New mod coming out! And an important Quest 2 tip
As you know, when I'm mostly silent for a few days it's because I've been crunching hard to put out a new release :-)
Version 6 of the mod is coming soon! In one or two days, unless a showstopper bug is found during final testing—but I don't really expect that to happen, because it's been working reliably on my system for some time now.
The upcoming version 6 will support a new game that many of you have been requesting, and I'm pretty sure that even those among you who never mentioned it or don't know about it altogether (must've been living under a gaming rock, hehe) will find the title a worthy addiction to our growing collection of full-blown, deep VR experiences.
Speaking of that, let me tell you again how grateful I am to all of you for your continuing support, and for the countless words and actions of solidarity that came from many of you after the DMCA notice issued by Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., which forced me to remove support for some of the earliest games that we had explored together "from the inside" in VR. I'm still trying to open a communication channel with them in order to negotiate an agreement BTW, although I have to say that they really can't seem to be bothered to reach a solution that doesn't leave their own customers hanging out to dry.
Anyway, as I was saying it's time to be moving on and thinking of the bright future! In keeping with tradition, I won't yet reveal the new title, but I'll give you a few hints. First thing you wanna know: it's going to hold you in its virtual embrace for about 30-90 hours of gameplay, depending on how fast you rush through it. But for most of us VR makes games so much more immersive that it invites us to slow down the pace quite a bit, to be able to take in the wonderful detail that the artists put into their virtual worlds, so I'd say that more than 100 hours of gameplay are not out of the question. Also, not just the world building is wonderful and deserving of a close look or two in this game :-)
Another hint: this is going to hit you with the force of a speeding steel train. Among all my conversions, this is the ultimate VR legs tester. The camera movements are so wild, even I am left breathless every now and then. Elden Ring in comparison had a steady-cam slowly gliding on rails through thick molasses :-P
Quest 2 and AER
As most of you already know, all my mods use AER (Alternate Eye Rendering), because it's the only available technology that allows for perfect stereoscopic 3D while at the same time making it possible to run extremely demanding games like Elden Ring in VR. Let me quote a brief passage from one of my previous posts (if you wish you can read it in full here, scrolling down to the "AER vs R.E.A.L." section):
"If your system is configured and running correctly, the only disadvantage of AER is that objects/characters in strong lateral motion exhibit a sort of border doubling that we call ghosting. It's an illusion (in fact it cannot be captured on video, not even through the headset lenses) caused by the double flashing of the same image, when the brain would expect a smooth frame-by-frame movement. Most people learn to "unsee" it pretty quickly, and as with all visual defects, it will bother you the most if you dwell on it. If you concentrate on enjoying gameplay (and again, unless you have some other problem on your system which is making the renderer work incorrectly) it should rapidly fall below your threshold of perception. That said, it's important to understand that the issue is not an intrinsic fault of alternate eye rendering: it is strictly caused by the game engine not being able to sustain a high enough frame rate."
I always told everybody who asked that the ghosting artifacts could be alleviated by increasing the refresh frequency of the headset. However, I was mostly thinking of improvements like with the Valve Index moving from 90 Hz to 120 Hz (quite visible, but not a game-changer) so I did not stress the importance of this nearly enough, and for that I am deeply sorry.
The reason why I was essentially oblivious to this all-important fact turns out to be a random circumstance: as soon as I got my Quest 2, a long time ago, after testing it for a short while I immediately switched the refresh frequency from 72 Hz to 90 Hz, and after that I always left the setting untouched and basically forgot about it.
This past week, while testing [REDACTED], I was experimenting with different game frame rate settings and at some point happened to switch my Quest 2 down to 72 Hz. The impact was so huge that I wondered if something was broken, but then after a lot more tests I finally had to admit that it was not a software bug. Quite simply, the default low refresh frequency of the Quest 2 makes the ghosting MUCH more visible (really annoying to be honest), and for me at least it also appears to worsen considerably the TAA halo around nearby objects/NPCs.
At that point I thought "why not go all the way then", and tried with 120 Hz. It does look even better, but unfortunately the 120 Hz mode seems to be very demanding on the video encoder and to make VR rendering somewhat unstable, especially with very high resolutions and GPU usage levels. That could be why after all these months they still call it "experimental".
TL;DR For my mods, if you have a Quest 2 or any other headset with a low default refresh frequency, always set it to a minimum of 90 Hz. It will make AER look SO much better, and it's a good compromise between visual fidelity and resource consumption. You can also try 120 Hz, if your system allows for stable operation with it, but don't expect the same huge improvement that you get moving up from 72 Hz to 90 Hz.
Comments (67)
I am confused. I have been trying to solve this, but you say it's not recordable. Well, mine is. The ghosting I am specifically talking about is that it looks the first person arms/weapon are ghosted and repeated. It's awful to play as I can see a massive translucent set of V's forearms and weapon. And it's present on my recordings. No idea what is causing this.
