Hardware & Peripherals advice

[peted]

Hi all,

I recently got into VAM and spent a lot of time thinking about what hardware & peripherals I should invest in to get the best experience. I wanted to start this thread to share my set up and encourage others to also share theirs to make it easier for the community to decide what's worth investing in and what not.

Here is mine:
PC: Lenovo IdeaCenter Gaming 5, i7-12700F, 32 GB, GeForce RTX 3060
VAM & VAMX run smoothly on standard "give me fps" settings and sometimes higher. So it's totally sufficient for my needs and I don't feel the need to get a more high end machine.

VR: Meta Quest 2
Straight forward, easy to use, good resolution, cost effective.

VR Connection: Virtual Desktop
Best set up from what I tried. Easy to set up, runs smoothly, cost effective.
I also tried (and regret buying): D-Link Air bridge, which I don't recommend because it doesn't give me the same performance. Link Cable: if you are into self strangulation then maybe

Interactive Stroker: Kiiroo Keon
Does the job and connects well with VAMX and scenes that support it via VamSync. I mostly use the standard sleeve for female on top or blow job positions. I clamp it under a desk with the Kiiroo Keon table clamp and sit on a chair which works very well. I also bought the neck strap and the pillow, but haven't found use of that yet. Both are not ideal ergonomically so I wouldn't consider this a must have.

Stroker: Kiiroo FeelSkyler
I usually clamp this to the desk on top of the Keon for "manual action" in standing positions (I can also interchange it with the standard sleeve in the Keon). I use this bench vise which works very well.


Question to the community: What else is worth investing in to enhance the experience?

Hand tracking
Does it work well with VAM/VAMX? I tried the Quest hand tracking but it's mostly annoying (fingers don't move and I constantly either accidentally grab something or open menus). Is Leap motion (or something else) any better and worth buying?

Full body tracking
How much better is the experience with it? Are Vive trackers still the gold standard in terms of simplicity to set up and functionality? How many trackers/base stations are recommended? Should we wait for the new self tracking Vive trackers? Any other recommendations?

Anything else?
HideawayKiesza has a great guide on "How to have VR sex" - what's worth investing here, has anything evolved since he wrote this?


Best,
Pete

 

[MacGruber]

Depending on how technical you are:

Guides - Switching things with Raspberry PI + Relay Board

This is a quick DIY guide how you could switch devices on/off or switch between E-Stim channels using a Raspberry PI, a Relay board and the Connect plugin directly from your VaM scene using triggers. No soldering needed. As this is just the...

hub.virtamate.com

 

[peted]

Depending on how technical you are:

Guides - Switching things with Raspberry PI + Relay Board

This is a quick DIY guide how you could switch devices on/off or switch between E-Stim channels using a Raspberry PI, a Relay board and the Connect plugin directly from your VaM scene using triggers. No soldering needed. As this is just the...

hub.virtamate.com

Thanks MacGruber! Very interesting concept to spice things up indeed. I did some research and was wondering if you would get the E-Stim 2B which can be linked directly to the PC, could you circumvent all the Raspberry Pi hacking and instead let the 2B directly be controlled by VAM/your Connect Plugin?

 

[MacGruber]

Thanks MacGruber! Very interesting concept to spice things up indeed. I did some research and was wondering if you would get the E-Stim 2B which can be linked directly to the PC, could you circumvent all the Raspberry Pi hacking and instead let the 2B directly be controlled by VAM/your Connect Plugin?

Theoretically, yes. Practially you would have to figure out the protocol and write your own software to make VaM talk to the 2B.

 

[peted]

Theoretically, yes. Practially you would have to figure out the protocol and write your own software to make VaM talk to the 2B.

Haha I was looking for a less hacky way... that just sounds like the hacking went from hardware to software and might be a little too advanced for me Back to looking into your Raspberry Pi solution then!

Anything else worth upgrading? Are e.g. Vive Trackers or Leap Motion worth it (if you have experience with it)?

 

[MacGruber]

Are e.g. Vive Trackers or Leap Motion worth it (if you have experience with it)?

No clue, got an old Oculus Rift CV1 only.

 

[DJ]

Is Leap motion (or something else) any better and worth buying?

The Leap Motion works great. The problem is that while using it, you can't interact with the UI at all.

I found it was a fun gimmick for an hour or so, but once the novelty wore off, I never used it again. I know other users have said the same. Your mileage may vary.

 

[peted]

The Leap Motion works great. The problem is that while using it, you can't interact with the UI at all.

I found it was a fun gimmick for an hour or so, but once the novelty wore off, I never used it again. I know other users have said the same. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for your input! Have you tried the Quest build in Hand Tracking (if you have a Questt 2)? It doesn't track fingers in VAM, you can only slightly bend all fingers simultaneously (no full fist), I can't figure out which movement triggers what so I constantly trigger or grab something accidentally - tl;dr it is hugely annoying. It works really well with RockHardVR browser games (single fingers bend all the way, you can control menus/settings/etc.), so it seems to be an issue with VAM rather than the Quest.
So I was wondering if the experience in VAM with Leap Motion is similar to the Quest hand tracking or is there a significant improvement (e.g. can I bend individual fingers, grab the other person reliably, etc.)?

