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Oculus Rift no longer shipping with Doom BFG

LordCanti

Member
I just saw the e-mail:

I wasn't planning on playing Doom 3 BFG for long, but I'm a bit worried about what this delay says about games that were supposed to be supported via a third party driver. Is the issue the 7 inch screen having some overlap between eyes? Carmack is extremely excited about this thing, but he can't make the adjustments to get the game working in time?

For what it's worth, I can't imagine this being some sort of squabble between Oculus and Carmack. This thing is basically John's wet dream incarnate, and he's been extremely enthusiastic for the entire process. His blog post was about the challenges of VR in general, and not a critique of where the Rift currently is. My best guess is that he just doesn't have the free time to correct his code for the updated Rift (new tracker, new display) in time. A statement from him would be nice at this point.

I just saw that they're offering refunds; How could anyone be mad at this company for long? They don't have to offer anything, much less a full refund, but they're doing it anyway. Hopefully people will realize that their pledge has already gone into getting the factory up and running (materials, labor, etc) and decide to let their pledge stand. They'd be in serious trouble if a lot of people took them up on their offer.
 

Artanisix

Member
I wish they would be clear with how many rifts are being shipped out in the first batch -.-

Not having Doom is no biggie at all.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Not compatible, but no news on if it will be patched. Might be as simple as not being updated for the new screen and faster tracker, but then they could simply have offered the choice of a post launch patch.

Maybe too many units ordered which is too expensive to cover (want John carmack literally buying them from id?)

I hope we get doom bfg with rift support soon after launch. Surely carmack has a final devkit already?
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
If there's anything I regret not backing, it's the Rift. Hopefully they will release officially fast.
 

Piggus

Member
Was a little disappointing to see this email, but there will be plenty of other games to try. I'm more looking forward to using this with racing games like Dirt, pCARS, etc.
 

LordCanti

Member
Not compatible, but no news on if it will be patched. Might be as simple as not being updated for the new screen and faster tracker, but then they could simply have offered the choice of a post launch patch.

Maybe too many units ordered which is too expensive to cover (want John carmack literally buying them from id?)

I hope we get doom bfg with rift support soon after launch. Surely carmack has a final devkit already?

id may have donated the use of the game, or they may not have. Either way, Oculus is now out roughly $200,000 (10k pre-orders times $20 steam credits for everyone) off of this, which easily could have paid for Doom 3 BFG.

I just hope the 7 inch screen isn't some difficult hurdle for people to overcome when they're trying to shoehorn in support for older games. I could see the first batch going out and there being absolutely nothing to play but the Unreal demos. That would suck. Not that I need to worry about it since I'm near the end of the kickstarter line.

I wonder if they'd be willing to trade the $20 steam credit I don't want for a higher place in line..... You know where to reach me Oculus ;P
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
It's logically difficult to square this.

They had doom 3 running as a demo. John carmack has been working with oculus for a long time so has the most lead time to get a solution running. Even changes to the tracker and screen should be minimal tweaks to the software.

The only thing I can think of is that they had trouble expanding the demo to the full game. Does Doom 3 have lots of cutscenes that would be disorientating in VR, or lots of overlaid menus they'd need to redo? Maybe it was just more difficult/expensive than they thought when they started out?
 

LordCanti

Member
It's logically difficult to square this.

They had doom 3 running as a demo. John carmack has been working with oculus for a long time so has the most lead time to get a solution running. Even changes to the tracker and screen should be minimal tweaks to the software.

The only thing I can think of is that they had trouble expanding the demo to the full game. Does Doom 3 have lots of cutscenes that would be disorientating in VR, or lots of overlaid menus they'd need to redo? Maybe it was just more difficult/expensive than they thought when they started out?

My understanding is that the game was good to go on the old Rift and that Carmack had done a ton of work to make it happen (going so far as to re-model the head/neck of the character to work better).

I don't know what the hangup is in converting that work for the newer Rift. I asked on twitter, but who knows if I'll get a response. I don't think this bodes well for Hawken support on Day 1.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
It's logically difficult to square this.

