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Oculus Rift - The Dark Mod - Vorpx


BuckleBean

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I don't know this stuff, but I wonder if some of those issues could have a solution in the TDM code, a branch with a VR mode for now maybe.

 

But if opengl is in & expected to get updated, maybe it's better to wait and that'd be better in the end. Or maybe a mix of both fix some & wait for some. I shouldn't prejudge the source of the problems.

 

This is great news in any event!

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What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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I don't know this stuff, but I wonder if some of those issues could have a solution in the TDM code, a branch with a VR mode for now maybe.

 

But if opengl is in & expected to get updated, maybe it's better to wait and that'd be better in the end. Or maybe a mix of both fix some & wait for some. I shouldn't prejudge the source of the problems.

 

This is great news in any event!

Without a doubt, native support would trump injection drivers in every way. I've seen it discussed here a few times. Someone has gotten Doom 3 working and suggested that his changes on github could be merged with TDM code: https://forums.oculus.com/viewtopic.php?t=12695. I took a look at that and learned it was beyond my abilities.

 

But yes, opengl is now in with vorpx. When/if it gets updated, is totally up in the air. Based on comments from the vorpx dev, it sounds like it's a game-by-game basis, so it remains a mystery. There's also vireio, which is free and open source. They have not yet confirmed opengl support, but have teased a big announcement soon. We shall see.

 

But essentially with these things, as long as a handful of these variables can be tweaked, we should be able to get things set up rather comfortably. The FOV issue is pretty much sorted out. Regarding framerate, my understanding is that it would be pretty damn near impossible to get the game working at 60+ fps without breaking things. The async timewarp present in the vorpx code does a great job compensating for this, though. I'm actually very pleased with the results. Before this update, anything sub-75fps would look like a vomit-inducing, stuttering, flip book. Oculus has plans to incorporate it into their sdk at some point, IIRC. I don't think there's any way to get proper 3D unfortunately unless the vorpx dev creates a profile.

 

Still, TDM on the rift is a remarkable experience even at this bare-bones level.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The grandaddy of contests dropped by right in the middle of our Halloween contest if you're curious for something to play. I agree I'd love to try an FM on the Rift too.

What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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  • 1 month later...

Progress update: some good news & some bad news.

 

The good news is I've gotten the game to display in 3D with positional tracking by using a little trick to force the game to utilize a profile designed for a different game. In this case, Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force. This has the obvious drawback of not being tailored to the game's specific issues, so there may be some 3D-related graphical anomalies. I was inspired by this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/3xhtti/prey_in_vr_using_vorpx_looks_so_good_i_cant/. The way to do this is to rename the TDM executable to stvoy.exe. This method is hit or miss, more often a miss, but I was happy to see it work in this case.

 

The bad news is that with Geometry 3D enabled, the game is forcing the framerate to hover around 31, or about half of the normal cap even with all gfx settings as low as possible (minus resolution). This suggested to me to be vsync related, but no matter what vsync setting I chose (both in game & in the nvidia control panel), I could not get this cap lifted by that method. I think it could be tied to the game engine somehow. I dug around online and re-discovered this thread for unlocking framerate: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/15255-graphics-stuttering-solution/. This worked, but it was wildly variable & caused the speed of the game to be all out of whack & inconsistent. It was a more comfortable visual experience, but really screwed up play-ability. Even with the game locked to 31fps, the headtracking is still at 75fps due to async timewarp, so it's not out of the question for some. I can't stress enough what a world of difference this is compared to how things used to be without async timewarp. Previously, it would be considered impossible or unplayable. With this, I bet there are a small number of folks who would find it acceptable. Sadly, it's not quite enough for my taste. This is a situation of trade-offs and at this point, I will likely forgo natural-looking 3D & positional tracking for a better, more consistent framerate. I may try lowering the resolution to see if I can get any further performance gains so that the fps is always 60+, unlock the framerate with the console command detailed in the post above, and then use rivatuner to cap it at 60. I'm not sure if this'll work, but it may be worth a try.

 

As an aside, it was very much worth experiencing the game in full 3D, even if just for a short time. Actually leaning to see around corners was a trip! Using the bow, you need to close one eye to properly aim. It's such a beautiful game, the lighting in particular frequently takes my breath away. Whether or not TDM ever gets "full support," I'm confident that it's just a matter of time before someone figures out that this formula is a perfect fit for VR & comes up with something great.

