Virtual Reality ARMA - Oculus/HTC Vive

[commando180 15]

Hi All,

I am wondering if someones working on implementing functioning VR within arma. I like arma how it is, but since 2001 there really hasn't been any changes to the game. After trying the free weekend of Onward i need to say that if this was re-done in arma 3 it would make me so happy :).

I know a member named NeoArmageddon was working on experimental VR and it looked to be very interesting. However it appeared that he implied it was a difficult task to do with arma 3.

Anyone got an update or know of anyone trying to make it work?

[FirstPanic 39]

Hi Commando,

 

I have an Oculus Rift and you can use Arma 3 with the vorpX driver. There is a predefined config available and you can easily change the settings.

 

My experince: My system is more a midrange standard PC (i4-4570 + GTX1060) and I had no issues with lags or framerates. Of course you need to tweek a little bit your graphic settings... but in generel it's ok.

BUT.... the "VR feeling" is really, really intensive. Means... walkting slowly works (for a while)... running is difficult... and driving makes you sick within a minute. The motion sickness is very strong in this kind of games (esp. Arma). I've also tried flying with a helicopter which is a little bit better because you can do it while sitting on your chair and using your stick.

 

Overall I must say that Arma 3 is not a game for VR and to be honest... I don't see that games like Arma will EVER be VR games.

Typical good VR games are completely different and needs to have a completely different movement strategy and different gameplay. Something like Battlefield for example will never work in VR... they are much too fast and you will get motion sickness within 30 seconds. Have look on "Star Treck -. Bridge Crew", "Altspace" or "Google Earth VR" which are typicall good VR apps.

 

FirstPanic

[commando180 15]

9 hours ago, FirstPanic said:

Hi Commando,

 

I have an Oculus Rift and you can use Arma 3 with the vorpX driver. There is a predefined config available and you can easily change the settings.

 

My experince: My system is more a midrange standard PC (i4-4570 + GTX1060) and I had no issues with lags or framerates. Of course you need to tweek a little bit your graphic settings... but in generel it's ok.

BUT.... the "VR feeling" is really, really intensive. Means... walkting slowly works (for a while)... running is difficult... and driving makes you sick within a minute. The motion sickness is very strong in this kind of games (esp. Arma). I've also tried flying with a helicopter which is a little bit better because you can do it while sitting on your chair and using your stick.

 

Overall I must say that Arma 3 is not a game for VR and to be honest... I don't see that games like Arma will EVER be VR games.

Typical good VR games are completely different and needs to have a completely different movement strategy and different gameplay. Something like Battlefield for example will never work in VR... they are much too fast and you will get motion sickness within 30 seconds. Have look on "Star Treck -. Bridge Crew", "Altspace" or "Google Earth VR" which are typicall good VR apps.

 

FirstPanic

Hi There,

Yes i've already tried vorpx with arma 3. Well infact i tried it with the DK2. I dont think its still got anything going for it to be honest. Vorpx is a nice tool, but arma isnt really built with vorpx in mind.

I get too sick when flying the planes/choppers and it took me a while to get the scaling right.

What we need is some modder to implement opentrack and native VR so that we can use the weapons with our motion controllers. 

I am hoping BI can do a little work to get this functioning......... I cant wait for those arma 3 zombie mods to come out, but more importantly i wanna fight on the battlefield as a regular GI JOE :)

[FirstPanic 39]

Hmmm... it would be a BIG modification because you need to change the full gameplay, weapon handling, moving, etc. And to be honest: I'm not sure if games like Arma will ever be able to host VR session. I agree to you that it would be a great platform for VR if some things will be added:

- Arm movement depending on VR controller

- Full support of HMDs (head mounted displays)

- Graphic adapted to VR (Must be much simpler and not so detailed as it is for screens)

- Hand movement

- Weapon handling (Holding, targeting, etc.)

- Handling of grenades (Throwing)

- Vehicle control (Drive by virtual steering weel)

and a lot of other things.

 

With the scripting engine and the fully adaptable environment, Arma would be a GOOD platform for VR and I'm sure it would be a great win.

 

FirstPanic

[NeoArmageddon 958]

22 hours ago, commando180 said:

What we need is some modder to implement opentrack and native VR so that we can use the weapons with our motion controllers. 

 

Like this? 

 

But this is almost everything that is possible.

