Build 4508 (May 18th)

[Cluh 2]

This is a VR focused update, where we added initial Vive support, along with adding a VR options menu, so users can tune the experience to their liking, and give feedback on what works and what doesn't.

A big thanks to one of our community members for lending us his Vive for implementation and testing! You're the best!

For the uninitiated, here's how to access the experimental branch:
How to access the "experimental" branch of Distance

Build 4508 (May 18th)

• Updated to Unity 5.4. This adds a possible optimization on the CPU side, so you might see better framerates.
  
• driver and lap portal disappear on car explode
  
  
• Added initial Vive support. The camera may need to be reset at the start of every level. Waiting for Unity to support the generic camera reset for OpenVR.
  
• Added a VR options menu, with ability to disable VR, and tweak many parameters for comfort versus immersion.
  
  
• Modified camera shake in VR to be less intense; it can also be disabled.
  
• Greatly reduced camera movement on explode when in VR.
  
• Greatly reduced brightness of windshield effects when in VR.

[Californ1a]

So... the game is freezing on alt-tab, not great for those of us who are playing windowed with other monitors, or letting the initial workshop update run while doing other stuff, also not great for waiting in multiplayer after you've finished... can't watch the other players while tabbed out. It would be nice to have "pause on lose focus" as an option though, for those who would want it, but I believe you guys have said before (last time this issue came up) it's something that you have to set and there's no way to give us that option.

It also reset adventure progress (not a big deal for me, but probably will be for others who take a lot longer to finish it).

Gotta say though, the performance increase from U5.4 is great! Even realtime reflections isn't that much of a hog (tho it is still the biggest hog of all the gfx options :P)

[dead bard]

Stupid question but how do I run this in my Vive?

When I put on the Vive and press "play in VR" I only get it in some sort of theatre mode and not actual VR. :(

EDIT: Nvm I found out how.
Thought you had to run steamVR and then launch the game from there but you just need to run the game directly with the Vive connected and it automatically goes to VRmode.

Pretty nice I'll have to say but I still experience intense judder, might be because my GPU isn't enough for this tho (AMD 280X).

[Cluh 2]

Originally posted by dead bard VR:

Stupid question but how do I run this in my Vive?

When I put on the Vive and press "play in VR" I only get it in some sort of theatre mode and not actual VR. :(

Yup, ironically, you get non-VR mode when launching from SteamVR, and VR mode when launching from Steam... Obviously something I need to look into.

Originally posted by dead bard VR:

Pretty nice I'll have to say but I still experience intense judder, might be because my GPU isn't enough for this tho (AMD 280X).

You may want to try turning off most graphics effects: Motion Blur, Radial Blur, Vignetting, Sunshafts, Depth of Field, Realtime Reflections. This effects add little to nothing VR. You may also want to reduce your Render Scale in VR options.

[BnanaRepublic]

It runs perfectly for me on my Vive. Awesome game, btw! Really trippy racer and it's fantastic in VR!

The only issue I have, and it's not a biggie, is that I need to click the right stick to recenter myself in the car each time I start driving, but other than that, it's perfect.

Great job, Mr. Dev!

[Nikita]

VR options feedback

First of all thanks for implementing the VR options so quickly. These options are a massive improvement. I am fairly sensitive to simulator sickness and these options help mitigate VR sickness for me.

In order of impact:

1. Neck Spring - This option has the highest impact on comfort. I recommend toggling this off as a default and adding a warning message that if you turn this on, it may cause discomfort.
   
2. Incline camera - By default this is set to 1.0. Turning this down to 0.0 makes the cockpit feel like in Elite Dangerous. Static and comfortable. I don't feel like I need the added information of the road's incline. I rather opt for comfort in this case.
   
3. Camera shake - Even with the camera shake "on" it is fairly comfortable, unless you keep bumping into walls. I feel a lurch in my stomach every time I hit an obstacle though. But unless you crash a lot, this should be alright. I turned it off and now feel 100% comfortable while playing this game in first-person VR mode. Good job guys.

Thoughts on the 3rd person camera

So, I actually quite enjoy playing the game in VR and in third person. But currently it is still a little uncomfortable due to the camera location and movement.

