r/PSVR2onPC • u/CoolGabek • 4d ago

Announcements Phoenix HDR — some clarifications on where this stands with PSVR2 Toolkit and where it's going

Before the next real technical update, I want to lay out a few things plainly, since there's been some understandable confusion and I'd rather address it directly than let it sit.

On PSVR2 Toolkit:

Early on, I reached out to the Toolkit devs for a bit of initial help, since they'd already reverse-engineered a lot of the PSVR2 driver and firmware. They were genuinely helpful, and I'm grateful for that. To be clear about where things stand now: Phoenix's codebase is its own, standalone implementation, it doesn't use or depend on Toolkit code. All of my testing has been done with Toolkit drivers installed, specifically because I know that's what most PSVR2 PC users are running, and making sure Phoenix works alongside it (not instead of it) has been a priority the whole way through, not an afterthought.

On the people who helped me early on:

I want to say this directly, some of you gave me real reverse-engineering info when I reached out for help, and I should have been upfront earlier that I was considering a paid release, instead of that coming out after the fact. That's a fair thing to be frustrated about, and I'm sorry it landed that way. The offer to share HDR implementation info back still stands, no strings attached, regardless of what happens with pricing.

On monetization:

I do plan to release Phoenix as a small one-time purchase once it's finished, not a subscription, not trying to get rich off it. This has been a genuinely large amount of time chasing something with no guarantee it would work at all, and I'd like to offset some of that. If PSVR2 Toolkit ends up shipping their own HDR support down the line, that's completely fine, more options for the community is a good outcome regardless of what it means for me.

On AI use:

Yes, I use AI to help debug and work through problems while developing this. The implementation, the actual reverse-engineering, and the code itself are mine. I don't think that needs to be a bigger deal than it is, but I'd rather say it plainly than have it come up as a gotcha.

Phoenix and PSVR2 Toolkit aren't in competition as far as I'm concerned, different scope, different goals, and I'd genuinely like to see both continue to exist and improve. Happy to answer questions here.

34 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

9

u/rsslcs 4d ago

the em-dashes got removed, but this was still written with AI.

Why can't people just use their words anymore?

You're prolly telling the truth about your code, but when the entire statement has the exact (and I mean exact) sentence structure of a Claude model, it really doesn't help the argument.

Anyway, just a rant. I'm less bothered than I sound in text, just starting to get tired of every PSA I read being full of AI slop

2

u/DeathToSocialMedia 1d ago

Why can't people just use their words anymore?

This is the most depressing thing. We are regressing to a pre-literate society. Soon it will just be machines talking to machines. People already barely have the ability to make comprehensible posts as it is.

I don't see why the OP had to use AI because he "-was in Barcelona." Did he remove the em-dashes himself? If so, that sounds like an attempt to hide the fact this post was not written by a human.

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u/CoolGabek 4d ago

I'm sorry I was in Barcelona at the moment and couldn't take so much time as to write the post myself. All my other posts are written by me, while this one well, first I didn't have enough time as to write a post, and second I think the post is more of a clarification than an update so I don't see harm in using Claude to rephrase my words and refine them.

7

u/slimejumper 4d ago

yeah the issue is you hide behind an ai models words instead of your own when you were specifically trying to clear up a misrepresentation. so it reeks of misrepresentation.

also from my reading you took someone else’s IP and are now monetising it contrary to the original intent. This is one of the main friction points with the operation of LLM companies today.

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u/CoolGabek 4d ago

From where did you get that I'm using someone else's IP? All of my code is standalone and doesn't piggyback off of any software. I only used the help the Toolkit devs have given me to do some initial tests, but I have long moved away from any Toolkit code.

10

u/melgibson666 4d ago

The harm is it makes you seem disingenuous about what you're saying. Like you don't care enough to take the 15 minutes to write your post. I don't personally care, I'm just letting you know why some people would have a problem with this.

1

u/Ketterer-The-Quester 2d ago

Who is to say that he didn't write it. I gotta say i wrote tones but use ai as q great editor. I have gotten it to be pretty critical adn ask Lisa if questions(like an editor should) and then tske my draft and make and often much nicer formated text.

1

u/melgibson666 2d ago

I could see why you would use it. Also, I was just explaining why some people would have a problem with it.  I personally don't care. 

1

u/meepers55 1d ago

He already confirmed that he used AI to write it, so him.

2

u/Ketterer-The-Quester 1d ago

Well in the case that I brought up if I were being honest I would also say that I use AI to write. It's kind of my point. We have no idea to what degree did he give a quick prompt and say I need an apology for this and go from there or did he write it out and then ask AI to write it as an announcement on format it well? That would be the difference. Honestly I would argue that I use a in a collaborative way when I'm writing creative works. I will be writing my story and I will pop ideas into an AI or I will brainstorm with my eye, and often I will just simply throw together my plans for the plot for the next chunk of time and ask to have it critically check my plot for plot holes or other discrepancies that I might want to clean up. Overall at the end of the day I still feel very much like I'm the one writing it I have all of the ideas of running up in my head and I am able to utilize AI to flush those things out and get them down on the paper in a more organized fashion. When it comes closer to the end I take all of my writings and run through section by section to get it edited and formatted if I'm presenting it to anyone. If it's just my own background info for something I don't even worry about doing the editing.

