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Ok, this too is a flatscreen-first game. Have a VR take on it

First Look: Valheim [VHVR Mod]
Cool. I haven't played Valheim and don't know about the VR experience, but I did see recently an enjoyable casual playthrough from a couple of guys I follow: LethalFeline & Effing Controller. Looks like the sort of game you could really immerse yourself in and have a lot of fun. Enjoy.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Well huh.


Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard in $68.7 billion deal

"Microsoft on Tuesday announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard in a blockbuster deal worth nearly $70 billion. It's one of the biggest acquisitions in the tech industry in recent years, one that will boost Microsoft's standing in the growing gaming industry but could be complicated by recent concerns about Activision's toxic culture."


https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/18/tech/...ion/index.html



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I figure you Videogames nerds might be able to help me here. I recently bought a 43" 4K smart TV to use as a computer monitor. It's been AWESOME to have that much screen real estate, but I notice that the screen flickers/goes off for a few seconds when I try to stream anything like video (in games, on YouTube, videos on Facebook--whatever).

A little Googling suggested lowering the refresh rate. The options available to me were the 60 it was set at, the marginally lower 59.something (which is where it is now), and then something far, far lower (like, 30-ish?). The 59.something setting has not solved the problem, but I hesitate to lower it as far as 30. Can I randomly type in a number there in my settings (Windows 10)? If so, what would be a good choice? Or is 30 okay? Note: I am NOT big into tweaking these things as much as some of you, so if I lose a little quality (a little) but gain a screen that doesn't flicker or go blank on me, then it might be worth it to me.

Showing my ignorance of these things, sorry...

Heyo. Do those few seconds of "going off" happen randomly during playback, or just once at the start?


I just logged into Spotify on my PC with a similar monitor setup and my screen went black. I don't usually use Spotify on PC as I mostly only sync my phone to my speaker bar. After a few seconds, the screen returned and I saw the "HDR" logo lingering briefly in the top right corner of my screen.


If that matches your experience, then the tv takes a moment to recognize an HDR source signal then blacks out to ....uh.... change modes (?) for lack of a better description.


I'm not sure, in my case, why Spotify through a browser triggered that. Especially considering that I had HDR disabled. But maybe that offers more info to troubleshoot if you aren't liking any settings you've set so far.


I'm sorry for not making a connection here earlier. I usually only use my PC for audio stuff and a handful of games. Most all of my media and streaming happens on my PS4.


My feeling is you're fine with the temporary blackout, if you have the patience for it and me assuming it's only occuring during an app transition/opening sequence. I mean, if you want to go back to how it was given the change in font edges.



The Adventure Starts Here!
It was happening every few seconds--all the way through. Sometimes each blackout would be many seconds. A few times it was nearly a half minute. Hard to watch *anything* with that kind of interruption all the time.

If I had answered this question about six hours ago, I'd have told you that it hasn't happened at all since I turned off the HDR thing. Not once. ... Until a few hours ago when it happened a handful of times again, despite the HDR still being off. Same symptoms: a video plays somewhere (a news article with a video of a reporter, YouTube, whatever) and that blackout happens. It's happened a few times this evening, but not too many. I double-checked that HDR was still off (it is), so now I don't know what to expect. I'll keep you posted, but I do appreciate the updates from you. Doesn't sound like similar experiences. If I have YouTube open but don't have anything actually streaming/playing, it doesn't happen. But when video starts moving, then it's prone to happen. It's not when I start a program or anything. I could have Facebook open for hours, for instance, and all is well as I scroll. But if someone uploaded a video and FB auto-plays it, then it can happen, without me having opened up anything else.

The plot thickens.



The Adventure Starts Here!
Last update of the day: All was fine as I replied to you above. Then I peeked into YouTube and one of my animal cam livestreams. Within 30 seconds the screen had blacked out twice. Apparently I need to keep hunting for a cause for this.



A system of cells interlinked
Installed one of my favorite games of all time, The Witcher III, on my new rig. I cranked everything up to ultra, and it ran like a champ. Well! I decided that just wasn't good enough, so I started loading mods up, including an HD retexture for the entire game, HD monsters, a complete re-shade, redone lighting, additional music, an enhanced world map system, and a tweaks program that added Supreme and Ultimate graphics above Ultra. Ultimate brought my GPU to its knees, so it was Supreme for me!

