VRidge is a piece of software that allows you to run Steam VR games using your Android phone as an HMD. It can run pretty much anything that doesn't require tracked controllers. (Just like the Rift without the touch controllers.)
More info on their web site

It's been a year since Riftcat released the full version of VRidge. To celebrate, they're offering the software for $9.99 (50% off their regular price) until June 28th.
Buy VRidge

They offer a free trial version which allows you to play for 10 minutes at a time. You can try and see how it performs with your hardware and if it's something you enjoy before you decide if you want to purchase it.
Their subreddit is the fastest way to get any issue resolved quickly

If you're a bit more adventurous, you can also add tracked controllers by using NOLO VR, PS Move, Razer Hydra, etc.
Daley Tech's Youtube channel is a great source of information for DIY VR

6 years ago

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Are you interested in VR?

View Results
Yes, already have a Vive / Rift / OSVR / etc.
Yes, cheap DIY VR is the way I roll
Not right now, waiting for prices to go down / better games / next-gen hardware
Not interested in VR
I don't know what I'm doing here (potato option)

If you're interested in this DO try the free trial first to see if it works for you. It is highly recommended that you have a 5ghz ac wifi network and sit pretty close to the router while playing. If you use a headset that doesn't use your phones USB already then you can connect via tethering and get a better throughput.

If you don't have a pretty good GPU, preferably nvidia, then you're probably not going to get anything worth it out of this.

6 years ago
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I tested it and opted for the Trinus because at the time it was the only one that allowed me to use anything with the cardboard.

6 years ago
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Trinus never worked right for me, so I pretty much gave up on it. Then again, it's been a couple years since I last tried it so things probably changed a lot in the meantime. I might have to try it out again, see if it's any better .

Anyway, it's always preferable to try the various option and opt for whatever works best for you. I'm just letting people know about the sale, so they have time to try it out and see if that's something they want to invest in.

6 years ago
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I bought the cardboard on the hype and i think it's funny, but i don't think it's indispensable or a must have... It's something like 'enjoy till forget'...

6 years ago
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I have the original cardboard which was fun for 5-minutes sessions of VR demos and 360° videos, but not much else.

I upgraded to this one after I started trying out Steam VR games, and it was an incredible upgrade. (Adding a Velcro strap on the original one did nothing to help the horrible FOV and the fact that the cardboard nose cutout would sink into my skin.) The GearVR headset that came with my Galaxy S8+ is definitely the most comfortable headset I currently own though.

6 years ago
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So what compression/codec does VRidge use (old ones like H264 or newer ones like AV1/HEVC?)?
Does it only work with Steam VR, or with Oculus, VorpX and other VR apps as well?
Does it do 360° tracking or do you have to use the mouse?
Is it compatible with head-tracking and controller addons (like Nolo or other)?
Also does it support mirroring on the PC screen?

Finally what's the difference with Trinus?

If someone could enlighten me it'd be great

6 years ago
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By default, if I'm not mistaken, it uses the H264 codec (bith hardware and software encoding available) HECV encoding is also avaiable but still considered experimental becuase it's unstable for some people. They're also in the progress of adding Moonlight streaming support.

It was originally intended as an Oculus proxy interceptor and can run Rift games for SDK 0.6-0.8. The then added SteamVR support so any SteamVR/OpenVR game will work on it, as well as most Oculus games with the help of Revive.

It does 360° head tracking using the phone internal sensor (or the more precise sensor array of the GearVR if you have that) It also supports FreeTrack so you can add head-tracking and controllers via a number of methods, the most populars being the PSMove service and of course Nolo. Nolo has been working with Riftcat since the beginning and even included a registered copy of VRidge in some reward tiers. (My Nolo should technically be here tomorrow according to my tracking number so I will be able to give a first hand impression then)

People have been able to use vorpX with VRidge with some level of success. Some tweaking might be required. (Personally never tried it as I'm not interested in playing non-VR games in VR.) Screen mirroring and fake VR are on the roadmap but not done yet.

That's probably the main difference between Trinus and VRidge. VRidge was designed from the beginning to fully emulate a VR HMD and is slowly adding more options, while Trinus was designed to mirror the screen and transmit head rotation as mouse movements. They've added SteamVR support in Trinus (and recently, support for Nolo) and I hear it's good but harder to configure. VRidge is the more plug-and-play solution while Trinus is more customizeable. (Trinus is also the only one right now that can work with iOS)

Of course, the best course of action if you're interested would be to try them both and see which one works better for you. They both have trial version so it won't cost a thing to figure out if either of them is for you.

6 years ago
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Thanks, that's all I need to know. I got VRidge hoping to make good use of it, maybe with Nolo. I'm only disappointed that is doesn't support screen/audio mirroring which is really important for showcase or social.

Also does it run other VR application other than SteamVR or Revive?

6 years ago
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There are a few demos included with the Riftcat app. (Which were originally Rift demos I think)

Other than that, anything that uses OpenVR will run via the SteamVR runtime. (I've been tinkering a bit with VR development and that's how I did it)

6 years ago
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