VR Compatibility

[DAN-di-WARhol]

I want to play this game but it doesn't currently support my hardware. That means, in order to play stereo-scopically seated at my computer using keyboard / mouse / gamepad I would have to use 3rd party software.

Is there any way to introduce hardware support for VR headsets? You would be future-proofing this title (since VR gamers never play using monitor) and opening your market up to those of us using newer tech (without the headaches of setting up the game using third party software).

All we would really need is for the image to be sent to the headset in left eye / right eye format for depth.

[MrTroble]

Wait a second ... it is not even close to that easy to implement. You need to render a game totally different then for normal hardware. It requires totally different APIs that (probably) nobody uses in the studio as well as a different rendering technique. In fact even the Graphics API itself needs an extension. I don't know everything about VR tho but that what I saw required a lot more then you just depicted. We are talking about a little studio with around 15 people. And how should they make any money from this? Since a very low percentage of individuals even have such a setup.

I agree that it surely would be a very cool experience, However I don't think that this is top priority for the devs right now. And how do you need 3rd Party software to play the game? What in the world is your setup? xD

Cheers
~MrTroble

[DAN-di-WARhol]

VorpX and Helix are 3rd party software that convert 2d games into 3d using an algorithm. It works very well 90% of the time. I get some crashes and flickering textures though (expected for a software that is forcing 2d into VR).

It makes me wonder, if software can create VR compatibility in this way, why aren't we seeing developers using something similar to provide support.

Recently VR games account for around 6% of Steam game sales. With the launch of HL: Alyx pending, VR headsets topped hardware sales everywhere. This is rapidly growing. And VR gamers don't use their monitors.

If you made a VR mod for this game, it would get a lot of sales because of the game's reputation and popularity.

[MrTroble]

Yeah well 6% of all games ... not of this former inde game. We had around 3 people in here that requested VR ... all of them had a monitor and already played the game besides you. So I doubt that it will sell this game. It works fine for Bethesda or Valve but I am most certain that this is not the target group. Also you have to take the movement into account which is extra hardware with closed source APIs. It would cost you a LOT more to get a license for external software that contains a lot of bugs and is not meant to be used in only that case then to just implement it yourself or just not have it at all. To the costs of implementation You need to draw to different images which is for a multipass render (Only TSAA pass) you would need around 4 render passes which doubles if you need to double the images hence you need 8 passes. With TSAA that would double again. At this stage you probably start to have performance issues even on very good hardware. So you need a toggle and double the pipelines needed (or at least some more). Then you need to pay license costs to have access to the APIs. In the worst case you end up with a totally different color space / rendering space / shader and so forth.

Disclaimer: Massively simplified and only from my experience as HOBBY engine dev. I don't say it is impossible I just say that it is very unlikely to happen.

Cheers
~MrTroble

[DAN-di-WARhol]

Okay, no problem. I think you are underestimating the market though. VR gamers are hungry for good titles. Look at sales and you will see that more-or-less every person with a VR headset buy a well marketed VR game. Boneworks Skyrim VR & In Death, for example. We trawl through new releases looking for good VR games and buy them hungrily without waiting for sales.

[MrTroble]

I totally see the point tho and I think it will increase heavily with the new half life and more to come. No doubt.

[mushi_mush]

I would insta get this if it was VR. I can wait.

[Paradise Decay]

+1 for VR

[Mashiro]

VR +1. Lone Echo is superb. Can't have enough this type of genre.

[UltraPuta]

+1 VR support!

[temps]

This game looks slightly appealing since I'm a space enthusiast, but the lack of VR support is a deal-breaker for me.
I have a Valve Index... I want to play games that can take advantage of that.

[twose.ensemble]

+1 VR support.
Since I got my third VR glasses, ( Vive Pro ) only playing VR games natively or through VorpX, but Deliver us the moon performance with my VorpX is not as fluent as with other games. If not being fluent in VR through VorpX still being an amazing game, I can't imagine with a full compatibility or natively VR.

[s279961]

+1 for requesting a full reworking of this game for VR, with the same mechanics as Lone Echo. For those who have played Lone Echo, you KNOW how amazing it is.

[UltraPuta]

Originally posted by s279961:

+1 for requesting a full reworking of this game for VR, with the same mechanics as Lone Echo. For those who have played Lone Echo, you KNOW how amazing it is.

[cazanu]

VR would have been great,and shouldnt be that technically dificult to add,there are mods that do it good even on games like gta 5