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Half Life: Alyx

Protocol7
Heroic Explorer

I am really looking forward to this. Sure it isn't Half Life 3 but it's something huge for VR.
911 REPLIES 911

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

More speculations to kill the wait ...

 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Alyx is so much beyond anything else in VR there's simply no comparison. And the strange thing is that using Low Details may give you the best image quality. Why? Because the effects you add spending tons of gpu power enabling Ultra graphics are things you don't notice. And Alyx will automatically scale down super-sampling to keep 90 fps (or whatever Hz you're using). So using Ultra may cause reduced super sampling and more blurry image quality, might even happen for RTX 3090 users trying to get 144 fps using Ultra. 

 

Here's today's challenge. Below are two images. One is Alyx using Low details, the other is using Ultra. What's the difference? IMPORTANT: Click on each image to see full size - or the difference will be impossible to see (no more hints given 🙂 )

 

1_ZJNOQJDpZCTDEDzUd4cZbA.jpeg

1_nTD_FNy11OQP__lnOk29LQ.jpeg

  

Linus gave up - he simply couldn't see any difference between Low and Ultra, so don't be sad if you're like Linus, lol 🙂 I'm like him too 😉 (During my 30 hours in the game I've only found 1 place where Ultra provided some smaller changes that you actually could see - but it had to do with the density of volumetric fog - and again, only found it one place, not every time you see some fog - you need to be really close and directly standing in the fog, it only happens one place in Alyx). 

 

In short - using Low settings in Alyx (remember textures are still "high quality" even if you choose Low settings, because texture quality is unaffected by the Low graphics setting) you're not missing out on anything, but the dudes forcing Ultra because they feel the need to max out everything may shoot themselves in the foot by getting reduced super sampling. Upgrading my GTX 1080 to RTX 3090 I do not expect Alyx to be significantly different (other than getting higher super sampling even in 120+ Hz, and it's not that important for the game). 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Totally awesome:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/o36vwr/i_just_noticed_that_when_you_try_to_ride_the/

 

Incredible level of physics fueling immersion in simply the best computer game/experience on the planet. 

 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Anonymous
Not applicable

I am really looking forward to yet another playthrough now with my new Vive Pro 2. Thankfully with my Lighthouse 2.0 tracking and Knuckles controllers.

It will be interesting to see how it does with Steam VR default SS of 150% for the VP2, which is right around 4kx4k per eye.

But won't Alyx auto-scale the res to keep 90 fps no matter what res you set? Also for the VP2? I'm pretty sure Alyx auto-scales res to keep 90 fps (or whatever Hz you use) for all hmds. 

 

Should be easy to see if the res goes down in busy scenes... 

 

I tested Alyx last night - looked better than ever with my new Index hmd, using Ultra settings. Truth told, can't see any difference between Ultra and Low, lol - but maybe density of fog and light particles? And yeah, Ultra enables soft shadows on distant npcs (and animals?) - other changes haven't been visible to me. 

 

Still the res is so high using low or ultra that I can't see any difference - so why not just use ultra - when it's free. Wasn't free at all with the GTX 1080, whatever Ultra does it does do ... something, lol 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Anonymous
Not applicable

Yeah you may be right that I am not sure of. In any event as long as it looks great I will be happy.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Seems Gaben is happy with Alyx:

 

"Newell said the ending “worked perfectly” for where Half-Life is headed in the future. [...] “Endings are hard but, to us it feels like the right progression for where we’re going with Half-Life,” Newell said when asked about the game’s ending. “So it worked perfectly in terms of where we’re headed.”

 

https://uploadvr.com/gabe-newell-alyx-ending/

 

The ending in Alyx if some need help remembering:

 

[video]

 

 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Anonymous
Not applicable

I so hope Half Life will continue with another VR version.

AutumnV
Explorer

I wish Valve would bring Half-Life Alyx to the Quest. I would really like to play it, but
I will never have a computer capable of playing a VR game. They are leaving out a huge number of fans by making it a SteamVR exclusive. It has already been one year since its release, why not spread the game out so it can reach more people.

I will be disappointed if the next Half-Life game is another VR one, if they do not give everyone a chance to actually play it.

You never bring Alyx to standalone Quest 1-2, but with a nice rig you can bring Quest to Alyx. Know that it's Valve being nice even supporting Quest with Link.

 

Alyx will run fine even on modest rigs, just get one with GTX 1060 6GB or better. If you want to experience the best computer game made by humans that's really a small price to pay. 

 

Alyx is an experience only for those who invest in proper VR equipment, it's a game to show you what real VR looks and feels like. It's by far not a game for extremely low-end phone/mobile processors like Snapdragon 835 or the XR2. 

 

Of course never say never, maybe the Quest 7 in 2030 will run Alyx 😉

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"