HTC Vive Cosmos software update (v1.0.4) fixes low light issue, content compatibility fix coming this week

Three and a half years after HTC launched the original Vive, the Taiwanese company is one of the players that still sees a future in Virtual Reality (VR). The most recent addition to the growing list of VR headsets out there is the Vive Cosmos.

Released a few days ago priced at $700, the Vive Cosmos is a product only existing HTC Vive owners and perhaps their fellow VR enthusiasts can relate with.

It joins a limited class that has the cheaper Oculus Rift S (priced at $400), but HTC hopes to entice VR fans with the Cosmos’ better comfort and improved visuals over its closest rival.

While early reviews of the Vive Cosmos point to what is undoubtedly a top-tier headset for dedicated PC VR fans, some units have been experiencing early issues, some of which the company has already addressed in a software update rolling out right now.

Some Vive Cosmos users have reported issues related to low light tracking. Apparently, the headset would often start to complain whenever one tries to initiate tracking in a dark environment. Affected units displayed the error message below.

In an official statement published on October 7, HTC says the issue with tracking in low light environments has been addressed in a software update rolling out right now.

Our engineering team continues to fine-tune the performance of the headset for different kinds of play environments and we’re looking into low-light reports from some users who were getting a persistent “dark environment” message. We’ve adjusted the notification window for low-light scenarios and the update is already live.

HTC had also made a similar statement on the official Vive Twitter account:

But be warned that the bug-fixing update, which is arriving as version 1.0.4, is still in the beta channel.

The Vive team will continue monitoring the tracking issues and notifications and push another software update with improvements in the near future. For issues related to content compatibility, the Vive team says another software update will be released this week with fixes.

We have discovered some titles are incorrectly prevented from launching that should be compatible with Cosmos. We are testing a fix internally and expect to release this week.

If anyone is experiencing audio quality issues with their Vive Cosmos units, the company recommends using a USB 3.0 port to ensure optimal audio. Unfortunately, the new Vive Cosmos software update doesn’t fix every other issue on the VR headset.

I just tried the new update. What can I say? It’s better, but still far below Rift S, Quest and even WMR. Hand tracking is improved, but it still loses tracking when not in direct line of sight. Even when you hold controllers directly infront of you, completely still, they wooble around a bit. Head tracking still feels off somehow and I’m losing tracking if I look down. After a few days of testing Cosmos, I went back to Quest today and let me tell you… it’s a night and day difference. You know there’s something wrong when 72hz OLED head tracking feels smoother than 90hz LCD. Not to mention rock solid Quest’s hands tracking. (Source)

On the brighter side, the Vive team has vowed to keep improving the experience of the VR headset through regular software updates beginning later this week.

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