![]() Silent Threat picks up just after the events of FreeSpace 1with the player taking the role of a pilot newly recruited into Galactic Terran Intelligence, the intelligence branch of the GTA. As the game progresses though events take a sharp turn forcing both the Terran and Vasudan peoples to contemplate extinction. Into this enters the player, a newly qualified fighter pilot joining their command ship the GTD Galatea to reports of a mostly failed operation to take a system. The game is set during the 14 year long war between the Galactic Terran Alliance and the Parliamentary Vasudan Empire where both sides are locked seemingly in a stalemate, with both sides engaging in bloody battles that can cost ten thousand lives or more. The game was ported later to the Amiga by Hyperion Entertainment. when it was split off from Parallax Software. In the meantime, this is a pretty good example of the worst VR experience possible, nonetheless at high visual quality, from one of the best games ever made, further demonstrating the capabilities of a high resolution headset.Box cover art for Descent: FreeSpace – The Great Warĭescent: FreeSpace – The Great War, also known as Conflict: FreeSpace – The Great War depending on sale region is a 1998 space combat simulation created by Volition, Inc. ![]() Really, the graphics are pretty good even by today’s standards, this used to work well on 200MHz computers, and AFAIK the game engine basically interprets BASIC scripts, so it should be feasible to reimplement today…īy the way, I captured a bit of awesome footage to include in my upcoming video… Hopefully before I have time to spend more than a few hours actually playing Descent Freespace again, someone will create a native VR port for it. It is much more comfortable, rendering a static image across a huge display, without lag or as much changing distortion, but strangely much less immersive. Or when the eyestrain of TrackIR is just too much. Legacy settings are intended for when TrackIR or virtual cockpits are not compatible. Having an 8k monitor would have been ideal, though that might exceed the maximum display output resolution of available graphics cards (an arbitrary limit, nothing to do with GPU performance). The graphics were a bit pixelated, more so when stretched across larger virtual screens. Most interestingly, I found the Virtual Desktop 4k screen to be the limiting factor in visual quality. ![]() The whole setup was weird enough even I took on some at least temporary nausea, headache, dizziness, and strong sensation of being cross-eyed. Weird distortion from all the 2D projections is a major problem as well. There is some lag in the response, so it is better to add a small deadzone and look ahead when possible. Snapshot opportunities at the merge become the priority rather than lengthy tracking in a turning contest. The added sense of situational awareness and accuracy feels like a simulator. This added bit of immersion makes it a whole different game. Formation flight, and looking around, feels about as natural as it should. ![]() This is surprisingly about as immersive as most seated VR experiences like Elite Dangerous or Flight Sim, despite not being stereoscopic. Setting Head Lock (allowing the screen to follow the headset) is not even necessary. Dynamic uses TrackIR, a virtual cockpit, and a Virtual Desktop screen so large, it is nearly a full hemisphere.
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