 

Some other notes:

 

On a whim, I tried using the nvidia 3d vision wrapper found here: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/835038/3d-vision/the-darkmod-3d-vision-opengl3dvision-wrapper/. I was able to get the title screen to display on my monitor in SBS mode, but it crashed to desktop when trying to launch a mission. It may be another avenue worth exploring with the right settings tweaked.

 

Some additional info: setting the resolution to 1600x1800 does not seem to impact performance with 3D disabled, but provides a nice boost in picture quality, especially because I have AA disabled. AA kills performance for me even on my monitor. Bumping the resolution any higher and I started to see my fps drop. I also found that zooming the image out to 0.92 in the vorpx settings further reduced the fov warping. This setting will likely be user dependent to slight varying degrees, because stuff like how tight you wear the HMD or how you have the lenses dialed (in or out) will have a minor perceivable impact on fov.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I want to buy an Oculus Rift (or any other VR device) once they hit the market and I can afford such. TDM is by far one of the engines I would love to use it with! Please make this happen at last :)

 

Also, for users who don't have an actual VR device, it would be nice if basic anaglyph stereoscopy could be implemented as well (for normal monitors and red-cyan glasses). It's a lot more ugly I know, but surely enough works when you don't have better hardware... I use it a lot in Minecraft and it's awesome.

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As an aside, it was very much worth experiencing the game in full 3D, even if just for a short time. Actually leaning to see around corners was a trip! Using the bow, you need to close one eye to properly aim. It's such a beautiful game, the lighting in particular frequently takes my breath away. Whether or not TDM ever gets "full support," I'm confident that it's just a matter of time before someone figures out that this formula is a perfect fit for VR & comes up with something great.

That is so awesome. Damn, I still didn't understand a percent of what you're saying, but all my fingers crossed for you. Please keep up this great work.

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Thanks for the tips bucklebean.

It worked well using your first method, but alas only 2D. I then tried your star trek method with geometry 3d and was surprised to have no problem with framerate. Unfortunately, I could not get the FOV right, it was a distorted mess (very stretched horizontally). I fought with the resolution and aspect ratios, but the only thing that fixed it was to lower the zoom level in the vorpx menu to 0.6. That removed the bad warping, but resulted in a letter-box view. I'll give it another shot tomorrow when I'm fresh.

 

[edit] just noticed that: seta r_mode "-1" keeps resetting itself to seta r_mode "3"

could that be problem?

 

[edit] Problem solved! I missed the part where the custom resolution also had to be applied to the nvidia control panel, not just the darkmod.cfg file (this also stopped r_mode from reverting).

It looks great now! Now I'm going to be late for work...

Edited by grodenglaive
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@ Nico - it's my pleasure. TDM in VR (or something like it) is pretty much all I'd ever need to justify buying one of these devices. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

@ grodenglaive - glad it's working for you. FOV is tricky. I did not need to apply the custom resolution in the Nvidia control panel, though that's what's recommended. I can't get that to work on my system for some reason, but just editing the .ini files works for me. Another option would be to try the game in windowed mode, but since you got it sorted, no need to mess around more. Having the custom resolution with the 8:9 aspect ratio, coupled with the r_fovratio setting, should get you most of the way there. I may have forgotten to mention that, along with these settings, I'm using Pixel 1:1 in the vorpx menu and I've lowered the zoom level in the to .92 & it's damn near perfect. No letter-boxing and the warping is almost imperceptible. I've also noticed that at this aspect ratio I prefer edge-peek to be zoomed all the way in. Works great for reading notes, etc... And be careful changing the 3D setting. Z3D & Z-Adaptive don't work and completely scramble the screen, so you can't see anything in order to change it back.

 

I'm jealous of your lack of framerate issues. Mind sharing your specs? See mine below. Are you hitting a solid 75fps or locking in to 60fps and relying on timewarp for a comfy experience? I'd be curious to know if there's anything I could tweak to get it stable. Could also be the particular mission I'm running.