They had doom 3 running as a demo. John carmack has been working with oculus for a long time so has the most lead time to get a solution running. Even changes to the tracker and screen should be minimal tweaks to the software.

The only thing I can think of is that they had trouble expanding the demo to the full game. Does Doom 3 have lots of cutscenes that would be disorientating in VR, or lots of overlaid menus they'd need to redo? Maybe it was just more difficult/expensive than they thought when they started out?

Hmm, in the demo, the Rift just replaced the mouselook I think. They had still lots of issues regarding for examples movements of the head to the side, or front/back.
Also, since mouse and head shared the same movements (moving the camera around) they probably needed a lot of additional work to make it playable I guess, as in "seperate head controls from mouse/2nd analogue controls without fucking up the game".
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
Also, since mouse and head shared the same movements (moving the camera around) they probably needed a lot of additional work to make it playable I guess, as in "seperate head controls from mouse/2nd analogue controls without fucking up the game".

Ever play one of those games where you can steer the tank and the canon seperately? It's a little funky at first, but that's how I imagine it would be. Extra stange when you add the vertical plane as well.

I imagine Hawken works by having a freelook within the cockpit, so the pilot (you) has a frame of reference as the reticle in the centre of the cockpit window.
 

Tankshell

Member
I would imagine that this decision was made based purely on the first impressions they want to give to new owners of the devkits.

I think they have put a lot of effort into the unreal engine demos (epic citadel etc) that ship with the devkits sdk, I reckon they want first timers to experience this slower paced immersive environment first, rather than jump into a fast paced shooter, non 100% ideal older game that has simply been modded/retrofitted to "work" with the rift.

Hoping my devkit ships in the next couple of days :0)
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
Ever play one of those games where you can steer the tank and the canon seperately? It's a little funky at first, but that's how I imagine it would be. Extra stange when you add the vertical plane as well.

I imagine Hawken works by having a freelook within the cockpit, so the pilot (you) has a frame of reference as the reticle in the centre of the cockpit window.

Yeah, that's exactly how they should do it :) But you need some kind of body reference for that to make it feel right, I'm not sure if it would work with just a floating camera.
 

Feep

Banned
I just want the thing. My order says "Ready", and I don't know what that means.

With those drivers that support Half Life 2 and Portal and whatnot, can we use those Day 1? Are they ready to go? Because Mirror's Edge is listed and holy shit.
 

LordCanti

Member
I just want the thing. My order says "Ready", and I don't know what that means.

With those drivers that support Half Life 2 and Portal and whatnot, can we use those Day 1? Are they ready to go? Because Mirror's Edge is listed and holy shit.

Day 1? I doubt it. Day 10? Maybe. The only people that have finalized dev kits right now are big name developers, and they aren't the people modding the older games.

I really do hope someone has nailed down Mirror's Edge support by the time I get the Rift.

The first game that shows up on Steam for $20 with Rift support is going to make so much money.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I just want the thing. My order says "Ready", and I don't know what that means.

With those drivers that support Half Life 2 and Portal and whatnot, can we use those Day 1? Are they ready to go? Because Mirror's Edge is listed and holy shit.


Sounds like the first batch will go out Monday/Tuesday
 
D.

The first game that shows up on Steam for $20 with Rift support is going to make so much money.

Good point.

Apart from that lets hope the Rift lives up to our expectations. My concern is it may be taxing to use. If after 30 min you feel fried than this thing will be dead on arrival. Lets hope its an invigorating experience instead.

Can't wait to try mine.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
I've worked with low latency video encoding in the past, which is not the same situation, but I can understand that it's super difficult to work all the way through to a PC without adding latency along the way. I would expect Doom support eventually, and it just wasn't ready yet, but it is concerning because I guess I felt like low-latency head tracking was one of the absolute most important features about the device, since it is the aspect that would help fool your brain into feeling as though you were looking around a virtual world. I didn't realize Carmack had expressed concerns about the existing latency on the Rift.

Also, where do you go to update the reward information? After a delay, I got the email once I went to the /sales link as the instructions say, but the second email just links me to the order info page and I do not see anything about the reward options.

