I'm really confused by VR kits, help me out

[Bunga]

So I'm interested in getting a VR kit but know next to nothing about them.

I play on PC and I can't afford an Index which I understand to be the outright best kit available at the moment.

My question is, hopefully, fairly simple. What is the best VR kit I can buy outside of the Index for PC? Games I'm interested in include HL Alyx, Skyrim, Beat Saber (can you put your own songs into Beat Saber?)

I understand some kits have their own library of titles available, how does that work? Do you buy those on their independent store? Can you only play certain games on certain VR sets?

Thanks very much, I'm pretty clueless here!

 

[Deleted member 4970]

Oculus Rift S is the second-best option

Yes you can put custom songs into beat saber

Oculus has some exclusive games, bought through their own launcher

You can play any PC VR game with an Oculus and have to use a program on a Valve/HTC headset to get Oculus Games working

 

[Alpha eX]

Consider an Oculus Quest and a link cable to use it with your PC. Rift S is bad hardware, Quest is confusingly better.

 

[Paganmoon]

Check this topic, has a video and a few links, no replies on it though, but it has good info linked on Reddit:

Need a VR buying guide for Half-Life Alyx? Here are your low, mid, and high end options.

Video goes over most options along with their pros and cons. This is the best video I've seen so far on the subject(though I think he played up the nausea aspect too much) and is much more comprehensive than Tyler McVicker's video on the subject. Touches on subjects like IPD, panel type, and...

www.resetera.com

 

[Tankshell]

Oculus Rift S is the second-best option

Yes you can put custom songs into beat saber

Oculus has some exclusive games, bought through their own launcher

You can play any PC VR game with an Oculus and have to use a program on a Valve/HTC headset to get Oculus Games working

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Agreed.

Consider an Oculus Quest and a link cable to use it with your PC. Rift S is bad hardware, Quest is confusingly better.

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Completely disagree.

 

[Chivalry]

Consider an Oculus Quest and a link cable to use it with your PC. Rift S is bad hardware, Quest is confusingly better.

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Rift S is better than Quest in almost every way.

 

[ChrisJSY]

Also, what are your PC specs?

 

[KDR_11k]

The only company with exclusive PC VR games is Oculus but you can circumvent that vendor lock with ReVive. That does incur a performance penalty though and of course Oculus games are designed around the Oculus controller. There's a Viveport subscription service but that's open to all brands of headset. Theoretically there's also the Quest native game store but I don't think there's any exclusives that you cannot get on other hardware there?

Unfortunately the PSVR ecosystem is permanently separate, IMO this split into PC/PS is pretty damaging for VR.

The other major option is Windows Mixed Reality, these headsets are notable for being fairly cheap. I believe the Vive models are a bad choice these days, some being overpriced and others just bad.

 

[BitterFig]

Yeah I am similarly puzzled. I understand that the rift s is the fallback solution of one is not willing to invest on the index, but it does not seem to be on sale. Is it discontinued or something?

 

[shoyz]

The no-brainer I would have suggested is picking up a used Vive kit, last time I was looking (a year ago or so) complete sets were in the $200s. That'd get you into the modular SteamVR ecosystem where you can swap upgrades in piecemeal later on, with the gen1 Lighthouses being forward compatible. That's how I was able to just drop in a Pimax 8k headset. Bizarrely though, used Vive prices seem to have gone up!

I haven't had a chance to try one to say how big the compromises are, but if I was back in the market I'd be giving huge attention to the Quest in particular. For how often I wind up playing in short bursts, the setup process in VR can be an absolute chore. Can't even count how many times I've had to wrestle my headphones, headset and controllers off after getting all set up because an elevated windows permission prompt or a game crash locked everything up. Getting to immediately pop open Beat Sabre on a hassle-free all-in-one would be fantastic.

 

[Fishsnot]

Consider an Oculus Quest and a link cable to use it with your PC. Rift S is bad hardware, Quest is confusingly better.

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Well, this answer is completely wrong!
Rift S is far better.

Yeah I am similarly puzzled. I understand that the rift s is the fallback solution of one is not willing to invest on the index, but it does not seem to be on sale. Is it discontinued or something?

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You kinda answered your own question. It is out of stock because it is the far cheaper fallback solution!

