Topic: General PSVR Thread

@Gamer_Guy The experience is enabled and elevated by VR are worth the inconveniencing are in my book.

@neonpizza "Try Resident Evil 8 in VR and come back to me, you'll never want to play it on your TV again."

So true. I can't even go back to flat Skyrim anymore. And the VR version is running on 6 year old hardware mind you, lol.

@dschons lack of Skyrim on VR2 just depresses me . I still keep hoping for something to step up and replace it. That was just the best, and I hoped nms would fill the void but it's so fugly. I'm adapting though. It really is a fun vr game, tbt blur just ruins it. I'm hoping against hope they patch it. It can do so much better on PS5.

@neonpizza aha! I thought that might be the case with comfort and glasses! I'm near sighted and also wear glasses, but I rarely actually wear them IRL so I don't in vr either. If it's supposed to look like reality it'll be blurry in all the places reality is, so it's all good... If I don't have to squint to read signage it doesn't feel real anyway 😂

Haha, yeah I wasn't going to do the star wars game from reviews, played the demo and was an insta buy. It's actually very good, visually, and the gunplay.

I'm angry at song in the smoke. I finally built a camp fire and killed 2 monsters then died of sleep loss before saving it lol. It's a smooth play though. Haven't tried 120, it's good at 90.

I've settled I think on about 70-75% brightness. I'm good with 50 in some games, but there's a balance, not just between motion and color, also eye fatigue (max is pretty, but sure straining after a while), but also one problem lowering it too much is you lose the appearance of real daylight. Horizon doesn't look like real daylight anywhere but Max and one down. But I tested with moss, the first room in the first dungeon where a beam if sunlight illuminates the middle. Max really looks like sunlight beaming in, but it's also a little too bright and blows out highlights. 3 notches down (75%) largely preserves, but not quite, the feel of real sunlight while not searing out your retinas and not blowing out highlights, but also isn't perfectly real light like. 4 notches down (70%) is pretty passable too but the light starts looking more muted and artificial..50 isn't bad on some games, it looks more cinematic than real. Anything less than that I call "VRR", "Virtually Real Ray-Bans" because it's artificially muted, desaturated, and contrasty like dark shades I also found for some reason the lower brightness fatigued my eyes more than higher brightness which doesn't make sense but it did.

It's no surprise that games really pushing graphics would be kind of messy. "Fortunately" I doubt we'll see many of those, lol. And nothing ever will look as awful as NMS currently lol

@NEStalgia Yeah, I've heard it doesn't look good at the moment. I've even seen people claim the PS4 version running on PS5 with PSVR1 looked better. Let's hope for a patch soon.

@dschons Yeah from what I've read, PS4+PSVR1 looked worse, PS4Pro+PSVR1 looked better, and PS5+PSVR1looked much better. OTOH I've seen some say this is exactly how it looked on PC before it supported DLSS which isn't an option for PS.

I know there were rumors of delays on PSVR2, so I'm hoping this is just a PS4 BC mode they threw in to hit launch day and the real version is yet to come, but you'd think Hello would have said something if they were planning improvements.

One thing that strikes me strange, I found on the NMS website page for the Fractal Update which is supposed to have been this update, strange patch notes. It has tiles with all the features listed, one of them is PSVR2 support. The one at the bottom is "PSVR2 Visual Quality" where it talks about improved textures, draw distance, etc, etc on PSVR2.....how do you have a patch that has both a feature of introducing PSVR2 support and of improving visual quality on PSVR2 as 2 separate features? Their included screenshot does.........not look like my NMS.... Maybe that means a patch is on the way:

https://www.nomanssky.com/fractal-update/?cli_action=16776794...

The universe looks crisper and more beautiful in PSVR2, with higher quality textures, improved particle rendering, terrain tessellation effects, increased planetary details, increased draw distances, and much more.

These improvements, combined with support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 technology on PlayStation technology, create the best-looking PSVR experience yet.

It's written like that was supposed to have been in this update, but it clearly isn't. Mine looks like it's 540p at best, with PS3 textures, smeared with thick TAA FSAA. It's Minecraft in space, but without jaggies, lol.

