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Virtual Reality

Started by SGOS, December 04, 2016, 12:41:43 PM

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SGOS

I'm new at this, but excited about it.  I think virtual reality is the next big step in gaming.  I'm not sure what other applications it can have, so it's advancements will probably only happen if gamers take to it.  Although, I was told once that the increases in processor power are driven almost entirely by gamers, so gamers play an important role in the big picture.  Most reviewers seem to think the price is too high, starting at $600 for the oculus riff, and they seem to think the price tag will be out of reach for most gamers.  I'm not sure about that.

My first concern was if virtual reality can be used with Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is now 10 years old and no longer part of Microsoft's line of products.  Turns out, virtual reality is available now for both Microsoft FSX and the XPlane flight simulator, but I think it requires buying an add on software called Prepare3D.  Prepare 3D also supports a few other games not specifically designed for virtual reality, but the list is limited.

Currently, the technical downside seems to be mostly about resolution with not enough pixels for great clarity.  My computer which runs FSX just fine would also require a more powerful graphics card.  I have a Nvidia GTX 760, and the minimum requirements for the Riff call for a GTX 960 or higher.  I think the GTX 1060 runs around $400.

When I tried the demonstration video for the Oculus Riff, I didn't pay much attention to clarity, as I was overwhelmed by the emersion offered by VR and wasn't paying close attention to resolution.  FSX reviewers describe the feel as like "actually flying" even considering the loss of clarity.  I can sort of understand why, because the basic feel of VR is what you experience as remarkable, although I haven't tried it with a simulator.  Moving your head to look around is instantaneous.  There is no lag time.  One thing I think I noticed is that while your field of view is the same as a monitor, it seems larger, because you always seem to looking around naturally, and what you peripheral vision can't see is always available in an instant.  Also, when you turn your head to look over your shoulder, it doesn't feel at all like a monitor panning to the side.  It almost perfectly feels like it does when you turn your head in real life.  It's quite remarkable.

I will probably wait for more resolution (I hope this advance happens quickly), since with FSX you are often looking forward for 100 miles, and at least one reviewer commented about a very noticeable decrease in clarity, which suffers enough close up, but is exaggerated even more (more pixilation) at long distances.  But this thing is definitely on the right track, I think.  One review noted that there just isn't enough content to keep you playing in virtual reality all day.  So the future of VR probably rests on interest from gamers and their pocketbooks.


Hydra009

I was kinda meh about this until I saw Command and Conquer in VR.  Now I'm pumped.  If they made Morrowind (or Fallout) for it, that would be absolutely amazing.

SGOS

It's impossible to capture the experience by watching utube videos.  This conclusion is based on 15 minutes of actual demonstration at the Microsoft store.  I've watched a few simulator videos, which answered some questions I had, but they can't capture the feeling of immersion you get with an actual demonstration.  Walking around through forests has got to be dealt with.  Oculus Riff requires stationary seating (I think).  That's fine for flight simulators.  Vive allows you to walk around an average size room, which would need to be empty, but how that works in something like Grand Theft Auto where you have a large landmass to navigate, I don't know.  It would be fine in something like Command and Conquer, where everything appears to be directed from outside the play surface.

Hydra009

Strategy/puzzle games would be ideal because they're more or less stationary (the camera need only pan left, right, up, and down - not move forward or back)

Mechwarrior wouldn't be bad, either.  Like a flight sim, you wouldn't necessarily have to move.  Though I suppose you could walk in place to simulate motion.

Ideally, I'd love some kind of open world exploration game.  But they'd have to perfect walking around virtual forests without knocking over bookshelves and lamps irl.

Hydra009

Quote from: SGOS on December 04, 2016, 06:18:44 PMIt's impossible to capture the experience by watching utube videos.  This conclusion is based on 15 minutes of actual demonstration at the Microsoft store.  I've watched a few simulator videos, which answered some questions I had, but they can't capture the feeling of immersion you get with an actual demonstration.
How so?  My last VR experience was a couple decades ago, so I don't remember what exactly it's like.  When you ride a VR rollercoaster, how does that stack up to a video of the experience?

Jason78

This is my favourite VR game at the moment.   Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

SGOS

Quote from: Hydra009 on December 04, 2016, 07:00:29 PM
How so?  My last VR experience was a couple decades ago, so I don't remember what exactly it's like.  When you ride a VR rollercoaster, how does that stack up to a video of the experience?

All of the demonstrations were stationary now that I think about it.  None involved passing through an environment, although I don't see why that wouldn't be possible, as long as you were in a car or some other kind of vehicle.  The 3D effect was very good.  I think better than a movie, so that added to the realism. 

As for a roller coaster, I don't know if you would experience a kinesthetic experience of motion like you might get at an IMAX theater, although one flight sim reviewer said he felt that, but I'm skeptical of that claim.  While I didn't experience motion sickness, as I was warned some people do, that would suggest that there might be some kind of induced feeling of motion in the right sort of environment.

I heard some people get disoriented walking around and tend to get seriously off balance.  Sounds like you might  experience some kind of motion while losing track of which way is up and down.  Those susceptible to that kind of disorientation may not like virtual reality much.

SGOS

Quote from: Jason78 on December 04, 2016, 07:34:08 PM
This is my favourite VR game at the moment.   Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.

Have you actually played that game with a headset?  Do you have the equipment?  Can I come over to your house for a week or two?  :biggrin:

aitm

another great disconnect of the society. We will go out with a whimper...not even knowing we died.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Hydra009

Quote from: Jason78 on December 04, 2016, 07:34:08 PM
This is my favourite VR game at the moment.   Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
Sounds great.  I'd probably play it with my brother and end up wanting to throw him through a window.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K_WmV50e7c

SGOS

Quote from: aitm on December 04, 2016, 08:46:12 PM
another great disconnect of the society. We will go out with a whimper...not even knowing we died.

Who needs people, anyway?

Hydra009

Quote from: aitm on December 04, 2016, 08:46:12 PManother great disconnect of the society. We will go out with a whimper...not even knowing we died.
Meh, they probably said the same thing about books and model ships.  Solitary hobby -/-> the death of society

Jason78

Quote from: SGOS on December 04, 2016, 08:42:37 PM
Have you actually played that game with a headset?  Do you have the equipment?  Can I come over to your house for a week or two?  :biggrin:

Yes.

Yes.

Bring beer.
Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

SGOS

Quote from: Jason78 on December 05, 2016, 02:34:21 AM
Yes.

Yes.

Bring beer.

Great, I want to try virtual reality drunk.

SGOS

Apparently, Prepar3D is put out by Lockheed Martin, and is a flight simulator in it's own right.  I've got pretty sketchy knowledge though.  What I picked up has been in forums.  At the home page, things are not clearly described.  I'm not sure what I'd be buying.