Dev update #21 - Legacy GPU support

Update on Gear VR (1 September):

We managed to fix known bugs but we still need to shuffle some code and run some tests after. We will try to finish all the release prep work before Monday so we can submit the app to Sideload VR early next week. Sorry for being late!

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This is a small update, not the one with Gear VR support. Minor bug fixes and a new software encoder for some older GPUs. Desktop app version is 1.1.2 and it's available in beta channel.

Software encoding

Many people kept asking us to introduce support for video cards other than modern GeForces and Radeons. We added Intel HD Graphics support (starting with Intel Core 4000+ processors) but it wasn't enough.

Today we bring full software encoding capability for all systems running Windows 8.1+. This will allow you to run VRidge on any system that can launch your games in VR. There will be of course limitations and game / SteamVR / Oculus hardware requirements still apply but no extra hardware will be required by VRidge.

This mode is last resort option and is automatically pre-selected only if no modern video card is detected on the system. This puts high load on your CPU (depending on video resolution but good CPUs can encode 1080-1440p in real time). It may also add some latency depending on your CPU performance. It's the worst decoder out of all the options but it's the best one where none of the other options work. 

New software encoding option

Bugfixing

• Sometimes SteamVR wasn't launching VRidge server properly. An extra option was added to desktop app settings. If you check it, it will run some extra checks during launch process to make sure VRidge server starts properly.
• AMD "Not enough storage" or "Signature verification error" error will now ask if users wants to open troubleshooting page for this error.
• Old NVIDIAs (pre-Kepler chipset) will no longer default to NVENC encoder. It will now offer new software encoder.
• Changed MF's default encoding profile to 100. It shouldn't cause any problems but if it does, go to Riftcat\Config, open vridgeQuality.cfg with notepad and change UseLegacyProfile to true. Setting it to legacy profile may affect Android device compatibility.
• Minor text fixes.

GearVR news

We contacted SideloadVR to make sure we have some platform to launch on. If they don't agree to host VRidge we'll have to create our own repackaging service to bundle user signatures. This shouldn't be too hard but may delay release for few days if SideloadVR crew refuses to host VRidge.
There is one major bug to fix and we're good to go. Expect more news and, if everything goes well, an apk file next week.

Dev update #21 - Legacy GPU support

Update on Gear VR (1 September):

We managed to fix known bugs but we still need to shuffle some code and run some tests after. We will try to finish all the release prep work before Monday so we can submit the app to Sideload VR early next week.

---

This is a small update, not the one with Gear VR support. Minor bug fixes and a new software encoder for some older GPUs. Desktop app version is 1.1.2 and it's available in beta channel.

Software encoding

Many people kept asking us to introduce support for video cards other than modern GeForces and Radeons. We added Intel HD Graphics support (starting with Intel Core 4000+ processors) but it wasn't enough.

Today we bring full software encoding capability for all systems running Windows 8.1+. This will allow you to run VRidge on any system that can launch your games in VR. There will be of course limitations and game / SteamVR / Oculus hardware requirements still apply but no extra hardware will be required by VRidge.

This mode is last resort option and is automatically pre-selected only if no modern video card is detected on the system. This puts high load on your CPU (depending on video resolution but good CPUs can encode 1080-1440p in real time). It may also add some latency depending on your CPU performance. It's the worst decoder out of all the options but it's the best one where none of the other options work. 

New software encoding option

Bugfixing

• Sometimes SteamVR wasn't launching VRidge server properly. An extra option was added to desktop app settings. If you check it, it will run some extra checks during launch process to make sure VRidge server starts properly.
• AMD "Not enough storage" or "Signature verification error" error will now ask if users wants to open troubleshooting page for this error.
• Old NVIDIAs (pre-Kepler chipset) will no longer default to NVENC encoder. It will now offer new software encoder.
• Changed MF's default encoding profile to 100. It shouldn't cause any problems but if it does, go to Riftcat\Config, open vridgeQuality.cfg with notepad and change UseLegacyProfile to true. Setting it to legacy profile may affect Android device compatibility.
• Minor text fixes.

GearVR news

We contacted SideloadVR to make sure we have some platform to launch on. If they don't agree to host VRidge we'll have to create our own repackaging service to bundle user signatures. This shouldn't be too hard but may delay release for few days if SideloadVR crew refuses to host VRidge.
There is one major bug to fix and we're good to go. Expect more news and, if everything goes well, an apk file next week.

Dev update #20

It's been a while since our last updates. Some of us took few days off to enjoy some of the summer sun but we're now back in full force and ready to code some VR!

Gear VR edition progress update

Last week we managed to put together core components of GearVR version. We already have working internal version which benefits from fast and stable sensors. Latency is a bit better because of more frequent updates of head rotation. The whole experience is noticeably smoother and has no drift.

