RIFTED HAWKEN IS HERE!!! WOOOOOOOOU \o/

[blazespinnaker]

Well I paid zip for my copy so I think the ROI was still pretty good.

[mahler]

Just FYI: the Rift support is still being worked on and should be improved with a future patch.

I don't think that's what people are upset about.

The fact that it took such a relative long time compared other games and demos to release the initial support, and the experience is still not much better than most of those demos.
It took Valve significantly less time for Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 and people were really happy with that. However, I think it's part of people getting spoiled.

And there's no way of telling whether:

- Meteor Entertainment just has less talented or experienced developers
- The company puts the Rift on a much lower priority than we thought
- They have not as much money and/or time to spend on Rift support than they initially thought
- This is caused by a set back, which we don't know about (which happens a lot in software development)
- Much more work has gone into the support, which many of us take for granted, but does improve the experience.

Whatever the reason, I don't think this is the time to be complaining. The Oculus Rift dev-kit alone has become a larger success than initially set out. We should be happy that Meteor Entertainment has added support and is still spending time improving it. Hawken didn't cost you anything to download (except your valuable time ) And there are already plenty of other demos and games with initial support and many more are coming.

TL;DR - I know it's less than some of you expected (because of hype) but try not to get too spoiled ok? Little more than a year ago, many of us didn't even knew that VR would be making a come back so soon.

[blazespinnaker]

tldr: you get what you paid for

[bboyza]

tldr: you get what you paid for

Truth, only very few games get the free-to-play model right and I think Hawken should have gone with a regular pay for the game model and then release future expansions or whatever for income down the line.

Take the new Hardware / Homeworld game - people rejoiced with news that they will be moving away from a F2P model - not something you'd expect from consumers.

[drifter]

HL2 is just too fast to play with a keyboard or game pad with a Rift.

Changing to a "normal" walking speed changes everything in this game. Too bad Valve didn't add this as an option.

[Skylead]

One solution instead of using an xbox controller is to use a hydra like one with the right analog stick emulating the mouse for large movements and the motion control added for fine adjustment of the mouse. It takes a little tweaking to get in your comfort zone but I am slowing getting to prefer it over the mouse/keyboard. The problem I have yet to figure out is analog walking which should be entirely possible yet not insofar as much as I've figured out with Motioncreator

I use a G13 and Mouse when I play Hawken, I haven't updated the screenshot of my control mappings since before the Tournament late last year, but I can assure you this play method works in the top tiers of play

[CylonSurfer]

HL2 is just too fast to play with a keyboard or game pad with a Rift.

Changing to a "normal" walking speed changes everything in this game. Too bad Valve didn't add this as an option.

Thanks Drifter, I think I'll try out the new version of the 'Half-Life 2 VR mod' which has just released first. If I don't get a along with it I'll try the settings you linked to, so much appreciated. It does kinda add substance to my point that in the scheme of things, Hawkens Rift Mode is no worse than other Rifted games out there, including those from larger studios such as Valve, most games require some degree of tweaking and are certainly not 'Out of the Box' experiences just yet. Not that I mind as Rifted games are epic once you have them working and well worth the effort you have to put in, including Hawken

I find it hard to put the game down now!

[hast]

tldr: you get what you paid for

Truth, only very few games get the free-to-play model right and I think Hawken should have gone with a regular pay for the game model and then release future expansions or whatever for income down the line.

Take the new Hardware / Homeworld game - people rejoiced with news that they will be moving away from a F2P model - not something you'd expect from consumers.

While I agree that the Rift support in Hawken was pretty bad so far (although I guess that's why it's so difficult to get it running right now, it's not really officially supported I guess) I think they get F2P down pretty well.

One thing I would like though is that they would add a "starter package" for perhaps $20 for anyone that tried it a little and wants to give them some money (eg League of legends does this). I'm not a big fan of buying "coins" in games like this as then I have to start figuring out what I want to use them for. It makes turns "take my money" into a chore for me as a user and really makes me think more about it than I should.

