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Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3280350/DEATH_STRANDING_2_ON_THE_BEACH/
Enabled technologies
Supported version(s)
The R.E.A.L. VR framework was tested with game version 1.6.72.0, a.k.a. PC Patch 1.6, available from Steam at the address linked at the top (I get no commissions). The same version of the title bought from other stores should also work, but I cannot give any guarantees, as there could be differences that cause issues ranging from small defects to showstopping problems in VR.
Older versions or pirated copies are not supported. Official versions later than the ones listed above may or may not work, depending on what was changed. See here for information on how to prevent automatic game updates from breaking VR functionality.
Special setup notes
The folder where you should extract the R.E.A.L. VR archive and run RealConfig is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\DEATH STRANDING 2 - ON THE BEACH". You might need to customize the path if you moved your games library or in case you own the game from a different store, but it will always be the folder that contains the "DS2.exe" executable file.
Resolution and aspect ratio
Use the "Target pixels per degree" slider and "Adapt resolution" button (see here to find out how they work).
Unlike the first episode in the series, this time I was able to coax the game into accepting an arbitrary aspect ratio without showing the ugly letterboxing black bars during gameplay, and without the all-important menus (like the world map, cargo management and so on) being cut off at the sides. So the framework will automatically choose the tightest aspect ratio that accommodates your headset and no wasted pixels will be drawn by your GPU.
Options
You can set all graphics and gameplay options according to your liking and how powerful your GPU is, but there are a few settings that you must leave at the defaults preselected by RealConfig in order for the title to display properly in VR. Specifically, in the Options> Display Settings menu:
Display Mode must be Windowed;
Aspect Ratio must be Auto;
Under HDR/Brightness Settings, HDR must be Off;
Upscale Method should be DLSS, to be able to use my DL(S)SS fix that will get rid of almost all the shimmering around characters and nearby objects;
Upscale Quality and Sharpness are up to you (I personally use Balanced with a sharpness of 5);
Dynamic Resolution Scaling must be Off;
VSync must be Off;
Frame Generation must be Off (this is crucial as not only FG does not work at all in VR, it usually also crashes the game immediately and sometimes even brings down the whole system);
Latency Reduction should be Off (YMMV, but for me switching it on tends to have a negative impact on frame rate);
and in the Options-> Graphics Settings menu:
Motion Blur Strength must be 0 (you should never enable any kind of motion blur when using R.E.A.L. VR, or the world will look smeared out horizontally);
Depth of Field must be Medium.
I also recommend that you set Options> Controller Settings> Aim Assist to Off, so the game won't try to interfere with gaze-based aiming in VR.
Everything else can be adjusted according to your preferences. If you have an AMD card, I'm told that Upscale Method = FSR 3.1.5 works pretty well and shouldn't exhibit shimmering halos.
Additional game-specific notes
You can bring up the R.E.A.L. overlay with the Pause key on the keyboard, or by pressing Back+Start (Select+Start) on the gamepad. The controller gesture is always active, even during gameplay.
Input
You will definitely want to use a gamepad to play DS2OTB. Keyboard and mouse sort of work too, but there might be issues, like mouse clicks activating other windows at random or some entries in the game menus being unreachable with the cursor; thus, in order to have a smooth experience, using a gamepad is highly recommended.
The title works wonderfully with the PS5 DualSense controller, and if you have one lying around I wholeheartedly suggest that you dust it off and plug it in before venturing out there to be a porter, as it will make for a much more immersive experience. Remember that while you can use the DualSense in wireless mode, hardware limitations will prevent you from accessing certain important features like the gamepad's internal speaker or advanced haptics, so I recommend always connecting your DualSense via USB.
Camera, HUD, gameplay, cutscenes
The R.E.A.L. framework supports 6 DoF tracking. In this title the camera will follow your head rotation and movement in space, and it will be completely decoupled from the direction your character or vehicle is facing, except when aiming.
The HUD is basically perfect, with every element displaying at its correct place in the 3D scene. World markers like quest objectives or enemy health bars will be drawn at the proper depth, solidly anchored to the NPC or environment position they refer to, and will look normal-sized.
For floating HUD elements, like game hints, ammo counters and the like, I managed to push them toward the center of your field of view to account for the fact that VR headsets do not allow you to see the edges of the screen. You can customize the amount of rescaling for those elements by using the "HUD scale X" and "HUD scale Y" sliders, which will have immediate effect during gameplay (they are ignored when the game is paused in a menu). Note that these sliders are found in the "DS2OTB" game-specific overlay tab and are not to be confused with the "Normal HUD size/distance" and "Aiming HUD size" sliders available in the HUD section of the main page in the overlay.
