Virtual Reality - Steam VR/HTC Vive compatibility

[Sheppard]

Hello,

2016 will be the year in which Virtual Reality (VR) will be available for the masses, will go public. Every gamer out there (and a lot of other people who can make use of VR in their work domain, like medical personal) will seek to get one. Steam's VR system, the HTC Vive will, in my opinion, be one of the top gadgets, versatile and with the constant updates and improvements to which Steam has accustomed it's users (wether it's software or hardware). HTC Vive is set to launch April 2016, according to latest news.

My request to the KSP Team would be a good compatibility with this device and others like it (Oculus Rift, Playstation's VR set and others presented at CES 2016), optimizations for VR. Imagine the experience, the fantastic landscapes and views! It's going to be mind-blowing! And we can finally see how far we are from the ground when landing

I remember seeing some mod that can partly make KSP compatible with a VR Headset. Then there was a Fanwork Friday feature (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/113444-fanwork-friday-joepatrick1%C3%A3%C2%A2%C3%A2%E2%80%9A%C2%AC%C3%A2%C2%B2s-ksp-on-hololens-concept/#comment-2013011) of this Hololens compatibility concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QmTWvjUuT8&feature=youtu.be

The HTC Vive will also have an integrated camera, so that it can integrate CGI over the real environment, much like the Hololens. The concept above might become very soon reality.

The KSP Team has already made great use of another Steam hardware: the Steam Controller and I'm thankful for it; flying planes is more easier now.

 

In conclusion, expanding compatibility to VR headsets like the HTC Vive, in the near future, will greatly expand the KSP experience and I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate this new view on KSP. And I'm also sure that the KSP Team can get their hands on a developer version of the HTC Vive to make it happen.

 

Please make it a reality!

 

LE: There will soon be native support in Unity for SteamVR: http://www.pcgamer.com/watch-gabe-newells-oprah-moment-as-he-gives-out-free-vr-headsets/

Edited February 11, 2016 by Sheppard

[maceemiller]

I only know a little about VR. Namely I wanted an Oculus Rift last year but found them overpriced for what they delivered, as good as it was.

2016, I agree is the year VR should start to become "the norm" as Ive been watching on the BBC (Click, for all you UK pilots who will know what I mean  )

Will it hit KSP? My heart says yes,  do it, but my head says no....not for a while yet and possibly not an integrated feature until KSP2, which may not even materialise. 

Ultimately, I feel were all at a point where KSP 1.1 is more important than a VR experience, but please dont take my opinion as a negative........VR will arrive.....we all know it will

[Poldor]

Unity 5 has nativ VR integration. If u use Unity 5 activating VR is just a click away, at least thats what I noticed when I was playing around with my DK2 and Unity 5. So I think it should not be too much of a Problem to mod VR in KSP 1.1 ..... Any Expertopinions on that? Or even better: Devopinions?

[Knaapie]

suggested before and tried a few years ago  http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/54983-oculus-rift-vireio-perception-ksp-within-reach/

 

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/129434-why-not-in-a-virtual-reality/     <--  what a great poster !

You have my support on this

[lukethecoder64]

Not just vive and steam! Don't forget my DK2 and the rest of the Oculus gang!

 

You have my sword.

[Sheppard]

Hopefully, with the official release of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive nearing (these seem to be the first to come out as far as I know) we will also get some response from developers regarding this aspect of the game.

[Alshain]

VR the "norm"?  VR is a gimmick/fad... just like 3D Movies.  I don't care if they add it but I don't think it will ever be the 'norm'.  I wouldn't count on seeing it for a while if they do, but that is just my guess.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Alshain

[BloodDusk]

Expect those VR devices to go for 700 bucks or more....And, even if it was affordable, it would be a niche device that only a few people would have hardware powerful enough to use properly.

[Sheppard]

4 hours ago, BloodDusk said:

Expect those VR devices to go for 700 bucks or more....And, even if it was affordable, it would be a niche device that only a few people would have hardware powerful enough to use properly.

To make an anology with another game, Ark: Survival Evlolved: it is a poorly optimized game in Early Access, that has VR support and also requires a hell of a gaming rig to run smoothly even on medium settings. Despite that, the player base is quite big.

And sure, prices will be high in the first months, but after competition kicks in (at CES 2016 there were several VR headsets presented by different manufacturers) they will definitely go down and be more affordable. After KSP 1.1 comes out, why not implement this feature for whomever wants it? At least in my opinion, a simulator in space like KSP and VR are perfect for each other.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Sheppard

[BloodDusk]

4 hours ago, Sheppard said:

To make an anology with another game, Ark: Survival Evlolved: it is a poorly optimized game in Early Access, that has VR support and also requires a hell of a gaming rig to run smoothly even on medium settings. Despite that, the player base is quite big.

And sure, prices will be high in the first months, but after competition kicks in (at CES 2016 there were several VR headsets presented by different manufacturers) they will definitely go down and be more affordable. After KSP 1.1 comes out, why not implement this feature for whomever wants it? At least in my opinion, a simulator in space like KSP and VR are perfect for each other.

Well, IMO, it still is a pretty niche market product, much like the Google Glass. I'd say that VR is the new 3D.

As for implementing said feature in KSP...Don't the game have more urgent issues that need to be taken care of, instead of focusing on what essentially is eye candy?

