Forum Discussion

Xrc6's avatar
Xrc6
Explorer
9 years ago

I just received my Oculus. What should I expect?

Picked it up at BB today. 2 main reasons. One being that I own a Vive and I never thought much of the room space stuff, I much prefer seated gaming with a gamepad and Rift has more of those with gamepad support so I"m not cut off from half the library like I am on Vive (revive is a joke Imo and not trustworthy enough to purchase Home games). Some of Vive's seated/standing games are actually standing only less you prefer to walk around from the POV of a little person. Secondly I had a Vive since last August but the software issues are constant. Steam Controller only works in the menu when it wants to. When I press home to bring up the menu inside the HMD, I cannot view my game library. Sometimes the desktop won't show up and other times neither icon even shows up on the bar leaving only the settings and power on/off viewable. Sometime the home button on the Vive wands or Steam Controller do nothing at all. The little button the HMD also only works on occasions. It takes foreeeever for the base stations to kick on if you set them up to sleep with bluetooth. Otherwise they are on 24/7 emitting light and a high pitch noise and the station vibrates....basically offers more annoyances than gaming fun.

I reformatted Windows10 three times. Reinstalled SteamVR dozens of times only to end up with the same issues on and off. Sometimes they work, some things work but it's rare that everything works and I can't handle that kind of inconsistency. The wires on the Vive are super stiff and wide, the HMD is a pain to put on correctly and once on I have to feel around for my headphones, my vive wands or gamepad and usually my media keyboard since it's inevitable I need it for a few things especially when mentioned problems arise.
So to play seated, I have to set 2 wands, hp's and gamepad all on my lap with a media kb nearby. Put HP's on last but take them off first when I'm done.....maybe I'm just easily annoyed.

So what issues can I expect from Oculus? Again I mostly wanted it because it's more streamlined, built in HP's so I don't have to feel around for mine and everything works with the Xbox controller minus a few touch specific games but at least it's mentioned in the requirements. I have no interest in room scale although that seems to be where VR is going and those kinds of games aren't fun for me with the teleporting n all. Call me a lazy gamer but I hope Oculus continues to offer gamepad, seated experiences going forward.

9 Replies

  • ColinB's avatar
    ColinB
    Adventurer
    9 years ago
    Welcome to Oculus. :)
    A great place and lots of info in these forums to keep you up to date.
    Most users are happy with the Rift but like all VR  it's still developing with occasional hiccups.
    Certainly you'll find the CV1 is ideally suited to "seated" apps and is probably the best choice for you.
    Again, welcome !!
  • Arock387's avatar
    Arock387
    Heroic Explorer
    9 years ago
    Well the Rift does have some bugs but from my experience between the two it definitely is the more refined experience.  Current 3 camera tracking issues aside if you are just rocking the headset and one sensor for seated/controller experiences than you have most definitely come to the right place.  You can even opt in for the Touch controllers and still enjoy seated content too.  So you dont HAVE to forgo getting your hands dirty so to speak
  • elboffor's avatar
    elboffor
    Consultant
    9 years ago

    @Atmos73 What say you on this?

    Having read what you just said, then you will most definitely appreciate the refinements that oculus has to offer. the only real snag is the current tracking glitches which are being addressed.


    Welcome to the rift good sir

  • YoLolo69's avatar
    YoLolo69
    Trustee
    9 years ago
    Keeping seated I can recommend Touch devices anyway due to some titles which are really interesting : Oculus Medium and Quills, Google Eartch VR (that you should have tested I guess using the Vive), Virtual Desktop, BigScreen, etc.. For those titles I move my office chair center on my play space and run them seated.
  • jayhawk's avatar
    jayhawk
    Superstar
    9 years ago
    You pretty much listed every reason why I chose Oculus and certainly don't regret it one bit. Room scale is unlikely to take hold until larger play spaces become common. For this to happen many would need to sacrifice space for the sake of VR, get into a larger home/flat, or be willing to move furniture every time they want to play, unlikely on all accounts which in short means games that utilize a large space will be few and far between until then.

    At this point I only use 2 sensors with Touch. I had ordered a third but came to the conclusion 360 degree tracking just isn't needed at this point (not for me) and ended up cancelling it. I still play games like Brookhaven Experiment with 95% functionality using 2 . The sensor configuration that worked best for me is 76" high and about 9' apart both in front using cheap speaker mounts. The setup will still complain about it not being to their guidelines but you can continue past it.
  • Xrc6's avatar
    Xrc6
    Explorer
    9 years ago
    Thanks all.
    Ok like when it comes to installing things, Vive is finicky what I install first. So should I install SteamVR first or Oculus Home or does it matter? How do I set up the audio, like will it automatically switch to Rift when I run a VR game and switch back to default?

    Any things software wise I should be aware of? I'm also comping from a Steam Controller to this Xbox so there might be a learning curve for me on that. I know drivers tend to be an issue so I've learned to be picky about what order I install everything.
  • CrashFu's avatar
    CrashFu
    Consultant
    9 years ago

    Xrc6 said:

    Thanks all.
    Ok like when it comes to installing things, Vive is finicky what I install first. So should I install SteamVR first or Oculus Home or does it matter? How do I set up the audio, like will it automatically switch to Rift when I run a VR game and switch back to default?

    Any things software wise I should be aware of? I'm also comping from a Steam Controller to this Xbox so there might be a learning curve for me on that. I know drivers tend to be an issue so I've learned to be picky about what order I install everything.


    You'll be happy to know that the Oculus platform is FAR more user-friendly than what Valve is offering.   Most programs will handle audio automatically, just put on your Rift and the sound will be going to the right device.  Occasionally you might discover something that needs you to go into your sound properties menus and change the default device from "speakers" (or whatever your default is)  to "rift headphones",  but that's a rare case; only a couple non-standard apps I use require that.

    If you have Windows 10, you SHOULD be good with the Rift's included Xbox controller without needing to manually install anything, but you will want to turn the xbox controller on BEFORE launching programs (for reasons I don't really understand.. if I try to turn my controller on while the programs are already running, it tends to shit itself back off two seconds later) I have noticed that when I swap out my controller's batteries it likes to forget its connection to the 'dongle' altogether, in which case I have to go through the synching process again.
  • Xrc6's avatar
    Xrc6
    Explorer
    9 years ago
    One last question, is it possible to use the Steam Controller instead of Xbox, like will it work with all the Oculus games since it uses Xinput? Or can I map it in Steam to work with games?

    Also is it possible to create game shortcuts from Oculus Home so I can put them in Steam? Or Steam games in Oculus Home, whichever. I want all my games viewable on either or.

    My install went flawless, I was impressed with the video clarity, I didn't even notice the pixel gaps as much as I did on the Vive. I can look around and nothing gets all blurry, although it sucks I can't bring the lenses closer to my eyes and the FOV doesn't look as wide but maybe I can mod something to bring my eyes closer.

    The entire experience down to opening the box has been very nice. I just wish I had more patience back when my Rift order was delayed for so long. Cancelled because Vive had in stock with 4 day shipping, now I have to try to sell the thing.