Yes, I agree with you, UE4 will probably have SDK integrated eventually.
I don’t see the quality control being any different from the PlayStore - uploading apps will use the same interface I am sure (we already saw some screenshots of that in the playstore developer dashboard.
I’m thinking more on the positive side here 
still hoping that anything with specs equal to a Nexus 6 - so all current gen high end phones will be daydream ready once they get a Android N update 
SDK is already integrated! - see Sam’s post above
Not sure about all the discussion here - I think it’s great news to have competition and new market opportunities and of course the great thing about UE4 is it’s super easy to export for either platform. So we’re definitely not/haven’t wasted time making something for gear vr since we can export it for daydream with just a few clicks
Wow…I appreciate about it, good luck
Yea, of course. But in the long term it will have a higher adoption rate than GearVR. It’s google afterall.
Judging from the I/O 2016 panel videos, they will be alot more picky when it comes to what will be released on the VR store. Steam has no quality control at all, same for PlayStore. AppStore just requires technical functionality.
That isn’t entirely correct. I have been able to use Google VR on several devices now. The main thing is you have have to have Google VR services which are only on Android ‘N’ phone devices. Sadly, but understandable that a tablet like the Pixel C does not have the service. But the Nexus 6 and 6P do. However neither device will run the scanline racing feature properly, or at least in the UE4 version. Too much lag and double imaging as you move around. Also, I have not been able to get Vulkan to launch successfully either, it does work with ARM7, ARM64, OpenGL ES2 & ES3 + AEP. The four variant APKs are all contained in this zip package in a demo based on the 1st person project/VR template combination with a couple of other things thrown in. It is Gamepad and Cardboard Touch enabled to trigger the nerf ball gun. Simple but fun to launch all the primitives over the walls (in fact let me know if you project all the primitives over the wall). I have tried this on a number of phones ranging from a Note 4 to a Nexus 6P, as well as NVIDIA Tablet and Pixel C. Not all run in Google VR due to no Google VR service, but they will drop to Google Cardboard. So yes, UE4 now does Google Cardboard now 
Link to APK and OBB file. (NOTE: To reduce the file size of the APK you will have to copy the OBB yourself into the Android/OBB/xom.neodio.gvr_1st_person_HG64_nolatencyoff after you launch the app and get the error OBB missing)
Oh, and I am aware it should be “GVRFirstPerson” but I thought “GVRFistPerson” sounded strange enough I left is as is.
@mebalzer: I think you are missing whole point of Daydream - to provide low latency VR, on par with Gear VR, but on wider variety of phones. None of those phones exist yet. So all you get is laggy Cardboard experience with any phone you use Google VR on (simply because those devices don’t have low latency superAMOLED screens and fast IMUs).
So even if you upgrade all existing today Android phones to ‘N’, you won’t ever get same smooth VR as on Gear VR.
Have actually tested this yourself, if not, what are you basing this on? The Nexus 6P does go into a low-persistence mode (sustained performance mode works on both). As far a laggy experience the demo I created seems to run pretty well on a variety of phones. Plus, have you forgotten the issues of GearVR users who have a Note 4? Many of the newer games and demos do not run as fluid as those on the S6 and S7. So the same case can be made for GearVR if you don’t have the latest phone your are not going to get any of the new features like Vulkan, multiple pipelines, faster performance.
I have both and have developed on both. My demos on the GearVR and Google VR run about the same, close to 60fps (yes this is the S6 and the Nexus 6P). It should also be kept in mind that Google VR is not done, nor are the plug-ins for UE4 and Unity 3D. Also, Samsung will support Google VR, I believe their name was listed amongst the phone makers - starting with the new Note 6 rumored to have Android ‘N’ when it ships.
So yes, I agree you will not get the performance with phones without the proper hardware hooks and newer SOCs. But this is true for the GearVR as well. However, simple games and demos can now be done in UE4 without having to buy a GearVR or a new phone. This is a big win in my book for the largest audience without having to use Unity 3D.
I don’t need to test it - Google says it themselves.
That’s what Cardboard fans keep saying till these days: “cardboard as good as Gear VR, you don’t know what you are talking about”.
