Bighouse

David, Thank you for that GREAT explanation of why the Vive should NOT be set up outdoors. I was aware of the "burn-in" issue for the fresnel lenses/display, but I was unaware of the other potential issues as regards the sensors and the "giant IR emitter" we affectionately cal "Sol". I was hoping to do some outdoor demos with a pop-up, fully enclosed shade structure, but I think you've persuaded me against doing so. Robert

Well, we now have four functioning Vive Pro stations all working with SteamVR within the same area, served by 6 base station 2.0s. As we added more base stations to the perimeter of the space, the tracking seems to become more stable on each of the setups. The number of differently "seen" base stations differs on each setup. One base station is not visible to one of the setups at all due to the odd configuration of the room's interior walls. But even that station sees three base stations. One station sees all six base stations, though, of course, will only utilize four for tracking. We used the bluetooth configuration utility to autoscan the room and then made minor number changes to the duplicated numbered base stations. It only needs to be done on one of the stations and afterward, each other station knows the correct number of each base station. Some hassles: In order to make it work, we had to create separate email accounts for each station. We just used a Gmail account, for now, but hope to migrate that to our school domain in the future. It will be very problematic to use a Gmail account for a classroom full of 25 stations- which is where we will be heading in the Fall of 2019. I'm hoping to have a better system, like an arcade type of distribution, in the future. Vive, if you're listening, please get in touch with me and offer me a solution that would work. Heck, we'll even consider being your Northern California testing station for such a classroom effort, with your help. Our next phase is to install all the (non) Vive software we'll be using for our students to work with: Unreal Engine, Unity, 3dsMax, AutoCAD, Revit, Sketchup, Inventor, Rhino3D, Enscape3D, Lumion. And then all the SteamVR apps that we want students to use for becoming familiar with VR and even some games for just enjoying the entire VR experience. None of the stations have room-scale use. All are for standing/sitting use only. I have plans to allow for that in the future.

As the OP, I can tell you that a blinking red base station must be returned for repair. I sent mine in, and about a month or more later I received a replacement. It did look like the one they sent me may have been a refurbished unit. The serial number wasn't the same and the unit didn't have that "brand new" look. As I have more base stations that I needed, I did not retest it yet, but will be doing so tomorrow to see how four base stations work together with a Vive Pro.

Thanks, John C. I've sent you an email to the email account you gave me in the PM.

I'm also serving as a testing station for this Vive Pro kit. Our school just ordered four of these for use in a lab. Soon will will be placing an order for 25 kits. However, I'm starting to lose confidence in Vive's hardware if I'm having an issue this early on with the new base stations. I've power-cycled the unit, still blinks red. I've restarted my system and Steam VR, still blinks red.

So, just tried to fire up this Vive Pro and my tracking was all over the place for my controllers. I took the headset off and noticed one of my base stations is blinking red. The online help for the base stations 2.0 is, basically, non-existant as all online material for base stations seems to be only for the lighthouse earlier units. What does a blinking red LED indicator mean? It seems bad, if it's the same thing that I'm reading for version 1.0. (For $1400, I certainly expected better performance and quality!)

By using the special uninstall tool by Microsoft, I was able to remove all the Vive (failed) install items and reinstall Viveport and now things are working properly. I'm still having slight tracking issues with the Vive Pro, my controllers jump a bit at times or fly out of my hands. I'm still trying to reduce reflective surfaces, but I suspect it's not just that alone that's causing it.

I can't install the Vive Desktop app either. When I attempt to do so I get the following errors and problems: If I manually locate the missing msi file, I get the message above that it's invalid. When I cancel out, it refers me to the website (error 1603) that is of no assistance.

I'm having the exact same issue. Has the OP found any remedy yet?

I need one too! Surely these must be available from Vive???

Believe me, I understand the privacy issue. I also understand that, in this day and age, privacy isn’t what it used to be- at least not electronically. So I think students have different expectations and takes on just how much they may love/hate working in a fishbowl. I don’t think the room would be a really fishbowl. I’m quite sure most of the walls will be solid, but I do expect to have portions of walls that will be solid glass instead of a traditional wall. I actually welcome that. Studies show that students do better in classrooms when they feel a strong connection to the outdoor environment, and for most computer time and general class use, it’ll be nice. When we need to go into HMD labtime, we’ll just push a button and have the concealed roller blinds drop around the perimeter of the room where the windows are. Maybe I can have two layers of shading, transluscent white and opaque, light blocking as well to use whichever works better in the space and for watching the activity from the outside. This classroom may be adjacent to a lobby, a grand staircase with many levels on it, and some great innovation open spaces for maker-type activities, so it could really be a fun space to work in and to collaborate with adjacent activities. The actual building won’t be constructed for five years or so, and by then the technology will most certainly mature and change. BUT, I’ll still be setting up an extant lab (without floor to ceiling windows) that will eventually be demolished as we make room for our new building.

