DS2OTB
Legal notice: this post is made available through the Patreon platform ONLY to current subscribers of the "VR friend" tier, exclusively for private reading and/or interacting with comments. Any other use of the contents, including but not limited to reposting, copying, republishing in whole or in part on social media or any other form of disclosure is strictly prohibited, and in violation of Luke Ross's and Patreon's IP rights and terms of service.
Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3280350/DEATH_STRANDING_2_ON_THE_BEACH/
Enabled technologies
Supported version(s)
The R.E.A.L. VR framework was tested with game version 1.6.72.0, a.k.a. PC Patch 1.6, available from Steam at the address linked at the top (I get no commissions). The same version of the title bought from other stores should also work, but I cannot give any guarantees, as there could be differences that cause issues ranging from small defects to showstopping problems in VR.
Older versions or pirated copies are not supported. Official versions later than the ones listed above may or may not work, depending on what was changed. See here for information on how to prevent automatic game updates from breaking VR functionality.
Special setup notes
The folder where you should extract the R.E.A.L. VR archive and run RealConfig is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\DEATH STRANDING 2 - ON THE BEACH". You might need to customize the path if you moved your games library or in case you own the game from a different store, but it will always be the folder that contains the "DS2.exe" executable file.
Resolution and aspect ratio
Use the "Target pixels per degree" slider and "Adapt resolution" button (see here to find out how they work).
Unlike the first episode in the series, this time I was able to coax the game into accepting an arbitrary aspect ratio without showing the ugly letterboxing black bars during gameplay, and without the all-important menus (like the world map, cargo management and so on) being cut off at the sides. So the framework will automatically choose the tightest aspect ratio that accommodates your headset and no wasted pixels will be drawn by your GPU.
Options
You can set all graphics and gameplay options according to your liking and how powerful your GPU is, but there are a few settings that you must leave at the defaults preselected by RealConfig in order for the title to display properly in VR. Specifically, in the Options> Display Settings menu:
Display Mode must be Windowed;
Aspect Ratio must be Auto;
Under HDR/Brightness Settings, HDR must be Off;
Upscale Method should be DLSS, to be able to use my DL(S)SS fix that will get rid of almost all the shimmering around characters and nearby objects;
Upscale Quality and Sharpness are up to you (I personally use Balanced with a sharpness of 5);
Dynamic Resolution Scaling must be Off;
VSync must be Off;
Frame Generation must be Off (this is crucial as not only FG does not work at all in VR, it usually also crashes the game immediately and sometimes even brings down the whole system);
Latency Reduction should be Off (YMMV, but for me switching it on tends to have a negative impact on frame rate);
and in the Options-> Graphics Settings menu:
Motion Blur Strength must be 0 (you should never enable any kind of motion blur when using R.E.A.L. VR, or the world will look smeared out horizontally);
Depth of Field must be Medium.
I also recommend that you set Options> Controller Settings> Aim Assist to Off, so the game won't try to interfere with gaze-based aiming in VR.
Everything else can be adjusted according to your preferences. If you have an AMD card, I'm told that Upscale Method = FSR 3.1.5 works pretty well and shouldn't exhibit shimmering halos.
Additional game-specific notes
You can bring up the R.E.A.L. overlay with the Pause key on the keyboard, or by pressing Back+Start (Select+Start) on the gamepad. The controller gesture is always active, even during gameplay.
Input
You will definitely want to use a gamepad to play DS2OTB. 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.
The title works wonderfully with the PS5 DualSense controller, and if you have one lying around I wholeheartedly suggest that you dust it off and plug it in before venturing out there to be a porter, as it will make for a much more immersive experience. Remember that while you can use the DualSense in wireless mode, hardware limitations will prevent you from accessing certain important features like the gamepad's internal speaker or advanced haptics, so I recommend always connecting your DualSense via USB.
Camera, HUD, gameplay, cutscenes
The R.E.A.L. framework supports 6 DoF tracking. In this title the camera will follow your head rotation and movement in space, and it will be completely decoupled from the direction your character or vehicle is facing, except when aiming.
