... And by that I mean, it's time to finish one of the hardest, most intriguing, and in some senses weirdest trilogies in gaming history: release 19.1.0 of the R.E.A.L. VR mod, attached at the end of this post, supports DARK SOULS III!
[Update May 10: First person camera now working as intended in release 19.2.0! See the Updates and known issues section at the bottom for more details.]
[Update May 8: Release 19.1.1 fixes the "moonwalk sprinting" game bug.]
This concludes a long effort that for me started sort of backwards, with my VR conversion of Elden Ring that came out almost exactly three years ago, on May 6, 2022. From there we quickly moved on to Dark Souls: Remastered on June 16, 2022, then after a loooong hiatus we circled back to Elden Ring for its huge DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, on June 20, 2024. Several months devoted to other games again, then the VR mod for Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin was ready on February 15 of this year, and finally here we are today with the last chapter in the Dark Souls story, the one that the majority of players consider to be the most interesting and beautiful of the whole franchise.
Just like the previous two installments, this game dates back to when FromSoftware still knew how to write performant engines (*cough* unlike Elden Ring's single-threaded D3D12 renderer *cough*), which means that it should run smoothly at the full frame rate of your headset, without frame interpolation.
It's a Dark Souls game though, so prepare to die! Many, many, many times (*)_(*)
Updates, known issues and small fixes will be added at the bottom of the post. Also, stay tuned because another, completely different game is getting ready for release, and if everything goes well I hope to have it out in a couple of weeks (maybe dear Brandon will do a teaser video for it, wink wink)!
Games list
There is only one package to download, which enables all 32 VR conversions you can find on this Patreon. All titles support AER v2, which is my own version of frame interpolation tailored for Alternate Eye Rendering (see this post for a detailed description). Most of the games also support DL(S)SS, meaning that I fixed the DLSS implementation for them so that it will work correctly in stereoscopic 3D. And 4 titles even allow for Ray Reconstruction!!! Here's the complete list:
Atomic Heart [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Cyberpunk 2077 [AER v2 + DL(S)SS-RR]
Dark Souls: Remastered [AER v2]
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin [AER v2]
Dark Souls III (new) [AER v2]
Elden Ring (with its massive Shadow of the Erdtree DLC) [AER v2 + DL(S)SS when NVIDIA DLSS is enabled with a third-party mod]
Far Cry 4 [AER v2]
Far Cry 5 [AER v2]
Far Cry 6 [AER v2]
Far Cry New Dawn [AER v2]
Far Cry Primal [AER v2]
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade [AER v2]
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Ghost of Tsushima [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Ghostrunner [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Ghostwire: Tokyo [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Grounded [AER v2]
High On Life [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Hogwarts Legacy [AER v2 + DL(S)SS-RR]
Horizon: Zero Dawn [AER v2]
Horizon Forbidden West [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle [AER v2 + DL(S)SS-RR]
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Star Wars Outlaws [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Stray [AER v2]
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy [AER v2 + DL(S)SS]
Watch Dogs [AER v2]
Watch Dogs 2 [AER v2]
Please note that all trademarks belong to the respective owners, and that no copyright infringement is intended or condoned. And of course, you'll need to have a legit copy of the original games that you want to play in VR.
Setup
I developed and tested the Dark Souls III mod using the Steam version of the game; other editions should also work, but if you encounter issues please upload your RealVR.log file somewhere so we can try to sort them out. Also, always make sure that your video drivers are updated to the latest version (especially important for NVIDIA due to a flurry of regressions in driver releases since the 50xx series came out).
Run the game flat (not in VR) at least once, so that it can generate its config files and you can check that it works correctly. Then quit out of it and extract the mod archive into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Dark Souls III\Game" folder. Note that you might need to customize the path if you moved your library or own the game from a different store, but it will always be the folder that contains the "DarkSoulsIII.exe" executable file.
Finally run RealConfig.bat. It will perform a few required operations (including the v-sync fix for NVIDIA drivers) and preselect graphics settings that are known to work well in VR. Remember that running RealConfig is mandatory; if you omit this step the mod will not work.
At this point, the next time you launch DS3 it should automatically display in your VR headset. Read on to find out how to get the darkest and most intense experience in VR!
Resolution and HUD
You will need to play in windowed mode. I was able to mod the custom resolutions needed for VR directly into the game, so they can be selected from the System> Graphics in-game menu without any complications. Just like with Elden Ring, occasionally the game seems to ignore resolution changes (the "Settings have been changed" prompt fails to appear, and after a timeout the window reverts to the previous resolution); if that happens to you, just retry and it will work correctly the second time.
The HUD is 16:9, and it scales correctly even with square resolutions (no "squeezed" aspect ratio as happened with DS2). Also, I found a way to resize the game window on the monitor independently from the VR image in the headset, so it will always fit onto your desktop in case you want to play using the mouse.
Cutscenes
Most cutscenes are fully 3D and allow you to look anywhere without restrictions. I removed the letterboxing (horizontal black bars above and below) because it wasn't working correctly in VR, so the full field of view will be accessible.
Some cutscene segments however were prerendered by the developers and stored as movies (notably the initial one when you first start your adventure) so there's nothing I can do about them: they will appear as if projected on a virtual 2D screen in VR.
The cinematics quality is mostly very good, but as usual there will be some missing props, invisible walls, levitating characters and so on in the parts of the scene that you were never supposed to see in the flat game.
