Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

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Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I have been doing a lot of research and picking the brains of a friend on Bluesnews forums who has one. He's suggested waiting for the Oculus 3 (O3) sometime at the end of the year, but my feeling is the Oculus 2 (O2), with the right accessories, will do the job.

Price was just dropped from $500 to $430 for the 256GB version. There is a less expensive 128GB version for $350, but as with all these things more is better, however the onboard storage is mainly for Oculus store games and not used much for PC based games, so if you know you're mainly linking to a PC, you can save some money. You can store 20 to 30 games on the 128GB version, double that for the 256GB. You can also store media in that storage, like for watching movies if that's your thing.

O3 specs are still unknown, but are assumed to improve on the O2. I figure like all new hardware the O3 will need to go through a teething period, and 3rd party accessories may take a while. I'm good with getting an O2 now, and if I upgrade to an O3 in a year (assuming VR doesn't just turn out to be a passing fad for me) I can gift the O2 to my niece.

Some techie things that took me a while to figure out, and may answer some questions others may have:

- Vertigo is a real thing for some people. My friend recommends taking it slow and not over doing it to start, and your brain usually adapts. If you stop using it for a long time, your brain will need to readapt.

- Yes, disabled people, or people who just don't want to stand, can use the O2 in a chair. Many games work sitting. I go into more detail below.

- Yes you need a Meta/Facebook account for the O2. I will just setup a separate gaming account and not use my existing Facebook account, and give them no personal info. I don't care if Meta knows what games I play.

- The O2 has a built in snap dragon processor (phone/tablet horsepower) that will allow you to play Oculus store games without a PC, although they won't look as good as PC based games due to,lack of processing power.

- PC based games (like Steam VR games) require you to use Oculus Link (USB C 3.2 cable tethered to a gaming PC. Meta sells onw that is 16ft long, very flexible and light, and guaranteed to work) or Air Link via Wifi (802.11AC or AX, minimum 600mbps Wifi, and it's strongly recommended the access point is in the same room). If Wifi is setup properly, it works as smooth as the USB tether. You can also use the O2 in a different room than the PC is located, if using Wifi. There is an Oculus app you have to install on the PC that gives you access to the desktop (Steam big picture recommended). The PC does the heavy processing taking the load off the O2 CPU. Minimum specs are Core i5 4590 and GTX1080. I know of someone playing with GTX1080 laptop. More horsepower is better of course. As I understand it, the PC is not sending HDMI or DP Video. It's sending a data stream to the O2, but it does render the game on your monitor, then it essentially acts like a game streaming server for the O2. Anything you're gaming on now, should support the O2. The big requirement is a full bandwidth USB 3.0 or 3.1 ports (some USB 3 ports on budget or older PCs may not support full bandwidth) or full gigabit LAN bandwidth on your LAN card, and Access Point, and your AP needs to be gigabit 5Ghz Wifi (802.11ac or ax). You only need to have megabit networking between the PC and the O2, so if your house is only wired for 100mbit, you could just setup a dedicated AP with a megabit switch between it and your PC.

- Built in battery is limited to 2-3 hours, although you can use their or a 3rd party battery bank, or just a UBC C cable tethered to a USB power supply.

- If you're far sighted, you will likely not need to wear glasses. This was a big deal for me. I'm far sighted and just ASSUMED I would need to wear reading glasses. The rule is that if you can see okay at a distance of five feet, without glasses, you can use a VR headset without glasses. For those nearsighted, you can wear contacts, or there is a spacer for the facial interface, that lets you wear glasses, but your glasses need to be small frames, and might still bump and scratch the O2 lenses. There is also a 3rd party that sells prescription lenses that are held inside the O2 with magnets, so they can easily be removed for someone else to use the O2.

- Eye separation distance or IPD adjustment is three mechanical positions on the O2, but my friend tells me if your ideal position is between them: 'Push one lens in the desired direction softly, slowly, and never reach the next setting and it stays part way happily."

- You will almost certainly want to replace the stock head band with the $50 upgraded head mount, or a 3rd party one.

- The 'facial interface' is foam on the O2, and soaks sweat like a sponge. You can ask Meta support to replace it with a leatherette version that works much better, and can just be wiped off, and there are many 3rd party ones for sale.

- It has built in speakers which are meh. You'll likely want some high end gaming headphones or ear buds. The Steelseries Arctis, and Logitech Pro Gaming headphones (which I own) will fit over them. Most of the big around the ear headphones will work. You can google that.