[Gaarst]

On my list of things that I would like to see implemented in KSP, VR is right at the very bottom of the "I don't give a single damn about this" category (as a comparison, adding microwaveable water pistols for Kerbals would be in the same category).

As said above, there are so many things to add/improve in KSP before worrying about VR. Please make a fluid, stable, complete and more realistic game before adding features that I know I will never use.

[Sheppard]

Great news everyone!

NATIVE support for SteamVR in the Unity Platform announced by Gabe Newell from Steam!

So that's another reason why this should happen after the 1.1 update. Maybe as soon as 1.2?

More details here: http://www.pcgamer.com/watch-gabe-newells-oprah-moment-as-he-gives-out-free-vr-headsets/

Edited February 11, 2016 by Sheppard

[Soda Popinski]

Slight necro on this thread.  Now that folks are getting their VR headsets, it might be good to revisit this.  Most of the VR topics I've seen in the KSP forums has focused on the cockpit experience.  This makes sense, as until recently, VR was a sit-down kind of experience.

Personally, I'd love to work on the VAB in room scale with the motion controllers.  KSP already supports 3D Mice.  I'd imagine the GUI would be difficult to use, and would likely need a complete VR re-write, say making the parts on a palette on one hand, and placement with the other.  I wonder if this could be made via mod.

Scott Manley's got a Vive on order.  I could imagine him going nuts with KSP in VR.

To sort of see what that's like, see this Fantastic Contraption video.

 

[nli2work]

did you all see the TrackIR settings in KSP 1.1?

[Soda Popinski]

2 minutes ago, nli2work said:

did you all see the TrackIR settings in KSP 1.1?

Nope.  Do tell.

[nli2work]

I dont' know much about it... but looks like there's some built-in support for head tracking. I don't know how well TrackIR works for HMDs, if at all. look for tab in the settings for TrackIR

[lukethecoder64]

As a Oculus DK2 owner & user since October, I can say that KSP would be AMAZING in VR, particularly IVA's

Luke. Imagine preforming a mun landing with VR.

[rodrigoelp]

5 hours ago, lukethecoder64 said:

Luke. Imagine preforming a mun landing with VR.

That would be uber amazing,

[Alshain]

5 hours ago, nli2work said:

I dont' know much about it... but looks like there's some built-in support for head tracking. I don't know how well TrackIR works for HMDs, if at all. look for tab in the settings for TrackIR

TrackIR is a neat trick, but I've used it and in KSP it's ultimately not all the great.  The only place it is useful is in IVA (maybe EVA too) and then you need half a dozen mods to make that useful.  Using TrackIR in other areas of the game like the editors or normal flight just feels unnatural and ultimately makes you want to turn it off ASAP.

I doubt TrackIR took much time to implement, it's just an input device not unlike a mouse.  VR is another story, and it would probably succumb to the same issues of TrackIR (not being useful except in the useless IVA mode)

 

On the other hand, if you play games like WarThunder or Elite Dangerous, TrackIR works seamlessly in those games and is a must have.

Edited April 23, 2016 by Alshain

[Sheppard]

13 hours ago, Alshain said:

VR is another story, and it would probably succumb to the same issues of TrackIR (not being useful except in the useless IVA mode)

VR would be extremely useful in all sorts of situations, but most of all, in case of landings. You could finally tell how far you are from the ground, with your own eyes.

[draktheas]

I am a former game developer that has been enthralled with KSP for quite some time. I currently have access to both Hololens and Oculus CV1. I would be happy to dedicate some of my time to figure out support for AR/VR in KSP if the developers would like me to help.

I completely disagree the VR is just eye candy and irrelevant for the majority of users. Irrelevant for now as the devices are still priced high but it will only take a short amount of time for them to drop in price. Additionally if you haven't seen the Orion demo from Leap Motion, you need to really take a look. This will get you thinking about how you can integrate some amazing functionality with VR into Kerbal that is well beyond eye-candy. The Orion software for Leap Motion is already out and mounts for Leap Motion for Vive and Rift will be shipping on May 31st.

KSP devs, PM me if you would like to explore an AR/VR version of KSP.

d

[cubinator]

I agree that this would be an absolutely amazing experience. To fly the rocket from inside, to look out the cupola and see the world drifting by, and to build rockets by picking up parts and actually, physically moving them around. You could have a VAB where you can pick up parts and build the rocket in small table-size scale, then look up and see the ship in real scale above. That would be really cool.

[Sheppard]

New news on the VR part from the devs in today's devnotes: 

7 hours ago, SQUAD said:

[...] Now that the party is over we are taking sometime to make some VR tests. Nestor (Nestor) is a VR enthusiast and he is very excited to see how those tests will end up looking.

 

Now to wait for the new nvidia graphic cards, buy a VR ready laptop, buy a HTC Vive, sell a kidney to pay for all of it and let the fun begin 

 

Edited April 27, 2016 by Sheppard

[Ourworldalpha1]

what would be cool is building the rocket on like a kitchen table, walk outside transfer your 40 meter in game rocket to a real 40 meter high replica and watch it blast off into the real virtual sky. hu hu wink wink

I like to see my 200+Meter SLS virtual Replica overshadow the real DEAL

Edited May 30, 2016 by Ourworldalpha1
Placed "Meter"

[Soda Popinski]

Bit of a necro, but thought this might be of interest.
 

Anyway, has there been any word on VR from the devs?