Virtual Reality

There is a problem in gamedev where you have to make unique locations even though the underlying assets are the same.

I think it would be cool to solve it not by randomisation but by embodying first person perspective and throwing trash around using physics, spray walls with grafitti, use liquids, brushes and then bake it and save as complete level. Sort of 3d painting but on surfaces and uses physics so it is natural.

it would be much better than painfully placing stuff by hand and making grafitti, oil spill, dirt textures manually in photoshop with pain and torture for each corridor. You would just hop in instead and do a bit of a mess, kick some props with a baseball bat. Piss blood on the walls

The history of virtual reality goes back a long way, and I wouldn't be writing this today if there hadn't been a technological revolution in VR about 15 years ago that made headsets compelling and affordable for a much larger number of people than in the decades before.

At the time, Palmer Luckey was working on his first VR headset prototypes, which offered an exceptionally wide field of view and high image quality at a relatively low price. This has been made possible by the widespread availability of low-cost smartphone displays that combine small size with high pixel density.

There were many other factors and inventions that helped virtual reality become a consumer product, but it was this technological revolution that got the ball rolling. A second major step was arguably standalone virtual reality, which was also made possible by existing smartphone technology. Without efficient mobile chipsets, devices like Meta Quest and the millions of VR headsets in use would be unthinkable.

Reflecting on these past leaps raises an interesting question about the future: Is virtual reality on the verge of another technological revolution of this magnitude, and what might it look like?

Will it be standard eye tracking and OLED microdisplays, integrated body tracking, or virtual reality streamed from the cloud? Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth pondered last year what a Meta Quest might look like in 2031. It could have near retinal resolution and be much lighter. Mirror Lake, Meta's futuristic research concept that combines a holographic and varifocal display in a compact, lightweight, and energy-efficient headset, also offers intriguing hints at possible future VR developments (the article image shows a rendering of what Mirror Lake might look like).

VR technology has so much room for improvement in terms of features and quality that it is fair to say that we are still witnessing its early days.

But back to your question: I think the third major revolution will be another display revolution, just like the first. Not because it will significantly improve image quality, but because it will allow headsets to be much thinner and lighter. The third revolution will be a form factor revolution and potentially the next big leap in the adoption of VR by the masses.

With the Holocake 2 prototype, Meta has shown where the journey could go, but it is unclear when this technology could find its way into products. My guess is that it will not happen in the next five years. Therefore, I don't see an immediate technological revolution coming, but rather evolutionary steps.

The latest version of Nvidia's DLSS technology, DLSS 4, brings massive improvements for VR gaming, according to numerous user reports. "It's a real game changer. About 95% of all artifacts are gone, you can see sponsor logos and lettering clearly and see the road very far," reports a user named VicMan73 on Reddit about the game EA Sports WRC.

In older versions, he has not been able to use DLSS4 at all. Big leap "I was able to switch from ASW without DLSS at 40 fps to a full 80 fps at the same resolution — and with DLSS in quality mode. While DLSS was previously practically unplayable in VR, version 4 now delivers razor-sharp and clear images."

So far I have my original PSVR headset connected to my PC and I'm using the premium version of iVRy. This allows me to use the actual headset but I don't have any body/control.

I believe the PS Move controllers can be used if I pair them with Bluetooth and using "iVRy PSMoveServiceEx for SteamVR on Steam" but I think this gives me button input, momentum, and rotational support. No tracking.

I own both Xbox 360 Kinect and PS4 camera to USB adapters. It seems like both work with Driver4VR but a lot of the setup videos are dated. Using the PS4 camera configuration option causes the application to crash and the UI has changed for example.

K2VR, now known as Amethyst, says it can do lower body tracking but people seem to recommend it for overall tracking.

iVRy seems to recommend dual PlayStation Eye cameras which I do not have.

Right now I have everything setup through iVRy and I believe I have Amethyst setup correctly. My test game was Arizona Sunshine and my hands are appearing as in my head and not moving. The game says to stretch out your arms and press both triggers but this doesn't seem to work. I don't know if it is a button input thing or the fact that the game detects my hands as not moving.

I'll probably find another game to narrow this down.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I've been reading a lot guides but they're mostly from 5 or 6 years ago. Many projects have ceased development or rebranded. Most posts now are about the PSVR2.

I'd be happy to try and answer any questions from people who want to try this out themselves.