- Many Steam VR games can be played while sitting, which will likely be my preferred method, sitting at my gaming desk. I have room in my garage gym if I want to try some standing games. I did not know this, but if a Steam game requires standing, it will say so under system specs. For instance Superhot VR says "VR Support: SteamVR. Standing Only" under the system specs: https://store.steampowered.com/app/617830/SUPERHOT_VR/
Half Life Alyx does not say standing only and my friend confirms he plays it sitting, although you can stand if you want to. It just lets you look behind you easier. All racing and flying games, of course, can be played sitting.

- There are no external sensors to mount in your room, like with the Steam Index, so you can use the O2 anywhere. When standing, you have to define the area you want to limit movement to, to fit the space you have available. You watch a passthru image and designate the four corners of the box you want to stay in.

Lots of info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest2/

And an interesting head to head comparison between the Oculus 2 and the PS5 VR2 (which sadly requires a PS5, and I don't do consoles, but if I did, this looks like an awesome VR headset):

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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Purchased the 256GB model at Walmart today, since they have them in stock, and a link cable. Nothing else for now. Figured I want to try it out first and then pickup some accessories later.

You don't actually set it up with a Facebook account, instead it's an Oculus store account. You CAN link it to a Facebook account and login with your facebook credentials, but I just created a new Oculus account.

You need to install the Oculus App on your phone or tablet (Android or iOS). While you can purchase apps from the Oculus App store on it, it's not necessary. Apps can be purchased from the Oculus store web site or from the app store in the headset. Ultimately the app is only needed to link the headset to your Oculus account. Once you have paired them, you can uninstall the app and never need it again unless you add a new device in the future. It's annoying that you have to install the app. In my case I installed it on my spare phone, not my main phone.

There is this lobby you start in, in the Oculus desktop. It's a customizable house and I couldn't care three F's about what it looked like, or what my avatar looked like. I set my profile to solo/private so no one can bother me. I have no desire to participate in Zuck's Metaverse. Just want to play solo games.

First, I just played a couple of free games and demos that come from the Oculus store that load into the headset's storage, and play without a computer.

SuperHotVR is a friggin' blast. I enjoyed the hell out of playing that game on the PC with a mouse and keyboard, but it's amazing playing it in VR. You can duck behind obstacles to avoid bullets, and it took me about 30 minutes to program my brain and make it second nature to grab a gun out of the air after punching the guy holding it. Played the free demo first and I was hooked, and bought the game, and played several waves. Lot's of fun.

Took a little while to figure out how to set up the Oculus 2 to use with SteamVR, but I have to say the experience is amazing. I initially tried it with the USB link cable, but then I enabled the Wifi AirLink and tossed the link cable. It works perfectly via Wifi on my network.

When it's setup properly you're hanging in a virtual space with a virtual repeater of your PC's desktop suspected before you, which you can place at any distance, horizontal position and height. It actually lets you see ALL your monitors if you want. I have a 2nd monitor on my gaming PC for browsing and the Steam friend's list, and once I figured out I could have them both displayed, placed the second monitor above the first.

Without glasses I can comfortably read the virtual desktop. You can bring up a virtual keyboard if you need to type.

I didn't bother with Steam's big picture mode. It actually works fine with the regular Steam window. Hand pointer works fine as a mouse. I tried a free Steam VR game call Propagation VR which is a zombie shooter, and works fine from a chair. Game is scary AF.

Battery easily lasted 4 hours with 30% juice to spare. I don't think it uses as much battery when you're letting the PC do the number crunching. I also did not enable 120Hz refresh, because I was told that would make it run hot and drain the battery faster. Not all games support it anyway, and I think the default is 90Hz. Gotta say it looks fine, but I'll probably try out 120 Hz tomorrow just to see the difference.

I ignored all advise to take it slow, and dived right in for 4 hours. I am happy to report I am not one of those people who get headaches or gets disoriented or nauseous.

Overall I am very impressed with the technology.

Headset just comes with a charger (the controllers use a AA battery each), a spacer for wearing glasses, and I guess enough people complained about the foam facial interface that they included a second gel one. Haven't tried it yet.

Stock head band was actually not all that uncomfortable, but I will definitely get an upgraded one.

Built in speakers are actually much better than I expected. Not as good as a good pair of over the ear headphones, but not terrible.

