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I had an experience with an HTC Vive a couple of years ago, and I'm now considering getting the hardware required to do proper VR.
Obviously, I'd like to play games, but I'm also interested in visualising data (in particular I see that VTK supports OpenVR).
So I was wondering whether anyone in the community here has succeeded in getting this to work under linux, and if they can comment on the hardware required.
I'd be grateful for any insights.
As I understand it, it's best to get 120FPS, otherwise the brain doesn't like it.
I see that system76 has a "thelio major" desktop that can handle a range of NVIDIA cards, but I honestly don't know which would be the minimum that still gets me reasonable performance.
Is it important to have a lot of memory, a lot of cores?
Will I be able to change the level of detail in games to gain in FPS?
Right now it looks to me like I'd need more than 3000 euros for the whole thing (computer+htc vive).
My wife may not approve.
In any case, with the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus in the winter, I'm under the impression a working VR system would be a reasonable addition to the "don't go crazy" activities around the house.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Friday July 17 2020, @03:18PM (1 child)
You could pickup an HTC Vive or Vive Pro off e-bay, they're not terribly expensive right now. So far my Vive, has been working pretty well, sure it's not the best, but I had a blast playing Fallout VR through to completion. Minus a couple of stupid hunt for the bobblehead type achievements (one of them being hunt for the bobbleheads).
I picked up an HTC Vive a couple years ago off e-bay for about $450, which was pretty good then. Now, you might be able to snag a used set for about $300.
The Portal 2 VR Mod (Free), is worth the price of admission, if you're a big fan of the Portal series. It's definitely worth playing, even if you have to purchase Portal 2 and play it through, first. Also, I recently got Summer Funland VR and that's a pretty fun little theme park sim. You can't build anything, it's all arcade like experiences, or whatever, but it's awesome. They have a rollercoaster, that's not bad, they have 'ye olde shooting range, with billboards that go by, that you need to shoot, and various other interesting things.
Assuming, you get motion sick easy, you might not like VR at all. I get motion sick, pretty easily, especially on long car trips, but I've enjoyed my Vive headset immensely. Especially, for the whole Fallout VR experience. I mean, what's not to love with being in a Powersuit while cruising through the country side, smashing/shooting/torching the various critters and bandits. Also, you Must play the Brotherhood of Steel playthrough arc. There are some experiences there that are just too good to pass up. Fallout 4 VR has some downsides, but those are all negated, by the sheer awesomeness of VR in the Fallout world. Makes me sad about Fallout 76 or whatever that nasty abomination of a Fallout game is called. No NPCs for interaction/story and Microtransactions, yeah, screw them.
Also, "The Lab", the free set of mini games / experiences from Valve is really fun. I've recently picked up Elite Dangerous and it seems like it's really cool in VR, but it's going to require a good bit of time sink by me. Which I might not be able to give right now. I was able to re-key all the controls to something that felt much better, but it's a lot to take in at one go. Also, got Project Cars 2, which looks really awesome, but using keyboard controls for turning left / right, and what not. Yeah, that sucker wasn't playable. I'm sure I could get it to work right, but it's also not going to be a pick up and go kind of thing. So, it's also on the back burner. Whereas games like Fallout VR, Skyrim VR (I just couldn't ever get into the Skyrim series, even with the VR aspect. Maybe I just missed my Fallout Minimap too much.), The Lab, Summer Funland, Epic Rollercoasters, and a host of others, are pretty easy to pick up/put down and just have a good time.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @06:18PM
Thanks. I might dig into it. It would probably be a purchase next year anyway. The Playstation VR has Beat Saber, which made it worth the price of admission. I found it to be astonishingly fun. On the other hand, the kit came with 'Iron Man VR', which was terrible. One of my kids and I each tried it for about an hour and then we uninstalled it.