Unexpected Resets (Rant)

[Shon_T]

Its the little things that "get my goat". One of the things that constantly frustrates me about VZFIT  Explore is unexpected resets. They happen when I least expect it...and the seem to follow no pattern that I can understand.

For example... yesterday, Something dropped from the counter next to my bike. It might have gotten in the way or caused problems, so I took the headset off (still running, no menu open), to pick the item up and put it back on the counter top. When I put the headset back on just a few seconds later... Explore had completely turned off. When I turned it back on...I had to go back through the start menu and everything (Time, spins, etc.) was reset to zero. 

About 15 minutes later I lifted up the headset to answer a question my son had asked me. The headset sensor must have been a fraction of an inch too high off my face, because the headset shut off. When I turned it back on...it went straight to the main menu and Time, spins, etc were again reset to zero. 

There have been times when I took the headset off my face to wipe it down, and even though I try to keep a finger over the sensor... it shut off and progress was reset. Other times in the same circumstances the headset stays on...or turns back on...it goes straight into explore and my progress continued. There have been times where I have put the headset down to fill up my water bottle, took longer than expected, but came back and it was still on and running explore...others where I was out and back quickly and it reset. I've tried menu open... I've tried no menu... this has happened to me in comfort mode, country mode, etc. Sometimes I just wait until a certain time or number of spins and just manually close the Explore App, knowing that it is easier to keep track of my progress if I manually restart later. 

On the positive side...it has been a while since something like this happens and my progress was dumped. That has happened to me several times where I am say... 44% through a ride, and come back to find that I am only 32% through it now. In some cases... on some of my longer rides, The difference  could be 50 plus miles or more. 

I still wish the unexpected resets could be addressed. I know in the past I asked for a pause button to pause the clock/progress, but was told that was not possible due to online matchups. My fitbit allows me to pause my exercise... life happens especially when I am working out at home, hehe. 

I think I would be less frustrated if there was at least some consistency... like... if I knew that being away for 5 minutes would cause it to reset. As it is now....I could be away for 15 seconds or 15 minutes...and it might be reset or still running either way...

[KevinBrook]

I think it might be the headset itself as much as the Explorer app. My Quest constantly turns itself off or resets the height so I'm super tall if I take the headset off for a second. I've often recorded footage for a VRFI article and taken my headset forgetting to close the record off and usually end up losing the lot.

What I've learnt to do is make sure I exit a programme before taking off the headset. If I forgot it's 50/50 that it will mess something up...

[emalafeew]

Explorer isn't supposed to reset like that for short periods when headset is off, only if it's off for more than 30 minutes. And even then we only reset the "time and spins in session" you don't lose any progress. Will look into.

Note we store your progress and settings at the following times, both to your headset and our server:

- When the app pauses (which happens when you go to Oculus dashboard or headset sleeps after taking off your head)
- When you change rides
- When you complete a ride
- When you end an open ride
- When you Logout from More menu
- When you Exit from More menu
- When you Launch Play from More menu
- When the headset is about to shutdown from running out of battery (requires intercepting a low-level system message, nobody on the dev forums had done it before us!)

[emalafeew]

I didn't get it when trying now... Shon does this happen every time you take off your headset and replace it? Does that happen to anyone else?

Your Oculus phone app has settings that control how long your headset waits off your head until it sleeps, but that doesn't sound exactly like what's happening.

[Shon_T]

I didn't get it when trying now... Shon does this happen every time you take off your headset and replace it?  Does that happen to anyone else?

Your Oculus phone app has settings that control how long your headset waits off your head until it sleeps, but that doesn't sound exactly like what's happening.

It doesn't happen every time. that's what makes it so frustrating...It seems so random... and although I am not an IT guy... I know that "random" is not something computers do unless they are programmed to, LOL.

Today on one of my rides... I literally pulled the headset up to wipe my brow, pulled it back down... and it was shut off and reset my stats. Another time a similar things occurred, but when I turned the headset back on...it restarted the app, and everything was where it was supposed to be.

It has happened on comfort mode, country mode, mono view on... mono view off... I wish I could point to a particular set of settings. 

I've lost progress in the past... but not lately...Robert has offered to have it addressed in the past. but on my own routes, I have usually just started a new route from my last known save (I would save my GPS coordinates to track on a map.) or just re-trace my route if it wasn't too far.

[emalafeew]

It doesn't happen every time. that's what makes it so frustrating...It seems so random... and although I am not an IT guy... I know that "random" is not something computers do unless they are programmed to, LOL.

Today on one of my rides... I literally pulled the headset up to wipe my brow, pulled it back down... and it was shut off and reset my stats. Another time a similar things occurred, but when I turned the headset back on...it restarted the app, and everything was where it was supposed to be.

