adore11s/God-of-War-VR-Mod v0.2.4

God of War VR Mod v0.2.4

on GitHub

Play God of War (2018, PC) in VR: every frame is drawn in true 3D for each eye with full head tracking, and you can switch to a first-person view through Kratos' eyes and fight with your own hands. Works with the Steam, Epic and GOG versions of the game.

⚠️ Work in progress. It is playable but not finished; expect rough edges. First person and the motion controls are still being tuned.

New in v0.2.4

+Meta Quest over Link (Meta's OpenXR runtime): VR now starts through the official OpenXR loader, the same way every OpenXR game does (and the Beyond: Two Souls VR mod, which works there). Quest players using Link with Meta as the OpenXR runtime should now get the game in the headset.
+Smoother fog and god rays (Quest streaming): the game's 10-bit picture is now dithered when it goes into the headset's 8-bit image, so dark gradients no longer show bands. Over Virtual Desktop, Link or Steam Link the video stream could turn those bands into flickering god rays.
+No more view jumps when tracking drops for a moment: if the headset briefly loses tracking (more common over Virtual Desktop or Link than on a cable), the view now holds its last good position instead of jumping or shaking, like the Beyond: Two Souls VR mod does. Each dropout is written to the log.
+Better logging for problems: the mod's log (gowvr_logs\gowvr.log) now records everything needed to find a VR problem in one go: which runtime and headset, what the runtime offers, whether it actually shows the game (and why not), the headset's refresh rate, the GPU and driver, a once-a-minute check of each eye's picture, and which of the recent fixes were switched on. It does not slow the game down. If something goes wrong, just send that file.

New in v0.2.3

+DLSS works in VR: no more shimmering, blocky edges. Each eye now gets its own correct motion and history, so DLSS is recommended from now on (turn DLSS on in the game's graphics settings if you have an NVIDIA graphics card).
+New option in the VR settings panel: Finishers Perspective. Choose whether finishers play in first person or in third person (the game's own camera).
+The aiming icon is no longer too big: the circle around it that enlarged things is gone.
+The frost icon is fixed: aiming at something breakable shows one icon in the right place, no longer split in two.
+Sharp UI in the shop: the shop's interface is as sharp as the rest of the HUD.

New in v0.2.2

+Quest Link: near people and objects should no longer look doubled. The mod now sends each eye's picture to the headset in exactly the shape the headset asks for. SteamVR is unchanged.

New in v0.2.1

+Sharper picture, automatically: the VR picture size now matches what your headset asks for (Auto in the VR settings panel), instead of being stretched up from a smaller picture. Quest headsets on Virtual Desktop look much sharper. If the game runs too slowly, pick a fixed size in the panel.

What's fixed and new in v0.2

+Square VR picture and a small monitor window: the game draws a square picture for each eye in the size you choose, whatever your monitor's resolution, and its window on your monitor is a small square while VR runs.
+Sharper HUD: the HUD is shown at full resolution in the headset.
+VR settings panel: in the game's settings menu a VR panel appears next to it: smooth or snap turning, turning speed / snap angle, controller buttons (Xbox / PlayStation), wall collision, VR picture size and VR on / off. Point a controller and pull its trigger.
+Snap turning in first person: the view and Kratos' body turn at once.
+No launcher: run Install VR mod.cmd once, then just start the game as usual.
+Meta Quest hands are set up by default, and the first-person view is centred.
+Weapon draws with either hand: reach over your right shoulder with either hand for the axe, and over your left shoulder for the Blades.
+Meta Quest fists: a light squeeze of the right grip makes fists with both hands (Quest controllers can't feel resting fingers); the left grip is only the shield.

Important: read before playing

+Only want to play in third person? Then you don't need any of the first-person points below (the shortcuts, hands, weapon draws, finishers and fists). The game starts in third person and your VR controllers work like a normal gamepad.
+Remember the two first-person shortcuts: first person during gameplay = press the right trigger next to your head; first person during cutscenes = hold the right trigger next to your head.
+For the best experience, play with SteamVR. Early playtesters had fewer problems on SteamVR than on Virtual Desktop's VDXR (flickering lights and such). Controllers with finger sensing on the grip buttons, like the PlayStation VR2 controllers, work best.
+I've only tested the first 2 hours of the game. Anything beyond that can be broken and might crash.
+Your hands feel in the wrong place, or you can't see a button prompt in first person? Quickly switch to third person and back to first person (press the right trigger next to your head twice).
+You can phase through walls during combat when walking backwards into a wall.
+Turn on DLSS if you have an NVIDIA graphics card.
+Opening the menu: press all four face buttons together (Meta: A X Y B, PlayStation: ✕ ○ □ △).
+Equipping the axe: reach over your right shoulder with either hand and press that hand's grip button. To throw it, hold the left trigger and make the throwing motion. Recall it with the click of the right grip button or the left controller's upper button (PlayStation: △, Meta: Y).
+Equipping the Blades of Chaos: reach over your left shoulder with either hand and press that hand's grip button.
+Finishers: face the enemy directly in front of you. A finisher from behind the enemy doesn't work.
+Fist combat needs your fingers resting on the grip buttons; fully squeezing the left grip brings out the shield. Meta Quest: squeeze the right grip lightly for fists; the left grip is only the shield.

Before you install

In the game's graphics settings: Display mode Windowed, VSync off, frame rate limit off, Motion blur 0, DLSS on (NVIDIA graphics cards), HDR off.

Install

1. Download GOW_VR_MOD_v0.2.4.zip below and unzip it.
2. Copy the GOW_VR_MOD folder into your God of War folder (Steam: right-click the game → Manage → Browse local files; Epic: ⋯ → Manage → folder icon; GOG Galaxy: settings icon → Manage installation → Show folder). Updating from an older version: replace the old GOW_VR_MOD folder.
3. Double-click Install VR mod.cmd in the GOW_VR_MOD folder. You only do this once, and again after each update.
4. From now on, put your headset on and start the game as usual (Steam, Epic, GOG or GoW.exe). SteamVR starts with it (Virtual Desktop / VDXR: connect your headset first).

Uninstall: Uninstall VR mod.cmd moves the mod's own files to the Recycle Bin. It never deletes anything for good and never touches the game's files.

Controls

Something went wrong?

The mod writes these files itself while the game runs. They contain no personal information.

Known bugs

+Some of the interface is missing in first person (the health and Spartan Rage bars).
+Atreus' aiming icon is broken.
+Body glitches and phasing through walls during combat (see above).
+Kratos sometimes teleports a little during attacks, and fists can hit from about 2 metres away.
+VDXR (Virtual Desktop) has rendering issues, such as flickering lights. Use SteamVR for now.
+Button prompts can go missing in first person (see above for the workaround).

Free and open source under the MIT license. Not affiliated with Sony Interactive Entertainment or Santa Monica Studio. No game files are included.