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The rift shouldn't behave as a desktop monitor in windows.

mstdesigns
Honored Guest
It is really annoying for multi-monitor users. Having the cursor disappear or even having windows disappear from the main monitors to the rift monitor when the main monitors' resolution changes for some applications even if they are not VR related.

I think that there should be software that makes the rift not accessible by explorer.exe

This way:
Everything in windows explorer shows up only on the monitors.
Everything VR related shows up only on the rift.

The rift could also have a VR explorer application that is independent of windows explorer and boots when the rift is connected. I think that isolating the two interfaces is by far the best option. You could see what's happening in the rift on your monitors through a special app if you choose. All these are improvements that should be done in the commercial version.

For this solution we would also need a button to pass mouse control from the desktop to the VR interface and vice versa.
11 REPLIES 11

Hadwell
Honored Guest
PCs are like that, to enable flexibility and functionality, so people can do whatever they want with them, you lose aesthetics and ease of use... just something you've gotta get used to...

as far as the computer is concerned the rift is nothing more than another monitor, allows for maximum flexibility, and no need for a 2nd custom display adapter that would bring the cost up, and bring down functionality, and upgradability...

and there are already people working on 3d GUIs for the rift, but the DK1 isn't a high enough resolution, don't know if the DK2 is or not...

mstdesigns
Honored Guest
"Hadwell" wrote:
PCs are like that, to enable flexibility and functionality, so people can do whatever they want with them, you lose aesthetics and ease of use... just something you've gotta get used to...

as far as the computer is concerned the rift is nothing more than another monitor, allows for maximum flexibility, and no need for a 2nd custom display adapter that would bring the cost up....

and there are already people working on 3d GUIs for the rift, but the DK1 isn't a high enough resolution, don't know if the DK2 is or not...


Well it is obvious that it will be picked up as a monitor, because it is in fact a monitor. However, certain software can be developed so it stops being accessible by the windows explorer. That's my main suggestion, as the way it works now it creates fragmentation to both the monitors and the rift.

There are so many times I forgot to run the demos on DK1 monitor and ended up showing only in one of my main monitors. Also many times apps like VLC ended dwelling around DK1 without being able to see and grab the window without putting on the rift.

Having a 2D desktop without pre-distortion filters showing up on the rift is just plain wrong and needs to be fixed with software.

Hadwell
Honored Guest

Well it is obvious that it will be picked up as a monitor, because it is in fact a monitor. However, certain software can be developed so it stops being accessible by the windows explorer. That's my main suggestion, as the way it works now it creates fragmentation to both the monitors and the rift.

There are so many times I forgot to run the demos on DK1 monitor and ended up showing only in one of my main monitors. Also many times apps like VLC ended dwelling around DK1 without being able to see and grab the window without putting on the rift.


in VLC, you press ctrl+p then click video then theres a display device dropdown menu, you select the one you want there...

same with mostly all games, just go into the options, select what monitor you wanna use, and it remembers next time...

as i was saying, functionality over ease of use... they like to let you select what monitor is the main one, so that you can choose for yourself what your favorite monitor is, instead of forcing you to use one you might not like...

it might be different for every computer, since im not sure if game engines go by a monitors name, or their just numerated and your rift could be monitor 1 or monitor 6 depending on your config, so that could be a limitation

and about the mouse cursor thing, some games do have hardware cursors, in that case usually the mouse does stay in the game, some don't... but it's been that way since the dawn of time so... get angry at that specific developer if you want, but it's not always true...

rupy
Honored Guest
"mstdesigns" wrote:
It is really annoying for multi-monitor users. Having the cursor disappear or even having windows disappear from the main monitors to the rift monitor when the main monitors' resolution changes for some applications even if they are not VR related.


I agree, this is the second usability problem for VR after stutter sickness by low FPS.

I just move a 1280x800 window to the right of the primary screen, so if your main screen is 1920 pixels wide the 1280x800 window will be placed at coordinates 1920x0.

If you have another screen there, and the rift is the third screen, I could add a "look for 1280x800" screen but that will not work if your 2nd screen has the same resolution! So the only real solution is to look at native names for the monitors. Even that is messy, specially from Java!

