VR update is garbage

[BrandonW77]

Sounds good. I've actually been a bit surprised of how good it looks in your videos. I often see "looks like crap" comments when monitor users try VR for the first time and don't like it. Are they exaggerating a bit maybe?

I honestly thinks it just takes a little time to adapt to. When I first got it my first thoughts were "Oh, I can't race like this", had a bit of a hard time seeing where I was going, almost returned it for a refund. But it was still such an amazing experience that I stuck with it and after a week or two it all felt comfortable and I could see fine and most of the things that bothered me at first just seemed to kind of melt away. If I'd formed my opinion based on my first two days with VR I'd be one saying it was not yet ready for prime-time, but I got over that hump and now I think it's the greatest thing I've added to my gaming experience since my FFB wheel.

Isn't the SDE and god rays inherent to the VR HMD headset technology?

Yes, to an extent, but once you get your settings dialed in and adapt to VR you really don't notice either very much. Your brain does a pretty good job of editing out the SDE once you get used to it. Like, in iRacing I honestly can't really see SDE at all, if I stop and stare and try to see it I can see it but it's not something I notice at all when racing. And the god rays are dependent on the situation, I normally don't see them but for example if I'm racing at night and the car has a big LCD display on the wheel I will get some glare from it but that's about the only time I really notice it.

Here's what iRacing looks like on my system, and this is pretty much exactly what I see with my eyes (a little bit crisper in person than on the video). No obvious SDE, no real glare or god rays, text is easily readable, stuff in the distance looks fine. iRacing isn't as taxing as some of the newer games so you can crank up the settings so it looks good and still runs smooth, it looks the best on my system but AC and PCars2 look pretty good as well.

 

[kikie]

The stereoscopic 3D images are amazing.

 

[Whitestar]

When I first got it my first thoughts were "Oh, I can't race like this", had a bit of a hard time seeing where I was going, almost returned it for a refund.

Just wondering, do you mean that there is a problem with the view distance? Because it certainly doesn't look like it in the videos you just posted.

 

[BrandonW77]

Just wondering, do you mean that there is a problem with the view distance? Because it certainly doesn't look like it in the videos you just posted.

Yes, but this was when I first set it up so I didn't have my settings dialed in and my brain was caught a bit off guard and overwhelmed by it all. I remember approaching a turn and having a hard time seeing where the apex was during my first few laps. But once I got things dialed in that issue pretty much went away. I'm getting a bit of that issue with ACC but I think/hope once I try those .ini settings that will go away.

 

[Twstcrv]

Apparently adding this stuff to the engine.ini really makes a huge difference (for the better) in VR quality. I haven't tried it yet, plan to tinker with it tonight.




Source:
https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/share-your-vr-graphic-settings.160409/#post-2846803

Plugging these in worked as advertised. Huge improvement. Thanks!

 

[kikie]

I think I'm going to stick with a triple for now.


Edit: I always thought that the SDE was a result of the lens and screen technology, using a lens that magnifies the screen. I tried this earlier today with a big magnifying glass on an old Sony 720p LCD TV and this brand new Samsung S24D330 monitor.

It was as I thought, the SDE is also visible when using a huge magnifying glass very close to the TV/monitor.

So, it is probably not possible to remove the SDE when using a VR HMD by adjusting the settings in-game but rather an adjustment of your brain.

VR manufacturers should come up with a new screen technology and make the pixels microscopic so we won't have an SDE anymore. Or invent a totally new screen technology that doesn't require pixels. Maybe a fluid?

 

[BrandonW77]

I think I'm going to stick with a triple for now.


Edit: I always thought that the SDE was a result of the lens and screen technology, using a lens that magnifies the screen. I tried this earlier today with a big magnifying glass on an old Sony 720p LCD TV and this brand new Samsung S24D330 monitor.

It was as I thought, the SDE is also visible when using a huge magnifying glass very close to the TV/monitor.

So, it is probably not possible to remove the SDE when using a VR HMD by adjusting the settings in-game but rather an adjustment of your brain.

VR manufacturers should come up with a new screen technology and make the pixels microscopic so we won't have an SDE anymore. Or invent a totally new screen technology that doesn't require pixels. Maybe a fluid?

