Jump to content

VR technical thread


prinyo

Recommended Posts

The idea of this thread is to discuss and share ideas, tutorials and solutions related to the use of PC-based VR systems - Vive and Oculus. 

It is something like a mega-thread - for everything that is related to any practical aspect of using or testing VR on PC. 

 

 

This is a thread about the practical/technical aspects of using VR. This is not an opinion thread. 

Link to comment

Skyrim, Fallout and other games in VR

 

 

Note (06-2018): This post is now a year and a half old. There are changes in how VorpX is been setup that are not reflected here but the information is still completely relevant. The only difference is in the initial setup process that is linked here as there is no external config app anymore. 

 

 

You can play a lot of popular flat games in VR using VorpX. It is a 3D driver that adds VR elements to the games. 

It supports Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3/NV/4 and other games. 

It is not free, but it is the only available software with this functionality. 

 

It provides different types of 3D reconstruction, head tracking, possibility to remap the keyboard and mouse to the VR motion controllers and for some games positional tracking. 

 

 

Setup

 

Good tutorial on how to setup it can be found here

It is for Skyrim, but the steps for all other games are the same. 

If you are prone to motion sickness lower the Image zoom value in the in-game menu between steps 4 and 5.

The point of step 7 is to change the resolution and make the game look and feel better.

 

By default VorpX will set the game at 1280×1024 which is quite low. You can do what the tutorial says or you can try running the game at 1920x1440. This is the best setting for most of the people.

You can try different resolutions or upscaling values in order to find the best you can have on your system. According to the dev of VorpX Skyrim is mostly CPU dependent and changing the resolutions will not have too big impact on the performance.

 

 

 

Performance

 

VorpX will cap the game at 45fps. It will use it's own ATW implementation and will feed the headset with a steady 90fps stream. If everything is setup and running correctly, pressing Alt+F will show you a message that says something like "45 game fps, 90 direct mode fps".

 

This is your go-to metric when testing graphic options or mods. Ideally you can add more strain to the system (texture mods, better graphic options) as long as you see 45/90 there.

 

It is up to you as a person to decide how much deviation you can handle. For myself I have decided I'm fine with the game dropping to 22-25fps outdoors, but you should be really careful with this as it can have real world health implications! Start with less mods and lower settings so you get the steady 45 fps and after some time you can start experimenting.

 

By default VorpX will run the game in Geometry 3d. Changing it to one of the other moves will improve the performance but will make the 3D effect less "real" and enjoyable. 

 

 

 

Motion sickness

 

The traditional WASD locomotion used by the flat games will cause motion sickness for people who are prone to it. If you have this problem you can:

1. Play the game in Theater mode - it is like playing on a 3D IMAX screen.

2. Use VorpX to train your "VR legs". It can help you fight the motion sickness as it has the option to run the game "on a screen", in "full VR" and everything in between. 

Start the game, press Del to open the in-game menu and put the Image Zoom to the lowest possible value. This will result in the game been shown like on a screen in front of you. Play like this for a while and when you feel comfortable up the zoom a bit. Repeat until you feel fine in the full VR setup. Pay attention to how you feel so you can decide how many and how big the steps are going to be.

 

 

Vive specific optimisation

 

Doing the "sleeping mask mod" helps get bigger FOV and bigger "sweet spot". This, combined withe the HUD zooming options of VorpX makes it possible to read dialogue options, sometimes subtitles and reduces the need to switch to EdgePeak. 

Link to comment

Skyrim mods

 

(Everything in this post is for Oldrim at this time. Last update - 14-03-2017)

 

 

Mod selection

 

I'm running almost all my mods from my flat setup also in VR. Use the 45/90 rule I mentioned in the post above to decide which mods to use. 

Hi-res textures will impact the performance. I have chosen to use SMIM instead. The rule about the size of the object can also be used - retextures for houses, mountains, walls and such, but not for weapons, coins and other small objects.  

 

Mod managers 

 

I recommend using MO. It is the best option when you want to play Skyrim both in VR and as a flat game.

 

That's because the profiles contain not only the mods, but have their own ini files. If you use MO you will switch between VR and flat mode in a second, otherwise you will need to rename ini files in addition to changing mods.