A3 wasn't built for VR and without a native connection between OpenVR and the RV engines graphics layer, there is not a feasible solouting for A3 VR.

 

[commando180 15]

18 minutes ago, NeoArmageddon said:

 

Like this? 

 

But this is almost everything that is possible.

A3 wasn't built for VR and without a native connection between OpenVR and the RV engines graphics layer, there is not a feasible solouting for A3 VR.

 

Hehe dude you're HERE :).

That's really nice!!

Yea i watched all your videos with "test" of the oculus and arma 3 vr. Aint a clue how you did it but anyway i wanted to say nice work. 

I read some stuff on another thread that you responded to, but i hope you havent given up on this project!!

Please please please could you work on enabling this in arma ?? At least if not the VR then could we get the motion controllers to work with weapons?? I'll use vorpx for the rest !! :)

Thanks !!

[commando180 15]

7 hours ago, FirstPanic said:

Hmmm... it would be a BIG modification because you need to change the full gameplay, weapon handling, moving, etc. And to be honest: I'm not sure if games like Arma will ever be able to host VR session. I agree to you that it would be a great platform for VR if some things will be added:

- Arm movement depending on VR controller

- Full support of HMDs (head mounted displays)

- Graphic adapted to VR (Must be much simpler and not so detailed as it is for screens)

- Hand movement

- Weapon handling (Holding, targeting, etc.)

- Handling of grenades (Throwing)

- Vehicle control (Drive by virtual steering weel)

and a lot of other things.

 

With the scripting engine and the fully adaptable environment, Arma would be a GOOD platform for VR and I'm sure it would be a great win.

 

FirstPanic

Yes, but if you think about it "Onward" was made by one guy in his spare time. There is lots of replayability on this game, however with an open sandbox like in arma the replayability is limitless. Problem is that VR is still a small market and nobody has invested alot of time into that.

Why cant BI make VR a new thing just like they trialed DAYZ - which led to games like PUBG, Escape from Tarkov, HZN1 etc......

I can guarantee the majority of arma players have access to some kind of HMD oculus or VIVE..... we deserve something like this and i dont want to wait for arma 4 till it comes :(
 

[FirstPanic 39]

Agree!!

So let's keep fingers crossed that someone from BI reads this posts and that VR features get on the roadmap... maybe for Arma4 :-)

 

BTW... I think that everyone who realy tested and worked with VR will confirm that this is the future.

Since I have my Rift, all the other games or social media platforms feel so... "limited".  VR is so unbelievable powerful.

 

I truly hope that BI will implement a VR mode.

 

FirstPanic

[FirstPanic 39]

12 hours ago, NeoArmageddon said:

 

 

 

 

 

Nice :-)

 

Watched your videos... it seems you implemented an interface to the VR API and then set the orientation of a headset and controller item in Arma (btw... would be nice if the objects would be available for the community).  Very elegant solution.

 

But... what are you using to get the right video signal to your vive?? I use vorpX for my Rift... but to be honest, this is no fun. Did you find a way to get a native VR video signal form the Arma engine?

 

FirstPanic

 

[NeoArmageddon 958]

9 hours ago, FirstPanic said:

But... what are you using to get the right video signal to your vive?? I use vorpX for my Rift... but to be honest, this is no fun. Did you find a way to get a native VR video signal form the Arma engine?

 

No... "video signal" is not possible from a modding standpoint. For testing I used either VorpX or Reshade with stereo shader, but both look crappy in the headset when full body tracking is in. In the vidoe above I didn't even had a signal in the headset and just played with the controllers.

 

Real stereo rendering from the engine is the only mandatory tech vor VR that does not work for A3 as of now.

[commando180 15]

Just now, NeoArmageddon said:

 

No... "video signal" is not possible from a modding standpoint. For testing I used either VorpX or Reshade with stereo shader, but both look crappy in the headset when full body tracking is in. In the vidoe above I didn't even had a signal in the headset and just played with the controllers.

 

Real stereo rendering from the engine is the only mandatory tech vor VR that does not work for A3 as of now.

Vorpx still works tho - i managed to scale it correctly but it took almost a month to get everything "perfect". I havent tried on the CV1 or HTC Vive yet...... i presume its probably alot better now.

[FirstPanic 39]

14 hours ago, commando180 said:

Vorpx still works tho - i managed to scale it correctly but it took almost a month to get everything "perfect". I havent tried on the CV1 or HTC Vive yet...... i presume its probably alot better now.

