Had a couple of days to play around with the rift now. While the tech demos and quirky apps are fun i don't have a great deal of time for them, a lot of what is available in any other industry would be distributed for free as examples of what they can achieve in there upcoming titles. I do understand though that it's a necessary evil to help dev's breakout into the industry and push what is being accomplished in the platform so i get it... as much as i don't like it.
Hardware side i have had no issues after the initial trawl to get it up and running, the thing is well made, tracks perfectly though does get toasty on your face. I have noticed though that the clamping force needed to feel secure on your face does leave me with a bit of a headache, I'm thinking about investing in a new face pad that is slightly more cushioned to help combat this, can any one confirm this would help resolve said issue?
performance: my system is a i5 4690k and GTX980. Without super sampling the ED runs perfectly, no jitter no motion sickness just smooth gameplay at a nice detail level of high to v.high. Any ss at all you can notice a less than smooth experience which is to be expected on said gpu. I tried cranking up the SS just to see what the image looked like if i was able to get hardware capable of it and it is a really nice improvement, definitely something ill be looking into in the future. Nothing prepared me for just how crippling the motion sickness form one of these is though, i do not suffer from motion sickness at all in any thing but a less than smooth experience in vr made me a nauseous mess!
rift limitations, SDE isn't an issue for me, i see something but it soon blends away into game-play, once im off exploring i just don't notice it at all.
God rays have been noticeable, fortunately i know exactly why, steam, steam on the lenses to be more precise. When the lenses are clear the image is clear but as soon as they steam even a little the rays are clearly visible, solve one issue and the other will disappear so im fine with that. what are peoples solution to this?
All in I feel it's money well spent and all my doubts about the potential for vr as a gaming tool are dismissed with regards to what the tech can offer and the place it can secure in the industry. i do however believe that is completely reliant on how this is handled by game dev's and how fast the hardware needed for a complete experience can become financially viable for the masses. The biggest hurdles i see being faced by new generation vr is higher ppi and res exasperated by the need for higher FOV and all three of these clear needs all working together to exponentially increase demand on processing hardware, foveated rendering seeming like the only real near solution to the issue.
All no doubt been said before but thought i would just leave my thoughts any way.
Just about the headache you are getting while wearing the Rift. You are tightening the side straps too much. The triangle of straps at the back of the headset should sit really low down on your head, nearly at your neck. Then you tighten the side straps, not too tight, just enough so the headset doesn't move when you move your head. Next you tilt the facemask until it's comfortable and clear. Last you tighten the top strap. You tighten it the most as this should be holding the weight of the headset.