VRChat showcases the incredible versatility of virtual reality as a medium. This week, we're diving back into VRChat to explore three more worlds that illustrate just how varied the experiences on this platform can be. From artistic exhibitions to mysterious labyrinths and musical journeys, let’s take a closer look at the wonders awaiting us.
As always, we encourage you to share your own VRChat discoveries with us at tips@uploadvr.com.
Museum of VR Painting
0:00
/1:23
Let’s start off this week’s exploration by touring the Museum of VR Painting by tanabe. An elegant digital space that showcases the convergence of art and virtual reality, this digital museum features a small collection of virtual artworks, each one transcending traditional art forms by harnessing the unique capabilities of VR. From 3D exhibits you can actually enter and view as if they were holographic displays to meticulously detailed static pieces, this VRChat world is a haven for both art enthusiasts and virtual explorers alike. Each room within the museum offers a new surprise, inviting visitors to engage with these art pieces in new and exciting ways that are only possible in virtual reality.
Next, we venture into the realm of Complex 7 by Fins, an extraordinarily detailed city seemingly frozen in time. In this world, the boundaries between mechanical and organic blur, with robots and animals coexisting in harmony. Walking through this world’s bustling streets, it’s easy to be immediately consumed by a sense of awe and wonder. The cityscape is meticulously detailed featuring graphics that rival many high end PCVR games we see released lately. Each new corner of the city offers a discovery and every interaction with the inhabitants reveals fragments of their back stories. The world of Complex 7 is dark, and the industrial aesthetic, combined with nicely done atmospheric soundscapes, creates an immersive experience that captivates both the senses and the imagination. As you delve deeper, the secrets of Complex 7 gradually come to light, rewarding explorers with a rich narrative that leaves a lasting impression.
Our final destination for this week is ODESZA - A Moment Apart by HoneyWeeWee, an otherworldly experience inspired by the music of ODESZA. This world incorporates both audio and visuals into a multisensory VR journey by blending digital art with stellar lighting and special effects that seemingly become one with the emotive power of the music being experienced. For fans of ODESZA or anyone else for that matter, this is a dream-like escape that enhances amazing music through the immersive capabilities of VR, offering a moment of pure auditory bliss.
As our exploration of VRChat continues, stay tuned for our next installment where we'll delve into the thrilling adventures of Magic Heist, the water world of Aqua: Oceans of Luma, and the historical drama of A Night To Remember - Titanic Survival Experience. Until our next adventure, keep exploring and happy world-hopping!
If you missed them be sure to check out our other adventures exploring VRChat at the links below:
Talented creators on VRChat continue to publish surprising worlds, some of which are truly mesmerizing. This week, we extend our exploration of these VRChat creations further by diving into three more exciting worlds, each one offering a unique and immersive experience.
As always, we invite you to share your own VRChat discoveries with us at tips@uploadvr.com.
The Fortress of Okuu's Point
0:00
/1:09
Starting our journey this week, we find ourselves at The Fortress of Okuu's Point. This high-altitude fortress is designed with meticulous attention to detail. As you traverse the vast corridors and lofty towers, an atmospheric soundscape and stunning visual detail transport you into this world of epic proportions. With intricate architecture to explore and a narrative that unfolds as you do, the Fortress of Okuu's Point offers a feast for the senses and many hidden corners waiting to be found and explored.
Next, we traverse the vast depths of space in Far Citizen: Elite Mining, a world that captures the essence of cosmic resource extraction. Set in a future where space excavation is a lucrative form of employment, this world invites miners to operate advanced spacecraft where they will warp to new destinations, extracting precious ores from floating asteroids. The immersive mechanics and realistic space environments make this not just a visual spectacle, but also an engaging strategic experience similar to what players might find in Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen. For fans of space exploration and industrial simulation, this world is a must-visit destination in VRChat.
Concluding this virtual tour, we step into Pixel Paradise Arcade, a popular hub that brings the nostalgia of being in a classic arcade into the modern age. This vibrant world overflows with retro-inspired games, flashing neon lights, and the buzzing ambiance of an arcade. From interactive arcade cabinets to pool tables and pinball machines, Pixel Paradise Arcade is a playful tribute to gaming history. The blend of nostalgic elements with VR’s immersive technology offers a delightful escape, making it a perfect spot for both seasoned gamers and new visitors.
