VR the champions of the world?

[mapuc]

My CPU is AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core processor
Graphic card is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VRAM
RAM 8142

I hope my Computer can run this VR-headset

Markus

[Skybird]

We have been there before.


Is troubles show up, ask. You may need to reduce pixel density in the headset. If need be, I explain to you what to do. It sno big deal. The ver yhigh resoltuion of th eheadste can be reduced a bit so to ease stress on the hardware and keep frames up. Surprisingly, the G2 does some tricks to let even frames of 60, even 45 appear as fluent and smooth. Its fascinating. Usually, 90 was declared a norm . It is not so. I must run many applications in significantly less than 90 frames in the headset - and do not even notice the difference when it runs with just 60 or so. In the Rift I always had 90.



So dont loose hope if it does not all work perfectly out of the box. Lets check things out before giving up too prematurely. Like anything computer, things can be a bitch at times. But nevertheless so far I always got things cured and working again, sometimes with help by others like that helpful note by Dowly some days ago, sometimes with a lot of time, googling done, and many curses. But here I am - with working hardware.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Skybird

We have been there before.


Is troubles show up, ask. You may need to reduce pixel density in the headset. If need be, I explain to you what to do. It sno big deal. The ver yhigh resoltuion of th eheadste can be reduced a bit so to ease stress on the hardware and keep frames up. Surprisingly, the G2 does some tricks to let even frames of 60, even 45 appear as fluent and smooth. Its fascinating. Usually, 90 was declared a norm . It is not so. I must run many applications in significantly less than 90 frames in the headset - and do not even notice the difference when it runs with just 60 or so. In the Rift I always had 90.



So dont loose hope if it does not all work perfectly out of the box. Lets check things out before giving up too prematurely. Like anything computer, things can be a bitch at times. But nevertheless so far I always got things cured and working again, sometimes with help by others like that helpful note by Dowly some days ago, sometimes with a lot of time, googling done, and many curses. But here I am - with working hardware.

Yes we have been there before except one thing-Then I didn't knew what CPU and what exact Graphic card I had.

I'm going to buy this HP Reverb G2 V2. in a couple of weeks and I will do two things. Adjust the system on this VR, so I can use it fully and get use to it-Meaning not playing several hours the first couple of days.

Markus

[Skybird]

The market situation of VR in Germany: no overwhelmingly steep growth, but steady, constant growth since years.

https://www-pwc-de.translate.goog/de..._x_tr_pto=wapp

The data I find online on VR in general seems to give comparable outlooks. Sources are not the manufacturers themselves who hide their sales number in general, but traders and market analysts.

A battle is expecte din a few yeares, say at the end of this decade, wehn it will be decided whether or not Meta will be successful with its so far disappoint attenmpt to lock in new customers into its metaverse and therefore developers focussing exlcusively on working for the Meta VR sets. I hope this will not be the march-thorgh b that Zuckerberg hopoes for, because then it would kill the competition.

Technicallycally, optically, the hardware has now reached good standards, what now must follow is to put the processing power from PC into the headset like with some of the Oculus models - but with more such power to allow the same apps working in that model like apps needing a PC's power. Prices must not climb further, despite inflation, because people will not afford these costs anymore (VR is not a much requested item category like superexpensive GFX boards). In fact with some product lines we see dropping price levels, apparently, but at the cost of reduced processing power again. To get these things balanced out well I think is much more decisive for the fate of VR than ever new resolution records of the optical system. If they fail in this over the next lets say 7-8 years or so it is possible that VR nevertheless will turn into a dud and fail late.

WHICH WOULD BE A SHAME.

As the article says: An old rule in the IT industry says that the chances of success of new technologies tend to be overestimated in the short term, but often tend to be underestimated in the medium term. "It could be the same with virtual reality," says Werner Ballhaus, head of technology, media and telecommunications at PwC in Germany. "When the topic came up two or three years ago, there was initially a lot of hype - but this was soon followed by disillusionment, because the technology did not establish itself as quickly as some protagonists had hoped." In the meantime, says Ballhaus, the signs have changed vice versa: “The initial euphoria is over. At the same time, there are increasing signs right now that virtual reality could actually grow into a technology for the mass market.”

[Catfish]

I find it utterly insane to pay 4000 Euros or more for a PC that will be obsolete in a few years

[Skybird]

I thought so a year ago and more, when a new GFX board costed 3000+ Euros. But then I find the whole concept of "crypto-mining" absurd. One coul,d as well write numbers on paper and call that "buying power". Absurd, signs for a crazy world that has gone completely nuts. It makes as much sense to me as homeopathy or something like that. And crypto-mining is where the shortages and costs for GTX boards came from.

