Any plans for FOVE support?

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  • #122465
    szeliga90
    Participant

    Hello Ralf,

    FOVE headset is available for pre-order now, and this week they offer 50$ off :) So… here is a question. Have You got any plans to support it with VorpX? Even without Eye-tracking support and foveated rendering. Higher native resolution selling this headset for me, but is really pointless to order it If I couldn’t use it with VorpX.

    #122470
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    The FOVE will likely work out of the box. If I understand it correctly, it works with SteamVR, so it should work with the vorpX configuration for Vive similar to other headsets that use SteamVR.

    All headset specific parameters that are used by vorpX like screen resolution for example are read from the runtime, so provided the FOVE sends the right values through the runtime (which almost certainly it does), it should just work.

    Whether vorpX may be able to utilize eye tracking in any way remains to be seen. One potential use would be controlling some parameters of the adaptive Z3D algorithm, but that’s just an idea, nothing more.

    #127115
    finstern
    Participant

    Hello Ralf,

    You will find everything you need for FOVE direct support here :
    https://www.getfove.com/developers/

    They have SDK, Unity and Unreal plugin, documentation, and of course you can join them.
    Here are the official specifications for this headset :

    Display :
    WQHD OLED (2560 X 1440)
    Frame rate: 70fps
    Field of view: Up to 100 degrees

    EYE TRACKING SENSORS
    Infrared eye tracking system x 2
    Tracking accuracy: less than 1 degree
    Frame rate: 120fps

    TRACKING SYSTEM :
    Orientation tracking IMU
    IR-based position tracking

    I tryed using it with vorpx but so far, my best luck was using VLC with movies (still havn’t understood how I managed that but it worked fine).
    Couldn’t start any game with it so far. I will try more..

    To be known, to use it with steam, you need their driver app to run but you stop the compositor to leave this job to steam vr.
    From what I understood, vorpx use it’s own compositor, right ?
    So how should it work to prevent conflicting compositor running at the same time ?
    Let’s say I want to start “Warhammer, end of time : vermintide”, so I start the vorpx application.. then double clic the application vermintide in steam.. in some case I have an error at launch, sometime it start but nothing happen.
    It start steam vrcompositor.exe , vrdashboard.exe, and vrserver.exe from what I can see.
    I could not use the desktop viewer also (say it’s already started but nothing happen).

    I have a triple screen setting, maybe it’s causing problem I don’t know, only application I could use with vorpx was videolan (VLC).

    Any help would be welcome here.

    #127119
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    Please try to disable all monitors except the main monitor. In case you have two graphics cards also try to disable the second and make sure that your main monitor and your headset are plugged into the same card. That is necessary since vorpX needs to run on the same GPU as the games.

    vorpX does not use its own compositor in SteamVR/Oculus mode. If the Fove has SteamVR support, vorpX should work with it.

    Provided the Fove can act as normal Windows monitor, you can also try the “Generic Headset (Extended Mode)”, although there wouldn’t be head tracking this way. This mode is normally meant for phone VR users with an external tracking solution.

    #127132
    finstern
    Participant

    Oh so that’s what the generic headset is for, I had difficulty understanding all the options I admit.

    Fove don’t work as a normal windows monitor, I use big screen for that, so far it worked for vlc when I used the htc desire mode, I will test your suggestion. I don’t own a second graphic card so it should be ok this way.

    About your suggestion to shutdown other monitors, I tested it just now and here is what happened

    error when launching vermintide

    But at least that was a progress because vorpX hooked to the game after it’s launch.

    I found out that steamVR compositor was unable to start, so since you said me vorpX use steamVR .. after fighting with win 10 desktop and windows moving out of the screen for some time, I finally managed to get it start, and have the game running in vorpX mode. Pfew ..
    I must say that when you finally manage to configure it perfectly, it’s mindblowing.. for a game totally not intended for VR gameplay, it’s just perfect, I even found awesome to be able to precisely target with my head, so mouse for general turn and you target precisely with your head .. it come naturally and I would hope any FPS work like that now.