EDIT: Eh, but then then they have patch notes they posted today for the coming soon and there's no mention of anything PSVR2 other than "terrain tesselation" not working on PS5...... might be a long wait...

@neonpizza But the big issues with wireless remains wireless 4k video streaming is just pure garbage. Yeah PC enthusiasts with perfect line of sight to their PC get OK results, but you with how picky you are with artifacts and motion issues, you will never ever be happy with what radio can do. And you're not going to get a PS5 level performance you can strap onto your head in the next 15 years (assuming anybody makes games that utilize PS5, but you're already unhappy with demanding games running at 60 to 90hz and wanting PS5 Pro so IDK that Quest will do what you want fps/graphics-wise.

You're in that cycle of getting overhyped for what a product MIGHT be and then getting disappointed when it really isn't that. And right now VR is all about trade-offs, rather than better or worse. I've been there, it's a sucky cycle!

The cord's a pain, I don't disagree, and yet then I remember what radio transmitted 4k miracast looks like and, nope, nuh uh, not gonna work. And then I think of what a tablet can do for graphics,and if we're already disappointed in what PS5 can do, that won't go any better....

I agree with most of the complaints, but also think the trade-offs are all real. (Quest is cheaper, so there's that though.) But of all things, the ear buds are an issue? Seriously what is wrong with tethered earbuds anchored to the system? Even if it had "wireless "(ick) wouldn't you want to tether them to the headset so you don't drop them or need to find them when the headset is on? They just come along with the headset? I just don't see any advantage whatsoever to the earbuds not being tethered, unless you're going for full size cans, but that's more weight, and looks even more dated! VR1 I left the earbuds in the box and tried full size cans and those clip on near-ear speakers that sound like soup cans and string.....honestly I'm finding it a much sleeker package just using the wired earbuds this time around.

EDIT: For VR function over fashion has to reign supreme, and that means tethered earbuds where you can reach them reliably without seeing. Fashion is never ever going to work. As I'm climbing mountains with imaginary pickaxes reaching for ledges realizing I look like I'm failing out of mime school while sitting on the couch, fashion will never, ever, ever intersect with VR. No matter how sleek the hardware, you're always going to look like you escaped the asylum while using it...

@neonpizza How would you compare motion blur to PSVR1? I had no issue with smooth turning there, and actually got used enough to it that snap turning and other comfort options makes me more motion sick instead of helping.

@Jaz007 Just to offer a different opinion from neon, because I think neon is uncommonly sensitive to motion blur, even in 2D displays more than most people will really notice, I think it depends a little bit on the game. Horizon, to me, has a motion blur to it, even at the lowest brightness setting, slightly visible even when turning your head, and the smooth turning in that game is almost unusable. I'm someone that suffers zero motion sickness in VR, and can just sit in there for 6 hours without a break and not even be wobbly when leaving.....but I can't take the smooth turning on Horizon. I tried and just can't. It doesn't make me motion sick but my eyes feel immediately strained. But it's more of a game issue than a display issue.

Kayak also has some motion issues, but while it interferes with the "realism" of the world, I don't find it causes discomfort or disorientation like Horizon. If anything just subtle eye strain over time.

A few other games that I've resorted to using snap turning instead of smooth, largely because you spend most of your time turning and I find my eyes get tired on smooth: Last Clockwinder, Light Brigade (that game has serious resolution issues, it's clearly running PS4 mode, I can't even read the settings menu it's so low res.) But all these games, smooth turning DOES work fine, I just find the slight blur is fatiguing more than I'd like.

Games I use smooth turning: Dyschronia, Song in Smoke, Garden of the Sea, Sometimes Star wars, sometimes snap turning, I think it depends on how tired I am, NMS, Zenith for that brief period I played it before you told me not to

Neon is right that the result of motion is smoother at 0 brightness, however, for Horizon I find smooth turning is still just bad. I find that the image is so desaturated, overcontrasty, and dull it's not really interesting to play with 0 brightness.

