First impressions on starting a game on Oculus Rift DK2 (Windows)

Let's try to start a fancy game to see if the virtual reality is really that impressive.

Stuff about the hardware we use and our graphics card settings you can read in the article of Juergen.
After installing the Oculus Rift, we wanted to see the magic stuff. Like Juergen mentioned before, there are 2 different ways to start the game:
- Extended Mode
- Direct to Rift Mode

We tried to find games which have a native support for oculus rift, that means the games are developed directly for oculus rift and do support the new Direct-to-Rift-Mode.

Before we explain the different games and how they worked, we have to mention that we the last 3 runtimes of oculus (0.4.4, 0.4.3 and 0.4.2) and there are really huge differences comparing the game performances we found out by starting one game with several different runtimes and Nvidia Driver versions:

Setup best driver and runtime for the games:

We tested different Oculus Runtimes and drivers with the game Affected v1.55 (direct-to-rift): 

Nvidia graphics driver 347.52:

0.4.4:
35 FPS and very lagging

0.4.3:
same performance like 0.4.4 around 35 FPS and the text gets doubled when you move your head quickly.

0.4.2:
75-80 FPS and it is a huge difference and a way better gaming performance!
in the game it is possible to stop the game on the monitor and only show it on the oculus rift, then the game some small lagging issues also disappear.

We were not satisfied with the result because of the small lags when you moved your head to quick, so we tried an older version of the nvidia graphics card driver: 344.75 again with 0.4.2 runtime and the
small lags also disappeared. The FPS were now at 75 but much more stable. So now it doesn't matter if you press M to switch off the monitor or not. The game performance is perfect now!

So it really does matter which graphics card driver you have installed and which runtime of oculus you use. At first we thought omg how bad is this and we felt sick after a few seconds of playing affected. Now it is a completely different performance and the game is awesome!

Overall: We recommend: 0.4.2 Oculus Runtime and Nvidia Graphiccard Driver 347.52
In other games (i mention later at the game) the higher Oculus Runtime Driver occurs different errors and on 0.4.2 every game started and had a good performance.

Here are the first free games we found in the net (and the first impressions):


Affected: [Download]
I think affected is the best direct to rift game of all. it has a impressive graphic and it is a really funny and scaring game. if you want to show a friend how cool oculus rift is, then affected is definitely the game you want to show.

Affected supports direct-to-rift and extended mode, but we tried the extend mode and the FPS were at 35 instead of stable 75 FPS at direct-to-rift!



Bullet Evasion: [Download]
A very funny little Ballgame for the Oculus Rift. Graphics are very simple but the game itself is very funny and it doesn't need a highend graphic because of the simple game principle. Many balls get thrown on you and you have to avoid the balls by moving your head with the oculus from left to right and other way round.
Bullet Evasion isn't working with 0.4.4 & 0.4.3. It crashes at the start. If you start it with 0.4.2 runtime it works perfectly fine! Very cool is if you press M then friends can want your game on the monitor!

RiftCoasterHD: [Download]
0.4.4: It crashes at the beginning.
0.4.3: It runs but at very low performance.
0.4.2: The performance is much better than at 0.4.3 but also not very acceptable. It is lagging at medium and low settings and if you switch to low then it also looks very ugly compared to the high settings. So we will try to get the game working with better performance later, because i think the graphics at high could be very special if the game runs stable and without lags. The game itself is a normal rollercoaster game.

Elevator Horror: [Download]
This game we only tried at 0.4.2 an it is working. Interesting is that the game performance is very bad although the graphics is compared to affected very very simple. The game principle is also as simple as the graphics. You stand in an elevator and drive from level to level and if the door opens something happens. Should be shocking but try it yourself and hopefully you will be shocked! Hopefully not from the graphics! :)

So that were all games that we tested for direct to rift and now we will test some games with extended mode and try to get the best performance out of the games. In our next post we will try to find the best way how to setup Oculus Rift Games in Extended mode.

Thanks for reading our blog and have a nice weekend!

Stay tuned, greez Micha!

Oculus Rift Runtime, Graphic-Settings, Optimization (Windows)

The configuration of the Oculus Rift DK2 is a big topic. We made tests with different drivers, graphic-settings, tools, etc. Our test-application was Affected v1.55, which is by the way in my opinion one of the best games for the Oculus Rift DK2. Micha will tell you more about this game soon.

Test Device:
Acer Aspire V3-772G Notebook
Windows 8.1 64-bit
Intel Core i7-4702MQ 2.2 Ghz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M
32GB DDR3 Memory

Oculus Rift Runtime
We tried 3 different versions of the Oculus Rift Runtime: 0.4.2-beta, 0.4.3-beta and 0.4.4-beta
To make it short: The best driver of our test was the Oculus Rift Runtime 0.4.2-beta:

Version	Test-result
0.4.4-beta	When I moved my head in the game, everything is getting double (most effected the text on the wall). Only 35 FPS with direct to rift and 60 FPS with extended mode.
0.4.3-beta	Same as above
0.4.2-beta	No issues like in 0.4.4-beta and 0.4.3-beta. Runs without lags und perfect graphics. Constant 75-76 FPS in direct to rift mode.

