The mod is great. VReally, just great :p No motion sickness at all. The aiming could be better and I guess it is about to get better with the next update anyway.
My experience with the Rift, hydra and the mod:
1. Wires are breaking the immersion. The Rift has to be wireless.
2. As long as I am moving with buttons, it is hard for my brain to be fooled enough.
3. I have a fogging problem, even with this setup. So adding something like an omni for movement doesn't seem so feasible for me as I would be sweating like a pig with a HMD on my face, lost in fog.
This are not things that Nathan has to take care of, this are problems for Oculus to solve, really.
But I have an idea for a level design that would be perfect with this mod, TOTAL IMMERSION! (got a little excited there)
An on-rail kinda level with the main character on top of a moving thing, going through tunnels & stuff. dodging, crouching to avoid danger, looking around and aiming to shoot enemies. You shoot but miss a zombie, you have to crouch or to avoid his punch. Kinda like in HL2, coupled with the rollercoaster experience, but more like a scary tunnel with enemies and obstacles.
You could also be operating the gun in an armored vehicle or a boat during a battle. Not using the vehicle itself, that has to be up to the coop AI (a fixed path, really). Just a plain arcady shooter combined with modern VR tech. It would almost be a new genre, a blend of on-rail shooters, first person shooters and VR.
No need for an omni, no more moving with gamepad, wires would not be a problem as you almost always turn back and face the hydra station at some point and never need to turn 360 degrees. No need for a crouch button or a jump button. Actually no need for a gamepad at your left hand. All you do is look around with your head, crouch and dodge with your body (and turn sometimes) and aim&shoot freely. Things that work almost perfectly in this mod. I can't think of anything that would break the immersion.
I would make a level like that for this mod, if I only could
It could be just perfect. And a concept demo can probably be put together using existing HL2 maps.
btw, I can't even begin to imagine the level of visual detail Carmack could achive if he was to put together such a demo with a fixed path