It has happened on comfort mode, country mode, mono view on... mono view off... I wish I could point to a particular set of settings. 

I've lost progress in the past... but not lately...Robert has offered to have it addressed in the past. but on my own routes, I have usually just started a new route from my last known save (I would save my GPS coordinates to track on a map.) or just re-trace my route if it wasn't too far.

It would help if you managed to get a recording of it, or helped us with some very specific questions. Like, when "it was shut off and reset my stats", was the Oculus screen still black until you did something? Was it back on Explorer but in the Setup screen? Did you have to restart the app?

Note when you restart, or take the headset off for 30 minutes, you will go through setup screen again and your "session" stats like time, spins, and now coins will be reset in the HUD. But you should be taken back to same location unless somehow last progress save failed both on the network and on your headset.

[Shon_T]

It doesn't happen every time. that's what makes it so frustrating...It seems so random... and although I am not an IT guy... I know that "random" is not something computers do unless they are programmed to, LOL.

Today on one of my rides... I literally pulled the headset up to wipe my brow, pulled it back down... and it was shut off and reset my stats. Another time a similar things occurred, but when I turned the headset back on...it restarted the app, and everything was where it was supposed to be.

It has happened on comfort mode, country mode, mono view on... mono view off... I wish I could point to a particular set of settings. 

I've lost progress in the past... but not lately...Robert has offered to have it addressed in the past. but on my own routes, I have usually just started a new route from my last known save (I would save my GPS coordinates to track on a map.) or just re-trace my route if it wasn't too far.

It would help if you managed to get a recording of it, or helped us with some very specific questions.  Like, when "it was shut off and reset my stats", was the Oculus screen still black until you did something? Was it back on Explorer but in the Setup screen? Did you have to restart the app?  

Note when you restart, or take the headset off for 30 minutes, you will go through setup screen again and your "session" stats like time, spins, and now coins will be reset in the HUD.  But you should be taken back to same location unless somehow last progress save failed both on the network and on your headset.

Well, I can't record it shutting off... because I have no way of anticipating when it might happen. In the example above...when I take my headset off momentarily (to wipe my face, in some cases, moving it up... but still leaving it on my head), The Go shuts completely off... When I put it back on... It goes through the "Start up" procedure where I am asked to recenter my view via the Go controller. Once done... I see my bike HUD, and current location very briefly... a second or less.. the screen flickers, and I am then taken to the main "Explore" menu, where it quickly registers my device (I don't need to pedal because it is already connected)...connects me to the VZFIT network,  and asks me to look down and press the A button to center. I am then brought back to my last location on the ride, but coins, spins, time are all reset.

In some of these cases...assuming the headset isn't reading that it is on my face... I am not taking it off for 30 seconds, much less 30 minutes... Sometimes I have set the headset down...come back 15 minutes later...and the clock is still ticking... other times, it is like above... I went over the sensor with my lens cloth very thoroughly last night... just in case it was otherwise dirty and malfunctioning for some reason...

[emalafeew]

Thank you Shon, I have some ideas for you.

First of all, your Go is going into standby a period after it stops detecting your face. If you connect to your Go from the Oculus app on your phone and select More Settings->Power Settings, you can change that Auto Sleep period from 15 seconds to something longer, up to 15 minutes.

Secondly, by the time you come back to our game, something is causing it to reenter our Setup process. Since 30 minutes haven't gone by, the most likely thing is being disconnected from our multiplayer network, which allows players to find and ride together. If you go into our Options menu and disable Matchups you shouldn't have that problem. But you probably won't need to do this if you increase your Auto Sleep period first.

[Shon_T]

Thank you Shon, I have some ideas for you.

First of all, your Go is going into standby a period after it stops detecting your face.  If you connect to your Go from the Oculus app on your phone and select More Settings->Power Settings, you can change that Auto Sleep period from 15 seconds to something longer, up to 15 minutes.

Secondly, by the time you come back to our game, something is causing it to reenter our Setup process.  Since 30 minutes haven't gone by, the most likely thing is being disconnected from our multiplayer network, which allows players to find and ride together.  If you go into our Options menu and disable Matchups you shouldn't have that problem.  But you probably won't need to do this if you increase your Auto Sleep period first.

Thanks for the recommendations...I will give them a try!

[emalafeew]

I've been trying it myself a bunch now, and it seems like Oculus behavior is different when sleeping more for than a few seconds. After sleeping for around a minute or so, it often has to reobtain tracking and sometimes dumps me to the Oculus menu. This is true for any game not just VZfit. After it brings me back to VZfit its internal orientation has been reset so there's no getting around needing to recenter.

So with all of this in mind, I think increasing your headset sleep time to 15 minutes is still the best solution.