Yes, that's exactly it. If you get close enough to any monitor you can see the pixels and since the HMD is so close to your eyes you can see them there. But it does vary based on in-game settings and from game to game. That's basically what super-sampling does, it increases the resolution which decreases the size of the pixels. In iRacing I can crank up the SS and the SDE is virtually non-existent. In AC and PCars2 it is more noticeable since I can't crank SS up as much with those games but it's minimal enough that your brain can mostly edit it out. ACC is resource-hungry enough that I can't crank the SS and have to turn other settings down as well so the SDE is fairly noticeable but you can still adapt to it somewhat and it doesn't bother you much (unless you want it to).

I did take a short video of ACC in VR last night. The phone camera seemed to mask the SDE so you can't really notice it but it is there. It also seems to not be showing up as HD on YouTube so I may have to re-upload it but you can get the idea at least and can see there's no real glare or god rays.



Edit: Oh, and this is with the new .ini settings. It did make an improvement and looks pretty nice now. Aliasing is still a bit of an issue but it seems like it may always be due to how UE4 handles AA.

 

[lancia delta hf]

Sounds good. I've actually been a bit surprised of how good it looks in your videos. I often see "looks like crap" comments when monitor users try VR for the first time and don't like it. Are they exaggerating a bit maybe?

I always saw it looks like crap comments too. Then I tried my bros PSVR expecting it to be really blury, as soon as I pulled it over my first thoughts were wow it looks pretty clear. No it doesn't look like your standard 4K screen, but it absolutely does not look like crap. Screendoir effect was the biggest problem for me as it left my eyes feeling funny after.

 

[BrandonW77]

Screendoir effect was the biggest problem for me as it left my eyes feeling funny after.

Yep, that's the part that takes some getting used to, your brain kinda freaks out at first because the HMD alters its perception of reality and spatial awareness and it is not happy about that. When I first got VR if I played for more than 20-30 minutes at a time I'd start feeling a little woozy, if I pushed past 30 minutes I'd feel really woozy and not right. One night during my first week I pushed too far and it made me feel so off that even the next morning I was feeling a bit woozy and wobbly.

It's important not to push it at first, ease into it, as soon as you start feeling a little off take a break. Start with 15-20 minutes at a time, a day or two later go to 30 minutes, a couple days later go to 45, after a week or two of regular exposure you'll be fully adapted to it and can play for hours on end without any ill effect. Personally I found it a pretty fascinating experience to see how my brain reacted and evolved to the new stimulus. The brain is a truly fascinating organ that can do incredible things most people aren't aware of and VR really puts some of that on full display. But if you don't take the time to get through that process I can totally see how one would be displeased with VR.

 

[th3o]

I am glad you guys are doing fine with VR but i am one of those people who get nauseated pretty fast with this technology. Of course some games more, some less, but yeah.

 

[BrandonW77]

I am glad you guys are doing fine with VR but i am one of those people who get nauseated pretty fast with this technology. Of course some games more, some less, but yeah.

It affects everyone differently but most people can adapt to it if they take their time and ease into it. My first day it only took about 15 minutes for me to start feeling nauseated but now the only time I get that feeling is if I do a roller coaster sim/video. Also helps to keep a small fan on you when you're playing VR so you stay cool.

 

[Twstcrv]

It affects everyone differently but most people can adapt to it if they take their time and ease into it. My first day it only took about 15 minutes for me to start feeling nauseated but now the only time I get that feeling is if I do a roller coaster sim/video. Also helps to keep a small fan on you when you're playing VR so you stay cool.

Im sure all vr advocates have some experience with nausea as do all pilots. Limiting head movement is rule 1. 2. Avoid games that involve floating or spinning in space with no horizon reference. Racing is well suited for vr because it mostly accelerates in one or two dimensions at a time. The thing that makes me nauseous in vr racing is spinning from a crash, but since that is fairly infrequent and only a few seconds long it passes quickly. Having become used to it there is no going back to flat screens for me. It seems so much more natural to turn your head slightly to see a car right next to you or a hairpin apex exit. I predict vr and electric cars will both become dominant by 2030. Prob vr first.

 

[sirgaric]

None of those zeros look like anything I'd miss, or even notice. Most people are saying the image quality and performance are improved using those settings. As a VR user I'm already used to giving up a little bit of eye candy in trade for a better/smoother picture so it won't bother me any at least. I'll report back my findings when I get a chance to try it.

r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=0

This line removes all ambient oclusion from the cockpit, and it looks totally unrealistic. But I guess its OK if it doesn't bother you.

 

[BrandonW77]

r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=0

This line removes all ambient oclusion from the cockpit, and it looks totally unrealistic. But I guess its OK if it doesn't bother you.