The game comes with its own built-in first person mode, although most of the time you will want to use the third-person view because you need to check if Sam is losing his balance and stuff like that.
Cutscenes are presented in glorious 3D, and my framework will give you the ability to look anywhere you like. Even the "backstage" (parts of the scene which you were never supposed to see) will render correctly for the most part, without a lot of missing props, teleporting or rubber-legged characters. In the beginning there are some introductory videos that will of course be shown on a 2D virtual screen.
I managed to remove both the hard-coded frame rate cap and mandatory depth of field effect on cutscenes, so you'll be able to take in every detail of the environment with full clarity and fluidity.
Custom controls in the "DS2OTB" overlay tab
Since my experiment with BG3 was successful, I'm now thinking of extending the capability to unlock the horizon to other supported games. So you will find a new "Camera pitch behavior" dropdown menu that can be set to:
"Always keep horizon locked": the golden rule in VR, and the original setting I used for all these years. When this is selected, no matter what happens in cutscenes or gameplay, the R.E.A.L. VR framework will always keep the horizon, erm, horizontal. This is meant to minimize conflicting inputs to your vestibular system, as many people get sick otherwise. The exception to this rule is when you're inside a vehicle in first person, as in that case it looks much more natural if the horizon tilts along with the frame of reference given by the vehicle's cockpit.
"Fully unlocked": using the gamepad right stick or the mouse to move the camera will make the world tilt up or down just like it does when you're playing a 3D game on a flat screen. This is potentially very nauseating in VR, and I don't like it personally because it's immersion breaking for me: it gives me the feeling that I'm in a game I control, as opposed to a fixed external reality. But on the plus side, it won't force you to crane your neck up and down when the camera position is far above or below the target you're looking at (which is especially annoying in cutscenes that quickly alternate between the camera pointing straight up and down, as you never seem to be looking at the point where the action is).
"Tilt for large angles (default)": this is the new preferred option I'm experimenting with. It will keep the horizon locked for normal situations, like when the gameplay or cutscene camera is facing more or less straight ahead; however, it will progressively tilt the world towards you as the camera inclination becomes steeper. So during normal gameplay it will feel like the world is stable, which by all means it should be, but if for instance a cutscene is rapidly toggling the camera between pointing way up and way down (think the classical Romeo and Juliet scene), you will be able to see everything without constantly craning your neck.
Let me know what you think of this idea!
Normally the camera field of view in VR should be set to exactly match the one exposed by you headset, or the world will look distorted as you turn your head around. However, freezing the FOV means no more zooming capability for sniper rifles, binoculars and the like. "Allow FOV change past this zoom level" will set the threshold past which the R.E.A.L. VR framework interprets the FOV change suggested by the game as an actual zooming request and allows it to change your view of the world. Setting it to 1 will let all FOV changes go through (not recommended because the environment will appear to bend and swim most of the time as though you were underwater), while choosing a very high value will give you traditional VR behavior and it will make scopes and binoculars pretty much useless.
Updates and known issues
[Update May 4: Release 2605.4.2_early_access of the R.E.A.L. VR framework is compatible with DS2OTB patch 1.6. Gaze-based aiming will work as intended even if you start aiming with a boomerang or grenade, as opposed to aiming first with a rifle. The Battery and Boot bars rescale properly with the rest of the UI now, so they will no longer be clipped out of the visible area in the headset. The symbols and signs left behind by other players will finally show up in your world.]
Gamepads: if you are using an Xbox-style gamepad, buttons pressed while the R.E.A.L. overlay is open might leak through to the game. That doesn't happen when you're using the much more immersive PS5 DualSense controller, which is another reason why I recommend it as the preferred device for this title. Of course if you only have an XInput controller you can always use the keyboard to navigate the overlay.
Crashes: Steam Input might need to be disabled, or enabled, or configured to use default settings—depending on your system, the phase of the moon and other factors we haven't been able to pinpoint. Just experiment, and if your game crashes (especially at the start) that's the first setting you should try to change.
Aiming: this title has a combat training mode which can be accessed either from private rooms or from certain terminals. I recommend accessing it from private rooms, because if you choose to run it from a terminal, when you return to normal gameplay you might encounter a bug where the engine doesn't reset the aiming state, so the camera will behave strangely. I can't fix it, but there's an easy workaround: once you're back to normal gameplay, if you're affected by the issue, just pull out a weapon and aim briefly. When you stop aiming, the camera state will reset.
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]