Important when setting up MO:

 

After you create a new profile for VR in MO and select it as active, do the following:
 - Run VorpX config and optimize the game settings. This will make changes in the Skyrim's ini files - not only resolution and FOV, but additional shadow and similar fixes.
 - Open the INI editor of MO and copy/paste there the content of the ini files found in Documents/My Games/Skyrim. This way you transfer the optimisation made buy VorpX to the profile.

 

 

 

 

Setup the position tracking (room-scale like).

 

The new VorpX version (17.2.0) comes with an option for positional tracking but it doesn't seem to work well in Skyrim. If you turn it off there is a different (unofficial) positional tracking that happens and that I found works well in my setup.
This solution is officially discouraged but I never had any problems with it - however I only move 1.5 meters in any direction tops.
You can try and see if it works for you. Open the file C:\ProgramData\Animation Labs\vorpX\vorpX.ini and at the bottom there is a setting "fHtRecenterDistance". Change the value to some bigger number. This is the distance in meters when VorpX will reset the point of view if you move around.
Doing this allows you to observe everything happening as if you are there as you can look anywhere from any point you want to. It works really well with the free camera.

 

 

 

Enjoying SexLab in VR

 

The DirectVR feature of VorpX that makes Skyrim feel like a real VR experience doesn't work with animation mods where the player character is involved in the  animation or with free camera situations.
When DirectVR is enabled and the player character is in an animation the model will rotate in sync with the player's head. This causes constant misalignment. And in a free camera mode the headset tracking doesn't work.

 

The best way I have found at the moment to fully enjoy SexLab with VorpX is this:

 

Open VorpX Config, go to "In-Game Key Bindings" and assign a button for "Enable/Disable Direct VR". 

 

post-925979-0-65395900-1489497697_thumb.jpg

 

When you characters enters an animation press the button to disable DirectVR and enjoy your free movement observing the action. :-)

 

 

First person mods

 

It seems at the moment there is no first person mod that works well with VorpX. I'll update this post when more info is available. 

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

I didn't manage to get vorpx running with MO - I get constantly CTDs at startup.

I have installed True ENB - but moved the dx Dlls out of the Sykrim folder - unfortunately MO virtualises the data folder only.

Can you explain more in detail what you have changed in your MO environment?

Link to comment

I didn't manage to get vorpx running with MO - I get constantly CTDs at startup.

I have installed True ENB - but moved the dx Dlls out of the Sykrim folder - unfortunately MO virtualises the data folder only.

Can you explain more in detail what you have changed in your MO environment?

 

 

Just tried True ENB - with the Injector version of the ENB and it worked with MO and VorpX. Installed it the normal way, without deviation from the instructions. 

If you are using the Wrapper version try the Injector instead. I have never managed to make VorpX or Tridef work with the Wrapper.

 

I tested only for several minutes and didn't see problems with the 3D reconstruction and it did look quite nice. But I got an FPS hit. Maybe I didn't choose the best from the performance options. The problem is that when VorpX is in 3D Geometry mode it already lowers the game performance, not sure if an ENB preset on top of that will not make it unplayable. 

Link to comment

VR bleh... No thanks...

 

i am traditional gamer, PC or console and that's all.

 

I can sleep better now knowing your personal opinion about a technology that nobody is forcing you to use. Now you can go to other threads discussing issues you are not interested in and tell them that. 

 

Please respect the topic of the thread and do not post off-topic comments. 

 

 

Helping people who do not understand English well: 

 

Practical:

 

of or concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas.

 

 

 

P.S. Renamed the thread from "practical" to "technical" to make it more clear what the topic is.

Link to comment

 

I didn't manage to get vorpx running with MO - I get constantly CTDs at startup.

I have installed True ENB - but moved the dx Dlls out of the Sykrim folder - unfortunately MO virtualises the data folder only.

Can you explain more in detail what you have changed in your MO environment?

 

 

Just tried True ENB - with the Injector version of the ENB and it worked with MO and VorpX. Installed it the normal way, without deviation from the instructions. 

If you are using the Wrapper version try the Injector instead. I have never managed to make VorpX or Tridef work with the Wrapper.

 

I tested only for several minutes and didn't see problems with the 3D reconstruction and it did look quite nice. But I got an FPS hit. Maybe I didn't choose the best from the performance options. The problem is that when VorpX is in 3D Geometry mode it already lowers the game performance, not sure if an ENB preset on top of that will not make it unplayable. 

 

 

I am dull - how do I use Injector ENB + SKSE from MO?