Can't be bothered by it if I don't know what it is. I tried the engine.ini settings and liked them, didn't notice anything odd in the cockpit.

 

[Whitestar]

r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=0

This line removes all ambient oclusion from the cockpit, and it looks totally unrealistic. But I guess its OK if it doesn't bother you.

Doesn't sound good, but could you take a screenshot with it on and off? Would be interesting to see the difference.

 

[Twstcrv]

r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=0

This line removes all ambient oclusion from the cockpit, and it looks totally unrealistic. But I guess its OK if it doesn't bother you.

I thought the general idea was to reduce some of the non essential video effects, like interior finish, to help the whole thing run smoother in the interim. Hence the “for now” comment. It worked great for me to be able to have it run without jitters and look ok. I trust the final game will have this worked out with better visuals.

 

[kikie]

A few years ago when I had to chance to try out the OC with AC (it was in a computer store, so I had to use a keyboard), the poor graphic's quality wasn't bothering me that much (it still bothered though) I was annoyed that I couldn't see my keyboard and stuff.

Not being able to see my mouse/keyboard/wheel is something I'm probably going to have problems with.

 

[BrandonW77]

A few years ago when I had to chance to try out the OC with AC (it was in a computer store, so I had to use a keyboard), the poor graphic's quality wasn't bothering me that much (it still bothered though) I was annoyed that I couldn't see my keyboard and stuff.

Not being able to see my mouse/keyboard/wheel is something I'm probably going to have problems with.

Never even been close to being an issue for me. Muscle memory takes care of most of it, I don't have to see my mouse or the buttons on the wheel because my hands and fingers just know where to go, even with gloves on. To some extent it's the same for the keyboard, I can reach over and do basic tasks without having to look at it (like pressing +/- in AC to adjust the FFB). When I have the headset on I position it so there's a little crack over the bridge of my nose. When I'm looking straight ahead I can't see the crack and it doesn't let any light in, but if I tip my head up slightly and look down I can see through that crack for any keyboard work I need to do that muscle memory can't handle. Basically like lifting your head up to look under your sunglasses, if that makes sense.

Speaking of the wheel, one of the craziest things I've experienced in VR is how my brain totally 100% believes I'm holding whatever wheel I see in the headset. I have a T300 and typically use the stock round rim on it, if I'm in street car it feels like a typical steering wheel in my hands, if I'm driving an open wheel car it feels like one of the F1-style wheels, if I'm driving a touring car it feels like a touring car wheel, but it's always the same old stock T300 rim actually in my hands. So, no need to swap out rims anymore, the brain takes care of it.

 

[Twstcrv]

A few years ago when I had to chance to try out the OC with AC (it was in a computer store, so I had to use a keyboard), the poor graphic's quality wasn't bothering me that much (it still bothered though) I was annoyed that I couldn't see my keyboard and stuff.

Not being able to see my mouse/keyboard/wheel is something I'm probably going to have problems with.

Not seeing the keyboard is an issue with me too. Most games only have a few commands that u need the keyboard for so you can eventually find them by feel, like esc for example. Others have pretty much everything navigable from your wheel, like this one does, and pc2. Another thing you get used to for what I consider a better driving experience.

Never even been close to being an issue for me. Muscle memory takes care of most of it, I don't have to see my mouse or the buttons on the wheel because my hands and fingers just know where to go, even with gloves on. To some extent it's the same for the keyboard, I can reach over and do basic tasks without having to look at it (like pressing +/- in AC to adjust the FFB). When I have the headset on I position it so there's a little crack over the bridge of my nose. When I'm looking straight ahead I can't see the crack and it doesn't let any light in, but if I tip my head up slightly and look down I can see through that crack for any keyboard work I need to do that muscle memory can't handle. Basically like lifting your head up to look under your sunglasses, if that makes sense.

Speaking of the wheel, one of the craziest things I've experienced in VR is how my brain totally 100% believes I'm holding whatever wheel I see in the headset. I have a T300 and typically use the stock round rim on it, if I'm in street car it feels like a typical steering wheel in my hands, if I'm driving an open wheel car it feels like one of the F1-style wheels, if I'm driving a touring car it feels like a touring car wheel, but it's always the same old stock T300 rim actually in my hands. So, no need to swap out rims anymore, the brain takes care of it.

The nose crack gets used a lot on mine too! The better the games get, the less I need it.

 

[BrandonW77]

The nose crack gets used a lot on mine too! The better the games get, the less I need it.

