HTC Vive Review and Impressions (Long)

zamardii12

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Messages
3,409
Been reading through the threads and i'll give my impressions after having the Vive and playing with virtually all the best games on the Steam Store.

Setup:

The setup was super easy. Little work had to go into it to mount the lighthouses, and I had a little issue only that the space I had allotted for the system wasn't quite enough so I had to make more space. So unless you are just going to be using the Vive seated or standing, then make sure you have plenty of room. But other than that setup was a breeze as far as after mounting the lighthouses. The software is super easy and the tutorial instantly transported me into a completely different world. Admittedly, the Rift is easier to setup than the Vive but the Vive is a completely different experience altogether. You are literally setting up a virtual play space where you can walk around inside of a virtual environment which is completely different than the Rift. The Rift is great for seated experiences and that's it until the Touch controllers come out for it, but even then it won't be full room-scale as we know it with the Vive.

The HMD and comfort:

This is different likely for everyone, but I have been lurking in the Vive subreddit for a long time and there is a incredible community of people there who have shared some great information with me as far as making the experience better. The headset is by no means uncomfortable or heavy to me. The HMD itself is actually quite light, but without properly setting up the straps it can be front-heavy for some. I have found a surprising amount of great tips from fellow Vive users that have made the headset a lot more comfortable. The biggest tip that increased the comfortable-ness of the headset was that when you are putting on the strap around the back of your head, the cord tends to get pulled and get stuck when strapping onto the back of your head so when pulling the backstrap back if you push the cables up through the loop so there is some slack and THEN pull the back strap on then that actually brings a lot of the front weight to the back and the strap properly sits down further on the back of your head where your skull tends to come in or cup inwards. Once I realized this it has made a enormous difference in comfort. There are also a bunch of mods that people have attempted to make the HMD better too. For instance, one Redditor linked to a pair of sleeping masks that when cut to size attach to the velcro on the headset but also bring your eyes closer to the lenses which increases your FOV and makes reading text easier. I got the sleeping masks in the mail yesterday and tried it, and it does indeed help increase text readability as well as increase the FOV albeit with one caveat where I can see the edges of the Vive screen out of my eyes peripherals when looking straight. So my point is that there are ways to make the headset better, but this is not to say that without doing these things the headset is uncomfortable or worse in any way. No. Not at all. It simply makes something that is great even better. If you don't like tinkering with stuff like that then the headset is perfectly usable without it, but I highly suggest getting the IPD adjustment right as well as the straps. There are a bunch of tips and guides online on how to get the most out of the Vive in terms of fit and it's comfortable factor.

The Technology/Lenses

Okay, so this is the biggest point of contention that I see from other users. Could the resolution be better? Sure. Could the lenses be better? Sure. However, this is a first gen device. The display is not all that bad, and honestly most of the experiences are so great that I don't even focus on the pixels or anything else. I get immersed in the experience. Without a doubt every new generation is going to be great, but the display is a necessary compromise for many reasons. The biggest being the most obvious which is that not that many people (very few in-fact) have PCs capable of meeting the minimum specs required by the Vive and Rift to use their HMDs. If you want to sell to the most amount of people and try to bring a new medium in and make it a new standard while trying to have mass-market appeal so that developers will create games for your headset you need to have some sort of a trade-off. You have to remember that the Vive's panel is 2160 x 1200, and to maintain persistence and not induce nausea you have to run that resolution at over 90 frames per second consistently. There is no dropping below 90... or you could induce motion sickness in people. Not many people's computers can run a display that well let alone at high enough settings to make it look pretty too. Now, once we get to 4k displays in the headset then we will definitely have more of a "Retina" style display where the pixels aren't so visible as they are now but running 4K or even 2K at 90 frames a second consistently with decent quality settings is not something most people can do with their computers. $799 is already expensive for a VR system let-alone $599 for a Rift and then the $1000 needed for a VR-ready computer. Not to mention the space required for room-scale VR. The price of entry to this is quite high which is also a reason why it could be hard for most developers to sign-on for a while to invest in the platform. As if this moment estimates are that there are around 50,000 Vive users. VERY small number. What I am getting at is that this is a first-gen product intended to do the best it can at the price point that it is at. You get a incredible amount of tech for $799. I heard some people complaining about the camera which has actually been fixed and it mitigated if you go to the SteamVR settings and you switch the camera to 30hz instead of the default of 60hz. The microphone has also been patched and works a lot better. There is nothing cooler than having the headset on and getting a call and being able to talk to someone while still in VR, and being able to read and respond to text messages while in the headset too as well as be able to see and control your desktop whenever you want. The pass-through camera is a nice addition to be able to see something right in front of you, and "Tron" view is a cool feature so you can see the entire room in your field of view instead of on a small screen on the controller with the pass-through camera.