As we continue our journey through VRChat’s expansive universe, stay tuned as we discover the artistic allure of the Museum of VR Painting, unveil the secrets of Complex 7, and revel in the multisensory experience of ODESZA - A Moment Apart. Until our next adventure, keep exploring and happy world-hopping!
And of course, be sure to check out some of our previous explorations of PC VRChat with the following links:
Meta first launched Horizon Worlds on web and mobile in beta almost a year ago in August 2023. It was limited to only a single world at first, the Super Rumble FPS developed with professional tools by Meta's first-party studio Ouro Interactive, and over time Meta added web and mobile support to more worlds developed by Ouro and contracted external studios.
Now all worlds, whether developed by users inside VR or professionals with desktop tools, are available on web and mobile. Worlds that are specifically optimized for web and mobile will show an 'Optimized' tag, but you can still join worlds that aren't.
You can access Meta Horizon Worlds in a compatible web browser at horizon.meta.com, via the Meta Quest smartphone app, or of course in VR via Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3, or the Meta Quest Link PC VR platform.
This week our journey through VRChat’s expansive network of worlds continues, with destinations recommended to us by seasoned VR travelers with extensive experience in the platform’s diverse environments.
Cosmoria: VR Museum of Space commemorates the legacy of space exploration. This meticulously crafted virtual museum takes you on an educational voyage through our exploration of space, featuring detailed exhibits on planetary systems, star formations, and cosmic mysteries. As you navigate through the vast expanse of the universe, the level of detail and visual fidelity that you can achieve with a high-powered PC setup becomes immediately apparent. This is both enlightening and immersive, offering a fully-featured space museum wherever your PC rig is connected to VRChat. This is a destination for space enthusiasts and curious VR travelers that should definitely get bookmarked for later.
Travelers can take a nostalgic journey into the iconic Hyrule as seen in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Experience the realm brought to life with incredible detail in this VR rendition that allows you to explore iconic locations like Kokiri Forest, Hyrule Castle, and Death Mountain, all reimagined with stunning accuracy. Whether your goal is to relive cherished memories, or just experiencing this classic game world for the first time, the immersive quality provided here with a powerful PC VR setup amplifies the magic and wonder of this timeless game world. Fans of the original game, and new explorers alike, will find a sense of joy and nostalgia around every corner.
Take a trip back in time in an experience that lets you engineer a steam engine locomotive. This world offers interactive controls that allow you to manage the train’s operations. You can even sound the whistle as you traverse picturesque landscapes. The sound design and immersive environments make this a must-visit VRChat world for railroad enthusiasts. Experiencing this historical mode of travel in VR not only brings the past to life, but also highlights the charm of days gone by.
As we continue to uncover more of VRChat’s fascinating worlds, stay tuned for further explorations as we try to explore the boundaries of virtual immersion in VRChat. In our next segment, we'll try our hand at mining some asteroids in Far Citizen ˸ Elite Mining, explore The Fortress of Okuu's Point and visit the Pixel Paradise Arcade but until then stay tuned and happy world-hopping!
Rec Room's optional full body avatars are now available to all players in beta, but they still don't support body tracking.
Full body avatars are an optional alternative to Rec Room's current avatars, which only feature a head, torso, and hands. The feature started rolling out in beta in March, but was limited to level 50 players at first.
Competitor VRChat has supported full body avatars driven by body tracking hardware for many years now, while Meta's Horizon Worlds added full bodies last year, though like Rec Room it also doesn't currently support body tracking.
Rec Room says it's still working on support for body tracking on SteamVR, such as via strapping on 3 or more Vive Trackers or using Quest 3's inside-out upper body (IOBT) tracking on PC via Virtual Desktop. The company isn't giving a specific timeline for this though, and hasn't said whether Quest 3's IOBT will be supported on standalone.
For now, Rec Room full bodies are driven with inverse kinematics (IK), meaning the system will attempt to estimate the likely positions of your limbs based on the position of your head and hands.
Rec Room stresses that full body avatars will remain fully optional, saying it's "committed" to keeping the "floating bean" avatars around too.