*edit* Quote from Carmack back in January:

Were his concerns about latency before or after that point in time?

Pretty sure he's mentioned it quite often. Even his keynote at Quakecon had plenty of reasons to give people pause (although it was long and quite technical... so I understand why people may have glossed over it).

They also stated repeatedly while they've improved the latency already, it's still not where they wanted it. And the retail version will be even better. I honestly worry people are just ignoring certain elements about this dev kit in their excitement for VR. VR has an awesome future, but this is most certainly a dev kit.
 

LordCanti

Member
Pretty sure he's mentioned it quite often. Even his keynote at Quakecon had plenty of reasons to give people pause (although it was long and quite technical... so I understand why people may have glossed over it).

They also stated repeatedly while they've improved the latency already, it's still not where they wanted it. And the retail version will be even better. I honestly worry people are just ignoring certain elements about this dev kit in their excitement for VR. VR has an awesome future, but this is most certainly a dev kit.

I'm sure most backers are like me; They have absolutely no ability to code whatsoever, but they're fairly certain that people who can will make compelling content for the devkit in the near future. This includes mods to support existing games, and indie games. If that happens, the devkit should be a compelling experience on its own. This is the VR dream, part 1. Part 2 should be a lot more compelling for a wide audience (if Oculus isn't bought out by Sony/Microsoft/Google/Valve/Apple/etc first).
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Just replaying PGR3 on the Xbox 360, and the sense of being there in cockpit view is immense. It made me want an accessory for consoles (or TV) that takes a HDMI input and just splits the image and applies the warping for the rift. It wouldn't head track, it wouldn't be 3ad, it'd just let you watch 2D content with full immersion and big FoV

Can you get capture cards for PCs that could do that? It'd add a bunch of lag but because its not head tracking it would be ok I think
 

antitrop

Member
Doom 3: BFG is a scam. There's a reason that even though I have both Doom 3 BFG and vanilla Doom 3 on Steam, vanilla Doom 3 is the one that's installed on my hard drive.

Extreme respect to the Rift guys for offering those credit options. And their reassurance that Hawken will have OR support is encouraging, that's probably the single game I'm most interested in playing with the headset, other than Crysis.
 

LordCanti

Member
Yeah it's time for the OT! Who's doing it???

Can't wait for mine to show up, so excited!

Hopefully someone is on the cusp of unleashing an OT.

Just replaying PGR3 on the Xbox 360, and the sense of being there in cockpit view is immense. It made me want an accessory for consoles (or TV) that takes a HDMI input and just splits the image and applies the warping for the rift. It wouldn't head track, it wouldn't be 3ad, it'd just let you watch 2D content with full immersion and big FoV

Can you get capture cards for PCs that could do that? It'd add a bunch of lag but because its not head tracking it would be ok I think

I'm sure you probably could, but there's plenty of driving games on the PC, so I'm not sure why you would.
Doom 3: BFG is a scam. There's a reason that even though I have both Doom 3 BFG and vanilla Doom 3 on Steam, vanilla Doom 3 is the one that's installed on my hard drive.

Extreme respect to the Rift guys for offering those credit options. And their reassurance that Hawken will have OR support is encouraging, that's probably the single game I'm most interested in playing with the headset, other than Crysis.

What's wrong with BFG edition? Hopefully Oculus is fairly confident in Hawken's support at this point, but who knows.
 

iceatcs

Junior Member
Oh man, sound like you have to more rewrite the old game if you want to have Oculus Rift support. I would rather like something like a driver (like Nvidia Control Panel) to override for get support more games.

Good thing they are sending off the devkits, bring more chance of bigger day one support when it out.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
Oh man, sound like you have to more rewrite the old game if you want to have Oculus Rift support. I would rather like something like a driver (like Nvidia Control Panel) to override for get support more games.

Good thing they are sending off the devkits, bring more chance of bigger day one support when it out.

Nah. But there are significant design issues if you want best in class support.

Maybe they just couldn't get it to a point where they were satisfied with the quality of the support.

