Motion sickness with Oculus Rift - would a newer VR headset be better?

[Paul_RD]

As the title says, I've got an Oculus Rift and despite trying to persevere, I've never been able to get over the motion sickness part of it.

For those of you who have had motion sickness with the Oculus Rift, has getter a newer/different VR headset reduced your motion sickness at all?

 

[Ravenger]

Only the Index might be better due to being able to run at a faster refresh rate, but you need monster hardware to do it, plus the motion smoothing on Steam VR is nowhere near as good as the Oculus version if you can't maintain that framerate.

Some people never get over motion sickness, though you can mitigate it by avoiding titles with smooth turning or smooth locomotion. Roomscale games where you walk around or teleport tend to work best.

How have you tried to get used to the motion sickness? The best way is to play until you start to feel off, then stop, then come back later when you feel better and try it again. Doing this frequently, most people can build up resistance fairly quickly this way.

Some people claim ginger helps them, or possibly travel sickness medication. But the most important part is to stop playing if you feel ill, otherwise you can train your brain to associate the headset with feeling ill, which is very difficult to get over.

 

[Paul_RD]

Only the Index might be better due to being able to run at a faster refresh rate, but you need monster hardware to do it, plus the motion smoothing on Steam VR is nowhere near as good as the Oculus version if you can't maintain that framerate.

Some people never get over motion sickness, though you can mitigate it by avoiding titles with smooth turning or smooth locomotion. Roomscale games where you walk around or teleport tend to work best.

How have you tried to get used to the motion sickness? The best way is to play until you start to feel off, then stop, then come back later when you feel better and try it again. Doing this frequently, most people can build up resistance fairly quickly this way.

Some people claim ginger helps them, or possibly travel sickness medication. But the most important part is to stop playing if you feel ill, otherwise you can train your brain to associate the headset with feeling ill, which is very difficult to get over.

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated.
I tried it in a few games including DCS World and The Talos Principle.
Teleporting in The Talos Principle was ok, but if I tried it in walking mode, I only lasted a minute or so.
I'll give it another go with different types of games such as Project Cars and Asetto Corsa where you tend to stay sat level in the car.
It would be a shame to give up on it so easily.

 

[drakulton]

What graphics card do you have? The rift can drop down to 45fps to keep running with a card that's struggling to push the frames, which may be exacerbating your issue.

 

[Paul_RD]

What graphics card do you have? The rift can drop down to 45fps to keep running with a card that's struggling to push the frames, which may be exacerbating your issue.

I've got an RTX 2060 - I was never aware of any fps slowdown - would I have been aware if it dropped to 45fps?

 

[drakulton]

I've got an RTX 2060 - I was never aware of any fps slowdown - would I have been aware if it dropped to 45fps?

There's an overlay that can be pulled up in the Oculus tray tool that lets you know how many frames you're seeing or dropping. If you're running intensive games then the rift will drop down to 45fps but not tell you. maybe the cause of your nausea.

 

[drakulton]

I've got an RTX 2060 - I was never aware of any fps slowdown - would I have been aware if it dropped to 45fps?

Oculus tray tool.

 

[Ravenger]

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated.
I tried it in a few games including DCS World and The Talos Principle.
Teleporting in The Talos Principle was ok, but if I tried it in walking mode, I only lasted a minute or so.
I'll give it another go with different types of games such as Project Cars and Asetto Corsa where you tend to stay sat level in the car.
It would be a shame to give up on it so easily.

You definitely don't want to be trying sims with excessive motion or anything with smooth locomotion at first. Sims are also far more likely to drop down to 45fps, which could make you feel ill.

Best thing is to play games like HL Alyx where you can mix free locomotion and teleport freely. Smooth loco a bit, then play using teleport for a while. Gradually increase the amount of time you spend in free locomotion.

 

[kevman]

As the title says, I've got an Oculus Rift and despite trying to persevere, I've never been able to get over the motion sickness part of it.

For those of you who have had motion sickness with the Oculus Rift, has getter a newer/different VR headset reduced your motion sickness at all?

Have you tried a desk fan blowing in your face - this helped me with skyrim?

 

[Paul_RD]

You definitely don't want to be trying sims with excessive motion or anything with smooth locomotion at first. Sims are also far more likely to drop down to 45fps, which could make you feel ill.

Best thing is to play games like HL Alyx where you can mix free locomotion and teleport freely. Smooth loco a bit, then play using teleport for a while. Gradually increase the amount of time you spend in free locomotion.

Have you tried a desk fan blowing in your face - this helped me with skyrim?

Some excellent ideas - they are all worth a try - thanks!

 

[Vince]

I got really sick at first with my rift and it took me probably 30 hours of gameplay playing decent titles like boneworks, Alyx, Moss and other established titles to get over it, certain games just seem to induce it massively so I have stayed away from those titles. They way I achieved this was to keep to say 20 minute sessions and be strict about coming off before I start feeling ill, or the second I started not feeling right just put it all down and move away from the PC. Eventually I started being able to do a bit longer each time and now I could easily do a few hours in Alyx and not feel grim. I made a whole thread about just this issue but eventually managed to train myself out of it.