I am thinking of upgrading my Pimax 4K and getting the Index controllers as well. I’m a bit worried about the way these controllers are used though. I am not planning to jump around the room, too old for that :), so I will play seated. My only experience is with keyboard and mouse or a gamepad, both of which with my arms resting on the armrests of my chair.
Can you play with VR controllers and still keep your arms on the armrests, by using your wrists? Or do you have to flail your arms around freely? Because if it’s the latter, I am afraid it will kill my shoulders after a few minutes of playing. So, are VR controllers more tiring than a gamepad or not? They are like $400-$500, that would be a bit pricey for 10 minutes of playing :).
Tbh imho. If your just playing sims & not interested in playing non Sim games. You might be better to get a single Lighthouse & invest in something like a Hotas if your more into flight type games.
The Lighthouse will give you the 6dof for leaning & such.
I’ve looked up into this thing. I have a HOTAS, Saitek X-56, but I am talking about other games. Like the upcoming Alyx, and plenty others that I cannot play without controllers. I’ve read that only 1 base station is enough too. I am just worried about the whole concept of a VR controller, that I will get very quickly tired if I have to wave my arms around, plus I need space for that as well.
I play many standing games seated or mostly seated when for example travelling Skyrim. As a fellow ancient, I use VR as a form of exercise with games like In Death, Rush and The Golf Club VR.
It really comes down to what you want to play, what controllers you might consider. While Vive wands work for simple games, Oculus Touch games are best with Index ctrls. Many full movement games imo, also work better with Index ministicks than Vive touchpads, but that has been argued by pad fans.
Have you guys seen the trailer for Alyx with gameplay elements?
Those kinds of movements, grabbing a gun, reloading it, moving the paint can aside, whatever was done with the cables, maybe even shooting, can this be done with my elbows on the armrests? I know I can mouse and keyboard for a whole day, but I doubt I’d last long if I have to wave my arms. I guess I’d need to go find my old dumbbells and start doing some deltoid work.
My shoulders are a bit old and I have issues keeping my arms above my head for any length of time, however my Vive wands and any other wand style controllers dont seem to be an issue for me.
@stixvr I’m in the same physical state, so that’s good info.
Now I thought of another concern, the geometry. From where I am sitting I can almost touch my the screen with my arms extended. Also, at my 3 o’clock, I have the metal case of my large PC case that I’ll be hitting mid-way between the elbow and wrist. So I guess swimming games are out of the question. But regular shooters should not require wide movements, should they?
Also, I was thinking of buying only one base station, and putting it behind and above the screen. But now I think that in this position it might not see one of the arms if extended even half-way. So, since I am not 100% sure how they work, is it OK to put one base station on the side, like at my 10 o’clock, will it be able to make the difference between the two arms, or will I need two stations?
From my understanding is you only actually need 1 base station, I think the other is just to help track you better in case you get out of range of 1 of them, Im not sure where the optimum placement of it is, but it will track you from at least 10 feet I believe, hopefully someone will chime in on best placement of only one.
Can you move your chair back away from the PC and monitor? My PC and monitor are about the same distance as yours and I can tell you that my PC case and the desk that my monitor sets on almost always gets in the way of my hands/wands when playing most any sitting VR game, so I usually sit in that chair for watching videos or editing VR videos but then I will migrate to a reclining chair I use for VR games only, it sets in the middle of my room. I dont usually play the more physical games either just mainly sitting games, although some of the sitting games want you to pick up stuff off a table or the ground so every once in a while my recliner chair gets in the way.
