Quest 2 as an entry point into VR.

[DXCHASE]

I dont want to sound like a Quest 2 ad buuut if you were on the fence about going into VR and when, i am throwing my support behind the Oculus Quest 2. This thing is fun as hell! After messing around with my PC to use in the VR headset (the desktop (watching movies in a mock theater, using the internet (spotify, yt etc.) and using Steam VR) its truly a fun experience to be had.

The major caveat (to others not to me at all) is hooking up your facebook account, its really not a bother once you have it set up and going, you can hide your experiences from everyone, even when youre playing, so i think to disregard VR over this is very silly in this day and age, you really aren't saving yourself from being ''watched''.

I had been a long time anti-VR person, being that its expensive and games not being as in depth as regular games etc. etc. but my son wanted a vr headset (he wanted the steam one initially), so i thought that this would hopefully be a good jump off point. Was i right! This thing has blown us away on how fluid and accurate everything is. This is def. a good jump off point at 300. Half-LifeAlyx is also amazing, worth every penny, very good experience so far.

 

[drunkpunk]

I preordered one of these because it pretty much hit all the things I was waiting for with VR: built in sensors, cheap entry point, and high enough resolution to do away with the screen door effect. And it's been such a fantastic experience. I talked a friend into getting one for Christmas, so we've been playing some MP VR games over the weekend, and it's an absolute blast.

Beyond the Facebook caveat, I will say that to play PCVR you need one of two things: a low latency USB-C cable, or if you want to go wireless, a 5ghz network connection that has little to no interference near your play space for Virtual Desktop. I set up a 5ghz router as an access point in my room, wired my PC to it and I can play VR completely wirelessly, which is just way too cool. I have both the link cable and virtual desktop, and while a better rig would probably get the link cable looking a lot better, they're both incredible with the quality.

The only downside to VR right now is the lack of quality games. Most are tech demos or pricey little experiences, but more and more quality games are hitting the market and now that the Quest 2 has increased the user base significantly for VR, I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more solid games hit the platform.

edit: Also forgot one thing, if you happen to get your hands on a Quest 2 anytime soon, be sure to check out sidequest. There's a lot of awesome free stuff on that store.

 

[DXCHASE]

MP VR games over the weekend, and it's an absolute blast.

I am quite considering picking up another vr in the near future to play this with wife and son, wife and i are trekkies so star trek bridge crew is looking pretty fun right now lol

Beyond the Facebook caveat, I will say that to play PCVR you need one of two things: a low latency USB-C cable, or if you want to go wireless, a 5ghz network connection that has little to no interference near your play space for Virtual Desktop. I set up a 5ghz router as an access point in my room, wired my PC to it and I can play VR completely wirelessly, which is just way too cool. I have both the link cable and virtual desktop, and while a better rig would probably get the link cable looking a lot better, they're both incredible with the quality.

Yes, i agree, the only way im playing wirelessly right now using virtual desktop and steam vr is by having a hardwired to a 5ghz network pc near by and its absolutely worth it to try and get, i have had no problems with latency as of yet.

The only downside to VR right now is the lack of quality games. Most are tech demos or pricey little experiences, but more and more quality games are hitting the market and now that the Quest 2 has increased the user base significantly for VR, I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more solid games hit the platform.

I agree, my son has beat saber and pistol whip which are fine enough vr but arent all that long to play/beat, but playing them on hard is insane lol. Im hopeful for some more in depth titles like that of Half Life. It will be nice to see something like cyberpunk/gta in vr imo.

edit: Also forgot one thing, if you happen to get your hands on a Quest 2 anytime soon, be sure to check out sidequest. There's a lot of awesome free stuff on that store.

Yes! I think you NEED sidequest to be able to set up your quest 2 to work with steam vr since you have to 'sideload' the files from sidequest onto the headset to work with virtual desktop WHICH you have to buy as well. But again, ALL worth it imo.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Seems like we are getting close enough with VR. I'm still holding off though because at this point the only thing I've heard of that is beyond a gimmick I'll put down after a couple of weeks is Half Life : Alyx.

