vorpX news has been thin on the ground just recently, but that’s because the team behind the project have been busy preparing one of the biggest releases yet. v0.8.0, released today, brings with it a raft of new features, including an innovative method to enhance traditional games via an enormous, virtual cinema screen.

vorpX, the app that lets you play games not designed for VR on your Oculus Rift, has come a long way since its initial release back in 2013. Since then it’s honed and tweaked its way through several releases, improving compatibility, adding DX11 support and even positional head tracking for the DK2 for some games.

Today, version 0.8.0 is released and brings with it another major feature addition which further enhances your ability to enjoy your favourite games – never intended for use in virtual reality – via your Oculus Rift.

The feature is called Virtual Cinema Mode and allows you to play games thrown onto a huge screen, set inside a virtual living room. This means that games not traditionally well suited to playing in VR, titles such as Diablo III, Life Is Strange, Resident Evil Revelations 2, XCOM: Enemy Within. It gives you the illusion of playing on a decadent cinema screen – adding extra impact to the experience. It’s a great feature that has to be seen to be fully appreciated and something we think people will revisit older games with. What’s more, games displayed on the screen are in full stereoscopic 3D too!

Existing vorpX users should receive an automatically delivered update upon restarting their vorpX application.

Other important enhancements for vorpX 0.8.0 are:

38 new Stereo 3D profiles and 20 new Game Optimizer profiles, about 2/3 optimized for Virtual Cinema Mode (for games that otherwise don’t make much sense in VR).

Up to 25% better Geometry 3D performance in CPU bound games, e.g. Skyrim. Up to 10% better performance in D3D11 Geometry 3D games with high shader count.

Integrated, custom image sharpening filter with edge detection, highly optimized for speed and a pleasant sharpening effect that works very well in VR.

All Compiled against Oculus SDK 0.5.0.1

Full Change Log / Bug Fix List

As stated, this is a huge release for the vorpX team, to illustrate that fact, here’s the full change log for v0.8.0:

New/Changed:

Virtual Cinema mode for playing games that don’t work well in VR otherwise (3rd person, strategy, sports etc.)

Geometry 3D performance increased up to 25% in CPU bound games (e.g. Skyrim)

Improved EdgePeek mode based on the Virtual Cinema 3D rendering. (old 2D EdgePeek is still available as an option)

Image sharpening filter added (display page of the ingame menu)

vorpX now uses Oculus SDK version 0.5.0.1

G3D shadow treatment now user selectable in some games

D3D11 G3D efficiency improved, faster in games with huge amount of shaders

Windows mouse acceleration can be disabled (per game setting, input page of the vorpX in-game menu), can improve head tracking in some games

Positional tracking crouch/jump: triggered by velocity. Move slow = pos tracking, move fast = crouch/jump, has to be enabled per game in the vorpX in-game menu

Better compatibility with downsampling display modes (DSR/VSR)

Delayed input initialization for less intrusive game start behaviour

(gets also rid of Rift init timeouts in some games).

(gets also rid of Rift init timeouts in some games). New transform modes for better control over individual elements/effects

Some adjustments to the DK2 B-cups display parameters

Adjustments to letterbox AR modes, making them more different

Oculus Rift version is now auto detected in vorpControl

Windows 8+ Modern UI Apps folder excluded from injection

Config app: various usability enhancements

Config app: Game Settings Optimizer now supports more settings types

Bugfixes:

Head tracking pitch was accidentally disabled together with mouse y-axis in games that support this function

Unwanted hotkey actions could be executed during FOV adjustment

Keyboard input in gamepad/VR-Hotkey mapper had a few quirks

Shift, Ctrl, Alt keys were not bindable to gamepad/hotkeys (post 0.7.5 regression)

Shift, Ctrl, Alt keys were not bindable to gamepad/hotkeys (post 0.7.5 regression) Secondary display behaviour wasn’t always optimal (Fallout NV,

probably others)

probably others) Some D3D11 G3D effect fixes were not initialized correctly (post 0.7.1 regression)

D3D9 G3D stereo switching caused rendering errors (Stalker series, probably others)

UI placement glitch after unsuccessful device creation (DX9)

vorpX cursor was displayed at wrong position in G3D with HUD scaling active – Positional tracking message could not be closed with [ALT][SPACE] when game was minimized/maximized or rendering device was reset otherwise during message display