Currently, there are two distance setting for the third-person camera. One that is close and another that is a little "less" close. It still feels like I am a bit too close to the car. Regardless, the main source of discomfort comes from the relative motion of the camera to the car. When you start driving the camera starts pulling ever so slightly closer to the car. It would be much more comfortable, if the camera would remain at a static distance and only change the position in respons to headtracking input. Also, whenever you "jump" with the car the camera does a wild rotational movement. It moves from the back of the car above the car and looks down on it. That movement completely disrupts the sense of control the user feels. It basically has the same effect as the "neck spring" in first-person mode. It is just way way way too much.I can jump exactly once and then I have to take the headset off and take a deep breath. Finally, I found that setting the "world-scale" to "0.36" feels really awesome in the 3rd person camera. It is sort-of like driving a RC car around in a tron like world. :) Good stuff.

Suggestions for 3rd person mode

• Add a third preset for the camera's distance to the car. We need one that is further away.
  
• Keep the camera at a static distance from the car. The distance and rotation should only change due to headtracking input. The car can flip and twist as much as it needs to, but as long as the relative distance to the observer remains static it should be comfortable. This is especially important during "jumping". The exception might be the rotation you need when the car drives backwards.

Overall, great job. I can now play this game comfortable in first-person mode and I think that with some small tweaks to the camera, the third person mode can be very fun and comfortable. Seriously, give world-scale 0.36 and third-person a try. It is great.

[MANTRONIX (VR)]

First of all: Great that it´s finally here for the Vive! I used to play Distance until about half a year ago on my Rift DK2 until I sold it. The game plays great on the Vive, although it used to look a little bit better on the DK2. One thing I noticed: The textures on the screen for the left eye is not always identical to the textures on the right screen. You can see this best when looking at those rotating barrels obstacles and then closing one eye alternately... second, it would be great to play this game as a seated experience by default. Rifgt now I can`t use my chair because it`s outside my chaparone area and the grid lights up. the chaparone would not light up with a seated experience.

[dead bard]

Originally posted by MANHILL (HTC Vive):

First of all: Great that it´s finally here for the Vive! I used to play Distance until about half a year ago on my Rift DK2 until I sold it. The game plays great on the Vive, although it used to look a little bit better on the DK2. One thing I noticed: The textures on the screen for the left eye is not always identical to the textures on the right screen. You can see this best when looking at those rotating barrels obstacles and then closing one eye alternately... second, it would be great to play this game as a seated experience by default. Rifgt now I can`t use my chair because it`s outside my chaparone area and the grid lights up. the chaparone would not light up with a seated experience.

Just as a quick-fix for now you could enable developer mode chaperone to reduce the grid to a single line on the bottom.

[eobet]

Vive support is awesome! Looks really cool!

I switched most blur, vignetting, depth of field etc off and played at 1.5x resolution.

Only thing is maybe that the joystick is too twitchy, but there was a setting for that.

I forgot how to jump from road to wall, of course, but that's my fault.

The one major thing:

Unless you look to the sides, or at the transparent floor, you can't see if the car has transformed or not. How about some visible nose wings?

[BodyPolitic]

Really enjoyed this! I don't suffer from vertigo or anything but can imagine during some of the manuevers some may. Personally I loved the flips and spins, esp those resulting either from warping and crashes. Jumps feel great too. I played this in seated mode of course and didn't see any chaperone lines as a result. The only oddity was the main menu spawned behind my back so had to spin my chair to select options, but once I started adventure mode was good to go!

Everything else worked, and I found it a bit easier to pull off the wall rides in this, as it seemed more intuative which direction I had to go (using an x1 pad for this) Now after about an hours play session I removed the headset and reality is what seems weird, not the game.

Once again just wanted to thank Dev for taking time to implement this, its already shot up to one of my top 5 fav VR experiences.

[TntMatthew]

Originally posted by eobet:

The one major thing:

Unless you look to the sides, or at the transparent floor, you can't see if the car has transformed or not. How about some visible nose wings?

There's a car icon on the right screen of the cockpit. Wings are shown on that car icon when you have wings open. It also shows what wheels are on the ground and where the car has been sliced.

EDIT:

Screenshots to show what I mean:

On ground: http://imgur.com/PcfRzLn
Wings open: http://imgur.com/80ubMmt

Unless something is different when playing in VR (I don't have a Rift or a Vive, and my machine's not powerful enough anyway), which I doubt, that's how you tell when wings are open when in cockpit mode.