    I Will try to get “Ghost In The Shell : First Assault” working (what other game could be more emblematic of VR than ghost in the shell ?) then work on arma3 (saw a config file already exist) the elder scrolls online.
    Then I will have a try at Star Citizen (saw people using config for occulus but since I’m not using an occulus).

    So in next post I try to write the steps I used to make it work.. hoping to ease the way for other users of Fove HMD.

    #127138
    finstern
    Participant

    A little step by step guide to use vorpX with a FOVE HMD

    So .. with FOVE VR HMD ..

    First .. preparation, you start here if you havn’t already visited this website : https://www.getfove.com/developers/
    Obviously, you need to be a registered member of the steamVR beta plugin so you register if you arn’t and hope they answer you fast, after what you will receive a steam key and be able to download the steamVR driver for FOVE.
    Of course you NEED the FOVE Setup, that’s the base driver and application needed for your HMD to work.
    I will leave it to you to make it work, first initialisation and configuration for the Fove and later for the steamVR .. yada yada it’s on your hands.
    Just know that for this “thing” to work, you need it to be aknowledged by your windows OS, so you go to your screen parameters and launch detection.. eventually it will find something but will not recognize it, damn. So you extend your desktop to this display, and slap any resolution, unimportant for now.. apply. It’s important to have your main display + this other display wich is your FOVE in this curent beta stage (microsoft have not received official drivers already).

    Second .. well, vorpX installed and ready to go, you don’t say ? >_>
    Nothing special here, you need to buy, download, install, activate, it’s done.
    Just know that for now, as stated by Ralf himself, it don’t work in a multi screen configuration so you have to shut down your dual or triple screen if you have one like me, only keep your main screen + Fove turned on.

    Third : those are the steps I found out to work, to start a game (here “Warhammer : Vermintide”) from Steam with SteamVR + vorpX

    A _ You Start the FOVE VR, you must STOP the FOVE compositor (disable autostar compositor) but the runtime must be started. It should show you a little info windows like that :
    Fove monitor

    B _ You Start SteamVR (clic the icon VR in your steam window : steamVR icon ) it should start the SteamVR monitor and you should be able to see the “grid room” in your FOVE HMD (+ your infrared camera should power on with a green led shown).

    SteamVR Monitor

    If it’s not and it tell you the compositor is unavaiable or whatever..

    SteamVR gone wrong

    I would suggest closing SteamVR in your detailed task manager, kill those process mercilessly (here, shown on a french windows 10, but you should find it on win8 or 7 too)
    taskmanager

    Then Restart SteamVR. It should initialize correctly this time.

    C _ This is the time to start vorpX, so .. well start it. At this point, it would work like any HTC Vive, vorpX don’t care at all. Remember to unset the built in audio device as the FOVE don’t have any, and set the “enable head tracking” for a real experience in your game.
    vorpX config

    D _ At this point as I said above, you just follow vorpX setup, it’s identical to a Vive

    Select HTC Vive device

    Then you start your game, it will warn you that the game isn’t VR ready, you don’t care and clic OK anyway, vorpX is here to change this little problem (here the warning is in french, but you will get the same in english or whatever your language, just clic ok).

    VR not ready warning

    If everything is ok, you will wait for various loading then your game will finally show in your HMD.

    I would suggest to change in-game key bindings as some key are common shortcut in most game and you will actually NEED it to configure your render in game, but that’s something only you can select. I would suggest getting rid of stereoscopic 3D view for a long gaming session but you can fine tune it in game, just follow the vorpX instructions.

    I hope this little guide help people using a Fove VR HMD, it worked for me so it’s perfectly compatible.

    #127186
    finstern
    Participant

    A little update as I pursued my investigations and learning.

    The step B is essentially used for steam games actually.
    For other games (mostly non steam games like The Elder Scrolls Online and other MMO, or game that were added to steam as a launcher but still have their own servers like teso, smite, ghost in the shell first assault..) you will need to NOT start SteamVR and let vorpX do it for you automatically when he need it.

    I managed to get non steam TESO, Ghost in the shell First Assault (nexxon servers) work this way.

    In a lot of cases, I found that changing the keybind for vorpX functionnality quite usefull as shift/alt/ctrl are widely used in a lot of mmo/fps.

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