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First post, by Rekrul

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Does the following exist:

A VR headset that can be used as a "dumb" display for whatever video signal you want to feed into it (VGA, HDMI, etc), and where the movement tracking registers to the computer as a standard mouse?

Here's my rambling explanation...

Back in the late 80s, or early 90s, I tried the Virtuality arcade game. It was slow and laggy, but impressive in its ability to make it seem like you were in the game. Ever since then I've wanted to replicate that experience at home.

As I understand it, modern VR solutions require a game to be specifically written to be compatible with them, however I want something that I can use with any game.

I'm sure the first thing someone will say is that the software has to be written for VR, or you won't get the 3D effect. Well, I've been completely, 100% blind in my right eye since birth, so I couldn't care less about having a 3D display.

Next someone will probably point out that you need special software to handle the motion tracking, otherwise how would you turn in a complete circle while sitting in front of the computer. Well, I'd be fine with just having my hand on a regular mouse for the times I need to turn farther than head tracking would allow. I figure I'd need the buttons for shooting anyway.

So, if I could have a headset that would display any signal that I fed into it, and that would act as a mouse, I could play virtually any game that uses the mouse for camera control. I could play Half-Life in semi-VR. Mostly, I want it to block out the real world, so that I can only see the game world.

Would it be as good as a true VR game? No, but it would be compatible with pretty much every first person shooter, space combat game, etc.

So, does there exist a VR headset that can be used as a dumb display, and that would also act as a standard mouse, without needing any special software for either?

Reply 1 of 4, by pshipkov

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What you ask is to mirror your main or another screen to the headset. This is easy. HTC Vive can do it. Apple Vision Pro can do it. I assume any other headset can do it.
However, if you try to play games, especially first person point of view ones, or full screen sliding/moving, it will mess up your vestibular system and make you feel sick. Guaranteed.

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Reply 2 of 4, by Rekrul

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pshipkov wrote on 2025-01-13, 15:39:

What you ask is to mirror your main or another screen to the headset. This is easy. HTC Vive can do it. Apple Vision Pro can do it. I assume any other headset can do it.
However, if you try to play games, especially first person point of view ones, or full screen sliding/moving, it will mess up your vestibular system and make you feel sick. Guaranteed.

See, that's why I also need it to work as a regular mouse.

You load up an FPS game, and it has mouselook. You move the mouse left and right, and the view pans left and right. You move the mouse back/forward and it tilts the view up and down.

Now you transfer those functions to the motion tracking of the headset. You turn your head left and right and the computer thinks "Oh, he's moving the mouse left and right." so it pans the camera side to side. You tilt your head back, or forward, and the computer thinks "Now he's moving the mouse back and forward." and it tilts the view up and down.

Moving your head tricks the computer into thinking you're using the mouse to control the first-person camera, and moves the view accordingly.

Granted, it might not be perfect. Without having special software to sync up the movement, there's a chance that the camera movements may not perfectly match your head movements, but adjusting the sensitivity should get it pretty close. And for old games where you can pretty much whip the camera around instantly, it shouldn't be a problem for the game to keep pace with the headset movements.

However, this is all conditional on being able to set the headset motion tracking as a standard mouse. If the motion tracking absolutely requires special software to function, it's not going to work.

If it does work, I don't see why playing an old game this way would be much different than playing a modern VR game.

Reply 3 of 4, by Shponglefan

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Rekrul wrote on 2025-01-15, 01:16:

You load up an FPS game, and it has mouselook. You move the mouse left and right, and the view pans left and right. You move the mouse back/forward and it tilts the view up and down.

Now you transfer those functions to the motion tracking of the headset. You turn your head left and right and the computer thinks "Oh, he's moving the mouse left and right." so it pans the camera side to side. You tilt your head back, or forward, and the computer thinks "Now he's moving the mouse back and forward." and it tilts the view up and down.

Moving your head tricks the computer into thinking you're using the mouse to control the first-person camera, and moves the view accordingly.

VR head tracking can't directly replace mouse look because of the limited range of motion of the human head.

With mouse look in a traditional game, you're not controlling the character's head. You're controlling the direction of their entire body. Thus, with mouse look you can do things like spin the entire character around.

With the human head, you can't get that range of motion. You still need a way of controlling the player body in addition to any head movement.

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Reply 4 of 4, by Rekrul

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Shponglefan wrote on 2025-01-15, 01:46:

VR head tracking can't directly replace mouse look because of the limited range of motion of the human head.

With mouse look in a traditional game, you're not controlling the character's head. You're controlling the direction of their entire body. Thus, with mouse look you can do things like spin the entire character around.

With the human head, you can't get that range of motion. You still need a way of controlling the player body in addition to any head movement.

Yes, I already thought of that. I figured that an actual mouse would be necessary in addition to the motion tracking, for things like turning 180 degrees, which wouldn't be practical using motion tracking. Then again, a mouse doesn't have truly unlimited movement either, as you're occasionally forced to recenter the mouse on the desk/pad.

The way I envision it, the motion tracking would simulate mouse movement as far as is practical. Which would be 45-60 degrees to the left and right. Anything more than that, and the actual mouse would have to be used to further turn your character. A real mouse would be needed anyway for using the buttons, the scroll wheel, etc.

Would it be a perfect system? No. Would it be as good as playing a true VR game? No. On the other hand it would allow a VR like experience for any game with mouselook. Otherwise the VR experience is limited to specially written software.

So, one of my original questions still stands: Can any VR headset be set to appear to the system as a standard mouse (within the limited range of movement provided by motion tracking)?