Game options
You can set all graphics and gameplay options in the game menus according to your liking and how powerful your GPU is, but there are a few settings that you must leave to the defaults preselected by RealConfig in order for the mod to work properly.
Specifically, in the System> Graphics menu, Screen Mode must be set to Windowed, and under Advanced Settings, Motion blur must be Off (motion blur always needs to be turned off with my mods, otherwise everything will be smeared horizontally).
I also recommend setting Depth of field to Off, as it doesn't make much sense in VR, although it works correctly.
Input
It's best to use a gamepad to play Dark Souls III; XInput-compatible controllers like the ones from Microsoft are usually the best for my mods.
Note that the game has a known issue with the right bumper button, which can cease to work after an Alt-Tab. The bug is not tied to VR; it happens in 2D too, and it was never fixed. See https://steamcommunity.com/app/211420/discussions/0/412448158151338030/ for example. Luckily there's an easy workaround: just left click with your mouse in the game window as explained in the linked Steam forum thread.
Interface
Similarly to my previous Elden Ring and Dark Souls VR conversions, this mod for DS3 implements my Quick Menu system:
You can bring it up at all times during gameplay by pressing Back+Start on the controller (Select+Start with a PS-style gamepad) or Pause on the keyboard.
The Quick Menu behaves in a very special way: it will freeze action while it's open (something the original game never allows you to do, not even while you're navigating its own menus) and it will immediately react to buttons or stick actions on the gamepad. Basically it's meant to be a collection of shortcuts that lets you make the most important changes to the VR mod configuration instantly, especially when muscle memory has set in and your fingers already know where to go, without navigating complex menus and breaking the flow of the game.
You can still access the traditional R.E.A.L. VR mod overlay, either by pressing A or Cross when in the Quick Menu, or by double-clicking on Back+Start instead of single-clicking. The full overlay is needed if you want to set the automatic save backup interval for example, or change the world scale.
As you can see in the picture above, from the Quick Menu you can do all sorts of things like:
removing the overlay itself while keeping the game frozen, to take your time observing epic moments in the action from any perspective in full roomscale;
selecting your favorite VR render mode, in case your GPU is really old and you need to scale down to Legacy AER or even Mono rendering;
fine-tuning the camera positions (more below on the various cameras I implemented);
choosing between 4 immediately available and fully customizable camera presets (see my Dark Souls: Remastered post for a full explanation of how presets work);
controlling the game speed with a simple slider which is active at all times.
And... tourist mode is back!!! You can explore and take in the magnificent VR sights at your own pace, without NPCs, dragons or other fantastic creatures ever bothering you as you stroll peacefully through the lands of Lothric []-D
Special VR cameras
Like other Souls games, the original flat version of DS3 only has one distant camera, which usually hovers about 3-5 meters behind your character and can get even farther during combat or fast movement; the original camera also has the peculiarity of shooting up in the sky whenever you get close to a locked-on enemy, which I find extremely annoying in VR because it forces you to look down toward your feet to see the action, as if you were sitting on a drone.
I left it in for purists (although you can fine tune its position using the offsets shown in the Quick Menu), but the default for the VR mod is my "Closer" camera, which is about half the distance and won't swing up wildly every time you approach enemies.
Then, if you want to actually be in the thick of action, there is the "R.E.A.L. close" camera, which gives you an over-the-shoulder view that allows you to see everything without feeling left behind.
And last but not least, I implemented a full first person camera, which starting from release 19.2.0 is immediately available at the start of each gaming session and will no longer detach from your character (if you're still on release 19.1.0 or 19.1.1, updating the mod is highly recommended to get the best experience).
The 1st person camera is smooth and behaves quite well, although of course it will make the game even harder :-) But if you are into Dark Souls games it's because you can't resist an insane challenge, right? Should you experience clipping with parts of your shield, weapon, or attire, remember that you can offset the camera freely and easily from the Quick Menu.
Updates and known issues
Update 2: Release 19.2.0 fixes the first person camera for DS3, which is now working as intended at all times. There was an issue that went uncaught in preliminary testing, where the camera could reset to the (0, 0, 0) position in the world instead of moving with your character, especially after traveling. As an added bonus, after this fix the first person camera will be immediately available for DS3, without the need to enter aiming mode manually.
Update 1: This title, like all Dark Souls games, is basically hard-coded to render at 60 fps. In particular, there is a game bug where, if the frame rate is unlocked and exceeds 60 by a large factor (i.e., around 110 fps and higher), sprinting will turn into a sort of moonwalk, as if your character's shoes were not getting enough traction on the ground. Release 19.1.1 fixes this anomalous behavior. As usual the fix can be disabled from the mod overlay, in case it breaks anything else in the game. Let me know in the comments if it works for you!
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]
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From our initial testing, it looks as though you can even play online while in VR! But beware that FromSoftware's official position is that "players found to be violating the EULA by using cheats, hacks, mods, etc. will have restrictions (permanent or temporary) placed on their online profiles/accounts."
Offline mode, on the other hand, should be as safe as it always was.
If you decide to try your luck and play online, please understand that you're assuming the full risk and responsibility. I added a disclaimer and an explicit request for acknowledgment of the ban risk to RealConfig (the mod installer). While being able to play online in VR would be awesome, I don't want anyone getting banned due to this.