Glad I'm not the only one who does the nose crack! I think that helps keep from getting hot too because it lets a little air in, plus I have a couple of little fans on either side of my wheel that blow at my face so I never have problems with getting hot or sweating into the HMD.

 

[kikie]

An avid iRacing guy told me that he has a triple. Being curious about the OC, he tried it out and was that impressed that he bought an OC. But he only uses the OC for practice and fun/hotlapping/quick races. When he is participating in an iRacing championship, he uses his triple again because he needs to be able to see his steering wheel/button box.

 

[Whitestar]

Speaking of the wheel, one of the craziest things I've experienced in VR is how my brain totally 100% believes I'm holding whatever wheel I see in the headset. I have a T300 and typically use the stock round rim on it, if I'm in street car it feels like a typical steering wheel in my hands, if I'm driving an open wheel car it feels like one of the F1-style wheels, if I'm driving a touring car it feels like a touring car wheel, but it's always the same old stock T300 rim actually in my hands. So, no need to swap out rims anymore, the brain takes care of it.

Heheh, I've actually been wondering a bit about that. Could save some money that way.
But does the in-game wheel always turn just as much as you turn your physical wheel? So that you feel that you're actually holding the wheel that's in the game? It has to be a little confusing if there is not a 1:1 relationship there I assume?

 

[BrandonW77]

Heheh, I've actually been wondering a bit about that. Could save some money that way.
But does the in-game wheel always turn just as much as you turn your physical wheel? So that you feel that you're actually holding the wheel that's in the game? It has to be a little confusing if there is not a 1:1 relationship there I assume?

Yes, or at least near enough to not matter. I can't see my actual hands so I don't know exactly how much they're moving but my brain is fully convinced that the arms/hands it sees in the headset are indeed my real arms, to the extent that if I take a hand off the wheel to reach for something or scratch an itch my brain freaks out for a moment because it didn't see "my arm" move. I don't think it has to be an absolute 1:1 but as long as it's reasonably close your brain fills in the gaps and makes it feel correct, might be one of those things that feels odd at first but after a few sessions you forget about it.

 

[Twstcrv]

An avid iRacing guy told me that he has a triple. Being curious about the OC, he tried it out and was that impressed that he bought an OC. But he only uses the OC for practice and fun/hotlapping/quick races. When he is participating in an iRacing championship, he uses his triple again because he needs to be able to see his steering wheel/button box.

I saw a similar vid of a driver who had no experience gaming and picked OC to practice.

 

[BrandonW77]

An avid iRacing guy told me that he has a triple. Being curious about the OC, he tried it out and was that impressed that he bought an OC. But he only uses the OC for practice and fun/hotlapping/quick races. When he is participating in an iRacing championship, he uses his triple again because he needs to be able to see his steering wheel/button box.

Each to their own, just don't presume his experience or my experience or anyone else's experience will be the same as yours because everyone has a different reaction to VR. I have no problems hitting the buttons on my wheel with the headset on, if you've been using your wheel awhile your muscle memory takes care of it. I mean, when you get in your real car do you have to see where the ignition is to know where to put your key? Do you need to look at your steering wheel to know where the volume up/down button is? No, your hands just know where to go because they've done it dozens of times. Same with the buttons on your wheel.

When I had my button box up I didn't have much issue using it either, I mean I'd kinda have to feel my way around it for a second to find which button/switch I was looking for but it only added 1-2 seconds to the procedure. That being said, I'm not one who really uses any buttons or switches when racing so it's not an issue for me but some people like to make lots of adjustments during a race so it may be a slight issue for them but if they just gave themselves a couple days to practice and get used to it then it wouldn't be too much of an problem. If you're one that obsesses over every last tenth of a second and are constantly adjusting car controls then VR may not be ideal, but if you're one who just wants to feel like you're in a real car participating in a real race on a real race track then VR is second to none by a country mile. I am in the latter camp and it gives me such a thrill to feel like I'm actually in the car that I don't really care about where I finish, I always come away smiling.

 

[Cote Dazur]

I can confirm this transforms the visuals. Totally blown away. So much so I did another video, enjoy!

In light of your change of heart concerning VR in ACC, you might want to change the title of your thread.

 

[Xiamoto]

I honestly thinks it just takes a little time to adapt to. When I first got it my first thoughts were "Oh, I can't race like this", had a bit of a hard time seeing where I was going, almost returned it for a refund. But it was still such an amazing experience that I stuck with it and after a week or two it all felt comfortable and I could see fine and most of the things that bothered me at first just seemed to kind of melt away. If I'd formed my opinion based on my first two days with VR I'd be one saying it was not yet ready for prime-time, but I got over that hump and now I think it's the greatest thing I've added to my gaming experience since my FFB wheel.