I also wanted to quickly add that the Steam integration with Steam VR is awesome. Having everything in one place is great, and launching and getting is started is literally just one click within Steam.

Obviously there is room for improvement, but honestly if you play the games and try to get into it you kinda don't really focus on the resolution anymore. And that's the idea as of right now. The experience of playing these games outweighs the screen-door effect and other nuances of the system. I am aware not everybody will be so easily able to ignore these "shortcomings," but it's also not for everyone. This isn't like buying a monitor for your PC. You really can't look at this the same way. I am super excited to see the next headset, but with the increase in screen resolution will come a heavy tax on performance and it's entirely possible that the new headsets will require a decrease in resolution for some and a higher tax on performance to get the full native resolution of whatever resolution will be on the next generation of HMD.


Games:

The games that are good are GOOD. And I am talking in terms of presence and the awareness that you are IN that world. The Gallery: Call of the Starseed is the most amazing gaming experience I have ever experienced. Albeit short and expensive, it is a perfect representation of how much room-scale VR is really the best experience when it comes to VR. Being able to interact with so many things inside of a world is literally mind-blowing and I can't wait for the next episode. Job Simulator is super fun and one of my favorites too with some great interactivity and good humor. Budget Cuts is another amazing example of how well VR works in room-scale. It is super fun pretending to be a secret agent, and moving around in ceiling ducts and throwing knives at the robots to get past... it's a blast and can't wait for the full version to come out. Final Approach is a wonderful game that takes a god's eye view of a airport and guide planes to land, take off, fly through balloons, bomb things... it's wonderful and I felt like a kid again playing it again. It was like having my own alive toy set... leaning down and looking at the little guys on the tarmac running around and doing their thing, seeing the planes flyby in front of me... Another great was is Out of Ammo. This is super fun. It's a mix of RTS and FPS. God view again, and you place your units on the map, and then waves of units attack. You can then "possess" any troop you want and use their gun in first person. It's super super fun. Especially the sniper. Aiming down the scope, pulling the hammer back, loading ammo by reaching down and putting it in. You can even call in 3 different types of airstrikes which are super fun to watch. I will say however that being that this is such a new platform the "good" games are rather limited. I still go back to playing some and replaying others. H3VR is a fun gun simulator that is currently Early Access, but definitely worth it. Zombie Training Simulator is really fun zombie shooter. Brook Haven Experiment is a wave-based shooter that works really well. Hordez is another VR shooter but more involved where you are slowly moved through corridors and can switch between different types of guns to kill zombies that could come from any direction. You can even use a Katana to slice them up which is cool. I am still playing through Final Approach and a handful of others. If you like Sim games, Project Cars is a amazing experience. I actually felt like I was moving. A steering wheel would make it a lot better, but I don't have the space so I am sticking to a controller but even that is fine. Waltz of the Wizard is a fun thing where you can cast spells and do some cool things and at the price of Free is super cool. So, there are plenty of experiences to be had out there with a lot more on the way.


The Future / Conclusion:

