VR Thread

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Playing Project CARS 2 in the Rift without Oculus Home opening or running in the background

  1. RIGHT CLICK the Oculus icon on your desktop
  2. Click PROPERTIES
  3. Go to the COMPATIBILITY tab
  4. Click the "RUN THIS PROGRAM AS AN ADMINISTRATOR" located at the bottom of the window
  5. Click APPLY then OK to exit
  6. Go to the Project CARS 2 icon on your desktop
  7. Click PROPERTIES
  8. Go to the WEB DOCUMENT tab
  9. In the URL field, enter this: "steam://launch/378860/othervr"
  10. Click APPLY then OK to exit
Thanks!

While I have you here, how do I know when you guys are hosting CanAm VRL lobbies (not league) so I can try to join if time allows? I know I’ve read it’s supposed to be Friday nights but then I saw the lobby active some other night, maybe Wednesday and wanted to join but didn’t know the password. Is there a place I can get the password from? I’ve checked the forums on the website but didn’t see it in pCARS 2 section, maybe I missed it? Anyway, just asking if there is some other place where I can keep up to date with what’s going on, cause it seems like the website is not being updated.
 
Thanks!

While I have you here, how do I know when you guys are hosting CanAm VRL lobbies (not league) so I can try to join if time allows? I know I’ve read it’s supposed to be Friday nights but then I saw the lobby active some other night, maybe Wednesday and wanted to join but didn’t know the password. Is there a place I can get the password from? I’ve checked the forums on the website but didn’t see it in pCARS 2 section, maybe I missed it? Anyway, just asking if there is some other place where I can keep up to date with what’s going on, cause it seems like the website is not being updated.
We run all the time. Usually we'll be practicing for the upcoming race, so you'll see a lot of Long Beach with the LMP2, GTE and GT3 mix until 10/21. But there will also be nights where we branch out a bit and do various other things.

The updates and talk are in the Forum. I'll see about that password. If you want to race, even if you don't want to or can't run the official, bi-weekly events, I think it would be good to have run with us.

Let me bring @F1Racer68 in on this, just so he's in the know.
 
New member to the club. :)

IMG_9891.JPG
 
Wise decision @BrandonW77 . You won't regret it. So much really looking good interiors. And the immersion is hard to explain to someone whonever experienced VR racing. Still enjoying every minute and worth the investment.

ENJOY!!!

===

Anyone has a working solution for the fogging of the lenses without using chemical stuff like Rain X (which I use for my helmet visor).
Apperently my head is warmer then the gaming room and thus the lenses of the Oculus start to fog the first 10 minutes after I put them on.
Now I use small microfibre towels to wipe them clean...couple of times until the inside-ouside temperature equals.
Pre heating the room to become a sauna is not preferable.

I also can first start with a relaxing VR mellow experience and then after 10-15 minutes launch intensive PCars2
 
Wise decision @BrandonW77 . You won't regret it. So much really looking good interiors. And the immersion is hard to explain to someone whonever experienced VR racing. Still enjoying every minute and worth the investment.

ENJOY!!!

===

Anyone has a working solution for the fogging of the lenses without using chemical stuff like Rain X (which I use for my helmet visor).
Apperently my head is warmer then the gaming room and thus the lenses of the Oculus start to fog the first 10 minutes after I put them on.
Now I use small microfibre towels to wipe them clean...couple of times until the inside-ouside temperature equals.
Pre heating the room to become a sauna is not preferable.

I also can first start with a relaxing VR mellow experience and then after 10-15 minutes launch intensive PCars2
A small desk fan pointed directly at your head will fix it. Worked for me and others.
Honeywell HT-900 TurboForce Air Circulator Fan, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001R1RXUG/?tag=gtplanet-20
 
Wise decision @BrandonW77 . You won't regret it. So much really looking good interiors. And the immersion is hard to explain to someone whonever experienced VR racing. Still enjoying every minute and worth the investment.

ENJOY!!!

===

Anyone has a working solution for the fogging of the lenses without using chemical stuff like Rain X (which I use for my helmet visor).
Apperently my head is warmer then the gaming room and thus the lenses of the Oculus start to fog the first 10 minutes after I put them on.
Now I use small microfibre towels to wipe them clean...couple of times until the inside-ouside temperature equals.
Pre heating the room to become a sauna is not preferable.

