Quoting: scaine

Quoting: PiddlyDYou're on the initial "wow" of it - but the practical realities of it mean that unless you have an entire room to basically dedicate to VR gaming - it is too much of a hassle currently - especially when the novelty of the games wear off.

I had a friend try to sell me on it several years ago. I bought a boatload of retro FPGA devices instead with the money I would have spent on VR.

Personally, I think VR is the 3D TV of PC gaming. It initially impresses, but after a while, you'll find that traditional gaming is still far more convenient, accessible, affordable, and enjoyable.

Maybe for some, but certainly not for me. I'm well over the wow-period, but I still love VR. You don't need a big room at all. I have a tiny place space and still managed Alyx without any bother.

In fact, the three games I play most now in "standing" VR are Beat Sabre, BoxVR and more recently Groove Gunner - and all three are literally "just stand, no movement at all". So they're very well suited to tiny spaces.

The other type of VR, my favourite, I think, is "sitting VR", which is what I use for Elite, Overload and Automobilista 2 (although I've hardly played the latter because it's too realistic a game to be played on a gamepad... it really needs a wheel).

Sitting VR is incredible. I don't even use the Index controllers - just mouse+kbd while wearing the headset. But it's incredible. Truly can't be overstated how much better cockpit games are in VR. You couldn't even say it's 1000x better - it's way more, a completely new, just amazing experience altogether.

Still agree with a lot of the naysayers though. And this puts the lie to your 3D TV analogy - VR isn't a replacement for my monitor and probably never will be. Whereas 3D TV was a layer on top of a normal TV, VR is a completely new way of playing, interacting with and experiencing your games.

And for a single viewer, the VR headset replaces the 3D TV. And the 3D on movies is PERFECT. By the way, I also will not give up my 3D TV either!

3d tvs were only a fad because the industry said so. In the USA you can't even get home 3d movies anymore, I have had to order the marvel movies from Europe so I can enjoy them on the VR setup, and it is hacky, as the headsets don't support HDCP (except PSVR, which really has too much glare to be enjoyable and needs to be more like the Index oe Vive Pro).

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I bought this a while ago, but others keep trying to make me spend all my time playing Valheim, which is in a terrible need for a content patch!

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Quoting: TheRiddickmostly great, mostly...

Speaking of, I've heard Alien Isolation is an absolute pants changer. I haven't gotten around to playing it (in VR or 2D, though I'd started it in 2D, didn't get very far, as I heard it would be possible to play in VR, and haven't had any underwear I wanted to get rid of right away...)

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Quoting: scaineFor the lighthouses switching on/off, I recommend you follow my little guide on the GOL forums: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/4609

I just click a button on my dash and it toggles them on/off, within about 1 second of the click. Once every few months, it can fail to toggle properly, but that's easily fixed by simply powering them off/on at the plug to get the naughty lighthouse back in sync.

Do I still play in VR after 6 months? Definitely, although mainly in cockpit mode these days - Elite, Automobilista, or Overload. It definitely feels like a slight chore to set up the room... although I bought BoxVR for some exercise, and Liam has gotten me back into playing Groove Gunner by shaming me on Discord! :grin:

Someone mentioned how amazing Elite is, but suggested you need a HOTAS. I guess that would help, but as a touch typist, I just play with mouse/keyboard and it's still an incredible experience. Like, jaw-dropping. Boosting around the outside of a carrier, or station, while looking through the upper canopy of your starship... it's just... well, clearly indescribable! :grin: A proper joystick+HOTAS would be amazing, but it's just money money money, innit!

Corben, if you have that headset issue, I also suggest you try simply unplugging the HMD using its quick release plug. Plugging it back in and restarting SteamVR seems to fix any issues I have with the headset. But tbh, I've only had HMD issues... twice? Maybe?

Finally, Liam, yeah, starting Pulseaudio often fixes crackling, but sometimes it doesn't for me. Rare, but on those occasions, I found that stopping SteamVR, then doing a systemctl --user restart pulseaudio
...will do the trick (although you'll probably have to re-select the HMD sound output again).

It'll be nice when these little issues, and the others you mention in the article, are actually addressed, because they do genuinely present a small barrier to that "can I be bothered setting it all up" factor that can see you just playing something else instead!

