Forums » Windows
Oculus Rift feedback
Once I got my Rift devkit, it became the perfect excuse to resubscribe and try it with VO. This seems to have become the standard forum for discussion about the (currently Windows-only) Rift support in the game, so here goes.
Being able to look around freely is really amazing. It is impossible to put into words the level of immersion this achieves, even at the devkit's low resolution. I find myself getting distracted and just looking around at the universe while turboing or between jumps. In addition, flying at high speeds very near to large objects has become exhilirating. (Or terrifying, as when I nearly crashed into an Itani HAC.)
When I first undocked from a station, the head-tracking was 180 degrees backwards. I saw the reverse copy of the HUD (as can be seen when looking behind you during normal flight), including crosshair. Using /resetovr for the first time fixed it. I have never encountered this issue since then.
On interface initialization, the HUD is compressed to the "center" in such a way that you can see the whole flight UI without turning your head. This is good... until I type something in chat, at which point the interface becomes ~3 times wider and taller than the visible field, but remains with its upper-left corner anchored in the original position, such that the crosshair is now substantially off from center. Entering the PDA and leaving re-centers the HUD, but it remains re-scaled, so now I have to turn my head ~45 degrees up and left to read chat, ~45 degrees up and right to read distance-to-target... In addition, I found during a Border Battle that whenever my target was destroyed, random interface elements would disappear or translate to bizarre locations. I'm not sure whether these interface oddities are because of some plugin I have installed, though I'm confident I removed all UI plugins. In any case, I have bound a key to "resetovr" followed by a quick couple of changes to the HUD scale variables, and now I press that key whenever anything about the interface goes wonky; one short hitch later, the interface is peachy again.
When jumping , entering and exiting stations, etc. the chat box will sometimes "scroll up" by apparently zero pixels and need to be scrolled down.
Interacting with the PDA and station interfaces requires a lot more head movement than is comfortable. I'm not sure if this is related to the HUD scale issues.
One technique I use when playing without a Rift is to briefly enable mouselook during turbo, allowing me to target something my craft isn't pointed toward. Mouselook is disabled (for good reason!) when using the Rift, so I can't do that. Fortunately, the PDA exists.
VO lacks a chromatic aberration compensation filter, so things outside the center of the field are rather badly affected. This is a pretty minor problem, even compared to the other minor problems; it can be "explained" as being some consequence of the flight helmet you wear.
Last but not least, the interface remains upright relative to the viewer regardless of head tilt. I'm not sure whether this is a feature or not; it likely improves text readability and UI usability, but it also reduces immersion a little bit. If possible, I would suggest making this an option.
All in all, VO with the Rift is really sweet, even at this early stage of support. I cannot stress enough how fantastic it is. My mind was blown from the moment I first hit the login screen. I'm eagerly looking forward to any and all further developments along these lines, and will continue to play with the Rift in the mean time.
Being able to look around freely is really amazing. It is impossible to put into words the level of immersion this achieves, even at the devkit's low resolution. I find myself getting distracted and just looking around at the universe while turboing or between jumps. In addition, flying at high speeds very near to large objects has become exhilirating. (Or terrifying, as when I nearly crashed into an Itani HAC.)
When I first undocked from a station, the head-tracking was 180 degrees backwards. I saw the reverse copy of the HUD (as can be seen when looking behind you during normal flight), including crosshair. Using /resetovr for the first time fixed it. I have never encountered this issue since then.
On interface initialization, the HUD is compressed to the "center" in such a way that you can see the whole flight UI without turning your head. This is good... until I type something in chat, at which point the interface becomes ~3 times wider and taller than the visible field, but remains with its upper-left corner anchored in the original position, such that the crosshair is now substantially off from center. Entering the PDA and leaving re-centers the HUD, but it remains re-scaled, so now I have to turn my head ~45 degrees up and left to read chat, ~45 degrees up and right to read distance-to-target... In addition, I found during a Border Battle that whenever my target was destroyed, random interface elements would disappear or translate to bizarre locations. I'm not sure whether these interface oddities are because of some plugin I have installed, though I'm confident I removed all UI plugins. In any case, I have bound a key to "resetovr" followed by a quick couple of changes to the HUD scale variables, and now I press that key whenever anything about the interface goes wonky; one short hitch later, the interface is peachy again.
When jumping , entering and exiting stations, etc. the chat box will sometimes "scroll up" by apparently zero pixels and need to be scrolled down.
Interacting with the PDA and station interfaces requires a lot more head movement than is comfortable. I'm not sure if this is related to the HUD scale issues.
One technique I use when playing without a Rift is to briefly enable mouselook during turbo, allowing me to target something my craft isn't pointed toward. Mouselook is disabled (for good reason!) when using the Rift, so I can't do that. Fortunately, the PDA exists.
VO lacks a chromatic aberration compensation filter, so things outside the center of the field are rather badly affected. This is a pretty minor problem, even compared to the other minor problems; it can be "explained" as being some consequence of the flight helmet you wear.
Last but not least, the interface remains upright relative to the viewer regardless of head tilt. I'm not sure whether this is a feature or not; it likely improves text readability and UI usability, but it also reduces immersion a little bit. If possible, I would suggest making this an option.
All in all, VO with the Rift is really sweet, even at this early stage of support. I cannot stress enough how fantastic it is. My mind was blown from the moment I first hit the login screen. I'm eagerly looking forward to any and all further developments along these lines, and will continue to play with the Rift in the mean time.
My drift problem has gotten progressively worse in just a few short days. The UI will drift to the left as soon as I login. In 5 minutes I have to rotate completely around. It has made the game unplayable, which hurts because once you play VO in Rift, it's simply too amazing to give up.
Also "/resetovr" causes my UI to expand in width, but jumping into the pda never re-centers it or fixes it for me. The crosshair are still shift to the right of the actual weapon fire.
I hope it gets addressed soon.
Also "/resetovr" causes my UI to expand in width, but jumping into the pda never re-centers it or fixes it for me. The crosshair are still shift to the right of the actual weapon fire.
I hope it gets addressed soon.