This new Quake VR mod is exactly what you’d expect; a hellishly good time… if you can stomach it.
Reddit user SuperV1234 released this mod for PC VR headsets over the weekend. Yes, there have been other Quake VR mods over the years (quite a few, in fact), but this is probably the best one we’ve seen yet. It’s got hand-tracking for both of the player’s hands, full weapon models to go with that tracking, and even a VR melee system and physical interaction for buttons etc. It’s about as close as the game has gotten to feeling like a native VR game yet.
We ran through the first few levels in the video below. We’ve got the HD texture pack installed, which we’d definitely recommend adding yourself if you intend to play.
Of course, Quake is a super fast-paced type of shooter, and the mod only offers smooth locomotion. After racing down a few hallways I felt a little woozy but, played in short bursts, this is a really impressive mod. The melee system, in particular, feels weighty and fits right in with the rest of the game and reaching out to grab items and weapons comes quite naturally after a while. If you haven’t played a Quake VR mod yet, this is definitely the one to seek out for the time being.
Thanks to the efforts of open source developers and modders, you can now play the original Half-Life on your Oculus Go. Well, sort of. It actually works by importing the game’s files into Quake’s engine.
Video from MrNeitey
Half-Life’s engine, GoldSrc, was actually just a modified version of the Quake engine. That engine was written by John Carmack and Michael Abrash in 1996 for Quake itself. Coincidentally, both now work on VR at Facebook. Carmack in particular was heavily involved in the creation of the Go headset.
So modders figured out that you can import the assets from Half-Life to the VR Quake app’s directory and actually play Half-Life. It’s not perfect, but the engine is similar enough that it does mostly work.
Source: UploadVR
It’s a little awkward to move around with Go’s touchpad, but that’s just the limitations of the platform. We didn’t try playing with a gamepad when testing it.
The developer of QuakeGVR stated they plan to bring the project to Oculus Quest– so hopefully you can play Half-Life on Quest too with full 6DOF head tracking when it releases.
The fact that a game released in 1998 using a modified engine from 1996 can be played on a standalone VR headset from 2018 says mountains about the value of open source software. Hopefully the VR development community adopts more open source principles so 20 years from now we can play Superhot VR in the Holodeck.
Installation
Want to get this running on your Go? As QuakeGVR isn’t available on the Oculus Store (likely due to copyright reasons), you’ll need to sideload it.
Launch Quake in the Unknown Sources section of your Oculus Go library. Make sure it works properly, then close it.
Sideload the Amaze File Manager if you do not already have a file manager on your headset
Download the Half-Life 1 game files from the Oculus Browser in the headset. Alternatively, download them on your PC and then drag it into the Download folder on Go (but the USB transfer may take some time).
Put on your headset and launch the Oculus TV app. Scroll down and open Amaze File Manager.
In the QGVR folder delete the folder called id1
Navigate to the Half Life files zip you downloaded. Click on it and click EXTRACT.
Navigate to the extracted folders. MOVE/CUT the id1 and hl folders to the QGVR folder (where you deleted the old id1 folder).
COPY progs.dat from the hl1 folder to the id1 folder.
When you open QuakeGVR it should now be Half-Life. Note that the menu won’t be different and it may take a very long time to load. But we tried it and it worked, so it should for you too.
DISCLAIMER: Sideloaded apps are by definition not vetted by Oculus. You install them “at your own risk”, as they could affect the security or stability of your headset.
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Being the visual entertainment medium that it is, you might be surprised to findout BBC Radio 4 has now dabbled in virtual reality (VR) for its new online audio drama Quake.
Made up of 12 short form audio pieces, Quake is set as the search for survivors begins after a deadly earthquake. Each drama is only available online and accompanied by a graphic-novel style animation. But for the first episode, a 360-degree film has been created.
Made by BAFTA award-winning video production company BDH Immersive, the film takes place inside a collapsed building, and as the viewer’s eyes become accustomed to the darkness, the sights and sounds of their surroundings become apparent.
Rhian Roberts, Digital Editor at Radio 4 said: “Quake is designed as something that can fit into whatever space you have available in the day, choosing episodes to suit, or listening to the whole thing as a podcast. It’s an exciting innovation in how we offer Radio 4 drama to both new and existing audiences. The slow paced visuals offer an extra dimension to each episode, but it’s always the audio drama that leads the way.”
The film will support multiple VR headsets, viewable on the Radio 4 YouTube channel and on the Radio 4 website. Quake will also be available as a complete box-set from 15th May 2017.
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