This is a conflict between TAA and depth. Increasing resolution can decrease it to some degree, you can also switch to mono rendering in the Real overlay to eliminate it entirely. A decent middle option is increasing world scale(I play at 3) which will make things larger up close and eliminate some depth. All depends on how much the shimmering is bothering you but you can get used to it after a while.
How/where do I make sure my headset is set to 90 hz or greater? Are there different settings in the quest menus / quest desktop app / mod app?
You can set the refresh rate from the Oculus app on the desktop by going to Devices > Quest 2 (while connected via Link cable or Air Link) > Graphics Preferences
Praying for Spiderman Remastered!!! Ty for everything you do @LukeRoss
Honestly, I sometimes wonder what other people have for PC rigs. I use a 2080TI, Quest 2 and the tip with the 90hz is meant nicely but already kills the performance in many games for me. I then effectively have the choice between AER with ghosting effect, or less ghosting effect but worse fps. Unfortunately for me this is the big AER disadvantage. It puts me in a kind of - choose your poison situation.
Definitely needing less sleep since VR lol
Hoping for early morning release so I can adjust settings and reshade when I get home from work. Then play all night when my kids go to bed :)
40h and 37min if You ask me
I can't figure it out
40h since the tease ... I destroyed F5 on 2 keyboards !!!! Curiosity is killing us !!!! Before the tease I was calm, thinking Luke was on vacation for recovering from the T2 trauma ... XD
Yeah, I was getting kinda worried that it had taken some of the wind out of his sails. Was getting ready to post some encouragement but then he posted this :)
Batman Arkham Knight? that would be cool too
Hail the first real Rockstar of gaming period 🙌😎 (no not those silly gta dudes, and just ahead of kojima ) Sir Luke Ross. The first to let us experience the future really 🤷 simply amazing conversions into vr. legend 🙌
its got to be spiderman guys ! luke must have access to a early copy. gliding, wild camera movements, getting hit by a speeding train. what do we all want to see in spidey? the awesome world building ! a vr leg's' tester, ok going a bit far now but suurely its sounding alot like spiderman to me !
I'll throw GoldenEye 007 out there as a guess :)
Yeah SpiderMan is a definate no no as its not even out yet , regardless i hope this is next on the list as it will no doubt be a truly unique vr experience unlike any other. Sorry to hear you cant get anywhere with Take Two Luke but whatever happens you have cemented yourself and made your name synonomous with VR. Keep up the great work good sir.
Days Gone
Spiderman is a good guess from people. Im going with that as well. Not long now :)
Spiderman will not release until up to 3 days ... how did Luke get the game so early ? He made the mod even before the day 1 patch ?
Assassin's Creed Origins ?
U know what… I agree. It’s gotta be Spider-Man. I was thinking Metro, but that game is not long enough.
If this were Spider-Man (wich would be freaking awesome) how should he be already able to mod it, except he got an early key from Sony or Insomnaic. Also the mod will be out today or tomorrow and SM will release on Friday.
... 🤔 you say steel train ?? i say Sir Luke Ross is bringing the spiderman to vr baby !!!
The Witcher would be incredibly cool. Looking forward to the release.
It's CD Projects Red 20th anniversary so my bet is on Witcher 3.
Mass effect would be cool
GENSHIN IMPACT
Hopefully next we can try Spiderman Remastered in VR. With the upcoming release I can't think of anything better that would warrant a VR mod.
Spiderman Remastered would be AMAZING. ;) Yes yes please.
The only question I have is, is it an older title that we can expect really good performance from? So we can hit that same 120fps as DSR.
Unless there's zombies involved... In which case, sadly, it's not PLOK!.
OMG! It's PLOK!, isn't it?!
What's PLOK ?
There's a train in The Surge 1 and 2, and they're pretty action packed
So glad to hear that the bullying didn't get you too down. You were just doing it for the small 500 or so of us supporting you so you could dedicate your time giving us the best VR experiences ever. You deserve to eat, pay rent and afford development hardware. So what if you got a few more followers and are making good money. You deserve it!!! Amazing what you do... I would always return to red dead or mafia to just hang out in those amazing worlds. A bit depressing, but you have brought us other amazing worlds to visit. Cyberpunk, Horizon Zero and Elden ring are unbelievable man. You are the greatest.
no steel train in kingdom come or death stranding, as far as i know..im dissapointed. ;) metro seems likely though..
how exciting ! True VR fans here.. considering we are a fine crew of what 2000 ppl getting treated to such experiences.. amazing... so in my mind you need on average one month per game.. meaning how many games to come still this year ?!?! lol Yes, Metro would be crazy, but then again, which game wouldn't ? God of War it is ! the crazy big boss fights in VR will test your legs. I have this page open and just pressing refresh every few hours to see whats coming... awesome.
My F5 is broken now :P
Metro came to mind for me also cause of the wife/train. That would be a great addition. Just in time for my days off :)
Metro exodus is very far from being a 100 hour game no matter how slow you play it.
Metro Exodus for sure!
Hardspace Shipbreaker 😂
Metro exodus
As the steel train is a main focus point in metro exodus im going with this too. Its probably not going to be the enhanced edition because not everyone has rtx. Plus a metro is explored "from the inside".