Does anyone have another solution?
"It's like Homeworld in first person." Disable Aero and vSync for a completely simulator sickness free experience with 2xHz FPS. Keep the config utility open for tracking to work.

jherico
Adventurer
"rupy" wrote:
Does anyone have another solution?


What's needed is an extension to the EDID specification that unambiguously indicates a display device is an HMD to the operating system. The OS could then respond by not extending the desktop metaphor to that device, but continuing to make it visible via APIs like DirectX and OpenGL, more specifically, the platform specific APIs that let you iterate over the displays and their capabilities.

However, this kind of change will only happen at a glacial pace. I wouldn't expect to see it in less than 5 years. Right now there isn't enough of a proven market for Apple or Microsoft to make the kind of changes necessary to their respective OSs to accommodate VR headsets. Similarly, getting a new extension to the EDID specification isn't going to happen quickly. Plus there is a chicken and the egg problem, because there has to be both an unambiguous way for the OS to identify the headset as such (which is the burden of the headset makers) and the OS makers have to then take advantage of that information (which is the burden of the OS makers) and neither is likely to invest a lot of effort unless they think the other side will follow through.

On the other hand there are other reasons that it would be helpful for HMD makers to be able to positively identify a connected monitor as such, so maybe that side will happen anyway eventually.
Brad Davis - Developer for High Fidelity Co-author of Oculus Rift in Action

rupy
Honored Guest
Ok, I think I solved this in the easiest way possible:

I loop through all displays, moving the 1280x800 borderless game screen to the last monitor with 1280x800 resolution.

Then if you have more than one screen with 1280x800 resolution you can press N-key in-game to move the game to previous 1280x800 monitors.

My logic here is that if you have the rift in an extended multi monitor setup it would be last!?

This should work for all setups.

The only caveat is that you can't run the rift in any other resolution than 1280x800, which is something I think is good for my stutter sickness solution (low res = high fps) but others might not agree with.
"It's like Homeworld in first person." Disable Aero and vSync for a completely simulator sickness free experience with 2xHz FPS. Keep the config utility open for tracking to work.

whitehexagon
Explorer
I like the idea that the Rift is seen as just another monitor, that makes it a more flexible device going forwards. I really hope CV1 'custom hardware', isnt going to change that situation. Unless it's just another monitor that happens to include a small shader to process the distortion required... that way you could potentially send pretty much any regular video output to the Rift and have it usable at least as a static scene (ie no movement feedback).
DK2, MBP (mid 2010) OSX 10.10.3. Win7 - i5 4670K - GTX770. Java LWJGL 3 OpenGL Experiments: https://github.com/WhiteHexagon

Disdroid
Honored Guest
I hope I'm not missing the point of this thread.
I can understand the rejection of the oculus rift as a screen, but I think this rejection is more due to the input divices available to you. While a traditional monitor provides a flat virtual surface to work ON, the rift should be much more then that. It's a window into a virtual space that you can work IN. The traditional mouse is optimized tool to work on a flat surface. In a room however it's lacking a full dimension of navigation.
There are mouses out there that can navigate in 3 directions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw7o4oU0NM8)
However it doesn't seem optimal to me to use such a tool in the long run. To do work in 3D space, we're already equipped with a great tool by nature: the Hand. I hope it's only a matter of time until scanning our hand movements is precise enough that using a mouse will seem primitive to us. I'll be even happier once voicerecognition has advanced to the point where we don't need keyboards anymore.

I'll stop here, my sci-fi brain just kicked in. (I imagine brainscanning advancing to the point where we can control virtual reality like a lucid dream. :mrgreen: )
People tend to believe what they want to be true.

Hadwell
Honored Guest
it's more like he's saying he wants the rift to have its own seperate display adapter that's seperate from the OS front end, so that it runs only through the SDK and nothing else, that way the rift only works if the program your running is specifically for the rift, and that way your input devices can remain separate from your desktop...

better to just use a normal display adapter and just treat the rift like a generic display, keeps it open for everyone to do whatever they want with no constraints

I think when they get high enough resolution (they currently aren't) there'll be some good 3D GUI's for the rift, but right now when you can't read text smaller than like... 72 point... well... hard to make a fleshed out GUI when your virtual eyesight is so nearsighted and you can't even lean forwards to get a closer look yet...

probably more doable with DK2?