I could go on about this for forever, but in terms of the Vive I think there is a lot of good to be said. There are a few cons... it's expensive, the lenses and display could be better... but the Vive is like the first row seat of being able to experience something completely new for the first time, like getting on a roller coaster for the first time. It was pricey to get in, and cost you a lot to get there but now you are strapped in and you don't know what it's going to be like until you try. Which leads me to the fundamental problem with VR: explaining it to people. It simply needs to be experienced, and investing over $800 of your hard-earned money on something you can't try first is a heavy price to pay but I see it in terms of the level of enthusiasm I have had for this technology since we were promised VR to us as kids. Transporting us to different worlds where we could never go in real life, and where a television screen couldn't really suck us in. This is a entirely new and exciting medium that granted; is not for everyone however to ALL the people that I have so far demoed and showed this to all of them have been completely blown away. My dad over the weekend was able to experience riding on Apollo 11 and landing on the moon, my mom was able to travel beneath the ocean and come face-to-face with a whale. Ask anyone with a VR headset what their favorite part of owning a VR system is, and they will all tell you the same thing: showing it to others. Seeing other peoples' reactions to living out their life dreams like riding on a rocket, or my dad's favorite was shooting drones in Space Pirate Trainer with a laser gun. You see that wonder and amazement in other people. People at Oculus call it the "Oculus Face." Anyway, I hope this helped answer any lingering questions or concerns those of you have but I mostly just wanted to share my personal experience of ownership thus-far.
 
I am heading over to a friend on Saturday that has the HTC VIVE with the optimal setup. This will be the first time I get to experience launched VR (tested beta Oculus back in 2013) and I sadly only have 3 hours to test since he lives quite far away.

Which games AND features would you definitely recommend me to try considering the time limit I have. Silly me loved the sound of "Final Approach" and "Job Simulator". Do you truly see airplanes landing and taking off all around?
What about features? Are there any paid ones that I should suggest or offer to buy for my friend so I get the opportunity to test them out?

Problem with Oculus back in 2013 was the poor resolution. I quickly got a headache from playing Half Life 2. I really hope that I am able to experience the Vive without having to quit too early due to being sensitive to motion sickness :(

Anyway, my friend has said nothing but positive things about the Vive so I am truly excited and cannot wait for Saturday!
 
The Lab (free on Steam)
Job Simulator
theBlu
Raw Data

There is also the nVidia Funhouse demo that is another free experience.
 
Which games AND features would you definitely recommend me to try considering the time limit I have. Silly me loved the sound of "Final Approach" and "Job Simulator". Do you truly see airplanes landing and taking off all around?
What about features? Are there any paid ones that I should suggest or offer to buy for my friend so I get the opportunity to test them out?

Vanishing Realms
 
MavericK & SBSuperfly,
Thanks for the suggestions. I wrote them all down and will ask my friend if he can prepare the games for when I come. I had a quick look at the games and cannot wait to test them out. theBlu looked like a phenomenal experience! I
I would need to wear glasses together with the HMD but hope that has no negative influence on the functionality.

Are there any great demos that show how the Vive can work in a more business or commercial setting rather than as a videogame? Due to the cost of purchase, I heard that there is probably a bigger chance that the Vive will succeed as a commercial platform. Am I wrong in this assumption?
 
Isti,

I would caution against wearing glasses with the Head Mounted Display (HMD). While possible and accommodating, the HMD has been stated to be prone to scratching while glasses are used. To my knowledge, there is no way to order replacement lenses (this may have changed recently) and can ruin the $800 headset.

The good news!

Due to the lenses being +\- an inch from your eyes, most find they don't need glasses. If you can read a book while next to your face, you should be able to use the HMD with no issues. If you still are concerned, consider contact lenses as an option to protect your friends investment! :)
 
Due to the lenses being +\- an inch from your eyes, most find they don't need glasses. If you can read a book while next to your face, you should be able to use the HMD with no issues. If you still are concerned, consider contact lenses as an option to protect your friends investment! :)

If the glasses prescription is for myopia between plano and -2.00, glasses should not be needed. If his glasses correct for hyperopia between plano and +2.00, glasses may not be needed depending on age. Over 40yo are much more likely to have difficulty not wearing the plus powered glasses. If the prescription is greater than +/-2.00, glasses are advised.

Personally, my prescription is -3.25 for both eyes and I need to wear my contact lenses. It sounds counter intuitive that someone near sighted should have to wear distance glasses for a device that is literally centimeters from your eye, but I find that I need them. There are more factors involved than just your prescription. Considering the device is stereoscopic, your phoria matters. You may not understand what that is, but to oversimplify, your binocular vision may behave differently when looking through your glasses or contact lenses compared to without.
 
Last edited:
To be safe, just extend the lens distance to the maximum before you put it on, then adjust backwards slowly.

