VR 3D Desktop for old/non-VR games in a cinema like set up?

[hellary]

This post in the 'old games' thread got me thinking, might there be a way to link the new Steam Stream thing with something similar to VR Cinema? Playing older games - particularly older games with 3D support on a 'virtual' big screen would be pretty awesome. Not really VR obviously, but a fun way to experience older games. I know there are already a few emulators that do pretty much this but I haven't seen anyone do this with normal PC games. Maybe now that Steam Stream has come out, this can be done 'easier' some how.

[Hadwell]

VR Cinema or still pictures for sure, anything without direct input, and as long as you turn head tracking off...

if you need to move or turn your head, the latency will get you, but for full motion video, it doesn't matter as long as you're not moving much...

your ears are much better at ignoring desync than your eyes

[hellary]

I don't mean a big screen that is static in front of you, I mean a big screen that is stationary in virtual space. I.e. you put a rift on and it feels like you're in a big cinema with a huge 50 foot screen that your games are running on - like VR Cinema just with games running on the screen instead of films. I don't see why latency would be any more of an issue than playing those games on a regular physical screen in front of you. To be clear: the games wouldn't be 'hacked' to be VR with head tracking etc, they'd just be displayed on a huge virtual 3D screen.

If Steam Stream can't be done then maybe one of the existing desktop streaming solutions such as Splashtop could work.

[nalex66]

Why do you want to stream it?

I would think that the local PC that the Rift is connected to would have to handle the head tracking to avoid latency issues. Network latency wouldn't be a problem for the game inputs (controlling the game on the big virtual screen), but the VR Cinema app would need to run on the directly connected PC, and thus, that PC still needs to be powerful enough to run a decent VR experience. If the local PC can handle that, I would think it can also manage to run on old game on the VR Cinema screen directly.

Steam streaming shows the desktop of the remote PC (stream source) on the local PC (stream receiver). To stream a VR experience that way, the remote PC would have to handle everything, and thus you would have network latency between moving your head and seeing the motion reflected in the Rift. I don't think Steam streaming is going to be useable with the Rift.

[Falan]

I always thought that was a fantastic idea, not even streaming though just being able to play any game you own on the rift. Just make a huge screen in fixed space like in your bedroom.

[hellary]

"nalex66" wrote:
Why do you want to stream it?

I would think that the local PC that the Rift is connected to would have to handle the head tracking to avoid latency issues. Network latency wouldn't be a problem for the game inputs (controlling the game on the big virtual screen), but the VR Cinema app would need to run on the directly connected PC, and thus, that PC still needs to be powerful enough to run a decent VR experience. If the local PC can handle that, I would think it can also manage to run on old game on the VR Cinema screen directly.

Steam streaming shows the desktop of the remote PC (stream source) on the local PC (stream receiver). To stream a VR experience that way, the remote PC would have to handle everything, and thus you would have network latency between moving your head and seeing the motion reflected in the Rift. I don't think Steam streaming is going to be useable with the Rift.

I meant using the local PC to stream the content to the same local PC. I just suggested using Steam Streaming or Splashtop as they are solutions that already exist for duplicating the screen content elsewhere. I guess it'd be easier to link one of those solutions with a 'virtual' display in a VR world than creating a screen emulation driver or something from scratch. Obviously the best solution would be if the Rift drivers could natively render old games in this way in a pre-existing environment for minimal latency.

[Jose]

My VR system is set up to do something similar. It requires two machines though. One machine plays the game with the video output into another machine's video capture card, which puts that video on a virtual big screen. It's very low latency with 60fps in both the game and the VR environment.

Look at my thread. It contains a demo video of me playing Dota 2 on a virtual big screen.

Even with a beefy computer and a simple 3D game, it might not be possible to play the game and the environment on the same computer at 60+ fps. Using two machines makes it easier to reach 60+ fps.

[hellary]

"Jose" wrote:
My VR system is set up to do something similar. It requires two machines though. One machine plays the game with the video output into another machine's video capture card, which puts that video on a virtual big screen. It's very low latency with 60fps in both the game and the VR environment.

Look at my thread. It contains a demo video of me playing Dota 2 on a virtual big screen.

Even with a beefy computer and a simple 3D game, it might not be possible to play the game and the environment on the same computer at 60+ fps. Using two machines makes it easier to reach 60+ fps.

I keep coming back to this idea and I love your setup. I wonder if it's possible to have the HDMI out go into an HDMI in on the same computer. Can your capture card do 3D video? I know this kind of virtual desktop setup isn't what the Rift was originally designed for but I think good non-VR game support could be a real selling point.

I imagine playing say World of Warcraft with a huge virtual display with virtual holographic windows to the left and right showing a TeamSpeak client, WowHead etc or whatever.

Loads of '2D' games support stereo 3D and I'd love to play these with 3D turned on. I'm not going to buy a 3D standalone display though and why would I want to if I {will} have a Rift? I really like the idea of the Rift being the device to use if I want to play a game - no matter if it's a VR, 3D, 2D or old-school emulated game.

Good support like this for existing games could really help to push VR to the average Joe who might not be sold as much by the 'idea' of VR versus the idea of 'play your regular games on a 20 foot screen'.