It's a New Dawn

Updates and known issues: scroll down to the end for the latest information. The Steam version of Atomic Heart is fixed now!

Release 11.2.1 of the R.E.A.L. VR mod, attached at the end of the post, adds Far Cry New Dawn to the list of titles that we can play in VR.

Enjoy this odd spinoff from Far Cry 5 (which plays almost like a cross between Far Cry and Fallout and is downright gorgeous sometimes, in the words of my dear friend Brandon)... and to answer one of your most recurring questions: yes, I will definitely try my hand at modding Horizon Forbidden West when it comes out for PC!

Release 11.2.1 also fixes the Steam version of Atomic Heart which was broken by the launch of the latest DLC (the Game Pass version works fine even after the update).

Games list

As usual the mod archive is common for all supported titles, and the updated list is now:

• Atomic Heart
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Dark Souls: Remastered
• Elden Ring
• Far Cry 4
• Far Cry 5
• Far Cry 6
• Far Cry New Dawn (new)
• Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
• Ghostrunner
• Ghostwire: Tokyo
• Grounded
• High On Life
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered
• Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Stray
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

All games implement AER v2.

Setup

I developed and tested the Far Cry New Dawn mod using the Ubisoft+ version of the game; other editions should also work, but if you encounter issues please upload your RealVR.log file somewhere so we can try to sort them out. Also, make sure that your video drivers are updated to the latest version, even though FCND is an older game.

Run the game flat (not in VR) at least once, so that it can generate its config files and you can check that it works correctly. Then quit out of it and extract the mod archive into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Far Cry New Dawn\bin_plus" folder if you have the Ubisoft+ subscription, or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Far Cry New Dawn\bin" if you bought the game from Ubisoft directly but without the subscription; note that you might need to customize the path if you own the game from a different store, but it will always be the one that contains the "FarCryNewDawn.exe" executable file.

Finally run RealConfig.bat. It will perform a few required operations (including the v-sync fix for NVIDIA drivers) and preselect graphics settings that are known to work well in VR. Remember that running RealConfig is mandatory; if you omit this step the mod will not work.

At this point, the next time you launch Far Cry New Dawn it should automatically display in your VR headset. You'll still need to tweak a few things in-game however, in order to get the best possible experience.

Setting the resolution

The most annoying thing with this FCND conversion is setting the resolution at startup. A few steps are needed to make Far Cry New Dawn run properly in VR:

• boot up the game, which will most likely start in fullscreen mode;
• put on your headset and watch or skip the intro messages/logos;
• once you get to the main menu, bring up the mod overlay (for Far Cry New Dawn that is done by pressing both thumbsticks on the gamepad at the same time). There, in the main "R.E.A.L. VR" tab you'll find a slider that says "Target pixels per degree". Set it to a value approximately in the range 15-25, depending on your GPU, then press the "Adapt resolution" button to inject a custom resolution into the game. The resolution will be automatically calculated to fit your headset requirements as tightly as possible, so that you can get the best compromise between image quality and performance;
• the new custom resolution will have been injected into the "Borderless" category, but due to a quirk in the engine that I haven't been able to sort out yet, it won't be immediately available;
• in game, go to OPTIONS> VIDEO> MONITOR, choose Borderless mode, and select the first available Borderless resolution (typically 1920x1080): apply it and confirm;
• then go all the way back to the main game menu, and once more select OPTIONS then VIDEO then MONITOR. The injected resolution will finally be available in the Borderless category and you'll be able to select and apply it.

You'll know that the correct resolution is set because the window on the monitor will appear squashed vertically, but in the headset the aspect ratio will be correct. Also the R.E.A.L. VR overlay will report it as the current VR resolution.

The resolution will remain valid until you quit the game. On the next gameplay session, Far Cry New Dawn will remember your injected resolution, but it won't be automatically activated for some reason. What I do to get it back is quite simple (a little tedious, but you only have to do it once per play session):

• boot the game up;
• put on your headset and skip the intro messages/logos;
• when the main menu becomes available, you might notice that it's cut off vertically, and the OPTIONS line could even be hidden. Just press Alt-Enter on the keyboard twice. That will restart the VR output and you'll see a squashed image on the desktop monitor but a correct one in your headset. From that point on, the menu will be fully navigable with a gamepad in VR.

Cutscenes

Cutscenes have top/bottom black bars, which I didn't disable because they work correctly in VR and sort of preserve the "cinematic" effect. There is no forced camera though: you can still look anywhere and the frame will follow your gaze.

Some cutscenes however were prerendered by the developers and stored as movies, so there's nothing I can do about them: they will appear as if projected on a virtual 2D screen in VR. That is notably true of the rather long introduction sequence.