 

[345]

rift s is your best option if you truly don't care about standalone VR.

i don't think anyone shouldn't care about standalone VR, though, because it's awesome. that makes the quest the obvious pick — i've been super impressed with oculus link through a $10 cable from amazon. i like the quest's screen better than the rift s', too, though the rift s is a more comfortable design.

for games like beat saber there's just no competition for the quest.

 

[kami_sama]

Yeah I am similarly puzzled. I understand that the rift s is the fallback solution of one is not willing to invest on the index, but it does not seem to be on sale. Is it discontinued or something?

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Almost everything is out of stock right now.
Seems Alyx made everyone go for one.
BTW, if you end up going for a Rift S, look up your IPD and check if it's inside the S range.

 

[Potterson]

Rift S.

It's not superb when it comes to field of view or refresh rate but it's great for the price. Really enjoying every game, one new FPS with headcrabs included.

 

[ClarkusDarkus]

Rift S chap, Second best option. Also i think they just got reduced in price.

 

[Deleted member 41520]

Oculus Quest is honestly the best.

You can connect it to your PC and it basically becomes an Oculus Rift S (what many consider the best headset on the market)

But then even without that you can just play it loose and it's already got a great library. You can take it to the largest room in your house. Map out your entire house and safely exist in it in VR. Take it straight to friends and relatives houses and let them play. Etc. (Of course the latter not recommended during the outbreak.)

It has blown me away and immediately made my two other headsets obsolete

 

[Komo]

Consider an Oculus Quest and a link cable to use it with your PC. Rift S is bad hardware, Quest is confusingly better.

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Lol what? Rift S is literally better then the quest? Sorry it doesn't have finger tracking that's not implemented anywhere outside of oculus stuff.

 

[345]

Lol what? Rift S is literally better then the quest? Sorry it doesn't have finger tracking that's not implemented anywhere outside of oculus stuff.

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the OLED screen is not an insignificant point in the quest's favour (yes yes pentile/refresh rate i know, it still has better colours and contrast). also there's the slight matter of it having an entirely separate (and incredibly good) game console built right into it.

if someone really only wanted a PC VR headset and nothing else, i would probably give the rift s the slight edge, but i don't know who these people are. as someone who previously bought the CV1 and the vive and PSVR, the quest is by far my favourite headset to date. you just can't discount the fact that for a lot of VR games it offers by far the best experience given the ease of setup and lack of wires *and* on top of that works very well with PC VR titles too. assuming people only want to own one headset, the quest is clearly the best option for most people IMO.

the rift s is great in a vacuum, but just really make sure that "i would definitely never ever want to jump into a beat saber/pistol whip/superhot stage with like 20 seconds notice in any given room in my house" is a thing you'd agree with before buying it.

 

[Bunga]

Trying to find somewhere in the UK to buy a Rift S or Quest and literally everywhere seems sold out online or marked up to almost £700... anyone know anywhere I may not have checked for these in the UK?!

 

[Mad_Titan86]

Consider an Oculus Quest and a link cable to use it with your PC. Rift S is bad hardware, Quest is confusingly better.

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This is just so wrong. Go for the Rift S OP

 

[Gabe]

Owned all 3, i stuck with the Rift-S and returned the other 2.

Reasons being:

1) INCREDIBLY more comfortable (especially in regards to the quest), this is something you WILL notice in long sessions and it WILL make a difference.
2) The Link cable, while amazing in itself, is just not the same as having the thing native from the PC.

Bottom line is (in my opinion): unless you REALLY value the portability - which is GREAT for those who make use of it, but the games quality isn't anywhere near what you get on pc in terms of graphics and performance - Go for the Rift S

Before anyone asks: i didn't return the valve due to "not liking it" , it's just not a significant jump from the Rift-s compared to the steep price, also see point 1.

 

[gothmog]

I have a Quest with link cable. I feel like at this point it is the best compromise. Works wirelessly which is just a great experience. Works with my PC meaning I can play all of the quality PC games including HL:A. Not that expensive compared to other solutions.

I will upgrade to a premium headset in the future, but for now the Quest gives me a lot of flexibility. I use it more than I think I would a dedicated PC headset because of the portability. Got it a bit before Christmas and I pretty much use it daily which was surprising.

 

[Teamocil]

Rift S is better than Quest in almost every way.

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The lack of an IPD slider make it an immediate no for some people. It's not objectively better, it's subjective.

 

[Chivalry]

The lack of an IPD slider make it an immediate no for some people. It's not objectively better, it's subjective.

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That's why it's 'almost'.

