TN Games 3rd Space Vest

[cybereality]

I'm sure you guys have heard about the TN Games 3rd Space Vest, which is a haptics force-feedback vest for playing games. Seems like an interesting device, and its compatible with a decent selection of games (mainly FPS). It came out a few years back, but they have kept in maintained with support for recent games (like the latest COD).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGb8QXfkFqc[/youtube]

http://tngames.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've been wanting one for the longest, for some reason I never got around to buying it. Finally bit the bullet and ordered the sucker. Should be here in a few days. I hope its all I imagine.

[Johnny-Mnemonic]

Looking forward to the review!

[PalmerTech]

Likewise!

[Chiefwinston]

Yeah that looks bad @ss cyber. Have you ever tried paintball? I'm a big paintball junky. Its the ultimate 3D shooter game.

cheers everyone

[cybereality]

@Chiefwinston: No, I never tried paintball. I've heard its pretty fun.

[VRgamesterz]

I have 2 of them, over 2 years, they are very VERY poor with communicating to the public, they dont even answer people on facebook anymore, most of the new games that they say work DON'T. I myself are very pissed off at them and will not buy another piece of product from them, they said they would have the feedback vest for the console back in Nov, then Jan, then March and so on.. go on facebook and see everyone complain about BF2, COD5,6 etc. They have the patches out but it doesnt work,forget about
emails,also I have a bud that is smart in programming, and even their SDK kit wasn't helpfull as they say to add other games in it, he said it was a pain.

Now thier games that come with it work good, COD2 worked well, unreal3 worked good, forget about opengl games, like doom or quake, they made a mod for them and that tells you that if you have another opengl game then you have to code it.


Ku
My big 5 cents on that..

[Synexious]

Yes, I've gathered that their support is abysmal, probably due to being such a small startup which has never really taken off. The console Trigger and the HXT Helmet, not to mention the fullbody system which was supposedly their ultimate goal, are all vaporware. These days, marketing and consumer demand are more problematic than technical issues, and that's sad. We have the technology, but not the will. Still, perhaps if one plays one or several games it supports heavily, the cost, which isn't too high, could be justifiable.

[cybereality]

Man, the package just came today. You're getting me worried. In all honesty, I knew what I was getting into. This isn't the first "VR" product I've bought, and they pretty much never get any kind of support. Hopefully their SDK works, or the USB interface is easy enough to hack if not. At this point, I'm not even sure the product is that compelling, I guess I will find out in a second.

[cybereality]

Ok, got to try it out for about 15 minutes tonight. Its an interesting device. I just played that Incursion game it came with. Its pretty cool actually (the vest, not the game). It certainly added some tension and immersion to playing. It did actually make it feel more real. The hits weren't really hard (I was expecting more actually) but it was enough to feel it. It did make me want to avoid getting hit a little more. The feedback was a little too general, though. Most of the time it felt like the whole vest rumbled every time. I will need to test more with different titles. But so far, it seems OK.

[Synexious]

The vest has adjustable force, up to 5psi. Do you have it maxed out?

[cybereality]

The vest has adjustable force, up to 5psi. Do you have it maxed out?

How do you adjust it?

[cybereality]

Now I am a little disappointed with the vest. Not because the vest itself is bad, it does actually have some nice force-feedback. But the software support is abysmal. I mean, I knew it wasn't going to be great but it seriously sucks. So far I have only got Half-Life 2 to work, none of the other "supported" games work at all. I've tried at least 6 titles. Even the included COD2 won't load and I think it messed up my computer. This is really quite annoying. Granted, I was also interested in the SDK for custom applications, but I was hoping to at least be able to play some games with it. Can't believe support is so bad.

[Synexious]

I remember the creator saying the level of force was adjustable. Perhaps that didn't make it into the final product.

[cybereality]

I remember the creator saying the level of force was adjustable. Perhaps that didn't make it into the final product.

Probably when using the SDK. I don't see anywhere to change that in the driver (not that the driver really works anyway).

[cybereality]

I got Call of Duty 2 to sort of work today. Installed in under XP compatibility mode, and run as admin. However it would only work 1 out of every 50 tries. Otherwise I would just get a black screen and freeze. Did get to play it once for a few levels, seems alright. Obviously the game is old, but the force-feedback was cool. It does really bring you into the action. Too bad the one time it worked I didn't have 3D enabled.

Fortunately the multiplayer version was working perfectly. With the force-feedback and stereo 3D. And this was way more action-packed than the single player mode. So the vest was pulsating non-stop. It actually got to be pretty intense at times. So I guess on some level the vest does do what its supposed to. But considering I only got to to somewhat work with 2 games, the software support is still sad. I also wish it had more ambient feedback (ie rumble) because the feedback it provided is too intense for some stuff. Thats great for when you get shot, but when you melee attack you expect something softer. But for the bigger effects like grenades exploding or getting shot, it does add some realism (not that I've ever been shot or anything). I guess I just wish it worked with a few more games, at least the ones they claim on the website. Kinda sad.

