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v0.6.0 - swing the wrench to swing the wrench

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@mohamad-balouza mohamad-balouza released this 30 Jul 22:26
· 360 commits to main since this release

Download and install

  1. Download bioshock-vr-v0.6.0.zip below and copy both DLLs (xinput1_3.dll,
    bioshockvr.dll) into the game's binary folder:
    ...\steamapps\common\BioShock Remastered\Build\Final\
  2. If you use itsloopyo's head-tracking mod, remove or back up its xinput1_3.dll first -
    the two mods use the same injection vector and cannot coexist.
  3. Headset side (Quest 3 + Virtual Desktop): set Virtual Desktop's OpenXR runtime to VDXR,
    connect, then launch the game from Steam inside Virtual Desktop. (Steam Link / SteamVR works
    too - the mod talks to whatever OpenXR runtime is active.) Set the game's resolution to
    roughly SQUARE, not 16:9
    - something like 2700x2700; headset panels are near square, so a
    16:9 backbuffer renders a wide strip that the headset then throws away.
  4. Launch through Steam, press F10, click VR PRESET 1. No restart is ever needed.

Unchanged from v0.5.0. Controls, tuning and troubleshooting are in the bundled README.txt.


Melee is a motion now. Swing your right hand and Jack swings the wrench. The trigger still
works exactly as before - this is in addition to it, not instead of it, so nothing you already
do stops working and you can fall back to the trigger any time your arm is tired or the room is
tight.

It only arms while the wrench is equipped, and that is deliberate rather than cautious: the
gesture works by composing a trigger pull, and a trigger pull with a gun in hand is a shot. So
the mod checks what you are actually holding, not whether the motion looked like melee.

One honest limit, because it will otherwise read as a bug: the gesture changes when the
attack happens, never where it lands. BioShock aims melee from your view, through machinery
no hook of ours can reach, so a sideways swing while you look forward still hits forward -
exactly as the trigger has always behaved. Point at what you want to hit.

Tuning ("Swing speed needed", default 3.6 m/s, in the F10 overlay): that is the speed your
hand has to clear, calibrated in a headset so that walking, turning your body or reaching for
something never registers. Lower it if swings get missed, raise it if ordinary movement sets one
off. There is also a cooldown and a fire delay if you want to shape the feel, and
vrinput swing off or the overlay checkbox disables the whole thing.

Fixed: the bundled preset was re-breaking the health and EVE bars

If you copied v0.5.0's preset/vrpreset.ini into %LOCALAPPDATA%\BioshockVR\, your health and
EVE bars have been reading as empty ever since - that file shipped effectsInFrame=1 after the
built-in default had already been corrected to 0, and your file wins over the default. v0.5.0's
own notes said this was fixed; for anyone who adopted the bundle, it was not.

A fresh install was never affected, and neither was anyone who kept their own tuning. If it
hit you, either take the new preset/vrpreset.ini or change that single line to
effectsInFrame=0 and restart. Nothing else about your tuning is touched.

Still known, unchanged from v0.5.0

  • Full-screen effects sit on the HUD panel. Water and damage tints ride the floating panel
    rather than covering your view. This is the same key as the fix above, and turning it on is
    what empties the bars - the real fix needs different geometry, since the game authors these at
    HUD size, and that is the next piece of work.
  • Cutscenes sit low with black borders. Ticking "Game FOV write" in the overlay makes them
    fill the view, still not recommended for normal play.

Upgrading

Copy both DLLs over the old ones - the install steps are unchanged. Your own tuning in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\BioshockVR\ still wins key by key, and swing-to-attack arrives as new keys with
working defaults, so an existing install picks it up without touching anything you calibrated.
The one exception is the bar fix above, which is a value in your file and so needs the one-line
change.