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Better than the guardian system

cybernettr
Superstar
 I had my oculus touch set up and I was playing the bullet train demo the other day and I noticed that every time I moved ever so slightly when I was in the train car, the Guardian system guidelines appeared.  This despite the fact that when I set up the guardian system, it said my play area was "moderate."  I couldn't even shift my weight from one foot to the other without the guardian guidelines appearing! It was very immersion breaking!  This is how I resolved the problem:

I have a chair mat on my floor in front of my computer desk to protect the carpeting.  If I take off my shoes (or house slippers) and stand right at the edge of the chair mat, I can feel it with my left foot. This has the added advantage of taking me away from being right in front of the computer screen.  

I turned off the Guardian system completely.  I don't need it, because I know exactly where I am because I can feel the edge of the chair mat with my left foot.  

This ties in with a clever idea I read on C/Net or somewhere.  If you are playing on a hard floor, you can get a throw rug that is roughly the size of your play area.  That way, if you play in your stocking feet, you can always feel when you are in the safe zone. If your playing area is already carpeted, you can buy a couple  of chairmats from the office supply store to define your safe zone.

Physical safeguards like this will probably be better than the guardian system for most people.  Hope this idea helps someone. 
18 REPLIES 18

benplace
Rising Star
I have no problems with the guardian system myself, it works perfectly.

cybernettr
Superstar
I'm sure it depends a lot on your individual setup and the size of your play area. 

HoIIywood
Heroic Explorer


I'm sure it depends a lot on your individual setup and the size of your play area. 


And what you are playing. When you're face down getting shot at, feeling around with your foot isn't always the best method. 

I suggest you seek new girlfriend and ensure during the twenty questions part of speed dating, that you clarify she A) Knows what VR is and B ) Is happy to act like the old drunk guys at the edge of a mosh pit whom push the young kids back in when they get loose from the flow and stumble out of the pit. 

She can be your Guardian...ANGEL!

jayhawk
Superstar
I had that problem and reran the guardian system this time running right along the walls to make it bigger. I didn't do that before because I wanted a bit of a buffer before I hit the wall. Now I don't have that issue. I'm guessing the guardian will show up once you get into a certain proximity of it regardless of how big your play space is. You can just turn off the walls but leave the floor outline on. I think they need to update guardian with the option to adjust opacity for the grid. Leave the floor outline bright and leave the circle that forms when you get close bright.

n3cr0-0
Adventurer
I just turned off the walls but still use the guardian system... no more grid in my face.

HoIIywood
Heroic Explorer

n3cr0-0 said:

I just turned off the walls but still use the guardian system... no more grid in my face.


I would but can't trust it..it moves around sometimes on it's own

Map63Vette
Adventurer
My bigger concern is the walls or objects.  A carpet doesn't exactly fix that.  It would give me an idea of where I might be in a room, but not how far I can reach.  I've actually been pretty impressed with the system and think it's pretty cool.  I'll reach out and see just how accurate the "walls" are and it's pretty good.  I think they shrink it back just a few inches to make sure you don't smack them, which is a nice touch.

HiThere_
Superstar
What Guardian does, is inconsistently warn you when your body is moving too close to a border, and it does it more or less closer to that border depending on how far your hands are from your body.

What a rug does, is consistently warn you when your body is moving too far from the center of your VR space, regardless of how far your hands are from your body.

And that makes a rug better because :
- If you can feel the rug under your feet, that means you have enough arm clearance to throw a ball (or stick of dynamite).
- If Guardian doesn't trigger, that doesn't mean you won't bash your hand into the border half a second after the Guardian walls do trigger to warn you you're throwing your arm beyond the border by throwing a ball (or stick of dynamite).

I use both : The rug, and the Guardian as an extra precaution. But because I'm using the rug, the immersion breaking Guardian walls NEVER kick in for me, unless I want them to (by moving off the rug on purpose).

And if I could use only one or the other, instead of being able to use both : I would definitely choose my rug over Guardian.

Percy1983
Superstar
I haven't got much room so I plant my feet, swing my arms around and if I don't hit anything I don't move.
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