 

[don't answer that]

The lack of an IPD slider make it an immediate no for some people. It's not objectively better, it's subjective.

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The digital IPD adjustment setting in Rift S is good enough tbh. I have an IPD of 72mm, and adjusting the setting in Oculus software from 68 to 72 had a huge impact on me not having headaches anymore.

Also Rift S is so much better than the Quest with Link cable of PCVR is what you care about. I returned the Quest 3 days after the purchase because it was very uncomfortable, I couldn't have it snapped to my head for more that an hour. With the Rift S in the contrary, I had 6 hour sessions for the last 3 days, and it felt pretty OK.

 

[Andi]

Get a used Vive, you can get them pretty cheap and in a while you can buy index controllers.
I love that steams index system is modular with the old vive Hardware.
I use and og vive and index controllers and am really happy with it.

 

[Setsune]

Quest is the best option. Pretty much all the upsides of the Rift S, works like a Rift S with even some cheap cables (but the official Link is nice and probably worth the investment), IPD adjustment, and also you can just unplug it and have a completely different world of mobile VR apps available to you. It's the sweetspot right now.

You might get it and decide you want a VR Cover for your face, or a little extra padding or attached headphones, but those are things you can add on over time. The Quest is the best all-around kit right now. And you can just go for the 64 GB option, don't worry about the 128 GB.

 

[MikeProtagonist]

Goddamn, you're going to make me order a Quest as soon as they get in stock.

How is the experience compared to PSVR, in terms of comfort, tracking and graphical fidelity? I'm already quite pleased with that.

Is it easy to sideload videos into a player (I read Skybox should be a good one)?

I already love Beat Saber and Superhot, and I'm thinking about getting Audica, but I might just pick it up for the PSVR. Even if I double dip on those games, I'd hope for a couple of unique, non PSVR games.

I'm assuming it doesn't run Google Earth, Skyrim and obviously not Alyx. If my computer is up to running Alyx, will the Quest work well as a tethered option?

I'm not looking to buy yet another headset until the actual next gen (PSVR2 and/or whatever is next on PC), but I also want to deep my feet into PCVR.

 

[Bunga]

Thanks all for your help. I opted for a Quest over a Rift S in the end for a variety of reasons:

1. Portability - my wife is very interested in Beat Saber having tried it at a friends house and it'd be nice for her to be able to do this without taking up my PC any time she wants to use it. Also nice for me if I want a quick blast on something on the Oculus Store
2. It can still play PC VR/Steam VR stuff like HL: Alyx with an added cable (ordered an apparently compatible cable from Amazon for under £10, as the official cables are sold out seemingly)
3. Availability and price - at the moment in the UK we're in partial lockdown due to corona and it would be nice to have this during the lockdown - pretty much all VR stuff is again sold out at online high street retailers everywhere - any Rift S available were marked up to £700+ by private sellers but managed to find a Quest for £399.

Thanks for the help all. Never dabbled in VR before apart from a quick go on my mates PSVR which impressed the hell out of me at the time.

 

[s0l0kill]

Goddamn, you're going to make me order a Quest as soon as they get in stock.

How is the experience compared to PSVR, in terms of comfort, tracking and graphical fidelity? I'm already quite pleased with that.

Is it easy to sideload videos into a player (I read Skybox should be a good one)?

I already love Beat Saber and Superhot, and I'm thinking about getting Audica, but I might just pick it up for the PSVR. Even if I double dip on those games, I'd hope for a couple of unique, non PSVR games.

I'm assuming it doesn't run Google Earth, Skyrim and obviously not Alyx. If my computer is up to running Alyx, will the Quest work well as a tethered option?

I'm not looking to buy yet another headset until the actual next gen (PSVR2 and/or whatever is next on PC), but I also want to deep my feet into PCVR.

Click to shrink...

PSVR is like etch-a-sketch in comparison.
The Quest can play any PCVR game, so Skyrim, Alyx etc are all good.

 

[s0l0kill]

Right now the only headset I'd recommend would be the Quest for these reasons:
1.Versatile, can do standalone and PCVR
2.Tracking is good
3.Highly supported by Oculus as it's their best seller
4.Can do wireless PCVR (that's how I played Alyx)

 

[MikeProtagonist]

PSVR is like etch-a-sketch in comparison.
The Quest can play any PCVR game, so Skyrim, Alyx etc are all good.

