Cybershoes Work with Vorpx!

[erised]

Hey Everyone,

Received my cybershoes yesterday (https://www.cybershoes.io/) and they work great with Vorpx out of the box (no additional config needed that I can see on your end Ralf). You must use the steamvr setting in Vorpx as Cybershoes configs only work with steamvr running.

One huge bonus about using cybershoes in vorpx – directional movement works (aka you walk in the direction the cybershoes move, not the HMD). What this means is we can gain a huge immersion feature normally included in only full blown VR games (walk in one direction and look around while maintaining direction of walking. In my opinion this is one of the best features of the cybershoes.

Lots of people ask if they can be used standing up and yes they can. They are extremely sturdy (think snowboard boot durability) and I think as long as you don’t weigh too much shouldn’t be at risk of damage as long as you aren’t jumping. There are two caveats using them standing:

1) they are slippery. Not quite as bad as the shoes for the virtuix omni but I am a well balanced person and I fell once last night trying this out. For this reason I think the only viable case to use them standing is with a harness to help maintain balance like traditional vr treadmills

2) The rollers are extremely precise and sensitive. The milisecond you stop moving a roller, the movement stops. What this means is if you stand, drag one of your feet to engage the roller and then attempt to switch to do the same with your left foot, the movement stops just like it would in real life if you took steps like that and then re-engages after the left roller starts moving. You can drag your foot back to engage the roller, lift off the foot (the roller keeps moving in this case for a short time) but this is extremely awkward. The best solution is like number 1 – have a traditional vr treadmill frame and harness so you can run in place normally.

I built myself a bowl like platform and vr harness a few years back so I will be setting them up this weekend to see if I can make a fully functional vr treadmill using the cybershoes. I am very optimistic.

Cheers
James

[Ralf]

Indeed, vorpX doesn’t have any extra code for Cybershoes. Out of curiosity: do the shoes come with their own mouse/keyboard mapping software or do they register as SteamVR controllers? In the the latter case vorpX’s VR controller to mouse/keyboard/gamepad mapper would probably kick in.

[erised]

The shoes register as a seperate vr controller alongside valve index, oculus touch, wmr controller etc. Once you install the cyberhsoes software, they show up in the custom bindings tab of steam vr (https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-custom-keybindings-steamvr).

The roller’s forward and backward functions are treated as joystick input with with three stages (walk, run and when the joystick hits the end of the virtual range, cybershoes can press a button down on a vr controller to allow sprinting) and via the custom keybindings in steamvr, can be mapped as the left(or right) joysticks/trackpads on a requisite vr controller such as vive wands or oculus touch. They cannot be mapped as keyboard/mouse and only to another vr controller. As vorpx allows input from vr controllers, cyberhsoes mapping to the vr controllers in turn allows the input into vorpx games as well it seems. The cybershoes devs are currently working on an optional software to allow mapping to keyboard as well.

The cybershoes software pulls the x/y position of the hmd and moves the joystick in the relative direction based on the direction they are facing compared to the hmd. As you move the hmd cybershoes polls and adjusts accordingly. Im assuming this is the same methodology used for direct movement in VR games based on controller direction, but this works much better as you can aim both controllers wherever you wish while walking.

Cybershoes do not work with any game that does not allow vr controller input (such as vanishing of ethan carter vr).

Cheers
James

[rustysalter]

Does this work well on Dark Souls 3 using the VR mod, or on Mordhau erised? Thanks

Using the first person mod, I played Dark Souls 3 in VR with the Oculus Rift.
by in darksouls3

[erised]

Hey RustySalter,

Wow I didn’t know that there was a first person DS3 mod!

I don’t own DS3 but I do own Mordhau (and will now add DS3 to my wishlist). Once I get my VR Treadmill re-setup (had to rebuild a portion of it unfortunately) I will be booting the shoes back up and I can try mordhau.

I don’t see why they wouldn’t work. Essentially any vorpx game that allows your vr controllers (index, touch etc) to work should work as the cybershoes emulate the vr controller. The game I tested it on yesterday was Metro Last Light Redux (both directvr mode on and off).

Cheers,
James

[Chris11115]

Could you please upload pictures of your VR setup once you are done? I am curious to see your selfmade alternative to sitting as I’ve also ordered the Cybershoes.

[erised]

Chris11115 wrote:

Could you please upload pictures of your VR setup once you are done? I am curious to see your selfmade alternative to sitting as I’ve also ordered the Cybershoes.

Sure – no problem. Aiming to have it rebuilt over the next day or two so will post a photo once done.

[erised]

So unfortunately it doesn’t look like I can upload photos directly to the forum – I also don’t have a online storage location setup for public access to post the photos.