Hmmm... can you share your vorpX settings?

I'm realy struggling with the right settings.

 

FirstPanic

[commando180 15]

On 9/22/2017 at 8:44 AM, FirstPanic said:

Hmmm... can you share your vorpX settings?

I'm realy struggling with the right settings.

 

FirstPanic

Not tried it since DK2 was released. It probably works a lot better in Vive/Rift now.

Use opentrack and find a FOV mod for arma 3 so you can make the FOV match your HMD unit and resolution. 

I was hoping NeoArmageddon could at least get vive/rift controllers to work with the game (just like the video above). I would then combine it with opentrack for head tracking and vorpx for the rendering and we're all good to go :)

[FirstPanic 39]

Hmmm... headtracking is already working with the current vorpX version :-)

You CAN play arma with voprX by using head tracking... but no controllers. So you need to control your avatar with keyboard/mouse.

It works... but it's not comfortable.

 

[commando180 15]

On 9/25/2017 at 9:32 AM, FirstPanic said:

Hmmm... headtracking is already working with the current vorpX version :-)

You CAN play arma with voprX by using head tracking... but no controllers. So you need to control your avatar with keyboard/mouse.

It works... but it's not comfortable.

 

Yea its not the best - but  i want to be able to fly helicopters  and reload guns with rift controllers etc.

[FirstPanic 39]

Hmmm... need to check if it's possible to use rift buttons in A3 :-)

[Incontinentia 339]

Just a heads up for anyone interested, the latest release of Vorpx has geometry 3D mode (as in, proper stereoscopic 3D rendering rather than just z-buffer so it all looks the right scale as it would in real life) and "DirectVR" mode, which basically sets up the FOV and resolution for you so the image looks near-perfect out of the box. Headtracking also works with 6DOF, so you actively have to look down your sights to shoot. Given the number of keyboard commands you need to use all the time, I just don't think Arma would work all that well with controllers so this is (in my opinion) the best that Arma 3 in VR can get. Honestly, I find it absolutely incredible and for me, it is by far the most immersive experience I've had in VR (beating Elite, DCS, Onward etc). There are a few things that got it working well. 

 

• Proper headtracking and no gunface: use Opentrack with SteamVR or Oculus as the input, freetrack 2.0 output (emulate TrackIR), all curves set to 1:1 and no filter. Use the in-game Vorpx menu to headtracking to 0 in the main settings bit, don't touch the dedicated headtracking menu. Use "Geometry" in 3D mode. This allows you to look around without moving your weapon, while still being able to move your head to look out a nearby window or down the weapon sights. 
• Calibrate your head position so your sights align with your right eye when you raise your weapon: do this by shifting your head a couple of inches to the right and hitting alt-space to recenter Vorpx. This shifts your weapon to the right so when you bring it up to shoot, it won't align with your nose. 
• Adjust video settings for performance: the biggest FPS hog I found was terrain detail, followed closely by clouds, then shadows, then FXAA, with ambient occlusion having a minor effect. The rest did comparatively little. Dropping terrain from Ultra (which I use on a monitor without difficulty) to High meant +15 fps, clouds from Ultra to Low got an extra 5fps. Together this made the difference between a vomfest and perfectly playable. With all the other stuff tuned, I can now play self-hosted complex heavily-modded ALiVE missions with no dramas. Play around with this though and bear in mind that the settings that hurt monitors the most may have no effect in VR (object detail for instance did nothing, same with draw distance up to a point). Aim for at least 45 fps for a smooth experience. Should be readily achievable in relatively optimised missions with decent VR-capable hardware. When it drops below this, Opentrack gets jerky and unpleasant. If in doubt, use missions with CUP assets. 
• Increase resolution: By default, it's impossible to see anything, let alone actually hit stuff so you'll probably want to set up a custom resolution. Vorpx recommends setting up 4:3 resolutions using the Nvidia Control Panel (Change Resolution > Customise... > Create Custom Resolution... > Test > Save). I use 2240 x 1680, then set this in-game using either the Arma video settings or the Vorpx menu (requires restart). It's not perfect but miles ahead of what we had before. I can engage targets effectively with iron sights up to around 300m and get hits out to 600 which isn't all that far from real life and definitely good enough to slot a few AI. 
• Bind edge peek to a mouse button in the vorpx settings. This will be essential for getting around menus, using the inventory, seeing fire selection (although you can easily just move your head and check your selector lever on your weapon now, even if it's an AK), so it makes sense to make it easy to reach whenever you need to. 