But a year in (for me) and I still love VR.

"No ragrets"

I ended up downloading an app on my phone called Lighthouse PM for turning on / off the Lighthouses. Seems to work okay.

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Quoting: NanobangCongrats Liam! Though I'm not much interested in VR gaming, I have to admit I'd absolutely try it out if I were gifted a kit. I wish I could get more excited about VR, though.

For me it's less about the expense (though that is an issue) and more about the relaxation factor. Diversion and entertainment without exercise and exertion is generally what I want for myself at the end of the day.

Plopping my butt on the on the living room sofa, slipping my headset on, and cradling my Steam Controller in my lap is all integral to my video gaming enjoyment. The need to stand up and thrash about is anathema to what I'm looking for. VR gaming isn't for me.

And that's the term for this new activity: VR gaming. Just while writing this I realized that as different as movies, TV, and videos are from video gaming, that's how far video gaming is from VR gaming. In each case the media share certain qualities, but the experience is, as you and so many others express, radically different.

Now, a little face screen, maybe even a little 3D too, that I could wear with my normal headset? That sounds nice, sitting on the sofa, legs up, Steam Controller cradled in my lap.

So games like Battlezone and the game Rooms would be great for you. Or Elite: Dangerous (though with that one you would want a desk and HOTAS!) There definitely are games where you don't need to stand to play. Even Skyrim VR lets you adjust your height if you are sitting. I need to re-mod Skyrim VR and play it one of these days, now that there is a mod called HIGGS (they made gravity gloves like HL:A for Skyrim!)

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Quoting: motI have been playing Hobo: Tough Life [External Link] for last 2 weeks and still like it after more than 60 hours. I wonder why there is not a single mention on GOL about it, even it has a proper Linux build.

I have been wanting to play that, maybe I will do it today.

How has no one said it is awesome that Star Citizen still has Linux on the Radar? Ha, then again that is the never finished game from forever ago...

@liam, yeah Half-Life: Alyx was amazing! I need to start on Boneworks, now that I have my 2080 back in the other rig.

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Quoting: mahagrI also really wish to get EE version of the game for Linux, even if I don't yet own RTX card. It would finally give me a reason to get one. :) BTW, it looks like in the normal version you can enable RTX even if you have only GTX card, though the performance penalty is really bad.

The 3080 was definitely a decent bump in performance over the 2080 on the non-EE game. But I decided I really should beat the original one first... but apparently there is an issue with Metro 2033 Redux on Linux assuming I have a game pad connected, so the menus and such are all messed up... I mean it's an FPS, why would I play it with a gamepad on a PC?

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Quoting: stormtuxFrom the release anouncement [External Link]:

Please note – the Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition requires Ray Tracing capable hardware as the minimum spec – please check the PC Specs chart for more information.

With my GPU I am out but I am still interested to know if there is any news about a possible official support for linux.

Yeah, I really wanted to see a full on RTX game running on Linux. With all the things bumped up, the non-enhanced one ran a bit choppy on my 2080, but now I finally have a 3080, I had uninstalled the other version and installed the enhanced... before I knew it wasn't supported ha! Now I don't want to sit through another 70gb of downloads, when I haven't won the first game...

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Quoting: Comandante Ñoñardo

Quoting: slaapliedje

Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoAnyone tried the Enhanced Edition (via Proton, obviously)?

Is it not native? I uninstalled the other and it just barely finished downloading the enhanced edition, and am going to be annoyed if it is through Proton.

The Enhanced Edition released today is not Linux native. That's why I asked

Damn!
 
Your system appears to not meet the minimum requirements for the PC Enhanced version of Metro Exodus.

Please check your PC configuration to fit the minimum system requirements: "https://www.metrothegame.com/pcspecs/"

Reason:
  - Maximum shader model: SM6.2 (SM6.5 required).
  - Graphics device does not support DXR1.1 or above.

[  Open Link ] [ Quit ] [ Run Anyway ]

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Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoAnyone tried the Enhanced Edition (via Proton, obviously)?

Is it not native? I uninstalled the other and it just barely finished downloading the enhanced edition, and am going to be annoyed if it is through Proton.

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