Meta’s social VR platform Horizon Worldshasn’t been available to everyone, with the company restricting the app’s use to only a few countries. Now it’s rightfully rolling out to every region where Quest is supported.
Despite being available on the web since last January, geolocation restrictions only allowed Quest users access in select countries, which included Canada, France, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Meta today announced that starting this week the company will begin rolling out Horizon Worlds “to people in all Meta Quest markets in supported languages so more people can connect with each other around the globe.”
This includes access for users 13+ across the following Quest-supported regions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Users must be 14+ in South Korea and Spain.
This comes as the company ostensibly seeks to promote Horizon Worlds as a more fundamental social layer to its rapidly growing platform, which is soon set to include third-party VR headsets for the first time.
Horizon Worlds will come part and parcel with Horizon OS (ex-Quest OS) and the Horizon Store (ex-Quest Store), which will be available on Quest-like headsets built by ASUS, Lenovo and Xbox.
Meta's Horizon Worlds "metaverse" platform is finally rolling out to all countries where Quest headsets are sold.
Currently Horizon Worlds is only available in the USA, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Ireland, and Iceland. Now the platform is coming to the remaining Quest supported countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, South Korea, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
Meta says this "rollout" will begin this week and take a "few months" to complete, so it could be quite a while before users in these new countries actually get access.
The app is restricted to users 13 and above in most countries except for Spain and South Korea, where the minimum age is 14.
Over the past year Horizon Worlds has gone through significant changes that make it a very different platform compared to a few years ago.
Originally all its worlds were created inside VR using primitive shapes and an in-VR visual scripting system, but now the leading worlds are built by professional game studios using traditional 3D asset creation pipelines and scripting.
Some worlds are now also available on phones via the Meta Quest app, and on the web too.
The platform's avatars even got legs, solving the problem it was previously widely ridiculed for.
By February Horizon Worlds had become one of the top 10 most used apps on the Quest Store in the US, and it remains in this ranking. That's a vast improvement for a platform that back in 2022 by Meta's own admission had "not found product market fit", and a global rollout could accelerate this newfound success.
Still, despite being in the top 10 the platform remains less notably popular than its primary competitors Rec Room, VRChat, and Roblox, even with Meta's efforts to integrate it into the Quest system software.
Planet Funkatron and The Organism Trilogy offer some surprising sights in VRChat on PC. Here's a look inside:
We've been in contact with VRChat experts with thousands of hours logged across the service's interconnected web of worlds and had a few tour guides pointing us toward some of the most memorable places. We were already recording our findings when VRChat cut 30% of its workforce this week to lengthen its runway toward growth. We don't know what direction VRChat will take its social platform in the future, but this week, Don Hopper was our eyes and ears world hopping VRChat's latest public locations.
Don returned from his trip with video recorded from dozens of PC VR worlds. It's a bit overwhelming to see the incredible creative landscape possible with a beefy PC to really make it shine.
There's so much to see, we're going to make an effort here to link to many interesting public worlds over time. Link us to an interesting world with an email to tips@uploadvr.com.
All of Don's captures this week were made with him as Spock running PC VR on his Intel I9 13900k CPU with 64GB of DDR5 RAM and an NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU streaming to Quest 3 via Virtual Desktop. Capture was done directly on the Quest 3 headset. While it's possible that some worlds work in standalone Quest mode, we're choosing to highlight what PC-based systems are capable of showing players.
Qoo H Bocuma International Airport
The vast Qoo H Bocuma International Airport from hdorriker comes with working "underground transit system" and four terminals. "This is an Airport."
A moment captured in Don's footage shows twisting skyscrapers that are breathtaking to behold, with surprising moments to discover throughout each of these spaces "and no definitive answer."
0:00
/1:16
The TC Falcon II And Planet Funkatron
There is so much happening in here that it is hard to really convey, and creator TC_Pool isn't gonna help, describing it as "A HUGE world․ Very immersive․ Far too buckwild to explain here․"
Virtual Desktop's latest update lets you use Quest 3's Inside-Out Body Tracking and Generative Legs to emulate worn Vive Trackers for SteamVR body tracking.