 

Link to comment

I started Oculus app

Then I started Injector - my injector INI looks like this:

[LIBRARY]
LibraryName=enbseries.dll

[TARGETPROCESS]
ProcessName0=skse_loader.exe
ProcessName1=SkyrimLauncher.exe
ProcessName2=tesv.exe

Then I started vorpX config from MO and applied the Skyrim optimization

Then I started vorpX as admin

Then I started SKSE loader from MO

 

Skyrim starts - but not in VR environment

Link to comment

[...]

Skyrim starts - but not in VR environment

 

Sometimes VorpX fails to hook up. Restarting it helps. If it doesn't - does it work if you start SKSE directly, not via MO?

 

I'm using a Vive and my process is:

 

- Start SteamVR and MO (MO as admin)

- Start VorpX as admin

- Start the Injector via MO

- Start SKSE via MO 

 

I'm running VorpX directly, not via MO.

Link to comment

Tried it in this order - skyrim still starts outside of vr

 

Does it work if you start SKSE directly? Not via MO? Or without the ENB?

 

VorpX works with MO for sure for both Rift and Vive. It was specifically fixed several months ago. 

Link to comment

 

Tried it in this order - skyrim still starts outside of vr

 

Does it work if you start SKSE directly? Not via MO? Or without the ENB?

 

VorpX works with MO for sure for both Rift and Vive. It was specifically fixed several months ago. 

 

Yes - if I start SKSE from outside, vorpX is able to hook - but then I have no mods

Link to comment

Additionally it looks very strange - Screen is much larger as my view - I can't reach any menu item without pulling the rift from my head

If I reduce HUD size in vorpx the quest marker does't align with real objects

Link to comment

Are you sure you are running the latest VorpX version? And that the ini files are really updated by the config? For example the resolution? Check what is the resolution in the skyrimprefs.ini as shown by MO. It should be iSize H=1024 , iSize W=1280

 

When you start the game and run the DirectVR scan everything should fit on the screen. 

 

Once I had strange problems and solved them by reinstalling VorpX. It is also possible that we are missing a Rift specific step in the setup so maybe it is a good idea to also ask in the forums of VorpX. 

Link to comment

Are you sure you are running the latest VorpX version? And that the ini files are really updated by the config? For example the resolution? Check what is the resolution in the skyrimprefs.ini as shown by MO. It should be iSize H=1024 , iSize W=1280

 

When you start the game and run the DirectVR scan everything should fit on the screen. 

 

Once I had strange problems and solved them by reinstalling VorpX. It is also possible that we are missing a Rift specific step in the setup so maybe it is a good idea to also ask in the forums of VorpX. 

 

The settings was changed to 1280x1024 and I manually changed them to the resolution you mentioned above:

Now most things looks OK but my arms and weapons are gigantic and still no MO

 

Link to comment

MO - 1.3.11

VorpX - 17.2.1

 

About the giant hands - there are some ideas here. It was possible to fix them with a first person mod but after the last update those mods create problems with DirectVR. 

 

Hopefully some Rift user that have managed to setup VorpX and MO will give some ideas on the forum there.

Link to comment

Prinyo, are you using Skyrim SE or old Skyrim?

 

I'm using Oldrim. 

SSE works in a similar way with a small difference in the setup process. 

 

 

 

Since the Internal Resolution Upscale option in VorpX works only for DX9 games setting up SSE requires a change in the ini and adding a custom resolution to the graphic options of the PC. By default VorpX sets the resolution to 1280x1024 which is quite low. The best option is 1920x1440 but you need to add it to your graphic card options first before you can use it.

 

 

Link to comment

I gave up and created a copy of Skyrim that is managed by NMM - it works.

 

There are still issues - Giant hands and weapons - I guess I have to play with the fov-parameters.

 

1st person mods like "Joy of Perspective" have the problem that the high of the actor doesn't match the viewpoint heigh - my feets are under the ground.

 

Additionally the HUD does not match the to the scenery at all.

ENB does not work, neither wrapper nor injector. But with the help of SMIM, Purity and several HD res texture packs I don't miss ENB

 

There is much to do to get VR seamlessly and flawlessly running with Skyrim - but the visual impression is really really awesome.

Link to comment

Seems to work only with vive. No chance with oculus rift so far.

Anyway, since MO has been dropped by the developer I think nobody is willing spend any further effort in this issue.

 

So let's talk about best settings and ini tweaks...

 

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. For more information, see our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use