Oculus Update

[zerogee]

First of all, I want to apologize for my being less communicative recently. We’re crunching hard on preparing for launch, and I know some of you have had a longer turnaround time on answers to your (very valid) questions. I hope this will be informative, and I’m happy to answer any followup that I can.

We’ve been releasing incremental SDK updates, and there are still some more coming soon. We believe we’ve identified the main causes of performance issues, and are testing a solution for that now. We will also still be updating the Universal Menu (what happens when you long press) - any changes to that will require a re-compile, so we’re attempting to get that locked down ASAP. We will be migrating the Universal menu over to an APK in a future version of the SDK so that we can update it without you having to recompile or resubmit, but the ETA for that is probably December or so.

For those of you who have apps slated for launch, you should be receiving Note 4 devices soon. Samsung should be able to start shipping them out early next week from Korea.

You will need an “oculussig” file for each Note 4 – this file will have to be placed in the assets directory of your app, and will be based off of your device ID (the actual file will be oculussig_deviceID, which is different from serial #). Without this oculussig file, you will not be able to access VR functionality – this is part of the “security system” to protect the low-level access Samsung has granted VR. Final apps won’t require this, as once they’re submitted to our store and accepted, they will get an Oculus signature which will allow them to run on every Note 4 that is VR-capable.

We are still iterating on the store submission requirements – we hope to share those with you early next week. I know Samsung has communicated a date of October 20th where you must submit apps, but since you are not distributing through Samsung but rather through us, that is not applicable. We will take apps as they are complete – do not worry about a hard date there. We will make sure everyone who submits for launch gets evaluated in time - the engineers can be excess QA people for that, plus everyone loves playing the awesome things you guys have created 🙂

We'll also have an update to the thermal throttling characteristics / clock locking soon, but still, ... Optimize, optimize, optimize! 🙂

Let me know what else you're wondering and I'll try to address it. If it's something specific to your situation, feel free to email me at max.cohen@oculus.com. Almost there, folks!

[drash]

Thank you for the update Max!

Lots of good info on several fronts, and I'm especially looking forward to hearing how it goes with the clock levels and performance issues. In particular, are you referring to the performance issue that occurs after returning to an app from platform UI? Or, have you also been able to definitively identify where some of the missing milliseconds are going that some devs have reported?

On Samsung's end, they obviously have been preparing Gear VR demos at some stores, so in terms of timing I am wondering if Samsung is going to begin demoing before the Gear VR actually goes on sale, or if they will be waiting for the store and software issues to catch up before proceeding with that?

And finally, you say not to worry about a hard date for submitting apps, but there is still going to be a "launch date" at some point, and it would be good to have some clarity on what that is (if you know it yet).

[Serk]

"drash" wrote:
And finally, you say not to worry about a hard date for submitting apps, but there is still going to be a "launch date" at some point, and it would be good to have some clarity on what that is (if you know it yet).

I also think that knowing that would be really helpful, even it it's just an estimate.

[Raven]

Thanks for taking time to update us Max. Much appreciated. (And thanks Drash for posting good questions!).

[Hirdannen]

We completely understand the rush you're in :). Thanks for the update !

But like Serk, an estimate of a release date would be much appreciated, even if a very pessimistic one !

[orlandojr]

Just to get it completely clear, we are still on the same plan of releasing free games and demos, even with a delay, before going full in december, right?

[zerogee]

"drash" wrote:
In particular, are you referring to the performance issue that occurs after returning to an app from platform UI? Or, have you also been able to definitively identify where some of the missing milliseconds are going that some devs have reported?

Yes, that first issue, among dozens more. A lot of times when we change as much as we do, we introduce new problems (which we're currently tracking down :)), but also make others that existed go away.

"drash" wrote:
On Samsung's end, they obviously have been preparing Gear VR demos at some stores, so in terms of timing I am wondering if Samsung is going to begin demoing before the Gear VR actually goes on sale, or if they will be waiting for the store and software issues to catch up before proceeding with that?

Unfortunately I just heard they are actually demoing them in the Samsung store in Seoul right now - and yes, they're having heating problems and not running them very well. Can't say I'm surprised. They SHOULD be waiting.

"drash" wrote:
And finally, you say not to worry about a hard date for submitting apps, but there is still going to be a "launch date" at some point, and it would be good to have some clarity on what that is (if you know it yet).

Absolutely. I'm tentatively hoping to get out at the end of the week submission guidelines, and then provide a true launch date in a couple weeks.

"orlandojr" wrote:
Still doing free first?

Yes, free store is still the plan first. Commerce we don't have a date for yet, as it's all hands on deck to get us through this launch. But it sounds like it will slip past the New Year, unfortunately.

All questions are good questions. We are nowhere near as communicative with you guys as we should be - you've done some awesome work, and I know you're anxiously waiting to hear back about the hard dates, and also when you'll be able to monetize your content. All the engineers here feel your pain.

[StevenW_nDreams]

We have now received our Note4's and new GearVR units, can't use them at the moment.
When trying to launch an Oculus unit its requesting to perform an update, but cant access a server to do this. Also is there any information on the "oculussig" file (how to make, where to place it)

[pashustwo]

Hey Max,

Thanks for the update. Any information about how to create the oculussig file would be great, we've got this gleaming hunk of plastic sitting here unloved, and we really want to check how the different FOV affects the game.

It would be really helpful for those of us aiming for a paid launch to eliminate potential release windows. Can you say for sure that Commerce will be in 2015?

Cheers!
Pash

[StevenW_nDreams]

Post with instructions for OculusSig found here > https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=16050