Valve Index Hands On

[Twwhitey]

Okay - I'm currently doing a private beta test of firmware for Steam regarding the vertical lines issue - bad news is that so far it hasn't done much to improve things, good news is they seem determined to get it sorted out.

......

btw - another thing I've noticed is that it appears far worse when looking through the HUD glass (of any of the DCS aircraft).

 

Indeed thank you for the heads up that there actually is some (urgent?) effort to resolve this issue. After waiting 2 days for a response from Valve Support on the issue (keeping in mind this is my 2nd faulty Index headset) I received the exact same cookie cutter response everyone else did... (in retrospect I'm not sure why I honestly expected anything different).

 

Witnessing 1st hand what I believe these displays are capable of (granted my 1st had a few dead pixels originally) I don't buy that

a) "some amount of this behavior will be present" (my original one did not at all, it was glorious minus a few pixels)

b) "it should improve as the headset warms up during play sessions" (my original one looked great the instant it was powered up)

 

I find their canned statement "Our engineers are currently looking at software adjustments that should improve this behavior across the board." to not instill a great amount of confidence. Should improve? I'd prefer "will definitely resolve" :doh:

 

Seeing that in my response I'm now advocating they send me a THIRD headset I actually asked the support guy (in semi-sortof joking but not really joking way) if there was a way they could open the box and test it before sending it to me... :megalol: testing.. novel idea I know.

 

Anyhow you're at the forefront of this issue and directly applying it to DCS so thank you for the effort and would welcome updates on your beta experiences going forward while I ponder what do with the $1000 box on my floor.

[Twwhitey]

Try this. It's a general Index FAQ/Support but there should be a direct link to customer support somewhere on that page.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpWithValveIndex

 

+1 that's how I initiated my contact. Note it's taken NO LESS than just over 2 days for them to respond to me each response iteration so it's in your best interest to

1. Clearly state your issue and just as importantly what, if anything, you've done to test/resolve, etc the issue on your part. Different games, resolutions, SS, frequencies, GPU driver versions, USB/display ports.

2. include a system report generated from SteamVR and attach it to the support request.

 

If you don't do the above you'll likely get a very canned response asking you to do very basic things (have you tried updating your GPU drivers? have you tried different ports? have you rebooted your computer?:doh:) at which point you will have to wait ANOTHER 2 days for a another response after doing what they said. You want your initial communication to be pretty comprehensive so you can cut to the chase and proceed with an RMA or pull the ripcord and send it back.

[Johnny Dioxin]

Yes, it's very important to say that it is adversely affecting your VR experience.

 

I will update as I can on the beta testing. I 've been asked not to share the code as they will refuse to support anyone whose headset gets messed up by using it without authorisation.

 

They are currently studying my SteamVR system report and my first report on the firmware - they seemed genuinely surprised that there was no improvement.

[Twwhitey]

Yes, it's very important to say that it is adversely affecting your VR experience.

 

I will update as I can on the beta testing. I 've been asked not to share the code as they will refuse to support anyone whose headset gets messed up by using it without authorisation.

 

They are currently studying my SteamVR system report and my first report on the firmware - they seemed genuinely surprised that there was no improvement.

 

Interestingly enough I got the invite to join the private firmware beta as well last night. I’ll likely give it a go today when I get a chance.

 

Few folks on Reddit are reporting improvement after installing so that’s something I suppose

 

[Johnny Dioxin]

Great. I thought that there was an improvement initially, but in contradiction to what Valve have been saying the longer my session, the worse it seemed to get. In all my flight sims there was no change.

Elite was the only title with visible improvement (and that was what I had tested first)

 

They have offered to replace my headset, anyway, if they think it should be better but I don't see an improvement, so I should be alright either way.

[imacken]

What is fascinating about all this, is that not everyone experiences the issue.

All I see is very slight vertical and horizontal lines which I put down to SDE, and even then, I've got to look pretty hard.

[Supmua]

Yeah I do not see this on mine, but I do see a bit of SDE mostly on brighter objects. And if I don't achieve perfect focus by staying in the right sweetspot area, I do not see SDE at all and the images appear slightly blurry. I'm kind of curious what the new firmware does, though.