[mrfahrenheit94]

Do they provide you with the tools to incorporate the vest with other unsupported games? Is that what the SDK is for? That really stinks that it isn't compatible with a lot of games........

[cybereality]

They have an SDK, but I haven't looked into it yet. The issue is that even with the SDK, it is not a trivial task to add force-feedback support to games. I know there are certain titles that might be easier, for example UT2004 seemed to have a lot of modding tools. I think for most games it will be really difficult, though not impossible. I will look into this further, because I would really like to see this vest have more support.

[tritosine5G]

Im getting the novint XIO stuff, that kit includes vest too , & I dont beleive it will be hard adding force thru their application ( Novint's).

[cybereality]

Wow, Novint merged with ForceTek! I had no idea. I've been totally out of the loop. Also, I didn't realize how much new support Novint has added for the Falcon. I am going to have to dust that thing off and give it a shot again. Really glad they are making the XIO now, as it has a much better chance of actually coming out. This is getting really exciting now. Finally it seems like VR might actually make a comeback!!! Just look at this video, sick!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV3j2Yxv7jY[/youtube]

Also, the vest he is using is actually the 3rd Space vest. Its just that they coded in custom support for it in their game. I don't think Novint has plans to make a vest.

[tritosine5G]

I definately have plans with the vest!
: D

all damage must be decoupled off the falcon , imo, thats the point , so cool

[bobv5]

"It is designed to be a consumer product. We expect it will be comparable to the Falcon in price."

Hope it happens.

Intresting how in that video they are using the same hardware a lot of us are using.

[mAchiNE]

Yeah the novint XIO looks awesome! I have the 3rd space gaming vest, I never had a problem with it, havent used it for a while though and yes, they never do reply to emails. The main game I used it with was COD Modern Warfare 2 and I thought it worked very well in that game, the feed back may seem fairly general but there is only 8 hit zones so generally you can feel hits are coming from left/right front/back but not really more specific than that. It does add immersion to the game and also tension as Cyber said. In multiplayer it also gives the advantage of instantly knowing weather an enemy shooting you is behind you (although in HC mode you are probably dead already as soon as you feel it) Its a shame the company seems not to be moving forward with their products as planned as a 2nd gen version of this device with more hit zones would have been great (also continuing game support) but i guess the market for this stuff is too small. I am the only one I know of who has this, and I got it off a store who had it as a demo model to see if they wanted to start selling it but they said there was not enough interest to bring it here and sell it (I live in New Zealand). I have not tried it with COD Black Ops or Battlefield Bad Company 2 but I sure hope these titles are supported. Cyber I look forward to hearing your thoughts after a longer period of use (I suggest COD MW2 if you have it)

[cybereality]

I will have to check out MW2. I don't have that game, but I will buy it if it works with the vest.

[mAchiNE]

Just be aware that I only ever used it in the Multiplayer for Modern Warfare 2, although it should work the same in singleplayer (at least in theory). I can set up the vest and get the latest drivers and test it with Black Ops, ArmA 2, and Bad Company 2 this weekend and let you know if any of those games work. I would suggest waiting untill after I do that because Bad Company 2 is better than Modern warfare 2 (mass scale and destroyable buildings make it a very cool game)


EDIT:
Okay I downloaded the latest drivers (released july 2011) and tested today and I can confirm that the vest WORKS with:
COD: Modern Warfare 2 Single Player
Modern Warfare 2 Multi Player
Black Ops Single Player
Black Ops Multi Player

The Vest does NOT WORK with:
Battlefield Bad Company 2 (even though it says it does!) I have the Steam version of Bad Company 2 so maybe it works with the stand-alone version? some one with that version and the vest would have to confirm it works though.
I did not bother to test with ArmA II as it is not officially supported and if supported titles don't work unsupported ones sure as hell wont. Its a shame because ArmA is one of the few games that supports independent head tracking from where the gun is aiming (i.e. mint for HMDs) would have been nice to have the vest in that game.

in the COD games the Vest seems slightly more responsive in Multiplayer, not sure why but most likely the in game damage is different between the game modes (and the vest relies on the damage data from the game to get its trigger info) also remember that the vest only triggers on body damage, if you get shot in the head I dont think the vest will trigger. (that's why they were planning a helmet with a hit zone).

Also you can adjust the vest "intensity" if you open the driver interface and got to the settings tab, it has 3 settings "normal, medium and high"
I also wrapped the compressor on mine up in foam to quieten it a bit (obviously gaps need to be left for the intake and exhaust)

[cybereality]

Do you have the Steam versions of COD?

[mAchiNE]

Yes Both COD games i mentioned above are the Steam Versions. Even if you buy those COD games at a shop the DVD installs to steam anyway.

[mAchiNE]

I just noticed today that after the latest update for COD Black ops the vest no longer works with that game . Hopefully TN Games will bring out and update for their driver to fix this soon.
COD Modern Warfare 2 still works fine though.