...dary! HORIZON! ZERO! DAWN! (Patreon)

Huge kudos to Cas from Cas and Chary VR for the spectacular video that you can see above! It even comes with a quick setup tutorial at the end. Don't forget to subscribe to their channel :-)

Several of you guys guessed the new title correctly, while others were wide off the mark... But the special ENIGMA award goes to WIG for being the first to correctly spot the three words hidden in the previous post: ["Suddenly DAWNed on me" - "There was ZERO" - "With CP2077 on the HORIZON" - Ah so I think I cracked the case --WIG]

So, this little meta-game was fun! But now it's time to play the real game. I know that you can't wait to dive in, so I'll quit the blabbering and just go straight to the instructions. For this post, I want to experiment with a new format: very brief Quick Setup directions for the long-time Patrons who already have experience with my mods and only need to know what's changed in this release, followed by a more comprehensive guide for new users who would otherwise be forced to hunt high and low for information in my previous posts (please scroll down past the YouTubers section).

Merry early Christmas to everybody! Kill as many machines as you can!!!

Quick Setup (for returning users)

Launch the game once in flat mode, so it can create its config folders and profiles. During the first few minutes it will also compile the shaders which will lead to a smoother gameplay experience.

After quitting, extract the .zip archive to the game executable folder, being careful to preserve the directory structure (don't move any files around manually or delete anything) and confirm overwriting old files if needed. Then run RealConfig, which should report no errors. If your headset needs SteamVR, remember to uncheck "Use Desktop Game Theatre while SteamVR is active" in the Steam property page for the game; if instead you have a WMR headset, remember that you'll need to select OpenXR from the mod overlay, as Microsoft is probably never going to fix their SteamVR driver properly. That's it: the next time you launch the game from Steam or the desktop shortcut, it will run in VR.

The game will start with a 2700x2700 resolution, which you can then adjust according to how powerful your GPU is. Most graphics options can also be changed dynamically to fit your video card: however, in the DISPLAY page be sure to leave "Adaptive performance FPS" set to "Off", "FPS limit" to "Unlimited", "Aspect ratio" to "1:1", "Display mode" to "Borderless", "V-sync" to "Off". In the GRAPHICS page, everything can be customized except for "Motion blur" that must be "Off". Also, in the CONTROLS page make sure that "Aim assist" is set to "Off".

In the "HZD" overlay tab, you will find a checkbox named "Enable experimental 1st person camera" that I urge you to try. I'm very interested to know what you think of the implementation. It's not perfect of course, but for me it does the trick of turning the fights against machines from an exercise in button mashing to a visceral experience. As an added bonus, I also measured young Aloy's IPD and implemented a function that will scale the user's IPD accordingly: so, in the levels where you play as young Aloy, the world will actually look bigger, the way it looks to a small child :-)

There are new controls for my HUD implementation in the "R.E.A.L. VR" tab! You can adjust the size and distance of the normal gameplay HUD, and also the size of the headlocked HUD when aiming. As for the in-game settings, I recommend that after playing a while you set GENERAL> HUD to Dynamic for added immersiveness.

Additional notes for YouTubers and streamers

The mod now comes with its own OBS virtual source for Oculus and SteamVR, which should make capturing the stream much easier. To enable it, find the "OBS video capture" group at the bottom of the "R.E.A.L. VR" tab and tick the checkbox. Then you should be able to see a drop menu to select the source resolution and which eye to display. "Crop sidebars" will zoom in the image a bit to (mostly) get rid of the black bars that appear on the sides of the screen when you turn your head fast (they're an artefact of asynchronous timewarp). To connect to the source from OBS, just add a Game Capture source and attach it to the game window. Even though on the desktop the view will flicker between the two eyes, in the capture preview and recording the image will be stable, because the virtual source will actually send the VR mirror output instead of the window contents. I experimented with an RTX 3090 and I can record 2160p@60 while playing on a single PC without stutters. Unfortunately OpenXR is not supported because that API has no mirroring facility.

If you don't have a super-powerful GPU and you get missed frames while recording/streaming, try experimenting with the GPU Throttling slider in the "HZD" tab. Default is -1, which means no throttling. As you move the slider toward the right, at some point (depending on your system) you will notice that the in-game fps start to decrease as more GPU priority is given to the VR compositor, but you stop getting dropped frames. Hopefully there will be a magic zone somewhere in the middle where the game fps are mostly unchanged but you'll no longer miss VR frames. It's very system-dependent, and of course it's also impacted by other programs competing for GPU usage.

Extended instructions (start here if this is your first R.E.A.L. VR experience or you want more details)

Before installing the mod, launch the game at least once in normal (flat) mode, so that it can create its config folders and profiles. During the first few minutes it will also compile the shaders which will lead to a smoother gameplay experience. You will need an original copy of the game of course; I hear that Epic is having a sale these days, and Steam should follow up shortly (I get no commission from either!).

After quitting the game, extract the .zip archive that you find attached at the end of this post to the folder where "HorizonZeroDawn.exe" is (for example, if you have the Steam version, by default the path would be something like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Horizon Zero Dawn"). Be careful to preserve the directory structure when you unzip: don't move any files around manually, don't delete anything, and confirm overwriting old files if needed. Also don't extract into a subfolder: "RealConfig.bat" needs to end up at the same level as "HorizonZeroDawn.exe". Then run RealConfig, which should report no errors. In case it does, please include the exact errors in your comment. If your bought the game from Steam and your headset needs SteamVR, open the  Steam property page for the game and UNcheck "Use Desktop Game Theatre while SteamVR is active". That's it: the next time you launch the game from Steam or the desktop shortcut, it will run in VR.

