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Rift S - Please read before you buy - Tracking problems with realistic FPS sims & Archery

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee
EDIT: NEW UPDATE PLEASE READ - Read this first before continuing - Oculus has now released a new beta update called 1.39 which fixes many of these issues - I have eddied my main post of this thread so newcomers to Rift S can read this good news on how to fix their issues before continuing...You have to go into your Oculus software, click settings, click the Beta TAB at the top, click the button next to "Public Test Channel" which will automatically download Oculus software 1.39 and restart Oculus. Once you have installed this software update you will see that tracking has been massively improved for FPS games when holding two handed rifles and aiming down scopes. I have tested this on Onward today and played for over 3 hours and now the game is very playable. Before this update I couldn't play any FPS with two handed weapons, now they all seem to work fine!! Well done Oculus devs and thanks for the software update!  🙂


Original post below:
Hey everyone, I got my Rift S on launch day and was initially really impressed. But since then I have tried a wider verity of games and have since discovered a glaring issue with Rift S which is the tracking.

Before Rift S launched I was worried about the sound, that was my only concern, and yeah the sound isn't great but when I used my own headphones that solved the problem so when I was playing Robo Recall, Beat Saber, and Audica etc it all looked and performed fantastic and I soon forgot about the sound as I was enjoying the games so much.

But last night I bought Contractors on Steam which appears to be a great multiplayer FPS with great graphics but unfortunately is completely unplayable on RIft S! There's simply no other way to say it.

FPS games like Onward, Contractors, Pavlov and Archery games like In Death/Sacralith just aren't going to work with Rift S. You can't aim down the sites, soon as you hold your right hand up to your face in the normal position to look down the sites of a rifle or to look down an arrow the tracking freezes in place and stops working and makes it impossible to aim.

So after playing with Rift CV1 for the past 2.5 years this is completely dreadful. And btw the first year or so with CV1 I only had 2 front sensors which worked perfectly, the only reason I bought a 3rd sensor in the 2nd year was for pavlov so I could pick up weapons from the floor, so since then I used 3 camera setup in my dinning room and the Rift tracking was 100% perfect and never lost tracking for me.

If your planning on only playing Arcade games like Robo Recall, Superhot, Beat Saber and Audica, you will be fine, go ahead and buy Rift S and enjoy the amazing clarity of the optics and increased resolution.

But if you want to play FPS games or Archery games, your basically buying a product that does not work, your wasting your money and would be better buying a 2nd hand Rift CV1 off ebay/amazon.

Of course we heard in the past that Oculus could enable the old CV1 room sensors through software, I desperately hope they do this, otherwise for people like me that enjoy FPS/Archery games as well as the usual Arcade games, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, because I like Rift S, but what am I suppose to do? Use Rift CV1 for half my games library??

I'm quite shocked and hugely disappointed by this, I think maybe what other people were saying about Lenovo was right, I don't think Oculus/Facebook should have partnered with them because if this is the outcome then, well, no thanks.

I feel sorry for everyone who has pre-ordered expecting to play Onward/Contractors/Pavlov/In Death/
Sacralith etc and expecting this to be good. I think we need to all sign a petition to Oculus to enable the old CV1 room sensors for proper tracking otherwise they will have a lot of refunds going in and also this is very bad for people new to VR. In fact I'd go as far as to say that all FPS and Archery games should be taken off Oculus store for Rift S owners until this is resolved because otherwise what's the point? Everyone buying those games will have to refund I suppose.

Sorry for the rant guys, but I felt compelled to inform the community of this. People need to know how bad this tracking really is.

And also before Rift S was released people were saying the future is inside/out tracking. Well I'm sorry guys, but you couldn't of been more wrong. Inside/out tracking only works for Arcade games, sim racing games, elite dangerous and maybe Quest if Quest mainly uses Arcade games too? I'll leave that part for Quest users to comment on.

I own Rift CV 1, Oculus GO and now Rift S, was planning on buying Quest too but I'll hold off on that for a while until I read more reviews. 
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!
356 REPLIES 356

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
@CrashFu - Those momentary freezes are because the headset losses tracking near the headset. It's not due to a loose headset cable as far as I can tell. I hope they can fix it if it's software, but they have had time to perfect this. Nobody was expecting a Rift S, so they could have made sure the tracking was working fine in FPS games on their store.

I really want this to come good because I really am impressed with the display and the lenses, but not the tracking. I have contacted Oculus to see if I have a faulty headset because it seems some people don't have the issues I'm having. I will also wait to see what game devs have to say and wait for game patches etc.

MowTin
Expert Trustee
I tried the bow in my Oculus Home. It did glitch a couple of times. You just have to get used to not moving your hand so close to the HMD. It might be just adapting to that reality. 
i7 9700k 3090 rtx   CV1, Rift-S, Index, G2

Luciferous
Consultant
I tend to agree with previous comments, this is just the known disadvantages of this type of tracking. It was mentioned in a number of reviews. You gain convenience and some tasks are better tracked like picking things off of the floor but the controllers will get obscured and if too close to cameras it will have difficulty picking it up.

With the Rift CV1 playing Arizona Sunshine, I dreaded dropping things on the floor.

At the moment Rift S tracking is mediocre..if they add optional sensors you end up with the best tracking system on the market.

 

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee

MowTin said:

I tried the bow in my Oculus Home. It did glitch a couple of times. You just have to get used to not moving your hand so close to the HMD. It might be just adapting to that reality. 



