Various important VR features

[Terram]

VR has been my first foray into NMS, and while I can definitely see a fun game there, it is heavily hampered by questionable design choices. This post will list the issues I have with the VR version of No Man's Sky, based on my previous VR experiences.
I will not mention performance issues (even though they are, as of writing, very present despite my beefy RTX2080 GPU) because this will undoubtedly be patched as time goes. This post will instead focus exclusively on features and design choices which I believe are extremely important to implement for the NMS VR experience to be enjoyable.
This post concerns room-scale VR and is based on my experience with a Vive headset and controllers.

Locomotion needs to have the HMD-oriented option

While there seems to be division on the topic, having locomotion being exclusively controller-oriented is definitely a problem. I myself can't stand controller-oriented locomotion and find nothing more irritating than having to point my left controller towards where I want to go at all times. I find it counter-intuitive to a regular non-VR playing style where your directional movements are influenced by where the camera is pointing. There certainly are VR players who prefer this method, but because both subsets are present, there needs to be an option that is most comfortable for both types of players.
While we're on the topic of locomotion... I suppose this is due to using SteamVR Input, but I'll throw it out there anyway. The Vive controllers have a fantastic directional touchpad that functions beautifully as a joystick. It should be the default option for locomotion, not the trigger.

The HUD needs to be reworked AND be headset-oriented

The HUD being fixed is perhaps the most confusing thing I've seen in this port. I think it's fairly obvious if you play the game in room scale that the HUD is not going to be visible most of the time, because it's fixed at a certain orientation. Even more confusing is that the compass is headset oriented, yet the HUD isn't. So... why didn't you make the HUD HMD-oriented?
Ah. Because it's too obtrusive.
As it stands, the HUD is too big to be comfortable in VR. It needs to be reworked, streamlined into a more basic version of it. A lot of VR games implement the HUD on the player's wrist, which is a great way to still have information without blocking the player's view. Alternatively, placing the HUD slightly above or below the player's natural field of vision (and make it translucent) is a good way to avoid blocking the player's view without compromising the information feed. Alternatively, maybe making certain parts of the HUD appear when relevant (health bar when taking damage, environmental protection when the temperature drops/rises or gets to a certain milestone) and add a controller binding that makes the whole HUD appear for a few seconds. This seems like the simplest and best option to me.

Forced camera angles are not fun

When interacting with an object (more on that later btw) such as an NPC or a container, the player is forced in a certain camera angle, which I assume is an artifact of non-VR gameplay where it would make sense to have a cinematic camera of some sorts (I have not yet played the game in non-VR so I cannot attest to that). In VR, there is no need for that. We're in the game, there is no need for cinematic immersion. It's very jarring to interact with an object and be re-oriented (and re-located) for no reason.
Now, speaking of object interaction...

Selecting which objects to interact with is a pain

When there are multiple things relatively close to each other, such as containers or resource deposits when scanning, the game has trouble understanding which container/marker you wish to interact with or tag. Maybe having a laser pointer of some sorts appear when reaching out towards containers or markers could help?

Telling the player they are out of their play area is both unnecessary and irritating

No, I'm not completely out of my play area, I'm just sitting down, or I moved a couple steps to the side. This is surely a consequence of a focus on seated VR gameplay. The warning serves no purpose that I can fathom and just needs to go away. SteamVR already has boundaries that stop you from knocking down your shelves or going out of detection range, so why police your players as to where and how they should be standing? NMS is supposed to be a beautiful and relaxing experience, why can't I sit down and enjoy watching the sunset?

Ship controls... need some work.

Again, this is probably just a consequence of a focus on seated VR gameplay, but simulating a joystick when standing and without any base to place your controller on is janky. I love the idea and I'm so glad someone finally decided to have fully integrated VR starship controls, but we're not fully there yet. I believe a focus on controller position rather than orientation would do wonders to make the controls more responsive; currently, as I understand it, the joystick responds primarily to how you tilt your controller respectively to the virtual joystick's axis. I assume this works well when seated, but standing up, that requires uncomfortable wrist motions due to the fact that, well, the controller isn't pinned in one place. Having it based primarily on controller position relative to the virtual joystick's axis would be both intuitive (moving your arm forwards, as you would when tilting a joystick forward) and comfortable in standing VR.

[SEATED VR] Xbox controller support

Some users report not being able to use their Xbox controllers in VR. I don't think there's much to say here other than the fact that xbox gamepads are widely used by the PC community and therefore should be usable for the seated experience.

