Oculus Rift - Will Aces High Support This?

[Vulcan]

Way cool!  

What about the 3D visual effect?  Any way to emulate built-in support?

There are d3d proxy dll's which translate games into true 3D (stereoscopic). Both the Emagin and Vuzix drivers did this with AH, and it worked beautifully (too well in fact, I have a dominant left eye so my gunsight was always offset).

The Rift uses a new lens setup which is almost a fisheye approach. The benefit is you get a massive field of view (FoV). The benefit of a big FoV is things are more immersive, in the Rift demo's you feel like you could reach out and touch stuff. The caveat is that this new system needs new 3D proxy drivers, the ones available right now don't work with AH yet.

So AH can support the tracking, and it has worked with stereo 3d solutions before (and still does). But the Rift guys are putting lots of dev info out there, so hopefully HTC could throw in some native support. I believe the Rift also does 6DoF which would be totally insane in AH

edit: soooooooooo close, using riftinjector I can get the AH login/arena selection screen in 3D distorted for the Rift... but once it goes full screen I lose the 3D+distort

[Wiley]

There are d3d proxy dll's which translate games into true 3D (stereoscopic). Both the Emagin and Vuzix drivers did this with AH, and it worked beautifully (too well in fact, I have a dominant left eye so my gunsight was always offset).

Something I always wondered about 3D like that.  Did it take a major framerate hit?  It seems to me the computer would effectively be rendering everything twice, one for each eye.

Wiley.

[Vulcan]

Something I always wondered about 3D like that.  Did it take a major framerate hit?  It seems to me the computer would effectively be rendering everything twice, one for each eye.

Wiley.

Not really. Old school used to use alternating frames for each eye, so if you had 60fps you got effective 30fps.

The new systems use SBS (Side By Side), frame rate stays high but the resolution is halved horizontally. So one caveat is the drop in res (effectively 640x800 per eye). That makes gauges less readable, but I use zoom to read gauges when I need too. It's a trade off between immersion and res.

Also got Arma 2 running with it today, hooning around in the OH-6 is massive fun. The massive FoV of the Rift gives amazing immersion, much much more than previous headsets. Looking forward to trying the DayZ mod in VR.

edit: someone got the Rift running with War Thunder (warning he swears a bit cos he appears to suck)

[FLOOB]

How can you see your keyboard or anything else while wearing that? And apart from the 3d effect, what advantage does it have over an unwearable monitor and trackir?

[terrydew]

How can you see your keyboard or anything else while wearing that? And apart from the 3d effect, what advantage does it have over an unwearable monitor and trackir?

Seems to me this is critical question. Even with a very good hotas system, you still need the keyboard for some commands.

[Wiley]

I'd be quite shocked if the production version doesn't have a clear bottom or removable bottom when all is said and done to allow visibility of your surroundings.

Even if it doesn't, for myself I think I'd be ok with no keyboard visibility for the most part.  The only time I generally hit my keyboard is to do stuff that I do when I'm cruising.  I could take the time to find my spot on the keyboard by touch.

Wiley.

[Ack-Ack]

For those that know how to type, not seeing the keyboard shouldn't be an issue.

ack-ack

[Vulcan]

I'd be quite shocked if the production version doesn't have a clear bottom or removable bottom when all is said and done to allow visibility of your surroundings.

Even if it doesn't, for myself I think I'd be ok with no keyboard visibility for the most part.  The only time I generally hit my keyboard is to do stuff that I do when I'm cruising.  I could take the time to find my spot on the keyboard by touch.

Wiley.

Yeah I touch type (two fingered), so not a big issue.

With VR the big advantage the Rift offers is a wide and immersive field of view, having visibility of your surroundings ruins that. In VR, FoV is everything.

For those 'thinking' about a Rift, who aren't complete VR nuts like me, wait for the HD consumer version. The current version is 1280x800, which is an effective 640x800 per eye - some may not like that res.

[Bizman]

Vulcan, correct me if I'm wrong. I've never used any VR goggles or such, although the idea sounds ultimately tempting. What I suppose is that the resolution doesn't play such a role as with regular monitors. Why, you might ask. Well, a human eye can only see sharply in quite a narrow sector, although movement can be seen in an appr 180 degrees angle. Up down the angle is even less. Thus, if a VR covers the sharp view area plus some extra, it is quite much like IRL. You'd have to move your focus to see clearly a certain spot. What they can't do (yet), though, is to catch eye movement instead of turning your entire head, but compared to TrackIR and such you can really look over your shoulder to look back. 

[Vulcan]

Yeah wrong, eye tracking is not required as the Rift has a huge FoV (110 degrees), compared to regular VR headsets that are normally 35-40 degrees. Resolution will still be an issue. The consumer version will be higher res.

[FLOOB]

It's not about typing, I can type, and so can everyone else born after the vietnam war. It's about finding the keyboard, the mouse, the vaporizer, your smoke, your drink, the phone, your way to the toilet. I hate to be that guy, the cynic who pees on everyone's excitement for something new, but I just don't see how VR goggles are an improvement over trackir and a monitor that you don't have to wear. For myself, and I think many others, the inconvenience of the device will quickly outweigh the positive aspects.

[Zoney]

Inconvenience ?  Yeah now instead of taking of the track IR, pushing your chair back, getting up and walking away, instead you will have to take off the VR headset, push your chair back, get up, and walk away.    

[Wiley]

It's not about typing, I can type, and so can everyone else born after the vietnam war. It's about finding the keyboard, the mouse, the vaporizer, your smoke, your drink, the phone, your way to the toilet. I hate to be that guy, the cynic who pees on everyone's excitement for something new, but I just don't see how VR goggles are an improvement over trackir and a monitor that you don't have to wear. For myself, and I think many others, the inconvenience of the device will quickly outweigh the positive aspects.

Does your keyboard move all that often?  The smoke issue I can see being a problem, perhaps some sort of ash collection bin built around the chair might make sense, just have it funnel down to the base.

As far as what the improvement would be, I like the idea of being able to make your motion sensing profile less aggressive to allow for more precise view control.  Where with a trackIR I can only comfortably keep an eye on the screen if my head turns no more than about 10-20 degrees, with the display always in front of my eyes, I could if I so desired, set all the motion tracking to 1:1 and just look around.  For playability I'd probably be inclined to have it ramp up to around 2:1 for checking six.

If finding my smokes/drink becomes an issue, I'll likely wind up modifying the bottom of the Oculus so I can see down if it's possible.

Really though, for getting out of the computer chair, it's little different from removing a headset.

Wiley.

[Lusche]

Such a set of goggle would be very impractical for me, as I never just play AH, but always do a hundred things at the same time. Programming, making charts for AH, browsing the net, writing mails, drawing, composing and so on.
Even when flying fighters the majority of my sortie time is actually spent with AH minimized, or even wandering around in my apartment.

Cool gadget nevertheless.  

[Karnak]

If HTC decides to support these I absolutely plan on getting a set.  Being able to  sit in the virtual cockpit sounds like it will be a lot of fun.