Vive Trackers are mainly used by VRChat users to track body parts such as their torso, elbows, legs, and feet to drive their avatar in real-time. But this incurs a significant added cost. The traditional Vive Trackers cost $130 each and require SteamVR Tracking base stations ($150 each) while the inside-out Vive Ultimate Trackers cost $200 each - and both require $40-$50 straps too. Further, using traditional Vive Trackers with headsets that don't use SteamVR Tracking requires a manual calibration process, as does using Vive Ultimate Trackers with headsets other than HTC Vive standalone headsets.
Virtual Desktop's latest update on Meta Quest headsets, out now, can instead give you emulated Vive Trackers for your entire body.
To drive the positions of the upper body emulated trackers, on Quest 3 the update leverages the Inside-Out Body Tracking (IOBT) feature the headset got in December, which uses the headset's downwards-facing side cameras. On older Quest headsets it will simply use inverse kinematics (IK), a mathematical estimation based on your head and hand positions.
For the lower body emulated trackers Virtual Desktop uses Meta's Generative Legs feature, which Meta says uses a "cutting edge" AI model to estimate your legs positions. Generative Legs supports Quest 2, Quest Pro, and Quest 3.
0:00
/0:12
VR enthusiast Luna testing Virtual Desktop's Vive Tracker emulation on Quest 3.
You can configure which trackers are enabled and which aren't using a community-made tool. This lets you, for example, use Quest 3's IOBT for the upper body and real Vive Trackers for the lower body, giving you true 6DoF body tracking at the lowest possible cost.
0:00
/0:50
VR enthusiast Luna using Virtual Desktop emulated Vive Trackers for their upper body combined with real Vive Ultimate Trackers on their lower body.
And emulated Vive Trackers isn't the only new feature in this Virtual Desktop update. It also adds the ability to emulate Valve Index controllers using Quest's controller-free hand tracking, enabling finger tracking in SteamVR games which support it.
Finally, the update brings the following bug fixes and general improvements:
• Improved motion extrapolation quality of Synchronous Spacewarp (SSW) for all headsets • Now sending headset battery level and charging state to SteamVR • Reduced video compression artifacts with 10-bit codecs • Improved desktop streaming latency on macOS • Added Wide motion support with hand tracking on Quest • Switched to recognizing index and finger curl for trigger / grip presses when using regular hand tracking • Fixed issue with Unreal/Unity/WebXR where the VR session wasn't ending properly • Fixed desktop being cutoff on some resolutions with AMD • Fixed game compatibility with: Hard Bullet, Resonite, JKXR, Roblox
While Valve's Steam Link these days offers a free and frictionless gateway to SteamVR and Meta recently significantly improved Air Link's session battery life, Virtual Desktop's developer Guy Godin continues to push the bounds and add new features and improvements you won't find on either of the free alternatives, making his $20 app still the wireless PC VR tool of choice for many Quest owners.
The twins traded off driving the toy camper through the tall grass.
Plastic camper in hand, they would play in the front yard for time out of mind. They’d go on adventures around the bushes, to the stream and into the woods. On trips to volcanoes or deserts, or chased by wild animals, their make believe family was always safe inside that plastic camper.
The twins made up words together and escaped in these hours together. They also played multi-hour games of Monopoly together, ending with the formal recording of defeat to the superior twin in a new slip of paper for their keepsake box.
Roughly half a century has passed from those days in the 1970s and into the early '80s. The sisters live a time zone apart in Colorado and Indiana, in lives driven by their work schedules at a school and hospital. Across the waning years of the 20th century, through some of the toughest times of their lives, the sisters kept “close” via telephone call. It was just a hollow voice recreated over the lines and sent up the bundle of cord to their receivers, but it was a familiar one.
These days, those voices call out to one another over the expanse of virtual reality from a pair of Meta Quest 2 headsets.
“You’re really flogging now,” Tonda or Ronda tells me.
I can’t tell which of the cackling twins made the comment during our recent play session. The pair, now in their late ‘50s, met me in an airship at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The comment on my putting was fair as I had missed my shot for the second time. We floated over a recreation of the famed Paris world’s exhibition in the year 1889 and chatted for about half an hour there in the docked blimp on the 18th hole of a picture-perfect mini golf course.
