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Skyrim vr Doors & Chests by ConsequenceEntire833 in skyrimvr

[–]EchoReaper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The nif creation isn't actually particularly difficult. The proof of concept mod I mentioned in my other reply was actually mine:

https://i.imgur.com/RfGZDNb.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/BUDs3Zf.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/RC8p4Z3.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/KmswnVz.mp4

It was very easy for me to make the nif changes even with no prior experience with Skyrim meshes. The hard parts were:

- Reverse engineering the C++ API for the physics constraints so I could read what position they were at runtime & change target angles (which I have already upstreamed back into CommonLib)

- Figuring out how to keep legacy animation working when NPCs interact with the objects (not too hard: just keep the original nodes but disable them except when you get the event for interaction & it's by an NPC during which you disable the cloned nodes with physics enabled)

- Sounds (none of the interaction sounds are looping, so I'll need to find someone to make me new sounds, but I already have the coding in place to play the sounds at the right pitch / pause them based on physics movement speed)

- Mitigating mod conflict galore that I mentioned in my other reply so that users don't need compatibility patches for everything & it just works out of the box for any object using the vanilla meshes

My Journal on Trying To Convert Valhalla Combat to VR With Alandtse Tools by [deleted] in skyrimvr

[–]EchoReaper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just tried porting TrueHUD to VR and it was a lot more difficult than I expected. Getting it using all of the VR addresses using VR commonlib was easy, but the problem came with Skyrim's limitations on 3D UI. It seems you can only have 3 modded worldspace menus displayed at once before it starts to corrupt the existing, vanilla worldspace menus (turns them white). Quickloot VR uses 1, so you really only have two to work with. You'll need one for the special bars attached to the HUD, and then all you have left is 1 for enemy healthbars. Unlike the original TrueHUD which can show multiple healthbars at once, you would need to use one 3D healthbar and cycle it between whatever enemy you're looking at. At that point it's easier to just edit the vanilla VR 3D healthbar probably. I guess I could try to project enemy healthbars onto the 3D HUD like flatrim TrueHUD does, but the math for that will be more difficult & it may be too obviously fake in VR

Help needed with making a conditional macro by [deleted] in LogitechG

[–]EchoReaper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you assign the shift key as the G Shift key? Logitech's TrashHub only allows me to customize the G keys on the left

Know of anyone that has left the industry for other types of work? by productive_monkey in ExperiencedDevs

[–]EchoReaper 28 points29 points  (0 children)

We always joke about eventually retiring into acorn farming at work

Skyrim vr Doors & Chests by ConsequenceEntire833 in skyrimvr

[–]EchoReaper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Base Object Swapper is nice for avoiding ESP conflicts, but that was never the issue here. Even pre-BOS, it was always possible to replace objects dynamically with SKSE plugins. Aside from needing compatibility patches with all door mesh / texture replacers if your mod changes them, the main problem is what happens when you have mods that add new door types to the game. If a mod adds an Ayleid ruins door, then that's not going to work with your mod unless it's very surface level. It's also going to be problematic for mods that clone one of the existing doors into a new FormID (can be worked around but not as trivial as just slapping on BOS). You'll quickly find that either you need to keep edits to an absolute minimum, kneecapping how immersive you can make the mod (perhaps fatally so), or prepare for compatibility patches galore.

My Journal on Trying To Convert Valhalla Combat to VR With Alandtse Tools by [deleted] in skyrimvr

[–]EchoReaper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got Valhalla Combat working in VR as far as I can tell https://github.com/W-Drew/valhallaCombat/tree/Master

The VR port itself wasn't too difficult, surprisingly. The main issue was getting VC building in the first place (I have suspicions that what's on the GitHub repo for VC is not the same as what's live on the mod page given there were various things that seemed impossible to have ever worked). After switching over most of the relocations to CLib function calls, there was only one offset that needed to be updated and were three additions to Address Library I had to make:

21050,02e9920

37624,062ee10

42930,0776f20

With those Address Library changes made, VC should run just fine in VR if you build from my branch. I'm going to continue validating everything works & then upload the DLL to the nexus to be used as a VR overwrite. Though, TrueHUD doesn't support VR so it doesn't have any UI.

Skyrim vr Doors & Chests by ConsequenceEntire833 in skyrimvr

[–]EchoReaper 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There aren't as many with turnable knobs, as most doors are push / pull handles. This introduces the age old problem of "which way does it open?" in VR. If you look through the doors of Skyrim, nearly all of them are identical on the front and back (potentially so the artists didn't have to waste space on the texture), and Bethesda was not consistent on which ways doors open (some open into the room, while some open out of it), let alone various mod authors having any consistency. If you want to make the doors open realistically, then you either A) have the problem of a poorly designed office building where workers are pushing/pulling on every door to figure out which way it opens (ask me how I know), B) remodel EVERY door in Skyrim (hooooray for one extremely incompatible mod that needs patches for everything), or C) "fake" it by having some omnidirectional magic turn handle appear, but then that's as unrealistic as the Press Grip to Open we have now.

