Talk to me about Augmented Reality Options

[hobgoblin]

using glasses and gloves over simsense cant make you stuck online like what happened to people during crash 2.0? just guessing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

[Bira]

If you want some cool ideas of how this AR thing might work, you might want to try reading Rainbows End, a novel by Vernor Vinge which uses it as its central technology. The anime "Coil: A Circle of Children" also features AR, and can provide some cool visuals even if it doesn't worry as much about realism.

Back to Shadowrun, I personally think keeping track of earbuds and gloves is a little too finicky. I would either give all commlinks a sim module for free, and allow full input/output through trodes, or say the most common AR interface works like in Rainbows End: all your clothes are motion-sensitive, and you can control your commlink through special body language. Of these two options, I prefer the first, since the only reason they use body language in Rainbows End is that neural interface doesn't exist in that setting.

How does augmented reality impact a setting? Well, imagine your typical ultra-busy cyberpunk street. It's packed with people, and has so many neon advertisements you can't see the sky. With AR, all the advertisements and a good portion of the people are gone once you remove your glasses. If two blocks down a couple starts having a loud public argument on the sidewalk, pretty soon they'll be surrounded by tiny little icons representiing curious bystanders watching the fight through the many public cameras which festoon the street, as an integral part of its mesh network.

AR can help you even if you're not connected to a network. Your commlink probably has a face recognition program that goes to work on whatever face you focus on, bringing up a locally stored profile as soon as it finds a match. Now you'll never forget the name of that distant relative again!

Every piece of tech probably stores its own manual, which you can access through AR for repairs and maintenance. There are probably entire factories who employ unskilled laborers and direct their actions through AR programs (it's cheaper than buying million nuyen robots!).

Remember all those video games that helpfully fill your viewpoint with health and ammo indicators, as well as crosshairs to help you aim and a little map on the upper right corner, filled with red dots indicating enemies? It's possible in Shadowrun, with the proper AR setup.

[Blade]

Something that you don't see in video games but probably have in SR is that the AR overlay adapts itself so as not to hinder the view of the user. For example, the windows won't be displayed on the faces of the people you're talking to so as not to break the contact.

[It trolls!]

As I read it in the BBB, a datajack just like any other cyberware device has it's own signal rating 0 wireless antenna so in my games it's still a very common accessory even in the wireless age.
You have your commlink somewhere in your pocket and your datajack subscribed to it. The commlink processes the AR environment, pumps it through the sim module which sends it to the datajack. Voilà, full AR with no wires, no silly hairnets, no gloves. I then usually fit the datajack and commlink on my characters with skinlink for more secure PAN-wide interaction.

But then I also introduced a Thought-2-Speech interface which let's you use a commlink to voice chat with others without using any kind of microphone. It ain't quite realistic but it's cool and if it doesn't break suspension of disbelief in Ghost in the Shell then it won't in my games (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Earlydawn]

Well, one person says that Trodes can be used for input, another says that you can use trodes inplace of image links and sound links.

Glad I'm not the only one apparently confused.

Where does it say anything about trodes being able to be used for anything other than full simsense?

I mean, I would like it if you could throw on a trode rig and have the benefits of AR without having to bother with iimage links, or glasses that could be easily knocked askew, etc, but I'm just not seeing it in the rules.

Trodenets can create ASIST for simsense, but you'll need a simrig. So it would go something like this:

Matrix -- Comlink -- Simrig -- Trodenet -- Sweet Grey Matter.

[Edit: Actually, I'm not so sure about this now. Would you need a Simrig?]

[Prime Mover]

The question is: who wouldn't have a sim module? The cyberware version is identicle stat and costwise to the old datajacks - which half the population was supposed to have installed back in 2050...

People on a budget, folks who didnt want or couldnt get surgery(people with a magic rateing). Why have surgery/get more bells and whistles installed on my comm when I dont have too.

[hobgoblin]

Edit: Actually, I'm not so sure about this now. Would you need a Simrig?]

imo, simrig is only needed to do raw recordings for simsense "movies" and similar.

a trode net alone is quite capable of acting as the interface of a comlink with a sim module.

[It trolls!]

By RAW everything points to a trode net as having no drawback over a datajack for purposes of accessing AR/VR. It's one of the major paradigm shifts between 3rd and 4th. Noone's to be kept out of the matrix anymore.
Yet a trode net can be ripped from your head much more easily than a plug from your datajack, heck if you're sitting in a vehicle, it could fly off if the driver takes a steep turn.

[Earlydawn]

I thought you couldn't go hot with a trodenet.

[Kanada Ten]

You stop by your chummer's new apartment on a whim, just letting the Dogwalker directions pull you along with its virtual leash and weave you through the pedestrian traffic, while you watch the Seahawks get slaughtered from Coach Allister's POV - it's a perverse pleasure that: a pang of joy in your heart for ever pang of disappointment coming down the feed.