If you also want to display your FPS, you have to press 'Space' in the VR-Application (works in Affected and some other applications).

Graphic Settings
At first we used the NVIDIA Driver Version 347.52 which worked very good with Oculus Rift Runtime 0.4.2-beta. But sometimes there were some lags, which annoyed us a bit. In Affected v1.55 you can press 'M' to refresh the picture of the game only on the Oculus Rift, which reduces the lags.

But the best solution for this problem is, to install the NVIDIA Driver Version 344.75.
It also raised the frame rate to 77-80 FPS.


We also made some custom settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel:

Manage 3D Settings:

Preferred graphics processor: High-performance NVIDIA processor

Feature	Setting
Ambient Occlusion	Off
Anisotropic filtering	Application-controlled
Antialiasing - FXAA	Off
Antialiasing - Mode	Application-controlled
Antialiasing - Setting	Application-controller
Antialiasing - Transparency	Off
CUDA - GPUs	All
Maximum pre-rendered frames	1
Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration	Multiple display performance mode
Power management mode	Prefer maximum performance
Shader Cache	On
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization	Off
Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias	Allow
Texture filtering - Quality	Quality
Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization	Off
Threaded optimzation	Auto
Triple buffering	Off
Vertical sync	On
Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames	1

Set PhysX Configuration:
PhysX processor: GeForce GTX 760M


If you still have lags, maybe the next topic will help you a bit.

Optimization
Reset Oculus Rift view:
Sometimes there are lags if you didn't adjust the Oculus Rift view. Sit or stay in the position in which you want to play and press 'R' (works in the most applications) to reset the view.
This solved our biggest problems with lags.

Disable Aero:
To disable Aero had only a small effect to the lags. When we changed to NVIDIA Driver Version 344.75 the impact wasn't noticable any more but maybe it's the solution to your problem.
For disabling Aero you preferably use the Oculus Service Manager.

Getting started with Oculus Rift DK2 (Windows)

The installation and configuration of the Oculus Rift DK2 is very easy.
Here are the steps we did on an Acer Aspire V3-772G Notebook with Windows 8.1 (64 bit):

Installation:
Oculus Rift DK2:

1. Install Oculus Runtime for Windows (Our recommendation: 0.4.2-beta)
2. Restart the PC
3. Plug in the USB and HDMI cable

(Optional) Oculus Positional Trakcer DK2:

The Oculus Positional Tracker DK2 is optional. It only tracks if you are going a few steps to the left/right or bending to the left/right. The glass itself follows your head movements which is for the most games enough.

1. Plug in the small connector to the black box on the cable of the Oculus Rift DK2 ("Sync Out")
2. Plug in the USB to the PC
3. Put the Oculus Positional Tracker DK2 onto the display/monitor

Now it should look like this

Configuration:
To configure your device you have to run "OculusConfigUtil". Everytime you use your Oculus Rift DK2, this program has to run at least in the background. An icon in the taskbar is shown.
The Oculus Configuration Utility should now show the Model, Firmware and Serial:

If it isn't shown, press the button on the top of the Oculus Rift DK2.

Set the eye relief of both eye cups by setting the circle with the slider to the same position as it is on the left and right side of the Oculus Rift DK2.

Now add a new profile by clicking the "+"-button. Set your gender and body height. In our opinion the advanced options aren't necessary because they have only little impact.

Click the button "Show Demo Scene" and a work desk is displayed on the Oculus Rift DK2 and also movements are tracked.

Step by step summary of the configuration:

1. Run "OculusConfigUtil"
2. If details of your Oculus Rift DK2 aren't shown, press the button on the top of the glass
3. Set eye relief like on the left and right side of the Oculus Rift DK2
4. Add a new profile and set your gender and body height
5. Click "Show Demo Scene" to check, if everything is working

Your Oculus Rift DK2 is ready to get into action!!!

But: If you think, you can run every game on your Oculus Rift DK2, you are wrong. There are seperate applicaitons which are made for the Oculus Rift and there are two different types:

Direct to Rift:

If you read "Direct to Rift" anywhere in a readme- or .exe-file of an application, you have to set the Oculus Rift DK2 to the display mode "Direct HMD Access from Apps" (see instructions below).

The application is displayed directly on the Oculus Rift DK2 and you can also see a copy of the view on the main desktop.

Extended Desktop:

You can also set the Oculus Rift DK2 as second display, which is required for some applications. Therefore you have to set your device to the display mode "Extend Desktop to the HMD".
Our Experience: It's very hard to get the application on the display of the Oculus Rift. You have to drag it to the second desktop while looking through the glass with one closed eye. But we heard that there are helpful tools, which are able to start the application on the desired display.

Changing the display mode:

1.  Do a right-click on the icon of the Oculus Configuration Utility in the taskbar
2. Choose "Rift Display Mode"
3. Check "Direct HMD Access from Apps"