Which sounds about right if that guy is carmack. He's a genius for sure... but he doesn't seem one for balancing perfection with compromise...
 

RSP

Member
Could it have anything to do with Doom not being a very good portrayal of the potential of the Oculus Rift?

I remember a couple of people report that they felt the world had a strange scale (feeling of too high a walking speed, low ceilings, weird sense of height).
 

Durante

Member
Just replaying PGR3 on the Xbox 360, and the sense of being there in cockpit view is immense. It made me want an accessory for consoles (or TV) that takes a HDMI input and just splits the image and applies the warping for the rift. It wouldn't head track, it wouldn't be 3ad, it'd just let you watch 2D content with full immersion and big FoV

Can you get capture cards for PCs that could do that? It'd add a bunch of lag but because its not head tracking it would be ok I think
Warping is possible, but you can't get more FoV out of a rendered 2D picture. You'll just have a low-FoV view stretched over a high FoV. And without tracking. I fear the most you'd get out of that is nausea.
 

Izayoi

Banned
I seriously doubt Carmack has anything to do with the delay. I'm willing to bet that Zenimax is getting in the way here. The hardware has only improved since the original, there aren't any "problems" with the factory run of dev kits (they've been demoing them on the road for a while now). All of this wild speculation is a little ridiculous.

$20 Steam credit is great, I wasn't particularly hot on Doom 3 anyway. Not sure what I'll spend it on yet, but it's nice to have.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
sounds like some publisher bullshit to me

as in the Rift guys got boned by Bethesda
 

LordCanti

Member
sounds like some publisher bullshit to me

as in the Rift guys got boned by Bethesda

I doubt it. If that were the case, the message would have been "here's a $20 steam credit to make up for it; please God don't buy anything from those assholes at Zenimax"

Edit: Wait, you're right, Zeni owns Bethesda, so there's no way they'd piss them off. Daddy needs his Elder Scrolls and Fallout on the Rift.

I seriously doubt Carmack has anything to do with the delay. I'm willing to bet that Zenimax is getting in the way here. The hardware has only improved since the original, there aren't any "problems" with the factory run of dev kits (they've been demoing them on the road for a while now). All of this wild speculation is a little ridiculous.

$20 Steam credit is great, I wasn't particularly hot on Doom 3 anyway. Not sure what I'll spend it on yet, but it's nice to have.

Have they demoed the factory made sets? As recently as SXSW it seemed like they were still showing off their hand made models, unless I misunderstood whoever it was on the Tested podcast that saw the demo.

Given the choice between a working Doom 3 and a $20 steam credit...I'd take the steam credit every time. I didn't like Doom 3 when it was brand new and I had just spent a ton of my allowance on a new rig to play it.
 

Izayoi

Banned
I doubt it. If that were the case, the message would have been "here's a $20 steam credit to make up for it; please God don't buy anything from those assholes at Zenimax"
I don't really think Oculus is in a position to be burning bridges, at least not yet.
 

iceatcs

Junior Member
I agreed with some comments.
Also I suspect that any old FPS with the gun aka Doom BFG is not an ideal simple port for VR because it was made design for fixed aim screen, that might be important for the AI scripts. Moving camera aim freely might need to re-config the enemies' AI, or make the second camera mode to keep interact away from game's script.
 

Izayoi

Banned
Have they demoed the factory made sets? As recently as SXSW it seemed like they were still showing off their hand made models, unless I misunderstood whoever it was on the Tested podcast that saw the demo.
Yes. They're almost identical to the old ones, except they've got a better screen, lower latency sensor box, and a fancy shell (+ custom optics). There's literally no work to be done to convert games from one model to the other, the SDK is identical and the device functions no differently.
 

LordCanti

Member
I don't really think Oculus is in a position to be burning bridges, at least not yet.

For a second I forgot that Zenimax owns properties people actually still care about (Elder Scrolls and Fallout).

Yes. They're identical to the old hack-job ones aside from a better screen, a lower latency sensor box, and a fancy shell (+ custom optics).

