Quick update from Peter Kappler, a dev who quietly created code to run Second Life in VR via Firestorm and Steam VR, and then posted the source code online. First off, he tells me, it can get quite good performance running in Second Life with great hardware: "On GTX 1080, non-stereo, around 60 to 120 frames per second; with stereo, half of that," he tells me. 60 FPS would still be pretty impressive, at least by Second Life standards, especially as the virtual world has a massive amount of content and social activity already built in.
And Peter thinks he can greatly improve that performance:
"I still have to figure out how to render at higher resolution than the monitor offers, and dive into the viewer code to see where the frame drops come from when you are turning around. And if that can be somehow fixed, I'm pretty sure I can get the frame rate up a 'lil... instead of 30 to 60 in stereo, something like 50 to 100 FPS."
Again, that assumes great hardware, he adds: "As I said, [I'm testing on] GTX 1080."
Kappler has been testing his code on a Windows Mixed Reality headset, but because it runs through Steam VR, it should be compatible with the leading VR headsets:
"I'm using the OpenVR API which supports Vive, Oculus, and Mixed Reality." He's working on an update now, but "rendering controllers and the whole interface will take me some time . I also need to get some feedback from people with different headsets."
So if you're on an Oculus or Vive and want to give Peter feedback, go here to his YouTube page.
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