The Index thread (please keep to subject)

Btw, checking out the new Myst game, I just made a comparison between Index res 300% and res 450% - see the post with the images of a clock tower over here:

https://forums.oculusvr.com/t5/Games-and-Apps/The-high-end-Myst-PCVR-version-arrives-August-26-Reviews-and/td-p/881090

I also took some shots using Index res 200% - it's a great looking game, and perfect for the large Index fov. Knuckles are fully supported - ok, maybe no finger tracking. 

Just back from the media night for the launch of London's "Army of the Dead - Viva Las Vengeance: A VR Experience" by Netflix. The venue is using Valve Index headsets, and the experience is so much more immersive due to the improved visuals - the ability to use a high-end PC setup, even beyond some Prosumer setups makes an amazing difference. If you get the Chance in NY, LV or London to try this I would recommend.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGoq3X4QeKQ
 

I know I'm double posting, but many who read this thread may not read the A Wake Inn thread. Just wanted to show the image quality using Index res 300% in A Wake Inn. If you want to know more about A Wake Inn, visit this thread too:

https://forums.oculusvr.com/t5/Games-and-Apps/A-Wake-Inn-new-horror-escape-room-like-game-with-vibes-from-the/m-p/852321

I did have a blast with this game last night, maybe even more than playing Myst. I took some shots to show the game in all its glory - or hopefully close. All images are shot using Index res 300%. Click on an image to enlarge. To save bandwidth images are reduced to about 25% of the Index res and the game looks even more detailed in VR. I'm using the highest in-game graphics settings (=Ultra). This game is demanding, you will need a high-end gpu to fully enjoy it.

I've never seen better dynamic lights and shadows in VR, hands down

My flashlight combined with a lamp - but check out the textures on the door, not bad, right?

Some ultramersion textures - and my flashlight. You'll need to recharge the battery, light isn't free in this game 

Volumetric lighting shining through a window

Check out the high-res shadows on the wall

Zooming in on the above shot to really see the awesome shadows resolution - no dumb and low-end blob shadows in this gem of a game!

Maybe this looks like a boring image, but see the text on the back of the Walkie Talkie? That's awesome 4k-ish ultramersion textures - and let's see the full Index res 300% image quality:

Textures are extremely high-res in the game - just like in Alyx and Boneworks. You can easily read the text and letters/numbers in VR 

Light shining on metal - and light reflections

My hand with ultramersion textures and bathed in light - there's full Index finger tracking in the game

My kind of lamp 😍 - and levels of polygons are remarkably high! 

Volumetric light, but more condensed here

The light is simply jaw-droppingly beautiful and never seen better in VR. Check out the amazing wooden textures - and textures on the walls etc. 

Light reflections on metal surfaces

More volumetric light shining through a window

Maybe boring to some, but such awesome walls greatly enhance immersion and make the experience feel real

Peeking out of a window - I haven't gotten down there (yet) in the game - but looks great!

More ultramersion textures on the tool you use to pick up items

Even the mantle piece looks awesome 🙂  

Just some finer details - see the cobwebs, in the game they gently move and it looks great

I'll have trouble deciding between playing Myst or A Wake Inn later today 🤓      

Just completed yet another play through of Half Life Alyx using the Vive Pro 2 at around 3.4k per eye at 120 Hz, with Index tracking and controllers and maxed out graphics .

Great fun and gorgeous graphics. I reckon I am never going to truly tire of this game. 

Back to my flight sims now but I am sure at some point further down the road I will be visiting Alyx again. I so love that game.

Be careful when setting "Render Resolution" to "Auto" - might increase res by 50% in all apps!

About two weeks ago (or so) I may accidentally have pressed "Reset Page To Default" - and the default for Render Resolution is Auto. I'm using a factory oc'ed RTX 3090, and at first I didn't notice much. But after a few days I did notice that when setting SteamVR res to my usual 200%, now fpsVR would show 300%. Games still worked fine, at least most of them - and I think I got a SteamVR update some days ago too. Ended up thinking maybe there was something wrong with fpsVR, lol.

After contacting the fpsVR devs, I'm sure fpsVR is not wrong. When I set "Render Resolution" to Custom, and it then defaults to 100%, then fpsVR displays the same value as my per-application setting for SteamVR res. I no longer get a 50% higher value. I don't know if the added 50% res has to do with the gpu I'm using or if it's normal procedure when using Auto for all gpus.