An interesting trend in classroom design is to allow for people outside a classroom, where interesting activities are occuring, to see inside the classroom. It's a way of promoting curiousity for students and to allow students to share in an experience. You'll see large glass windows in lab courses, now, that allow for that "fishbowl" effect. There are issues, of course, as regard privacy and security in such design. With that in mind, it's proposed that the VR computer lab room would be such a space, placed within in a high-traffic location of the building. I know that reflective surfaces are problematic with the lighthouse emitters and the HMD/Controller sensors as the beams are reflected around the space as well. How much attenuation of that beam is required on such reflective surfaces? Would it be sufficient to have a somewhat translucent drape/shade that can obscure the glass surfaces, or does that covering need to be entirely opaque? Has anyone had any actual experience with blocking or attenuating a reflected lighhouse beam on a large glass surface? If so, what did you use? Ideally I woudl love to have floor to ceiling glass on some walls, but have the ability to pull linen type panels or drapes across the glass, enough to deaden the beam, and enough so that those on the outside could still see t through the window covering to see the movement and activity on the inside.

VibrantNebula, Thanks for the reply. I'm fortunate in that, in this room, all monitor faces are matt screens, and the high clerestory windows all have drawable, light-blocking draperies on them. So, I don't anticipate having too much of a reflection issue. I'm certain I'll have other issues though as wel start to install the hardware. I'm REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hoping that Lighthouse 2.0 will be out by the time we have to purchase the components. I'm going to delay that purchase as long as possible hoping that we will be able to do so. I'll connect with , thanks!

Well, trust me, money is NOT easy to come by for this kind of thing! I've tried for over a year to acquire the funding for the lab, and was finally successful in my grant request. In part that's due to the help of others who lended me a hand in framing the grantas a regional project. I'm actually excited about that as it means I will be able to coodinate VR users from other community colleges as well. Either in workshops, seminars, or regionally based activities in VR. There's lots of opportunity there and the future looks bright for VR in the educational environment. No kids in my classes, all are typically adults (see "other community colleges" above) BUT, we often open our classrooms to the local high schools for recruiting and to show them what our programs can offer them for career technical education, or transfer. As you likely know, we teachers DO spend our own money to help out our classrooms- and that's something that's a shame in my eyes. Our schools should be able to offer to students the absolute cutting edge of technology to make them more excited and capable to pursue their career or educational goals. The grant I've been awarded will help us get there, but it still wont pay for everything we need in the future that we will likely need to implement to better our programs. We offer classes in animation (3DStudio Max) currently, and have developed a new course that will utilize VR through Unity (likely) or Unreal Engine. We also expect to offer architecture and interior design components (Revit/Enscape3D) within our respective programs' courses and will work with our Computer Studies department to facililitate collaboration with their courses as well. As we roll-out VR, I expect other departments in our school to take advantage of our system to help their programs adopt VR. The possibilities are limitless for use. Imagine working on a virtual diesel engine, operating a virtual robot arm (before using the real thing), virtual welding, virtual EMT work, virtual dentistry, etc... Thanks for your suggestion, it's a good one and I've thought about doing something like that before. We have two systems now. One is set up in the room as a 12'x16' play area (safety striping tape on the floor to mark out the space) with the lighthouses permanently mounted to the wall. I'd hate to have to remove them after all the hassle it was to mount them exactly where they work so well for the space. The other system is in my office and I use it for testing and learning how to use it for classes. I may take your suggestion and use my office rig some day (spring break would be good!) and set up my lighthouses in the locations that look good on plan. I'll have to have our Electronics department fabricate me a 60' long sync cable to use between the units though. Then I could move my rig around to the peripheral locations to see how well tracking works in a seated configuration in the space. If/when I do, I'll post my results to the thread.

(copies from a different thread to help consolide my posts related to this endeavor) I have received funding to purchase 25 new computers and each will also have a Vive HTC headset/controllers. I'm pretty excited about what I can bring to the students and my colleagues in this effort. Students will be using the devices for VR development in gaming (3DStudio Max, Unity, URE), architecture/interior/civil design (Revit/SketchUp/Enscape3D), as well as general use (Google Earth VR). We'll await new software plugins and adapt current courses to incorporte VR use as developement occurs. The room will have 24 SEATED stations, an instructor SEATED station, and already has a room scale play area of 12'x16' that already has a dedicated computer, lighthouses and headset. The effort will be a regional one, with coordination, cooperation, and participation from other schools outside our district but within the same LARGE geographic area. I'm really hoping that before I have to place an order on the devices that Vive will release the next generation of their headset- and I do have a deadline for placing that order. We will likely set the room up during the months of July and August for use in the Fall of 2018. And I'm hoping that the technology we deploy won't be "last year's model"! Wish me luck- and if you have any advice, please don't hesistate to offer it.