The groundbreaking 2007 release of Crysis has long held its legendary status in the gaming world. "But can it run Crysis?" became a serious and unserious question across multiple generations of PC hardware, but for some it truly was the benchmark for the hardware of its day. Now, it runs in VR.

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/29574981

Until now I used OpenTrack with my DIY IR tracker or the Neuralnet tracker. I knew that my XR glasses feature IMU data though and the xr_driver of the Breezy Desktop project allows to access the data via IPC on Linux PC. So I did what Linux user do: I wrote a script to access the IMU data and forwarded it via UDP to OpenTrack:

Pick your poison to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njuumLUvqrM / https://makertube.net/w/2bNyxJhdyydTeFq17onikv

This reminded me that I also wrote a proof of concept to implement the FaceTrackNoIR (or OpenTrack) protocol into FreeSpace 2 Open on Linux PC ( https://makertube.net/w/7VtfAjW7EiAUS5aiPwG7if ) so I gave it a spin to test the data bridge. That was smooth sailing!

The mod is Diaspora: Shattered Armistice, still awesome today: http://diaspora.hard-light.net/ (Warning: This may fuel a desire to re-watch the BSG series again 😀).

The bridge code can be found at https://github.com/bekopharm/xr_to_opentrack (pending changes).

It works with the Breezy GNOME xr_driver: https://github.com/wheaney/breezy-desktop (but the Vulkan one works probably too but that’s untested). It should also be compatible with other glasses that have IMU for Breezy available.

Following its work on hit co-op RPG Demeo and its more recent PvP focused spinoff, Demeo Battles, Resolution has officially unveiled its upcoming Dungeons & Dragons crossover with Wizards of the Coast.

Detailed in a press release, this collaboration promises to “summon both battle-hardened veterans and eager newcomers to embark on adventures steeped in the world and lore of D&D.” It uses Demeo's gameplay systems as the base and you can play with friends via cross-platform co-op multiplayer. However, Battlemarked doesn't use a Dungeon Master (DM) to run campaigns like D&D requires. In a prepared statement, Tommy Palm, founder and CEO of Resolution Games, elaborated further. He advised that Battlemarked is “adapting the classes, actions, and lore of Dungeons & Dragons to this system for all new adventures and a whole new experience built from the ground up with D&D in mind.” At launch, Demeo X Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked will include two narrative-driven campaigns and further DLC campaigns are planned with different D&D settings. It's currently unknown if these additional campaigns will be paid DLC additions or free updates, and we previously saw the latter with Demeo post-launch.

Demeo X Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is coming to “to multiple platforms” across “PC, console and XR devices.” Specific headsets and a release window remain unconfirmed, and the official website is now live.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24863721

Gaijin Entertainment, the studio behind War Thunder (2013), announced that its upcoming aerial VR combat game Aces of Thunder is headed to PSVR 2 and PC VR headsets sometime this year.

Announced in 2023, Aces of Thunder was originally supposed to launch in Q4 2024, tapped to bring a host of the world’s most recognizable World War planes to SteamVR and PSVR 2.

So far, Gaijin has shown off not only a wide range of WWII-era planes, but now also a slate of WWI-era planes too.

Between Microsoft killing Windows Mixed Reality in November 2026, the lack of replacement parts for things like the Rift S's cable and PSVR 2 replacement controllers, and Meta's quick discontinuation of the Quest Pro and pushing software updates that cause issues with legacy headsets it feels like most headsets are destined to quickly become paperweights.

The situation reminds me a lot of feature phones with their proprietary connectors, how useless they are without a cellular network, and the lack of a strong modding community.

Things do seem to be getting better, I haven't heard a lot of complaints about the Valve Index, but it's a bit disappointing to see so many posts and comments talking about how much potential different headsets had.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, who has a history of getting his predictions right, caused a stir last week with a report claiming to reveal Meta's smartglasses and AR roadmap through 2027. He did not say anything about VR products.

In his latest Power On newsletter on Sunday, he mentions them in passing, writing

"Meta is working on Quest 4 VR goggles, as well as a new high-end model that could eventually become a successor to the Quest Pro mixed-reality headset, I’m told."

It is clear that Samsung and Google will put pressure on Meta this year with the premium headset Project Moohan and Meta could consider a response. Meta is working with ASUS on a headset that reportedly offers eye and face tracking. Gurman's source may have been referring to this product, the release year of which is not yet known.