@drunkpunk mentioned a lack of apps but other then Alyx and maybe Beat Saber would anyone say there are any other games that go beyond a novelty experience, or any traditional 2d games that are actually improved by using VR?

 

[drunkpunk]

Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is a pretty good and a pretty good length, there's some others like Lone Echo, Stormlands, Asgards Wrath, Medal of Honor (got a bad review score but mostly due to the high minimum specs and poorly paced first couple of levels), Pistol Whip, and Boneworks.

There's also some great multiplayer games, like Zero Caliber, Contractors, Hyper Dash (probably my favorite, and it's free), Star Trek: Bridge Crew (also works single player, and has a lot of missions, my second favorite), IronWolfVR, etc.

And there's the non VR games with VR compatibility, like No Man's Sky, Payday 2 (haven't tried this one yet, but thinking about it), and Phasmaphobia.

I think with the adoption rate of the Quest 2 though, we're going to start seeing a lot more titles hit the market.

 

[DXCHASE]

Seems like we are getting close enough with VR. I'm still holding off though because at this point the only thing I've heard of that is beyond a gimmick I'll put down after a couple of weeks is Half Life : Alyx.

@drunkpunk mentioned a lack of apps but other then Alyx and maybe Beat Saber would anyone say there are any other games that go beyond a novelty experience, or any traditional 2d games that are actually improved by using VR?

I second Boneworks and Asgards Wrath (tho i personally have to have my quest 2 tethered to my pc when playing asgards wrath, which i dont mind considering its charging at the same time im playing, increasing play time) seem to be pretty long (outside of Half Life) but i havent had a session with my quest thats been more than an hour to 2 hours (mainly battery life and getting tired from moving around lol) so none of the games seem short, its just that there is A LOT of shorter games for like 30 bucks that could easily be 5 to 10.

Beat Saber is my example, its a fun game, but should only be roughly 10 to 15 bucks because basically its guitar hero with sabers, plus a lot of songs are behind a paywall, so its more about the price point for what the game does.

I highly recommend trying to find someone who would let you use their headset lol. Even if games dont satisfy you, if you have a pc good enough to VR, its simply fun as hell to lay on your couch and play ANY STEAM games right in your headset. I've done this for cyberpunk, mortal kombat and destiny so far and it works, flawlessly. (mind you need to have the right internet connection etc.)

I think with the adoption rate of the Quest 2 though, we're going to start seeing a lot more titles hit the market.

I feel this way too, i am one of those coming into it and its at a great spot, hell ive even started looking into those omni-directional platforms buuuuut they are still way out of reach for someone like me but i feel the day is coming where all that will be at an affordable price.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Good to know that there are some worthwhile games to try! Unfortunately I dont have so many gamer friends close by that I could try it out with. There is one guy I know who was on the verge of buying a Vive last year for Alyx, so there might be hope yet

I do like the idea of it being wireless like the Quest as we don't have a huge amount of space to play with here.

I'm also at a stage where I feel like I would want to upgrade my platform and GPU before I went for VR too. So it might be a year after next thing for me. I'm definitely going to have a look into some of the titles you both mentioned and see what they're about.

 

[drunkpunk]

I hear you on the upgrading of the GPU. I have a 1080Ti and I'm definitely feeling its age with some VR stuff. Some of the bigger games also require a ton of space (Asgards Wrath and MoH take up about 130 gigs, for example) so I'm holding off on those until I can rebuild or at least get a new hard drive. For the most part, though, my 1080Ti runs everything pretty well. Just not as pretty as I'd like it some of the time.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I guess that would have been another question I shouold have asked, I've got a 5700XT, not too shabby, but I feel VR might need more. 2 screens at 2000X2000 is quite a lot to deal with.

Apart from the 1080Ti what kind of hardware are you @drunkpunk @DXCHASE using with it? I can see 72hz or even 60hz being hard for CPU's to keep up with in games with a lot of physics and/or AI going on. Does it get jerky at times? Any motion sickness problems?

