DS2023
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Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1693980/Dead_Space/
Enabled technologies
Supported version(s)
The R.E.A.L. VR framework was tested with game patch 1.06 from the EA App. The same version of the title bought from other stores should also work, like for instance the one available from Steam at the address linked at the top (I get no commissions). I cannot give any guarantees however, as there could be differences that cause issues ranging from small defects to showstopping problems in VR.
Important: Please note that game patch 1.06 refers to the REMAKE version of the title, released on Jan 27, 2023 (hence the 2023 in the game name) and last officially patched on Feb 27, 2023. Your executable will probably show version 1.0.0.0 because they never bothered to update the version number in the file information. R.E.A.L. VR will NOT work with the original edition of the game, the one released in 2008.
Older versions or pirated copies are not supported. Official versions later than the one(s) 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\EA Games" if you bought the title from the EA App. 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 "Dead Space.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). The game seems to deal just fine with any aspect ratio, so R.E.A.L. will automatically compute custom resolutions that fit your headset field of view perfectly.
The framework will also remember the resolution you set across sessions, so once you find the right compromise between detail and fluidity you should be able to play the rest of the game without touching the resolution again.
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 Settings> Display and Graphics menu:
Video Options
Full Screen Mode = Window
Vertical Sync = off
High Dynamic Range = Off
Motion Blur = 0 (you should never enable any kind of motion blur when using R.E.A.L. VR, otherwise everything in the world will be smeared out horizontally)
Film Grain = off, as the effect doesn't look good in VR
Dynamic Resolution Scale = off
Variable Rate Shading = off
Anti Aliasing = NVIDIA DLSS. Make sure this is selected so that you can use my DL(S)SS fix to eliminate the shimmering around nearby characters and objects. If you are running an AMD GPU, you might try the amazing third-party OptiScaler (see my old post for details on how to install and configure it for VR) so that you can still make the game believe you're using DLSS.
Important: the engine's implementation of DLSS, despite being very good, surprisingly lacks a key factor which is that textures should be sampled at a higher level of detail than the one used for full-resolution rendering. As a result, with DLSS everything looks softer compared to TAA (even in 2D, but of course VR makes the blurriness more evident). So I recommend that you check out the LOD bias fix described here. It will make the in-game UI flicker more than intended, but everything in the 3D world will look sharper, especially from up close.DLSS Mode: I suggest starting with Balanced, but you can use anything from Ultra Performance to Quality. The amount of LOD bias you should apply according to the instructions given above depends on the quality preset you choose.
Graphics Quality: any combination of settings will work here, but I recommend leaving Volumetric Resolution on Low, as higher values will hinder performance without any visible effect on image quality. Depth of Field Quality should also be Low because DoF is not a good idea in VR.
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 want to use a gamepad to play DS2023. 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. I haven't tried with the DualSense yet, let me know if it works well for you! [Update: it looks like you need to enable Steam Input to use the DualSense in this game; see the "Updates and known issues" section at the end].
Don't worry about console-player syndrome: with R.E.A.L. VR, aiming is gaze-driven and extremely fast, intuitive and accurate, so even if you're used to playing FPS with your mouse, give your gamepad a chance ;-)
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. The camera is usually completely decoupled from the character (meaning that you can look in a different direction from Isaac without influencing where he walks), except when you're aiming.
In this title, the way I implemented support for combat is that when you start aiming, the camera and the character will auto-align themselves with the direction you're facing, after a fraction of a second during which the game is getting the weapon ready and is unresponsive to my directional input. You'll see what I mean. After that split second, everything becomes very smooth and responsive, which is crucial because you often need to be very precise with your shooting.
When you let go of the trigger, the new home direction will be the one you were looking at last, so that you can immediately continue playing or aim again without breaking stride. If you want to reset the home direction after combat, either shake your head or aim briefly in the direction you want (again, it must be long enough for the game to register it).
Note however that gaze-aiming won't work in Zero-G areas. I tried, but it just makes no sense to the brain when your body can be oriented in any possible direction in space. So for those sections you will need to use your thrusters and aim with the gamepad just like you would in 2D.
There are also a few brief Quick Time events in the game, during which you are expected to shoot while your character is being [no spoilers]. Same as Zero-G, you will need to use your gamepad's right stick to aim there.
As announced in the release post, I implemented a fully functional first person camera for this game. It can be activated anywhere, even in Zero-G and in most cutscenes, and if you want you can challenge yourself to do a full playthrough with it. Be warned that 1st person makes everything feel more visceral, and it also makes combat harder, since you cannot see enemies that are coming at you from the sides and the back. Also, it brings with it the usual jankiness: the character's head often wants to clip through, and due to the way the engine manages the camera when you're not aiming, the direction in which Isaac is moving when you push the left stick forward will not be influenced by the direction you are looking at and vice versa, which requires a little getting used to.
But on the positive side, the 1st person camera highlights a very nice fact: this is another one of those games that 100% feel like the designers had VR in mind while they were creating the levels, despite it not making the final cut. Even in cutscenes, if you enable my first-person camera you'll get the eerie feeling that the NPCs are talking and looking straight at you. It's quite amazing.
To toggle the first-person camera, just press both thumbsticks on the gamepad (the gesture needs to be initially activated from the "DS2023" tab of the R.E.A.L. VR overlay, to avoid surprising behaviors during gameplay).
The HUD is fully 3D and every element is placed at its correct position in the world; I spent many hours finding and relocating the in-game UI panels so that in 1st person mode they will show up in front of you, instead of at Isaac's side (the default placement would only work when your point of view is behind your character, like in the original game which is restricted to third person). Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do for the health and stasis meters, which are physically modeled on your character's back (a choice that feels immersive in 2D until you stop to think how absurd it would be in reality!): they just won't be visible in first person.
Cutscenes are presented in glorious 3D, without any black bars, 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) seems to render perfectly in this game: there are no missing props, teleporting or rubber-legged characters. This is another hint that fuels my suspicion that the level designers must have had a VR version in mind or even in development at some point, even though it was never released.
A few cutscenes (in particular the short ones that play when you find a new weapon) start with the wrong FOV, warping the world a little, but that only lasts for about half a second. They also have hard-coded depth-of-field effects, which is normally a no-no in VR but in this case is acceptable because it gives them a slightly more dramatic feel.
Custom controls in the "DS2023" overlay tab
It's a rare occurrence, but sometimes the game may roll 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.
As usual 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.
The subtitles are drawn by the engine over the final image instead of being placed in the world like everything else in the UI, so I implemented a rescaling feature for them to make them visible in every headset. The default value of 0.4 works well with round-FOV headsets like the Quest 3.
The checkbox named "Pressing both thumbsticks toggles first person camera" is where you enable the gamepad gesture that you can later use during gameplay to switch in and out of first person.
The pause menu for the game is correctly drawn in immersive 3D, but it's headlocked because the camera is constrained by the engine. If that bothers you or you can't see the full menu in your headset, deselect the "Allow 3D for pause menu" checkbox to have the pause menu automatically switch to a 2D virtual screen.
Updates and known issues
DualSense: There have been reports that in order to use a DualSense gamepad to play DS2023 in VR you need to enable Steam Input; otherwise my framework won't see the controller inputs, which means that you won't be able to navigate the R.E.A.L. VR overlay or switch between the third and first person camera. This is not necessary if you're using an Xbox controller.
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]