It’s time for something new on the blog! I’ve been doing tutorials for months now and it’s time to dive into other aspects of VR development. Throughout this post I will have affiliate links to different products that I’ve used or researched, so if you want to help support this blog without any additional cost to you, consider giving them a click if an item sticks out to you!
Now when thinking of accessories for VR development, it’s important to make the distinction between PLAYING in VR as opposed to DEVELOPING in VR. Some of these items may not be the best for playing, but are a godsend for development.
Number 5 : A Carrying Case
A carrying case for you Oculus can help protect it from damage, but can also function as a set location to place your VR headset when you’re not using it. You could purchase a docking station like the Oculus Certified Anker, but that can retail for close to $100 and it doesn’t have the multi-functionality of making your Oculus safe to transport. They next time you create a cool game and want to show your friends, you’ll be able to travel without the fear of destroying what might be your only way of developing games for VR.
There are tons to choose from, but I decided to go with the BOBOVR C2. This carrying case has a ton of room, mostly to allow space for the BOBOVR M2 Pro head strap. We’ll talk more about head straps in a moment, but let’s keep focused on carrying cases. Now I don’t own a M2 Pro head strap, but I do need that extra space for the head strap I do have. I’ll talk about more than that in a moment. This case comes with a hard exterior and pouches for additional equipment like chargers.
The carrying case isn’t the most vital of the equipment I’ve picked up, but it has helped me travel around and have friends try out VR before taking the plunge and buying a headset themselves.
Number 4 : A new oculus Head Strap
Another nice to have, but not a must have, is a new head strap. The head strap that comes with the Oculus can be pretty painful after using it for extended periods of time. Honestly, I can’t imagine developing without a new head strap. There is one key thing I look for when trying to find a head strap for development and that is ease of lifting the headset so I can peak under. I have to start and stop Unity a lot when developing and having a headset that allows me to lift the front easily just makes development so much better.
Currently, I’m using the iovroigo Halo Head Strap. You’ll notice that it helps distribute the weight of the Oculus off the front of your face and onto the top and back of your head. With the standard head strap, the entire front of the device is just pressed against your face. This makes it incredibly difficult to swap between looking at Unity and using the headset. I’m not saying my current head strap is the best, but it does work well for only being $27. I am pretty intrigued by the BOBOVR M2 Pro and may have to upgrade if it goes on sale. It offers a similar weight distribution, but also come with a magnetic battery pack so you don’t have to slow down development to charge.
No matter what you choose in a head strap, you’ll most likely come out ahead. Anything is better than the default strap that come with the Oculus.
Number 3 : NVME Solid State Drive
Speed is everything for me. I have ADHD and anytime I have to wait for something to load is an opportunity for distraction. I could lose 30 minutes bouncing from thought to thought because Unity took 5 minutes to load. Reducing Unity launch time has the potential to save me hours. The difference between Hard Disk Drive and a NVMe SSD can be drastic. A HDD can Read/Write at speed of up to 150mbps. Compare that to the NVMe SSD which can Read/Write at speeds of up to 3500mbps. That’s roughly 23 times faster!
Now which NVMe SSD you choose shouldn’t matter too much. I have the 970 EVO Plus, but any NVMe SSD from a reputable brand should work just as well. Once you pop this into your system and experience the speed at which your primary programs boot up, you won’t regret it!
Number 2 : Cable Link
We’ve finally reached a 100% mandatory accessory to have. In order to develop on our Oculus using Unity, we need a way to connect our headset to our computer. Not only do you get to connect and develop using Unity, but you can also play PC VR games if you have a strong enough PC.
Now what cable should you choose? Well I just went with something long and cheap because it makes for a good inuendo and as long as it works, I don’t care.
You can find the cable I picked up here. It sits at a nice 20ft which most of these cables come in at around 16ft.
If you don’t want to bother with the cheap cable and want the real deal, you can also grab the Oculus cable for $70 here. I don’t understand what makes it worth that much. Zuckerberg is already making a killing off all my data, I don’t know why he has to pretend to be Apple with his hardware.
Number 1 : Wifi 6 router
Not what you were expecting? Well let me tell you, this is it. This is what makes my life way easier when developing. The Air Link is still considered experimental, but I’ve been using it ever since I started doing VR. The best way to connect using it is with a WIFI 6 Router. WIFI 6 is the next evolution in WIFI. Where WIFI 5 sports around 3.5gbps speeds, WIFI 6 comes in with 9.6 gbps.
Currently I’ve actually been using my router provided by my internet provider. It has been less that ideal, but even at less than ideal, using the air link makes development so much easier than having to connect with a cord.
I’ll be on the hunt this prime day to pick up a WIFI 6 router though. Another great Youtuber by the name of Virtual Panda has done a solid job of testing and finding the best WIFI 6 router for a decent price. He concluded that the ASUS AX1800 does the best job while not breaking the bank.
Conclusion
There are a ton of options to choose from, but I believe each of these categories are vital for improving your quality of life as a Oculus VR developer. All of these products won’t make you a better VR dev, but they definitely will help ease the pain when your code isn’t working at 2AM. I hope you found this list useful and I’ll see you in the next one. Cheers!