realvr

Elden Ring VR troubleshooting

Added 2022-05-08 15:54:53 +0000 UTC

This post is meant to be a collection of known issues and (when possible) solutions. Please add a comment here if you have trouble with the R.E.A.L. VR mod for Elden Ring or if you have found a fix that you want to share with the community. I'll keep updating the FAQ when new information comes up.

The main post for Elden Ring with full instructions on how to install and use the mod is here, and the current release is attached to the latest post (currently 4.1.1).

Q1: The game crashes at start, or whenever I fast travel or die.

Status: Unexplained. It seems to be happening only to a few Patrons, and I'm unable to reproduce the issue here.

A1: First of all, disable or remove any third-party overlays, utilities, streaming programs, etc. that might be interfering with the mod. Stuff like the GOG Galaxy overlay, Overwolf, OBS, Twitch Studio and so on. They all tend to have in common the incredibly bad habit of always hooking every game they spot in the system even when their main application is closed :-|

Next, double-check that you're not using any other Elden Ring mods. Even if you just installed and then removed some of them in the past, pieces might still be left behind and that could be the cause of your crashes. After removing all other mods, use "Verify integrity of game files" on Steam (or an equivalent function if you bought the game from a different store) to make sure that your game has no corrupted or missing files.

Finally, run RealConfig again: choose to (D)elete the old settings and (just to be on the safe side) select the (L)ow preset. Hopefully the next time you launch the game it won't crash anymore.

If that's not enough and you're feeling brave, you can download the EnableCrashDumps.reg file attached below and run it. It will enable the creation of a maximum of 5 minidumps for Elden Ring. Obligatory disclaimer: only take this step if you understand what you're doing, and accept that you're editing the registry at your own risk and I cannot be held responsible in case the action causes any damage to your system. Once you have added the key into the Windows registry, the next time Elden Ring crashes it should generate a minidump into the folder "%AppData%\EldenRing\CrashDumps". You can upload the minidump anywhere and give me the link, and I will try to examine it to see if it sheds some light on what's going on. Please understand that there are no guarantees, and if the crash is deep into Elden Ring's own code I might be unable to extract any useful information.

Q2: I have full frame rate as reported by XYZ, yet the world appears very jittery in the headset.

A2: Elden Ring is so heavy that it's very unlikely you're hitting the refresh frequency of your headset. The most probable explanation is that the third-party utility you're using to monitor fps is showing you a wrong figure. There are actually two fps values: one is the number of frames per second that are being sent to the VR runtime, which in the case of my mods should always be equal to headset refresh frequency, so it's not really relevant unless you see the compositor missing frames. The other, important one is the in-game fps, which my mods measure automatically and which you can see by enabling "Show FPS" in the "Overlay" tab of my GUI. You'll need at least 50-60 fps, as reported by the mod's internal counter, to have a pleasant experience in VR, and at least 70-80 for fluid battle animations. Anything below 45 fps is basically what I call unplayable.

Q3: But how do I access the mod overlay? I can only see the Quick Menu and there is no "Show FPS" checkbox.

A3: To access the full overlay just press A on the gamepad while in the Quick Menu. There's also another shortcut: during normal gameplay (so with the Quick Menu closed), you can double-press the Pause button on the keyboard or the combo Select+Start on the gamepad to be taken straight to the main overlay.

Q4: When I turn my head around in real life, the VR world appears perfectly stable, but if I use the right stick to turn the camera, everything judders.

A4: That is controlled by the "Camera rotation compensation" checkbox in the "ELDEN" tab. Each of the four cameras has its own independent setting. The caveat is, only a rotation around your point of view can be properly compensated. So the smoothing effect is enabled by default only for the first person camera, which actually rotates around you. If you enable the compensation for other cameras, distant objects will now be drawn correctly during camera rotations, but nearby models (notably your own character) will jitter. Choose what you prefer. For the same reason, there is also an "Auto disable when locked on enemy" checkbox: when the camera is locked on to an enemy, it will rotate around it instead of around your point of view, so to avoid your target appearing all jittery my default is to automatically disable the compensation when locked.

Q5: I have tried every combination of camera compensation settings and it still bothers me.

A5: You might want to lower your graphics settings and/or resolution, to achieve better in-game frame rates (see Q2). If you're being limited by your GPU performance and cannot get high enough fps, your best bet is probably switching to Mono rendering from the Quick Menu. You will lose the stereo effect, but the effective frame rate per eye will double.

Q6: How do I uninstall the mod to play flat?

A6: There is no need to uninstall anything if you want to play flat and/or multiplayer. Just choose the second option from the launcher, then once you're in game you can switch it back to fullscreen if you wish. But if after that you should want to remove the mod for good, just delete my custom launcher "start_protected_game.exe" and rename the backup "start_protected_game_ori.exe" to "start_protected_game.exe". Even simpler, you can have Steam verify the game files and it will be done automatically for you.

Q7: Sometimes the RB button (quick attack) or—much less frequently—another button on the gamepad will stop working.

A7: Occasionally, and in particular if the mouse moves outside the game window, the game seems to get confused about which buttons are actually pressed. To bring what the game thinks back in sync with what is actually happening, just click inside the game window with both the left and right mouse buttons, together or one after the other. Magically the gamepad will resume working properly.