A gaming-optimised PC however costs more than an office machine, that was always so.

If its not worth it for you, then dont do it.

Just keepo in mind that if you do not need optimsied high end VR perofmance but just want to do more less demandign stuf fin VR, then you do not need the latest of the latest hardware. Google Earth V R, beyond its spectacular looks, for example needs just a fraction of my ressources compared to VR used in ACC.

And then there are those VR headsets that do not need a PC -based high-end-hardware pool at all. They have their processing power inside the headset. Their usability still just is not as sophisticated, some demanding apps might not get converted for these.


Altenative: a PS5 plus a VR set 2.0, it is said to be extremely good, maybe the bets ion the consume rmarket currently. You are locked in into the PS universe, however, thats what for me would speak against it.


I have watched severla movies on the virtual superbig movie screen now. That alone is already worth it for me. And Google Earth VR. And the many 360° youtube videos done by tourists and inhabitants in foreign cities and places. It can be overwhelming.

[Skybird]

My latest VR prey: Battlezone Gold.
Many of us older guys recall it from the arcades of the late 80s. We recall the green-line vector graphics, the TRON-feeling, and the generla mood of that era and the sort of comptuer games that were common back then.

I wanted to get this since I got VR in late 2017, and always something got in the way. Concerns, worries about the controls, the higher costs back then. Other titles I choosed before this, waiting for a sale, and forgetting about it again.

Well, I now got it nevertheless. And I could spoank myself for not havign done so earlierl, forn tjsi game is perfectly adapted to VR, it is a flawless presentation, and very immersive world- and cockpit feel. The visuals have been upograded, but one stuzcki to the feel and looks of the old TRON movie, and I must say never have I felt so close to being on the TRON grid for real! The grapohcis obviosuly have been tremedously upgraded, and I like how the kepot the retro feel of TRON and combined it with a more modern neon-glow in colours and structure design.

The control, is via gamepad, and I struggled a bit at first since the gun'S elecation is controlled via the small right thumb stick, and that make sit tricky, it reacts quite fast, making precise movement tricky. The general tank movement is speed and direction with he left stick and turret/gun control with the right one,. The buttons are used to toggle between wepaons, lock on targets and some special functions. It can be played by 1,2,3 and 4 players.

Driving feels very smooth and futuroistic, you strn agely get a feelign for the masiosve wieght, still you think you skate on ise. The tank's movement I like, but I could imagine that people vulnerable to VR sickness may sooner or later get into troubles here - you move at one direction while looking at a completely different direction - in VR that is not for everybody.

Its a lot about dodging enemy shots and bullets, while own shots with the cannon are trickier than one might think, because the roudn does not travel linear to the centtre of the crosshair, but tzravels in a real ballistic arch, like a snowball in a snowball battle, and you must elevate the turret manually and by estimation. That is first frustrating, later a challenge, then becomes quite fun. Altenrtaivels, isntead of chnagig elevation you may choose to get the aim right by increaiosng or reducing diatanc eot the target. It all reminds me oretty much of "Völkerball", I think thats called Dodgeball in English? You also have MGs, and missiles.


The campaign map are hexfield, eahc poresenting oen arena, and this world gets randomly generated every time to you start a new campaign. You can encode a setting by keepign note of its "seed number". In each arena youi kight have objectives to achieve, destroying shild generatrs of the final level, gianing informaiton, hakcing systems, and so forth. The close oyu get to the heart arena on eahc map, a volcano setting, the stiffier esistenc ebecome suntil you are up against armies of killer robots on the gorund and in the air, even swarm-like drones.

The old classic game in green line-vector graphics and simplified controls is included as a gimmick, too. Retro-feeling pure!

Very old-fashioned, very old-school, very arcade, and this modernised with a good sense for stylishness and playability, while preserving the feelign of the original and adding TRON to it, polus adding the best of VR to it, melting it all into a flawless, immerisve presentation. Even the soundtrack is right on traget, matches the feeling of the game perfectly. Good!

There are times in a man's life when he just want to hit it all the time. However, get ready to also die a lot.




P.S. Could be played in 2D, too, needs some earlier beta activated in Steam, if I understood it correctly (I have not tried it).

[Skybird]

The concept is m,ade for VR and good in idea, but needs more polishing in executing it. Also , only for Quest.

If you cant wait for the aciton shown, jump to 00:02:00 ff.

[Skybird]

Long live VR ! I have just cycled 80 minutes on bike in New York, in a 360° video ( ). Manhattan, Park Avenue, Time Square, all the places, all the sights. Wahnsinn!

VR rules!

