Setting up your room for SteamVR Vive is no easy task

And you thought making room for Kinect was tough?

VentureBeat has spotted a Vive instruction manual uploaded by HTC that reveals the true extent of the effort needed by owners to set up their playing space for the full VR experience.

The setup described is the one that is designed to allow users to walk around a fully simulated environment.

Firstly, a minimum play area of 2×1.5 metres is required. This needs a base station motion sensor in opposite corners, no more than five metres apart. These need to be mounted on the wall, incidentally. They’re wireless, but do need to be plugged into the mains.

In addition, the PC at the heart of all this needs to be close enough so the five metre cord that connects to the headset can reach anywhere in the play area. Remember, too, that all mirrors and reflective surfaces need to be covered, as do windows and sources of direct sunlight.

It goes without saying that all furniture needs to be cleared, as well.

There are options for sitting-only games, too, meaning Vive can offer Oculus-like experiences. But to get the ‘full’ experience users will need to go through an extremely vigorous set-up. How many will be prepared to do this remains one of the largest VR questions.