When the HTC VIVE Cosmos launched in October, the tracking was subpar.
Now, a month later, an update has been released that addresses a lot of the tracking problems.
My name is Cas, and in this video, we check if this update is any better.
This is coming up.
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If you don’t know what was going on, I recommend watching our first impressions video on the
HTC VIVE Cosmos.
I’ll link it in the description.
As we mentioned in that video, the tracking of the Cosmos was below expectations at launch.
We were not able to play one song of Beat Saber without losing controller tracking.
The headset also had trouble with certain light situations, which caused a lowlight
notification during setup and disallowing the user to continue.
HTC has then responded very soon, saying:
Ok - maybe we were a little too afraid of the dark.
We have already adjusted our lowlight notifications, so you should be good to explore Cosmos for
hours on end.
Our engineering team is continuing to fine-tune notifications and light tracking from various
sources.
*Smiles* I really like that they kept their humor while at it.
Okay, so that helped with a lot of people, and now they could use the headset in rooms
that had enough furniture in there to allow the cameras to track well.
However, in rooms with any plain backgrounds, like in our green screen studio, the tracking
was still subpar.
While other inside-out tracking headsets like the Oculus Rift S and Quest can track well
in the same room.
On October 18th, HTC announced on their blog that they heard our feedback and are continuing
to improve tracking overall.
Now, a month after the release, the update for this is here.
The latest update is version 1.0.7.1.
And that is the update that we are going to test out in this video.
But first, let’s quickly see what’s new in this update.
For the headset, this update: • improves low light tracking with better
prediction during fast movements.
For the controllers, this update: • improves low light and high brightness
tracking stability.
• Better prediction models for controllers exiting and returning the headset’s field
of view.
Like when you move your controllers behind your head for a bow and arrow movement.
• There’s also improved tracking when the controllers are close to the headset.
This should be useful for shooting games, for example, when using a scope.
• And improved occlusion tracking prediction.
This video is posted by HTC VIVE to show off what this means, and it looks like this was
the problem I was having with Beat Saber, so it will be interesting to see if this works
now.
In this update, there are also bug fixes and other things added, but these are the things
we are focusing on in this video.
One thing I did want to mention is that this update also enables VIVE Wireless Adapter
compatibility, which could be nice for those that want to play wirelessly on PC VR.
Anyway, I am super curious to see if the tracking is better now, especially in our green screen
room.
So let’s get started!
First stop, Beat Saber!
Here, I am checking if I can finish a song and whether any controller occlusions are
happening.
When I tried this before during our live stream, one of my controllers would randomly get stuck
in-game and make me fail my song.
I wasn’t able to do any songs, even after adjusting my wall with post-its and stickers
to create some depth for the cameras.
Now, I have good news; it works a lot better!
I’m able to finish every song I tried, and I don’t even have to use all my lights for
the green screen to be able to play Beat Saber.
I still see my controllers getting stuck when I move them in front of my headset.
But this happens only occasionally now.
The tracking of the controllers recovers fast enough, allowing you to play the songs well.
For your reference, this is my green screen room and what lights I used to test it on.
I also tested Beat Saber without these lights on.
That also works fine.
Before we move on, while you are watching this video, please leave a like if you found
this video interesting so far!
Next up, I tried the bow and arrow game again in The Lab.
Previously, I had tracking loss when I moved my controllers behind my headset to pull an
arrow, which made it very hard to aim accurately with a bow.
This update should bring better prediction models for this problem, so I tested that
out.
And it is better.
You can tell that when the controller goes out of sight of the headset, it starts to
predict where your hands are so you can play further.
However, it’s still not good enough to enjoy playing this bow and arrow game.
A game where you use a bow and arrow occasionally could work, but not a game where you are constantly
using a bow.
Last up; I tried a shooter to check out the tracking when moving the controllers close
to the headset.
For example, when using a sniper and a scope.
Unfortunately, Contractors, Pavlov, and Onward still do not support the VIVE Cosmos, so I
could not try it on those shooters.
But I could try it using Sniper Rust VR and Gun Club VR.
In Sniper Rust VR, as the name says it, I was able to try out a sniper with a scope.
Unfortunately, the tracking is still subpar when you move one of the controllers close
to your eyes so you can look through the scope.
The controller will lose tracking and gets stuck.
You will have to guess where to put the controller in front of the headset to be able to view
the scope in-game.
This isn’t a situation that you would want.
In Gun Club VR, I played around with a handgun, an SMG, and shotguns.
Here I noticed that any guns that you shoot far away from the headset track well.
So handguns and shotguns, for example.
But, I noticed here that when you put the controllers close to each other.
For example, to hold an SMG with two hands, the front controller gets stuck, making accurate
aim hard.
I guess that’s because the controller light patterns get mixed up here, confusing the
cameras.
So yes, I can say that the tracking is noticeably improved.
You can now play games that don’t focus on controller movement outside of the tracking
range.
Games like Beat Saber, RPG, or general adventure games should work well now.
A month ago, it did not.
However, I still have to conclude that the tracking is subpar.
Trying to play shooters with two-handed weapons or scopes with this tracking will be frustrating,
as well as any games that need you to grab stuff from behind the headset like bow and
arrow games.
It is worth mentioning, though, that Oculus Rift S also had tracking problems at the beginning
with shooters and bow and arrow mechanics.
To improve the tracking, it took Oculus a couple of months.
So it’s likely that HTC will need time to fix their tracking system too.
Right now, I still can’t recommend this headset until this is better.
We will keep on reporting back in case anything changes.
As for future updates, HTC VIVE says they will continue to work on tracking like supporting
two-handed rifles in shooting games and optimizing controller tracking when it moves in or out
the headset’s field of view.
They said this on their blog, so at least it’s good to know that they are aware of
the problems and are working on it.
If you already own the headset and would like to know how to get updates:
It’s easy, just open the VIVE Console, then click on the menu icon, go to ‘About’,
and you can see what software version you are using there.
Click on the button ‘Check update’ here to see if there are any updates available.
To get access to future updates earlier, you can opt-in to their Beta program by opening
the VIVE console again, then click on the menu icon, go to settings, and then click
this toggle at Beta program.
So what are your thoughts now on the Cosmos?
Did you get the headset, and if not, do you have faith in HTC that they can fix the tracking?
Let us know below.
We are always curious about your thoughts as well.
A special thanks goes to our Right-Hand Patrons.
Shout out to artArmin and his Patreon page.
Another shout out goes to BaxornVR and his VR YouTube channel!
Everyone, thanks for watching and see you all in the next video.
As always, VR on!