ROTT, Terminal Velocity and Descent?

Yes! 😁 I remember playing all three of those games back in the day vaguely remembering some HMD option but couldn't put my finger on where I saw it...

Does anyone know of any others?

Does anyone have any detail on how the head tracking or HMD support worked? Like maybe could it be hacked to work with something like modern 3d glasses and modern headtrackers? 😜 Yay for immersion. 😜

An example of one available at the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbNUIwi5F6g
The developers' claims about the projected growth of the market proved to be... optimistic.

Later releases of Heretic include a custom driver for the I-Glasses.

I'm pretty sure MechWarrior 2 and Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri also supported those glasses. I'll have to either get a pair to test the head-tracking with, or figure out how to make the TrackIR emulate one.

Regarding early head-tracking efforts, I played Quake over a decade ago at a computer gaming shop wearing a Forte VFX-1 helmet. It was pretty cool, though that's not how I'd use it today. I'd be more likely to pretend it was a MechWarrior's neurohelmet while using the head-tracking instead of a hat switch to look around, and instead use that hat switch for targeting or other purposes.

Flight Unlimited (Looking Glass Studios) released in '95 supported the following models: VictorMaxx CyberMaxx, Virtual IO I-glasses, 7thSense VR and Forte Tech VFX-1.

Totally unrelated, the Playstation2 also had such a device with headtracking, only a handful of games supported it, mostly flight sims.
It was released in 2002, and, as expected, was a commercial failure...

System Shock has VFX-1 support.

Lots of stuff these days have headtracking support via a device called Track IR. It even lets you lean your body, tilt it, move up and down as well among 6 axes to truly immerse you in the software that supports it.

Check out naturalpoint's website for a full list as it is far too long to post here.

Flight sims for one are largely supported but I've even managed to get it working in older titles such as X-Wing Alliance via mouse emulation which is kind of neat to say the least. FreeSpace 2 even supports it now via the Source Code project at www.hard-light.net ...

Oh, and shameless plug: Wing Commander Saga, a hand-made new installment to the series comes out on March 22nd based off the FS 2 open source engine (looks amazingly modern), fully voice acted, briefings, cutscenes and more... and it will support head tracking too. 😀

What was the Playstation 2 head tracking device and games, do you mean the EyeToy or something else?

Info from the DOS Descent Version 1.5 README.TXT file:

Registered Descent fully supports most VR Head Mounted Displays. […]
Show full quote

Registered Descent fully supports most VR Head Mounted Displays.

To enable support for a given VR device, see the command line help.
During the game, the following keys are used for VR settings:
Enter: Toggles HUD info on/off.
Alt+Z: Centers the VFX1 head tracking.
Shift+F5 or Alt+V: Toggles the Cybermaxx between monitor and headset.
Shift+F6: Toggles high/low resolution modes. There are 4 modes, which
are combinations of cutting the vert/horz resolution in half.
Lowering the resolution can improve framerate dramatically.
Shift+F7: Reverses left/right eye.
Shift+F8: Toggles head tracking sensitivity. There are three settings,
low, normal, and high.

If you have questions about the headsets, the manufacturers can be
reached at the following numbers:

- VFX-1 Head Mounted Display, by Forte Technologies, Inc.
tel: 716-427-8595
fax: 716-292-6353

- CyberMaxx HMD, by VictorMaxx Technologies, Inc.
tel: 1-800-279-6880
fax: 708-267-0037

- I-Glasses, by Virtual I-O
tel: 800-646-3759
fax: 206-382-8810
net: vio@vio.com

- 3D-Max shutter glasses
US: Chinon America:
tel: 310-533-0274 Ext 570
fax: 310-533-1727
Europe: Kasan
tel: 011-46-18-187777

hifidelitygaming wrote:

What was the Playstation 2 head tracking device and games, do you mean the EyeToy or something else?

Something else entirely:

It was released in 2002 in Japan.
I made a post about it and its games at:
http://www.playstationcollecting.com/forum/vi … php?f=18&t=2825

I'm now wondering if I should change my plans and ditch the Forte VFX-1 in favor of the Virtual I/O i-glasses since the latter just needs an RS-232 serial port for the head-tracker, not some proprietary ISA card with a VESA feature connector header. It also boasts much higher resolution per eye than the VFX-1...which may be a lie, if this review is to be believed.

"The 0.7" (1.78 cm) color liquid screens used in the two headsets have a similar amount of pixels: 181,470 for the VFX-1 (789x230) and 180,000 for the I-Glasses."

However, if the VFX-1 has a compatibility advantage, then that could be a big point in its favor. It also looks more comfortable to wear for long periods of time, though that's hard to say without getting fresh hands-on experience with both. The flip-up display is also a brilliant idea, something most HMDs can't implement without forcing you to take the entire thing off.

Decisions, decisions...too bad we can't just use the upcoming Oculus Rift in their place.

I was just playing Magic Carpet(Bullfrog, 1994), and saw that VR goggles are supported as a control option. I don't have any, so I wasn't able to try it out, but there is an option there.

I too had a chance to use the Forte VFX1 helmet and puck setup back in the '90s. There used to be some cool cyber cafes around here. I played Mechwarrior 2 and Flight Unlimited. I would say that those sorts of games are the main attraction.

I'm trying to remember the flaws with that $1000 helmet. The LCDs were obviously not great considering the time. But I think I also remember the head tracking to be slow/inaccurate or something like that? I don't think you could snap your head around as you would need to for a first person shooter.