And here is a channel with plenty and plenty of 360° workout bike tours from spain, meant for use on your home trainer, if you use such a thing.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...q-eYeQ0OKOrrSc



There are also many such films in simple 2D all across Youtube, from all regions of the world. This one describes one tour from Austria, utmost beautiful, in 2D, VR is good but not necessary to have:




Same stuff is availa ble for trail runenrs, at runner's speeds.



Purposes like these is where technology really enables little miracles and turns into a blessing. Visiting foreign places and cities in 360° via VR is unbelievable to be capable to do. Some say "its not real", "its no as good as the real experience". Well, dont do it, if you think so. But your lifetime and your income probably is not sufficient to see what you can see via VR. Thats an awsome lot you are doomed to miss!

[Skybird]

Tiem and again soembody tries to tell the world "Its dead", but instead it constantly grows. Not sensationally quick, but constantly and steadily.



https://premortem.games/2022/12/02/g...ouble-in-2024/

[Skybird]

This is a really well-done, nice VR documentation on a possible scenario for going to the moon, building a station, and from there jump to Mars. The way VR is used to illustrate the scenes, really impressed me. The scenes on Mars really mad eme feel small and awestruck.

You can watch it in 2D and use the osue to pan around, its okay, its good - but really, it does not get close to the impressiveness in 3D.

I criticise German state TV a lot (this was made by ZDF), but with this they did something nice.




And then this. This seats you in the planetarium at the Insulaner in Berlin (which I know from the time before it was renovated), and then it plays a regular 45 minute program from there, inside the planetarium, on the planets in the solar system.








And some days ago I was wondeirng why it had not come to my mind earlier: to run the available 360° videos from inside fighter cockpits in VR. I knew this films from some years ago, but just short time ago it came to my mind as a good idea to try them with the VR headset. Wowh! Meet the Blue Angels:






The Patrouille Suisse:

[Skybird]

This is crazy! And needs a very strong rig.

No longer just a Beta, Vermillion now allows you to enter the virtual gameworld of a game, set up your canvas, and then paint the scene of the game from within the game using Vermillion, like a real painter painting the landscape in which he stands.

The following is a scene from the game Alyx, its neither special nor especially beautiful, but illustrates the idea. I wonder if they add multiplayer to this option also (normal paitntign alreadsy allows it). Imagine this, you and two real world friends stand on the mountains of Skyrim and your game companion also is around, and you all look down on Whiterun and you all three set up your canvas and see your two buddies doing their painting while you do your own - it starts to get crazy, sort of, eh?!

[Skybird]

Very bad news. HP is leaving the VR production market, and considering the G2 Reverb's best-on-the-market compromise between affordable price and superb image quality, the middle ground of the market's offerings is being left empty.

The video author says it has somethign to do with the dependency on Microsoft and Valve, since this headset bases on Mixed Reality and SteamVR. Oculus is better set up in this regard, having its own VR standard oculusVR. And Microsoft struggles to get its acts together in WMR affairs, while Valve wants to sell its - much more expensive and by now nevertheless technically outdated - set.

If you considered this one model, now is the time to act.

Damn, I hoped for a third version in one or two years. With external trackers, however, so that I could play Eleven Table Tennis and First Person Tennis again.

[Rockstar]

Just today I was reading about HP leaving the VR business. I'm on DCS lately and was looking into getting a headset geared specifically towards that. Been kicking around the idea of getting a Quest Pro but will probably wait and see what the reviews are for the new Quest 3 coming out later this year.

[Skybird]

The resolution of the G2 is the prime argument in its favour combined with its - for VR standards - low price. As I said before, for anything cockpit related where small details (gauges) must be readable and moving around in the room is not needed since you are stationary, the G2 is a top contender: flight sims, racing sims, driving sims. And I see your US Amazon has it right now for 435 dollars.


...



Stuff that needs precise handtracking in fast movement and unlimited tracking area (tennis rackets , table tennis, billiard sticks etc) works not so good or not at all on the G2.



I sometimes have red the G2 has had problems with AMD chip-based mainboards. I dont know the details, however, or how relevant this is.


--------------


I know somebody who got himself a Quest 2 recently and sometimes reads in here. Dont be discouraged when the official data says it does not support Google Earth and Streetview. Via hardwire link and using Steam's GE version many people seem to be able to operate this on their Quest 2 normally, some say they even did not need the wire. Google for "Quest 2 Google Streetview" and scan the results , mostly forum replies at reddit. It seems it can be done. I dont know the Quest 2 myself, so i cannot help with experience, sorry.


You want Google Earth VR. You need Google Earth VR. A life without Google Earth VR is possible, but pointless.