A desperate plea to the Devs - add HTC Vive support!

[fletcherkildren]

I just got my Vive and one of the demos is called Longbow:

 

When I first fired up this demo, my very first thought was "THIS is how Thief games should be played!" From leaning over the parapets to shoot the marauders to leaning over to set my arrows on fire to the haptic feedback of the controllers that made it feel like I was pulling on the string - it was incredible. I'm convinced that room scale sneaking around, ducking behind barrels,leaning around corners, using the controllers as bow / sword / lockpicks - it IS how Thief should be... Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go practice my bow skills.

[Spooks]

If you're looking for TDM in VR, http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/17501-oculus-rift-the-dark-mod-vorpx/page-2?do=findComment&comment=388585 would be a nice place to start! I think TDM's pretty far away from being able to use motion controls for sword swings and bow draws, but at least getting it to run should be satisfactory for now.

[grayman]

Pretty nice!

[brethren]

Interesting demo, but TDM (and Thief) usually aren't so action or combat based. At least, I don't think that's how most people play. I'd say on average, a player probably only uses their bow 3-5 times per mission, if that. So this type of elaborate setup doesn't' seem worth it. It's probably better for a game like Far Cry or Crysis where you're using the bow on a more consistent basis.

[Destined]

But it would still be nice for other weapons. Who wouldn't have wanted to actually blackjack the annoying guard that keeps spotting you

[demagogue]

I think somebody's going to need to make a branch version for VR anyway to tweak the gui and other things for it. So they'll have the chance to experiment with mechanics like this while they're at it too, if they're up to doing all the work.

[fletcherkildren]

I think somebody's going to need to make a branch version for VR anyway to tweak the gui and other things for it. So they'll have the chance to experiment with mechanics like this while they're at it too, if they're up to doing all the work.

 

If anyone needs a playtester for that, contact me!

[AluminumHaste]

I just got my Vive and one of the demos is called Longbow:

 

When I first fired up this demo, my very first thought was "THIS is how Thief games should be played!" From leaning over the parapets to shoot the marauders to leaning over to set my arrows on fire to the haptic feedback of the controllers that made it feel like I was pulling on the string - it was incredible. I'm convinced that room scale sneaking around, ducking behind barrels,leaning around corners, using the controllers as bow / sword / lockpicks - it IS how Thief should be... Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go practice my bow skills.

 

A good first place to start would be to purchase a Vive and send it to one of the people who code for TDM.

[MirceaKitsune]

My only objection is that I don't think developers should have to implement support for specific headsets, but a generic implementation for all VR devices. At least to my ears, saying "implement support for the HTC Vive" is the same as saying "implement support for this model of A4Tech keyboard" or "implement support for that LG monitor". Ideally VR headsets are be detected by the OS as a monitor + an input device like mice and tablets (the head tracking), which should mean that side-by-side stereoscopic rendering and proper mapping of the head rotation should do the trick for any headset type.

[woah]

This is the first thing that came to mind when I played Longbow too. Likewise with the spy game Budget Cuts. There are so many things about Thief that make VR + motion controller support a must. I don't expect that we'll see it in this mod because implementing it is a lot of work, but I really want to see a VR Thief game some day.

 

 

 

My only objection is that I don't think developers should have to implement support for specific headsets, but a generic implementation for all VR devices.

 

My understanding is that if developers use Valve's OpenVR API, then it should work for other headsets too: "The OpenVR API provides a game with a way to interact with Virtual Reality displays without relying on a specific hardware vendor's SDK. It can be updated independently of the game to add support for new hardware or software updates."

[MirceaKitsune]

Especially considering the FOSS nature of TheDarkMod, I'd suggest adding support for OSVR instead. I understand it aims to become an open common architecture for VR headsets, so it sounds like the right way to go! If the Vive and Oculus will refuse to support it because their proprietary modes are too fancy, that shall be their loss.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Virtual_Reality

Edited June 15, 2016 by MirceaKitsune

[wesp5]

My understanding is that if developers use Valve's OpenVR API, then it should work for other headsets too: "The OpenVR API provides a game with a way to interact with Virtual Reality displays without relying on a specific hardware vendor's SDK. It can be updated independently of the game to add support for new hardware or software updates."

Yeah, you probably only need to install Steam to use it which expands Valves monopoly into the VR area as well...