At the same time, while I liked max brightness at first, I now find it kind of unbearably bright, and find it blows out the highlights and is basically just badly calibrated HDR. The effect max bright has on sunlight is awesome, it feels like real sunlight. But after a while you start realizing, it's exactly like real sunlight, and you normally don't go outside and stare at really bright htings without sunglasses on because it's painful and fatiguing. I've been playing at about 75% which gives a motion boost and is less fatiguing, while still giving it a real sunlight look. Less than that, it looks less like real sunlight and more like a movie.....however even 75% is starting to feel a little overly bright sometimes, so I may very well drop it. I don't think I can tolerate under 50% though. Colors and HDR scale is just...wrong...that low. It's all about happy mediums, and it's a little bit game-specific. Which is fine, the settings are a double-click of the PS button away. Reminds me of PC gaming playing with sliders for every game, though lol.

@neonpizza some of the Horizon motion blur is NOT the display. I can still see the blur if I look carefully even at 0 brightness. The dimness just hides it more because everything is dim and half the detail is a buried shadow (couldn't resist.) The game engine is doing something there that it should not be doing.

@neonpizza @NEStalgia Thanks for the feedback!
That's a shame to hear about the motion with Horizon, and kind of affirms me picking up for cheaper later. I hate snap turning, so I'll see if I can power through a later date. I'll keep that in mind about the sun too, I'm not a fan of the sun in real life, so that makes being able to turn it down a bit more appealing. I had a good laugh at that description. I don't really mind some strain as long as it's better than PSVR1.

@NEStalgia Also, how's Dyschronia? I'm really interested in it after how much I've enjoyed Tokyo Chronos so far. I still need to finish that one up. I have faith it will be good, but haven't heard a thing about it so far.

@neonpizza I'm really not as blown away as I thought I'd be either, or as much as I was with PSVR. Could just be the only game I have is CotM, which looks really cool but, idk, somehow still not as cool as The Kitchen or Astro bot.

Also if this entire Horizon game is just constant climbing imma feel ripped off. Real climbing - exhausting and tons of fun. VR climbing - just exhausting.

And it could be that I'm still getting used to this headset but man do I have trouble finding that sweet spot on my head where everything's not all blurry. I could pretty much accomplish this in seconds with the old headset but with V2 I'm really struggling, even going into the settings nearly every time to make sure I have the eye spacing calibrated correctly.

@Jaz007 I always used to hate snap turning, I still kind of do, but I'm getting used it it on the handful of games I switched, which I didn't expect. Horizon is the only one it's just absolutely necessary imo. I tried the smooth again, and it's doable but it's so straining on the eyes it affects being able to appreciate the game. It's a shame, otoh the game is otherwise incredibly pretty. It really is a great tech demo especially for horizon fans. It has engine issues, I heard it uses unreal and not decima so it's fair guerilla isn't great at optimizing it. I do love that game. It's disappointing it's not a meatier game and is more a lengthy demo but it's so well suited to it's task I don't even mind. It's also a really good sheer rock climbing sim which works well for vr by itself. I genuinely panic when my pick slips. It's funny really because in my mind I'm exhausted and my arms are sore from climbing a summit. In reality I'm sitting on the couch waving my arms like I'm in mime school 😂

I actually turned the brightness down to half. I think the more time I use it the brighter it starts feeling. Depends on game, horizon somehow looks very flat at half like the highlights are gray. So does kayak and gt. Most other things are still vibrant at half. But it's way better than vr1 in everything but the motion smoothness. There's lots of fussy gripes of imperfections from us all because that's where vr is, but assuming you get it in the sweet spot it's seriously very nice. Even ugly games are nice! In a lot of ways the PS5 itself is the bigger limiting factor than the headset. Powerful as it is it's still on the fringe of the power needed for ideal fps to drive the headset properly for more demanding games

I'm really liking Dyschronia so far. At first I was worried but it opened into a proper vn soon enough. There's some technical issues like dialogue text appearing behind objects at times and some dodgy ui choices at times, but the cote game, story, and world so far are very fun to be inside of. Relying on text for dialogue too often is not ideal in vr, but it's not really bothering me. I'm still early enough that they're still hand holding me to explain systems and such as they introduce them. The usual vn slow drip. But it's everything you'd hope for in a vr anime VN I think!

