busybee fluffy rambles

The SlimeVR is actually really good for what it is! I really appreciated how much immersion it added to VR, and especially after I got it dialed in (which didn’t take that long) it added a lot to my expressiveness in-world. It was really nice!

But, there are a bunch of caveats.

The reason I went with SlimeVR to begin with was I was using a Quest 2, which uses inside-out tracking, and does not make use of base stations. Its dead-reckoning accelerometer-based control works really well with that; there’s no cameras to calibrate, no playspaces to merge, and so on. Plus, it works universally with every headset regardless of tracking methodology.

But since the time I ordered them (they got delayed a lot) I ended up switching to a Pimax headset, which uses base-station tracking, and now I have a Bigscreen Beyond on the way, which uses the same base stations. And since I already have base stations, that means I can make use of basestation-based trackers, such as the Tundra, which doesn’t cost that much more than the SlimeVR, but provides way better precision with less calibration necessary.

The other thing is that SlimeVR necessarily requires wearing a lot of sensors. Setting up SlimeVR for use required the following process:

1. Lay out all 10 sensors on the floor
2. Turn on all 7 power switches and wait 30 seconds
3. Put all 10 sensors on, in a particular order
4. Launch the SlimeVR server, and go through the pairing process
5. Recalibrate the sensors
6. Launch VRChat, and then recalibrate FBT
7. While using VRChat, notice when my legs are going weird (usually based on someone else letting me know) and then recalibrate the Slime sensors + FBT again
8. End up sitting down most of the time anyway because I’m fucking disabled
9. Have the constant pressure of the feet sensors in particular increase my pain sensitivity exponentially, because fibromyalgia is weird and terrible
10. Run out of spoons early, and have to go through an elaborate reverse shutdown process to remove myself from VR

By comparison, the Tundra trackers require:

1. Strap one sensor to each ankle and one to the hip
2. Turn ‘em on
3. Launch VRChat and calibrate FBT once

and the way the Tundras strap on won’t be triggering my chronic pain.

Plus, in the future, the Tundra trackers will be able to work with my haptic gloves, which opens up some really amazing gameplay potential.

That said, it looks like Tundras are backordered (I had a set in my cart already but now the site is showing “sold out” but it let me finish my cart order anyway) so it might be a little while before I get them. But I’m no stranger to waiting for this stuff.