I spent about an hour installing and tweaking everything, and man, it's like a whole new game. I didn't mod anything to do with gameplay or balancing, so it's still The Witcher 3, but with a fresh, next-gen coat of paint, and wow, that lighting mod and re-shade really brings it to life in a whole new way. Amazing!

__________________
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



there's a frog in my snake oil
Arg!

Originally Posted by Hitman 3
PC VR Minimum Specs

CPU: Intel 6-core i7-8700 / AMD Ryzen 7 2700
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super / AMD 5700XT
__________________
Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Last update of the day: All was fine as I replied to you above. Then I peeked into YouTube and one of my animal cam livestreams. Within 30 seconds the screen had blacked out twice. Apparently I need to keep hunting for a cause for this.
Maybe it's a combo of the 4k resolution (though I think you mentioned down-sizing the resolution earlier) and the HDR data stream that's bottlenecking your graphics card.

Just out of curiosity, what graphics card are you using? Is it integrated into the motherboard? Is your processor handling all the rendering, like tried to do? Do you have a dedicated card?

Could it be a RAM issue where apps are competing for resources, so the display suffers as a result? That's a wild guess btw.
__________________
"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear



The Adventure Starts Here!
Maybe it's a combo of the 4k resolution (though I think you mentioned down-sizing the resolution earlier) and the HDR data stream that's bottlenecking your graphics card.

Just out of curiosity, what graphics card are you using? Is it integrated into the motherboard? Is your processor handling all the rendering, like tried to do? Do you have a dedicated card?

Could it be a RAM issue where apps are competing for resources, so the display suffers as a result? That's a wild guess btw.
Got a dedicated separate card I put in a few years ago: NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. It's nowhere near the latest and greatest, but it's handled everything fine. And a computer nerd friend (and my own Googling) told me it could handle 4K. At the time I put that in I also upgraded my power supply to 500W.

I have 24GB of RAM at the moment. I find it odd that turning off the HDR worked for what? a week? Then last night, nope. Weird.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Got a dedicated separate card I put in a few years ago: NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. It's nowhere near the latest and greatest, but it's handled everything fine. And a computer nerd friend (and my own Googling) told me it could handle 4K. At the time I put that in I also upgraded my power supply to 500W.

I have 24GB of RAM at the moment. I find it odd that turning off the HDR worked for what? a week? Then last night, nope. Weird.
possible update? crap always resets some of my windows settings =\

I have no idea btw. Just tossing spaghetti at the wall wondering if any one noodle might stick. Too, it keeps the topic fresh so that others might notice who could pick up the rope. Tricky tho and it's BUGGING ME!!!

Thanks for the card type. And DANG on that RAM.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
OK check this out. There are a couple of links there too, but the first reply suggests contact issues. Maybe it's a cable?

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce...ly-goes-black/



The Adventure Starts Here!
Probably not a cable issue. Barely used. Gold cables. Well seated.

Also, in my case, it's not entirely random. It happens only when there is some sort of video or streaming going on. In a forum or other website, or in email, etc., it never happens. Unless their references to "random" mean "during gaming," which is almost all streaming of one sort or another. I do have spare good cables, though, so I'll switch one out. The reason I also don't think it's a cable is that it only happened once I started using this TV as a monitor. Same cable as the previous monitor-monitor. The TV does have four (!!) HDMI ports, though, so I could try working my way through the other three to see if that changes something.

I keep the card's drivers updated with GeForce Experience, which alerts me any time there is a new driver available. So it's not an update issue. And the flickering does not change any of my settings. It just... well... goes black off and on for a few seconds, over and over again, sometimes with lengthier amounts of time of blackness. (I wouldn't really call it flickering--it goes black for a count of one or two or as much as 30, and then comes back.)

Will cycle through the other ports today and see if anything changes. And I'll dig out another HDMI cable, too, if only to narrow down the variables with easy changes like those. Thanks for these ideas, guys! And yes, @ynwtf ... it makes me wanna figure this out too! It's like a mystery, and computer-mysteries are particularly annoying!

I upgraded the RAM to 24GB a few years ago for one of the Cyan games, probably Obduction. I recently played the new/upgraded version of Myst and it was so nice to be able to put it on max settings.



there's a frog in my snake oil
Hitman 3 PCVR is getting roasted for being a buggy port with lacklustre VR mechanics.