I have a big head, and relatively large nose, but the headset is comfortable. I did need to set the eye separation to maximum, although the sweet spot for me is just short of max.

Installing Half Life Alyx and will try that out tomorrow.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by Losbot »

I recently got the same headset. There's a couple of accessories that make it more comfy and helps you have a better experience. Things to consider. These were recommended to me by my co-worker who plays TONS of VR games.
On the last link, watch the video so you understand. It's basically adaptors so you can use the HTC for better audio.

VR Cover Fitness Facial Interface and Foam Comfort Set for Oculus / Meta Quest 2
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WQCNCBD/

HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap (see adaptor below)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2GDXMC/

Headset Adapter Deluxe Audio Strap Kit Compatible with Meta Oculus Quest 2 DAS HTC Vive (V2) FrankenQuest 2
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093BQ688H/
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Thanks for the recommendations!

Played some Half Life Alyx today. That game looks amaze-balls.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by Losbot »

You're welcomed. I'm just starting to tinker with Meta Q2 as well.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Update for near sighted peeps:

Wife is very near sighted (she can thread a needle without glasses, but can't drive without glasses, and needs glasses just to walk around the house.

She tried out the Oculus 2, as she says she can see items 5 feet away reasonably well, and it looks like she can use it without glasses. She was able to read text in the popups in Half life Alyx. Probably would look better with her contacts, which she doesn't wear often, and I'm guessing the virtual desktop won't be very sharp for her, but it's in focus enough that she can comfortably play a game.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

More info on the different "stores". Wish this was explained more clearly in some guide somewhere.

There are three stores:

- The Oculus store for games that live on the headset only (don't need a PC to run them). This store is accessed from the mobile app on your phone (if you still have it installed - I don't), the web site, or from within the lobby area of the headset. These are mainly games with lower poly counts to run on the lower power processor on the headset. I have SuperHot VR from this store, and a couple of demos. No PC necessary, but it uses up part of the headset's storage.

- The Oculus PC store for games that live on your PC, but are run from the Oculus PC app (think of it as the Oculus launcher (needs a PC to run them). This store is accessed from the mobile app on your phone (if you still have it installed - I don't), the web site, the Oculus Windows App on the PC, or from within the Oculus Windows App lobby area of the headset. These use your computer for higher poly count games, and the games are stored on your hard drive.

- The SteamVR app, which uses the Steam store (needs a PC, obviously, with Steam installed). You just buy games from the regular Steam store. Some Steam games are VR capable but can run as normal Steam games on a monitor, and some are VR only. These games are powered by your PC of course. The SteamVR app is an app that runs within the Oculus PC app, giving you access to your Steam VR games.

Many of the games that are on the Oculus PC app store are the same game as in the Steam store. Makes no sense to me to buy the Oculus version, which will only work with Oculus headsets through their launcher, when the Steam version works with any headset supported by Steam VR. Also, if the game is playable without VR in Steam you can play it as a regular Steam game on a monitor. The Oculus version only works with an Oculus VR headset.

Case in point. I already own Subnautica on Steam. Last played it a couple of years ago when I lost interest, but now I'll continue playing it in VR to see what it's like, via SteamVR. The Oculus store version would only be playable on Oculus.

Another case in point: I just bought DiRT Rally 2.0 in Steam for $20. It can be played as a regular Steam game on a monitor, or in SteamVR. The identical VR only version from the Oculus store is a whopping $60. No brainer there (awesome looking racing game BTW).

I have read the game performs better in VR in the Oculus store version, but that was 2019 reviews. Steam version runs fine for me on my hardware, and Steam version gives me access to all the workshop stuff, and I may be playing this game with Steam friends. For future proofing I'm going to go with Steam versions unless the difference is a dramatic difference.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I am stupid impressed how well the headset works using Wifi. I have it setup to use as much bandwidth as it wants, and it's completely smooth. I essentially wasted my money on the 16 foot USB C cable, but what the heck. It's nice to be completely untethered.

I don't even have issues in the foyer adjacent to my office, where I'm playing standing games, even though it's farther from the office access point, and has a wall between them, and Wifi 5Ghz is notorious for poor wall penetration.

Battery life while playing Steam games at 90Hz refresh has been good. I must have played almost 4 hours yesterday and still had 18% battery.

