Skyrim with Vireio Perception 2.01
- MOST of the interior shadows have all been FIXED.
- There was a strange shadow clipping error in each eye when you got very close to objects or certain textures. This has been FIXED.
- Fog and mist head tracking rotation errors are FIXED.
- There is a default GUI 3D Depth setting to make it easier to read.
Yes, we still have more work to do – but Skyrim should definitely be more playable now in true 3D form.
For those unfamiliar, Vireio Perception are free open source VR drivers that let you take existing games and play them in VR. It’s not a replacement for native VR support, but we can get pretty darned close! ;=)
If you haven’t tried Vireio Perception 2.0 yet, be sure to read through this section and the FAQ!
Fixing the Syrim fog and mist required making a trade-off with shadows in certain game segments. We had to choose one or the other; so we picked the fog and mist. The reason for this is the game is using the same vertex shader (HASHCODE 717279834) for both the transparency layer of the fog, and certain shadows. We can only apply one rule to a vertex shader at a time which means it’s a lousy choice! Another option is to turn the shader off entirely, or ask gamers to turn their interior shadows off. That’s just throwing out the baby with the bathwater, isn’t it?
We have some ideas on updating the architecture to get around this problem, but it’s going to take time. The community is encouraged to share ideas in Vireio Perception’s discussion forums and lend a hand where possible.
The remaining option is if we could use VRBoost and find the memory pointer for rotating the camera instead of manually rotating the projection matrix. Our coders have tried to find it with Cheat Engine, but the register either doesn’t exist or we just haven’t found it yet. If we could get the game’s cameras to do the rotating, that would really solve a lot of problems and make for an even better VR gaming experience with Skyrim.
As things are, it’s a definite improvement, and it would be good if we could get another Vireio Perception release out before the new year is upon us. For those involved, it continues to be a great learning experience.
Please remember to share your results in GameGradeVR so fellow gamers can learn about which settings work best, and driver developers can see what problems need to be fixed in an upcoming release. GGVR is non-proprietary, and equally supports DDD TriDef, VorpX, and native VR software options – including game modifications. For example, this is how Vireio Perception 2.0’s Skyrim ranks against version 2.0.0.1.
The scoring isn’t set in stone, so as the community tries the service and we learn more, GGVR will get adjusted. Have fun!