I know they've shown them in pictures, but I didn't think they had actually demoed them at press events or anything. As far as I know, there is still an NDA on the final version (which is why Notch and others can't talk about it yet).
 

Izayoi

Banned
I know they've shown them in pictures, but I didn't think they had actually demoed them at press events or anything. As far as I know, there is still an NDA on the final version (which is why Notch and others can't talk about it yet).
I'm pretty sure there have been videos of people using the new one. That, and they show the latency tester in use on one of the new models when they revealed it in a Kickstarter update. Also see the edit of my earlier post, there's no work to be done to make games compatible between one version or the other.
 

Racer30

Member
Hey people its a development kit!

Your supposed to be making games for it, not complaint about the lack of games support :p
 

LordCanti

Member
I'm pretty sure there have been videos of people using the new one. That, and they show the latency tester in use on one of the new models when they revealed it in a Kickstarter update. Also see the edit of my earlier post, there's no work to be done to make games compatible between one version or the other.

I can't find a video of anyone from the press using the new one. I don't know how there wouldn't be extra work involved in going from the old rift to the new one either, since Oculus designed their own tracker. I could be mistaken, but I thought the new screen brought its own design challenges as well (isn't it partial overlap versus the old screen which didn't overlap, or am I thinking of something else?)

Hey people its a development kit!

Your supposed to be making games for it, not complaint about the lack of games support :p

True, but they did promise two games and now they're delivering one. Unless they're about to announce full Unreal engine 3 support or something (making UE3 games compatible without much work having to be done).
 

Izayoi

Banned
I don't know how there wouldn't be extra work involved in going from the old rift to the new one either, since Oculus designed their own tracker.
The SDK is completely unchanged from a developer perspective, Oculus did all of the work regarding sensor data from the new box.

I could be mistaken
You are mistaken. The only different thing about the screen is a slightly higher FOV, which again, Oculus dealt with via changes to the SDK. Again, developers don't have to change anything.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Pretty sure he's mentioned it quite often. Even his keynote at Quakecon had plenty of reasons to give people pause (although it was long and quite technical... so I understand why people may have glossed over it).

They also stated repeatedly while they've improved the latency already, it's still not where they wanted it. And the retail version will be even better. I honestly worry people are just ignoring certain elements about this dev kit in their excitement for VR. VR has an awesome future, but this is most certainly a dev kit.
For some reason, your post didn't show up in my "who quoted me" list. Yes I agree, it's a dev kit, and I'm a developer and I'm fine with that situation, but some people will probably be disappointed right off the bat.

Also, does the reward option show up for anyone else? The emails made it sound like it's already in place, but I simply can't find it on the order info page.
 

LordCanti

Member
For some reason, your post didn't show up in my "who quoted me" list. Yes I agree, it's a dev kit, and I'm a developer and I'm fine with that situation, but some people will probably be disappointed right off the bat.

Also, does the reward option show up for anyone else? The emails made it sound like it's already in place, but I simply can't find it on the order info page.

The reward option shows up once you get the e-mail from their webpage (oculusvr/sales) after entering the e-mail you've used to purchase a rift.

The SDK is completely unchanged from a developer perspective, Oculus did all of the work regarding sensor data from the new box.


You are mistaken. The only different thing about the screen is a slightly higher FOV, which again, Oculus dealt with via changes to the SDK. Again, developers don't have to change anything.

The only people that would need to do extra work would be the third party driver devs then I guess (since they've never had access to the SDK). Hopefully that work will be done by the time I get my Rift.
 

vireland

Member
I seriously doubt Carmack has anything to do with the delay. I'm willing to bet that Zenimax is getting in the way here. The hardware has only improved since the original, there aren't any "problems" with the factory run of dev kits (they've been demoing them on the road for a while now). All of this wild speculation is a little ridiculous.

I agree. I think that this is more publisher driven in light of the potential legal liability of head-mounted 3D systems relative to temporary or permanent (in younger kids) eye problems from using it and the eye-strain, headaches, fatigue that come from artificial 3D. Those risks and liabilities are inherent to the technology (and ESPECIALLY something you would game with for potentially hours on end, daily). I can see where they may be cool with offering support as a option, but packing it in to the system kits may be too close a relationship legally.

