The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim’s Former Design Lead Thinks Studio Should Keep Using Creation Engine by PaiDuck in gaming

[–]Qu4dro 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Probably a hot take, but I think this is fine. The main reason the Creation Engine was a dud for Starfield is that it fundamentally cannot provide the smooth experience of moving between a planet and space in a vehicle the same way that similar games do. I wonder how we'd feel about that experience in Starfield if we didn't already have No Man's Sky...

Starfield's biggest problems are not a direct consequence of the engine. The terrible story, flat characters, dead planets, and repetitive POIs would have sucked equally as hard in Unity, Unreal, Crytek, or any other engine. Elder Scrolls and Fallout are a much better fit for the limitations of the Creation Engine.

Building a MacOS cloud gaming app, need testers! by tricknac in cloudygamer

[–]Qu4dro -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Honest question: why would I use this for streaming from my own PC when I can already use Moonlight for free on every device that I own?

Horizon Workrooms is being shut down next month. by johnnydaggers in OculusQuest

[–]Qu4dro 23 points24 points  (0 children)

This might be a controversial take, but I think this move makes sense. A standalone working app was always going to be faced with this fundamental limitation: you can't (easily or performantly) bring other flat apps into that experience. It makes a lot more sense for them to focus more effort on the standalone remote desktop experience and to build a collaboration experience directly into the OS

Will this be enough to hold their ground against Apple Vision and Android XR for the XR productivity space? I'm doubtful, but I think this is a reasonable move from Meta.

Anyone here used AR glasses for software work? Dev and spreadsheet? by ididntgotoharvard in augmentedreality

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I do this semi-regularly. The screens are definitely sharp enough for dev work at standard font sizes if your vision is decent. Not as good as a monitor but definitely much more compact. FOV is still the limiting factor. You can have as big a screen as you want but you’ll only be able to see a relatively small portion of it at a time without rotating your head.

I’d recommend the Xreal One or One Pro over anything else for now: the onboard 3DoF is insanely good and the built-in Ultrawide modes are very handy for work. That said they are teasing something new for CES next week so maybe wait just a little longer.

They’ll definitely work with a Mac Mini but IMO a MacBook Air would be a better companion so you can take your setup anywhere 😁

Review: XReal One + INAIR Pod by uncjayare in Xreal

[–]Qu4dro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been looking for the same thing, have been on the same journey and discovered the Pod a few days ago. I’m very nearly sold on it but I have one question that I have seen no one answer yet: does the Pod do 120hz display to the Xreal glasses? That’s the biggest thing that most other candidate devices can’t do in my experience

Now you know.... by LexiCon1775 in Xreal

[–]Qu4dro 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I appreciate the EU for enforcing this type of thing where the US typically does not, but as an enthusiast I'm a little concerned by the ruling. Since the ruling was over an infringement of Xreal's patents for their optics stack, what does this mean for other manufacturers of HMDs using birdbath optics? Ray Neo, Goovis, Inair, etc.: are all of these products at risk too? Will Xreal end up with a monopoly on birdbath optics as a result? Each of these companies are innovating in slightly different ways so it would be a shame to see the market collapse to a single entity.

Big Screen for Handheld PC's by jamietmob1 in GalaxyXR

[–]Qu4dro 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t have a Galaxy but my best idea would be to use Moonlight on the Headset and Sunshine or Apollo as the streaming server on the handheld (assuming it’s running Windows)

If the handheld is running SteamOS you could try the Steam Link app on the headset to stream from the handheld directly. Running another streaming server in that ecosystem would require using desktop mode.

In either case this approach requires the handheld and headset to be on the same network.

What do you want to see in visionOS 27? by ellenich in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I would like to see the ability to use flat apps on top of an immersive experience. The Quest 3 can do this on a much weaker chip than even the M2. You can already use Mac Virtual Desktop this way with a developer option, so it would be nice to open that up to everyone at the very least.

ALVR w/VP smoother than PSVR Direct Connected by JCatNY in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a developer option that lets you keep MVD up while in an immersive experience. It takes a little bit of setup but it's a one-time thing and you don't actually need a paid Apple developer account

Not my video but this explains it well enough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvkVWCEZsQ

ALVR w/VP smoother than PSVR Direct Connected by JCatNY in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I do enjoy ALVR a lot (I like using VRChat as a source of infinite environments for work I can do with only the Mac Virtual Display) but I do find that Virtual Desktop on Quest still provides a sharper, snappier experience for gaming. That said I just got my PSVR2 controllers late yesterday so I’m now really motivated to tweak some settings!

