Hogwarts Legacy?!? (Patreon)

Dear friends,

today I want to try something new <3

I know that so many of you have been waiting to play Hogwarts Legacy in VR.

The game officially releases tomorrow, but with the Deluxe Edition they granted 72 hours of early access. So I dived in and drafted a VERY ROUGH preview release of a R.E.A.L. VR mod for the game.

With the occasion I would like to shed some light onto the process I use to cook up these conversions, so if you're feeling brave please follow me into my virtual laboratory... never mind the skeletons :-D

The double-early-access draft is attached below.

Setup instructions

The mod is in no way complete! Please excuse the chaos and debris everywhere.

There is no RealConfig yet: just unzip the archive into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Hogwarts Legacy\Phoenix\Binaries\Win64" folder (or whatever your custom path is if you have a version from a different store, or you changed your Steam library location).

In case you have a 4090 card, or if the game doesn't want to enter VR, you should also navigate to the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Hogwarts Legacy\Engine\Plugins\Runtime\Nvidia\Streamline\Binaries\ThirdParty\Win64" or equivalent, and rename "sl.interposer.dll" to "sl.interposer_bak.dll".

When you start the game next time it should enter VR. Be patient with the preliminary phase where it "prepares" shaders (I don't know why but for me it does that every single time I launch the game). After that is done, frame rate should go back up to normal and you should be able to access the menus.

You will need to manually change at least the following settings:

• WINDOW MODE to Windowed Fullscreen (otherwise the game will force you to your monitor resolution which is usually no good in VR)
• VSYNC to OFF
• FRAMERATE to Uncapped
• MOTION BLUR to OFF

Then you'll want to bring up the mod overlay (both thumbsticks on the gamepad or Pause/Break on the keyboard), use the "Target pixels per degree" slider to select a resolution of about 2384x1904, and press the "Adapt resolution" button. Of course the pixels per degree value that you should choose depends on how powerful your GPU is and on what compromise you want to strike between sharpness and fluidity.

Update: I am aware that the resolution needs to be set again when a new level is loaded, and I will try to fix that. Fixed in release 9.4.4!

The mod has preliminary support for AER v2. If you don't go crazy with the resolution I recommend "1/2 rate", otherwise select "1/3 rate" to let your GPU breathe and allow for higher pixel densities.

Be warned that if you wanna try this, it's going to be a very bumpy ride!

Most options in the "HOGWARTS" page of the overlay will do nothing. However "Force 2D virtual screen" should be working and you can use it if you find a section of the game which is impassable in VR.

Navigating the overlay with the gamepad will be possible, but button presses will leak through to the game. Update: Fixed in release 9.4.5.

Cutscenes will be watchable and 3D, but show the obnoxious "cinematic" black bars.
Update: Black bars removed in release 9.4.1.

Some menu options will be unreachable if you select resolutions much higher than your monitor can display.
Update for release 9.4.2: the software cursor provided by the game, controlled by the gamepad, can now reach all of the virtual screen. Avoid using the mouse or you'll still limited by the monitor size.

World markers (the UI items that are supposed to be attached to world objects, like quest indicators or health bars) will not be in the correct position. They are always one of the most annoying and time-consuming issues to fix.
Update for release 9.4.2: I fixed some of them but the majority (especially in the world maps) are still floating in the wrong positions.
Update for release 9.4.3: All world markers should be fixed. There is one issue left with the game-provided software cursor (details at the end of the post).
Update for release 9.4.4: Some quest markers were still glitchy, but they should be correctly placed now. Also the map is finally usable in 3D (more info the end of the post).

You might get some errors in the log file, which I'm going to take care of as I make further progress on this.

Final notes and updates

I will be updating this later today if I manage to fix anything else on the fly, and certainly during the next few days.

Let me know what you think of this approach! I'm not saying by any means that I will make it the rule for all new releases, as I don't really like to serve food undercooked ;-)

But I wanted to surprise you with an unexpected release, even though I do apologize for the state it's in []-D

Release updated to 9.4.1: The black bars in cutscenes should no longer be visible now. I had missed one place where the camera aspect ratio was hard-coded by the game to 16:9 instead of following the one dictated by the chosen resolution. Apart from the annoyance of having to do adjustments manually, the main issue remaining for playability is the world markers showing in the wrong place, which I will try to fix tomorrow.

Release updated to 9.4.2: The software cursor provided by the game can now be moved to all positions of the virtual screen with the gamepad stick. Avoid using the mouse for that or you'll still be limited by the monitor size. I fixed some of the world markers but the majority (especially in the world maps) are still floating in the wrong positions and will require additional work.

Release updated to 9.4.3: All world markers should be in the correct position now. Maps are almost fully functional, except for the in-game cursor being properly aligned  to the floating HUD but not to the world markers. I will probably need to implement a manual solution where you can click the left thumbstick to toggle the cursor between being drawn on the HUD (in 2D, to select menu entries) versus being pushed into the world (in 3D, to select locations).

Release updated to 9.4.4: Turns out some quest markers were still glitchy, but they should all be properly placed now. Also, maps are now 100% functional in 3D, although it might take some time to get used to my proposed interaction model. Basically you'll see that the software cursor (the big white/yellow circle) provided by the game can now be toggled between two modes by clicking the left thumbstick on the gamepad.
In the default mode the cursor is 2D: it aligns correctly with (and allows you to select) all menu entries in the game UI. If you click the left thumbstick while in a map, however, the cursor/circle will become a 3D world object which can be moved around either with the left gamepad stick or simply by turning your head. In this new mode the cursor will align correctly with the world icons, and in addition the game will try to help by snapping it onto the icons when it's close to them.
All the surrounding information (like the textual descriptions of quests and locations) will stay in place as you look around, and it will not follow your head. My advice for easier interaction is: before selecting a world location, turn your head a little to the right; then use the left thumbstick to move the cursor leftward until it snaps onto the desired icon. That way, when the description appears on the right side, you'll already be looking straight at it and reading the text will be much more comfortable.
I find that having the maps in 3D is fun and it more than makes up for the bit of inconvenience in dealing with my dual-mode cursor. That said, you can always use the "Force 2D virtual screen" option on the overlay if dealing with the 3D interaction seems overly frustrating.

Release updated to 9.4.5: This new release brings several important improvements to gameplay.

• Fades to black will no longer incorrectly be applied to the HUD only, and will instead darken the whole virtual world as expected.
• Items that you find in chests will now be properly listed on the HUD, instead of being pushed in the upper right corner of your visual field where they were mostly unreadable.
• I updated the mod to hook the latest Steam Input interfaces; when navigating the R.E.A.L. VR overlay with an XInput-compatible gamepad, buttons will no longer leak through to the game.
• Slow motion and pause commands are now functional in the "HOGWARTS" overlay page for some epic boss battles :-D
• Most important of all: aiming will now work correctly, with the crosshair tied to your gaze, placed at the proper depth and exactly showing where your spells will land!

It seems like we're finally getting somewhere with this 0-day mod! I played a good chunk of the beginning of the game and everything seems to be working fine in VR. Also the performance is not bad, considering how grandiose the game looks :-)