The HUD is basically perfect, with every element displaying at its correct place in the 3D scene. World markers like quest objectives or enemy health bars will be drawn at the proper depth, solidly anchored to the NPC or environment position they refer to, and will look normal-sized.
For floating HUD elements, like game hints, ammo counters and the like, I managed to push them toward the center of your field of view to account for the fact that VR headsets do not allow you to see the edges of the screen. You can customize the amount of rescaling for those elements by using the "HUD scale X" and "HUD scale Y" sliders, which will have immediate effect during gameplay (they are ignored when the game is paused in a menu). Note that these sliders are found in the "DS2OTB" game-specific overlay tab and are not to be confused with the "Normal HUD size/distance" and "Aiming HUD size" sliders available in the HUD section of the main page in the overlay.
The game comes with its own built-in first person mode, although most of the time you will want to use the third-person view because you need to check if Sam is losing his balance and stuff like that.
Cutscenes are presented in glorious 3D, and my framework will give you the ability to look anywhere you like. Even the "backstage" (parts of the scene which you were never supposed to see) will render correctly for the most part, without a lot of missing props, teleporting or rubber-legged characters. In the beginning there are some introductory videos that will of course be shown on a 2D virtual screen.
I managed to remove both the hard-coded frame rate cap and mandatory depth of field effect on cutscenes, so you'll be able to take in every detail of the environment with full clarity and fluidity.
Custom controls in the "DS2OTB" overlay tab
Since my experiment with BG3 was successful, I'm now thinking of extending the capability to unlock the horizon to other supported games. So you will find a new "Camera pitch behavior" dropdown menu that can be set to:
"Always keep horizon locked": the golden rule in VR, and the original setting I used for all these years. When this is selected, no matter what happens in cutscenes or gameplay, the R.E.A.L. VR framework will always keep the horizon, erm, horizontal. This is meant to minimize conflicting inputs to your vestibular system, as many people get sick otherwise. The exception to this rule is when you're inside a vehicle in first person, as in that case it looks much more natural if the horizon tilts along with the frame of reference given by the vehicle's cockpit.
"Fully unlocked": using the gamepad right stick or the mouse to move the camera will make the world tilt up or down just like it does when you're playing a 3D game on a flat screen. This is potentially very nauseating in VR, and I don't like it personally because it's immersion breaking for me: it gives me the feeling that I'm in a game I control, as opposed to a fixed external reality. But on the plus side, it won't force you to crane your neck up and down when the camera position is far above or below the target you're looking at (which is especially annoying in cutscenes that quickly alternate between the camera pointing straight up and down, as you never seem to be looking at the point where the action is).
"Tilt for large angles (default)": this is the new preferred option I'm experimenting with. It will keep the horizon locked for normal situations, like when the gameplay or cutscene camera is facing more or less straight ahead; however, it will progressively tilt the world towards you as the camera inclination becomes steeper. So during normal gameplay it will feel like the world is stable, which by all means it should be, but if for instance a cutscene is rapidly toggling the camera between pointing way up and way down (think the classical Romeo and Juliet scene), you will be able to see everything without constantly craning your neck.
Let me know what you think of this idea!
Normally the camera field of view in VR should be set to exactly match the one exposed by you headset, or the world will look distorted as you turn your head around. However, freezing the FOV means no more zooming capability for sniper rifles, binoculars and the like. "Allow FOV change past this zoom level" will set the threshold past which the R.E.A.L. VR framework interprets the FOV change suggested by the game as an actual zooming request and allows it to change your view of the world. Setting it to 1 will let all FOV changes go through (not recommended because the environment will appear to bend and swim most of the time as though you were underwater), while choosing a very high value will give you traditional VR behavior and it will make scopes and binoculars pretty much useless.
Updates and known issues
[Update May 4: Release 2605.4.2_early_access of the R.E.A.L. VR framework is compatible with DS2OTB patch 1.6. Gaze-based aiming will work as intended even if you start aiming with a boomerang or grenade, as opposed to aiming first with a rifle. The Battery and Boot bars rescale properly with the rest of the UI now, so they will no longer be clipped out of the visible area in the headset. The symbols and signs left behind by other players will finally show up in your world.]
