How do I override gray screen after Vive loses tracking?

[LilyMyLolita]

Whenever Vive loses tracking, the HMD will show pure gray image.

As I'm designing a room escape game, I want to control the rendering even when it loses tracking so that players won't panic? For example I can show them some help texts.

Anyone knows a solution to this, or do you also want such a function?

[BOLL]

We had a small discussion about that here, official response from Valve (from May) in that thread is...

Originally posted by bendotcom:

There's no way for users or developers to change that right now.

Things might have changed, but I doubt it. Having fixed text in the gray space would make it even more confusing as the world would appear to be fixed to your head. The gray, as I mention in the linked thread, at least to me acts as a thick fog so I still feel like I'm in a space and I feel fine.

How it would feel with a fixed text (remember it is a loss of tracking) you can try quickly with one of the Overlay apps, just fix a gray image with centered text to the headset and you know how it will feel :) Or just implement it in your own project, I guess.

If players keep losing tracking they might want to rethink their base-stations placing. I can pretty much push my face into the walls and still have tracking, I have my base-stations at least a hand above head height, elevation is kind of important.

[LilyMyLolita]

Originally posted by BOLL:

We had a small discussion about that here, official response from Valve (from May) in that thread is...

Originally posted by bendotcom:

There's no way for users or developers to change that right now.

Things might have changed, but I doubt it. Having fixed text in the gray space would make it even more confusing as the world would appear to be fixed to your head. The gray, as I mention in the linked thread, at least to me acts as a thick fog so I still feel like I'm in a space and I feel fine.

How it would feel with a fixed text (remember it is a loss of tracking) you can try quickly with one of the Overlay apps, just fix a gray image with centered text to the headset and you know how it will feel :) Or just implement it in your own project, I guess.

If players keep losing tracking they might want to rethink their base-stations placing. I can pretty much push my face into the walls and still have tracking, I have my base-stations at least a hand above head height, elevation is kind of important.

Yes, I agree most of the time the thick gray fog is a good thing. You are also right about fixed text. And yes, for most users, it's unnecessary to change Vive's behavior during loss of tracking. Thanks ;) I'll use audio hints to guide players instead. It's more practical for now.

By the way, I'm designing a game that lets the player walk from one room with base stations to another room with another pair of base stations. So inevitably Vive will loses tracking while the player is entering one room from another. I already solved the cable problem by using a backpack PC.

[BOLL]

!!! That sounds like a really neat project, I can see how you would want something to fix the gaps between rooms :) What I would consider the only workable option would be to display the front facing camera, but without tracking there is also no reprojection for it to remove any latency, so it might not be optimal. But, maybe a solution, just that now we only have gray fog :x

[Amylion]

Add

"forceFadeOnBadTracking" : false,

to the

"steamvr" : {

section in Steam/config/steamvr.vrsettings config file.

[LilyMyLolita]

Originally posted by Amylion:

Add

"forceFadeOnBadTracking" : false,

to the

"steamvr" : {

section in Steam/config/steamvr.vrsettings config file.

Thanks a lot, Amylion! I tested it and it worked. Now instead of going all gray, the HMD will freeze at the last available frame. ;)

To those who're also trying, the steamvr.vrsettings config file is a json file. Make sure you follow the syntax when adding a new property.

[tastychickenballs]

LilyMyLolita - sorry to resurrect - I am doing something similar for an art project (multiple room chaining) - I've done some preliminary planning, but would love to have a quick text chat on what worked/didn't work for you - I'd appreciate it!

[IKARO The Furry]

Thank you i bougth a HMD on ebay dont have any sensors so i was Woried it Was Broken but no i Know it works! thank you

[girldriving]

its really annoying when im using the camera on the vive to go do something on the edge of my playspace and my screens go grey, making me blind isnt helping anything valve, infact showing the camera view would be a better alternative to the grey screens