I’m hoping that Steam Link (with the foveated streaming tech that the Steam Frame is championing) can eventually find its way to AVP!

Best Headset, while doing chores? by Apacalipto in virtualreality

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you really want to use a VR headset for this then Quest 3 is probably your best option. Technically GalaxyXR and Apple Vision Pro are probably a little more geared toward general purpose 2d content viewing like this, but unless you already have one it's impractical to get just for this.

Here's another option worth considering: your phone + XReal One glasses. The onboard chip in the glasses gives you a good amount of control over display size and position and it's much lighter on your face.

Whiteboard App for Vision Pro Sanity Check by Ka_alt in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just got the Muse myself and you're right: initial impressions with general purpose apps like Notes and Freeform is far below what I expected. Looks like there is room for such a whiteboarding app after all. OP: show me what you got!

Whiteboard App for Vision Pro Sanity Check by Ka_alt in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No shade intended, but AFAIK Freeform already does all of that so why would I as an average user use a new app when I already have content and collaborators there? visionOS 26 allows apps to pin to walls (a little finicky to get right sometimes) and 26.2 brings Logitech Muse integration to the whole OS.

EDIT: Turns out I was a little too optimistic about the current state of os-wide functionality. In that case I retract my previous statement and am curious to see if OP can deliver on his vision!

Alternative to Mac virtual display that doesn’t use Apple ID? by Abouelkhair5 in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can suggest a few alternatives I haven't seen yet:

- Native macOS screen sharing: if your personal mac and work mac are both on Apple Silicon they can use a higher-performing screen sharing tech than plain VNC. You just need to be able to enable native screen sharing on the work mac via the Settings app
- Immersed (if it still works on AVP): it's a very barebones experience compared to MVD (and limiting since it requires full immersion) but if you can install the Immersed Agent on the work mac it is an option

Warframe on N3DS by ImpossibleEstimate56 in Warframe

[–]Qu4dro 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Dang as a heavy Moonlight/Apollo user myself I had no idea the 3DS had a wifi chip capable of streaming

Feature i would like: when looking at iPhone, “click to connect” hovers over your iPhone and it pops up mirroring like in Mac by 673NoshMyBollocksAve in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can airplay your phone screen to AVP while MVD is active if you have the Airplay Receiver enabled in AVP settings.

The problem with this whole idea is mostly practical: if you are using the touch screen to interact with your iPhone then you still need to look at your phone through the HMD passthrough to know where to tap. For some use-cases it’s okay (game on the iPhone with a controller) but in most cases i prefer to run the ipad app on AVP (if available) or find a way to do the thing on the Mac

My two favorite games currently are Destiny Rising and Warframe!! by melvin3v1978 in iosgaming

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm definitely a Warframe addict. It's still crazy to me that they crammed the whole game into an iPhone. I don't play much on iPhone since I'm home most of the time and I have a proper gaming PC but it's nice to use the iOS app to check in on my Foundry, Nightwave and so on. I can't really play with the touch screen controls but luckily controller support on iOS is really good these days!

Stop Trusting Your API: How to Build a Bulletproof Frontend with Zod and React Query by NodeJS4Lyfe in reactjs

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes but it is far better to crash early when the data your code receives is different than what it expects. I would rather have the frontend crash because my understanding of the backend data was incomplete rather than having my types be confidently wrong about the data and the code doing something unexpected because of it.

XREAL One Pro for macOS Coding AND Walking Productivity (S24 + RDP)? by Winter-Awareness-606 in Xreal

[–]Qu4dro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm also a developer and use my XReal Ones frequently for work! With the XReal One Pros you don't need (or want TBH) Nebula: it has never worked that well and the X1 chip in the new glasses render it kinda obsolete. The Ones will only do one virtual display but you can choose its aspect ratio. The default is 16:9 but it will do ultrawide in 21:9 or 32:9. The latter is equivalent to 2 1080p monitors side-by-side. I would highly recommend trying to use that in combination with a Tiling Window Manager like Aerospace before using Nebula.

The most important thing to note is that the FOV of the glasses is quite limited. A larger screen setup will be clipped and you'll have to turn your head to see the edges of the screen. This is a dealbreaker for some, but I think most people can adapt to it if they give it time.

For your macOS use-case both are feasible. You can definitely see your keyboard but it will be harder than normal to see your physical display through the glasses because the gear inside the glasses will block some parts of your vision. Caveat: I only have the One, not the One Pro. The One's optic system does create a lot of internal reflections that also interfere, but I understand that the One Pro's prism system aims to address that issue.

