The Index thread (please keep to subject)

BTW, had maybe my greatest Index experience so far last night when playing Dead Effect 2. Coming from CV1 ss 2.0 again the Index visuals felt like CV1 ss 4-5 or something. It was truly mind-blowingly better. And the performance was also better - felt really smooth - and this was only 90 Hz. I then found out that it was possible to dial in the lenses nearly all the way without scratching the lenses (or my glasses) - and the fov + tracking + image quality did create what in my mind corresponds to a true "gen 2" experience. That is an experience which felt completely different and much improved to using the CV1 ss 2.0. I didn't experience any glare - colors popped just like the CV1, blacks looked really good. Sound was amazing too. And Danette never looked better :blush:

I'd love to hear what Index + 2080 Ti owners think of Dead Effect 2 - lenses all dialed in, pixel density may be set to 200%, but remember to reduce "Effects Quality" to medium if needed for the fps. 

Here're my optimization experiences using the CV1, but seems to cover the Index perfectly too:

RuneSR2 said:

BTW, had maybe my greatest Index experience so far last night when playing Dead Effect 2. Coming from CV1 ss 2.0 again the Index visuals felt like CV1 ss 4-5 or something. It was truly mind-blowingly better. And the performance was also better - felt really smooth - and this was only 90 Hz. I then found out that it was possible to dial in the lenses nearly all the way without scratching the lenses (or my glasses) - and the fov + tracking + image quality did create what in my mind corresponds to a true "gen 2" experience. That is an experience which felt completely different and much improved to using the CV1 ss 2.0. 

I'd love to hear what Index + 2080 Ti owners think of Dead Effect 2 - lenses all dialed in, pixel density may be set to 200%, but remember to reduce "environmental effects" to medium if needed for the fps. 

Dead Effect 2 was one that I tried and was really impressed with. Everything looked crisp and it was one that was more immersive than CV1. Arizona Sunshine was another (though performance wasn't great). I was also finally able to go back through and play Arizona sunshine and have a good time with it. The SDE in the bright canyons looked awful on my CV1 but no problems on the Index.

I regret not trying Lucky's Tale after hearing people talk about it in this thread. I do agree that DoomVFR looks amazing in Index. 

Some other games that I had a better experience in than CV1 - I will just point to a some as I have hundreds and went through a lot of them just sampling. 

Simulations - yes lol. Every single one that I tried. DCS, Elite Dangerous (even with the worse blacks it was still better to me), IL-2, VTOLVR, Project Cars 2, Iracing, Fly inside, etc. More than a Dozen

2MD Football - This game immersed me so so much more on the Index and is actually the game I played the most with it. 

Croteam Games - all of them looked incredible

Subnautica - really good but the performance was rough for me

Hell too many games to list - 

Some notables that were worse on Index for me 
Hellblade:Sensua's Sacrifice - this is one game where the Index blacks bothered me. 
Vader Immortal - I had a darkness problem on my Index with Revive. Everything was dark as shit. 
In Death - Sadly this one bothered me the most, there was a glare in several areas that was bugging me
Red Matter - It was still great but I had a better time on CV1
Seeking Dawn - I don't know if it's because I already played it on CV1 but I wasn't very impressed with it on Index. 
The Forest - performance was rough (A problem with my Rig more than the Index) 
Archangel VR - Blinding glare in some scenes that took me out of immersion but mostly great. 
Robinson: The Journey - There was some weird blur in the Steam Version that I don't remember having in the CV1 version. May be an issue that I could fix but I didn't get around to trying to figure it out. 

Kids are playing a sad low-poly game named Roblox, and I have a lot of time writing posts in here this morning  :D 

Next up - Windlands 2 (one of my favorite VR games of all) - Revive - worked flawlessly. Tracking was spot on - SDE was all gone. Oculus Tray Tool has no effect on Revive - which basically is a good thing, because ss 2.0 on the Index wouldn't work well in most games to put it mildly, lol. Windlands 2 ss 1.0 (Index) looks nearly exactly like CV1 ss 2.0, but the performance is slightly better. Using the Index motion smoothing did kick in on my system already at res 1.1 or 1.2, but I tried going to ss 1.5 (Index), but I really couldn't see any difference in image quality (but the performance impact was profound). So res 1.0 seems perfect for the Index in that game. 

Racket: Nx (Revive) looked gorgeous using res 1.0 (Index) and had perfect 90 fps performance, but later crashed - but I can just get the SteamVR version. 

Lone Echo 2 Trailer Experience - no settings are available - it didn't look good at all, graphics got severely downscaled using the Index. So far Lone Echo has caused me the most trouble. Lone Echo 1-2 both look much better on the CV1 ss 2.0, also in terms of performance, compared to my experiences using Revive. I might need CV1 for Lone Echo 2, unless the RTX 3180 saves me ;)

Revive may be hit and miss, here's an updated - but incomplete - list of some games working with Revive:

pyroth309 said:

Seeking Dawn - I don't know if it's because I already played it on CV1 but I wasn't very impressed with it on Index. 