Gamepads: if you are using an Xbox-style gamepad, buttons pressed while the R.E.A.L. overlay is open might leak through to the game. That doesn't happen when you're using the much more immersive PS5 DualSense controller, which is another reason why I recommend it as the preferred device for this title. Of course if you only have an XInput controller you can always use the keyboard to navigate the overlay.
Crashes: Steam Input might need to be disabled, or enabled, or configured to use default settings—depending on your system, the phase of the moon and other factors we haven't been able to pinpoint. Just experiment, and if your game crashes (especially at the start) that's the first setting you should try to change.
Aiming: this title has a combat training mode which can be accessed either from private rooms or from certain terminals. I recommend accessing it from private rooms, because if you choose to run it from a terminal, when you return to normal gameplay you might encounter a bug where the engine doesn't reset the aiming state, so the camera will behave strangely. I can't fix it, but there's an easy workaround: once you're back to normal gameplay, if you're affected by the issue, just pull out a weapon and aim briefly. When you stop aiming, the camera state will reset.
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]
Comments (65)
Hey, DSOTB2 crashes every time I try to get the real mod overlay to appear. I tried the double-thumbsticks and pause button and they both cause a crash to desktop.
Try disabling Steam input.
How to get rid of the black bars during cutscenes?
i just started the game, but all UI elements are doubled, including REALVR UI. HUD sliders in general tab don't seem to work. The XY sliders in the game tab work, but don't affect the doubling. Does someone know how to resolve this?
Make sure your game settings are correct according to the post. What headset and how is it connected if not DisplayPort? If you put a copy of your RealVR64.log file on pastebin and post a link here, that might help too.
Absolutely breathtaking. Cristal Clear Picture, no shimmering, no ghosting. Brilliant work, Luke!
I’m having issues with the aiming system after the latest DS2 update. Has anyone experienced this after the recent game update? Is there a known fix or do we need to wait for a mod patch?
Are you using the latest version of the REAL framework? Sorry for not seeing this. After the last game update, Luke had to fix it. Should be good to go on the latest REAL version though. You may still need to aim with a gun/rifle for the fix to apply.
Btw, the way to experience the game in first person view is by going into compass mode (press left bumper on sony controller) then tap the triangle button to remove hud elements (and base and objective icons which tend to shift the viewing direction wildly)… you can’t really play the entire game this way, but it’s nice when driving or hiking and you want to soak in the beauty of the world. It’d be nice if there was a toggle for the compass mode (instead of having to keep L1 pressed).. even though the options do have a parameter for it (for me it’s on toggle but probably not working because the radar ping is tied by default to a press of L1)
Someone made a toggle button like that for part 1 on Nexus mods. Maybe they will do the same for part 2? Or might have already. I haven't checked in a while.
I just finished another evening of DS2 and now I saw the email about the update. Too bad I'll have to wait another day to try it out, but I just want to thank you regardless! I think that should make this game pretty much perfect now! I'm 133+ hours in and definitely going to at least get 200 before I finish the story. Delivering in this beautiful environment is such an unique experience in VR, I'm just gonna keep getting TTA on orders until they make me sick :D I guess it's much more tempting to work on new titles rather than polishing those nitpicks, but updates like this also bring double the karma boost! At least in the form of my (and hopefully others) eternal gratitude! And in the long run the fewer the issues, the more popular the framework will be. PS: Baldur's Gate 3 also had some very minor UI issues, just saying ;)
Got to try it today and it's just so nice to finally see the sign icons, it was a bit confusing without them (especially if you're trying to guess which one was it that gave you that buff and so you could also place it for others). The charge/boots level is now also always visible which is great! So the only issue that is left that I know of are these quizzes still lacking the image for the question. Luckily there's only a few of them in the entire game, so not a big loss, I think (still don't know what the outcome of them actually is though). Thanks again!