Okay so finally dipped into GT7 with the wheel and headset and that is a pretty good time right there! Was at Alsace when by the last lap it's dark and you come around the first corner and there's just a straight up fireworks show going off in the distance. Wild. It's like don't distract me I'm trying to catch these top 3. Really cool.

Or your door to door with this car and you just look over and there they are, right next to you. Obvious I know but still, I'm amazed.

But what I'm loving more than anything are the dirt tracks. It's like I get a sense of the slide better and thusly race better than I typically do using a 2D screen. The car just handles better. And the jumps are mad. Just blasting off in the air and you can't see anything but the sky and you're just waiting to feel your car make contact with the ground again. I love it. Then the dirt flying all up in your windshield when you're trailing close to a car. I can't see racing any other way now.

Tbh a spotter would be awful handy but other than that I'm really enjoying GT7. Between the wheel, the stand, the chair, and the VR headset I feel embarrassingly bougie but man does it kinda seem worth it as I'm never gonna sit behind the wheel of a proper, real life rally car and drive the windmills at Sardegna or have a truck race at Daytona.

@neonpizza Keep meaning to give the RE demo a try at least. They typically aren't my cup of tea but won't hurt to try.

Pistol Whip gave me a pretty good workout loving it so far

@neonpizza Wowch, 4/10 is very harsh. I agree with most of the criticisms in terms of technical flaws, and I agree that I don't love when games try to push the graphics too hard in VR. We're not there yet in tech. We won't be for 15+ years.

But at the same time I appreciate having something like that for that visual wow it can offer. Nothing else looks quite so 3d and impressive. I think games like that are important for marketing to push to the bay sayers that vr has amazing graphics.

But I also agree that the technical issues make it less exciting to play than games that run smoothly without grain etc. Otoh, I save it because I love it. But I think it's a game that's absolutely best of you're a big horizon fan. No tech issue will interfere with my personal amazement of being inside the game of a series I love. Every horizon fan NEEDS to play this and will adore it. But if I were new to vr and didn't know anything about horizon? It'd probably love the boat ride and then decide I don't like VR once I start playing 😂

I agree that I'm not super fond of games that try to push visuals so hard in VR, it's not how I'd want to spend my VR time missy of the time, but for occasional wow moments it's nice to have them and horizon is a really good showcase.

I find myself spending more time starting at objects and environments then playing. That's probably what it's intended for.

I love the game despite being frustrated by technical issues and finding it visually draining, but I love horizon, and loved viewmaster as a kid... It works for me

Tbh it's that soft grainy filter along with the motion blur that bothers me more than anything else. And I haven't found the motion climbing to be too janky. I had one issue with the climbing picks (best part of the game) but that was after my controller ran out of power mid climb. I think it's not the motion detection, I think it was glitching after it cut out but I couldn't restart while hanging from a sheer wall.

I totally agree on Runner and overall on kayak. I don't think I want jump scares in my kayak game....I already had enough of a moment with a thunderjaw today lol, but interaction with wildlife or taking a page out of Pokemon snap and having to photograph animals or something could have really elevated it.

I love all of the mountain despite the tech issues but I do think it needs a disclaimer that it's really for series fans. I'm grateful it exists. Even if it probably doesn't make sense that it does.

Townsman vr is shockingly good. It's pretty, is really sort of a lite RTS. It's relaxing. Not really challenging but fun.

Have you tried gt7 yet? I'm betting you won't have much nice to say about the visuals

@neonpizza @NEStalgia I don't really notice the technical flaws you two mention but the climbing is fairly janky for me and really the controls in general. Or maybe there's something wrong with my game but I don't see anything fluid about making a leap, hitting x to pull up a selection wheel, scrolling to a tool and holding down r1 to get it out before falling to your death. And the amount of times I've just inexplicably fallen... it's frustrating. Also I just don't think climbing in VR is that fun, like at all. Fighting a Thunderjaw on the other hand was brilliant. And looking at stuff. It is all quite pretty.

Another issue I'm having is I'm constantly being taken out of the game by a message about my play area, only to be returned seconds later to the pause menu. Not sure what that's about but it's really only happening in CotM.

