HTC has recently announced that the HTC Vive PRO HMD is now available to pre-order with shipping expected in April, on top of that the normal Vive has seen a price drop.
Ready for the PRO price, it's an eye-watering $799/£799. This price only includes the headset as well, so you don't get any controllers, base stations or the VIVE wireless adapter.
The PRO has been through a bit of a redesign when it comes to the cushions on your face, to block out more light. It's also seen a resolution bump to 1440 x 1600 pixels per eye (2880 x 1600 pixels combined) versus the 1080 x 1200 pixels per eye (2160 x 1200 pixels combined) in the standard model. It also has built-in headphone, so that's one less wire to fuss about with.
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As for the classic Vive, it's seen a drop in price down to $499/£499 making it quite a bit more enticing, although you still need a good PC on top of that to handle it of course.
For Linux gamers, I'm not sure if makes much sense picking one up right now. Not only is Linux VR support still quite raw, there's not a great deal of titles available.
More info on the Vive PRO and Vive here.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Yeah, VR on Linux is sadly held back mainly by a lack of compatible games. But I put some hope into this project:
https://github.com/roothorick/WineOpenVR
The latest plan seems to be to interface with DXVK and Linux SteamVR directly, thus cutting much of the WINE overhead and latency for hopefully a near native VR experience on Linux through DX11 games with WINE.
https://github.com/roothorick/WineOpenVR
The latest plan seems to be to interface with DXVK and Linux SteamVR directly, thus cutting much of the WINE overhead and latency for hopefully a near native VR experience on Linux through DX11 games with WINE.
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These days the graphics card prices are inflated by the ridiculous crypto mining craze. Once that's over I'll upgrade my rig and get me a regular Vive. The second hand price on those have dived down to a quite reasonable level now.
Then I'll game the sh*t out of everything we got for VR so far :)
Then I'll game the sh*t out of everything we got for VR so far :)
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I'm still thinking about getting the Vive Pro. It really is a heavy price, especially compared to getting just the HMD with the connector box and not a complete bundle. So it's targeted for owners of the original Vive as an upgrade. Getting a complete bundle would put another 300€ for 2 base stations and another 290€ for two Vive controllers on top of the price of the Vive Pro. Man, that accessories is as much money as the old Vive bundle.
Yeah, early adopter problems... I also think that if you do roomscale VR the higher resolution of the Vive Pro doesn't really matter. When moving around the current (low) resolution is not realized anymore after some seconds ingame. For seated titles it's different. Here you might look at one spot for a longer time, so it's more easily to see the grid of the display.
Nevertheless, there are some pretty cool games working on Linux already, e.g. Croteam's Serious Sam and Talos Principle VR titles. Some little titles like Munch VR and Locomancer work. Even EVERSPACE was working before the last update.
Of course that's not much compared to what's already available for VR in general. But it's a start, and VR is a niche in PC gaming while VR on Linux is a niche within the VR niche... nicheception!
Let's see how the three VR titles Valve hinted to be working on turn out. I hope the release of these will mark VR on Linux as stable. On the other hand Valve's "The Lab" is (still?) not out for Linux VR...
Last edited by Corben on 27 March 2018 at 11:36 am UTC
Yeah, early adopter problems... I also think that if you do roomscale VR the higher resolution of the Vive Pro doesn't really matter. When moving around the current (low) resolution is not realized anymore after some seconds ingame. For seated titles it's different. Here you might look at one spot for a longer time, so it's more easily to see the grid of the display.
Nevertheless, there are some pretty cool games working on Linux already, e.g. Croteam's Serious Sam and Talos Principle VR titles. Some little titles like Munch VR and Locomancer work. Even EVERSPACE was working before the last update.
Of course that's not much compared to what's already available for VR in general. But it's a start, and VR is a niche in PC gaming while VR on Linux is a niche within the VR niche... nicheception!
Let's see how the three VR titles Valve hinted to be working on turn out. I hope the release of these will mark VR on Linux as stable. On the other hand Valve's "The Lab" is (still?) not out for Linux VR...
Last edited by Corben on 27 March 2018 at 11:36 am UTC
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Quoting: CorbenI'm still thinking about getting the Vive Pro. It really is a heavy price, especially compared to getting just the HMD with the connector box and not a complete bundle. So it's targeted for owners of the original Vive as an upgrade. Getting a complete bundle would put another 300€ for 2 base stations and another 290€ for two Vive controllers on top of the price of the Vive Pro. Man, that accessories is as much money as the old Vive bundle.I was already discussing that with someone that already has the vive...
But buying his vive would still mean I need to buy the accessories, which has the same price as just a vive (599.96 euro for the accessories vs 599.00 for a complete set).
It does have an advantage that vive owners probably can buy a second vive for cheap, and have 2 VR setups working at the same time... You just need a pair of extra controllers and another PC, as the base stations just need to be there.
Last edited by Ardje on 27 March 2018 at 11:48 am UTC
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My use of £799 would be to get a decent FPV headset for drone racing, and a racing drone. Much more fun than VR on a PC.
Also, the Vive Pro is going to need really high end graphics card(s) driving it to avoid motion sickness.
Also, the Vive Pro is going to need really high end graphics card(s) driving it to avoid motion sickness.
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I'm waiting until the full Vive Pro kit comes out (with the new base stations/controllers) then I'll upgrade from my Vive. If only I could get room setup to launch on Mesa though as I haven't even been able to experience VR on Linux aside from the basic headset functionality (doesn't work well when it doesn't know the bounds of the room).
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The Samsung Odyssey has the same resolution but about half the price.
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Quoting: mike44The Samsung Odyssey has the same resolution but about half the price.
But has absolutely no Linux support and very little chance of ever getting it (being a Windows Mixed Reality headset).
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slaapliedje Mar 27, 2018
Quoting: JuliusQuoting: mike44The Samsung Odyssey has the same resolution but about half the price.
But has absolutely no Linux support and very little chance of ever getting it (being a Windows Mixed Reality headset).
I think you can use it with Steam VR, but I'm not sure how that translates into Steam VR on Linux.
But the Odyssey does the inside out tracking, which isn't as awesome as the Vive.
I'd get the Vive Pro if it were like 600, but 800 is just too much for just the headset...
I mean if there were a market out there for selling just the headset to recoup some of that money... but there isn't.
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Quoting: JuliusYeah, VR on Linux is sadly held back mainly by a lack of compatible games.
You can't have anyone taking it seriously, until this will be ready: https://www.khronos.org/openxr
Otherwise developers will be wasting their time chasing tons of incompatible APIs. And then, there is a question of FOSS implementation of actual runtime.
Last edited by Shmerl on 27 March 2018 at 3:07 pm UTC
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