Help needed! :) After many hours in Death Stranding 2, suddenly the aim gazing mechanics no longer works, when firing bullets the reticle does follow my gaze, but Sam is firing in a fixed direction that is controlled by the stick on the ps5 gamepad... and same thing when aiming grenades, the aim is controlled by the right stick... I've restarted the game, loaded old saves, rebooted, re-installed REAL, re-enabled and disabled again Steam input ...nothing fixes it... although driving and walking around to make deliveries is working, this unfortunately breaks the game because fights become unmanageable - because the gaze reticle is disconnected to the actual aiming direction, I can't even tell where I'm shooting (and same thing when sniping, the scope direction is totally disconnected from where the rifle is shooting).
Yup, the update today broke it. Luke is aware and going to work on getting it fixed :)
Hey Luke, any chance you know why Dark Souls 3 can only go up to 3920x3920 resolution while Dark Souls 1 has higher presets in the menu? Have been trying to figure this out for a while!
As aiming doesn't work well with "Fully unlocked" mode, I switched to "Tilt for large angles (default)" ever since the first shooting encounters and have been playing like this for 60+ hours by now. And I want to say it's pretty much a perfect mix! I sometimes still switch to Fully unlocked during cutscenes, but that's a really minor improvement that just allows me to see the scene from angles that were intended by the director. One question though - how hard would it be to make it accessible to other 3rd person titles? I think Spidey would benefit the most, but probably all the other games too. I especially dislike the way camera goes too high that I don't even see my character anymore in Horizon Zero Dawn (for some reason it happens to me more frequently there than in DS1, for example). It would be so great to get back to the already released titles with this new feature! And I'll definitely hope to get it with the future releases.
dude! when did you start charging members again and why didn't you notify your members that you will start charging again? I kept my membership because you said you won't charge until the copyright fiasco is over and I wanted to support you. I never received a notice that the membership fee is on again! I only use your mod for Cyberpunk, I have no use for it now that that title is out of the game, you should have sent out a notice before you start charging again! I looked everywhere, there is no notice, not even here! I find this very deceptive especially because most people only pay for one month membership to get the mod then cancel until the mod gets broken and needs an update! I want my money back from the March 28 charge! Honestly, I feel cheated! I only found out that you charged me on my card statement! I think it comes without saying that if you suspend the membership fee you will notify people that you are starting to charge again! This really sucks!
Luke did mention that he was pausing membership charges for just one month and that hopefully that would be long enough to figure things out. He also released another game in March as well as starting to restructure the Patreon. So, it makes sense to start charging again. I can ask about a refund though. If you don't want to support anymore or aren't interested in anything but Cyberpunk, do cancel immediately through Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/posts/under-attack-148872345 "You don't need to unsubscribe: I paused the billing cycle for one month so that your pledges will NOT be renewed automatically, and those of you who are already subscribed will have their access extended for one month without further payments. I hope one month will be enough for the fog to clear up, and to understand what is going to happen to our collective attempt to make VR available for AAA games. To boldly go where no publisher wants to go (or to let us go) anymore."
hi. Where can i Download the latest version now?
https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-152734106 The latest version will always be attached to the Early Access post. It will get updated when a new game is supported.
Hello! This game is absolutely incredible! I'm just having one tiny issue with the battery and boot gauges displaying improperly. They seem to be showing up all the way in the bottom corner of the screen, just outside of the headset's view. Is there any way to more aggressively resize it to floating HUD size so it's visible? I think this might be the same issue someone else mentioned about subtitles being too low and cut off in cutscenes.
You have tried the HUD sliders in the DS2 tab of the REAL overlay?
I really love playing through the game in VR thanks a lot for this. Is there a way to disable gaze based aiming though? It really is unmanagable with the sniper rifles
Only in DS2, the newest one.
Is there a way to declutter screen from the ever present tips for the defeated enemies and their cargo? I’ve got to a first enemy base, and after a short while half of my screen were covered with a HUGE “Bandit boots”, “Electric Baton” and alike. They are seen from a very far away, and never disappear. The size of them could be 2-3 times smaller, and they still would be readable. I wonder if there is a solution of some sort. P.S. This issue has nothing to do with REAL VR mod itself, therefore zero complaints! 😊 Thanks! 🙇♂️
You should be able to turn tips off in the game settings. I don't know what all it applies to though. Probably doesn't apply to cargo labels as you then wouldn't know what things are :) They aren't that big for me though, and I don't think I can see them from too far away. Did you change any of the accessibility settings or anything like that? There are also HUD settings in the game, but I didn't mess with them much. What headset are you using?