But I am immediately tempted...



(vid should start at 6m28s)



(vid should start 12m30s)



there's a frog in my snake oil
First Look: Hitman 3 VR



This is working fine on my under spec rig (1080, 4790K), and having never played this open world take on the stealth genre before, I'm having a blast

I'm not usually big into replaying levels or achievement chasing, so I don't know how much use I'll get out of these insane levels and multiple approaches. But currently just free-wheeling through the training and first two maps on 'casual' has been grand

There's something great about investigating the lay of the land, noting intrigues and devices for further use or exploration, and then getting totally side-tracked as one stray event funnels you down a series of improvised emergencies, mini-victories, and chain-reaction disasters

Currently it's cool to get yourself deep into the belly of the beast, save, and then try various approaches. So far I've ended both maps in a trail of absolute carnage, but I like how map completion unlocks new starting locations and 'approach plans' for your next run. I can totally see at least going for a proper 'high points' stealth run again. Maybe even on something less forgiving than 'casual', with the security cameras and such turned on.

Can foresee a lot of scum-saving if I do...

But for now I'm just happy opening up the new, absurdly sprawling, locations. And wandering around as a decidedly untrustworthy butler

WARNING: "VR stuff" spoilers below
Yes there's some jank, graphical scrubbiness, and limited functionality to rub along with. But given it lets you scramble around 7 floors of an enormous skyscraper (and some of its exteriors), while it hosts 100s of milling guests, staff and security, it's pretty insane that it works at all

The negatives that you should be aware of though:
  • The resolution does seem to autoscale to your computer, and they seem to lower it further for even near distances when under load. Can become notably smudged / fuzzy.
  • You can't alter HMD quality / supersampling yourself.
  • Smoothing turning works fine, but you do need to recentre a lot to stop your IK avatar getting all tied up.
  • That's because there's no roomscale as such, you can't step out from your avatar much.
  • HMD relative is the only other locomotion option
  • Although there are some physics interactibles outside of the mission items (you can smash vases with a cane or whatever), you can only pick up and throw the mission ones
  • Although you can smash your way through doors rather than using the button press, as a rule don't expect super interactability. You'll be pressing keypads by moving around a highlight and pressing controller buttons, not jabbing the numbers with your finger etc.
  • Climbing is using the controller stick, not your hands, and vaulting is a quick transition etc.
  • Some 'through the lense' stuff (cameras, snipers) are just a 2D screen
  • Stuff like submissions and melee are definitely on the janky end. Make sure you hold the trigger that turns your weapon to 'attack' mode. But don't be surprised if the odd NPC just pings off into the distance, or doesn't take damage at all.

If any of that's a dealbreaker, then best to stay away. But honestly, I've been fine with all of it. Because I still get to run around an ancient wood-polished mansion disturbing butlers with a rolled up newspaper



there's a frog in my snake oil
There’s like a whole locked-room murder-mystery sub-plot in this Hitman mansion map. This game is nuts.

I bopped the real detective on the head and stuffed him in a hessian box. Now I’m interviewing kitchen maids and putting my expert knowledge of poisons to work.

(Yods you should get this if you haven’t already. Or better yet, get VR, get your VR legs, then get this )



(Yods you should get this if you haven’t already. Or better get, get VR, get your VR legs, then get this )
I was considering this, since stuff's getting better and cheap. What do you recommend?



The Adventure Starts Here!
I was considering this, since stuff's getting better and cheap. What do you recommend?
Probably a ton of stuff I didn't buy, and things that aren't compatible with my own VR headset.



there's a frog in my snake oil
I was considering this, since stuff's getting better and cheap. What do you recommend?
The Quest 2 is probably the no-brainer at the moment. (If you're fine with having a FB / 'Metaverse' account and all that).

Just get the cheaper version with less storage, and use it as a PCVR set. Best of all worlds. (Free standing wireless play of lower poly games, v portable when you want. But can use wired to PC, or wireless with some faff, to play steam library etc with better graphics and oomph. Solid controllers, painless tracking set up, super compatible with broad spread of games etc. Less flakey than the Windows variants, cheaper than the other high-end variants etc. And cheaper than the Vive/Steam ones etc.).

I'm still on an older Oculus at the mo, until it conks out completely. But Q2 is where I'd jump right now as things stand.