As for commercial applications, depends know what you're doing. There is an IKEA simulator thing if you mean virtual tours, and there is TiltBrush and SculptrVR if you mean artistic.

Fantastic Contraption is also pretty cool. It's a game but it shows how you could use VR for 3D design and modelling to some extent.
 
Shantarr - Thanks a million for giving me the heads up about the glasses. I would be devastated if I destroyed his equipment, so I am very glad I mentioned the glasses in my post. I have no problems using a computer and reading books without glasses. In fact, I am told NOT to use the glasses when engaging in close quarter activities. However, since my eyes have different prescription levels, I HAVE to use my glasses when seeing movies in 3D. Otherwise I'll see double, haha.

SBSuperfly - How does the image behave when you are not wearing your contact lenses? Do you see double vision like I do with 3D movies without glasses? I'm exactly 30 so I hope I'm in the good :)

MavericK - Thanks for the advice about extending the lens. I will mention that to my friend as an option IF we find out that using the HMD without glasses is not feasible.
Is this the IKEA Simulator? IKEA VR Experience on Steam
From reading the description, it looks as though you can only experience a "Kitchen" setting?

Anyway, wish my girlfriend could come along too so I could watch her and his sister play together, haha.
 
Last edited:
SBSuperfly[/USER] - How does the image behave when you are not wearing your contact lenses? Do you see double vision like I do with 3D movies without glasses? I'm exactly 30 so I hope I'm in the good :)
[/USER]

When not wearing my CLs, the images in VR that are beyond my arms length are blurry-- same as real life. It's really weird. I know the screen is right in front of my eye, but my eyes still see VR content as distance objects. I'm not 100% sure, but I think i read somewhere that the HMD lenses set a focal point at a 75cm distance. This actually makes sense and explains why people with low myopic prescriptions don't need their glasses. The accommodative demand at that distance is 1.33 diopters, so people with a prescription of -1.25 or -1.50 would be perfect without their glasses. If your prescription is hyperopic requiring plus powered lenses, this adds to the accommodative demand. So, if your prescription was +3.00, the demand would be 4.33 diopters. At 30yo, if you were this hyperopic, the images in VR may look clear at first, but your eyes will become fatigued and you will get a headache.

If you were told by your optometrist not to wear glasses for near activities, then you are myopic and it's just a matter of how much. Around -1.50 you won't need the glasses. Any higher and the content will get blurrier. Greater than -2.25 and it will likely be pretty obvious. If your eyes are within .50 of each other, you shouldn't have to worry about double vision while not wearing your glasses. Any more than that, you still likely won't get double, but one eye will be blurrier than the other. Your brain hates diplopia and you tend to suppress one eye rather that see 2 images. We've been totally ignoring astigmatism here. If you have significant astigmatism (greater than about 1.00) you'll need to wear your glasses.

I'm not basing this on just my anecdotal experience. I am actually an optometrist.
 
Last edited:
MavericK & SBSuperfly,
Thanks for the suggestions. I wrote them all down and will ask my friend if he can prepare the games for when I come. I had a quick look at the games and cannot wait to test them out. theBlu looked like a phenomenal experience! I
I would need to wear glasses together with the HMD but hope that has no negative influence on the functionality.

Are there any great demos that show how the Vive can work in a more business or commercial setting rather than as a videogame? Due to the cost of purchase, I heard that there is probably a bigger chance that the Vive will succeed as a commercial platform. Am I wrong in this assumption?

Isti,

I would caution against wearing glasses with the Head Mounted Display (HMD). While possible and accommodating, the HMD has been stated to be prone to scratching while glasses are used. To my knowledge, there is no way to order replacement lenses (this may have changed recently) and can ruin the $800 headset.

The good news!

