Btw. all of Modern Half Life is now playable in VR:
yeah just finally found a golden spot Vorpx profile for running Black Mesa without shit like random flickering and frame drops. In short, custom resolution with nvidia control panel (for me its 2240x1680) that must be at least 4:3 ratio (best use of screen real estate without losing control of the UI). Here is a list for tweaking and trying to find the highest without tanking the performance too hard
https://www.vorpx.com/forums/topic/custom-resolutions-for-the-direct-vr-settings-optimizer/
Also must disable DirectVR function, including cache. That stopped the shit ass flickering for me. Finally, without the DirectVR function, there are FOV adjustments that can be done with the standard HL2 developer console with functions like Fov_desired -insert number-. Luckily the default weapon models can be adjusted directly with the Vorpx menu functions, so no need to monkey around with viewmodel_fov functions.
The dedicated Black Mesa mod seems to be a somewhat downgrade to the general utility vorpx profile IMO. Aside from losing the extreme amounts of tweakbility it also has full motion controls. That is actually a detriment in fast paced pew pew like Black Mesa where the precise keyboard and mouse control surpasses the standard sloggish VR controllers. Experienced this as well when I was tweaking Fear 1 the other day with the same custom resolutions. Combined with nvidia profile inspector to force high end anti aliasing it looks like a direct for VR port, like Alyx levels of clarity. But the gameplay is so fast paced VR controllers would be a hinderance, not a benefit. It works on the HL2 dedicated mod because the base gameplay is already slower compared to the 90s style shoot em ups.
When talking about zoom zoom pew pew I did some extensive experimentation with GZdoomVR mod pointed out by Dexter
In short, it has full motion controls, really good clarity resolution/aa wise (that is a given lol). Full geometry 3d for environments of course. I ran it with the following wads:
>Ashes 2063
>Ashes Afterglow
>Brutal doom hell on earth starter pack+project brutality
https://github.com/hh79/gzdoomvr/releases
My initial assessment is that it is a mixed bag. Certain highly popular mods like brutal doom have basic 3d model mods for weapons. Otherwise you are just holding the weapon sprite in your hand. Now playing it seated is actually not that big of a uncanny valley, as most of the time the weapon will be sitting on your armchair anyway and at your eye corner. So things like missing corners or the flatness is not that big of an deal. Laser sight mod is a must have as the crosshair is fixed in the UI and does not show real aim. What is a clear detriment however is the limited number of buttons on the controllers and that the keybind configuration does not allow the use of combos. So you are really tightly limited for mapping out necessary functions while leaving secondary stuff like "select item" or "quicksave" on a keyboard bind you just use on a downtime. This is workable with basic doom gameplay but if you go full spectrum and attempt things like Hideous Destructor then it will become unplayable.
Another shitty aspect is that despite the unlimited source ports modders still choose to use really low res textures for things like critters and environments. Which look really blurry that up close. For base doom there are high res packs but for quality shit like Ashes you only have the base textures.
All in all if I could be assed I would learn enough how doom modding works, go under the hood of the VR port and disable motion controls and run it on a keybord and mouse.
Those wanting to try out themselves but new to the wonderful asylum that is doom modding Icarus has a nice quick instruction vid. GZdoomVR config is the same:
Thank you for listening to my Ted talk