You shouldn't have to "just get used to it though". That's the point.

We shouldn't have to cope or get used to glitches, hiccups, freezes, stutters or hold the controllers out further in unusual and uncomfortable positions.
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee

CrashFu said:

I've had occasional tracking 'hiccups'  (specifically: controllers freezing in the air for a second)  but most of the time, I'm able to aim bows just fine?



lol I don't think I need to add anything to this.
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee

JD-UK said:

I greatly dislike people putting others off buying goods because they are having their own issues. Telling people they definitely won't be able to play this or that game because yourself and perhaps the vocal minority are having issues is highly irresponsible.



I already explained in at least 3 different separate Topics/Threads on these forums that Arcade FPS like Robo Recall etc will work fine where you hold your hands out in front of you, and other games like Beat Saber, Audica are unaffected by the tracking also.

It's more serious FPS games, or realistic FPS games like Onward, Pavlov, Contractors etc where these issues arise.

And like someone else already said in here, I made this post to keep people informed. 

If people are using the headset for sims (racing & flying) games or arcade type games they should be ok but there's no way you can aim correctly with Rifles/bows as when you put your hand close to your head the tracking stops/glitches/cuts out/freezes. And then your having to battle against the tracking which takes away from the immersion and enjoyment of the game.

The only reason I can think why people would argue against this point is that they either want to justify their purchase, they haven't experimented correctly with these games, or they're just plain trolling and haven't even bought a Rift S and/or don't own the games we have mentioned.

I've tried 11 games on Rift S so far, 7 had issues with tracking which were FPS/Archery type games, and 4 games mroe Arcade type games which were fine. I'll also try more games tonight after I finish work and get my daughter to bed and then I'll report back on those games too.
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee

RedRizla said:

@CrashFu - Those momentary freezes are because the headset losses tracking near the headset. It's not due to a loose headset cable as far as I can tell. I hope they can fix it if it's software, but they have had time to perfect this. Nobody was expecting a Rift S, so they could have made sure the tracking was working fine in FPS games on their store.

I really want this to come good because I really am impressed with the display and the lenses, but not the tracking. I have contacted Oculus to see if I have a faulty headset because it seems some people don't have the issues I'm having. I will also wait to see what game devs have to say and wait for game patches etc.



I feel the exact same way, the headset is amazing in terms of build quality and visuals, which makes this such a shame. 

I am optimistic Oculus will enable constellation tracking in the software eventually, I just hope it's sooner rather then later.
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee

CrashFu said:

I've had occasional tracking 'hiccups'  (specifically: controllers freezing in the air for a second)  but most of the time, I'm able to aim bows just fine?

Question to those having trouble with bows:   Which hand are you moving to aim, the arrow hand or the bow hand?  Because I'm pretty sure it should be the bow hand,  which would be in optimal view of the Rift-S' cameras, while the arrow-hand  remains stationary (as it will, frozen in place next your head when you draw it back)

The momentary tracking freezes are the only thing throwing off my In-Death performance (and occasionally preventing me from taking out an enemy or blocking a shot in Apex Construct)  and I'm 90% sure these are either due to a loose headset cable or a software error that Oculus will be able to correct in time..

If you're concerned, I guess there's no reason you couldn't just return your Rift-S and buy another if / when the glitches are fixed  (or they allow a Hybrid Tracking option)   but I'd at least wait a week or so for that fix,  unless that'll make you miss your return deadline   (And you can enjoy apps that don't rely so much on accurate Touch use in the meantime.  Anything that supports gamepad or KBaM, for example)



I hold the bow with my left hand and pull back the arrow with my right hand to my face, and then the tracking stops and my right hand freezes which messes up my aim. I do archery in real life, I'm part of an Archery club where I live but shooting and aiming in VR is slightly different as your have a bulky headset over your eyes and head which takes some space, the controllers can hit the headset etc, so your right hand does have to be able to move ever so slightly in either direction. But once it freezes it just destroys the whole experience for me.

Also you have to take into consideration the game mechanics for bows in each individual games as some games are quite arcadey but I find In Death the most realistic bow mechanics out of all the games I've tried so far.

I think also another thing to add why there might be a discrepancy between different reviews is some people might just play games like In Death in a very fast paced arcadey type way and not be that fussed about long distance HS. Some might aim from the hip or lower chest or hold the bow on it's side. There's quite a few factors.
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee
One last thing I'll add as well is I honestly don't believe there is anything wrong with anyone's headset or sensors, I believe this is a design fault and a limitation of the tracking so this effects everybody, I honestly believe that. Even some of the people in this thread that have said "I can shoot a bow fine" have then gone on to admit they have had issues with tracking.

Maybe some are willing to accept this as a compromise but I believe you shouldn't accept this at all unless the tracking is 100% perfect and doesn't effect your immersion and gaming experience.
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

Wildt
Consultant
I appreciate you sharing your frustrations with the tracking, but after learning how high (but understandably so) your expectations are, I'm a little surprised you bought it in the first place.
Nate was pretty open about the fact that there would obviously be blind spots, so I reckon you just hoped the software was better at handling the loss of tracking?
PCVR: CV1 || 4 sensors || TPcast wireless adapter || MamutVR Gun stock V3
PSVR: PS4 Pro || Move Controllers || Aim controller
WMR: HP Reverb