Because of similar concepts in both Android and GearVR versions we decided to spend some time to extract as much as we could into shared library to make further developement faster. There is still some work to be done in terms of stability and user experience but things are really looking good and we are satisfied with progress. There is no release date at present but some test version should become available this month. It's now a matter of weeks, not months.

There's a really nice thing about Gear VR native API. We can set CPU frequency to lower (reducing battery drain and heat generation). We hope that it allows to run long Gear VR sessions without overheating.

Soon™

Phone compatibility

We spent a lot of time trying to fix some of the problems experienced by specific phone models (Zenfone 2, Galaxy S4, Redmi Note 2/3, Huawei Honor 4C/P8 Lite). This process takes a lot of time because those problems happen only in very specific configurations that we cannot reproduce with our hardware. There will be beta mobile update tomorrow that will include some extra fixes for Zenfones 2 running Android OS 5.0 (Zenfones 2 updated to 6.0 should work already in beta channel).

If you still experience problems after tomorrow's update (mobile app ver. 1.1.1b) use the Diagnostics mode available in settings and send us logs again. We only received several reports this month and percentage of users reporting problems went down significantly so it means that some fixes in fact worked. 

We'll try to get more phones at the office but since those problems are caused by undefined set of conditions it's not easy because the same model (Samsung S4 for example) can use different hardware for European and American variants. That's why this takes so long. We create a potential solution -> send it to testers -> receive reports -> figure out what went wrong this time. Add some delays for each of the steps above (timezone differences, work schedule, people leaving for a weekend) and it turns out that testing simple fix can take few days.

What's next?

We're gonna refocus more on feature development now because fixing some of the phones (paragraph 2) only affects a very small subset of our users. There are few devices that absolutely dominate the Android market - Galaxies, LGs, OnePluses, Nexuses (or is it Nexi?) - and we want to add some new stuff for people using those phones too. At this point it's probably easier to add Android 4.x support or older GPU support than to fix the mysteries of some of the phone models listed in paragraph 2. There are quality improvements possible, latency optimization, overheating prevention, SteamVR features - a lot of things that are very important to us.

Currently we're aiming to release GearVR edition for public testing (through SideloadVR or similar solution) in the next 14 days. We don't expect to hit any major roadblocks.

P.S. Someone add VR support to No Man's Sky, please! 

Dev update #19

Desktop update 1.1.1:  deployed.
Android update 1.1.0b: available in few hours (beta channel)

Phone compatiblity (beta channel)

Making VRidge compatible with every kind of hardware is challenging task. We've been fixing phone hardware specific issues since the first release and we successfully got couple of hundred models working without major problems (other than heat generation).

But there are still some models that require our attention. The most common ones are

• Asus Zenfone 2 (or other Intel chipset phones)
• Galaxy S4 (some variants)
• Huawei Honor 4C and P8 Lite (and possibly more Kirin chipset phones)
• Redmi Note 2 and 3 (and more MediaTek Helio X10 chipset phones)

Thanks to some tips from cgutman (author of Android's well-known Moonlight) we now have some knowledge why some problems are happening and how to fix them. Moonlight is known to work great on nearly all Android devices and this is an example for us on how to make great streaming app.

This is only small subset of all the chipsets out there

In this beta update we bring many fixes targeted for specific models.We don't expect that everything will now start magically working because it's only first wave of the fixes but we are also adding something that might be really helpful to catch all the streaming and rendering bugs in the future - detailed logging mode.

Detailed logging mode (beta channel)

If you experience high streaming aritfacting and/or crashing and you have one of the devices listed in paragraph above please go to mobile app settings -> Diagnostics and enable diagnostic mode. This will log many VRidge events to a log file stored on your mobile (up to 5MB, don't worry about device space). There is also a button that will simply send all stored events with your GPU & OS info to us. There is no personal information sent - you can review the information sent by tapping [See logs] before sending.

Example diagnostic log

Fixed update failing because of Steam (stable channel)

This is very small fix but we are pushing it into stable channel. Some of you were getting failed updates because Steam was running in the background with a file lock on our driver.

No more "update failed" without a reason

GearVR edition update

The GearVR development is going really well. We ported large majority of our codebase and we already have internal testing version that streams and uses GearVR sensors. It's not a 100% promise but we hope to have a publicly testable version later in August. 

Remember that VRidge purchase is universal unlock. If you bought the unlimited version, you'll get GearVR edition too. No need to pay multiple times for the same product on different platforms.

Beta discount extended

When we released our app we gave all beta testers a discount of 50% valid until one month after release. Unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances we weren't able to deliver updates as fast as we wanted so we decided to extend the discount until at least GearVR edition is out in stable form. 