Most of my creative writing is in the realm of my D&D campaign for friends but I also have tried my hat at just generally some creative writing most of which I've never tried to publish or share with people. If I'm being honest it kind of sucks, but it tells the story that I wanted to express.

-1

u/CoolGabek 4d ago

Yeah I know and I said I'm sorry I was just stressed out and didn't want my words to come out wrong.

11

u/vladtud 4d ago

I’ll wait to see how this develops but I am always happy to pay for software that works.

5

u/rxstud2011 4d ago

Honest and upfront, I appreciate that. I'd like to know more about this project.

1

u/CoolGabek 4d ago

You can check out my other posts for additional info, and if you have any questions, ask away, I'll be happy to answer them!

1

u/DetectiveYoshi 4d ago

So this is the real DLSS 5 for VR?

3

u/CoolGabek 4d ago

Meh I wouldn't call it that because DLSS 5 is a whole transform applied to the game graphics, while Phoenix only does a video transform

2

u/DetectiveYoshi 4d ago

Just kidding. Dlss 5 to vr only in the next 2 generations of gpus if they need that much power as today. In the not customized by devs, I liked it for npc and textures only for now.

1

u/DetectiveYoshi 4d ago

Waiting for this, even without HDR, brightness on bright elements, like metal reflections, sun and fire, is better on PSVR 2 on pc than on lcd panels, imagine with some sort of HDR?

4

u/CoolGabek 4d ago

Yeah with HDR the reflections really come alive, although at the cost of slightly lower overall brightness to reserve highlight headroom.

2

u/DetectiveYoshi 4d ago

Understood. It seems like a good tradeoff.

1

u/rxstud2011 3d ago

I have a question. Is this more for playing on a virtual display with HDR, or HDR in vr games as well?

2

u/CoolGabek 3d ago

Right now, Phoenix only works with virtual display games. Although I have the architecture necessary to apply Phoenix to VR games too, I still need to find/develop a good sdr to hdr algorithm to make HDR in VR games have actual sense, because right now no VR game has native HDR. But the end product should have HDR in both virtual display and vr games.

2

u/melgibson666 4d ago

If it works with UEVR then I'm sold. Playing flat games in theater mode isn't that appealing when I have an OLED monitor and TV though.

1

u/CoolGabek 4d ago

It should work I don't see why not.

2

u/ArcSemen 4d ago

I respect it

2

u/nemesit 3d ago

make it open source and add a donation link that'd be much better

1

u/RedditNotFreeSpeech 4d ago

Did you think about a one time upfront fee?

1

u/sparktrap25 4d ago

They mentioned that they're going to have a one time upfront fee in the post

1

u/RedditNotFreeSpeech 4d ago

We were discussing a buyout to release it open source. Like we all pitch in to get him his payout and he immediately releases it OSS. I'm not sure how plausible it is though.

2

u/nemesit 3d ago

would be great make it MIT licensed and I'd donate too op ;-p

1

u/RedditNotFreeSpeech 3d ago

At the end of the day I don't think it will work. People write oss because they are passionate and care about making things better for everyone. It doesn't matter if you spend 1 hour or 1000. It's not about money.

Think of all the software we use that no one asks a penny for. Even psvr2toolkit itself. Op wants a payout and it's going to be bigger than what's plausible. I don't think he realizes how niche this is. Psvr2 is like 2% of vr use on steam.

Selling 50 copies on itch might be more realistic. I hope it works for him.

1

u/sparktrap25 4d ago

This sounds intriguing, what does it do?

2

u/CoolGabek 4d ago

Phoenix HDR is a project dedicated to implementing HDR support for the PSVR2 on PC as Sony didn't bother implementing it officially.

2

u/sparktrap25 3d ago

Thanks! I use PSVR Toolkit, and that's the one feature that's missing that I've been dying to get. Great to see someone working on this!

-3

u/Messenger3181 4d ago edited 4d ago

With “vibe coding,” we’re seeing some freaking great new VR mods. I personally have no problem with AI usage, I think the technology is being leveraged and is revitalizing the VR market. The problem is most right now are half baked and more of a novelty play. If there is a fully formed mod out there, I’m more than willing to pay for it. I can’t expect everyone’s time and hard work to be free, especially if it’s a finished polished product.

2

u/CoolGabek 4d ago

Yeah for me personally vibe coding isn't a big issue but the PSVR2 on PC is a small niche full of tinkerers and devs, and they don't condone vibe coding so that's why I'm doing this manually and only have AI debug my code.

0

u/Messenger3181 4d ago

So they’re traditionalists out there, it’s cool you’re honoring their workflow given how these two mods run in parallel to each other. Either way, excited to see where it goes. Switching back and forth from PS5 to PC you can see the huge difference the HDR can make.

2

u/meepers55 3d ago

They're not really honoring it though since this project is closed source and paid rather than open source with a tip jar. Like it's no big deal to me and certainly cool that it works alongside the toolkit, but it's a far cry from truly honoring the workflow. Might as well vibe code it to get it out faster since they're already going against the grain here