My conversions use square, 1:1 resolutions, to avoid rendering lots of pixels that wouldn't be seen in the headset (in VR you need all the performance that you can get!). I modded the custom resolutions directly into the game, so it will start at 2700x2700 and you'll be able to customize that to your liking in the DISPLAY settings menu. The window might look squashed on the desktop, but the aspect ratio will be correct in VR.

If you don't have a very powerful GPU, the first thing you might want to scale down is resolution itself, because it has the largest impact on frame rate (again, only choose from the square resolutions). Most graphics options can then be changed dynamically to fit your video card: however, in the DISPLAY page be sure to leave "Adaptive performance FPS" set to "Off", "FPS limit" to "Unlimited", "Aspect ratio" to "1:1", "Display mode" to "Borderless", "V-sync" to "Off". In the GRAPHICS page, everything can be customized except for "Motion blur" that must be "Off". Also, in the CONTROLS page make sure that "Aim assist" is set to "Off", as my mods use gaze-based aiming.

If you have an HDR monitor connected to your PC it might be best to turn HDR off in your Windows settings; otherwise, since VR headsets don't support HDR, you might experience weird behaviors, black screens, crashes etc. At least that was the case with Red Dead Redemption 2; I didn't receive any reports for this issue with the Mafia Trilogy.

Once the mod is up and running, you can activate its overlay by pressing the Pause/Break key on the keyboard, or by pulling both triggers on the gamepad (this latter gesture is recognized only when the game is paused, to avoid interfering with gameplay). BTW, all my mods work with keyboard and mouse, but you will get the best experience using a wireless gamepad like the Xbox controller. Don't worry about console player syndrome: aiming is not driven by the gamepad itself but by your gaze, and after a few minutes it becomes so quick and intuitive that most players find it better and more precise than aiming with a mouse.

The overlay has a few tabs, and it can be navigated either with KB/M or with the gamepad. If you use the gamepad, cycling between tabs is performed by holding the 'X' or Square button pressed and then using the left/right shoulder buttons. You will want to check out at least three tabs: "R.E.A.L. VR", "HZD" and "Overlay". In the last one, "Overlay", you will find checkboxes to enable monitoring your in-game fps and latency. You should target a frame rate of at least 60 fps to have a good experience. If you get lower frame rates or stutters, please post a comment or contact me directly with your full system specs and we'll work it out. I employ asynchronous, alternate eye rendering, so it's not vital that the frame rate you get matches the headset refresh frequency.

Speaking of headsets, the best ones to experience my mods at the moment are probably the Quest 2 and the Valve Index. They work perfectly in every respect. With the Quest 2 both Air Link and the link cable are supported, and you don't need SteamVR as the mod has a native Oculus renderer; do not use the third-party Virtual Desktop utility, because sadly it doesn't support my mods properly. With the Index or other SteamVR-only headsets, make sure that motion smoothing is turned off, either globally or for the game, since it doesn't like alternate eye rendering.

Due to a bug in the SteamVR driver for WMR that has been outstanding for many months, with WMR headsets like the Reverb G2 you will need to use OpenXR. Select the OpenXR renderer from the "R.E.A.L. VR" tab; the mod will save and remember your choice for the next runs. If you still have tracking jitters after that, get the OpenXR Developer Tools for Windows Mixed Reality from the Microsoft Store, and use them to check that your active OpenXR runtime is set to WMR (if it's set to SteamVR, tracking might still not work correctly). Then, in the developer settings page of the tools, you should make sure that Custom render scale is set to 100% and that Motion reprojection is Disabled.

If you have a Pimax headset, remember to enable parallel projections for the game, and be prepared for some general jankiness which is not there with other headsets. I'm currently working with Pimax, who have been so kind as to provide a test unit, to solve all the issues and make the experience perfect; however, their technical department appears to be very busy and it will probably take at least a few months to sort everything out.

When playing third person in VR, my mods decouple the two usual camera motions that are found in video games. Instead of having the mouse or right stick control both the camera angles and its position as it orbits around the character, in VR the angles will be controlled by your head, while the orbiting motion will still be controlled by the mouse/stick, both left/right and up/down. This might take a little time getting used to.

In the game-specific tab, "HZD", you will find a checkbox named "Enable experimental 1st person camera" that you can try. It is my implementation of a first person camera for the game (the original, unmodded title could only be played in third person). It's not perfect of course, but for me it does the trick of turning the fights against machines from an exercise in button mashing to a visceral experience. As an added bonus, I also measured young Aloy's IPD and implemented a function that will scale the user's IPD accordingly: so, in the levels where you play as young Aloy, the world will actually look bigger, the way it looks to a small child :-)

Be warned: the first person camera is not for the faint of stomach! You will need to have your "VR legs" fully developed to enjoy it. If you still have problems in that department, start out with the third person camera and gradually work your way up, starting with exploration and only when you feel confident moving on to combat. Don't ever push it, because you don't want to condition your brain to associate VR with sickness. Stop as soon as you feel the first iffy symptoms, and get back only when you're feeling better.

Recentering the view is accomplished simply by shaking your head "no" once. It's very intuitive once you get the hang of it, just a quick left and right twitch (I find myself doing it all the time even in other games, then remember that it won't work there!)

From the "R.E.A.L. VR" tab, if you want, you can adjust the size and distance of the normal gameplay HUD, and also the size of the headlocked HUD when aiming. As for the in-game settings, I recommend that after playing a while you set GENERAL> HUD to Dynamic for added immersiveness.

If you find issues with the first person camera implementation (or anything else):

This is a huge game, and unfortunately its saving system does not allow replaying past missions. So save frequently, and if you encounter a problem (example: during mission such and such, when you get the weapon blah blah blah, the camera spins wildly), the only hope for me to be able to find and correct it is if you upload a saved game right BEFORE the mishap, with some instructions on how to reproduce the bug.

Have fun roaming the wilds!!!