Yes, to an extent, but once you get your settings dialed in and adapt to VR you really don't notice either very much. Your brain does a pretty good job of editing out the SDE once you get used to it. Like, in iRacing I honestly can't really see SDE at all, if I stop and stare and try to see it I can see it but it's not something I notice at all when racing. And the god rays are dependent on the situation, I normally don't see them but for example if I'm racing at night and the car has a big LCD display on the wheel I will get some glare from it but that's about the only time I really notice it.

Here's what iRacing looks like on my system, and this is pretty much exactly what I see with my eyes (a little bit crisper in person than on the video). No obvious SDE, no real glare or god rays, text is easily readable, stuff in the distance looks fine. iRacing isn't as taxing as some of the newer games so you can crank up the settings so it looks good and still runs smooth, it looks the best on my system but AC and PCars2 look pretty good as well.

Hey Brandon, I've been away from AC for awhile but have seen that you have had pretty good luck with ACC VR compared to many. I can't get ACC to even recognize my Oculus Rift after a couple hours of reading and trial and error. Do you first start ACC in Steam or Steam VR? Then start ACC? Do you start Oculus directly from the Oculus APP then go into ACC? I am clueless on conceptually how it all works, but am hoping you won't rip on me for being so out of the loop on even getting the minimums to function....LOL. Thanks for any help you can provide, Cheers!

 

[Twstcrv]

Hey Brandon, I've been away from AC for awhile but have seen that you have had pretty good luck with ACC VR compared to many. I can't get ACC to even recognize my Oculus Rift after a couple hours of reading and trial and error. Do you first start ACC in Steam or Steam VR? Then start ACC? Do you start Oculus directly from the Oculus APP then go into ACC? I am clueless on conceptually how it all works, but am hoping you won't rip on me for being so out of the loop on even getting the minimums to function....LOL. Thanks for any help you can provide, Cheers!

I open steam, then steam vr, make sure everthing is green in steam vr connection status, then open acc from steam by selecting play in vr. Its been working fine for me as well.

Apparently adding this stuff to the engine.ini really makes a huge difference (for the better) in VR quality. I haven't tried it yet, plan to tinker with it tonight.

I added these changes with great results. Latest ACC changelog adds pixel density adjustment to the options menu and recommends taking them back out. I tried it but didn’t think it was as good so put them back in. I have a 1060 so pixel density at 140 is a good balance between smoothness and graphics quality. Everything else I have set to low or med.


Source:
https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/share-your-vr-graphic-settings.160409/#post-2846803

Heheh, I've actually been wondering a bit about that. Could save some money that way.
But does the in-game wheel always turn just as much as you turn your physical wheel? So that you feel that you're actually holding the wheel that's in the game? It has to be a little confusing if there is not a 1:1 relationship there I assume?

When everything is set up right, the wheels will match in positioning and rate of movement. But as prev stated it is personal whether that will matter to you. Sometimes its really cool to get everything in sync and they really feel like your own hands. Not sure yet if that helps intuitively with driving though.

 

[Xiamoto]

I open steam, then steam vr, make sure everthing is green in steam vr connection status, then open acc from steam by selecting play in vr. Its been working fine for me as well.




When everything is set up right, the wheels will match in positioning and rate of movement. But as prev stated it is personal whether that will matter to you. Sometimes its really cool to get everything in sync and they really feel like your own hands. Not sure yet if that helps with driving though.

Thank you! My first mistake was that I was unaware that a PC keyboard CANNOT perform all req'd VR functionality so I need a D-Pad or similar! Is that the plan for ACC VR long-term? That makes me worried that ACC technical and graphic performance is being dumbed down because it will need to work with Consoles some day! YIKES!

 

[Twstcrv]

Thank you! My first mistake was that I was unaware that a PC keyboard CANNOT perform all req'd VR functionality so I need a D-Pad or similar! Is that the plan for ACC VR long-term? That makes me worried that ACC technical and graphic performance is being dumbed down because it will need to work with Consoles some day! YIKES!

You do not need a d pad if u have a wheel. Open ACC without VR first and configure your wheel buttons for everything including menu navigation. Close ACC and when you reopen in VR you will navigate menus with your wheel buttons. Its great.