Finally tried RE 8 or whatever we're on and yeah, just not my thing. Might buy Switchback because I thought Rush of Blood was a pretty mindless good time. Just not sure if I wanna go ahead and wait for a sale.

@zupertramp You're supposed to take the grappling tool out BEFORE you jump, not while you're in mid air

And if you're takling pick axes you just reach behind your back and grab them midair.

I don't like that selection wheel overall though, it seems like a clunky design. I haven't been inexplicably falling though. That sounds like a tracking issue. I did have that on my left hand after the battery died on the left controller and I resumed after it charged. It was unreliable until I restarted the game, but I couldn't do that until I got to the top campfire. Really stressful climb up the sun spear there...

I think climbing is a cool vr game idea though horizon or no. But I kind of agree it gets boring starring at a rock texture after a while.

I actually haven't had the pause menu issue at all. I wonder if that's part of your tracking issue? I get the red rings play area warning a lot but never a text stop. I'm playing sitting, with a cluttered area and small zone set up but haven't ever hit hard boundaries. Actually I think that warning may be more likely if you go backwards BEHIND your zone more then outside it. I may have seen it once in nms when I reclined back in my ship chair and it didn't like me going behind my play area. I think you can enlarge your area by rescanning and letting it go after it says it's good. Also in the advanced vr settings there's a setting for how sensitive the play area should be. I changed mine to "low" a while back. That might help.

@NEStalgia I've tried all manner of play area configurations but nothing helps. But I haven't noticed a sensitivity setting. I'll try that next time I get on. I suspect my apartment could be a little better lit so Idk if maybe that's some of it.

And that's really weird because I can't grab anything from behind my back but the bow. I thought I'd seen a message I could store and grab the pickaxes that way but it just doesn't work. I select them, try to put them behind my back and nothing happens. All I can do is drop them and get them out through the wheel later. It's good to know it's not actually designed to be this way lol. And the other thing is I can't jump with anything in my hand so there was this part where I had to jump out, select the grappling hook through the wheel and then throw it before falling. So stupid. So I'm not even sure what's going on.

I also generally play sitting at well. Really recommend that to anyone experiencing VR sickness. Mine is fairly mild... mostly just the slightest bit of nausea and headaches but I can go without any comfort settings while sitting and I sometimes end up with a headache, though I suspect some of that is from having a screen strapped an inch from my eyes more than anything.

Pretty good vid this:

@zupertramp lighting may be affecting controller tracking jank for sure.. but it wouldn't affect play area issues I don't think. That's one I really haven't seen.... Only once, only when leaning back behind where I calibrated it from... It's got to be the configuration somehow (or you're just leaning farther than I am?)

The pick axes are context sensitive. If you're hanging from a ledge or are mid air approaching one, you retrieve the pick axe instead of the bow from your back holster. If you're on flat land you retrieve the bow instead of the pick axe from your back holster. The only time you ever need a pick axe on flat land have have to retrieve it from the wheel menu is when you need to bust wooden planks with it. Otherwise it works well.

The grappling otoh, is a pain because you can ONLY ever retrieve it from the wheel and it's very clunky. But at least grab it before you jump off a cliff rather than relying on the Matrix time slow down to make it work

You DEFINITELY should be able to jump while holding the grappling though. I haven't really thought about how I do it...I just do it.... I think unlike a lot of vr games you use trigger and not r1 for most holding in this game? So you're holding your grappling with r2 while squeezing r1 for the jump motion. I think? I don't think about what I'm doing when I do it, it all just works... But it definitely works. The only time I've seen it be questionable was a time when I had to change from a pick axe to grappling while jumping... That one was just bad design but was only once, so far anyway.

I don't have any motion issues (other than horizon smooth turning which is anything but, lol) but I just enjoy playing sitting most of the time. I have a growing collection of games that really work best standing though, so I'll have to do it more often... The headache thing happens sometimes and I think for me it's more a mix of having the headband clamped too tight, or not having had the ipd right so my eyes were not naturally focused, plus just having a screen so close. I find it mostly happens if I'm tired, as well. Which may be more due to me tightening too much or not really adjusting it so both eyes are evenly focused. I've found in the ipd screen I have a habit of putting it on slanted....