I also can first start with a relaxing VR mellow experience and then after 10-15 minutes launch intensive PCars2

I was having a bit of this but I found if I tilt the headset a bit so it leaves a crack at the bottom (near my nose) it allowed airflow and prevented fogging. I've seen one guy who took an aquarium pump and ran a bit of hose under the headset so it would blow air in there and keep it from fogging.
 
Ran into an issue last night, hoping someone can help. I'd read about the Oculus Tray Tool so I installed it last night and put some settings in there. Went to fire up PC2, the view in the HMD changed from the Oculus home screen to the white screen with the PC2 logo, but then it just went black and the game would only play on my monitors. Other than the tray tool nothing had changed from the night before, I was starting the game from the VR section of my Steam library and telling to to play in Oculus, but no joy. AC worked fine, other apps worked fine, no PC2.

Any ideas what's going on? I ended up uninstalling the tray tool thinking it might be responsible but that didn't seem to fix it and I'm not sure it uninstalled entirely because this morning on boot up I got a warning that the tray tool needs to run in admin mode.
 
Not sure if this helps? I have not installed Tray Tool yet. I read this in some comments via this Youtube:

Nine1 maand geleden
It is super buggy for me, steam games struggle to work then black screen, anyone else had the issue or has a fix??

F4CEpa1m x_0
1 maand geleden
+Nine does that only happen on Steam games? Or all the time?

Nine
1 maand geleden
F4CEpa1m x_0 Only on Steam games mate, The only 3 I have tried(as I only got my Rift yesterday) Is Oculus Dreamdeck works fine, Apollo 11 steamvr black screens and Adrift Steamvr and the touch controllers buttons are all wrong.

F4CEpa1m x_0
1 maand geleden
+Nine hmmm Ok so def a SteamVR conflict then. Check in SteamVR settings that reprojection is disabled. Are you using the latest Tray Tool now? Just updated to 0.80.1
BEANTWOORDEN
 
Not sure if this helps? I have not installed Tray Tool yet. I read this in some comments via this Youtube:

Nine1 maand geleden
It is super buggy for me, steam games struggle to work then black screen, anyone else had the issue or has a fix??

F4CEpa1m x_0
1 maand geleden
+Nine does that only happen on Steam games? Or all the time?

Nine
1 maand geleden
F4CEpa1m x_0 Only on Steam games mate, The only 3 I have tried(as I only got my Rift yesterday) Is Oculus Dreamdeck works fine, Apollo 11 steamvr black screens and Adrift Steamvr and the touch controllers buttons are all wrong.

F4CEpa1m x_0
1 maand geleden
+Nine hmmm Ok so def a SteamVR conflict then. Check in SteamVR settings that reprojection is disabled. Are you using the latest Tray Tool now? Just updated to 0.80.1
BEANTWOORDEN


Yes, that's the video I watched to learn about the tray tool and I followed his setup instructions (though the current version is slightly different than the one in his video but nothing major). Everything else seemed to work fine, just not Pcars2. That last comment about reprojection in SteamVR sounds like that might be a possible solution. I didn't change anything in SteamVR though so not sure what would have suddenly caused it to go sideways? Are you guys using the tray tool? Apparently it can squeeze a slight performance enhancement out and since I only have a 1070 that would probably be beneficial.
 
I had issues with Tray Tool. I found using the Debug Tool, which comes with the Rift Software so you already have it on your PC, to be the best solution.

The only thing I use Debug for (and the only reason I would use Tool Tray) would be to view performance for Benchmarking. If you're using them for SuperSampling, using the setting within Project CARS 2 is the better option.

As for squeezing the best possible performance from your system, using the shortcut I posted earlier in the thread to get around using Oculus Home works to more or less disable Oculus Home and Steam VR. Without those processes running in the background, you will have more performance.

As for the settings in Steam VR...if you do not have to use Steam VR, do not. I leave Steam VR at default. Any SS I need to add I add using the game's SS option or using Debug. For me personally with a Rift, Steam VR is more of a hindrance than a help. Your mileage may vary.
 
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I had issues with Tray Tool. I found using the Debug Tool, which comes with the Rift Software so you already have it on your PC, to be the best solution.