I am going to guess at Bioshock infinite. Underrated in the BioShock family but visually stunning and thinking that sky hook will test any veterans to the max :) Either way, keep them coming
Can't be Bioshock because of the Take Down :( I would have loved playing through them for the first time in VR. My brother was a huge fan of the series but I never played through them.
Forza Horizon 5 ? I'm really lost after DL2 & TW3 got discarded
forza would be great. but i guess he´s staying away of the "big" publishers for a while..so no forza/kingdom come a.k.a microsoft.. a shame though.
I wanna say Borderlands 3 or Bioshock Infinite? In Borderlands there's a speeding train in a cutscene, if I remember correctly. Also, Bioshock is pretty intense with the crazy combat through the air, would fit the description
Ah man I analysing to decrypt but can't think. I see the words Deep and Rock but don't think it's deep rock galactic. I genuinely stumped but will look later and try to decrypt. Glad to see we will get treated. I will guess far cry for now but I don't think it's that either. Thank you Luke 🙏
Deep Rock Galactic has a VR port already from NicolasAubinet
Hmmm ...God of War? perhaps it is not that long but I can spend 50 hours in it :-)
If it's not now, it will be soon ;) Seeing that Dying Light 2 got discarded in the last clue, it's very posible GoW
God of War...
Luke, do we get a reward if any of us guessed right? :-) How about one more clue? Which year was the game released? :-P
Of course you get a reward! And the reward is undisclosed ^_^ The only hint I'll give is... nobody has guessed it right up to now
"close look or TWO" and 30-100 hours make me think of Neir Automata since that game can be done after the first run to some people but most go for all the endings 🙏
Wait a minute, maybe Dying Light 2 and its parkour ??? Some people got sick even on flat: https://www.polygon.com/2013/10/26/4862474/video-games-and-motion-sickness-dying-light-techland-fps
Dont think anyones requested that. Would be a good future conversion though :)
Also, not just the world building is wonderful and deserving of a close look or two in this game :-). This to me says witcher 3. Yennefer or triss up close lol. Look forward to whatever game it is :)
I hope it's Death Stranding
Well done on that distraction, I was just about to say that I refunded Horizon Zero Dawn this weekend together with a rant that "your superior skills of VR do nothing if the storyline of a game is retarded, I just had the most immersive moment of *cringe* this weekend and tried to get myself [my avatar] killed, refusing to hurt the cute dinosaur-machines any further as I wished doom to destroy mankind", followed by "plz plz tell me, what is the game I need to buy to try again?" - but seriously, well done on the nerd-distraction. It's an "illusion", you say? Curious. The ghosting my optical system (the biological one) produces via higher-order aberrations, i.e. monocular somewhat-severe astigmatism (that cannot be fully corrected via glasses, but its probably why my brain decided this is the non-dominant eye anyway so nvm), is definitely produced by the input sensor (eye). I just have to shine a bright light into my eye -> small aperture, less of a [nanoscale] potato to produce a mess of a focal spot at the retina. Now (A)I wonder if I can use the AI-eye of my stereo camera (albeit IPD of 75mm is a bit of an issue) to "see" this kind of issue as well... If not, I finally have a project to work on in my actual profession as a medical engineer! Wooohoo! ...Actually, f*ck that. So much effort, and I don't even know if that'd be useful... ...So... What's the game you're working on? =) :P Anyway, glad to see you sound so much more optimistic now, it's like you accepted grief over just another corpo stomach punch to throw sticks & bricks in your way, and now decided to just jump over them and move on. Or something. Means I gotta keep up and play it before they kill it again. You never know, right? *Stares virtual desktop in ready-position*. I'm ready. Yo ready? ^_^
This is not the same ghosting as occurs for instance with 3D monitors. It's not crosstalk from the right eye image bleeding into the left one and vice versa. It's a reconstruction error in the brain, or to be precise it's the brain being tricked because it expects natural motion and instead it gets artificial motion which is somehow has to interpret. Let's say that an object moves horizontally 1 cm per frame. So in the first 8 frames it might be at x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 cm. Those are the positions a full-frame renderer would draw the object at. If you render alternate eyes though, the left eye would get 0, 0, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6 cm. The brain needs to make sense of this stop-and-go motion, and it decides that the "object" is actually at positions -0.5, 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, 6.5, but that somehow the object borders jitter with an offset of +0.5, -0.5, +0.5, -0.5, +0.5, -0.5, +0.5, -0.5, thus producing the observed positions: -0.5, 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, 6.5 + +0.5, -0.5, +0.5, -0.5, +0.5, -0.5, +0.5, -0.5 = 0, 0, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6
100h and Crazy camera ? This looks like The Witcher 3 I bet some prominent VR youtubers will release a video very soon PD: Crunching ? I thought you were on Vacation :P
120hz mode running 3080 medium settings. it does seem a bit better, for a long time the 120 never seemed to work then recently it is showing that in the mod frame counter
Can't wait!. I've clocked over 200 hours in Elden, just watching the scenery, like you said :)