[Supmua]

Has anyone tried No Man's Sky? Graphically, it's very impressive on the Index. I've been messing around and was able to achieve 90Hz/90FPS with around 5% reprojection by lowering certain settings with my setup. At 80Hz/80FPS I almost have no reprojection. It's a pretty immersive VR game.

[John C Flett]

I got my Index headset last night. Only had a couple of hours with it so these are very early impressions;

 

 

Set up was pretty easy, had to re-pair my Vive controllers which was easy enough. Had an issue with sound vanishing but a reboot dealt with that. Too early to say if it will reoccur.

 

 

The wider field of view is something I have to take their word for. I can't say I really notice though you can see it change as you move the lenses but ingame I really don't see much difference.

 

 

Image clarity was what I was really after and it is certainly a step up from the Vive. Screen door effect is still there but much more subtle. In game displays are far easier to read, much crisper. Not perfect but I suspect I may have hit a limit on my own eyes. I am astigmatic and wear glasses and where I am having problems in VR is probably where I would have problems IRL.

 

 

What i can't do in VR of course is take my glasses off where I normally would. I may have to think about bi or vari focals.

 

 

The biggest problem is eye strain. It may be related to my own problems but I do find it a bit worse on the Index. That said it took some months with the Vive before I found my ideal settings so I may simply need time.

 

 

Performance also seems to be fine. I've not stress tested it yet but high speed low level flying in the P51 over Normandy resulted in slightly jerky frames but still playable. Higher level flight or taking the Huey low over Vegas all seemed fine.

 

 

Early days but the Index seems to be offering the step up I expected.

[Johnny Dioxin]

I have eyestrain, too, but funnily enough I can wear the Index without too many issues without prescription lenses (though of course it's normally much sharper with them) but yesterday I got my WidmoVR lenses after several weeks waiting, and they are pretty awful.

 

The right one is particularly bad. It's really disappointing, as my Rift lenses (from VR Lens Labs) were really excellent and I had high hopes for these ones. I actually used Widmo because I thought they would be here a lot quicker than the VR Lens Labs ones, but they actually took longer - and then such a poor quality, I find it hard to beleive anyone checked them before sending - you can see the imperfections in the right lens quite easily.

 

Oh well - next time I'll try VR Optician. Just a waste of £69 though and still no better off. Yes, the left eye is okay, but what use is it in one eye only? (I don't really trust them to request a replacement so I'm just writing off the cash).

 

As for NMS, Supmua, I was due to play that last night, after only buying it after hearing of the VR update, but after reading all the reports I decided to leave it for a while. Hopefully they will sort the bugs and then I can give it a proper try - don't want to be put off by something that will get fixed.

 

I did have a session in SkyrimVR last night instead, and though it looks outstandingly clear (with mods), it's the game with the most obvious SDE, I think. It isn't really off-putting, but it's more noticable than in anything else, for me at least. This is no bad thing, as it's a really good example of how things have advanced since CV1.

[RedX]

Regarding the vertical lines, my Index shows no change after some hours of use. The effect is real as it is distinguishable thanks to the fact that only left screen shows vertical lines when image is moving. Right screen appears normal as it should.

 

So there is an expected firmware update coming up? I wonder if it helps.

[Johnny Dioxin]

Good news! My left panel is fixed. Tested in DCS World 2.5.5 (release) as well as all my other sims and games that were suffering this issue. Still very strong in the right panel, but the left is definitely now clear of it.

[RedX]

Brixmis, do you mean the vertical lines? How exactly was it fixed? The custom firmware you got to test applied changes only on the left panel?

Do you notice any changes in temporal response of the lcd panel, i.e., is there more motion blur or other effects that might indicate that lcd pixels are driven more slowly?

Edited August 16, 2019 by RedX

[Johnny Dioxin]

No idea how it was fixed - they don't let me in on those details ;)

 

I can't say for sure - I've spent so many hours since they gave me the test firmware update, just staring at SDE and desperately trying to be sure if there is any change or not so that I don't give duff information (which I did last night when I told them I still had the effect on both panels, which was wrong), that it becomes hard to be sure that something is how you think it is. Changing from one eye to the other isn't ideal, either.