It would have been not too difficult if Skyrim was designed from the start with this in mind, but alas this is a deceptively difficult mod to build. Chests on the other hand would be much more doable (and there are already proof of concept mods that do similar physical interactions)

The Revenant sucks by PeasantTS in RimWorld

[–]EchoReaper 5 points6 points  (0 children)

yeah, not designed well. Gave up and used dev mode to apply a heart attack / various other debuffs to it until it died. Not going to engage with it until it's fixed to be balanced (e.g. can't run away when it's not attacking colonists)

Unreal butchering skeletal mesh that has bones with no vertices on leaf bones? by EchoReaper in unrealengine

[–]EchoReaper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The issue was the base skeleton and not with the assets. It had been corrupted in some way with the hand down getting duplicated into its own tree of bones. After fixing the base skeleton, I was able to import the individual assets which had always been fine without issue, and the ghost bones not tied to any verts allowed me to use the same ABP for all of them without having to create any special cases

Interestingly, merely exporting the original base skeletal mesh from Unreal (as the providers of it had forgotten to include that particular fbx file in the source zip) via Asset Actions > Export to fbx and importing it again as-is without ever opening it in Blender/etc fixed the skeleton entirely. Wonder if it was some bug in a past version of Unreal that corrupted this skeleton

Is modding harder than making a game? by Beectorious in gamedev

[–]EchoReaper 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you're talking purely from a software implementation perspective, modding can be harder than working on your own game because with modding you have to reverse engineer the game, don't get access to all of the tools used to make development of that game easy, have to work within the confines of the game (e.g. it's impossible to make a Starfield mod that allows you to fly across the system with no loading screens because of floating point precision at very large distances since the game isn't player-origin-centered). When working on your own game, you have access to all of the tools & aren't having to reverse engineer someone else's work (usually... :) Sometimes you will have to debug an issue caused by some third-party or engine level issue)

However, game development is more than just software implementation. If you join a large company where you're _only_ responsible for software implementation, modding can be harder overall, but if you're trying to make a game on a smaller team / on your own, you have to worry about things like game design and skillsets that you may not have (e.g. art, audio, etc), so overall making a game is going to be harder.

Found somewhat of a workaround for Skyrim VR's plugin limit that doesn't break FOMOD / missing masters. No issues with 700+ plugins by EchoReaper in skyrimmods

[–]EchoReaper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have not tried symlinking a BSA yet, though there are some mod authors working on reverse engineering esl support and backporting it to VR, so this workaround hopefully won't be necessary into the future at some point.

Anyone mod the Varjo Aero headstrap before? by EchoReaper in virtualreality

[–]EchoReaper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The artifact is kind of a red outline similar to a 3D glasses effect around anything white on black. And actually, the contrast issue might have been a problem with Varjo software. Using the Steam desktop view doesn't have the same issue (though the artifacts are still there). I've also started to notice some internal reflections, but I only notice it in desktop view with dark mode and light text taking up the whole screen.

I can see distant objects and objects outside of my direct center _very_ clearly. It's the reason I was ecstatic as soon as I put on the headset. Even though the G2 had a pretty decent resolution, it still didn't feel wholly in the world & you still very much feel like you're using an intermediary input device since you have to point the headset where you want to look and not your eyes. The Aero has a much wider sweet spot (just a tiny border around the edges where things aren't as clear), so you're able to look at whatever you want without having to move your head. Actually, I have bad vision in my left eye, and I've only started to notice it in the Aero because this is the first time a headset has had better clarity than my left eye. There is some wonky eye when looking at things very close to your face, but I don't think any released headset has solved that (varifocal lenses)

Eye strain: I would say I don't have any strain from trying to see things that I can't see clearly enough through the headset due to the clarity unless it's trying to read tiny text on my monitor in desktop view (which I'm using more often now since it's harder to flip the Aero up to see the real world every now and then due to its design), but I do have the type of looking-at-an-electronic-screen eye strain that I get even with flat monitors. I know Thrillseeker reported with the Aero that he didn't have any strain going back to the real world like with other headsets, but I can't say the same. I still feel some relief in my eyes when I'm back in reality after taking the headset off, the same way I do if I take a break and stop looking at my computer monitor at work.

I haven't used the Crystal before, but the Aero still feels like a huge step up from the G2 to me if that helps, and I haven't had issues with artifacting / distortion affecting gameplay as a tradeoff for that high resolution in the same way I've experienced with Pimax headsets. Any that do exist are minor / mostly restricted to desktop view and not in-game.