What's next?

GearVR development will continue and we hope to receive many diagnostics logs from you with the new logging option so we can have a better insight on what is happening in your device when VRidge fails. We'll also explore additional payment options because there are many people that can't use PayPal. iOS edition is scheduled for development after GearVR edition is out.

Dev update #18

Quick update (beta channel): 

1.1.1 desktop update deployed with minor background fixes. Many phone specific fixes, extended diagnostic mode + blog post coming tomorrow (2016/07/29). 

If you get "Update failed" exit Steam before the RiftCat update begins.

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Finally we can release our multi-channel updates. It took us longer than expected but we wanted to make sure that we don't mess anything up with updater because having bugs in update process may result in forced reinstall and we don't want to waste your time with that.

We wrote about it in our previous blog post but here's a copy-paste description of update channels:

• Beta update branch will be updated few times a month (probably once a week like we used to do in beta phase). Use it if you want to be first to access new features and bug fixes.
• Stable update branch will be updated less often, every few weeks. We don't want untested changes going live for everyone as forced update.
• Previous stable updates will contain stable versions from the past. If somehow beta bugs make it into stable branch you will be able to switch back to previous versions and ignore updates.

This will not always work. For example, VR SDKs, graphics drivers or some other condtions can change in a way preventing backwards compatibility. We're not always in control but we will try our best to give you the most options.

What's next?

GearVR version is still in development. Most of boring groundwork is already done and we hope to run some in-office streaming tests in upcoming weeks. We are still on track to release GearVR for public testing this summer. We're also gonna spend some time fixing some incompatible phones so expect some news on that next week (hopefully).

Dev update #17

VRidge launch

Last week we started selling VRidge as premium product. We had to create some quick client and server side hotfixes to keep everything running smoothly. We added some checks for exotic PayPal error codes too. Everything is currently operating normally and we started getting back to regular development schedule.

If you can't use PayPal remember that you can send us an e-mail (support@riftcat.com) to process payment manually through TransferWise. More payment options will come after we fix bugs we promised to fix a while ago (Intel-, MediaTek- and Kirin-chipset phones, etc.).

What's next?

We want to continue with frequent updates but every change, even the slightest one, can break something. For example, we can add a lot of optimization in an update that will improve experience for 99% of our users but break stuff for the remaining 1%. It sounds good statistically but this would mean that a lot of users (the last 1%) would have problems they didn't have earlier. We of course would fix those new bugs but this takes time.

Forced updates are not the greatest user experence - that's why we decided to split updates in several branches.

• Beta update branch will be updated few times a month (probably once a week like we used to do in beta phase). Use it if you want to be first to access new features and bug fixes.
• Stable update branch will be updated less often, every few weeks. We don't want untested changes going live for everyone as forced update.
• Previous stable updates will contain stable versions from the past. If somehow beta bugs make it into stable branch you will be able to switch back to previous versions and ignore updates.

This will not always work. For example, VR SDKs, graphics drivers or some other condtions can change in a way preventing backwards compatibility. We're not always in control but we will try our best to give you the most options.

Client update with branch selection should be available next week.

But what about features?

If you are signed up for Android beta releases (you can join & leave beta channel here) you will see an update 1.0.1b in few hours. We updated our app to use Google's latest VR SDK instead of Cardboard SDK. This shouldn't break anything and it brings improved tracking and native drift-correction for default tracking algorithm. Also, this is first step in Daydream's direction. We are really excited about Google's plans for VR. Check out the beta update and tell us if you notice any improvements in default tracking algorithm.

If it causes additional crashes let us know so we can fix it before pushing this update into stable channel. :)

We also started working on GearVR version. We are in early stages and we're still assessing the amount of work required to create native GearVR Vridge app. We'll keep you updated!

Dev update #16 - Open Beta ending

Updates:

• Version 1.0.1 deployed to fix license being read incorrectly with some 64-bit games and SteamVR beta.
• Version 1.0.2 deployed with more 64 bit startup fixes.

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This post is a quick announcment that VRidge enters paid/early-access stage. You can read much more in our previous blogpost.

Price

EUR*	USD*	% off
9.99€	$9.99	(-50%)	Beta testers, all users registered before 16/06/2016**
14.99€	$14.99	(-25%)	Early access - everyone else***

Payment

After signing in into your RiftCat client and pairing phone with VRidge you will see "Unlock" button that will open payment page for you. We are not giving direct link because we want to make sure that someone tries VRidge before buying. On the payment page you will be able to pay with PayPal express checkout.

We are trying to add Paysafecards too.

UPDATED: Removed paysafecards as accepted payment method - country restrictions.