Due to the lenses being +\- an inch from your eyes, most find they don't need glasses. If you can read a book while next to your face, you should be able to use the HMD with no issues. If you still are concerned, consider contact lenses as an option to protect your friends investment! :)

For those of you with prescriptions give these a look. Custom lenses for the Vive or Rift that clip perfectly into the headset. VR Lens Lab: Prescription Lens Adapter & Lenses for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
 
SBSuperfly - Ah, you are an optometrist? Explains now how detailed your descriptions were in your posts! Even though I have worn glasses for 8 years now, I have no idea which prescription level my eyes are at. With regards to your second paragraph, I am now hoping I'm well within -1.5 but I know that my left eye is much worse than my right. I fear it might be beyond 0.50 :) Anyway, I learned a lot of new terminilogy from your post. Exciting!

zamardii12 - Great link! It is too late to order them now unless they are available in regular shops. Sadly I do not know my prescription levels in detail but will purchase these if needed :)
 
SBSuperfly - Ah, you are an optometrist? Explains now how detailed your descriptions were in your posts! Even though I have worn glasses for 8 years now, I have no idea which prescription level my eyes are at. With regards to your second paragraph, I am now hoping I'm well within -1.5 but I know that my left eye is much worse than my right. I fear it might be beyond 0.50 :) Anyway, I learned a lot of new terminilogy from your post. Exciting!

zamardii12 - Great link! It is too late to order them now unless they are available in regular shops. Sadly I do not know my prescription levels in detail but will purchase these if needed :)

You can go to any optometrist and have them give you your measurements.
 
You can go to any optometrist and have them give you your measurements.

Yeah, definitely good suggestion. Hopefully they will not be too disappointed when I politely decline the new glasses they will try to sell me :)

SBSuperfly - Do you have any advice on how to proceed at the optician when asked to get the measurements? Like I stated above, I suspect they will get a little upset if I am only there to take advantage of their ey test service. Maybe I can pretend to wanting to buy a pair in the future, hehe.
 
If you are seeing well with your current glasses, you can just bring them in to any optical shop and have them read the Rx on a lensometer. This is super easy and takes less than 1 minute to do and shouldn't cost anything. No need for an exam or new refraction. If your glasses are a few years old, you should probably get an updated exam and new prescription. You won't need to worry about the pupil distance since that is adjustable in the HMD.
 
When not wearing my CLs, the images in VR that are beyond my arms length are blurry-- same as real life. It's really weird. I know the screen is right in front of my eye, but my eyes still see VR content as distance objects. I'm not 100% sure, but I think i read somewhere that the HMD lenses set a focal point at a 75cm distance. This actually makes sense and explains why people with low myopic prescriptions don't need their glasses. The accommodative demand at that distance is 1.33 diopters, so people with a prescription of -1.25 or -1.50 would be perfect without their glasses. If your prescription is hyperopic requiring plus powered lenses, this adds to the accommodative demand. So, if your prescription was +3.00, the demand would be 4.33 diopters. At 30yo, if you were this hyperopic, the images in VR may look clear at first, but your eyes will become fatigued and you will get a headache.

If you were told by your optometrist not to wear glasses for near activities, then you are myopic and it's just a matter of how much. Around -1.50 you won't need the glasses. Any higher and the content will get blurrier. Greater than -2.25 and it will likely be pretty obvious. If your eyes are within .50 of each other, you shouldn't have to worry about double vision while not wearing your glasses. Any more than that, you still likely won't get double, but one eye will be blurrier than the other. Your brain hates diplopia and you tend to suppress one eye rather that see 2 images. We've been totally ignoring astigmatism here. If you have significant astigmatism (greater than about 1.00) you'll need to wear your glasses.

I'm not basing this on just my anecdotal experience. I am actually an optometrist.

I will vouch for everything you said, I also work in the optometry/ophthalmology field. SBSuperfly being a fellow [H] member I think you are now obligated to buy all of your instruments and equipment from me ;)

I will also add that if you have major astigmatism you might also have to wear your glasses.
 
If you are seeing well with your current glasses, you can just bring them in to any optical shop and have them read the Rx on a lensometer. This is super easy and takes less than 1 minute to do and shouldn't cost anything. No need for an exam or new refraction. If your glasses are a few years old, you should probably get an updated exam and new prescription. You won't need to worry about the pupil distance since that is adjustable in the HMD.

I will stop by the optician later today. Yeah, I feel like I see really well with the glasses, still after 8 years. I once went to the eye doctor to check my eyes after I accidentaly looked into a projector and felt one of my eyes starting burning. Also the vision got worse for maybe 5 days but luckily returned to normal. During the eye testing, they asked me to wear the glasses and point various sizes of letters out and I had no problems identifying any.