A couple of gripes / caveats: 

• Collimator sights don't work as they should as the reticle is effectively painted on the glass rather than being holographic / 3D. 
• Scopes don't block off one eye, nor do they respond to headtracking. Kind of obvious and probably an easy fix for a modder but still a minor annoyance for now. 
• Arma changes FOV at speed, making the world look small when you're going fast. Not a biggie unless you're flying in jets all the time. 
• The action menu is a fucking pain in the arse. Edge peek gets around it a bit but it's annoying - more in VR than on a monitor as you have to use edge peek to see what you're doing. Use ACE if you can. 
• Not sure about BattleEye as I don't use it, but it did have issues with Vorpx. 

 

 

I can't quite big this up enough. Minus the few gripes I've listed, it's exactly what I wanted out of Arma in VR. I've got myself a cheapo Lenovo Mixed Reality headset for now and the increased resolution versus rift means I probably won't play Arma on a monitor again except when coding / designing missions. World scale is perfect, performance is fine, resolution could be better but is definitely good enough, but the immersion is astonishing. 

 

Also, no crashes after 2+ hours in complex missions. 

 

Quick specs: i5 @ 4.5, 1080, 16GB. 

[pierremgi 4875]

I'd like to play as usual (key binding + mouse or joystick), but the head movements and a better immersion than a screen. So, my question would be what is the best VR headset for that?

[Incontinentia 339]

My vote goes to Windows Mixed Reality as they have noticeably better resolution which makes target spotting a whole lot easier. Also the inside-out tracking doesn't require any fuss to set up. Odyssey if you can afford it for better screen, higher resolution and higher FOV, Lenovo otherwise probably as it's light and has a better FOV than the rest. Downside of the Lenovo and all other WMR headsets is the small sweet spot and slightly duller display. If you don't want to go WMR, the Rift is probably the best for the Asynchronous Space Warp which makes low FPS feel much more comfortable. 

[pierremgi 4875]

So occulus or HTC vive  to play with keyboard, sat on my chair?

[dragon01 902]

I do hope that they consider VR for ArmA4. If they do support it, that's probably what'll make me get a headset (and, in all likelihood, a computer upgrade. Good thing it's still a few years away...). :) Seeing as the latest DLC allows almost entirely eliminating non-diegetic UI elements, if they go further in that direction, it'll mesh really well with VR.

[Grumpy Old Man 3545]

Those idle character movements with a lowered weapon already make me motion sick with a regular screen, head always moving forward, backward, sideways, heck I'm not moving my head that much when I'm drunk.

Can't imagine how that must be using VR.

Gladly they reduced the "hand to the face" animation, imagine how annoying that would be in VR.

 

Cheers

[kremator 1065]

On 20/03/2018 at 5:02 AM, pierremgi said:

So, my question would be what is the best VR headset for that?

For the money, quality and support DEFINATELY go Rift + Touch.  Currently sitting at $400 (but you cna get it for $350 in some places!)  In the UK it is £400 (but again some deals are dropping that price!)

 

Don't listen to noobs that say Rift cannot do roomscale.  This was 'fake news' peddled by Vive fanbois in the early days that is completely untrue (even with 2 sensors).  I've got 3 sensors just because I have more USB than I know what to do with them :)

 

It is a great time for VR - just a pity that BIS weren't able t devote time/resources into the VR side.

 

@Grumpy Old Man there is an addon that removes ALL idle animations ... cannot remember what it is called at present.  I always run it. 

[andersson 285]

13 hours ago, kremator said:

For the money, quality and support DEFINATELY go Rift + Touch.  Currently sitting at $400 (but you cna get it for $350 in some places!)  In the UK it is £400 (but again some deals are dropping that price!)

I been reading up again thanks to this thread and I can find rift for a good price, but samsung odyssey seem to have better picture which imho would be worth it. But I havent tried them so I really dont know. I would prefer one that can be flipped up like the other wmr's, but screen is top priority for me..

[Incontinentia 339]

On 22/03/2018 at 11:26 PM, pierremgi said:

So occulus or HTC vive  to play with keyboard, sat on my chair?

 

So you completely ignored my entire post... cheers.