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Sounds good. I barely meet the minimum requirements for Alyx (i5-7400, GTX 1060, 16 GB), but if I can run it at all I'd be really happy for now. It would be a huge help during this quarantine time.

 

[s0l0kill]

Sounds good. I barely meet the minimum requirements for Alyx (i5-7400, GTX 1060, 16 GB), but if I can run it at all I'd be really happy for now. It would be a huge help during this quarantine time.

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As far as I know you should be good, seems like Alyx runs on low hardware well.

 

[wafflebrain]

Thanks all for your help. I opted for a Quest over a Rift S in the end for a variety of reasons:

1. Portability - my wife is very interested in Beat Saber having tried it at a friends house and it'd be nice for her to be able to do this without taking up my PC any time she wants to use it. Also nice for me if I want a quick blast on something on the Oculus Store
2. It can still play PC VR/Steam VR stuff like HL: Alyx with an added cable (ordered an apparently compatible cable from Amazon for under £10, as the official cables are sold out seemingly)
3. Availability and price - at the moment in the UK we're in partial lockdown due to corona and it would be nice to have this during the lockdown - pretty much all VR stuff is again sold out at online high street retailers everywhere - any Rift S available were marked up to £700+ by private sellers but managed to find a Quest for £399.

Thanks for the help all. Never dabbled in VR before apart from a quick go on my mates PSVR which impressed the hell out of me at the time.

Click to shrink...

Glad you were able to find a Quest, you won't be disappointed! HL: Alyx looks gorgeous on its OLED display :)

I almost never take mine outside the house but having the wireless option is so freeing coming off tethered headsets which I've been using since the first Oculus devkit. I've played multiple 10+ hour games on the Quest using Virtual Desktop and it works a lot better than you might expect, though its a ymmv situation depending on your internet, if you have a stable connection + a 5 ghz router you should be good to go. That said I'd definitely recommend using Link for something like Alyx your first go around, the difference in latency/presence is more perceptible in that between VD and Link than other titles in my experience. Using Link really feels like you're there though VD still holds up well with IQ.

 

[s0l0kill]

Glad you were able to find a Quest, you won't be disappointed! HL: Alyx looks gorgeous on its OLED display :)

I almost never take mine outside the house but having the wireless option is so freeing coming off tethered headsets which I've been using since the first Oculus devkit. I've played multiple 10+ hour games on the Quest using Virtual Desktop and it works a lot better than you might expect, though its a ymmv situation depending on your internet, if you have a stable connection + a 5 ghz router you should be good to go. That said I'd definitely recommend using Link for something like Alyx your first go around, the difference in latency/presence is more perceptible in that between VD and Link than other titles in my experience. Using Link really feels like you're there though VD still holds up well with IQ.

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I finished the game with VD, had a great time just chilling on my couch and being cable free ;)

 

[Quample]

Consider an Oculus Quest and a link cable to use it with your PC. Rift S is bad hardware, Quest is confusingly better.

Click to shrink...

No, it's not. Link is objectively worse for PC play in both comfort and IQ (except for OLED black levels). If you're only planning on going PC, go Rift S. Quest is the most versatile headset, but if OP doesn't care about standalone, it's not the way to go. (after scrolling down, it looks like he is interested in portability, so yeah, Quest is good.)

I've seen a lot of compatibility issues with the Quest Link too, it's just not as direct.

 

[RedlineRonin]

I picked up a Samsung odyssey plus in Jan when they were 229. Love it a lot. Works really well other than not being wireless.

surprised; am I the only person that has one of these?

 

[Quample]

I picked up a Samsung odyssey plus in Jan when they were 229. Love it a lot. Works really well other than not being wireless.

surprised; am I the only person that has one of these?

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Nah, it's by far the most popular WMR headset and people have been recommending it here in a lot of threads when it's on sale. If you can get it for sub ~250 and are tight on money/unsure about VR, it's a good way to go. The only downsides I consistently read about are the comfort and the tracking. Tracking is supposedly considerably better than it used to be though. Amazing what software updates can do. Still limited to 2 cameras though compared to 5 on the Rift S and 4 on the Quest. You're also missing out on Oculus Home, which is really good (for better or worse). But for that there's ReVive; not perfect, but manageable.

