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Los, it's Christmas!

Half-Life 2: VR Mod - Episode One
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2177 ... isode_One/

Free to owners of HL2 Ep1 on Steam. Reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

I was just lamenting last night that when I'm done playing HL Alyx, and it's excellent mods, there's really no other AAA VR game out there in the same class.
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BTW: I switched to the thickest of the three pads for that facial interface, and that really works great. My eyes were too close to the lenses with the stock and thin pads. Now it's easier to maintain the sweet spot, and I rarely see fresnel lens artifacts.

That strap is very comfortable, and I attached an Anker 10,000 mAH battery bank to the top of the strap, so battery time is no longer an issue.

I have to say it's been a long time since I geeked out this much over hardware. Having a blast.

Oh shit, double Christmas!

Half Life 2, Ep 2 VR release date is just a few weeks away!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2177 ... isode_Two/

What concerned me at first is that it's described as 'room scale VR', which usually means you need a huge space, and the Half Life 2 VR mod apparently still requires a large space according to the description.

But from what I've been reading it looks like they've added 'teleportation' walking, ala Alyx, to Ep 1 and 2, so this should be playable in a standard area. I'll try it out real quick when I get a chance.

Okay, I was just planning to play HL 2 Ep1 VR for a few minutes just to see what it looks like and try it out.

Two hours later...

The game looks amazing. Doubly so considering this is supposedly using the original engine and textures. I mean, things aren't as detailed as HL Alyx for sure, but it still looks amazing and way better than most of the VR games out there. It looks and feels like the game was natively made for VR.

So much fun throwing Combine troops around with the gravity gun in VR.

Very well implemented. You don't need a large space - it even has a sitting option. There's lot's of accessibility options including a laser sight (I wish Alyx had one for the pistol, that holo sight sucks donkey balls). Walking is handled like Alyx: You have a choice of smooth walking or teleportation to a point within range, or both. I'm using smooth walking only, same as in Alyx.

Turning is done with the stick like Alyx with a choice of smooth turning or 90 degree turn. I prefer smooth turning. I don't seem to get motion sickness from this like some people do.

Weapon selection is exactly like Alyx. Crounching is done with an actual button only (right stick back by default). Unlike Alyx, it doesn't seem to sense your head height and allow you to physically crouch through low places, but that's fine.

I was getting brief blank screens and thought something was wrong, and then I realized that's the chapter transition. It's very quick. Maybe one second or less. I did install it on an M.2 SSD on my system.

Ammo pickup, storage, and loading is handled same as Alyx (haven't gotten far enough to have anything but the gravity gun yet - just left the Citadel after stabilizing the reactor core).

I've been reading up on the Half Life 2 VR Mod that preceded this one. The description implies that you need a large space to play, but reading the manual in detail indicates it works just like HL 2 Ep 1 VR: You can play in a standard play area, and it supports walking with the left stick. So downloading that now as well. Been a while since I last played it.

Half Life 2 VR is essentially the same treatment as HL 2 Ep 1. Maybe a little less polish. There's a few missing accessibility features, but it plays fine in a normal size play area, and even has a sitting option.

The most controversial thing in the game is the canals section, where you ride the air boat. I read a lot of reviews commenting about this part because it seems to make most people nauseous. If you remember the boat can do ski jumps, and is prone to rolling over. Even though there are 5 different view options for when you are in the vehicle, going from #1 (full vomit comet interior 1st person view, looking straight ahead), to #5 (comfortable exterior 3rd person free camera view). I tried them all and I settled for #1, the vomit comet. I had no problems with it at all, and I found the "comfort" views with the unlocked camera far more disconcerting, and it made it damn hard to drive the boat.

As for weapons, smashing things with the crowbar in VR is extremely satisfying. I find that the machine gun is next to useless at any kind of range, as it kicks like a mule, but it's an awesome close up weapon. I remember that being the case in the original game as well, it just seems to kick worse in VR. 9mm pistol and the Magnum, which I just got, are a blast with the red dot sight enabled. Grenades are a treat too.

Yeah, I'm seeing that same pattern. You plan on just killing 30 mins or so with the VR, only to realize you spent 2 to 3 hours goofing off with the VR.
LOL

Ooooo. A friend of mine told me they made a VR remake of Resident Evil 4 a year and a half ago. Oculus store exclusive, and very highly reviewed. Even better the new RE4 Remake, just released, will get a free VR DLC eventually. Never played any of the RE games, so this will be interesting.

Yup, picked a good time to get into VR.

Been thinking a lot about wvJohn lately. He tried to get into VR early before it was ready for prime time. He would have loved to have seen what it's become.

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After screwing around a little with HL2 VR and HL 2 Ep 1 VR, I have gone back to HL Alyx. As that game precedes the events of HL 2 by 5 years, I figure I'll finish that first, then do the rest in order.

I am really enjoying Alyx. The difficulty ramps up gradually so you don't feel overwhelmed, and I feel that the VR gives you a better ability to judge tactical situations. Instead of just cowering in a corner and fighting the Combine soldiers, I'm looking around for places that give me some advantage. Like the shootout I did last night, I quickly climbed a water tower and used that for cover, let them get close and jumped down in the midst of them with shotgun blasting. Shotgun is devastating, but they give you very little ammo for it.

The puzzles in these kind of games are sometimes annoying to me, but so far I am enjoying the hacking puzzles in Alyx. Maybe that's because they involve spatial visualization, and I'm pretty good with spatial puzzles. The rewiring puzzles can sometimes be a little more challenging, but it's actually also kind of fun tracing out the wires inside the walls.

FlyingPenguin wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:28 am Been thinking a lot about wvJohn lately. He tried to get into VR early before it was ready for prime time. He would have loved to have seen what it's become.

I think about him regularly since he was the one who got me into Elite Dangerous, which I still play to this day. I actually submitted his name for the next update to their in-game memorials of lost commanders.

https://customersupport.frontier.co.uk/ ... -Memorials

I just recently received the email that they accepted it and it will be added when they update the memorials again. I'll post a screenshot when it updates.

Well I bought a Quest 3 today, after trying a demo of it. It's a big improvement over the Quest 2. It's lighter, the image quality is better, the lenses are the better pancake lenses with less distortion and a wider FOV. It's much more comfortable to wear. Stock audio is also a huge improvement. I also picked up the elite strap for it.

Los: Dunno if you've gotten a Quest 3 yet, or even planning to get one. Here's a photo that shows how much smaller it is. Look how thin the case is compared to the Quest 2 on the left. It feels incredibly light on your head.

I might wait for pricing to come down. It definitely LOOKS like it's lighter.