VR: red pill or blue pill ?

[motorsep]

UE4 got a plugin to import Doom 3 maps (still early wip). I am going to test it for my Gear VR. It would be interesting to experience Doom 3 environment in VR

Has anyone already tried any type of VR yet ?

[aphexjh]

I have been working on making a game for gear vr. I also use gear to watch twitch streams and watch 3d videos and that is also pretty good, although it does get pretty warm in there, so I don't do it that long. When I think about it, it may not be that smart to have a microwave transmitter that close to your head, but hey.

I use unity and the mobile sdk that works with that, and it has been a pretty smooth process to learn and implement (pretty much install plugins and checkbox with unity 5). I am really happy with the phone overall and the mobile development process for android is comparable in terms of setup time to windows phone, as far as unity integration is concerned, and I don't have experience with IOS, but I imagine the implementation would be similarly straightforward.

I have done some work with trying to get Doom 3 maps over to Unity, just doing the obj export with radiant and cleanup in Maya lt, but the whole process leaves a lot to be desired in terms of efficiency. I almost think that you are better off rethinking things in terms of a modular design approach, or just working from scratch in a 3d modeling program, than you are trying to 1 to 1 brush import(ie obj) or some of the tools that they use with UE4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkuHkgJO-Qk), since the former has benefits in terms of performance and production time, while the latter provides a more complete and direct translation of the original map design, at the cost of a lot of work.

What tools do you use to get the geo from D3? I saw this program http://www.deep-shadows.com/hax/3DRipperDX.htm#Download , but I haven't tried it, although it seems to be compatible.

I would love to hear about your process and what success you have had.

[motorsep]

Well, making things from scratch requires creative input, desire to do so, etc. etc. I don't really feel like committing to anything serious having another project in works. So I would rather use existing content to make a proof of concept. It doesn't require any creative thinking, just technical one. And since my day job has become very busy (capitalistic hell so to speak) , and I have another project in my head, I don't really have enough creative energy to spare :/

I haven't brought any of Doom 3 content yet. Waiting on the plugin dev to finish Doom 3 portion of it so I could buy it and start importing a map directly into UE4.

The main goal is to test performance and develop locomotion and interaction methods, learning UE4 along the way. Unity is nice, but I've had hard time with programmers in the past (and they are hard to come by). Blueprints partially remove that issue with programmers. So, in a long run, I think it's more beneficial overall.

I tried bringing Quake maps into UE4 using Blender and Quake BSP import addon. It was pretty smooth experience. Performance is great too, but there aren't any normal/spec maps in Quake, so testing performance with directional lightmaps is only possible with Doom 3 (of course I can use HD textures for Quake, but the whole thing falls apart artistically, so meh).

[motorsep]

Heh, 2 people rebuked VR. Have you guys even tried Cardboard? (not the best experience, but quite representative)

[The Happy Friar]

I haven't tried any yet so I'm still undecided. 

[wintch]

I have DK2, really nice device. The key is to make content focused in 0.5 to 3 meters to view. If you look beyond that limit, you'll see pixels basically. Too close, and you'll get blurry picture. Same applies to any other "screen in front of the eyes" VR.

"Although you will necessarily make use of the full range of depth in VR, it is important to place content on which you know users will be focusing for extended periods of time (such as menus or a 3rd-person avatar) in a range of 0.75 to 3.5 Unity units (meters) away."@Simulator sickness

[motorsep]

I have DK2, really nice device. The key is to make content focused in 0.5 to 3 meters to view. If you look beyond that limit, you'll see pixels basically. Too close, and you'll get blurry picture. Same applies to any other "screen in front of the eyes" VR.

"Although you will necessarily make use of the full range of depth in VR, it is important to place content on which you know users will be focusing for extended periods of time (such as menus or a 3rd-person avatar) in a range of 0.75 to 3.5 Unity units (meters) away."@Simulator sickness

That shouldn't be an issue for Rift and Gear VR with S7.

[wintch]

Only 4k per eye would solve that problem definitely. You can try this demo meanwhile Oculus sim. Also a cellphone is just not capable of showing something interesting on VR. I want to see Doom4, not bouncing cubes Same with play station VR. Nothing but top-end PC can deliver something really great

[aphexjh]

I am still curious if anyone has tried Doom 3 in VR? I know blendo was asking about it a while back. I also saw a demo of Dark Mod running on the Rift. Does anyone have experience with this yet? Is there a branch of Doom 3 that is aimed at this?

[wintch]

You have this one Dhewm3 with oculus branch, but had't tried it yet.
I played BFG in dk2. Really not SO good. You can see Carmack's talk about it on quakecon to get the idea of what it is. VR is really not suitable for classic shooters. At least not with current keyboard/mouse/joystick controllers. This demo for example I expect you to die looks way better, because it was made for it since the beginning. Correct distance to look at, don't need complex controls, no head shaking (you must avoid something to move in front of you if your head is not) and so on. You really need not to explain why VR is great after watching this. With Doom3 is not like this, hope this helps.

Regards!

[trebor]

If you are interested in VR and Doom 3 then you might want to try VR port of this Samson guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1SuZaPdTJY

[motorsep]

Also a cellphone is just not capable of showing something interesting on VR

lol, what?! I guess you haven't tried Gear VR.

Galaxy S7 does this: https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/epic-games-unveils-protostar-at-samsung-galaxy-unpacked

[motorsep]

Standard FPS games are unplayable in VR for many people.  There is a hardcore group of folks that swear by it (and I thought I was one of them), but then I tried FPS game in VR and it sucked horribly. Insta-motion sickness guaranteed!

Plus, there is no way engine can be optimized for mobile VR. I am experimenting with Quake's assets in mobile VR using UE4 and so far it works well. Soon I am hoping to bring Doom 3 assets into UE4 and see how that works for mobile VR.

[wintch]

Also a cellphone is just not capable of showing something interesting on VR

lol, what?! I guess you haven't tried Gear VR.

Galaxy S7 does this: https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/epic-games-unveils-protostar-at-samsung-galaxy-unpacked

Maybe i'm a bit too skeptical about VR on phones. Just saw how muy PC died on several demos, some were made using UE4 by the way... and i have 16gb of RAM (S7 apparently will/has 4Gb). You absolutely can have a best phone ever in your hands and still the world wouldn't be the same that on top PC. Maybe with next generation, but you need more resolution, that leads to memory consumption and so on. Also don't forget about price, 1000 bucks is not a joke in my neighborhood I would really grab Valve's VR for 800 instead.
p/s the demo is amazing!
pp/s dpi on S7 is really good, but again. You need a LOT of VRAM for something besides a closed room/tech demo

[motorsep]

I got S6 for $450 + $99 GVR.

S7 + free GVR is ~$680. So, if you are going to upgrade your phone, why not?! If Vulkan can run with S6, then I'll pass on S7.

S7 has liquid cooling btw.

Vive/Rift have _wires_!!! And also require $1000+ PC with quite specific hardware. So good PC will be ~$1500 + $800 Vive. And all you will be really doing is sitting in front of it. Mobile VR can be taken anywhere. Note that Google and HTC also working on mobile VR.

So $700 for mobile VR beats $2300 desktop VR for me any day. Note that in VR, even Quake's graphics are perceived differently. So, even old graphics go a looooong way in VR.

You don't need a lot of RAM/VRAM if you are smart about your content and use procedural textures/assets. Hell, even with conventional Quake textures it looks awesome and works fine on 3Gb S6

But hey, like they say, the only way for people get convinced in VR is to try it. There is no other way to do that.