 

[wafflebrain]

I finished the game with VD, had a great time just chilling on my couch and being cable free ;)

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Yeah it's so nice being able to launch and play anything without having to worry about the wire, though I still played it on my couch with Link using an active extender plus the recommended Anker cable. I don't care if the PC is an eyesore in the living room, couch gaming is where its at :)

 

[Bunga]

Now I just have to navigate modding Beat Saber to have custom songs. As I say above my wife is the one with most interest in Beat Saber and so would probably be playing it in a different room. Should I be getting the Oculus Store version of the game rather than the one on Steam in that case and modding that?

 

[bounchfx]

Now I just have to navigate modding Beat Saber to have custom songs. As I say above my wife is the one with most interest in Beat Saber and so would probably be playing it in a different room. Should I be getting the Oculus Store version of the game rather than the one on Steam in that case and modding that?

Click to shrink...

I JUST finally got to play beat saber after holding off so long, and I desperately need to get them custom songs. Is there a definitive guide anywhere that's easy to follow? any good information on where and what songs are available? etc. I tried googling a bit and got overwhelmed so pardon my confused laziness as I probe this forum instead

 

[Bunga]

I JUST finally got to play beat saber after holding off so long, and I desperately need to get them custom songs. Is there a definitive guide anywhere that's easy to follow? any good information on where and what songs are available? etc. I tried googling a bit and got overwhelmed so pardon my confused laziness as I probe this forum instead

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With some googling I found this and bookmarked it - which seems decent but don't take my word for it, I'm a complete noob - hopefully someone in the know can confirm for both of us or redirect us if needs be?!

 

[bounchfx]

With some googling I found this and bookmarked it - which seems decent but don't take my word for it, I'm a complete noob - hopefully someone in the know can confirm for both of us or redirect us if needs be?!

Click to shrink...

Just had my friend walk me through it. Basically three steps I guess.
1) run the game then close it
2) run this https://github.com/Assistant/ModAssistant/releases/tag/v1.1.4
3) hit install on the bottom right after agreeing and then play the game and there should be a 'mods' tab on top of your left panel. havent tried playing a song yet but i see a bunch! was fairly painless

 

[TaterTots]

I picked up a Samsung odyssey plus in Jan when they were 229. Love it a lot. Works really well other than not being wireless.

surprised; am I the only person that has one of these?

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Nah, a lot of people jumped on that after Alyx was announced, including myself. Though, I have to admit I'm thinking about selling it along with something else to get a Quest. I cannot stand the wire and virtual desktop keeps getting better and better from what I'm reading. I've also ran into a few tracking issues.

Now I just have to navigate modding Beat Saber to have custom songs. As I say above my wife is the one with most interest in Beat Saber and so would probably be playing it in a different room. Should I be getting the Oculus Store version of the game rather than the one on Steam in that case and modding that?

Click to shrink...

I was having issues figuring out how to mod it myself until I came across this kids video on Youtube. Just do what he does and you'll be able to search for songs in game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsrDf3Ta2cU

 

[Bunga]

Just had my friend walk me through it. Basically three steps I guess.
1) run the game then close it
2) run this https://github.com/Assistant/ModAssistant/releases/tag/v1.1.4
3) hit install on the bottom right after agreeing and then play the game and there should be a 'mods' tab on top of your left panel. havent tried playing a song yet but i see a bunch! was fairly painless

Click to shrink...

Nah, a lot of people jumped on that after Alyx was announced, including myself. Though, I have to admit I'm thinking about selling it along with something else to get a Quest. I cannot stand the wire and virtual desktop keeps getting better and better from what I'm reading. I've also ran into a few tracking issues.



I was having issues figuring out how to mod it myself until I came across this kids video on Youtube. Just do what he does and you'll be able to search for songs in game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsrDf3Ta2cU

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Thanks both, both you Bounchfx and the video you've linked TaterTots seem to be following the exact same process. Seems to support an Oculus version of the game too from what the video is saying.

 

[foolishoptimist]

I own PSVR because I don't have a gaming PC. But I got to try a friends Oculus Quest and was super impressed with how quick it was to setup. Naturally the controller precision was a big improvement also.

 

[Bunga]

Just an update, had my Quest for a couple of weeks now and I can't complain about anything to be honest. What I've played of HLA has been incredible and runs perfectly using a very cheap Amazon USB C cable with link.

Using it wirelessly with Beat Saber is fantastic too. Its nice to have the option of wired and wireless and my wife has been using it downstairs so I can still use my PC.

So happy with the choice. Thanks for the help all.