We will have to wait and see what direction Meta's plans take. As always, keep in mind that Meta has multiple hardware prototypes in development at any given time, and only a few of these will actually become products. A lot can happen between now and 2027 and beyond.

Google made the announcement on its blog. There, the company writes:

"We’ve been investing in XR for more than a decade, and just last month introduced the Android XR platform with our strategic industry partners. Today we signed an agreement to welcome some of the HTC VIVE engineering team to Google, which is subject to customary closing conditions. They are an incredibly strong technical team with a proven track record in the VR space, and we are looking forward to working with them to accelerate the development of the Android XR platform across the headsets and glasses ecosystem."

As announced in December, Kim said the company is co-developing Android XR ecosystem with Google to change the way we interact with the physical and virtual worlds. They will define the operating system, user interface and hardware.

But Kim didn’t go into the details on the devices or the ongoing partnership with Google.

“These upcoming XR devices with multimodal AI devices will change the way interface with the physical and virtual worlds,” Kim said.

He said Samsung would develop these products with developers and partners.

Google’s Gemini Live AI on Galaxy S25 devices — which have a powerful neural processing unit for on-device AI processing — is a signal of what is coming the future, Kim said. Devices will understand what you see and what you say, he said.

AI is going to give companies like Samsung a second shot to be a player in the XR business. So far, Meta dominates the field with tens of millions of devices sold. Rivals like HTC Vive and Pimax are carving out different parts of the market, but Samsung is likely to challenge both Meta and Apple for the mainstream part of the business, which isn’t as big as once hoped but is still a market in the tens of billions of dollars.

Meta has made XR its area of focus when it comes to devices because it acknowledges it lost a big war when it failed to come up with a smartphone to challenge Apple. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shifted much of the company’s emphasis to AI investments, but it turns out that better AI for on-the-go devices like smart glasses and XR headsets with mixed reality could be what the market really needs. Google, Samsung, Qualcomm and many others see the opportunity and are investing to make it real.

Google’s announcement of Android XR last month was largely met with excitement, but there was a notable undercurrent of concern about Google’s long-term commitment to the platform. The company has a storied history of launching new products and platforms, only to drop them a few years later—often leaving third-party developers in the lurch.

Google has earned a reputation among third-party developers as a company that will tout the launch of exciting new platforms, only to cancel them unless they achieve breakout success.

The site Killed by Google maintains an active list of the company’s cancelled projects, currently totaling 296. While Stadia—Google’s short-lived cloud game streaming service—is probably the most recognizable example in recent years, the XR industry already has first-hand experience with the practice.

Google Daydream, announced back in 2016, was Google’s first attempt at entering the XR space proper. The company created the Daydream View headset in which Android smartphones could be inserted for a VR experience similar to Samsung’s Gear VR headset at the time. Third-party developers could build made-for-Daydream apps and distribute them via the Play Store right alongside other Android applications.

Over the next two years Google made efforts to refine Daydream View, including adding more supported phones, releasing an improved version of the headset, and even making one of the first 6DOF standalone VR headsets in partnership with Lenovo.

But little more than three years later the company killed the platform after it failed to achieve the ambitious adoption it had hoped for.

Assetto Corsa EVO made its big Early Access launch on Steam yesterday, bringing the next iteration of the racing franchise to both flatscreen and PC VR headsets. It’s getting mixed reviews, although VR users in particular are warning that you should wait for incoming patches, which will hopefully address the game’s currently questionable optimization.

KUNOS Simulazioni, developer behind both Assetto Corsa (2014) and Assetto Corsa Competizione (2018), released their long-awaited follow-up, Assetto Corsa EVO. The Early Access version boasts five tracks, 20 vehicles, single player, support for SteamVR headsets, as well as triple screen support.

While the studio promises the full slate of content is set to arrive in successive updates, which will include a total of 100 cars, 25 tracks, open world map, career and multiplayer mode, for now it appears VR users aren’t exactly happy with the state of the game.

User reviews are pouring in, with the game now counting over 2,700 reviews, garnering it a ‘Mixed’ score. Although some complaints mention the lack of features, which KUNOS Simulazioni promises are still yet to come, many of those specifically mentioning VR support are fairly cut-and-dry. It’s simply not optimized well enough, which has left it largely unplayable in VR.

“I won’t comment on the performance issues, as this is early access, only remark is that VR is currently unplayable,” says Steam user Poloman. “I have 150 fps on 3440×1440, but can’t get more that 30 [FPS] in VR.”

