Accurate depth perception and world scale

[Vetkin]

I've noticed in a lot of games/demos with objects at extreme distances that I don't get an accurate sense of depth perception from them.  For example, with The Climb or the ledge demo in the Oculus Dreamdeck, I don't get any vertigo or any feeling of being high up when I peer over the edge. I can tell things are further away, but it doesn't feel like the distance is that great.  Another example is with Apollo 11 VR, when I'm in a scene orbiting the earth or the moon, they feel like smaller objects about 20 feet away rather than the massive celestial bodies that they truly are. It's hard to describe, but I read a post from someone once who said it felt like they were close enough to bounce a tennis ball off of and that's how it is for me also.

At first I just assumed it was a limitation of the technology, and that depth perception of distant objects is hard to accurately represent due to the relatively low resolution of the headset, but then I keep reading about the reactions of others and how those same scenes gave them vertigo. For me they aren't immersive at all.

Then I bought Project Cars, and the first time I loaded up the game the car interior felt tiny. I found the world scale setting and upped it a bit, then decided to do some research into the most accurate world scale setting and what I found was a discussion around a bug in the Oculus SDK where the IPD was being incorrectly reported. That supposedly could result in a smaller world scale or inaccurate rendering of depth. A hack was discussed that could fix those issues and some people with above or below average IPD's claimed it drastically increased immersion.

Now I'm wondering, is that my problem? My IPD is on the lower end and I have to have the slider on the headset all the way in. I'd actually move it in further if it was physically capable of it.  Is there a chance of a magic patch someday that suddenly makes everything look correct to me, or is that how it looks for everyone? This issue, along with the unnaturally low FOV, really kills immersion for me, to the point where I always end up back on my traditional monitor for gaming sessions of any length of more than a few minutes.  I don't find it's worth the discomfort of the headset and the gradual sickness that comes from hours of gaming in VR. Maybe when room scale is prevalent and touch is out I'll feel differently.

For those people who claim to be solely dedicated to VR gaming now, how does it feel for you?

[Demilson]

I do not know what Oculus made; but, incredibly, after the last update of the runtime, my DK2 again had true VR.

As I reported above, after 1.3 runtime my DK2, while still showing 3D, lost depth and immersion. For my tests, the observer's eye convergence plan is closer in previous runtimes to 1.3 and further in later runtimes; but I'm not sure if this is the real cause of the problem (IPD is not).

It seems that other DK2 and CV1 users are also having the same problem. To find out if your Oculus Rift is with this problem, try to close an eye in a VR game and see if you feel difference in depth compared with both eyes open; and run Showdown and see if you have the real sensation of moving in the street. If not, it's because you also have this problem.

Now, after the latest update of Oculus Home, he made the reconfiguration of the camera Rift Sensor and automatically depth VR back to normal as it was before the runtime 1.3.

Now, the sensation VR is perfect again; distant objects seem really get to several meters from me; the high places give feeling dizzy and a little fear; roller coaster games give goose bumps, etc.

Now I feel really moving in the scenario 3D and not the scenario about me, as if I were standing. In Showdown and The Grand Canyon VR Experience this sesation (moving within the scenario) is very evident.

In Elite Dangerous, my ship, seasons and planets now look really great and the objects are really distant; as if I was actually traveling through space. Same for Project Cars, In Cell VR, Titans of Space, and other games.

I would like the Oculus team allow the user to configure the distance of the observer's eye convergence plan (if this is the problem), so users can increase or decrease this stereo effect according to your preference.

THANK YOU, OCULUS !