Jimmy rings you, excited that you're stopping by, "Hell yeah come on over, me and the old lady just sitting around watching the game, I just had everything upgraded, too; pick up the pace, man, or it'll be over by the time you get here." So you dial up the Dogwalker a notch to brisk, which you regret because the breather starts nagging about filter life and pointing out kiosks along your route. Who can afford the damn things? you ask, and your personal Accountbot pops up, but you shutdown his tirade about preemptive medical savings with a terse, I'm trying to watch the game here, and get back in time to feel Allister grind his teeth as his defense gives up another first down.

But his new place is nice, a ninth floor flat done up like a Moroccan tea house, the scent of exotic spices wafting (a little heavily) through the air, walls of wrought iron lattice interwoven with flowering ivy, and soft music streaming from somewhere distant. You mute the game to a mosquito buzz in the back of your mind to take in the whole apartment. Jimmy and his girl are lounging on the plush couch in the living room, he's got the game floating in the corner - no telling what she's watching.

Something catches your eye out the window where a flock of nightgulls is taking flight over the ocean, more than six kilometers away, and you walk over, impressed by the perspective depth. You can feel the sunlight standing there, but switch the view to the street outside out of some paranoid impulse and pan around at the people walking about.

"The ocean feed is live," Jimmy says, looking over at you, only seeing the ocean, "but check this out." He holds out his hand where a twisting Celtic knot slithers between an infinity symbol and an oroborous. It can't be an original piece, you think, but he insists it is. "Go ahead and jump in," he says, "It's best on full immersion."

"Later," you tell him, looking back at the street below, when the AR flickers a moment, revealing the grey painted windowless pad as it really is, walless and barren, smelling of concrete and fresh paint. No wonder he put the spice scent so heavy, you think. "Cut it out," Jimmy yells up before looking at you apologetically, "Kid thinks it's funny, fragging hacked my place last week and filled it with spiders, like to the fraggin' ceiling with spiders. I dumped a paycheck into security and now all he can do is shut it off."

Jimmy's girl gives him a look. "What you want me to do," he retorts, "the dad's got horns bigger than my head!" She rolls her eyes and goes back to staring into virtual space. Obviously, her link has better security than his. You unmute the game and smile as the Seahawks fumble the ball, again.

[hobgoblin]

I thought you couldn't go hot with a trodenet.

you very much can. just need to pop those safeties out of the sim module (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

oh and, love it kanada ten, pure love it. better then anything i have come up with lately!

[Elve]

...

That's really good...

[Kanada Ten]

People on a budget, folks who didnt want or couldnt get surgery (people with a magic rating). Why have surgery/get more bells and whistles installed on my comm when I dont have too.

Because full simsense is just better. It's even better in AR than VR because it interacts with your environment...

Your co-worker smell bad? Not with O-Zone™, the new scent eliminating AR feed. Suppress your hunger cravings, eat healthy, and enjoy it, with Evo's AR Diet: broccoli never looked - or tasted - so good. Tactile cell ringers, event feedback: why just see and hear a concert when you can feel the heart of every person in the audience beating inside you. Blood, cold and wet against your lips, splattered from the virtual zombie you just hacked apart, it tastes coppery when you lick it... When he says he can smell a troll coming a mile away, he's not kidding...

[Elve]

Because full simsense is just better. It's even better in AR than VR because it interacts with your environment...

Your co-worker smell bad? Not with O-Zone™, the new scent eliminating AR feed. Suppress your hunger cravings, eat healthy, and enjoy it, with Evo's AR Diet: broccoli never looked - or tasted - so good. Tactile cell ringers, event feedback: why just see and hear a concert when you can feel the heart of every person in the audience beating inside you. Blood, cold and wet against your lips, splattered from the virtual zombie you just hacked apart, it tastes coppery when you lick it... When he says he can smell a troll coming a mile away, he's not kidding...

I think AR can't remove something like the scent of the co-worker... All you could do is overlay it with a stronger scent...

[Kanada Ten]

I think AR can't remove something like the scent of the co-worker... All you could do is overlay it with a stronger scent...

It's not actually removing it, rather it's activating the same brain functions which allow you to "ignore" your own body odor.

[Maelwys]

It seems to me, that in the greater scheme of things, the simplest way to go AR/VR is to simply get a simrig.

Since it can selectively apply simsense to you, it can feed you whatever you need, taking the place of pretty much any sensorware that you wanted. The only time you might want something else was if you wanted to improve your senses, but for the basic person who just wants to fully enjoy AR/VR with the minimum amount of hassle, the simrig is the way to go (or if you like hats, a trode rig).

Correct?