 

[yasparukko]

Thanks for your input! Have you tried the Quest build in Hand Tracking (if you have a Questt 2)? It doesn't track fingers in VAM

You can track fingers in VAM using Quest 2 if you use ALVR

 

[DJ]

Thanks for your input! Have you tried the Quest build in Hand Tracking (if you have a Questt 2)? It doesn't track fingers in VAM, you can only slightly bend all fingers simultaneously (no full fist), I can't figure out which movement triggers what so I constantly trigger or grab something accidentally - tl;dr it is hugely annoying. It works really well with RockHardVR browser games (single fingers bend all the way, you can control menus/settings/etc.), so it seems to be an issue with VAM rather than the Quest.
So I was wondering if the experience in VAM with Leap Motion is similar to the Quest hand tracking or is there a significant improvement (e.g. can I bend individual fingers, grab the other person reliably, etc.)?

I haven't tried the Quest, but leap motion works very well. It feels like your hands are just there in the game.

 

[peted]

Thanks all! So what I'll do is try to get the finger tracking working with the Quest 2 first via ALVR (wanted to try that anyways to get passthrough) and report back here if it's worth the effort. If it's not satisfactory I'll try Leap Motion maybe, although I see in the forum here in general that the novelty seems to run off quickly, so not sure if it's worth the investment.

Full body tracking is obviously an even bigger investment with several Vive trackers and base stations - has anyone any experience if it's worth it?

 

[groinc]

Thanks all! So what I'll do is try to get the finger tracking working with the Quest 2 first via ALVR (wanted to try that anyways to get passthrough) and report back here if it's worth the effort. If it's not satisfactory I'll try Leap Motion maybe, although I see in the forum here in general that the novelty seems to run off quickly, so not sure if it's worth the investment.

Full body tracking is obviously an even bigger investment with several Vive trackers and base stations - has anyone any experience if it's worth it?

Hi peted, Ive literally just been through this journey and finally set up and tested the leap hardware today. Be warned, none of the options are as good as you might expect. I was hoping the Leap would be a more accurate and realistic experience but it really is quite disapointing. Barely better than the ALVR option. I think its because VAM hands are operated via morphs rather than bones and they dont quite have the range or implementation to match a one to one experience with your real hands. Plus the Leap has to be connected to your PC with a usb which restricts movement when needing to move around even slightly.
Plus all options have occlusion and lag issues too.
Im still experimenting with positioning and finetuning but it isnt mind blowing by any shot. Feel free to ask questions.

 

[peted]

Thanks Groinc. I also played around with it over the weekend. I got Hand/Finger tracking working with ALVR/ALXR by fine tuning some of the settings (most notably fully dialing up thumb/finger tracking factor within the VAM VR1 user preferences), but like you also mentioned, it's not mind blowing. It still randomly grabs stuff/opens menues/doesn't let you operate menues and settings. You basically need to be perfectly set in the scene and be sure to not wanting to change anything in the heat of the moment, then it works well enough.
ALVR/ALXR still works better than the hand tracking via Virtual Desktop in my experience and has the added benefit of the passthrough option. However, overall I feel it doesn't run as stable as Virtual desktop, I get much better FPS/resolution/less distortions with VD.

 

[groinc]

Thanks Groinc. I also played around with it over the weekend. I got Hand/Finger tracking working with ALVR/ALXR by fine tuning some of the settings (most notably fully dialing up thumb/finger tracking factor within the VAM VR1 user preferences), but like you also mentioned, it's not mind blowing. It still randomly grabs stuff/opens menues/doesn't let you operate menues and settings. You basically need to be perfectly set in the scene and be sure to not wanting to change anything in the heat of the moment, then it works well enough.
ALVR/ALXR still works better than the hand tracking via Virtual Desktop in my experience and has the added benefit of the passthrough option. However, overall I feel it doesn't run as stable as Virtual desktop, I get much better FPS/resolution/less distortions with VD.

Yes VD only seems to implement hand tracking but not finger tracking, something to do with Occulus I beleive, according to their Discord.
Regarding pass through, I wasnt blown away by that either. However, a while back I had moddelled my living room\playing area in Blender. I now have it as an environment in VAM and it is a far better experience, especially when you accurately line up the environment to real life. Im currently updating the textures and baking in some shadows, but so far it is great already.

 

[Jiraiya]

I fully agree with everybody on the VD and hand tracking bs. It's so frustrating that you keep grabbing things and yeeting them all over the scene by accident.
My solution to this is to build a pair of DIY full hand haptic gloves. Yes, you read that right. Open source, cheap 3D printed finger tracking gloves with force feedback.
It's going to take a while to get them built, but the big problem is going to be finding out how to integrate them in VaM. I don't know if the steamVR driver will "just work" or even if it will pass the fingers onto VaM?
Anyway, I will update here on my progress if I get it working. It will hopefully not suffer from accidental grabbing and menu selection at all and I can't wait to feel "resistance" as I touch something in VR.