TLOU1
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Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1888930/The_Last_of_Us_Part_I/
Enabled technologies
Supported version(s)
The R.E.A.L. VR framework was tested with game version v1.1.5, 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\The Last of Us Part I". 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 "tlou-i.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).
Options
You can set all graphics options in the OPTIONS> DISPLAY and OPTIONS> GRAPHICS submenus 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 DISPLAY> GENERAL submenu:
Display Mode = WINDOWED
Aspect Ratio = AUTO
Ultrawide Pillarboxes = MINIMAL
V-Sync = OFF
Framerate Cap = UNLOCKED
Frame Generation = OFF
Scaling Mode = NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution. Make sure this is turned on so that you can use my DL(S)SS fix to eliminate the shimmering around the characters and nearby objects. DL(S)SS also works with this game if you are running 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).
Quality = QUALITY (you can adjust this according to your GPU performance)
in the DISPLAY> EFFECTS submenu:
Film Grain Intensity = 0 (this is not mandatory and you can experiment with it if you want, but I personally prefer to have no simulated film grain in VR)
in the GRAPHICS> POST-EFFECTS SETTINGS submenu:
Depth of Field = OFF
Motion Blur Quality = 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)
Additionally, in the CONTROLS> ASSISTANCE submenu, you'll want to set:
Camera Assist = OFF
Aim Assist = 0
Lock-On Aim = OFF
so that you won't get any unexpected camera pulls during gaze-based aiming.
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 the reflections are ray-tracing quality without having to pay the huge tax on frame rate that actual RT incurs. However, big open areas 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.
Input
You will definitely want to use a gamepad to play TLOU1. 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 crosshair in this title can be quite shaky though; that adds to the challenge and is actually quite realistic in a scared-all-the-time situation like the ones the game depicts, but in case that bothers you, try moving the "Reduce shaking" slider in the R.E.A.L. VR main overlay tab further to the right. Scopes are already automatically stabilized through the "Minimize shaking when zoomed" checkbox.
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. It's usually completely decoupled from the character: you can look in a different direction from Joel, except when you're aiming.
The HUD rescaling can be finely customized, so you won't miss any of the important information that appears at the sides like health, hints, ammo count and so on. If the default size I suggest doesn't work for you, you can tweak it from the R.E.A.L. VR overlay using the "HUD scale X/Y" and "HUD offset X/Y" sliders, which will have immediate effect while playing without any need to bump the resolution. Note that these sliders are found in the "TLOU1" 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.
Cutscenes are fully 3D and allow you to look anywhere without restrictions. As usual there will be some elements missing in areas you weren't supposed to see with a fixed camera, but mostly the environment is complete and the emotional impact of the cutscenes is preserved.
No pre-baked 2D movies in this title, yay!
Custom controls in the "TLOU1" overlay tab
The game is played in third person, but if you look at the Camera section in the "TLOU1" overlay tab you will find sliders to control the camera distance and left-right offset, so you can position it freely!! Note that the game is not really designed to support extreme adjustments to those parameters, and your character's body will pop in and out of view if you put the camera too close. You might want to experiment a little in order to find the arrangement that you like best.
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.
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.
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
When the R.E.A.L. VR overlay is open, keyboard input will incorrectly leak through to the game. You can avoid the problem by using your gamepad to navigate the overlay.
The spores animation that appears when you load a level at the start of a gaming session is headlocked. You can switch to the 2D virtual screen if it bothers you, but it only lasts for a few seconds and won't appear again when you reload a checkpoint, so it's probably not worth fixing.
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]