WMR - lenovo explorer info

jkelek

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Nov 16, 2012
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i have had the lenovo explorer for a few months now and i figured i'd share some info for newbs as this is all from my own experience and there is nothing posted here. i have not tried any other WMR headset or the vive or oculus. i got my explorer for 200$ on holiday sale and well worth that if you already have a pc to support. i would not pay the normal asking of 400$ but i'm cheap and have a family :p - here you go, here's what I sent a buddy who had just purchased the same headset as I had:

Measure your face like this to get your inter-pupillary distance in millimeters:
1. Stand in front of a mirror and holda ruler up to your nose, such that the measuring edge runs directly underneath both your pupils.
2. Close your right eye and look directly at your left eye. Move the ruler such that the “0” mark appears directly underneath the center of your left pupil. Try to keep the ruler still for the next step.
3. Close your left eye and look directly at your right eye. The mark directly underneath the center of your right pupil is your inter-pupillary distance.

Set the calibration to match here:
Windows Settings > Mixed Reality > Headset display > Calibration

One other comment about visuals is for whatever reason I can see so much clearer when I have my contacts in which makes no sense but I know my eyes don’t see the same, but with my contacts in it’s the same prescription in both eyes so maybe that levels it out, it’s a noticeable difference for sure.

Install from Steam Store - “Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR” (it’s a driver)
All games officially supported in Steam for WMR have a logo for them along with the vive and rift. Games without WMR support have all worked fine for me, I would just look it up before you buy to verify.
In the MS Cliff house the only way I’ve seen to launch SteamVR (which will be a lot because most of your games will be there) is to open your desktop in the cliff house from the windows key popupmenu and just click the steamvr button in the top right of steam. *STEAM GAMES NOW APPEAR IN START MENU IN WMR AND CAN BE PLACED IN WMR HOUSE*
To add support for the oculus store follow this:
http://windowscentral.com/how-play-oculus-rift-games-windows-mixed-reality

some games I recommend (in no certain order):
in steam:
Arizona sunshine ($)
The lab (free)
Rec room (free)
Serious sam 3 ($), if you have purchased serious sam in the past you can d/l serious sam fusion 2017 beta for free and it has the same content for VR as ss3 does.
Space pirate trainer ($)
Superhot VR ($)
Vrchat (free)
Job simulator ($) cool at first just for the interaction but gets a little old quick.
I also have spent tons of time in the environments inside of steamvr, it has social aspect and quests and games and stuff.
monstrum - this game does not support WMR come to find out...so I haven't played it yet.
creed: rise to glory - this game is awesome but very short, had me sweatin' in no time.
moss - beautiful and fun game to play, would have liked it to be longer but enjoyed every minute of it.
I expect you to die - was really fun but also very short, would recommend at sale price.
the exorcist: legion vr - best horror game so far.
form - beautiful visuals and solid puzzle experience, very short.
gorn - good for laughs and stress release :-D
the talos principle - lengthy puzzle game
Eleven table tennis vr - great ping pong simulator and it works better than you'd expect, like for top/side/back spin, it's just incredibly hard to hit it consistently with the same power. i'm pretty good at ping pong in real life and this was just enough off for me to make it frustrating, it's really just the technology at this point rather than the game but impressive enough for what it is.

Oculus store:
Echo arena (free) crazy ender’s game zero gravity disc game
Face your fears (free)

Windows store:
nextVR (free) (works pretty poorly/crashes, but cool to check out sports)
bigscreen (free) they have free movie showings every now and then, cool to check out.
Halo recruit (free) cool little shooter demo
Theblu: season 1 ($) not a game bit has cool underwater visuals, was worth $4 on sale but probably not the $10 it goes for normally. great for introducing friends to VR.

These are all games that I’m going to get at some point (I haven't played any of these yet, never came to steam and don't feel like spending money on oculus store when I don't know how long i'll be able to play these games with a WMR headset):
Sparc
From Other Suns
Lone Echo
Robo recall


A side note about the Lenovo explorer specifically:
it is comfortable, only starts to make your forehead sore after over an hour or so.
I love the controllers and you are able to play the vive or oculus games pretty well although not all have support for the wmr controller thumbstick.
the tracking is great, once you read about how the tracking works in wmr it's easier to keep things working properly.
there's one super small dot cutout in the headset which lets a pin of light through so it's more noticeable during the day, not sure why it's there maybe just to let air out, you could probably put a piece of electrical tape over it or something.
my son can use it and he says he can see well through it so it will even work on super small heads and adults with larger heads, since I've seen some haters out there saying it has to use a physical focus but the software focus calibration does work.
it's still in mint condition after several months of use. even sweat dries no problem, I just leave the box open so it can dry before I close it up.

If anyone has any questions in general about WMR or the Lenovo explorer please feel free to ask!

Enjoy!
 
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David Cole5

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Dec 15, 2017
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I own Oculus Rift and Lenovo Explorer. I picked up the Lenovo Explorer when is was $199 on Microsoft.Com on December 13th. And yes a great Value for $200. had to cut the Foam around the Nose to make Headset feel more comfortable. I do have to agree like the head set and there are specific games like Beat Saber I prefer Lenovo over Oculus. Really hope WMR is successful because they are forcing Oculus and HTC to keep prices down. Really expect at some point that WMR will work on XBOX One X. Great Review as well.
 

JOSE RICO

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Dec 3, 2018
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I cut some parts if the hmd to reduce este lens-distance. Now i have 50% more fov and about double sweet spot. It is like Lenovo hmd second gen
 

jkelek

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that's awesome jose! if you have any specific details that would be cool, but just sounds like you cut around the nose area to get the lenses closer to your eyes?

can't wait to play some new games I got when I get some time:
monstrum - this game does not support WMR come to find out...so I haven't played it yet.
creed: rise to glory - this game is awesome but very short, had me sweatin' in no time.
moss - beautiful and fun game to play, would have liked it to be longer but enjoyed every minute of it.
I expect you to die - was really fun but also very short, would recommend at sale price.

games that I've played since and would recommend:
the exorcist: legion vr
form
gorn
the talos principle
 
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