[zebrastealer]

I just got this configured today and ran it for awhile. Definitely a blast to play and the mechanics of the mech work well with the rift. Yes, it can still be improved but think it's pretty fun and I didn't have to drop a penny to try it out. That said, this type of game really shows how bad the current rift screen is - everything is a pixelated mess in Hawken, the high(er) definition consumer Rifts can't come soon enough.

BTW - I was having trouble getting this to work in VR mode, I finally figured out I did not follow the directions correctly and had created a shortcut of the Launcher and not the correct exe. VR mode will not work when fired from the Launcher.

Also - this played just fine with me using a mouse and keyboard (haven't tried to configure my xbox controller yet)

I had a very slight drift problem once - hitting the "SCROLL LOCK" key resets the position of the rift.

Yes, the UI Menus are absolute garbage and can't be read at all, but at least the actual gameplay is FUN (and I don't even like Mech games).

[zebrastealer]

Somewhat off the subject, but tried playing this again a short while ago and booted it up without the rift. Looked at "upgrades" and looks like this is a pay to win game? All weapon upgrades, etc. look like real currency is required. Am I missing something?

Also, I had bad drift this last round, kept resetting.

[Hicks100]

the only things that are pay only are the visual upgrades.

everything else you can earn in game. i have enough ingame credits now to buy pretty much everything.

and it was earnt by having fun, not by grinding.

[hast]

Somewhat off the subject, but tried playing this again a short while ago and booted it up without the rift. Looked at "upgrades" and looks like this is a pay to win game? All weapon upgrades, etc. look like real currency is required. Am I missing something?

As Hicks100 said, you can earn all non-visual unlocks ingame.

There was a trial thing recently where they tried out the new maps and modes and during that time all participants got a bunch of ingame XP and "Gold" (it didn't carry back to the normal game). I used that to try out all the different mechs and a bunch of weapons. My conclusion was that the base mech you get in the start is probably the best one in the game. It's definitely the most well rounded and easiest to play.

Other mechs unlock as you gain levels and as you use the mechs.

[shiva]

I just got this configured today and ran it for awhile. Definitely a blast to play and the mechanics of the mech work well with the rift.

That's pretty cool to read
I guess I got pissed off because I couldn't even get the VR mode to run, even though I did everything recommended on the reddit link, added the -vr, replaced the ini files, rift not cloned but extended... no way for me to make it work and no idea why
But still, you are right people, this is after all a FREE game, and an freaking awesome one as that. We shouldn't be so harsch on them

[fogwalker]

I got to try it for a bit and I really liked it, it was obviously thought of well into the pipe but for being a after the fact addition it works fairly well, obviously it is not going to be of the same level as a game like star citizen who got to think about implementation from the beginning.

[shiva]

Ok so I took the time to do all the config and hooooly sh*t
THIS IS AWESOME!!!!

There is definitly room for improvment but it's by far the greatest experience I had playing with the rift, well worth the ini headache tweaking!
Here's a summary of all the little tweaks I picked up from the dev center, the hawken forums and reddit in order to get this experience working :

-Replaced the ini files in MeteorEntertainment\HawkenAdvanceBattalion\InstalledHawkenFiles\HawkenGame\Config\ with the ones recommended on the reddit link:
http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments ... t_support/
-The official VR settings (extended monitor+adding -vr to the shortcut) didn't make the VR mode work for me, but setting this parameter did: DefaultEngine.ini => bAlwaysAllowHMD=true
-Disabled the HUD to get rid of the buggy radar/jauges that were screwing my vision: DefaultEngine.ini=>bEnableHud=False
-Better cockpit & improved aiming: Defaultengine.ini=> EyeDistance=0.031500, CrosshairSize=20.000000, bUseDotCrosshair=True, bShowVisorInRift=false (adjust CrosshairMinDistance to push the new target further in space)
-Oversampling resolution: DefaultSystemSettings.ini=>ScreenPercentage=200
-Use the Scroll Lock key to recenter the view ingame, 'cause there's ALOT of horizontal drift

https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/v ... =42&t=4383
http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments ... t_support/
https://community.playhawken.com/topic/ ... rift-help/

[virror]

Thanx for the great summary, will check it out!

