EternalVR v0.1.95 (alpha)

"Matched to the headset" pacing that stays matched on more PCs, a Meat Hook check under hand aim, and no more
hidden errors at map loads. The first beta (0.2.0) is close.

Download

• EternalVR-alpha-0.1.95-f176b19.zip (below)
• SHA-256: 4f8f61ff2915bae9642381245ea84dd1edd0bc79fbb46fb11e9350cc5f2a8d1c
• VirusTotal: scan report (the zip 0 of 67, the mod's DLL 0 of 71 and the launcher 0 of 71 engines). Windows Defender on my PC finds nothing.

If you have 0.1.6 or later, the launcher offers this update by itself (or use "Check now" on the Checks and log
tab). Otherwise unzip over the old folder or anywhere new, and run EternalVR.Launcher.exe. Your launcher
settings carry over.

Windows Defender may on some PCs quarantine the launcher or the mod's DLL (layer\EternalVR.dll) as
"Trojan:Win32/Wacatac.C!ml" (or the launcher as "Trojan:Win32/Bearfoos.A!ml"). That's a false positive:
the mod isn't code-signed yet and every release is a new file Windows hasn't seen, so Defender's cloud model
sometimes guesses (the "!ml"). To get it back: Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Protection history,
open the entry, Actions > Restore.

This build was launch-tested on the Steam version (in a level) and the Game Pass version (up to the main menu), on my
test PC with the OpenXR simulator at about 60 fps. Not tried in my own headset yet.

Playing on a lower-end PC? I'd love to hear how it runs:
tell me your card, settings and how it played.

Fixed

• "Matched to the headset" (Frame pacing, the default) now stays matched on PCs whose CPU slows down in
  Windows' Balanced power plan. While the game waited for the headset's next frame, Windows let the CPU clock
  drop, so the next frame took too long, missed the headset, and the mod gave up matching within a couple of
  seconds. Now, once that happens in play, the mod keeps the CPU busy for the last few milliseconds of each wait.
  On my test PC (one Intel desktop CPU, Balanced plan, the OpenXR simulator) frames that got no new image went
  from about 2% to about 0.4% in two of my three test routes; the busy combat route didn't improve. The cost is
  18 to 37% of one CPU core while it's doing that, and once it starts it stays on for the rest of the session.
  Menus and loading screens are unchanged. Not tried in a headset yet, so if pacing feels different to you,
  please tell me.
• No more hidden errors at map loads. Two of the mod's reads at a map load could run past the end of what
  they were reading. The mod caught both, so nothing crashed, but they shouldn't happen. One of them was the
  multiplayer guard reading the map's name: it now reads the name safely, and if it ever can't read a name in
  full it treats the map as unknown and switches VR off for the session, the same as it does for an online mode.

New

• The Meat Hook under hand aim (the default) was checked on my test PC: it takes its target where your gun
  points, not where you look, and its green lock-on mark shows up as soon as the game has a target. The game's
  target cone is narrow (about 7 degrees to the side at 10 m, up to 25 m away), so put the aim dot on the demon's
  body, wait for the green hook icon, then pull. If it still feels off, a log from this build names the hook's
  target (Steam version), which tells me what the game saw.
• Benchmark routes for my testing (a combat arena, an outdoor view and the Fortress). Nothing changes for you;
  it means I can compare frame times between builds.

All of the above was checked on my test PC, not in a headset yet.

Known issues

• Black bars at the edge of the view on fast head turns (seen with Virtual Desktop): the mod draws exactly
  what the headset shows, so when the headset shifts the last picture to keep up with a fast turn, the edge has
  nothing behind it. Drawing a little past the edges is in the works.
• Rides the game moves you on (trams, the Titan in the Blood Swamps, the Ion Catapult, long elevators and so
  on) get nothing of their own from the mod yet: no fade and no vignette for the ride. If one makes you queasy,
  please tell me which.
• Photo mode hasn't been tried in VR, and the mod doesn't switch it off. I'd leave it alone for now.
• With a gamepad, standing well off to the side of a rune or a crystal, "Still view" can turn you to face it in
  two steps instead of one.
• The chainsaw pickup still hasn't run on my test PC. If the view freezes or jumps at a pickup, please tell me
  which one.
• Virtual Desktop may not tell the game the headset is asleep, so the 8-frames-a-second slowdown may not
  happen there yet.
• Long sessions on Virtual Desktop can slow down (90 fps falling to the low 70s over an hour or so). Virtual
  Desktop's beta works around it, and stepping out of the game and back in brings the frame rate back.
• OFXR Bridge runs in its fallback mode with EternalVR (it gets no DLSS motion vectors from the game). That's
  expected for now.

The full list is in KNOWN-ISSUES.md.