A week ago I purchased Oculus Rift S for the VR event in our public library. Everyone who has tried the headset was absolutely blown away by the VR experience. Super fun to watch the first move they make in the VR world. You know, the face expression, jaws falling to the floor 😀
I wanted to make the play space as comfortable as possible. Roomscale setup, of course. And as Oculus Rift S is still tethered to the PC, the cabled connection may limit the user’s freedom of movement. So I tried to find out the best ways to make the cables as least disturbing as possible.
So I found out that for the roomscale playspace I need to:
- Extend the cables
- and "make them go away" 🙂
1. Extending the cables:
Previously I had Oculus Rift and for the roomscale experience, I needed to extend all three sensors' USB cables. As well as one USB and HDMI for the headset. Now Oculus Rift S uses inside-out tracking so there is no need for external sensors to be hooked up to the computer. So I only needed to extend one headset's USB and DisplayPort cable.
Oculus Rift S comes with 5 meters cable (1 meter longer than previous Oculus Rift). According to the DP cable limitation, it is not advisable to extend it for more than 3 meters. This is what I bought from Amazon and works without a problem:
- No products found. - this is a passive DP extension cable. It works without a problem. If you need to extend beyond 3 meters (10 feet), you would want to use an ACTIVE extension cable.
- UGREEN USB 3.0 Active Extension Cable - I already had this one from the previous Oculus Rift setup. Works like a charm.
2. “Making the cables go out of the way”:
The best solution I have found on the internet is by using a pulley system. So the cables are hanging down from the ceiling.
I used these from Amazon: VeeR VR Cable Management
The end result :):
You can see on the photo on the left side of the white wooden pillars supporting the PC, there's still lots of cables available. So the PC could have easily been on the floor. I put it up there because the DisplayPort extension cable arrived a bit late, so I had to improvise a bit. 🙂
Oh, and the play area is 2,5 x 2,5 meters. I could easily enlarge it a bit more, as now with the Rift S the tracking does not rely on external sensors anymore.
I hope it helps, take care.
I tried this with the KIWI pulleys and a Rift-S. The problem I’m having, using the Rift-S, is that the pulleys pull the headset from the side (where the Rift-S’ cable is coming from), and since this headset doesn’t clamp to your head (like some others) it creates a bit of movement. The KIWI pulleys do feel tight and perhaps looser one’s will work better. I’ve tried to get the pulley to pull from the top of the HMD, but I still feel it pulling, and since the HMD’s strap uses plastic teeth (for the cog) I dare not have it too tight (it would be uncomfortable, too).
Suggestions welcome. I can’t find any pulleys that can have their tension adjusted.
Unfortunately, I haven’t come across any pulley system with adjustable tension.
However, you may want to improvise a bit. As you can see in the photos, I used two (or more) pulleys in the same line. This way I got a bit more length, and also a bit less tension (as the more you stretch, the more tension there is).
If that’s still not enough, I would put some weight to the pulley’s casing (of course, NOT to the first one from the top, as you wouldn’t achieve anything that way 🙂 ). A small stone or something, sticking with duct tape or something similar.
I hope it helps. 🙂
Take care.
I hung a frying pan from a couple of them and left them overnight. I’m not sure if it made a difference, but I think I found a solution using a slight modification.
I ordered some velcro straps that I can quickly attach to the halo (one of either side). I connect the wire up to three pulley’s (lined up, as usual), and then attach these straps (using a small bungy cord) to the pulley directly above, whilst making sure the wire has a little bit of slack (the pulley does all the work). This takes all the pressure away from the Oculus wire and eliminates most of the discomfort from any uneven tugging. I was also concerned with the proprietary Oculus wire around the area where is clips onto the headset when relying on the wire to take the tension, but this is no longer a problem.
I’m glad I brought the pulleys now. I wasn’t looking forward to unsticking them. 🙂
Hey, great job! 🙂
I’m glad you like the pulley system and thanks for the info about the mods you made. It might be useful to someone else also struggling with a similar issue as yours.
Enjoy VR gaming!
Take care. 🙂