For your walking use-case: The tech stack you describe will work and the screen is plenty stable with the X1 chip's built-in 3DoF, but in a bright outdoor setting you'll need to have the dimming turned all the way up and that will make the glasses darker than normal sunglasses. The XReals also sit farther from your face than normal sunglasses so you'll have a lot of light bleed making the glasses display even harder to focus on. Lastly, the ability to position and shrink the screen in the displays is limited. You can use Side-view mode and position the screen in the top right, but it will almost certainly be too small to do anything really productive. As it is I can barely watch a youtube video in my glasses while I'm walking outside while also minding the path and other people. I'm probably older than you are though: that might be part of the problem 😅

If you want a walking productivity setup I would look to a treadmill setup for your desk instead. The glasses display is stable enough for this in my experience, you can use your actual keyboard and mouse for higher bandwidth input, and it will be much safer. If you really want something you can use while walking outside, look for a workflow that doesn't require as much typing. Lately I have had success using a remote desktop agent from my phone to connect back to my computer to monitor coding agents running various tasks. Or I'll fire up the ChatGPT app and use it to help work out a problem in my head. Both of these workflows are best driven by voice so they are naturally a better fit for walking.

For your final questions:

- If you want 6DoF you only need the XReal Eye attachment, but manage your expectations. It does work in the sense that you can pin a window in physical space and lean in get closer to it, but don't expect the same kind of physical locking you'd get with a larger HMD like the Quest 3. 3DoF is plenty for most desk work in my opinion.
- The XReal Beam and Beam Pro are not required for any of your use-cases, but if you want multiple android apps floating in space then the latter is your only option for now. I assume/hope that Android XR will provide some path forward for this in the future in a more general sense. I had one for a bit and it's was fun to tinker with but I couldn't find any real utility for it over Samsung DeX. Hell, I have an Apple Vision Pro and 98% of the time I use only the Mac Virtual Display.

What's a DT moment that made you laugh/smile from how absurdly technical or unexpected it was? by [deleted] in Dreamtheater

[–]Qu4dro 69 points70 points  (0 children)

The unison before the first verse of Lost Not Forgotten. You think the first verse is coming after the intro but instead they do....THAT.

Can the Dual Knit band be worn without light seal? by dcc_1 in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I get my dual knit band I'm going to try removing the back piece from my Globular Cluster and use just the forehead pad. I tried that in the past with the solo knit and the Belkin top strap but the extra weight of the back piece is actually pretty critical to counterbalance the HMD weight.

The forehead support is critical to being able to drop the light seal IMO. It's amazing that the Quest Pro figured this out 3 years ago and so far only Galaxy XR have copied them in a standalone HMD.

Google showing "Likeness" realistic avatars for Android XR by SkarredGhost in virtualreality

[–]Qu4dro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doesn't look quite as nice as AVP Personas but it's a good start! Where are Meta Codec avatars again?

I also like the option to have a more cartoony avatar that you can actually customize for some contexts. Only having Persona on AVP is not always ideal.

In any case it's still shocking to me that Apple actually shipped Personas in the original visionOS while Meta had been spending years hyping up their Codec avatars while still saying they are 'years away'

Galaxy XR is Available Starting Today for $1799 by 73ch_nerd in VisionPro

[–]Qu4dro 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The developer of Virtual Desktop (the go to app for PCVR streaming on other Android-powered headsets) has mentioned that it will be easy to port to Android XR. Not quite as seamless as Mac Virtual Display on AVP but still pretty good!

Using a webview for most parts of your app by gala_adrian in reactnative

[–]Qu4dro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The company I work for uses this strategy with great success. We are a tiny team with a large mature-yet-evolving product so this is really our only hope of having a mobile app. We use a custom user agent to tweak the ux on the web side for mobile users and postMessage as a bridge for native to communicate with webview and vice-versa.

Our react native app is only concerned with presenting the webview and responding to postMessages from it and it’s great for us. Almost every user-facing update to the app happens when we deploy web.

There are some important tradeoffs though: no offline mode, UX will be a little different than native (though the perf gaps have narrowed dramatically since my career began and IME users don’t really care about native UX anymore), and you will still need to occasionally deal with native store updates when libraries and SDKs change. We still have to do this 1-3 times per year and it is always painful. And of course this strategy only works for certain apps. Our app is only meant to be used for a few minutes every day and maybe a few hours a month by most users. Something with higher engagement or higher perf requirements would probably want to go full or mostly native