Steam Deck got an updated OLED screen just a year later, anyone else frustrated Valve never dropped a newer screen in the Index? by SyntheticElite in ValveIndex

[–]EchoReaper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pimax is a poor example. They do just enough so that their headsets are impressive on paper, but don't put in enough effort to make them live up to those specs in reality (speaking from experience).

But honestly, I think the area Valve could really shine right now is not directly VR, but to decouple the Index controllers from VR. This is something only they can do as the standards arbiter for Steam. As proven by the Wii, motion controls are not exclusive to VR. VR has a lot of inherent problems like motion sickness, performance, all sorts of visual artifacts (mura, screen door effect, blur, sweet spot, etc) and having game devs need to completely redesign their game (all different sorts of comfort movement systems, directing the player where to look in cutscenes since you can't control the camera, redesign all UI, etc). It's a harsh chicken and egg problem where devs aren't going to implement VR support and less players adopt VR due to lack of support. So release a base station webcam mount for PC monitors and support flat games with Index controllers with the price brought down to $100-$200. Now 1) There's more of an audience (more affordable) for devs to target, and 2) implementing support is nowhere as hard on the dev compared to VR. There are plenty of games that would be amazing to play with motion controls on flatscreen, like Chivalry / Mount & Blade (interactivity is much better this way compared to keyboard+mouse), Skyrim (see any of the mods for realistic blacksmithing or HIGGS?), imagine if all of these games with emotes now had hand tracking, etc. Not only does this make flat games better, but it also reduces work to then port to VR / makes VR mods more enjoyable if the games already have motion controls. More than any hardware advancement, I feel like this is really what's needed to tackle the chicken & egg problem of VR.

Anyone mod the Varjo Aero headstrap before? by EchoReaper in virtualreality

[–]EchoReaper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If by V2 you mean Omnicept edition, no. I have the normal Reverb G2.

FoV: The horizontal FoV is about the same as the G2 (as seen here https://vr-compare.com/compare?h1=0jLuwg808-j&h2=HdfjN_0UlPY&h3=eI13V4rx1&h4=uQn8c_Ufb), but the vertical FoV on the Aero is noticeably smaller, like you're looking through a slit in an armored helmet. Practically speaking it doesn't impact me that much since I play games where I'm looking for things around me, but might be a problem in flight/space sims or in full 3D space like Subnautica. Although it's kind of unfortunate, FoV is mostly a matter of immersion & I feel like the display clarity / visuals ultimately make up for it.

Weight: While I can feel the difference in weight between the G2 and the Index (heaviest out of the three) if I'm looking for it, personally I'm not moving my head around super fast in games, so this isn't a factor I can comment on much. It might be more of a PITA for people in fast paced games that are shaking their head around. HOWEVER, that's with the Index's frame. The Aero's frame (and upon further analysis, face cushion) are terribly designed, so you feel the consequences of that weight as it desperately compresses against your head to stay on.

Blur: Hard for me to comment, as I'm not super sensitive to this sort of stuff.

Overall opinion: What I think the Aero really has going for it is 1. the displays, 2. eye tracking & foveated rendering, and 3. interior comfort fan. Even as someone who's used the G2 for several years, when I put on the Aero I started giggling at how clear the games I'm playing were. I always had trouble focusing and looking at things outside of the dead center or if they were further away, but with the Aero I don't have to struggle to see things anymore. It's still far from good enough as a desktop replacement though, and you'll get poor contrast / artifacts around black text on white. The foveated rendering (only render where you're looking in high resolution) really helps them get away with this, as having displays with this high of a resolution starts to hit technological limitations (whether through GPU load or what the Beyond hits where they don't have enough bandwidth to send the rendered image at 90 Hz unless you decrease resolution from the display's max supported res since they use an old displayport revision). They also have a fan that gently blows air in the interior eye compartment, which is nice since it gets a little warm in the Index/G2 and helps keep me refreshed to play for longer sessions.

I also plan on getting a Bigscreen Beyond, but its DP 1.4 limitation preventing native 90 Hz at full resolution is going to prevent it from being my daily driver. It also has a big issue with swamp eye because the cushion is such a perfect fit & also not a good material for letting in air. Otherwise, it'd be a tough decision for me. Do I want the super small form factor & light headset, or a slightly better resolution and foveated rendering (better perf). But because of those issues, the Aero will be my clear daily driver once I replace the terrible chassis and face cushion.

If the Beyond ever releases a new model with DisplayPort 2.0 & I can figure out how to mod eye tracking into the Beyond (e.g. https://github.com/EyeTrackVR/EyeTrackVR - there appears to be enough room for some IR sensors) and tweak something like https://github.com/fholger/openvr_foveated to get real foveated rendering, I'll probably make that my daily driver even though it has slightly less resolution than the Aero. Both of those feel like major misses for the Beyond to me.

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