Game options

You can set all graphics and gameplay options in the game menu according to your liking and how powerful your GPU is, but there are a few settings that you must leave to the defaults preselected by RealConfig in order for the mod to work properly:

• Reticle Position = Offset
• Window Mode = Borderless
• Aspect Ratio = NATIVE (16x9)
• Motion Blur = OFF
• V-Sync = OFF
• Enable Framerate Lock = OFF

The following settings are preselected by RealConfig but it's possible that different values would still work correctly, although I'm not sure because I couldn't test them thoroughly:

• Adaptive Resolution = OFF
• Resolution Scale = 1

I also recommend setting "HD Textures" to ON unless you card is really low on video memory.

As also discussed in the Updates and known issues section, you will need to reset OPTIONS> GAMEPAD> GENERAL> Aiming Assists to OFF every time you boot up Far Cry New Dawn, as for some reason the game doesn't remember the setting.

Input

You will want to use a gamepad to play Far Cry New Dawn (XInput-compatible controllers like the ones from Microsoft are the best for my mods). Keyboard and mouse sort of work too, but there might be issues, like mouse clicks activating other windows at random or some entries in the game menus being unreachable with the cursor; thus, in order to have a smooth experience, using a gamepad is highly recommended.

Don't worry about console-player syndrome: in my mods aiming is gaze-driven and extremely fast, intuitive and accurate, so even if you're used to playing FPS with your mouse, give your gamepad a chance ;-)

Gameplay

The Far Cry New Dawn mod fully supports 6 DoF tracking, i.e, the camera will follow your head rotation and movement. When your weapon is holstered, the HUD will float in space in front of you, so you can just look around in order to be able to read its full information, even the hints appearing on the sides and in the corners.

Gaze-based aiming works and the crosshair will always be properly aligned. To that effect, whenever you have a weapon drawn 6 DoF will be limited to 3 DoF, i.e., without positional tracking. For accurate, intuitive ADS (Aiming Down Sights), remember to set your dominant eye in the "FCND" tab of the mod overlay. Binoculars work too, and tagging the enemies also follows the direction of your gaze.

I disabled depth of field effects because usually they have no place in VR, and in Far Cry games they make weapon models look all blurry, especially when you aim down the sights. However, since I always believe in keeping as faithful to the original gameplay and design as possible, the "FCND" tab of the mod overlay will allow you to restore them if you so wish (game restart needed). Also, in the same tab you can change the world scale, from small adjustments to playing with dolls or giants, and even force the game to render to a 2D virtual screen in case you should find a section too hard to play in full VR.

Updates and known issues

Update Feb 9: release 11.2.1 fixes an issue with Far Cry New Dawn where some of my patches might fail on versions of the game other than the Ubisoft+ one (a symptom of that issue was being unable to look left/right in cutscenes). It also restores full VR functionality to the Steam version of Atomic Heart which was broken by the launch of the latest DLC.

AMD graphics card users: the game might fail to enter VR when running on a system with an AMD GPU. Please upload your RealVR.log file somewhere and I will try to fix my detection code for your configuration.

World markers: Sometimes icons that should be anchored to specific objects, NPCs or locations in the world will be floating instead, depending on the direction you're looking at and on your distance from the object. Getting closer to the anchor always appears to fix it.

Gaze-based aiming: Especially during a heated battle, you might find yourself unable to move the gun left/right by turning your head (it looks like it's sticking to one enemy). That is caused by OPTIONS> GAMEPAD> GENERAL> Aiming Assists accidentally being turned ON. Unfortunately, at least on my system, Far Cry New Dawn has a bug that makes it forget the setting for Aiming Assists every time you boot up the game. If you have the same issue, you need to change Aiming Assists to OFF at the start of each playing session.

Mounted guns: To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to move mounted guns in Far Cry games according to where the player is looking at, so I believe it's best to disable gaze-based aiming completely in those situations. Guns mounted either on vehicles or on the ground will be fully controlled by the thumbstick, while the camera has freelook. The crosshair won't be in the correct position, but it doesn't matter much because mounted guns give you a pretty clear idea where you're shooting at, just by watching where the destruction happens ;-)

Vehicles: Similarly to other Far Cry games, if you rotate the game camera with your right thumbstick while driving a vehicle, what happens depends on the rotation amount: if you tweak the direction just a little, the game will "helpfully" realign the camera with the vehicle's direction after a couple of seconds. If instead you use the right thumbstick to rotate the camera by a large amount, then the game will not interfere with your decision.

Steam Input: If FCND doesn't seem to recognize some specific gamepad inputs, try disabling Steam Input (globally or for the game).

Widescreen monitors: Just like with Far Cry 5, if you are using a desktop monitor resolution which is not 16:9 and the game appears to be using the wrong FOV (which results in the world distorting as you look from side to side), make sure to set your desktop to a 16:9 resolution before starting the game.

Cutscenes: a few short cutscenes have an FOV problem that makes the world look a little swimmy, as though the image were zoomed in.

Animations: some scripted animations, like the one when you enter a ladder going down, look weird in VR.

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RR (real reality) news: I'm getting married this month!
O_O