[BodyPolitic]

Originally posted by TntMatthew:

Originally posted by eobet:

The one major thing:

Unless you look to the sides, or at the transparent floor, you can't see if the car has transformed or not. How about some visible nose wings?

There's a car icon on the right screen of the cockpit. Wings are shown on that car icon when you have wings open. It also shows what wheels are on the ground and where the car has been sliced.

EDIT:

Screenshots to show what I mean:

On ground: http://imgur.com/PcfRzLn
Wings open: http://imgur.com/80ubMmt

Unless something is different when playing in VR (I don't have a Rift or a Vive, and my machine's not powerful enough anyway), which I doubt, that's how you tell when wings are open when in cockpit mode.

You are correct, I can see this in vr mode, there is also a sound queue when the wings are deployed. I used that little status tracker to also tell when there was damage to some part of the car or another

[createthis]

Saw this on /r/vive on reddit, so thought I'd give it a try on my vive. Pretty cool so far. Only a few issues:

1.) VR scene started on floor behind me. Couldn't figure out a way to re-home it. Standing up made the scene go away, oddly enough.

2.) Intense flashing of the screen. My hardware is pretty good. Dual 980 Ti's. i7-6700k. 32gb ram. Not sure why that's happening. Made me feel a little sick.

3.) No option to start game from within Steam VR.

Looking good so far.

[BodyPolitic]

Originally posted by createthis:

Saw this on /r/vive on reddit, so thought I'd give it a try on my vive. Pretty cool so far. Only a few issues:

1.) VR scene started on floor behind me. Couldn't figure out a way to re-home it. Standing up made the scene go away, oddly enough.

2.) Intense flashing of the screen. My hardware is pretty good. Dual 980 Ti's. i7-6700k. 32gb ram. Not sure why that's happening. Made me feel a little sick.

3.) No option to start game from within Steam VR.

Looking good so far.

Right stick will recenter the car once your start the race. As far as the option menu, I had a similar thing, exect it was hanging in the air behind me. Did you have your headset on your head when you launched the program, I had mine on the table beside me and think it my be setting its orientation then, instead of calling to steam vr to determine screen orientation, probably because like you said it doesn't launch in steam vr, but directly from the library

[Enzer]

Running great for me. No motion sickness either, but I'm not prone to it unless there's dropped frames. A few things to point out though:

• This will be fixed when you fix Steam VR support, but: the Vive has a feature to put the lighthouses to sleep when shutting down, which I use because the high pitched whine is annoying, but the game doesn't start them up when it starts leaving me with a grey screen until I start up Steam VR. This may be problematic with the DRM free version if they also have Steam VR (though the percentage of people in this category ought to be low).
  
  
• Inability to input text into text fields with the helmet and controller. This is more of an annoyance as for the steps of activating the keyboard input requires either taking off the HMD or feeling around for the keyboard.
  
  
• Report bug doesn't seem to work. I got stuck in some terrain and pressed it, but there was no indicator as to anything happening. (unsure if this is specifically VR related)
  
  
• If I sit where the driver's head is and recline or my chair rolls backwards (my floor isn't level) then I'll end up behind the driver's chair unable to see anything.
  
  
• If I sit where the driver's head is I feel very cramped. My head is against the ceiling of the car so all the blue from on top of the car causes the clean space in front to shrink and becomes very distracting. I recommend removing the roof (I guess you could make them a plane so they're only visible from one side if you use the same car asset in VR elsewhere) indicators when in first person mode to alleviate this.

I must say playing it in VR is so much fun! Thank you for taking the time to add this feature!

[BodyPolitic]

Originally posted by Enzer:

• If I sit where the driver's head is I feel very cramped. My head is against the ceiling of the car so all the blue from on top of the car causes the clean space in front to shrink and becomes very distracting. I recommend removing the roof (I guess you could make them a plane so they're only visible from one side if you use the same car asset in VR elsewhere) indicators when in first person mode to alleviate this.

I must say playing it in VR is so much fun! Thank you for taking the time to add this feature!

Just for that last point, clicking the right stick of xbox controller re centers the view allowing you to adjust where the drivers head/body frame of reference are. Usefull and easily accomplished, I kind of wish something similar was available in project cars where certain sports cars have very low roofs