Vive. Sometime you can play half an hour without any issue and then you are in the wrong position, you try to do something which requires you to put your oculus touch in a blind spot, and your arm is paralyzed, it is extremely immersion breaking.

 

You can have robust room-scale with two sensors on opposite angles, but the size of the playing zone is very limited (at least without extension cables).

 

Sorry for the off-topic but it is relevant for the OP which has to choose between Oculus and Vive, and does not only play IL2.

[Boneboys]

Thanks for the feedback.

Re read my post, I took a good while to edit...

 

Thanks.

[dburne]

Thanks for the feedback. It's not really a room-scale setup, there are blind spots for your touches. If you turn your back to your desk, and you put your touch close to your body or you try to grasp something on the floor close to your feet, it will be in the shadow of your body for both your sensors and therefore not detected.

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback, I would never have known my room scale is not working properly...

 

[OrLoK]

Thanks for the feedback, I would never have known my room scale is not working properly...

Its quite a common trope about the rift not working well roomscale.

 

My sensors are above and to the right of me looking down  and the other on a tripod facing directly at me.

 

Yes just one more will eliminate *any* blind spots but to be honest I haven't bought one as I really don't feel I need it.

 

But, if one lives in a country where rooms can be rather large I will concede to the rift handling that aspect better.

 

My play space is around 5 foot x 8 foot and is great for most room scale games. 

 

YMMV!

[haltux]

Thanks for the feedback, I would never have known my room scale is not working properly...

 

Yeah, that's not what I meant, sorry.

 

Let's say my experience is a little different and even though I am an OR fan I felt I had to share it for the sake of plurality.

[haltux]

Re read my post, I took a good while to edit...

 

Thanks.

 

Thank you. I'll probably buy a third sensor one of these days, I'll know where to look for for setup suggestions.

[WithStrangeAeons]

It's a good idea to note that your room-scale tracking quality will depend on how you have your sensors set up.

 

For example, I used to have a front-facing setup, with both sensors about shoulder-level. This works, but there's a small area where your body will block ("occlude") the sensors from seeing the touch controllers. However, if you were to ceiling or wall-mount the cameras to be above head level (7-8 feet), they will have a smaller occlusion area. If you mount them in opposite corners of your play area (my current 2-sensor solution), the occlusion will disappear in all but the most extreme circumstances (crouching and leaning, being super close to a wall).

 

A third sensor in another corner of the playing area would eliminate even this. It's still optional, as room-scale will work quite well even with 2 sensors, as long as they're well placed.

[HansBlitz]

I have my 3 sensors mounted on the wall right up next to the ceiling angled down. The two in front are about 45 degrees to each side. The 3rd sensor is behind me a bit over my left shoulder so to speak.

[Wolf8312]

Personally I'd wait for the second gen of VR headsets about to come out so you aren't fighting with the damn screen door effect as much. Rift has better resolution, so if you will only be playing IL-2, I'd go with that over the Vive if you can not wait for second gen gear. 

 

I have the Vive and it was worth every penny so far, but I'm picking up one of those 8K X units once they work the kinks out of the display, I doubt your CPU would be able to keep up with one of those though so an upgrade would have to occur if waiting out for gen2 gear. 

 

Remember though OP rift also has a narrower FOV, whereas with the vive you can improve clarity/resolution by adjusting the headset. The reason I say this is that I really do guess that the rift has a slightly clearer image quality only because it has a slightly more narrow FOV I dont think its because the headset's visual technology is better per say. Although correct me if I am wrong on that one people!

 

That's not me fanboying though cause if it wasn't for the company who owns the rift and their closed platform I would agree, the rift is a slightly better choice for flight sim VR. Mostly because rift doesn't seem to have implemented a system whereby if you lose too many frames the headset will flash you out of VR momentarily to stop you from getting sick. This is a horrible immersion killer.

[dburne]

Remember though OP rift also has a narrower FOV, whereas with the vive you can improve clarity/resolution by adjusting the headset. The reason I say this is that I really do guess that the rift has a slightly clearer image quality only because it has a slightly more narrow FOV I dont think its because the headset's visual technology is better per say. Although correct me if I am wrong on that one people!

 

 

Both the Rift and Vive, at least on paper, are listed as the same FOV - 110 degrees.

[Wolf8312]

Really? Wonder where I heard someone say rift has a narrower FOV!

[OrLoK]

Really? Wonder where I heard someone say rift has a narrower FOV!

I thought this was the case too.

 

Perhaps it's just a meme or factoid that propagated through the web?

 

Apparently (there's that dangerous word) the screen door effect is more noticeable on the Vive vs Rift. I do see more folk complaining about text legibility in Elite Dangerous than I do Rifters but that's hardly scientific.

[Wolf8312]

I remember people saying that the rift gives more tunnel vision than the Vive will google it and see what I turn up.

 

I think it's really an inexact science to be honest dependent upon a number of factors from ones own eye sight, and head-shape to the foam on the VIVE itself (some swear if you cut it down clarity can improve, but mine has basically worn itself down lol).

 

Personally I never had a problem reading text in Elite even when the VIVE first came out so I guess for some reason or other the VIVE is maybe just better suited to someone like myself (I do have pretty good eyesight if that means anything) and not so good for other people.

 

If indeed both the rift and VIVE are using the exact same technology and it's not as I assumed FOV dependent (though would welcome confirmation from someone with both headsets on that one) anyone know how exactly is the rift able to achieve better optics or a better sweet spot than the Vive?   

[BeastyBaiter]

The Samsung Odyssey has the same 110 degree FoV too but I immediately noticed it seemed a bit wider when I tried it. The discrepancy seems to be in how the headset fits on your head though, not anything technical. If I really tighten up the straps on the rift and mush it against my face, the FoV is the same as the Odyssey. But with a more comfortable fit, I can't actually see the edges of the screens in it, thus the Rift has slightly less than 110 FoV when I use it. The Odyssey uses a wildly different method of holding it on the user's head, this resulted in the comfortable setting also being one in which I could see the edges of the screens, thus I had the full 110 degree FoV. I've never seen a Vive in person, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the minor differences in the head strap and padding result in a slightly different FoV when fitted comfortably.