It’s not an issue. That’s how technology goes around - it gets obsolete quickly, and you have to upgrade. Same “issue” millions of non-Samsung users will face pretty soon.
The rumor has it that Note 6 will have new Gear VR with external cameras for positional tracking :rolleyes:
True for Gear VR how? It already performs exceptionally well, just not with UE4, but with Unity (whether it’s Samsung’s “weak” hardware, Epic’s or Oculus’s fault, I don’t know).
You lost me here. UE4 powered games looking like EGA games from 80’s are not going to help mobile VR to grow. That has been a big issue for Gear VR. People don’t take it seriously as gaming platform because 95% of games on it looks meh graphically and cause motion sickness on top of that.
You’d actually want to use Unity instead so that poopie phones running Android N could handle the load and provide okay performance (although with tracking lag and ghosting).
The whole idea to use UE4 and high performance mobile VR (Gear VR only in the nearest future) is to make people flock to it. Gear VR already has 1M+ users. Daydream has zero users. If Samsung doesn’t drop the ball on Gear VR, it will always lead. Don’t forget that Samsung is #1 vendor for Android phones.
Either way, Daydream can only work with high end phones. People don’t buy whole a lot of those. Since people already purchased Samsung top phone to use with Gear VR, they won’t have an urge to go for Daydream Samsung. People who just bought top smartphones from other manufacturers are not going to upgrade for iffy Daydream phones, especially if they are satisfied with what they already have. So Daydream will be even smaller niche than Gear VR. And if Samsung adds positional tracking or/and hands input to Gear VR, why on Earth anyone would want Daydream?!
This hype train for Daydream doesn’t help anyone, except Google. And I’ve been tracking their Github for Cardboard for like ever - issues, after issues all along.
Anyhow, keep riding that hype train.
I’m having trouble getting the Daydream controller emulator to be detected in UE 4.12.2. Could you provide more details on how to connect to the emulator, or do I need to use a different motion controller? Or, possibly add a step in the instructions on how to print a message when the emulator button is clicked?
I’m curious if there will be any app to allow my using SG7 edge, i don’t want to change it 
Here can be also helpful informations about daydream http://daydreamvrforums.com/
Hi Sam:
Could you give some feedback on this bug using the texture type mentioned in your documentation?:
Is there some texture compression setting that is not supported for ATC ? Is ATC required for Daydream and what is the advantage of it?
Thanks in advance for the info!
I am not aware of any bugs when it comes to using ATC Texture compression that would cause that to happen. I will ask around to see if I can dig up some more info on why that format is used (The docs I got before Daydream came out said to use that format but did not explain why) and if it is required.
Thanks Sam - looking forward to your feedback
After doing a little R&D about this here is what I found out. The ATC format gives you great texture compression and more importantly, supports alpha channel compression. ECT1 does not support alpha channels and this and that is why this format will run on any Android device. ETC2 supporst alpha channel compression but the compression of the textures in general is not as good as ATC.
One of the reasons as to why you are seeing textures turn up black is that your phone might not support the ATC texture format. This would explain why you see black textures when packaging your game with ATC but not with ETC2. The reason that ATC was put into the document is because ATC is the perfered format to use with the newer model phones that are coming to market soon. So using ECT2 for your Google Daydream project will work and it should not give you any issuses in terms of perforamnce or people being able to view your project. If you want to read more about Android texture compression methods, check out the following page.
Looks like ATC is only for Adreno GPUs. So it won’t work on Exynos.
Why not to use ASTC? (besides bogus compression tools in UE4 which make project cooking a nightmare)
Thanks for the info Sam and it looks like nailed the problem as my phone is a S7 Exynos - since samsung like to use Exynos chips for many regions of their phones there is a high probability that their daydream device will not support ATC
(PS: the textures aren’t black - they are the default grey fallback textures you sometimes see in the engine when adding a new mesh without a texture.)
As a correction, ASTC is the new texture format which will someday be widely supported, but for now is usually only on more recent devices. ATC is fairly old, but only supported by Adreno GPUs (it was previously ATI’s format).