Just in case: DSX utility enables Adaptive Triggers for wireless DualSense connection! It requires the DSX itself and DSX+ DLC, but they together something around €15 on Steam. Very nice and convenient UI, and most importantly - it WORKS! 🥳
No haptics though? I like how haptics work in this game with rain and stuff like that.
I see quite some jitter (image doubles) when I move my head. I'm using Optimized Settings on 5090 + Quest 3 + VD @72Hz, DLSS 4.5 @Balanced, AFR2 1/2, 30PPS. FPS is rock-solid 72. I wonder if that is a technology/engine limitation (not a deal breaker, actually) or if it's something wrong with my configuration? Any tips? Thank you! P.S. Playing Death Stranding 2 in VR is a Dream Come True! Thank you, Luke!
What is doubling precisely? Everything? The UI? Try switching to Legacy and see if it still happens. Also make sure you don't have motion smoothing or anything of that nature on in VD. You are using VDXR in the streamer app and Oculus runtime? No SteamVR right?
Hello, I just downloaded Death Stranding 2 on Steam, and when I enable the mod, it crashes after about one second. Basically, the image starts to appear in VR, and then it crashes. Maybe it’s due to a recent update. Do you have any advice for me?
Try disabling Steam input under controller settings (or try other options there if that doesn't help).
Any idea why I don't see any of the emotes players leave on the ground? I only see player tags and their stats, but not the actual emote image (like a thumbsup, or a cheerleader). I also do hear specific sounds when I walk by them. Maybe I'm not far enough in the game (I got to the first BT boss), but the game does let me drop an emote (which I don't see either)... is this a glitch in the VR mode?
No idea why, but I also don't see them. Not a biggie, but I remember it worked fine in DS1.
Finally got to play it and once again I was just staring at the scenery with an open mouth and just couldn't believe how beautiful and detailed everything is. The new "Fully unlocked" camera works exactly as I wished ever since I tried REALVR, however the aiming in this mode doesn't seem to work that well. Even if I recenter the camera and hold still, the shooting is way off from the crosshair, making it very hard hitting anything that is farther than 5 meters away. I'd be fine to limit myself to semi 3DOF as it was done in Indiana Jones, for example, to avoid the need to recentering (a checkbox for that would be welcome in all games in any case), but since even that doesn't seem to help, I wonder, am I missing something or is it just too tricky to fix at this point?
I'll try it out. I haven't tried it with the camera unlocked yet :)
What methods can be used to solve the problem of subtitles being positioned too low?
Only one I am aware of currently, is using your ears 🙃 I did not try adjusting Aspect Ratio in any way, but that would probably mess up menus or something else. The game puts them towards the bottom of the screen unfortunately. You can change the text size to portable to make it a bit easier to see but doesn't change position.
fyi, for me turning on HAGS made a significant difference in performance, i was able to boost scaling by 10ppd and settings from medium to high, using AER2 I also updated my 4090 drivers ironically the game crashed on me when Sam puts on the VR goggles for the weapon training, I guess VR within VR is too much for my system :)
Probably a runtime or software conflict from using 2 headsets at the same time. Rookie mistake 😉
Wow, is this real life or just a dream? Not only the long waited second part is now available in VR (I finished the first one 100% with your framework and it's one of my favorite experiences), but now with fully unlocked camera it's just beyond any expectations! Thank you so much! Please keep it for the future releases, I'd love to play all games like this and hopefully it won't annoy anyone as it's not the default setting I assume anyway! Keep on keeping on! <3
Hi! Where is the download for DS2OTB? It's not working on the early access zip.
It should. I was able to install with the EA version yesterday just fine. What does it say when you run the config.bat file?