I tried the SteamVR version yesterday, it did look nice res 1.0 and performance was 90 fps. But the game found an incompatibility with my cloud saves (due to my saves from the Oculus version), and told me all saves would be deleted if I continued. I didn't dare to continue :( and tried the Oculus version instead (Revive), but control were off in the Revive version, I basically couldn't play it. Blacks were ok though, but the game needs a lot of ss to shine (I force 1.6 using the CV1). This may still be a game working best on the CV1 due to asw 2.0. Or maybe I'll have a drink of courage later and wipe the Oculus saves  :D  :#   

RuneSR2 said:

pyroth309 said:

Seeking Dawn - I don't know if it's because I already played it on CV1 but I wasn't very impressed with it on Index. 

I tried the SteamVR version yesterday, it did look nice res 1.0 and performance was 90 fps. But the game found an incompatibility with my cloud saves (due to my saves from the Oculus version), and told me all saves would be deleted if I continued. I didn't dare to continue :( and tried the Oculus version instead (Revive), but control were off in the Revive version, I basically couldn't play it. Blacks were ok though, but the game needs a lot of ss to shine (I force 1.6 using the CV1). This may still be a game working best on the CV1 due to asw 2.0. Or maybe I'll have a drink of courage later and wipe the Oculus saves  :D  :#   

Seems weird that Oculus Cloud Saves would cause issues with Steam cloud saves. It's probably trying to upload your local saves from the Oculus Version. You could probably just move them to a different folder or something. 

I made a thread on Reddit about best 144Hz Index games. I guess a list is good in this thread as well (should really have its own thread but let's not annoy the Oculus faithful around here). Maybe put the games in a list and have each person copy paste the list and update it in their post when they include a new game I'll start.

Valve Index Highly Recommended 120/140hz Games & Apps to Try

-Beat Sabre 
-Space Pirate Trainer 
-Skyrim VR 
-Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Turn off all AA and set SS to 130% in game then as much as you can boost in SteamVR).
-Rez Infinite (Area X only the others are locked to 60fps).

Great list, I also need to test the impact of Revive, maybe starting with Space Pirate Trainer, SteamVR vs. Oculus Store version (Revive). I'm wondering about the performance cost of Revive, but of course it may not be a constant percentage if any when comparing different games. 

Shadowmask72 said:

I made a thread on Reddit about best 144Hz Index games. I guess a list is good in this thread as well (should really have its own thread but let's not annoy the Oculus faithful around here). Maybe put the games in a list and have each person copy paste the list and update it in their post when they include a new game I'll start.

Valve Index Highly Recommended 120/140hz Games & Apps to Try

-Beat Sabre 
-Space Pirate Trainer 
-Skyrim VR 
-Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Turn off all AA and set SS to 130% in game then as much as you can boost in SteamVR).
-Rez Infinite (Area X only the others are locked to 60fps).

-Robo Recall (dips occasionally but when its working is really nice)

-Oculus Dreamdeck (full version)

-Racket Fury (amazing at 144hz really fast ball speed).
-Alien Isolation (Very immersive at 144hz)

-The Lab - Xortex  or any other mini-game experience. 
-Vader Immortal (use low graphics in-game setting unfortunately)

 For me, Doom VFR is the mindblowing game at 120Hz. 

RuneSR2 said:

kevinw729 said:

I wonder can you say if the INDEX is a better audio experience that the CV1?

Maybe I'm just habituating, but played some more music in the Index and although the bass isn't overwhelming, it quite good - shall we call it "ultra-tight", while CV1 goes deeper but doesn't have the same precision and cannot unfold the same 3D-like sound landscape. . 
Yesterday I played Windlands 2 (Revive), Dead Effect 2 (SteamVR), Racket: Nx (Revive) and the Index sounded awesome. I'm kinda starting to think - which is new - that I'd probably go for the Index speakers if I had to choose. It's a testament to the great quality of the CV1 headphones that we're having this conversation ;)

Maybe the speakers have been run in a little, my opinion is that most if not all speakers and headphones sound better when run in.

Just tried Defector again - it works perfectly if I choose "High" settings instead of "Ultra", and dynamic res enabled. I got 90 fps constantly. But it looks very blurry - really horrible in the distance. I'm convinced that's exactly how it looks like using CV1, but thanks to the SDE (did I really write that, lol) the blurriness is much more hidden using the CV1. But everything is revealed using the Index. I'll probably prefer to be fooled by the CV1 in Defector - and then I can use "Ultra" thanks to asw 2.0 too.

The real surprise today was trying First Contact (Revive). It was simply gorgeous, like returning and really seeing your home for the first time. Performance and tracking were perfect - I'd even say Knuckles worked better than old Touch in First Contact, grabbing and releasing stuff felt much more natural - and you could suddenly see even the smallest details. 

Robot Repair Lab in "The Lab" was simply amazing too - I'd highly recommend other Index owners to try this. Does Index feel like 1st or 2nd gen? Even though Knuckles aren't properly supported, the quality of this tech demo is nothing short of mind-blowing using the Index. Probably the best I've seen so far in VR - and everything is 90 fps (haven't tried 120 Hz). If Valve can release a game in this quality I'd never ask for more ;-)

Rogan (Revive) worked fine too, but hard to get perfect 90 fps - and OLED wins in this dark game, I'd probably go for CV1 ss 2.0 asw 2.0 for Rogan. 

I kinda like the idea of having two HMDs - Oculus just installed the 1.39 update, and if anything should go wrong, I can still play most of my Oculus games using Revive  B)