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Release 11.3.2 of the R.E.A.L. VR mod, attached at the end of this post, adds Far Cry Primal to the list of titles that we can play in VR.

Far Cry Primal is one of the weirdest installments in the Far Cry series, and some say that its gameplay can be a little repetitive. But it has some truly magical moments, that become even more special and unforgettable in virtual reality.

Give it a try, I'm sure you won't be disappointed! Also, the scenery kind of reminds me of Horizon (even though the beasts in FCP are natural and not robots). Speaking of which... who else is excited about Horizon Forbidden West coming out for PC on March 21? I really hope I'll be able to do that game justice :-)

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
• Far Cry Primal (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 Primal 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 FCP 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 Primal\bin_plus" folder if you have the Ubisoft+ subscription, or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Far Cry Primal\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 "FCPrimal.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 Primal 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

Good news again! Just like with FC4, I was able to mod the custom resolutions needed for VR directly into the game. Far Cry Primal doesn't accept square aspect ratios though, so I made them 5:4. You will be able to select the resolution you prefer from the game VIDEO menu itself, without any hassle. Just make sure that "Aspect Ratio" is set to "5x4" and that "Window Mode" is set to "WINDOWED".

FCP will also remember the resolution you set across sessions, so once you find the right compromise between detail and fluidity you should be able to play the rest of the game without touching the resolution again.

Cutscenes

Most cutscenes are fully 3D and allow you to look anywhere without restrictions or black bars.

Some 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.

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:

• Aim Assist = OFF
• Melee Assist = OFF
• Aspect Ratio = 5x4
• Window Mode = WINDOWED
• V-Sync = OFF
• Quality Settings> Motion Blur = OFF
• Advanced Settings> Field of View Scaling = 120

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

Search Animations can look a bit intense in VR, with sudden head movements, so you might want to disable them from the GAMEPLAY menu.

Input

You will want to use a gamepad to play Far Cry Primal (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 Primal 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 "FCP" tab of the mod overlay.

In the base 2D game, aiming makes your view more and more zoomed in, depending on how powerful and upgraded your weapon is. In VR you might want to keep that effect (so that your weapon upgrades do not go wasted), but some people could be bothered by the world-swimming effect that comes from the zoomed-in field-of-view not matching the headset FOV. For that reason, I included in the "FCP" tab a slider called "Allow FOV change past this zoom level"; drag it toward the right to allow zooming only for the weapons that offer the highest magnifications, or toward the left to progressively match the zooming behavior used to aim in 2D.

"Owl vision" works fine, in full 3D, and tagging the enemies also follows the direction of your gaze.

Additionally, in the "FCP" 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

World markers and minimap: There are some graphical problems with HUD elements, like quest markers looking a bit broken, or icons above tamed beasts seeming to float in the wrong place. Also the terrain might not always be visible in the minimap. Unfortunately I had to make some compromises, due to the way this game draws the HUD.

Widescreen monitors: 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.

Multiple monitors: There have been reports that running Far Cry Primal with a second monitor attached (in particular a projector) could make the game use the wrong FOV, as if the view was constantly zoomed in. That may or may not be related to launching the executable in compatibility mode. If you are experiencing this issue, and the virtual world does not appear to be stable when you look around, try disconnecting all monitors except for the main 16:9 one, and avoid using compatibility mode.

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