WDL
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Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239550/Watch_Dogs_Legion/
Enabled technologies
Supported version(s)
The R.E.A.L. VR framework was tested with game version v1.6.3, 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\WatchDogs_Legion\bin". 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 "WatchDogsLegion.exe" executable file.
Resolution and aspect ratio
I was able to interface directly with the engine in order to add the custom resolutions needed for VR. WDL can deal just fine with the required square aspect ratios. You will be able to select the resolution you prefer from the game Options> VIDEO> DISPLAY menu itself, without any hassle. Just make sure that "Window Mode" is always set to "Windowed".
If you want to squeeze out every last bit of performance though, making sure that the game aspect ratio is set to the optimal value for your headset FOV, you can also use the "Target pixels per degree" slider and "Adapt resolution" button (see here to find out how they work).
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 GAMEPAD menu:
Aim Snap = Off
Aim Magnetism = Off
in the VIDEO> DISPLAY submenu:
Window Mode = Windowed
V-Sync = Off
FPS Limit = Off
Field of View = 70
Menu Position = Auto
Multimonitor HUD = Auto
in the VIDEO> QUALITY submenu:
DirectX = 12 (I chose to support DX12 in this game because it allows for higher, more consistent frame rates)
Depth of Field = Off
Motion Blur = Off (you should never enable any kind of motion blur when using R.E.A.L. VR, or the world will look smeared out horizontally)
in the ADVANCED section, make sure upscaling is set to DLSS (Performance, Balanced or Quality) so that you can use my DL(S)SS fix to eliminate the shimmering around nearby objects and characters. DL(S)SS should also work with this game if you are running on an AMD GPU thanks to the voodoo magic of OptiScaler (see my previous post for details on how to install and configure it for VR)
finally, in the VIDEO> IMAGE submenu:
HDR = Off
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.
The game runs pretty well on modern hardware, and you can choose to have beautiful reflections on the omnipresent glass panes and rain puddles (Ray Traced Reflections = Medium, High, Ultra) without having to pay the huge tax on frame rate that full path tracing entails. However, driving through the city can still bring your fps down, so in order to have a smooth experience the Render mode will default to 1/3 rate. You can also try 1/2 rate to get more fluidity and less artifacting, but you will probably have to leave something behind in terms of graphics options and resolution.
Just like its predecessor https://store.steampowered.com/app/447040/Watch_Dogs_2/ this title renders distant terrain and buildings with the dreaded checkerboard dithering pattern, so they will never look perfectly sharp; however, DLSS does a much better job than older antialiasing techniques in resolving the dithered mess into an acceptable quality image.
Input
You will definitely want to use a gamepad to play WDL. 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.
Occasionally the engine might fail to recognize your controller inputs, or keep switching the button hints over to the keyboard version. If it happens to you, an easy workaround is Alt-Tab'bing out of the game and back, which will restore normal gamepad input.
Camera, HUD, gameplay, cutscenes
The R.E.A.L. framework supports 6 DoF tracking, i.e., the camera will follow your head rotation and movement.
There's a big difference from most other games supported by my framework though: "hacking" (targeting NPCs and world objects with your phone) is also gaze-based, which makes it very quick and intuitive, almost as if the game was a native VR experience. But that also means that the HUD is always headlocked, because to all intents and purposes you're constantly aiming, even when your weapons are not drawn.
The crosshair will remain properly aligned as long as you don't move too much (physically, in real life) from your home position. Of course you can always recenter the view, which R.E.A.L. VR allows you to do very simply by shaking your head "no" once.
All weapons should work correctly. I didn't find any rifles with telescopic sights, so I have not implemented any special fix for that case.
The game is designed to be played in third person, and luckily the camera position is not too distant by default. However, the developers decided to remove the first person driving camera that was present in https://store.steampowered.com/app/447040/Watch_Dogs_2/ (probably because they got some flak about the low quality of car interiors, especially the instrument panels).
So I recommend that you install the third-party "First person vehicle camera" mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/watchdogslegion/mods/43 ). It works very well, except for a lot of clipping into your character's head. I fixed it for most cars by pushing the camera further forward; there might be some combinations of character's hair and vehicle model where it still clips, but you should be able to work around that by sitting a little forward while you drive.
Most cutscenes are fully 3D and allow you to look anywhere without restrictions. There can be black bars above and below, which usually work correctly in VR and give that "cinematic" look without overly restricting your field of view.
A few cutscenes were prerendered by the developers and stored as movies; they will appear as if projected on a virtual 2D screen in VR. They are quite rare fortunately!
Custom controls in the "WDL" overlay tab
For the most natural and accurate aiming, don't forget to set your dominant eye (the default is right-eye dominant, which works for about 2 out of 3 people).
"Fix near clipping" will prevent the camera from clipping into close objects during cutscenes.
It's a rare occurrence, but sometimes the game may tilt the camera left and right, for example when you're lying on your side on the floor (it mostly happens in cutscenes). If the effect bothers you, uncheck the "Allow camera roll" box to keep it from happening in VR.
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.
Since some elements in the UI can sometimes be a little hard to read (in particular the classic Ubisoft tutorials that pause the game and display three captioned images side by side), you can optionally bind the 2D virtual screen toggle so that it's quickly activated/deactivated by pressing both gamepad thumbsticks. Another thing you can do is tweak the "HUD scale X" and "HUD scale Y" sliders in the same tab, with changes visible in real time during gameplay.
The vast majority of users should not need to touch this setting, but if your system appears to display the 3D effect incorrectly (as though distant objects were actually in front of closer ones) try changing the "Frame delay compensation" value step by step until you get a perfectly stable world image, with proper depth everywhere.
Known issues
Nodes in network bypass minigames can often be flickering or completely invisible. It seems to depend more or less randomly on the angle between the node and the camera direction. Usually I can make the node visible if I look straight ahead (i.e., not craning my neck up or down), or if I rotate the world a little with the right thumbstick. There are only a handful of different node types though, so even if a node is not visible it's easy enough to understand what it does from the behavior of the red and blue lines connecting to it.
Once in a while, after a few hours of play, the HUD might begin vibrating horizontally. If that happens, you don't need to restart the game: just bump the resolution one notch to reset the renderer, then you can bring it back to the previous value and the HUD will be fixed.
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]