I spoke to my friend earlier today and he told me he already had over 30+ games available to try :)
 
Man, time flew by some quickly it was ridiculous! The time I had was definitely not enough so I will do my best to go back to visit next month!

So what can I say about HTC Vive? Best entertainment experience I have ever had since arcade gaming in the 90s.

I was so extremely impressed with the Vive and barely had words to describe it. It was beyond anything I thought it would be.
I will post in much more detail sometime this week so you can get my proper impression.

My friend's graphic card was the "Palit GTX 980ti Super Jetstream", so the Vive would run at 100% with 2160*1200 as resolution. He had ordered the "Inno3D GeForce 1080 iChill X3 Aktiv", which the postman
tried to deliver on the same day I was there but unfortunately failed :( According to my friend, this graphic card would have boosted the resolution to 3240*1800.

Since my ONLY gripe with the HTC Vive was the resolution, I am extremely looking forward till next time I visit due to the fact that, by then, I will get to play the new Everest VR game that is apparently coming out tomorrow!

I am still a little unsure if wearing glasses would have made the picture quality clearer. I felt I had to view text dead on in order for it not to seem a little blurry. I had no issues with seeing double but will definitely order the
Prescription Adapter and Lenses that zamardii12 links to in one of the replies.

My friend had bought this additional eye mask in order to make the viewing field larger. Unfortunately, when I tried it on, I could not see the picture after a while due to the fact that moisture happened to get on the lenses (hot day!). We had to abort and go back to the original eye mask that came with the Vive but noticed immediately how much smaller the field of view became. I tested a variety of games and had a total blast. However, due to the small, original field of view, I did not feel as immersed and part of a new experience when testing the "On top of a mountain" demo from the Lab. It was good but did not feel life-changing.

Luckily, after taking a 30 minute break, we decided to try the homemade eye mask while being very careful when putting the head display on. It worked like a charm and I noticed STRAIGHT AWAY how huge the difference was in field of view.
It felt close to EXACTLY as real life view! This moment changed my entire perception of the Vive. With the life-like field of view, I truly felt I was fully part of the VR environment, no joke!

I went back to testing many of the games and my new experience felt surreal. Only with the wide field of view, did I truly believe I was on a mountain and felt scared to wander too close to the edges.
With the increase in resolution through the new graphics card, I am hoping that I will get a stronger sensation of being afraid of heights. Resolution can only get better and better, so I am really excited about the future of Vive quality VR!

Due to the lack of time, I only got to test the following:

a10-VR
rawData
Trials on Tatooine
The Gallery: Episode 1
The Lab
AudioShield
theBlu
The Brookhaven Experiment

Will post my impression about the games and general movement later this week :)

Seriously, to me, Vive is absolutely revolutionary!
 
Do you know what custom mask he got? Just curious.

Personally, with the stock mask and the lens distance as close as possible to my eyes, the FOV was pretty huge. I'm not sure how much closer the lenses could have been to my eyes.
 
Do you know what custom mask he got? Just curious.

Personally, with the stock mask and the lens distance as close as possible to my eyes, the FOV was pretty huge. I'm not sure how much closer the lenses could have been to my eyes.

Hi MavericK. Check the following link: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
I believe this is the custom mask my friend used. With the stock mask, I felt I had to turn my head much more in order to see the sides. With the custom mask, my side vision was more or less identical to real life. The stock mask was far thicker than the custom variant.
 
Ah thanks...Yeah, I've seen that sleep mask used before for this.
 
So apparently my friend testet The Lab with the new graphics card ("Inno3D GeForce 1080 iChill X3 Aktiv") and only noticed a 30% increase in resolution performance while keeping the 90frp constant. He mentioned that, at 40%-50%, smoothness dropped considerably so he is now contemplating if he should return the card and buy the NVIDIA Titan X Pascal instead. However, he is concerned about the quality of the fan that the Titan X Pascal comes with. For the crazy price, you should expect a better fan included. A little risky to purchase, he claims.

When playing rawData, he is able to increase resolution another 30% while maintaining 90fps. If he tries 40%-50%, framerate drops from 90fps to 45fps. With the old card, "Palit GTX 980ti Super Jetstream", he would noticed frame drop at 10% increase, so he isn't getting so much a performance boost as he hoped with the "Inno3D GeForce 1080 iChill X3 Aktiv".

