06-10-2019 12:27 AM
04-15-2020 06:43 AM
dburne said:
I would be more interested in hearing how the Index compares to a Rift S in Alyx.
I myself am getting amazing performance in Alyx with my Rift S and it looks awesome.
Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"
04-15-2020 06:56 AM
04-15-2020 08:11 AM
Luciferous said:
Yes sorry meant HP. Well my RTX2060 Super is recommended as low in Alyx (High in most games). Although as mentioned before I don't see any difference between low to ultra. If I am honest I do not pay a lot of attention to things like that. Not sure if more shadows are enabled?For example in the scene where you see the floating cutlery I noticed they all have a shadow until you pick one up and then the shadow disappears. Let it go and it appears again. Do you get that?
Btw - without spoiling anything - I need to talk to Valve about Jeff, socially he really can be a burden. I persuaded him to stay in his room yesterday, which also caused me to be somewhat emotionally affected, probably didn't stay with him for more than 10 min - and I probably need to see how he's doing ... soon .... deep double-sigh.
Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"
04-15-2020 02:24 PM
Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"
04-15-2020 05:49 PM
TomCgcmfc said:
ordered a Quest w/Link Cable a few days ago. It should get here in a few days. What was I thinking, lol! I'm going to blame the corona shutdown.
Luciferous said:
I was always put off because Pyro refunded, Tom was never enthusiastic and you were always using both headsets.
I'll probably wait to see what plays out this year.
04-15-2020 10:26 PM
Luciferous said:
Well that's good to hear.
I was always put off because Pyro refunded, Tom was never enthusiastic and you were always using both headsets.
I'll probably wait to see what plays out this year. HTC have a new one coming which looks interesting and it says no compromises (hope they include FOV in that statement).
04-15-2020 10:54 PM
pyroth309 said:As far as Index with Alyx....IMO, I really don't' see what the benefit of 144hz would be in a game like Alyx. The combat is super slow and you aren't exactly whipping your head around as most of the game happens in front of you. To me it would be a game to run at 80 or 90hz and push it for fidelity, especially on an older GPU like a 1080.
Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"
04-15-2020 10:59 PM
04-16-2020 12:40 AM
04-23-2020 05:40 AM
Hey everyone.
So I wanted to talk about my experience purchasing the Valve Index when the orders first came up last month a few weeks before Half Life: Alyx came out. I stayed up all night hitting the refresh button like a maniac at 3:58AM to hit the order button as fast as I could so I could secure a kit for myself. And lo and behold, I was one of the lucky ones to get into the 2-4 week group.
This is a breakdown of what everything cost me in AUD.
Valve Index Total: $1,438.56
Shopmate Total: $164.40
Base Charge: $22.95
Weight Charge: $103.95
Extra Cover: $37.50
Vanguard Logistics (Customs Broker) Total: $370.38
EDI FEE – CUSTOMS: $88.00
GST PAID: $177.88
AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS CLEARANCE FEE: $95.00
GST Amount (10.00%): $9.50
$1,438.56 + $164.40 + $370.88 = $1973.84
Grand Total: $1973.84 AUD
The kit took about 3 and a half weeks to arrive from the time I hit the order button on the Steam page. As you can see, I had to go through Shopmate and hire a customs broker (Vanguard Logistics) which Australia Post recommended, so there were a few hoops to jump through. Pricey ones as you can see in the figures above, but not difficult to work your way around. The woman I spoke to over the phone had been dealing with a lot of people calling in trying to get their Index's shipped through Australia, so she knew what the deal was. She even mentioned her own son was trying to buy one and get one through the country.
Time went on, and I bought some interlocking module jigsaw foam mats to prepare for the experience. These in my opinion, are absolutely essential to have, or at least some sort of padding/foam mat or surface to stand on while playing because standing can become tiresome after a while. It definitely improves the experience in terms of comfort, and it also gives you a sensory indication if you are moving too close to the chaperone wall (depending on how you have your room scale VR set up).
$1973 AUD might seem like A LOT of money, and don't get me wrong, it is. However, I am a HUGE Half Life fan and I was fortunate enough to be able to afford the purchase and I can honestly say I have had no regrets since buying the kit. I finished Half Life: Alyx and was blown away by the experience. Admittedly, I did have to use the teleporting locomotion throughout the game, because continuous/smooth threw me off heavily as I couldn't build up my tolerance for it comfortably. However, once I play some other games with that style of locomotion and get my VR legs, I will, for sure, play through the game again with continuous locomotion, as I feel that was how the game was meant to be played.
I have also been playing Beat Saber and I have been having an absolute blast. It's a great way to get some quick exercise and playing the game with mods and being able to download songs through the mod menu (which honestly feels like a cheeky in-game Limewire) is a great advantage that the PC version has over the console versions. It's also a great way to discover new music by sorting through what has been downloaded the most/rated the most, etc.
I have briefly played Onward with a friend, and there was a hilarious glitch that I encountered where my gun flew out of my hands and yeeted off into the sky. I wish I got that recording through Shadowplay because I pretty much fell to the floor laughing when it happened. Onward is a pretty cool and immersive experience and is a must own if you have fellow friends that own VR headsets.
So far, my experience has only been with these 3 games, but I have been having a serious amount of fun with this thing.
Honestly whenever I don the headset on, and pick up the controllers. I feel EXTREMELY lucky to own one, despite paying nearly $2000 AUD for the damn thing, I feel like I'm carrying gold. This is especially being able to import one through to Australia, where the Index isn't for sale at the moment, and knowing that there are people in America that are still waiting to even pay for theirs. Even paying exorbitant prices for the knuckles controllers alone, which feel great in your hands and are super ergonomic.
I just want to say that the wait will be worth it, and if you are a fellow Aussie looking at importing a kit, I would without a doubt say go for it, because it sure beats paying insane amounts through a scalper or second hand. Especially if you are a huge Half Life fan like I am. It was a week before Alyx was announced that I was telling my friends that I was going to play the final release version of Black Mesa, and bid farewell to the franchise knowing full well that there probably won't ever be another Half Life game again. The next week rolls by and Alyx was announced. Even after playing and finishing the game I still can't believe that I got to experience it, and that is actually happened. A freaking new Half Life game. Who would have thought?
After looking online, it seems that all VR headsets are extremely hard to come by, and this is because people are purely buying one just to play Half Life: Alyx, which is just crazy.
Anyway, those were some thoughts I just wanted to share. I hope this helps anyone else on the fence about buying/importing an Index. I honestly wish there was a way for me to share this kit out to as many people as I could to try it, because I know how important Half Life is to people. I feel honored in a way be owning an Index, it might sound silly, but with everything that's going on in the world right now, it certainly doesn't feel silly at all.
Thanks for reading. If anyone has any questions about the Shopmate experience, let me know and I'll do my best to help.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/g6hl4f/australian_valve_index_owner_here_my_first_time/
Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"