Question VR vs Desktop: What is the desktop community missing out on?

[Johninvr]

what a great community!

Bottom Line Up Front: For the VR users, what is your experience like comparative to desktop?

For instance: does VAM support 6DoF? With a Quest 2 are you able to create a play area and freely walk about, and this translates to your position in VAM? Even a possessed Atom?

Does the Quest 2 latest update that tracks hand movement function like a leap motion sensor and work in VAM? Does VAM track individual finger motion or only the hands? Essentially, can you use VAM mostly independent of VR controllers now?

I ask all this because only a few years ago I used VR, but only with 3DoF. I’ve been using VAM for about 2 years now but only with desktop as my computer just isn’t up to speed for VR.
Then a work friend let me try his Quest 2 (not for VAM, just basic games) I was floored! I had no idea the tech had advanced so rapidly in a few years. I was no longer a single spot that could just passively look around; now I could physically walk, sit, lay down and my avatar in VR would do the exact same. Is all this possible in VAM? If so, why would you ever leave the house?

with VR in VAM are you able to physically walk around in your play area and your character does so in VAM, without the need to use a D-pad? Can you stand over/under Atoms and interact with your hands?

what a game changer!!! Please let me know what you all think and experience, as I am about to go all in on a new gaming PC and Quest 2 if all this is possible. I have no idea what I’m missing out on and I think it’s probably aLOT.

 

[Jiraiya]

You have to run the bat file from inside Virtual Desktop.
Launch VD, then from that click the bat file with your Quest controller. That should open fine without launching steamVR then.

I don't have any issue with the "free" version launching, can you post exactly what you have in that bat file? (maybe edit out sensitive data if needed, eg realname in the path).

 

[gokusanmar]

So I bought Quest 2 recently and I still feel like I am missing out due to the rather poor hardware. GTX 1060 paired with i7-8750h and 16 GB RAM isn't doing too great. Even in desktop mode, it wasn't running too great but in VR it's even worse. I can only handle empty scene with a single model in which I get around 50 fps in VR which is fine thanks to some smoothing techniques done by the VR streaming app. If I add another model or load a scene with an environment and a lot of lights then my fps tanks. On the positive side, I bought a Virtual Desktop app on Quest 2, and thanks to that I can use my real hands without controllers in VAM. Although controls are limited this way ( you cant interact with UI), the fact that I can put down controllers and use my real hands to interact with models and grab objects is rather cool. I wish it also tracked individual fingers but I think it's asking too much at this point.

Also on a side note - I said at the beginning that my hardware is not up to par to handle software like this, but I downloaded a prototype demo called Primrose Dungeon which is created on Unreal Engine, and performance in this game is top-notch. It had a fully detailed and really pretty looking environment and one good looking model, although her physics were not as good as what VAM offers but still pretty good, and on my hardware, I could still run it at full framerate without any performance drops. It was jarring how smooth it was after trying VAM. But unfortunately, performance was only one of very few positives of it - it was after all only a prototype software.

Back to VAM, I only tried it in VR for like an hour but there are already a few things that annoy me. For example, is there any way to move up or down in a scene using a controller in VR? I only found a way through UI but it's cumbersome. Also is there any way to turn off those red and blue lines coming from my controller when I'm in play mode? I don't need them to be on constantly, they are distracting for me.

 

[HolySchmidt]

I think you should play with the graphic settings as some of them are really lowering fps: Shader Quality, Pixel light counts, soft body physics, high quality physics, physics update cap. Also notice: lights are a really big performance killer. 3 is max for me, 2 should be ok for most scenes, if not just go with 1 for testing.

The movement up and down question I think already is a classic
You can find it in the "Navigation" tab: Navigate lock height

Under VR1 you can find the setting "always show pointers on touch". This should solve your other problem.

 

[Jiraiya]

Unlock the player height and the right stick up down moves you up down on the Quest2.
Not sure about the pointer bars, I ignore them mostly now.

Yes, as you walk around the room your VaM Avatar moves too. HOWEVER, this doesn't work well because the legs/body get "dragged" if you are possessing a model and it's a bit janky. If you are just a floating eyes+hands then it's fine to walk around a scene without a body. If you have space it's a great way to look at what's going on.
There are a few methods of body tracking. Free, April Tag (QR code tracking), SlimeVR (cheap diy trackers) and Kinect body tracking. These allow you to have at least hips/feet moving with you and the kinect basically does mostly full body but you can't turn around with most drivers, so need to face forwards all the time.

However, with body tracking you can posses a model and walk around and have the virtual body move with you. It's a really amazing feeling. I spent AGES dancing like an idiot in front of a virtual mirror trying on different bodies.

If you turn down various option in the user preferences you can get a better frame rate at the cost of some visualys. GiveMeFPS plugin automates this a lot for you.

There are "VR Gloves" you can get and DIY versions (3D printed) that not only do full finger tracking but force feedback. I know at least one person on here is playing with a script to make them work in VaM. This allows you to use your hands to grab an object and "feel" it as if you really touched it. It's only going to get better from here

 

[gokusanmar]

Holy shit! I knew that some hairstyles could obliterate fps, but I didn't know that glutes have that much of an impact too! Using recommended settings in givemefps nearly doubles my fps. Hair looks noticeably worse, but it is a sacrifice that I am willing to make so it work better in VR. Glutes is a harder decision but ultimately boobs physics are what matters.

@HolySchmidt @Jiraiya thanks for the tips regarding the VR movement, I will try those.

 

[HolySchmidt]

I didn't know neither. Will try

 

[Johninvr]

I think you should play with the graphic settings as some of them are really lowering fps: Shader Quality, Pixel light counts, soft body physics, high quality physics, physics update cap. Also notice: lights are a really big performance killer. 3 is max for me, 2 should be ok for most scenes, if not just go with 1 for testing.

The movement up and down question I think already is a classic
You can find it in the "Navigation" tab: Navigate lock height

Under VR1 you can find the setting "always show pointers on touch". This should solve your other problem.

Great tips!! I was dealing with these exact same issues and just started to get used to them. Now I no longer have to hobble over to the keyboard to hit the z button to get off the floor

Thanks!

 

[HolySchmidt]

I was confused in the beginning as well, thought it isn't possible to move up and down.

@gokusanmar
My advise is to play around with the refresh rate setting for your headset in VaM as well cause at certain framerates it cuts them by half to match your refresh rate.