“Unplayable in VR with a RTX 4090 and i9 13900k at lowest settings (only targeting 80hz too). It has constant latency spikes making the game unplayable at any setting,” reports Mattios. “Flatscreen works fine, maxed out it barely hits 80% GPU and 10% CPU usage without upscaling”

Install F-Droid and Aurora store to get access to whatever Android apps you'd like. Pair a bluetooth keyboard and install your favorite apps.

I can use voyager (made by the excellent @[email protected]), with a browser window a YouTube window, and more open at once and floating in my real environment with passthrough. You can interact with apps by literally touching them (controllers are def better when you need to be precise or you have the app far away but hand tracking is more than good enough to do anything). You can get up and walk around and carry an app/window with you.

I'm writing this with this setup and thinking this could actually replace a tablet for some people. It's definitely better for multitasking.

I've also tested the new Windows 11 linking and it works really really well. The latency is super low, low enough to fool me into thinking it's wired. And the screens ACTUALLY rearranging according to how they are in VR so your mouse always moves across VR screens perfectly is an awesome touch that's often missing from other solutions.

Virtual Hunter by Finnish development studio Korpi Games is available as a full release since January 15, 2025. According to the developers, the game is now feature complete.

According to the Steam description, the VR hunting simulation features a large, open hunting ground where animals such as the majestic red deer, the elusive brown hare, wild boar and fallow deer roam free in the wilderness. Players can pack their gear, master realistic weapon handling and ballistics on the shooting range, and then head out into the open wilderness. Up to six players can hunt, trek and strategize together to bag the biggest trophy.

Each hunt is a new adventure as animals appear in new locations each time. How you hunt is up to you: You can track animals, use blinds, or just follow your instincts. The weapon stabilization system allows for accurate shots from long distances.

Each species has its behavior, which makes hunting challenging and interesting. Animals use their senses to see, smell, and hear hunters. Capital trophy animals have sharper senses, which makes hunting more difficult, but also more rewarding. Virtual Hunter includes a unique trophy display system that allows you to freely place the prepared trophies in your hunting lodge.

You can purchase Virtual Hunter on Steam. To celebrate the launch, new players can pick the game up 20% off from the current price of $20, before the price will increase to $25 on January 22nd.

The Facts

What is it?: A VR sci-fi action-adventure where you defend this world against mechanical creatures. Platforms: PC VR, PlayStation VR2 (Reviewed on PS VR2 with a PS5 Pro) Release Date: Out now Developer: VitruviusVR Price: $39.99

There aren't many VR games where I'd consider haptics to be a standout feature. It's a welcome addition that complements immersion if implemented effectively, sure, but that's rarely anything exceptional on PlayStation VR2. In that regard, Arken Age surprised me during my first enemy encounter. Parrying an enemy's sword attack leaves a lingering vibration like your blade is actually recoiling, and it's that moment where I realized this is something special.

Arken Age immediately shows proficiency in VR-first design. That’s evident from the very beginning of Arken Age through its pleasingly tactile menus, giving you effectively a tablet-like device that acts as your menu. Grabbing said tablet off your body would’ve been preferable over pressing a face button to summon it, even more so when you realize your weapons and batteries to power them are conveniently holstered across your body.

Arken Age Review - Final Verdict

Arken Age delivers clever VR-first gameplay design for a great sci-fi adventure. The intense motion makes this unsuitable for VR newcomers and the narrative isn't especially compelling, yet the vibrant presentation and rewarding combat makes this easier to overlook.

Between combat's great integration of haptic feedback, strong enemy variety and satisfying kills, Arken Age is an easy recommendation.

Play For Dream MR's hardware and software design is definitely heavily inspired by Apple Vision Pro, and a representative admitted as much to me. But unlike the cheap Chinese knockoff we saw at last year's CES, Play For Dream MR actually has high-end specs, including the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset and 4K micro-OLED displays. And after trying it, I found Play For Dream MR to be the most impressive XR hardware of any kind at CES 2025.

Play For Dream MR is a kind of crossover between a Vision Pro and Quest Pro, with an Apple-inspired plastic outer shell sporting a glossy black exterior and a Quest Pro style rear battery for a balanced weight distribution.

