Praydog's UEVR mod is a literal game changer for PC VR
VR support for potentially thousands of Unreal Engine games is now only a couple of clicks away!
A new flatscreen to VR mod released earlier this week and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it is quite literally a game changer for PC VR. With just a couple of clicks of the mouse, you can now magically add VR support to potentially thousands of flat Unreal Engine games and it's all thanks to God-like VR modder Praydog's UEVR mod.
Praydog's Unreal Engine VR Injector Mod (UEVR) has been in the works for at least a year now and, in the Flatscreen to VR Modding Community at least, the buzz for it has been palpable since it was first announced. But does it actually live up to the hype?
Well, that's where this week's episode of Ian's VR Corner comes in! Check out the video below for an introduction to the mod which includes some short examples of how easy it is to convert flat UE4/5 games to full 6DoF VR and six examples of the mod in action across a variety of different game types. Including, most impressively, Housemarque's incredible shooter Returnal running in first-person VR with added motion controls!
Installation and operation of Praydog’s mod is super simple, as proven my tech-illiterate self in this week’s VR Corner video. After downloading the mod all I then needed to do was turn on my Quest 3, load an Unreal Engine game, open the UEVR mod tool, select the game I was playing in its menus and then simply click the ‘inject’ button to instantly turn the game from a pancake playground into a fully fledged VR title.
And it didn't take me long to find a compatible game either, the Flatscreen to VR Modding Community Discord hosts a list of hundreds of games that have been extensively tested by its members. Each one tested comes with details on how well it runs with the mod, plus any extra trouble shooting techniques you may need to use to get your chosen game running as smoothly as possible.
Along with testing hundreds of UE4 games, some of the members of the Flatscreen to VR Modding Community have also created bespoke motion control configs for a variety of titles. Due to these games originally being playable in flat screen only, they can all be played with controllers or keyboard and mouse as they were intended but, find a specific config for a game you want to play and you can easily import it into UEVR where again it will work in just a couple of clicks.
As mentioned above, one of the most impressive examples of this is Returnal in first-person with motion controls, but I also tested out Robocop: Rogue City which you can see in action in my video. Unfortunately I couldn't show much gameplay as playing that and running Oculus Mirror was a bit too much for my rig to handle so the combat footage came out really stuttery but I assure you it was fine in my headset! I've included some quieter moments in the video though, just so you can get a glimpse of the motion controls in action in this gorgeous UE5 game.
And it's not just first person games that work with Praydog's mod either. In my video I test out the arcade driving game Horizon Chase 2, racing bike sim Ride 5 (to try out some cockpit cam action), third-person Souls-like Mortal Shell and even a little bit of Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed with a gamepad and let me tell you right now, if you're a fan of Ghostbusters, exploring that famous firehouse in VR feels really special!
The UEVR tool itself also comes with a massive amount of menus which you can tinker with to improve your experience, including comfort settings like click-turning for first-person games and pitch-locking for third-person games. There are options to increase or decrease resolution so you can find a performance sweet spot and there are many more menus that are full of words that I didn't understand but will probably help you make things run even better. Honestly though, I didn't need any of them. For me pretty much everything was a case of just plug and play. Download the game, run it, inject the mod and go.
Within seconds I was able to experience games that were never built with virtual reality in mind in VR. Sure the performance can be scrappy here and there and some menus and cutscenes just look a bit wonky in VR but to be able to play literally any UE4/5 game in my Steam or Epic libraries from start to finish in VR with only the minumum of effort is just astonishing.
My VR library basically quadrupled (at the very least) overnight thanks to Praydog's groundbreaking work here and this makes UEVR the single most impressive modding tool I have ever seen. If you have a VR capable PC and a VR headset, I urge you to check this mod out for yourself as it feels like a breath of fresh air for the medium and an amazing step forward for VR in general.
Praydog, you are a legend!