Why virtual reality makes a lot of us sick, and what we can do about it.

  • SokathHisEyesOpen
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    249 months ago

    It’s very simple. The device needs to maintain 90fps at 90hz minimum. Anything below that can cause nausea. We’ve known this since at least 2017.

    • @[email protected]
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      119 months ago

      I’d go so far as to say 144hz at 144 fps should be the bare minimum. And that’s not even factoring in stuff like screen door effect, latency issues, etc etc. All of which play a part.

      • SokathHisEyesOpen
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        19 months ago

        The Quest 2 has pretty much eliminated the screen door. I’ve never had any issues at 90/90, but sensitive people might. The higher the better really. I hate saying it, because I despise Facebook, but the headset is actually really good, especially if you use it through Steam Link. Comparable headsets are 2-3x as much money.

    • 🇰 🔵 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️
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      9 months ago

      I mean… it’s also the fact you can move in the game while sitting down or standing still IRL. The framerate isn’t going to affect that inner ear/brain disconnect that causes motion sickness. Get a viable, and affordable, omnidirectional treadmill out and that would be a big help.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      It’s not that simple though. At any frame rate or frame time, you can still experience the movement disconnect. Simulating a roller coaster while sitting still will make the brain think you are moving while all other sensory perception says no, and you get nauseous.

      Same as sea, air and car sickness, and those all have pretty great FPS.

      • SokathHisEyesOpen
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        9 months ago

        That’s true, but when it drops below 90/90 you’re a lot more likely to experience motion sickness from something as simple as looking around. With the higher frame rates, the motion is perceived more naturally by the brain, and you’re a lot less likely to become nauseous. For the games more intense movement, where your perceived movement is disconnected from your actual movement, you can get used to it eventually, as long as your system is pushing enough information to your eyes. I have a top of the line gaming computer and I could only play very short sessions of Elite Dangerous when I started, since the perception is that you’re in a spaceship that’s flipping and spinning all around. After several short sessions, my brain started adapting until I could play for hours on end.

    • @[email protected]
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      59 months ago

      Frametimes is the specific measure.

      <11.1ms for 90Hz or <8.33ms for 120Hz

      If the game, experience, or whatever breaches that minimum frame time frequently, then you can experience nausea just from moving your head around.

      It does require some sacrifices like turning shadows down a notch or two in some game engines and choosing additional visual effects carefully. Some visual effects require additional computation passes and can add the the frame time.

      A low latency CPU (like the AMD 3D cache CPUs) or a normal mid to high end CPU with fast memory with good timings helps quite a bit.

      The GPU should be capable of pushing the pixels and shading for the target resolution. Even with a 6900xt I’ve been able to comfortably push over 4500x3000 per eye rendering (enough to get a nice anti-aliasimg effect on my Pimax 8kX at the “normal” 150 degree H.FoV) in most games.

      Surprisingly, fidelity FX can help as well (the non-temporal version).