Comment by Causality1 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Causality1 | Hacker News Reader

My issue with VR has always been UX. I purchased an Oculus Touch a couple of years ago. When it works and I'm in-game it's utterly transporting. Truly a next-gen feeling. Everything else about it is an absolute nightmare. The software insists the headset is working fine while the headset is blank and displays an amber warning light. It requires you to have a computer monitor facing your VR area, which for me involves twisting my desktop screen completely around backwards. The slightest vibration throws the tracking cameras off forcing me to set up the entire play area again. Game downloads refuse to start for unknown reasons. Games designed for use with a traditional gamepad won't work with the Touch controllers and my gamepad won't work unless I pull the batteries from my Touch controllers and unpair them from my Rift. Oh, and my new glasses don't fit in the headset and they don't sell wider adapters.

VR is the future but its present will make you want to beat its developers with a tire iron.

I was extremely worried about buying a VR headset for similar reasons, I had heard a lot about the magic of it but was concerned that it would be buggy or basically a glorified screen strapped to my face. I finally made the leap and bought a Quest since it doesn't require a gaming PC and is completely cordless. The first time my girlfriend and I put it on we were stunned by the seamless experience of being instantly transported to a different reality. So much so that she went from being peeved at me for spending money on a toy to laughing with glee in about 30 seconds flat.

I haven't had any difficulties with controller or position tracking at all with the Quest. The only time it can't find the controllers is when they are out of site in the case or placed behind something. The position tracking has been 100% solid. There are no tethers or requirements for a play area, I've brought it around to various places to show friends and family and it's worked every time. I honestly can't think of any serious complaints other than that I wish there was more content for it but that's just a matter of time. Granted the graphics have to be scaled back due to the limited hardware for some titles so you won't see photorealistic games for it but it has the option to play those games when connected to a computer using Oculus Link. Most games make good use of stylistic effects and shrewd design to hide the low poly count and you definitely don't notice it when you're caught up in an experience or playing a game. A lot of the lofi ones even seem better in some ways because they are just having fun with the media and embracing the limitations and focusing on gameplay and interactivity instead.

Sorry for the rant but they got me, I'm a convert now and I'm never going back ;)

Give the Quest a shot. No setup besides putting it on your head and tracing out the guardian area.

Controller tracking is nearly flawless, with some limitations like not being able to hold a controller behind your back or hidden behind your other arm, but I don't run into those limits in practice.

Probably won't help your glasses though. That's one of the Quest's bigger design oversights IMO, that wearing glasses can scratch the headset lenses even with the glasses spacer installed. There are 3d printed lens rim bumpers that will keep glasses from touching the headset lenses, but if your glasses don't physically fit that just trades smushing them into the headset lenses for smushing them into your face.

Buy some VR Lens protectors. I got some for my vive, there were some special dedicated ones but I just got a pair of smart watch protectors that were recommended on Reddit.

I printed a set of the bumpers, I think they're protective enough for me while not having any impact on the optical quality like a stick-on protector would

Missed the edit window, but for the glasses issue I should also mention the 3D printable inserts to hold corrective lenses, designed to match a $10 pair of glasses from Zenni Optical. Pop the lenses out and put them in these:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3642004

Not as convenient as just keeping glasses on if you share the headset with other people, since they'd need to remove your prescription inserts. I believe someone made a similar adapter in two parts with magnets to pop the lenses off quickly.

Or if you prefer a more finished product instead of 3d printed frames and ordering glasses from Zenni, WIDMOvr sells prescription inserts.

https://widmovr.com

Inside out tracking is really the only way forward. Having to deal with camera positioning, initial setup and bunch of cables running around is a huge roadblock to adoption. I'd go so far and say that tethered headsets are a huge problem as well.

I've bought a Oculus Quest, it's a standalone headset with inside out tracking that works extremely well. Recently Oculus released an update that allows you to tether Quest to the PC so it can stream PCVR games to the Quest. I believe this is first step in creating an untethered PCVR headset using Quest. Whether we will get it in Quest 1.0 is still to be seen but it's the way forward.

Right now feature wise Quest is very close to the complete package. Only thing really missing is officially supported wireless PCVR capability. When they get that, feature set is complete and only thing they need to do is iterate and improve on the comfort (massively) and quality of optics.

VR development is very difficult, and very underfunded.

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