[hobgoblin]

a simrig is overkill if all you want to do is experience simsense. a simrig is for recording sensory data, a trode net (in combo with a sim module on the comlink) is used to play it back.

[Maelwys]

True, a simrig is a bit of overkill, but I was thinking more of the "Once its done, I don't have to ever worry about it again" kind of thing...not having to wear a hat/headband, style your hair how you want, etc.

Other than that, yeah, I'd agree, if you don't mind worrying about the trode rig, thats probably the way to go.

[Fortune]

I believe that it's a Sim Module that you are thinking of. Simrigs are used to record simsemse (and btls). The Sim Module is a commlink accessory that allows full interaction with AR.

[hobgoblin]

and you can get a sim module as a implant as well.

[Abbandon]

Levels of AR interaction

[ Spoiler ]

• Commlink(buttons,rollout keyboard, holo screen)
• Commlink(button,rollout keyboard) + Image Linked Glasses + earbuds
• Commlink + AR glove + Image Linked Glasses + earbuds
• Commlink + AR Glove + Cyber eyes/ears with image/sound link
• Commlink + trodes + natural eyes/ears
• Commlink + Datajack + natural eyes/ears
• Implanted Commlink + natural eyes/ears

Stuff can be transmitting wireless or skinned. Skinned stuff connected to your comm is still vulnerable from hacking but you will be safe from jamming. From trodes on down you are also vulnerable to getting KO'ed by hostile programs, unless your hot simmed its limited to stun damage. If you are hot you can get geeked. I wouldnt link anything to your eyes/ears directly whether they are real or cyber. Best to have glasses and earbuds you can take off/out if they get hacked. Smells and Tastes dont start until you get down to trodes(simsense) and below.

Like has been said. Simrigs are for recording your own senses(porn stars and movie makers, snuff films and adrenaline junkies), the sim mod is the only thing you need to feel other people's senses or programmed senses.

Im a little confused as to the smell/taste thing. Those signals are coming from the matrix(VR) right? Its wierd that you can taste/smell stuff while your up walking around. It seems like the only time you would get to experience that stuff is while your in trance mode. They have made trance mode like virtually useless/worthless. AR = Astral Perception. Mages seem to go Astral way more than hackers go VR.

These are just my opinion of how things work.

[hobgoblin]

hey, nothing say restaurant like being able to smell the cooking from down the road (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

still, without trodes or similar you have to go under the knife to get some cyber implanted. no external equivalent available...

[Maelwys]

I believe that it's a Sim Module that you are thinking of. Simrigs are used to record simsemse (and btls). The Sim Module is a commlink accessory that allows full interaction with AR.

Simrigs also convert incoming data to simsense..its an implanted better version of the trode rig (and the only way to get it implanted as far as I know).

Sim Modules, on the other hand, can be implanted, but they simply translate the data from the commlink...I think. The writeup says that the sim module must still be accessed via trode or datajack or implanted commlink. I suppose you could simply implant the Sim Module and still get the entire simsense feed without having to worry about the simrig if you didn't want to record data..it just wasn't that clear the first 15 times I read it..it always seemed like you needed another piece of tech between the module and the brain, though I guess if the module is implanted that counts as a "Direct neural interface" on its own.

[Blade]

Here is the way it goes:

Computer data -> Commlink -> output
The output is video/audio/other data. This data can be sent raw to a screen/holo display/glasses/earbuds/feedback clothing... or can be processsed by a Sim Module to convert it into "brain data".
This brain data has then to be sent to the brain. This can be done by trodes or datajack which are nothing more than cables/socket (well, the datajack can do a bit more), or directly in case of an implanted SimModule. The SimRig is basically a SimModule that can also record the brain data.

So what you have is:
Computer data -> Commlink -> SimModule -> Brain.

By the way, if you don't want to bother with a trode net but don't like implants, just use fashionable nanotrode paste!

[Sir_Psycho]

I've got a question that looks like it fits here. If my character has a commlink with a skinlink and a hot sim module, and he plugs it into his brain via datajack, does he still have to use a subvocal mike? Does the DNI work like an SR3 Transducer? You can have mental conversations via optical cable between two datajacks, so I don't see why I can't just turn those mental impulses into wireless protocol and save myself from having to stand in the corner looking like an unskilled ventriloquist.

Also, Abbandon, if you're a straight up godly AR hacker, then maybe you hardly go into VR. But for everyone else, with the Hot sim btl modification to your commlink the two extra initiative passes, reaction bonus and the +2 dice pool to ALL matrix actions make it very worthwhile, even if you have to sit down for a moment to do it. Also, probing a weakness in a system to exploit has a base time of 1 DAY in AR, while in VR it's 23 whole hours less. Also, if I want to find my japanese hacker friend and buy some software off him, I may want to hit VR and project my persona (is it even a persona anymore) all the way over to Nippon and browse through his node's private collection.