Tray Tool is pretty much the same thing but with a few more options. I've seen it recommended by many.

The only thing I use Debug for (and the only reason I would use Tool Tray) would be to view performance for Benchmarking. If you're using them for SuperSampling, using the setting within Project CARS 2 is the better option.

See, I've seen both opinions. Some say it's best to set SS in game and some say it's best to leave the games at default and globally adjust SS through one of the tools. At least in AC it seemed to be slightly better by letting the tool decide and leaving the game setting at 1.0.

As for squeezing the best possible performance from your system, using the shortcut I posted earlier in the thread to get around using Oculus Home works to more or less disable Oculus Home and Steam VR. Without those processes running in the background, you will have more performance.

I tried it but with Oculus Home off the headset won't run so I must have done something wrong. This is the one you're referring to, correct?

Playing Project CARS 2 in the Rift without Oculus Home opening or running in the background

  1. RIGHT CLICK the Oculus icon on your desktop
  2. Click PROPERTIES
  3. Go to the COMPATIBILITY tab
  4. Click the "RUN THIS PROGRAM AS AN ADMINISTRATOR" located at the bottom of the window
  5. Click APPLY then OK to exit
  6. Go to the Project CARS 2 icon on your desktop
  7. Click PROPERTIES
  8. Go to the WEB DOCUMENT tab
  9. In the URL field, enter this: "steam://launch/378860/othervr"
  10. Click APPLY then OK to exit
 
Tray Tool is pretty much the same thing but with a few more options. I've seen it recommended by many.



See, I've seen both opinions. Some say it's best to set SS in game and some say it's best to leave the games at default and globally adjust SS through one of the tools. At least in AC it seemed to be slightly better by letting the tool decide and leaving the game setting at 1.0.



I tried it but with Oculus Home off the headset won't run so I must have done something wrong. This is the one you're referring to, correct?
I had major bugs with Tray Tool. It made it so I couldn't play but certain games in the Rift. It seemingly took over my system. Then, when Oculus had an update, Tray Tool wouldn't work at all until it was patched. And that's when I found out you can't simply uninstall Tray Tool. It's just always "there". I ended up having to completely uninstall the Oculus software and start over from scratch. Sure, there are a couple more options with TT vs Debug, but I don't and won't use them anyway. I am not a fan of Tray Tool at all.

For Project CARS 2, I think it is easier to set it in the game if only because I do not have to run any additional programs. I can't see the difference between SS at 1.5 in PC2 with Debug vs in-game. Your mileage may vary.

That's the one.
 
I had major bugs with Tray Tool. It made it so I couldn't play but certain games in the Rift. It seemingly took over my system. Then, when Oculus had an update, Tray Tool wouldn't work at all until it was patched. And that's when I found out you can't simply uninstall Tray Tool. It's just always "there". I ended up having to completely uninstall the Oculus software and start over from scratch. Sure, there are a couple more options with TT vs Debug, but I don't and won't use them anyway. I am not a fan of Tray Tool at all.

For Project CARS 2, I think it is easier to set it in the game if only because I do not have to run any additional programs. I can't see the difference between SS at 1.5 in PC2 with Debug vs in-game. Your mileage may vary.

That's the one.

Ok. You're the first I've seen say anything bad about OTT but I've seen several people/places recommend it over the debug tool. But your experiences align with mine so I'm guessing I need to think about uninstalling/reinstalling Oculus if I can get it sorted through SteamVR, which will be a PITA. I've only been in VR Land for two days so I'm just trying to gather as much info as possible but it seems like there's a lot of contradicting info out there, one person will say to "totally do this but never do that" while another person will swear to the exact opposite.
 
Ok. You're the first I've seen say anything bad about OTT but I've seen several people/places recommend it over the debug tool. But your experiences align with mine so I'm guessing I need to think about uninstalling/reinstalling Oculus if I can get it sorted through SteamVR, which will be a PITA. I've only been in VR Land for two days so I'm just trying to gather as much info as possible but it seems like there's a lot of contradicting info out there, one person will say to "totally do this but never do that" while another person will swear to the exact opposite.
It's been one of the more annoying aspects of the tech in general...there is no consensus of information. Other than a few VR people on youtube, there aren't even very many helpful guides to follow. It's all just a bunch of trial and error.