Some 64bit vorpX desktop shortcuts still were not working

Small memory leak in injection watcher fixed

Switching 3D modes didn’t work in DX10 (post 0.6.4 regression)

Added Stereo 3D Profiles:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (G3D/Z3D)

Battlefield: Hardline (Z3D)

Dragon Age: Inquisition (Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Diablo III (G3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

The Elder Scrolls Online (G3D/Z3D)

Dark Souls (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Dark Souls II (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Life Is Strange (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (G3D/Z3D)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha (G3D)

Evolve (Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Resident Evil/Biohazard 4 (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Resident Evil/Biohazard Revelations (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Resident Evil/Biohazard Revelations 2 (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

The Long Dark (Z3D)

Serious Sam 3: BFE (G3D)

Need for Speed: Rivals (Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

rFactor 2 (Z3D only, G3D too buggy)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Within (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Darksiders (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Darksiders II (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Starship Troopers (G3D/Z3D)

Woolfe – The Redhood Diaries (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Trine (G3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Trine 2 (G3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

The Ball (G3D/Z3D)

The Darkness II (G3D)

Might & Magic: Heroes IV (G3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

The Old City: Leviathan (G3D/Z3D)

Planetside 2 (G3D)

Deadfall Adventures (G3D/Z3D)

Hard Reset (G3D/Z3D)

Risen 3: Titan Lords (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Fable Anniversary (G3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Lego: Lord of the Rings (G3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Legend of Grimrock (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Legend of Grimrock II (G3D/Z3D), optimized for Virtual Cinema mode

Stereo 3D Profile changes/fixes:

Fallout 3: game specific G3D settings were not applied in all cases

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim: G3D transformations weren’t always applied as intended

Borderlands 1-3: HUD-scaling affected elements that should not have been scaled

GTA IV: G3D HUD handling (minimap/phone doesn’t change position with HUD scale)

Duke Nukem Forever: various G3D fixes, now actually enjoyable in G3D

System Shock 2: Z3D base parameters were completely off

Portal 2: Default G3D 3D-Strength raised

Deus Ex: HR: D3D11 G3D: some models were displaced with tesselation enabled

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat: Geometry 3D added, pos tracking unlocked

Battlefield 3: Geometry 3D added (has shadow issues)

Crysis: minimap wasn’t displayed correctly whith scaled HUD in G3D

Aliens: Colonial Marines: HUD-handling added, positional tracking unlocked

Fallout 3/NV: G3D HUD/menu glitches fixed

Risen: HUD handling added, default mode now Virtual Cinema

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: G3D HUD/menu glitches fixed

Mass Effect 2: Geometry 3D was not working anymore + HUD and effect fixes, default mode now Virtual Cinema

Mass Effect 3: HUD handling added, default mode now Virtual Cinema

Dragon Age: Origins: Geometry 3D fixes, default mode now Virtual Cinema

Drakensang: River of Time: G3D didn’t work, default mode now Virtual Cinema

The Witcher: FX-fixes, default mode now Virtual Cinema

The Witcher 2: HUD handling added, default mode now Virtual Cinema

Various 3rd person games changed to Virtual Cinema as default display mode

Game Settings Optimizer Profiles:

Thief [2014]: resolution and latency settings were not applied correctly

Deus Ex: Human Revolution: entry added

Serious Sam 3: BFE [Steam]: entry added

Thief Gold [Steam/GOG]: entry added

Thief 2 [Steam/GOG]: entry added

System Shock 2 [Steam/GOG]: entry added

Portal 2 [Steam]: entry added

The Stanley Parabel [Steam]: entry added

Starship Troopers: entry added

Crysis 3: entry added

The Ball: entry added

Legend of Grimrock: entry added

Legend of Grimrock II: entry added

Battlefield: Hardline: entry added

Evolve [Steam]: entry added

Deadfall Adventures: entry added

Diablo III: entry added

The Old City: Leviathan: entry added

Dark Souls II: entry added

Hard Reset: entry added

Elder Scrolls Online: entry added

You can buy vorpX and support Road to VR by purchasing it at our affiliate page right here.

Full Disclosure: Road to VR has an affiliate agreement with vorpX.