As for my opinion on movement with the Vive:

You can physically walk around in your room until you get too close to a wall or the boundaries you have created. Cannot remember if this feature was in all the games, but there was a green circle on the floor that would indicate the complete center in your room setup. Additionally, I thought it was a great feature that the system tells you immediately when you get too close to a physical wall in your room. You see a green wall grid when you get too close, alerting you that you need to head in a different direction. If I turned around, I could still use the controls to manipulate the point of view, so that I could continue to walk in the initial direction I wanted even though I physically turned around.
Since you cannot physically move any further than your setup allows, the game uses a teleport function in order to reach the desired destination areas around you. Once at the new spot, you can move around freely in the new area.

The HMD is connected to your computer with three cables. Since I did not own the setup myself, I must admit I was a little hesitant to move around too quickly worried that I would trip over the cables or ruin them physically. I was really satisfied with how responsive the movement was. Any time I needed to select or point at something, it truly felt as though I reach out in real life. No onscreen movement falling behind my actual movement. Very impressive.

Since I was new to the controls, I sometimes made the mistake of hitting the wrong buttons when I wanted to interact with items or teleport. This is my own fault and I should have spent more time getting familiar with the actual controllers. The touch pad, that lets you manipulate the point of view, felt a little too irresponsive. I felt I had to press it down a little too hard for it to register. I am hoping to find the sweetspot in the future because it slowed me down a little when needing to move out of the way during games with intense battles.
The 90 frames per second standard felt excellent. It was just smooth enough for me to feel it was real. I think it is a suitable standard for VR. Let's hope the NVIDIA Titan X Pascal graphic cards brings on an even better increase in resolution while maintaing the 90fps standard.

Will post about the games later :)
 
Raw Data seems fairly unoptimized and it doesn't take advantage of SMP yet, so I imagine there is a lot of improvement in performance to be had there in the future.
 
Raw Data seems fairly unoptimized and it doesn't take advantage of SMP yet, so I imagine there is a lot of improvement in performance to be had there in the future.

Yeah, perhaps that's the reason. Feedback from my friend is that, with the "Inno3D GeForce 1080 iChill X3 Aktiv" graphics card, the resolution in Everest VR was boosted to 170% (100% = Standard). Additionally, he also mentioned that NVIDIA now allows people to change the fan in the Titan X Pascal graphics card, so now he is REALLY close to pulling the trigger and upgrading even further :)

UPDATE: Friend just ordered the NVIDIA Titan X Pascal due to fan modification allowed. Can't wait till next opportunity to vist!
 
Last edited:
My friend's graphic card was the "Palit GTX 980ti Super Jetstream", so the Vive would run at 100% with 2160*1200 as resolution. He had ordered the "Inno3D GeForce 1080 iChill X3 Aktiv", which the postman
tried to deliver on the same day I was there but unfortunately failed :( According to my friend, this graphic card would have boosted the resolution to 3240*1800.
The resolution of the lenses on the Vive are fixed at 2160x1200, I assume you are talking about supersampling

How to Sharpen HTC Vive Visuals with Supersampling - Road to VR
Since my ONLY gripe with the HTC Vive was the resolution, I am extremely looking forward till next time I visit due to the fact that, by then, I will get to play the new Everest VR game that is apparently coming out tomorrow
People have been very disappointed with Everest
My friend had bought this additional eye mask in order to make the viewing field larger.
How does that mask work? Do you move the Vive lenses into the mask?
 
I believe the mask just replaces the face foam piece. You have to actually cut the mask to fit around the rim of the HMD.
 
rinaldo00 said:
People have been very disappointed with Everest

Yeah, I read a few comments on Steam about people being disappointed with Everest VR. However, did not want to read too many in order to not spoil the adventure before I get to experience it.
My friend says it's still an excellent adventure, even though it's too short. Had this been available in an arcade or something similar, one credit would probably cost $15 and only last 20 minutes, haha.

rinaldo00 said:
How does that mask work? Do you move the Vive lenses into the mask?

Yeah, exactly how MavericK explained it.
 
Back
Top