The twins don’t play mini golf very well. They play so poorly, in fact, that it sometimes feels they’re playing a reverse of the game. When viewed that way — “flog” to get the highest score rather than “golf” to get the lowest — these sisters are fantastic VR gamers.
“Yep, that’s flogging,” one of them says after I miss another shot.
From Easter Egg Hunts & Treasure Maps To Wearing The Likeness Of A Dead Husband
Tonda and Ronda in Walkabout Mini Golf
The twins are among some of Walkabout Mini Golf’s biggest fans. They play the game quietly in their homes during whatever moments they can manage to squeeze it in. The narrative persists that many VR headsets go into disuse following initial excitement after purchase. In places like Walkabout Mini Golf, though, those headsets stay on the network to take VR travelers to some of the most meaningful people in their lives.
In the case of the twin sisters Ronda and Tonda, they’ve each purchased extra-long USB-C cords so they never run out of power to their headsets across five or more hours in a day together. When a new course debuts for them to explore, they seem to “pass over the money without even thinking about it” like the people in Field of Dreams.
“It could be $3, it could be $30, it could be $300,” Tonda said. “There is not a price you can put on a safe place you can spend with family. We’re in the same space, it doesn’t matter how much it costs.”
The first thing they do in any new Walkabout course is just look around.
Then they have a playthrough.
Then they find the 18 hidden balls. A Walkabout developer hides them just like the Easter Bunny. The twins go and find every single one. Sometimes they are helped by a YouTuber called Innerprincess VR, whose passionate videos document the location of each hidden ball in the game.
“We don’t cheat very often,” Tonda says defensively.
Later, the twins return to see the new course again at night so they can piece together clues on a fox hunt in search of their next special treasure for the clubhouse.
“Ronda can figure out all the clues,” Tonda says. “I can find the balls.”
One day, Ronda and Tonda discovered the game's developers, Mighty Coconut, added a beach ball. It can be smacked around much like the golf balls. They smacked it back and forth until it rolled over a rail and out toward the ocean. Then they decided to spend an “embarrassing amount of time” trying to get the ball back to the top of the Laser Lair. The twins felt so tickled by the idea that they spent so much time putting the thing back into place that they’ve made a recurring joke out of the whole affair. They've even sent each other beach balls in the mail.
When I first spoke on the phone with Tonda, I got right to the point in asking why she moved away from her sister in the first place all those years ago.
“When I was 17, I met the love of my life,” she says.
Dan is his name.
“Protect your mom,” the kids always heard their dad say. “Take care of your mom.”
Tonda said goodbye to Dan in the morning before heading to work. When she finished her shift to head home that day in 2022, he didn’t pick up the phone.
Tonda didn’t want to get out of bed anymore.
Their first date was on January 1, 1983. They saw 48 Hours together. Dan apologized after the movie. He didn’t realize just how much bad language was gonna be in the film. The couple eloped on December 27, 1983.
She only left the house for work and didn’t answer anybody’s calls. After more attempts to invite Tonda out than a family can count, she finally accepted an invite to dinner.
That night, Tonda’s son put her in contact with his Quest 2 and she tried out tennis and ping pong. By the end of the weekend, Tonda had her own Quest 2 and the following Wednesday, Ronda had hers. Not long after, they were putting together, ball-hunting together, flying together, and then flogging together.
To say that Tonda has used her VR headset to process her husband’s death is an understatement. She found Walkabout’s simple avatar editor and customized it to make her avatar look like Dan, so much so that her adult son cried when he came face to face with his likeness on the golf course.
“Oh my god, this is a way for her to bring him in,” Ronda realized when she joined in. “She’s not alone in this.”
Dan in real life trying an early VR headset.
“It’s like he’s there too,” Tonda says. “When I did not want to communicate with anybody, along came this opportunity that was different to give me a way to come out of it.”
“For people that maybe don’t perceive themselves as gamers, you don’t have to be good at it to have a good time,” Tonda says. “It’s not about being good at it, it’s about ‘let's go do this thing together and spend time together.’ It’s just about going someplace that’s nice and safe.”
Don Hopper