 

Especially when others are saying they see something different.

 

When I first tested the new firmware, yes, I was of the opinion that the image was less sharp than it had previously been.

 

However, I've also been using these WidmoVR lenses, which arrived yesterday and are not as good as I was hoping - so that's another possible influence on how I see things. I will, however, go back to using my uncomfortable old lenses with a headband (which did give me a very clear image), and see if I think there is any difference with those.

 

It's not motion blur I thought I noticed - just generally less sharp than before. I'll get back when I've done some more testing, which I'm just about to do :)

 

UPDATE: I just flew a default Huey mission in the snow - an excellent opportunity to be 100% sure the vertical lines are gone, because they stand out so much against the snow and yes, they are completely gone from my left panel, but still strong as ever in the right one.

 

With my decent lenses in, the image was very good - so if there is any blur from this correction, it isn't much and nothing to be too concerned about.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Brixmis
update

[Speedywrx]

If I buy the Index HMD with 2 base stations and NO controllers, will I still be able to set it up and use it? I have no need for controllers as I'll just be using it for DCS. This will save some money.

[JG27_Arklight]

If I buy the Index HMD with 2 base stations and NO controllers, will I still be able to set it up and use it? I have no need for controllers as I'll just be using it for DCS. This will save some money.

I don't see why not. I haven't used my Rift S controllers at all since setting it up other than to set the game space (which wasn't needed anyways since I don't stand lol).

 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[frosen]

If I buy the Index HMD with 2 base stations and NO controllers, will I still be able to set it up and use it? I have no need for controllers as I'll just be using it for DCS. This will save some money.

 

I can confirm that you will as I just did the same (albeit with 1 base station). In Steam VR choose Settings->Room setup->Standing only and you can do it. You can not do it by only putting on your HMD because then it want you to use the controllers to set it up.

[JG27_Arklight]

I can confirm that you will as I just did the same (albeit with 1 base station). In Steam VR choose Settings->Room setup->Standing only and you can do it. You can not do it by only putting on your HMD because then it want you to use the controllers to set it up.

Really? Ack....

 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[Speedywrx]

I can confirm that you will as I just did the same (albeit with 1 base station). In Steam VR choose Settings->Room setup->Standing only and you can do it. You can not do it by only putting on your HMD because then it want you to use the controllers to set it up.

 

Awesome thanks! This will save me some money then just getting the HMD and base stations. I think I’ll still get 2 stations.

[Kinger]

I can confirm that the Index works just fine with one base station. Just got mine set up today and all I purchased was the single station and the HMD.

 

 

Can anyone tell me how you get steam VR displaying in the game you are playing? Can you for example read the FPS counter within steam VR?

[imacken]

You should get fpsVR from the Steam store. An invaluable tool for showing FPS, CPU/GPU usage etc.

[Speedywrx]

I can confirm that the Index works just fine with one base station. Just got mine set up today and all I purchased was the single station and the HMD.

 

 

Can anyone tell me how you get steam VR displaying in the game you are playing? Can you for example read the FPS counter within steam VR?

 

Kinger, where do you have your single base station mounted? What if during a dogfight you look directly away from the base station (180*) like looking behind you?

[Kinger]

My PC and flight sim stuff is in my unfinished basement so I am able to put the base station on the ceiling in front of me pointing down at about a 45 degree angle. No issues with losing tracking while checking six. Thought I might have a problem with that but in my testing last night I found it wasn’t an issue.

[Johnny Dioxin]

Don't worry about it - I've had situations where for some unknown reason only one or other of my two base stations were recognised by SteamVR and neither had any issues at all with tracking me.

 

They don't work the same way as Oculus sensors, so occlusion is not the concern it can be with a Rift - this is the reason the Lighthouse is considered the best tracking system.

 

Mine are mounted one in each corner of the room, just under the ceiling.

[CobaltUK]

Single lighthouse directly in front of my position, about 3 feet above head. Check 6 seems fine.

 

Where are the instructions for this kit ? Not the flimsy enclosed, the real instructions.