Putting on the headset for the first time, I was presented with a comfortable and well-balanced piece of wearable tech that I suspect could be used for several hours without much discomfort. The built-in eye tracking scanned and set my IPD automatically, and afterwards I immediately saw a clear and sharp image from edge to edge. While streaming up my favorite game to test VR headsets with from a gaming PC, Half Life: Alyx, I strained as I looked for any sort of distortion or edge-blurring in the periphery, but I just couldn't see any, if it was there at all. Textures popped and appeared crisp with colors that were vibrant, giving me a visual experience that was better than any headset I currently own.

Team 21 Studio announced that the Public Test Realm for the "largest update ever" will go live on Wednesday, 15 January 2025 at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT.

The content of the update will be revealed on the game's Discord server one hour prior to the update. At this time, the team will discuss what they have been working on and explain to the testers what areas need feedback. During the event, you will be able to preload the latest PTR version of the game. The conversation will be made available on YouTube later.

Ilysia was born from a Kickstarter campaign in 2020, in which the team raised over $150,000. It was released in Early Access in October 2023. Since then, a number of updates have been released.

MIXED has not tested Ilysia and cannot judge the state of the game. In terms of style and gameplay, it seems to be inspired by titles like World of Warcraft. There is a long list of features on the official website. However, in parts this seems to describe the aspirations rather than what has actually been implemented.

Developed by one-person team Spoonfed Interactive with support from Combat Waffle Studios (Ghosts of Tabor, Silent North), GRIM promises a focus on realism with a sci-fi twist. Set in a post-apocalyptic world featuring PvP and PvE elements, you try to survive following failed Martian colonization efforts.

Pirates VR Jolly Roger is a game alluding to old stories of the all-time most famous Pirates. The journey into the pirate world begins on a deserted island. Despite its extraordinary charm, the land hides a number of secrets and mysteries to be solved as well as obstacles and traps.

As we step into the new year, it's that familiar time when we all start thinking about what we'd like to see happen in the months ahead. Today, I want to share my hopes and wishes for the virtual reality industry in 2025. But this isn't just about my wishlist – I'd love to hear what's on your mind too.

More asynchronous multiplayer games

During the holidays, I discovered something interesting while showing friends my Quest 3S. While VR players had fun, everyone else just sat around watching. That changed when I found Acron: Attack of the Squirrels, a game that gets everyone involved.

Better value for Playstation VR 2 subscribers in PS Plus

Meta's Quest+ subscription has evolved nicely since its launch. What started as a simple two-games-per-month service now includes 27 major titles like Asgard's Wrath 2, Walkabout Mini Golf, Demeo, Red Matter and Tetris Effect: Connected. New Quest 3 owners even get three months free, giving them instant access to plenty of content.

Buy once, play anywhere

I was already a big fan of cross-buy back in my PS3 and PS Vita days. You buy a game for a Sony platform and can then automatically use it on the manufacturer's handheld device. What a great idea!

Cross-buy options have improved within individual platforms — buy a game for Meta Quest, get it free for Rift, for example. However, this is far from enough for me to advance VR gaming as a whole and grow the user base. I envision something bigger: true cross-platform ownership.

I've had issues with my Oculus Rift S for years now and it seems like the proprietary cable finally broke (I made a post about my current issue you can see here on [email protected]) so I'm thinking about making a change but I haven't really been tracking the scene in a while. That's not to say I haven't done any research but it's largely limited to LTT reviews I've had sporadically recommended to me and those don't really take into account follow ups after extended use and updates.

It seems relatively dominated by the Meta Quest 3 but I can't tell how much of that is it being the new thing. I am also quite wary of Meta after how they handled the Rift S with updates and replacement cables.

Some other considerations I have are

• Works with my desktop PC running Windows 11 so that I can play games I have on Steam and elsewhere like Arizona Sunshine and EmuVR. As well as watch VR movies. If it can pair up with a PC running Linux that would be even better.

• Doesn't have proprietary parts that I will likely need to replace at some point.

• Minimal to no mounting of lighthouses and as little cables as possible.

• Something that won't require an abundant amount of troubleshooting. The inability to just put on my Rift S headset caused it to gather dust a lot of the time.

• I'd prefer not to buy a Meta product. I am not super set on this as long as they've been better about their more recent products.

• Some kind of passthrough mode so that I can walk around my place and do things like wash dishes and fold laundry would be nice.

• I'd prefer to spend $700 or less. I am not sure how often or what headsets are expected to go on sale and for how much. I feel like there are options out there for this price that would be an improvement over Rift S and original PSVR that I've used.

If the Quest 3 is my best bet is there anything I should know about it? Maybe concerns over how it would connect to a PC?