 

My specs:

Win10x64

GTX 980sc

2500k @ 4.4ghz

16GB RAM

 

Another random aside, I was playing Dishonored in VR the other day and was reflecting on the fact that I spend the vast majority of my time in these games crouching. And wouldn't you know it, my height in-game just about lines up with my height in meat space when I'm sitting at my desk. Another reason stealth games work well in VR, at least as a seated experience. Once we get room-scale & beyond, I'm not sure my legs are going to be up for long sessions of crouch-walking around my office for any great length of time. : ) Though, I must say, this stealth game looks badass: http://uploadvr.com/hands-on-neat-budget-cuts/

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Oh, I meant to say that I have placed my order for the consumer version of the Rift & plan to keep at this when I get it. I'm still waiting for pricing on the Vive. I'm not sure I can justify the expense, especially if it approaches $1000 or beyond.

 

I expect the new hardware will introduce new challenges, but that's part of the fun. : )

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  • 2 weeks later...

sorry for the late reply - I thought I had subscribed to this thread.

 

According to Fraps, I'm locked at 75 fps. Gameplay is smooth most of the time, but I have run into the occasional area where there is judder (mostly outdoors). I turned v-sync OFF in the game, but set to ON in the control panel. When I set up the game I had my desktop set at a custom 1280x1440 @75 Hz. Without that I couldn't get the aspect ratio to stick. Oddly enough, I don't need to keep my desktop at this setting to run the game - it was only needed for the initial setup.

 

Coincidentally, I also settled on 0.92 zoom, so we must be doing something right! Also using 1:1 pixel in vorpx and r_fovRatio is 0.889 in the cfg.

After a lot of fiddling, I lowered the 3D separation to 0.26. People look the most natural now (at 1.0 everything looked small). This setting seems to be analogous to a slider for IPD, so ymmv (mine is only 58 mm). The actual IPD setting in vorpx doesn't do anything.

 

my specs: Win7x64; 4670k @4.2 GHz; gtx 780Ti; 16 GB ram @2133 Mhz

 

Turning off post processing fixed the lighting anomalies due to bloom and now everything looks fantastic. The only issue left is the skybox - the moon and stars are only about 10 feet away, so don't look up. I played Crucible of Omens all weekend; it is excellent!

 

Looking forward to the consumer Rift as well - should be fun. I'm sure Ralph will be quick to update vorpx.

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@ Hiradur - Thanks so much! This looks great. Sound is soooo important for an experience like this.

 

@ grodenglaive - no worries on the late reply. There's no real urgency. My main hope is that some folks will be able to take what I've done and further refine (or expand upon) a process for a good set up, like you've done. I've been distracted lately by early splinter cell games for some odd reason. I'm still very jealous of your framerate. Aside from your better processor & higher clocked ram, the main difference I see is your ability to set your monitor's refresh rate to 75. My monitor is 144hz, but has discrete options to do 60, 85, 100, 120, & 144. It will not accept a custom setting of 75, so I simply cannot test. I'm going to set it to 60 & see where that gets me. If TDM is highly processor dependent, that could also be cause for fps struggles, though my 2500k does quite well in most games.

 

Anyway, keep at it. Crucible of Omens is next on my list.

 

EDIT: Locking my monitor's refresh rate to 60 had no impact.

Edited by BuckleBean
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I just tried it. I'm happy to report that the positional audio works not only when rotating your avatar with your mouse/stick, but also when just turning your head. Very nice!

Btw when writing the batch file to test the OpenAL installation, don't forget to rename TheDarkMod.exe to stvoy.exe if you changed that for vorpx. It took me awhile to realize that.

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I also just tried HTRF audio and it's a phenomenal difference. Thanks so much for the suggestion. I tested it by continuously dropping a guard down a flight of stairs and turning my head from side to side while listening to him fall. These guys sure take a lot of abuse. : )

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I'm happy you guys enjoy playing with HRTF.

I'd love to get my hands on a VR device but so far I couldn't decide which one I should take and if it's not a bit too early to jump on the train, in particular since I'm more of a Linux guy.

I made some experiments with Trinus Gyre (now called Trinus VR) and Google Cardboard a year ago but it was a hassle to setup, and the quality of Google Cardboard is too low to give any kind of enjoyable experience.

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