[GoblynByte]

Hello, all. First time posting, here, so I ask that you indulge a rookie 'Runner with some info.

I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around how the Matrix is manipulated in terms of AR. VR is pretty easy, I think: you hook your commlink up to a sim module and "dive" right in. Right?

But AR interface is a bit more ambiguous. At least it seems that way to me. Obviously you need a commlink. And I know you need an image link to "see" AR in your field of vision. But do you need an image link if you have a sim module?

What do you need to interact with AROs? AR Gloves? Can you interact with AR with a sim module and nothing else?

Is a sound link a must have? Again, is a sound link replaced by a sim module?

I guess what my questions boil down to is this: how obsolete do things like image and sound links, and AR Gloves become once you have a sim module?

I thought I understood this stuff, but then I looked at some of the sample characters and saw that they had AR Gloves and sim modules. Or sim modules and image links. I thought that was odd if the sim module made you "experience augmented and virtual reality" as the book says.

Any help is appreciated (obviosuly I'm talking about 4e due to my choice of subforum).

GB

[Shaidar]

When you engage the Sim Module you limp as a boned fish, so to speak.

Sim Module: The sim module is an interface device that controls the simsense experience. It translates computer signals (simsense data) into neural signals, allowing the user to directly experience simsense programs, augmented and virtual reality (Virtual Reality, p. 220). A sim module must be accessed via trodes or a direct neural interface (datajack, implanted commlink, etc).

Standard (legal) sim modules only interpret cold sim (p. 226). It is possible to modify a sim module to allow the user to experience hot sim (p. 226) and BTLs (p. 259) with a Hardware + Logic (10, 1 hour) Extended Test, but this also makes the user more vulnerable to Black IC programs. As a precaution against hijacking, modified modules have a physical switch to change between cold and hot sim.

As a safety precaution, sim mods override your motor functions while you are fully immersed in VR/simsense, so that you don’t blindly thrash around in the real world and potentially injure yourself or break things. This means that your physical body is limp while you’re online, as if you were sleeping. This reticular activation system (RAS) override can also be disabled with a  Hardware + Logic (5, 1 hour) Extended Test, at the user’s own risk.

While interfacing via AR you want to retain your motor control, so having the gloves and image link gives you the option to fully utilize both AR & VR

[Herr Brackhaus]

Anything that gives you DNI can eliminate the need for AR gloves and image/sound links; with a direct neural interface, you can experience AR in a much more direct fashion, essentially manipulating AROs directly with your mind.

At least, that's how I view AR and DNI interacting.

Think of AR like the Minority Report system; you either need the gloves and image link, or some other method like a datajack, implanted commlink, or trodes.