A visually comparable XRVR to XR-Vanilla? - yes its possible:

dertien · Post by **dertien** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 01:57

EDIT:

Dear dev team.

Thank you for making such a great and moddable game. The scope of this post is no longer a matter of discussion since the issue has been solved.

In order to test an experience in VR similar to XRebirth vanilla do the following.

Go here:

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=395702

and install MOD2/

Here are the specs of my machine in detail:
https://www.msi.com/Laptop/GT72VR-6RE-D ... o-overview
Oculus Rift
installed on regular HDD

EDIT: Flying in Maelstrom above floating meadows is a sight to behold !

TheGaelicWarrior · Post by **TheGaelicWarrior** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 03:03

This is great, I too was quite dissappointed with how everything had changed.

dertien · Post by **dertien** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 03:17

EDIT: deleted by author.

TheGaelicWarrior · Post by **TheGaelicWarrior** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 11:55

That was awesome. I love that original cockpit in VR. Was amazing, I did have some hitching, but for 80% my time the fps seemed exceptable.
Zero motion sickness issues, and I consider myslef to have a weak stomach in VR.
The whole game feels like a living universe this way.

My specs

i5 6500
gtx1070
8gb ram
installed on SSD

Really hope Egosoft reconsider the VR universe. Or at least give us back that glorious cockpit.

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 12:48

As you would probably expect, Egosoft don't support or encourage removing the ego_vr folder. The VR changes are a mixture of ego_vr files and other files, so removing the folder will not necessarily give you the vanilla XR experience, and it can break various things.

If wishing to report issued/bugs/feedback for XR VR, please confirm they are present in the unmodified version of the game first. Thanks.

Discussing the experience of removing the directory here is of course fine.

dertien · Post by **dertien** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 14:28

@sparky

No frankly that is not something I expected. Since Ego have always encouraged to support the modding community and empowered us to do so, why would they mind us testing stuff?

Removing the Ego_vr folder was truth be told 'accidental' since I had installed a mod and the game didn't look right, so I just renamed the Extensions folder, (where the Ego_vr folder resides) forgetting to duplicate its out-of-the-box content and ran the game that way.

Then I saw something very alike Vanilla, (the menus, gamestarts, station placements and sectors are Vanilla) but through a VR headset and I wanted to share this with fellow gamers, and give you guys a heads up that even with lots of models loaded in sector, the gameplay in VR was fluid. Two or three stations in one zone did nothing to the framerate; never mind a the cockpit model.

As it is still Early Access I thought this was the right thing to do. I hope Ego will continue to support modding and will leave a path open to us who wish to experience a less toned down XRVR-universe through modification of cat/dat files if their marketing strategy involves having XR work flawlessly on a wider range of less powerful systems.

Since the Ego_vr is a standalone file in cat/dat format and resides in the Extensions folder it would be safe to assume that they continue to encourage the modding community.

So, yes it broke things, for one the slideout monitor and the Sidebar menu don't work; but as far as I could tell, everything else was working as intended.

EDIT:

To give you an example of another VR game : Aerofly FS 2. They provide a free Hi-resolution DLC region to fly in but the hardware that is required needs too be superior to certain specs to work without hitches. The 'basic game' will work for lower end machines but with less impressive visuals.

Post by **X2-Illuminatus** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 15:02

dertien wrote:No frankly that is not something I expected. Since Ego have always encouraged to support the modding community and empowered us to do so, why would they mind us testing stuff?

This is not about testing stuff or modding the game in general. (See also the XR VR EA FAQ for reference that modding is still supported and that steps will be done to improve this (adding Steam Workshop support etc.)). But rather about the impression that removing the 'ego_vr' folder will automatically restore all the XR vanilla game content and the game will still work flawlessly. This is simply not the case, but will break things, as Sparky already explained.
Thus your suggestion of making the 'ego_vr' folder optional is not as easy as it may look at a first glance. Nor should removing it yourself be considered a proper solution.

dertien · Post by **dertien** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 16:13

@X2-Illuminatus

It was an 'appeal to the devs' as stated in the title that hardware was able to cope with the existing XR visuals, without troubles.

The purpose of this thread was all about sharing a way to let other users test how fluid their VR visuals of a not watered down 'Vanilla-like' XR-universe look like, and post their findings for the appeal to have weight.

Definition of 'not watered down' = multiple stations at zones, lots of traffic etc...

The purpose of this thread was NOT to suggest removing the Ego_vr folder as a quick solution for a full X-Rebirth Vanilla VR experience without gameplay flaws - As I stated in my first post: the menu system is non functional and interation is minimal.

You're both talking gameplay flaws when removing the said folder while I was talking framerates per second and quality of visual rendering impressions from the beginning.

Clearly, readers of this thread will understand all implications now when they wish to test the visuals compared to their VR hardware.

We are in early access stage that is why I felt compelled to share these findings, so that EGO may consider fine tuning the number of stations per zone for example; or include the cockpit which was apparently left out because of performance reasons; which with a completed game I wouldn't have bothered since it would have been more than a bit too late.

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 16:33

dertien, I think you may have misunderstood me.

Just because Egosoft wouldn't support moving/deleting their files (e.g. they are unable to provide support to games where this has been done) does not mean they want to discourage experimentation and providing feedback on the results.

Personally, I think the fact that they've seem to have produced XR VR largely in the form of an extension is rather supportive of modding and the interesting experimentation you're doing.

Post by **eMYNOCK** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 16:52

@OP all you need is some understanding in xml editing and the catalog tools.

everyting from the original game is in the VR version but simply commented out.

it is easy to mod a XRVR: origin but at the moment i would not recomment this... i my self do not know what side effects can or will occur.

and as every time... modding is at your own risk.

dertien · Post by **dertien** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 16:56

@eMYNOCK

Yes, it's still to early to mod as the game is not finished. I haven't opened any cat/dat files yet, but if you say it's commented out, that's very cool and convenient.

@sparky

Indeed, and in the heat of the moment, being exited and seeing this in all its glory yesterday in VR my post was badly formulated. I see where you both come from now and the mistake was mine.

My intention was good, it was just badly worded. I have made the necessary changes in my first post as to reflect this.

Personally, I think the fact that they've seem to have produced XR VR largely in the form of an extension is rather supportive of modding and the interesting experimentation you're doing.

Yes indeed, as I stated in my assumption that if they wish to stick to their program of releasing the game with sectors populated to accomodate low end computer systems, the door is left open for modders to eventually 'tune' the files in the Ego_vr cat/dat combination towards a more XR-vanilla flavored galaxy. I understand they cannot only make a VR game for high end systems.

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Wed, 2. Aug 17, 17:32

Thanks for your kind reply, dertien, and for providing all your feedback.