While this is still fresh, I thought I'd share so others might know what to expect if installing without a knowledgeable helper around. It might save you some grief.
I went with the Rift because of the comparisons to other PC based HMDs on these boards. And yes, my early trials prove it's worth the gruesome torture of the installation process. I've compiled these notes to smooth the road for other AH users. I'll save my comments and PC hardware/software setup for last.
I'd already updated my Nvidia drivers so was able to skip that step.
The HARDWARE setup:
After you open the package, you'll find two AA batteries. It's logical they go into the Oculus Touch controllers. You will not receive an Oculus remote in the package, meaning you must use both Sensors and the Touch controllers to setup the software. However, there are absolutely no instructions inside the package, only some health and safety warnings and their website is no better. Apparently the Touch is too new.
The battery compartment on the Touch is under a magnetic hatch similar to those connecting the screens and keyboards on newer 2-in-1 laptops. There is little indication these hatches are there and they are quite hard to slide open on my units. They slide off the end of the handle. Upon closer inspection, there is a small shiny bit of a triangle pointer near the top of the hatch.
The two Sensor stands must be at least five feet apart, or just beyond the edges of a standard office desk, six feet is suggested on the website. If not, you'll have a devil of a time in the initial software setup. I've set mine about chest high when sitting in my office chair, and aimed them at my head when standing or sitting about six feet back from the sensors. The distance back may have been due to setting the sensors too close together at 5' apart. This would probably not be good for a first person shooter but I haven't tried one.
If you don't have a free HDMI port on your video card, you'll need to free one up by getting an adapter. I plugged the Rift into the GPU HDMI and used a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter ($15 Insignia at Best Buy) to run my monitor.
My ASUS motherboard has two USB 3.0 and several USB 2.0 ports available. I plugged the headset into the GPU's HDMI port and a free USB 3.0 port. Then, it turned out that the sensors worked when plugged into the USB 2.0 ports. That's working okay in AH for now, but I'll probably buy a USB 3.0 PCIe card later.
The SOFTWARE:
When first finding the
Guides page, click on the image of the Rift.
On the next page, below the health and safety links, which you should read at least once, the link to the installer, Oculus Setup is available. It's a small 4MB installer program that says it's checking your hardware. It will download the 1.7GB Oculus software and begin the installation.
There is additional information on the site's pages, and hopefully it will be updated in the future.
Tip:
The installer insists on registering each user; your name and email, then a new user name and password of at least 8 characters. It would be good to create a list of possible user names and a password while the download runs.
Warning:
Early on during the installation, it asks to allow Oculus to automatically download and install software on your machine. I declined, and my installation hangs with no way back. For me, this meant cancelling the installation and the installer promptly deleted the installation package wasting the first two hour download.
This authorization step is repeated two more times.
I might have been able to end task and restarted, but I'd never be sure of a clean installation.
At some point during the installation, it asks the path for an Oculus Apps (games) folder. I chose a different hard drive instead of C:\ as my SSD is old and running out of room.
Eventually, we start the Oculus calibration steps. This is where the sensor setup takes place. Many reviews on YouTube ran into the same problems of space that I did. It seems common to do whatever is necessary to make the sensors pass the installers tests and then rely on the Oculus and game software to do the rest. This was confirmed when I finally got into the Oculus Home and another routine to setup centering of the view. They are working fine in Aces High even though the setup software suggests they are too close.
USING THE OCULUS WITH ACES HIGH:
If you do a search for Aces High from the Oculus Home environment, it will find it and you can sit through another download of the game into your Oculus Apps folder. I did that the first time I ran AH but I don't run it this way now as my previously installed settings, skins, terrains, terrsets and terrain source files would all need to be recreated and or downloaded.
Instead, from the Windows desktop, launch the Oculus software if it's not running and find the settings icon along the top window. It looks like a geared wheel. In the links list along the left, use 'General' and then turn on "Allow apps that have not been reviewed by Oculus to run on Rift."
Now when you launch Aces High DX11*, it will run from your existing installation and show up when your return to the Oculus Home environment. It will not be needed in the Oculus Apps folder now.
Tip:
Each time Aces High starts, on your Windows desktop, it will ask if you want to use your Oculus before the game launches. You can't see this from inside your headset so if you went to Oculus Home to launch it, you can be sitting there waiting for something to happen. If you launch AH first, it will launch your Oculus.
Tip:
Skuzzy says we'll need to setup our controllers again when using VR. Somehow, I haven't needed to do this to fly on my setup, but it's obvious I need to remap for things like the clipboard toggle, vox keys, gear etc.
Tip:
From the Oculus Home, there is a hidden settings menu that's toggled with a button on the Touch. It has the Oculus icon printed on it.
I've probably forgotten some things, but hopefully not anything important. Enjoy.
Comments:
Pros:
It's wonderful in Aces High. Situational awareness and tracking is phenomenal. I won't fly a fighter without it. For GVing, it may turn out to be a different story, but I want to give it a few more hours testing to evaluate.
Cons:
The screen resolution is no better then my low expectations. There is no built-in mic so using my Logitech headset on top of the Rift is very heavy and the built-in audio phones are in the way. I hope to be able to remove them with the 'screw driver' included in the package. I don't like the way it takes over my computer, including Firefox when Oculus is running at the same time.
Conclusion:
By the standards of the past, this is great hardware, and a game changer in AH. Almost worth the $350 sale price, so I won't be returning it.
The screen resolution is my biggest complaint. The AH terrain and trees are washed out and spotting GVs moving through the trees is difficult. It was difficult enough for me on my 27" monitor.
At the Oculus convention in San Jose, Zuckerberg reportedly said they were moving to mobile based VR. That made no sense to me at the time, but I think it means moving to a system like their Samsung Gear VR device. It would make sense to piggyback upon the resolution of a $1000 cellphone. They can still make money from the Oculus Store and software licenses, and keep driving users toward Facebook accounts.
I will not be surprised if another manufacture offers a much better PC based headset at retail within a year.
My Hardware:
i7 2600k Sandybridge
ASUS P8P67LE motherboard with PCIe 2.0
8GB ram
Nvidia GTX 1070
Windows 7 service pack 1, 64 bit.*
*Required for the Oculus