Curiously, the headset remembers my two guardian zones (the safe zones you designate so you don't step out of bounds and hit anything). If I walk out of my office guardian zone, and to the foyer, while wearing the headset, I can see the foyer guardian zone appear in passthrough and I don't have to re-designate it.

Despite assuming I'd be mainly playing Half Life Alyx sitting, I am instead playing it standing. It's so much more immersive, if not really necessary. Feels a lot more natural when crouching to pick up an item, and you can turn around quickly when you hear something approaching. The game is amazing.

The way Alyx handles walking is you use the right hand stick for turning your body (or if standing, just turn your actual body) and the left stick lets you place your virtual feet at the location you want to walk to. The right stick turn was set by default to 90 degree turns, which I found jarring, but I found a setting in the game to make it aa smooth turn which feels better. After a few hours it feels quite natural.

Shooting is a bit of challenge. No crosshair, you have to use the sights on the gun like in real life. Loading is also rather realistic. You have to eject the clip (button on the right controller), grab a clip from your backpack by reaching behind your shoulder with the left hand and and slap in into the gun in a natural way, then press another button on the right controller to chamber it. I was clumsy as hell at first but I've gotten good at it, while dancing around with the walking stick to avoid something while reloading. Just got the shotgun, and that's a different technique where you push a couple of shells into it, flip it up to close the breach, and then cycle the pump action. Good thing the game gives you lot's of ammo.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

LOS:

Facial interface you recommended works great.

Head strap came in, but the adapters arrive tomorrow.

I bought these controller grips/protectors because they were recommended by another friend. Only just installed them but I like them so far. Much better lanyard than the original. I like the battery access system. I like that you can let go of a controller without it leaving your hand. And now it feels like they might survive being dropped on the tile floor. And FYI: I have large hands and they fit fine for me.

KIWI design Controller Grips Compatible with Quest 2 Accessories, with Battery Opening Adjustable with Knuckle Straps, Suitable for Large Hands (Black)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09J8HJMFK

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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by Losbot »

FlyingPenguin wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:27 pm LOS:

Facial interface you recommended works great.

Head strap came in, but the adapters arrive tomorrow.

I bought these controller grips/protectors because they were recommended by another friend. Only just installed them but I like them so far. Much better lanyard than the original. I like the battery access system. I like that you can let go of a controller without it leaving your hand. And now it feels like they might survive being dropped on the tile floor. And FYI: I have large hands and they fit fine for me.

KIWI design Controller Grips Compatible with Quest 2 Accessories, with Battery Opening Adjustable with Knuckle Straps, Suitable for Large Hands (Black)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09J8HJMFK
Glad to hear the facial interface is working out for you. Huge difference for me as well. Let me know your thoughts on the head strap. I'll have to check out that KiWi set of grips.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Used the grips for several hours tonight. No issues. Like the feel. If you can't comfortably put your thumb on the menu or Oculus buttons, then the strap is too tight.

The rubber can easily rub against the side (middle finger) trigger, but if you pull it up enough it didn't cause me any problems. Worst case a little cutting with an exacto knife will fix it if it becomes an issue.

I'm actually not having too much of a problem with the stock head strap, but it would be nice to have something easier to adjust for someone else to use it.

I'm actually finding the stock earphones to work better than expected. Yeah they lack bass, but they're to terrible. Looking forward to hearing what the speakers sound like on the new head strap.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Okay, really like the strap. Not sure I like the headphones though. I actually prefer the built in headphones. I'm going to try using them for a few days to see if I can convince myself to use them.

Instructions suck but I found a video online that showed me how to install the strap with the adapter kit.

While I am enjoy the heck out of Alyx, I am also having a lot of fun with SuperHot VR. And damn, Superhot get's you SUPER HOT in a hurry. I'm having to play with a fan blowing on me. Definitely getting my squat exercises in, ducking behind things to avoid gunfire. :)
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Well okay, the new strap headphones are growing on me after using them a few hours.

BTW, a nice tip for anyone who finds it a hassle to have to use the menu to turn on pass-thru mode (so you can see around you IRL without taking the headset off): There's a setting in the Oculus headset menu, under Experimental, that let's you toggle pass-thru on and off my tapping your headset twice. Works a treat.
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Re: Okay, thinking of pulling the trigger on an Oculus Quest 2 (now the Meta Quest 2)

Post by Losbot »

Yep, I found that double-tap feature. Much easier that way.
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