Quite embarrassing, but it means my great image quality in Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot was not achieved by using res 250% - it was in fact a massive res 375%. But the game played just fine anyway mostly thanks to motion smoothing, lol. Same for A Wake Inn - it was not res 200%, but res 300%.

And the res 300% + DLSS Performance + EPIC settings in Myst that I told many looked so awesome - that was in fact res 450% + DLSS Performance + EPIC 😮 (Same for the Myst drawings in my previous post - a massive res 450%)

Now I know that I can increase res by 50% just by selecting Auto - this can be done in-game and takes effect immediately (no need to restart) - and I think that res 450% is staying with me in Myst, can't go back now 🙂

Of course pyroth309 was right, going beyond res 200% with the Index does matter a lot for image quality too - but it might take some training to notice. Now I really can't go back to res 200% in A Wake Inn, res 300% really does look a lot better - and performance is quite good too. 

EDIT: Not sure if I got Auto set before or after Sam & Max, but I just went through my latest posts in this thread, and corrected all res 200% to 300%, 250 % to 375 % and 300% to 450%. Kinda mindblowing being able to use res 450% in Myst - even with EPIC settings, but that's purely thanks to motion smoothing and DLSS Performance. It also means that res 300 % is solid 90 fps with DLSS Performance and EPIC settings. 

Seems the first Indices have just arrived among customers in Australia!

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/pgbhye/just_picked_up_my_pack_valve_index_through_eb/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/pgd0ad/aussie_indexes_finally/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/pgclut/australian_order_shipped/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/pgbkz4/first_australian_shipment_is_here/

Btw, played some Alyx last night, Ultra settings all the way, the experience was as awesome as ever - but having been exposed to A Wake Inn for some time now, not sure Alyx always has the better textures 😉 Still Alyx is a much different game and is much bigger - might post some shots later today 🙂 

It's always the greatest joy to revisit Alyx - the shots below are taken using Index with the Ultra setting - and Alyx decides the res. With my GTX 1080, Ultra setting gave me a very blurry image quality (because the game had to reduce the res a lot to maintain 90 fps), while Low setting was razor-sharp. With the RTX 3090, Alyx is now razor-sharp also with Ultra setting. And you can't beat this scenery:

Click to enlarge

Ultra has primarily to do the light density - this shot is using the Ultra setting 

More amazing light

But most of all I enjoy the details - like:

The MultiTool - with ultramersion textures

Now, I think there are only two kinds of people in this world, those who've read the text on the back of the MultiTool and those who haven't 😂

The text on the back of the MultiTool 😉 Let's zoom in...

Have a go 🙂 Looks more high-res in the hmd with two eyes - the texture res is the same in Low and Ultra, thus the texture res is probably limited by the artists (=Valve) here

And my favorite gun:

The great Dark Energy/pulse-powered sub machine gun manufactured by the Combine

I've added a grenade launcher to mine 😇

I've got the Early Bird Alien Skin Edition - love those alien writings 🤗

Maybe the finer scratches and markings are easier to see here - they look incredibly awesome in the hmd

And the shotgun, but more boring compared to the SMG:

The shotgun also has some nice markings, but much easier to enjoy in VR

It's actually not easy to capture Low vs. Ultra differences, might need a location with some fog. That means the Low setting is great - very few will ever notice the difference to Ultra. But I think I've found an example:

Low setting 

Focus on the light - don't check the textures, textures are independent of these quality settings  

Ultra setting  

Quite easy to spot the difference which takes up quite a lot of gpu power, right? 😁

Here's some help - has to do with the density of the volumetric light:

The Ultra setting has more condensed light (higher particle count?) - but you may never notice the difference if you don't know what to look for. Thus you really do get the full Alyx experience using the Low setting (just remember to max out the textures res - textures have their own separate setting)

Uh-oh - forgot the beer! Here it comes, better late than never 😉

Labels have awesome ultramersion res in Alyx - that said, some textures in Alyx aren't that high-res, or I'm being spoiled by A Wake Inn 😉 

Great moments 🤓

Since all proper VR enthusiasts of course have completed Alyx maybe more than a year ago, maybe it's time to discuss the ending and the game without having to worry anymore about spoilers - can't keep the Cyberdemon a secret in Doom forever too, lol (and images from the Alyx' ending are no longer marked as spoilers on Steam):

Note that this post is only about playing Alyx using Index related hardware. 