Basically what I did is assemble a concave base from plywood and 2×4’s and layered carpet overtop. For a harness I build a support structure mirrored after the Kat VR (original model) using ABS plastic piping (extremely durable stuff) semi attached to my drop down ceiling and attached a climbing harness to it.

For the cybershoes, I ended up trying the full harness and it didn’t help as much as I had hoped. The carpet provided by cybershoes wasn’t slippery enough (nor the shoes) to allow in place slide walking in a natural fashion (aka virtuix omni) – I imagine the rollers wouldn’t work properly if it were. I ended up trying out a significant number of walking motions and found one that worked reasonably well standing up. It worked as well with the harness as without so I uninstalled the harness again, but left the base in place with the cyber shoes carpet over top. The concave base is really great at simulating motion and allowing more contact with the cybershoes rollers while walking in place.

One key is that you have to max the sensitivity on the slider of the cybershoes AND make sure you modify the profile for each game to use the “Trackpad” of the cybershoes, not the “Trackpad – Default”. Trackpad – default has about 30% less sensitivity than “Trackpad” setting and you need a lot of sensitivity in order to overcome the design requiring at least one of the rollers to be moving at all times to maintain fluid motion. The motion I found worked is a slight variation of the exact motion used for the cybershoes while sitting down – stepping a little forward and dragging the exaggerated kicking leg and lifting them off the ground one at a time before planting the foot and bringing the other leg up do the same thing. Hard to describe and still awkward, but after trying it for an hour I got much smoother at it and began feeling very immersed by the end. Combat is tricky but with practice should be fine.

One other thing to mention is that the cybershoes add half an inch to your height, so if you add running shoes on top it becomes awkward when walking/running, like moving in platform shoes. I just ended up strapping them to my socked feet and this was much more natural (felt like wearing stiff shoes/snowboard boots with rounded bottoms). The straps are extremly comfortable so didn’t experience too much comfort issues when doing this.

[rustysalter]

Thanks for the setup tips erised, that stuff is really handy to know. Can you strafe in any way by mapping buttons to controllers (+ is there a way to use controllers instead of the keyboard when you use cybershoes?) It’d be great to see some pics uploaded of your setup onto a google drive or onto IMGUR. The chair you have, is it flat based or one of the cheaper ones with a raised base?

If the concave platform works well an idea would be to suspend the concave platform by making a kind of pallet so that the base of the chair can rest underneath giving a flat ground directly underneath the feet. Is your harness a pole which is attached to the ceiling?

I also forgot to add that the Dark souls VR mod works for Dark souls 1, 2 and 3 if you have any of those versions of the game (or if its cheaper to buy them now probably $5-10 vs $20-40).

[erised]

The controller trackpad/stick can be used in conjunction/collaboration with cybershoes (both native vr games and Vorpx). So long as you select Trackpad or Trackpad – default in the cybershoes configuration, the shoes will automatically move you in the direction where the shoes are pointing relative to the HMD – what this means is you strafe by turning your hips into the direction you wish to strafe (essentially how humans strafe in real life, as we rarely take steps sideways).

Right now my setup is just the concave base in the middle of my vr room with a pulley system in the drop down ceiling for cable management. I’ll see if I can setup a public drop location for some photos, however the base I build is almost completely copied from this youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi5DU2JfRhU), I even built the same original harness (but since removed it).

I actually don’t have a dedicated cybershoes chair at all – I committed from the outset that I would get it to work standing. However if the standing simply couldnt’ work, I was planning on using the included hydraulic lift that comes with the shoes and a bicycle seat attached to my concave base (so flush with the “ground”)

Your idea for the concave platform plus chair would work, although in that case I would simple recommend simply drilling a hole into the concave base for the hydraulic lift as mentioned above.

Thanks for the dark souls info, I have the first so might try it out.

Cheers
James

[marcob]

Hi James. I have cybershoes too. Would tou please be able to share photos of tour setup and maybe some gameplay while using yoir setup?

Thanks

[Adil3tr]

VorpX needs to work with Natural Locomotion too. These forms of adaptive locomotion would go a long way to making VorpX a more fluid unmissable experience.

[erised]

marcob wrote:

Hi James. I have cybershoes too. Would tou please be able to share photos of tour setup and maybe some gameplay while using yoir setup?

Thanks

Sorry for late response – been renovating my VR Room the past few weeks. Due to these renovations, I don’t have everything setup for taking photos. However once I do get the room complete I’ll gladly post some photos and a video of some gameplay using vorpx and cybershoes.

[TheLastStarfighter]

$$$? Still worth the money?

[markbradley1982]

Adil3tr wrote:

VorpX needs to work with Natural Locomotion too. These forms of adaptive locomotion would go a long way to making VorpX a more fluid unmissable experience.

I thought VorpX already worked with Natural Locomotion because NL just binds the movement to keyboard, mouse, or vive wands?

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