Left-handed support is lacking

There are, as of writing, no features to help left-handed people with playing the game. As far as I know, you cannot equip the mining tool with your left hand, which is a problem in itself. The worst offender is the ship; manoeuvering the joystick with your non-dominant hand is not the ideal setting. Having an option that would invert the placement of the throttle and the joystick is important.

Player height adjustment needs a slider

Having a slider rather than a simple "re-adjust view" option would avoid potential problems. More power to the player is important, especially when it comes to comfort options in VR. The player suggesting this change has encountered issues with their hands touching the ground while playing.

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Thank you for reading! There is so much potential for No Man's Sky to be a flagship for VR. Once we're past the performance issues and the features I have mentionned, I'm confident that No Man's Sky will sell VR setups.
I will update this post as I play. If you have ideas for additional features or things that need work, please write them down below and I'll update my post with your suggestion.

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EDIT 1 (15/08/19) : Added xbox controller support section based on a suggestion by Venatos

EDIT 2 (15/08/19): Added left-handed support section based on a suggestion by Veritas

EDIT 3 (16/08/19) : Added height adjustment section based on a suggestion by Kip, changed formatting to add latest suggestion at the bottom of the post rather than randomly imbedding them in the base post.

[Venatos]

tbh i just want my xbox-controler to work in VR. i usualy chill in my comfy seat and dont realy have the movementfreedom to play with the motioncontrolers. skyrim and most other VR games work just fine with the xbox-controler in VR-mode, why does it not work with NMS?

[Terram]

Originally posted by Venatos:

tbh i just want my xbox-controler to work in VR. i usualy chill in my comfy seat and dont realy have the movementfreedom to play with the motioncontrolers. skyrim and most other VR games work just fine with the xbox-controler in VR-mode, why does it not work with NMS?

I'll add that to the original post!
I believe this should be patched soon though. Some people believe Hello Games focused on the PSVR Seated experience (which the design choices I mentionned and the lack of Xbox controller support seem to back), which would mean that the lack of support for xbox controllers is just an oversight and will undoubtedly be added soon.

[Veritas]

Another Essential VR Feature is left handed support. Sure its nothing everybody needs but we are also not really a small minority, Playing VR games can be incredibly difficult if you are forced to do the precise stuff like aiming or flying the ship with your non dominant hand. This is something developers didnt really need to consider in most conventional games. But for VR Games its really important.

[Terram]

Originally posted by Veritas:

Another Essential VR Feature is left handed support. Sure its nothing everybody needs but we are also not really a small minority, Playing VR games can be incredibly difficult if you are forced to do the precise stuff like aiming or flying the ship with your non dominant hand. This is something developers didnt really need to consider in most conventional games. But for VR Games its really important.

Adding that to the main post, definitely a point to be addressed.

[Kip]

Can we have a height slider? I have a constant sound of my hands hitting the floor when walking.
+1 for everything else.
Also its 2019 how come we dont have a like button on the forum Valve.

[Heavy_Z]

I definitely agree with the headset orientated HUD idea. I would love to see a shrunken down version that only appears if you look down. Something like a holographic plane what is projected out from the player's chest armor

[Terram]

Originally posted by Kip:

Can we have a height slider? I have a constant sound of my hands hitting the floor when walking.
+1 for everything else.
Also its 2019 how come we dont have a like button on the forum Valve.

Adding to the main post. I haven't encountered that issue but height adjustment is commonplace in most VR games I've played so I assume this is a frequent problem.

Originally posted by Heavy_Z:

I definitely agree with the headset orientated HUD idea. I would love to see a shrunken down version that only appears if you look down. Something like a holographic plane what is projected out from the player's chest armor

I like the idea, but that might make the HUD appear when you're mining crystals or generally things placed on the ground, thus hiding the things you're trying to gather.

[Stenmann]

I'd like to voice my agreement with Badger-sama. I've yet to play this in VR for almost all of the above reasons. I am absolutely certain that NMS will be ramping up their sales when all of these problems are taken care of. I myself am sticking with pancake till then. The game's survival in the PCVR community all depends on fixing these issues I believe.

[iDavros]

agree with most of the comments, particularly HUD left handed mode!

[Rude Olf]

Hello games. Get to work. Most of these can't be too hard to make.
My gripe being no HMD relative movement should take like 2 minutes to make. The indiest of indie games have HMD relative movement.