 

[drunkpunk]

I myself have a 6700k for the CPU, paired with the 1080Ti it's pretty solid. I'm not sure what CPU you'd want to aim for, and I have no idea what the AMD equivalent is. It's really dependent upon the game, though. I seem to maintain the 90hz for the games that are capable of that, which is the refresh rate of the headset. It does get jerky a bit at times, but again, depends on the game. Native games on the headset, though, those run flawlessly. A lot of VR games don't have amazing graphics, which certainly helps.

I do get a bit of motion sickness sometimes, I get it the most in Zero Caliber. That's a pretty high action game, though, lots of running and shooting and stuff. I don't get it too bad, and usually when I'm going on a longer session, like 2+ hours. I mitigate this with some strong ginger candy that I keep on hand, ginger does wonders for motion sickness.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Interesting thanks! I have a 7700K which is essentially a slightly overclocked 6700K, so my rig is prettyy comparable to yours in performance.

I've always had the feeling that for VR you need an uberkomputer to get the best experience, and I'm one of those who is lucky enough to be able to afford a pretty fast computer, OR VR, but not both. Maybe I need to change my preconceptions.

 

[badman]

Great, I'm glad you love it. After it's first birth in the early 90's, VR is finally here to stay. The best VR game, for me, is VTOL VR. Be sure to check it out if you love flightgames.

 

[DXCHASE]

Apart from the 1080Ti what kind of hardware are you @drunkpunk @DXCHASE using with it? I can see 72hz or even 60hz being hard for CPU's to keep up with in games with a lot of physics and/or AI going on. Does it get jerky at times? Any motion sickness problems?

As for the computers, ive tried VR on an i5-4690k/GTX 980 (considered low end nowadays for VR) and a i7-4790k/GTX1080 . Short answer, all games ive played worked with both. I have had 0 big issues (not connecting, unstable movement, unsynced actions etc.) with playing games and i generally use max quality (if im in another room, i turn it down a bit). No hiccups and stuff, ive only used it a couple times tho (headset was an xmas gift), i tried Half life on both, on the 980 i had it at medium quality. In VR theres not a lot of graphics settings but i tried Half Life on both and was able to play them comfortably. I really dont notice much difference when the settings are lower. To me VR is more about the experience than running the game at its highest quality.

I think the biggest thing is to have a 5ghz connection and using pcs that are wired more so than the GPU/CPU combo you are using (as long as geforce says your pc can handle it of course).

This is no way affecting the fact that i want a 3080 and a new pc lol because i know my pc's are dated. But my main one (gtx1080/i74790k) has shown no problems with max settings in any of the steam vr games ive tried (half life, boneworks, skyrim, pistol whip)

Generally, the minimum specs for a lot of VR games are suprisingly low, Half Lifes minimum is an i5-7500 and a GTX 1060 gpu,980s and 980tis are still viable even if they are 900 series if the minimum is a gtx1060

 

[Zloth]

Did I read somewhere that Microsoft Flight Simulator was getting a VR/AR version?

 

[SWard]

Fun fact if you get Jurassic World Aftermath or Shadow Point: I'm the voice of the announcer in them

 

[zippygeorgeandben]

I know the thread has gone a little off the OP but I appreciate all the responses on this. I wondered whether to delve into CP but if it's slightly less GTA than people think (and I haven't played ME) then maybe it's not yet for me.

 

[DXCHASE]

I know the thread has gone a little off the OP but I appreciate all the responses on this. I wondered whether to delve into CP but if it's slightly less GTA than people think (and I haven't played ME) then maybe it's not yet for me.

If i had to some up CP in terms of games, its like GTA meets DEUS EX and had a Bladerunner like baby.

 

[drunkpunk]

Fun fact if you get Jurassic World Aftermath or Shadow Point: I'm the voice of the announcer in them

very cool! i've been thinking about picking up Jurassic world, the art style is awesome.