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Yikes, that killed my interest with a bullet. Do people only game with it?
by fjksksvdjsjd 9y ago
Yikes, that killed my interest with a bullet. Do people only game with it?
- Fej 9y agoVive and Rift are pushed almost exclusively as gaming platforms. Hence, Mac support is meaningless.
- eugeniub 9y agoBecause nobody games on a Mac.
- some-guy 9y agoGames are the only reason I still use Boot Camp.
- janoc 9y agoThey are also widely used for non-gaming stuff, it is just less visible. Concerning Mac the main problem is lack of any meaningful driver and hardware support from Apple. And without that there is little point in trying to port the SDKs. On PCs both Nvidia a AMD are actively working with both Valve & Oculus and integrating support for things like the asynchronous time warping in their drivers. However, on Macs only Apple can really do that. The other problem is that no current Mac on the market has a GPU that will work well with a Vive/Rift. The solution used in the laptops which switch between the integrated and discrete GPU is not supported and Apple doesn't offer anything else. And their desktop Macs haven't really been updated in ages, with GPUs being below the minimal spec required. So while this may be a convenient excuse why not to support Mac, until Apple gets their stuff together it is technically not doable.
- zamalek 9y agoMy experience has been more with the non-gaming stuff and I fully intend to start exploring that space as a creator. What worries me about supporting Mac is the antique 3D hardware (excluding recent announcements). Irrespective of whether the content is a game or an experience/tool, it is still 3D. This has most-certainly changed but is expensive and not yet pervasive.
- fulafel 9y agoCan you clarify what you mean by "The solution used in the laptops which switch between the integrated and discrete GPU is not supported"?
- hackerfromthefu 9y agoThe issue is caused by the way the Nvidia Optimus works - there's a physical connection which always goes to the onboard intel video, then the Nvidia video card outputs to the onboard video, which outputs to the physical connection. The extra step of routing the 3d video through the onboard video adds very minor latency, but it's still enough to kill the VR experience and induce nausea etc so it's deliberately not supported. And because the connection is physical it can not be changed with existing hardware. Next generation :) I'm unsure about the AMD specifics but I expect it's exactly the same issue.
- fulafel 9y agoBut this same issue is present on non-mac laptops too, right? Except some niche gaming/VR laptops that use desktop GPUs. It's waiting for GPU and laptop chipset vendors whto get their acts together (and hope they care about VR). Meanwhile eGPUs seem the way to go, and Apple is already shpping it: https://www.imore.com/apples-vr-dev-kit-egpu-enclosure-ultimate-guide https://www.imore.com/apples-vr-dev-kit-egpu-enclosure-ultim...
- hackerfromthefu 9y agoYes this applies to all laptops using nvidia optimus, PC, Mac etc, the issue is the hardware, it's physically wired to the igpu to enable minimal power usage scenarios. Agreed eGPUs are the near term future, although cloud gpus are also a possibility ..
- fjksksvdjsjd 9y agoDidn’t apple just ADD support for external, discrete GPUs? It’s certainly disheartening to see them drop support; I understand the latency demands, but the platform tie in is unnecessary. At least there’s linux! :)
- corysama 9y agoFor current gen VR (Rift consumer version and Vive) Apple would not sell you a Mac with a GPU that meets the minimum spec requirements at any price. Not even a maxed-out Mac Pro could pull it off. There might be some new, barely-sufficient options recently.
- corndoge 9y agoAs I sit on the tarmac waiting to take off for Oculus Connect 4 -- by a large margin, yes. The small minority is 3d modelling and videoconferencing applications.
- mintplant 9y agoEducation as well (in the "small minority" classification). I knew someone who worked at a VR-edtech startup, building digital "lessons".
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]