Suppose I'll have to try DS1 again then....its FANTASTIC you're back Luke :)
You could just look up the story so far and jump into the 2nd one. I thought about going back first, but this one is soooooo much better so far. I think it is absolutely spectacular! Of course, don't let me discourage you from playing the first one :) There seem to be all kinds of amazing story beats and experiences to play through in VR in the first game. I read the other day that only about 40% of people finished the first game. Which is why some of the adjustments for the second game were made. Kojima wanted people to finish playing through the second one. And I most definitely will. It is so good.
so how does it work all now again ? sorry I missed the memo - DS2 is now included in the zip download file REAL_VR_by_LukeRoss_v2603.24.2_early_access.zip `? or is there another newer file version?
Yes, DS2 is now supported in the EA download. Just download and install as usual.
DS2 is one of my favorite games, sunk over 100hrs on the PS5 version, starting over again on PC which is kinda wack since I put in so much work building all my roads and energy ceilings and shit.. but whatever, here's to another couple hundred hours.. but playing in VR gives this game a whole different feel, I just need to get used to the way the cameras moves around.. when Sam hikes up hills i like to lower the camera angle and it feels like you're hiking up with him.. toggling into first person while youre riding a motocycle is nice and relaxing.. I'm having issues with guns tho, when aiming at enemies, i can't seem to move the crosshairs, so Ive just been using a double staff to beat some ass.. maybe there's an option I'm missing, i've read thru the guide a couple times.. I need someone with more experience to explain this shit to me :) lol
First person is the compás view?
If you want to remove the pillar boxes in cutscenes, this mod from Nexus works perfectly for me so far. Just set the other two options in the ini file to false and only the pilar box option to true. Leave gameplay FOV to the default 1.0 unless you want to try adjusting it. Not sure if setting it higher works here, but also no need to. https://www.nexusmods.com/deathstranding2onthebeach/mods/19 For AMD users, the native FSR model actually holds up really well in this game. Not much shimmering around objects, just a bit more aliasing. Plus, you get more of a performance boost over DLSS at this point.
tried to DL it, server is down rn :(
Great to have you back Luke!. Budget can't stretch to this one this month as Crimson Dawn was obscenely priced here in Aus! Looking forward to trying this soon!
wow DS2 release nice !!!!! thank you so much <3
Also I would like to know the recommended approach with Ray Tracing and SSW of VD. Should I use RT if enough power of it creates artefact? And screen space reflections? What about SSW of virtual desktop, it is preferred to have AER 1/2 and SSW on or AER1/3 and SSW off? I assume that AER v2 adaptive just jumps from 1/2 to 1/3 when needed? Thanks!
AER V2 adaptive? Is that a thing? SSW should be off, especially if using 1/2 or 1/3. You could try it with Legacy but it is going to be worse than using 1/3 probably. The other graphical settings are really up to you. I turn off reflections in some games because of they create shimmery artifacts for example. I have them off in this game, but that was an early test version before Luke made some adjustments. They may look better now. RT is up to performance and if it looks good to you.
It is possible that subtitles are not aligned correctly between both eyes? Letters in the middle of the screen are doubled, like double vision, but not in the borders. Using VD with OpenXR on quest 3.
That is a known issue across games. When the subs line up with a character or objects it doubles them. No workaround that I am aware of. They are positioned pretty far down in facilities too.
Edit: As Luke suggested in his instructions - this crash GOT FIXED by setting "DISABLE STEAM INPUT" in the game's properties under controller (even though the game just ran fine this way in 2D). Bummer - game crashes for me after installing REAL. It doesn't go into VR, I see a flat 2D window with the REAL menu, but SteamVR doesn't launch (I'm using PSVR2) then after a few seconds I get a crash screen from Sony (to report the crash). Note that when I launched the game in 2D initially (to set all the graphics options as per Luke's notes), I got some DS2.exe error about some missing Sony PC SDK, but I ignored and the game ran just fine in 2D.
Yeah, the majority of the Sony ports have this problem for me 🤷♂️
Excellent work thanks 👍👍
Amazing, so fast !!!!
Thank you very much Luke. Are you having a look at Crimson Desert by any chance? I think a fix will attract a lot of new subscribers.
CHOOO-CHOOOooo...!!!
A definitive improvement over the first game in every way for me so far! Absolutely loving it in VR 😍 Metal Gear: Same Day Delivery!
You're awesome