I think this issue has zero to do with head tracking.
 

Blizzard

Banned
The reward option shows up once you get the e-mail from their webpage (oculusvr/sales) after entering the e-mail you've used to purchase a rift.
Hmm. I tried it again. I got the Doom 3 email, which links me to https://www.oculusvr.com/sales/ (or specifically, a longer URL that mentions Doom 3). I enter my email on that site and hit submit, and it tells me I should receive an email about how to access my account.

After a few minutes, I get a new email with a big URL for accessing my account. Clicking it shows me this:

riftknycd.png
 

Durante

Member
After a few minutes, I get a new email with a big URL for accessing my account. Clicking it shows me this:
There must be something wrong with your order, you should check with them. I had a selection box for the replacement on that page.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I agree. I think that this is more publisher driven in light of the potential legal liability of head-mounted 3D systems relative to temporary or permanent (in younger kids) eye problems from using it and the eye-strain, headaches, fatigue that come from artificial 3D. Those risks and liabilities are inherent to the technology (and ESPECIALLY something you would game with for potentially hours on end, daily). I can see where they may be cool with offering support as a option, but packing it in to the system kits may be too close a relationship legally.

I think this issue has zero to do with head tracking.


Or if the rumours were right and carmack was buying copies using his own money, maybe there is a licensing issue? Like he can't then redistribute the games bundled with another product?
 

Gowans

Member
Got my email think ill get skyrim on PC with Steam Credit, steam works will surely have a OR mod.

Do we have a volunteer for the OT? Tempted myself but I don't think I have the time for the ongoing effort it may need.
 

LordCanti

Member
Hmm. I tried it again. I got the Doom 3 email, which links me to https://www.oculusvr.com/sales/ (or specifically, a longer URL that mentions Doom 3). I enter my email on that site and hit submit, and it tells me I should receive an email about how to access my account.

After a few minutes, I get a new email with a big URL for accessing my account. Clicking it shows me this:

Were you a kickstarter backer, or did you pre-order a Rift after it ended? I think only kickstarter backers and the first couple hundred post-kickstarter pre-orders were supposed to get Doom 3 BFG, so if you weren't in that group, they wouldn't be giving you anything.

If you were a kickstarter backer, I digress. That's the screen where the option is for me.

Got my email think ill get skyrim on PC with Steam Credit, steam works will surely have a OR mod.

Do we have a volunteer for the OT? Tempted myself but I don't think I have the time for the ongoing effort it may need.

I'd be willing to do it if no one else is. I'm surprised there isn't already one up.

Or if the rumours were right and carmack was buying copies using his own money, maybe there is a licensing issue? Like he can't then redistribute the games bundled with another product?

If that were the case, there's no issue now that everyone is getting $20 steam credits. They could patch in support tomorrow and everyone could use their steam credits on it.
 

Blizzard

Banned
There must be something wrong with your order, you should check with them. I had a selection box for the replacement on that page.
Were you a kickstarter supporter? Maybe preorder people don't get the option, only kickstarter...but I did get the Doom 3 email, so I guess I'll email support. Thanks.

Were you a kickstarter backer, or did you pre-order a Rift after it ended? I think only kickstarter backers and the first couple hundred post-kickstarter pre-orders were supposed to get Doom 3 BFG, so if you weren't in that group, they wouldn't be giving you anything.
Ahhh okay, I didn't realize Doom 3 BFG was actually shipping with the game. I thought it was just talking about Doom 3 being supported, and this was their way of apologizing for the lack of support.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I'd be willing to do it if no one else is. I'm surprised there isn't already one up.

I think not knowing exactly when it was shipping makes the 'one week before launch' rule difficult. Should be ok now though

If that were the case, there's no issue now that everyone is getting $20 steam credits. They could patch in support tomorrow and everyone could use their steam credits on it.

Hope so. I'm going to try and not spend it immediately, and save it for the first game on steam that has decent rift support.
 
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