Personally I think Alyx could have made more use of the force sensitive grip - on the other hand the trackpads were implemented perfectly. Would have like better use of the full finger tracking, but if Valve did that, maybe the game would no longer be compatible with the hmds and controllers. 

Not sure what I liked the best - maybe the lightning dog or the great Strider battle - would have liked more close encounters with the Strider, but seems Valve wanted to play it somewhat safe. Still felt like Valve was afraid to subject players to very fast VR movements, and that the game still tried to maintain teleport compatibility. Not sure I like the ending that much - but of course does connect to Half-Life 2 nicely. 

Also would have been great to really able to use the sentry turrent - like you can in Half-Life 2 and later. Would have lower bigger weapons too - like the rocket launcher and the crossbow, but unfortunately you only get pistol, SMG and the shotgun - but can enhance each weapon a lot, might secure some replay value. 

So what do you think about the best moments in the game? And the ending? Also how about the Knuckles support? Seen better Knuckles support in other games? 

Index hmd still feels perfect for the game - fov, res, awesome 3D-like sound effects etc - one might even think this game was made for the Index 🤣

Btw - grabbing the grenades was a fun challenge at first - before you got the hang of it, lol:

- and it's a slippery slope, be careful not to give in for the temptation! 😁

Been investigating Lone Echo some more, also as Lone Echo 2 may arrive shortly. Today I did something different - following Pyroth's idea of reducing the blurriness of TAA (=temporal antialiasing) by increasing res, I increased resolution to a massive SteamVR res 300 % - that's 3480 x 3868 x 2 = 27 mill pixels per frame (including two eyes). Thus we're close to 30 mill pixels per frame. 

That did not go incredibly well when starting the game using 4xMSAA 😂 - but the trick was to completely deactivate MSAA, while keeping on TAA. Now to my amazement I got solid 90 fps 😮 - And the image quality wasn't blurry and all jaggies were really close to being totally gone! 

This requires a RTX 3090, not even a RTX 3080 will do - but ok, 3080 might do for res 250 % which probably will be nice too. But owners of Indices and RTX 3090 gpus can try this for optimal image quality in Lone Echo:

1. Set SteamVR to res 300% for Lone Echo.

2. Activate Temporal Antialiasing (done in-game).

3. Deactivate MSAA completely (done in game).

4. Max out all other settings (including sharpening = 2.0), but of course disable automatic resolution. 

Now you've got what many might refer to as a jaw-droppingly awesome image quality and performance - I took a few shots:

Click on an image to see the full size (very important to see the details)

Not sure Olivia ever looked better (maybe on Reverb G2 - but I got solid 90 fps ;-)) - note how things in the background are sharp too.

Olivia in space - but the more important things are the distant objects - see how sharp the distant rocks are - this is thanks to the very high res

Maybe a boring picture, but check out her head wear - see the tiny threads and stitches? See the details in her skin? Res 300% removes nearly all TAA blur

Hands look totally awesome - but I guess they always did...

Textures and surfaces look sharp even with TAA thanks to res 300% - and all in solid 90 fps. These images do not fully capture the full in-game image quality, in-game it's easy to read the words in the background on the left, like "Harvestor" and "Helium3".

Dynamic shadows in Lone Echo are second to no other VR game - check out the high-res shadow

Cube-Sat - love those micro-scratches on the paint and never saw them so clearly before

I've always liked these decorations - and using res 300 % all is sharp and does not look blurry.

Just a simple example of (volumetric) lighting in Lone Echo - but it looks great 

Res 300% isn't perfect, I guess res 400% with the RTX 4090 in 120 Hz would be even better, lol, but res 300% does look awesome. Res 300 % with TAA and with deactivated MSAA may be a great recipe for Lone Echo 2 too, we'll see when the time comes... 

Btw, highest vram use according to fpsVR with res 300% was 10GB, but I did only test in the beginning of the game.

Just a few bonus pics - Index res 300% + TAA, but no MSAA: 

Click to enlarge

Love those hands 🙂

The anomaly

Volumetric lights

The Kronos II mining station orbiting Saturn and some containers