[ripcurl123]

can anyone tell me what going wrong with hawken here I have the warping enabled but in stays in mono screen not stereo
ive followed cymatic bruces video still no joy any info appreciated cheers dave,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fywLYARDM7c

[shiva]

You need to delete everything and do a fresh install, because Bruce's video -while great- is old, and was focusing on how to hack ini files in Hawken to force the Rift vision, as there was no Rift support implemented in Hawken at that time
Now, with the Ascension patch including beta Rift support, I guess Bruce's settings can create conflicts with the Ascension settings
Do a fresh install, and try the settings I posted earlier on this thread and let us know
cheers

[ripcurl123]

You need to delete everything and do a fresh install, because Bruce's video -while great- is old, and was focusing on how to hack ini files in Hawken to force the Rift vision, as there was no Rift support implemented in Hawken at that time
Now, with the Ascension patch including beta Rift support, I guess Bruce's settings can create conflicts with the Ascension settings
Do a fresh install, and try the settings I posted earlier on this thread and let us know
cheers

thanks for your help shiva I done a fresh install but still cant get this to work ,I downloaded hawken from hawken site I take it its the latest version ,I look at how you done yours still no joy ,im having trouble putting -vr at the end of copy of target, also the ascension patch is that a separate patch ?

reddit mentions MeteorEntertainment I cant see that anywhere, all this aggro and I hear this patch is crap anyway, if only everyone took a leaf out off lunar lander for the oculus what a brilliant intergration hats off to the guys at shovsoft.

dave..

[hast]

IIRC the Ascension Patch was the preview they did for the new big patch a month or two ago. That's when I tried the Rift stuff in Hawken. Since then those fixes have been rolled into the normal game.

Back then the Rift support was very much a work in progress. And while it was kind of cool there's no way I'd play the game like that in a competitive mode. I'm not sure if it's better now though.

[shiva]

thanks for your help shiva I done a fresh install but still cant get this to work ,I downloaded hawken from hawken site I take it its the latest version ,I look at how you done yours still no joy ,im having trouble putting -vr at the end of copy of target, also the ascension patch is that a separate patch ?
reddit mentions MeteorEntertainment I cant see that anywhere

-The ascension patch is automatically installed when you launch hawken and log in your account
-The ini files are in here: : C:\Program Files (x86)\MeteorEntertainment\Hawken\InstalledHawkenFiles\Binaries\Win32\HawkenGame\config (if you installed hawken on C:, if not did you try to do a windows search to find it?)
-Try changing this parameter to force the VR, the -VR option didn't work for me at first either: DefaultEngine.ini => bAlwaysAllowHMD=true

[hal10000]

Bumping this thread to see if anyone has it working now that it is in Steam?

[Libertine]

HL2 is just too fast to play with a keyboard or game pad with a Rift.

Changing to a "normal" walking speed changes everything in this game. Too bad Valve didn't add this as an option.

I also feel this is critical to the VR experience. If you think about it, during 99% of our self-propelled movement, we experience the world passing us at a walking pace. Most of us i assume anyway, except perhaps avid runners. I believe translating that effect to realistic games will almost always result in an increase in immersion. Even before i got into 3D, i would make tweaks to walk speed and where i couldn't i would resort to crouch walking.

Combining that with realistic and not overdone head bob, which matches the timing of footstep sound effects really sky-rockets the feeling of what i think people lately are calling "presence". By realistic head bob, i mean almost not noticeable, as in real life.