For a long while, TT offered the awesome feature of adding an icon within Oculus Home that you could click and play any game you set. When it worked, it worked great. I set one up so I could go straight into Project CARS 1, bypassing SteamVR altogether. Then like a week later, Oculus released an update which basically copied the TT idea of the icon. At that update TT became incompatible and because I had setup that hotlink to PC1 using TT, I couldn't play the game at all. That was the greatest of my issues with TT, along with a few other annoying bugs. TT, at least on my system, acted like malware. Anything you install onto your system but cannot uninstall draws a major red flag from me.
 
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It's been one of the more annoying aspects of the tech in general...there is no consensus of information. Other than a few VR people on youtube, there aren't even very many helpful guides to follow. It's all just a bunch of trial and error.

For a long while, TT offered the awesome feature of adding an icon within Oculus Home that you could click and play any game you set. When it worked, it worked great. I set one up so I could go straight into Project CARS 1, bypassing SteamVR altogether. Then like a week later, Oculus released an update which basically copied the TT idea of the icon. At that update TT became incompatible and because I had setup that hotlink to PC1 using TT, I couldn't play the game at all. That was the greatest of my issues with TT, along with a few other annoying bugs. TT, at least on my system, acted like malware. Anything you install onto your system but cannot uninstall draws a major red flag from me.

The whole issue of it breaking with Oculus updates is enough for me to abandon it.
 
Ok, this is interesting:
"If you have the safety notifications disabled already, you'll have to enable and disable them. Here are the steps required."

https://www.vrheads.com/how-prevent-oculus-home-starting-when-you-launch-steamvr

This could be the reason it didn't work, since I have it already disabled. Didn't try to disable/enable it yet.
Yes! That's why. You have to do that. I did it when I first got my Rift and forgot. Sorry I forgot to add that to the post.
 
Ran into an issue last night, hoping someone can help. I'd read about the Oculus Tray Tool so I installed it last night and put some settings in there. Went to fire up PC2, the view in the HMD changed from the Oculus home screen to the white screen with the PC2 logo, but then it just went black and the game would only play on my monitors. Other than the tray tool nothing had changed from the night before, I was starting the game from the VR section of my Steam library and telling to to play in Oculus, but no joy. AC worked fine, other apps worked fine, no PC2.

Any ideas what's going on? I ended up uninstalling the tray tool thinking it might be responsible but that didn't seem to fix it and I'm not sure it uninstalled entirely because this morning on boot up I got a warning that the tray tool needs to run in admin mode.

"You tried re-centering your headset, right?"

"Ummmm....."

(Goes and re-centers headset)

":dunce:"

It's fixed
 
Yes! That's why. You have to do that. I did it when I first got my Rift and forgot. Sorry I forgot to add that to the post.
Ok it works now. I also misread the shortcut link and had that wrong, so make sure it’s typed as crowhop wrote. Not sure if I got any performance bump but it won’t hurt :)
 
Ok it works now. I also misread the shortcut link and had that wrong, so make sure it’s typed as crowhop wrote. Not sure if I got any performance bump but it won’t hurt :)
I figure at absolute best it gives a 1% boost in headroom. But, hey, every 1% adds up.
 
The whole issue of it breaking with Oculus updates is enough for me to abandon it.

Hey Brandon, I've never used the tray tool, but have had some success with sorting things out with the Debug Tool, and yes, there is so much conflicting/out of context info out there, that I have been in a self imposed trial and error graphics testing mode for days now. :lol: My head is still spinning even though I have been using VR for weeks but I am hooked! :eek: One thing that I discovered just yesterday is that when I am starting FIRST on grid and 31 AI cars have their headlights "ON" behind me..........................that creates a MASSIVE FPS drop......regardless of whether Post-Processing is "Off" or "On". If I am starting LAST on the same grid of 31 AI cars with their headlights "ON" ................there is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS FPS drop. A similar FPS drop occurs with my CPU when the same 31 AI cars illuminate their brake lights in front of me when they all enter the first corner at the start of a race. I love racing at dusk, full grids and late enough to activate AI cars' headlights to "ON"......I just need to discover a fine balance between VR graphics quality and FPS for max immersion.......:bowdown:
 
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