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Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1850570/DEATH_STRANDING_DIRECTORS_CUT/
Enabled technologies
Supported version(s)
The R.E.A.L. VR framework was tested with game version 1.004 from the Epic Games Store. The same version of the title bought from other stores should also work, like for instance the one available from Steam at the address linked at the top (I get no commissions). I cannot give any guarantees however, as there could be differences that cause issues ranging from small defects to showstopping problems in VR. In particular for this title there have been reports of the Game Pass version not working correctly with R.E.A.L. 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\Epic Games\DeathStrandingDC". 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 "DeathStranding.exe" or "ds.exe" executable file.
NOTE: some Patrons reported that DSDC only writes out its configuration file when you change any of the settings from its menus. Be sure to do that if you're installing my VR framework right after the game, without having spent any time playing flat, otherwise RealConfig will complain that the configuration file is missing.
Resolution and aspect ratio
Use the "Target pixels per degree" slider and "Adapt resolution" button (see here to find out how they work).
You will notice that R.E.A.L. VR preselects a 3:2 aspect ratio. That is because it's the minimum aspect at which DSDC will draw everything correctly. You can go lower if you really need to save rendered pixels, but parts of the HUD will be cut off at the sides, which in this game is a big no-no because you constantly need to access text-filled pages like the cargo menu and having them overflow the visible area is a big nuisance.
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 GRAPHICS SETTINGS menu:
Screen Mode = Windowed
Display Monitor = Display1
Aspect Ratio = 16:9
Display Resolution = 1600x900
Vsync = Off
Maximum Frame Rate = 240. On at least one system this value was observed to cause some instability, but that might have been a temporary glitch. If that happens to you, go down one notch to 144 and you should be fine.
NVIDIA DLSS = Quality, Performance or Ultra Performance. Make sure this is turned on so that you can use my DL(S)SS fix to eliminate the shimmering around the characters and nearby objects. OptiScaler also works perfectly with this game if you are running an AMD GPU (see my previous post for details on how to install and configure it for VR).
Depth of Field = Off
Motion Blur = Off (you should never enable any kind of motion blur when using R.E.A.L. VR, or the world will look smeared out horizontally).
Additionally you will want to set CONTROLLER> Auto-Aim to Off so that it doesn't interfere with gaze-based aiming.
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.
DSDC is a very well optimized game, and despite its amazing visuals it can still run at full frame rate on a powerful system. So the Render Mode options list includes AER v2, which for instance on a Quest 3 set to refresh at 72 Hz will make the game run at 144 fps, thus eliminating any need for reprojection. If you feel that you cannot maintain frame rate, go down to something like 1/2 rate for NVIDIA or Legacy AER for AMD.
Input
You will definitely want to use a gamepad to play DSDC. 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.
Camera, HUD, gameplay, cutscenes
The R.E.A.L. framework supports 6 DoF tracking, i.e., the camera will follow your head rotation and movement. It's usually completely decoupled from the character (meaning that you can look in a different direction from Sam without influencing where he walks), except when you're aiming.
I didn't add any custom camera to the game, for two reasons. First, the cargo mechanics require you to be able to see your character and the surrounding terrain at all times during a run. Second, the camera work in this title is masterful. Unlike several other third-person games my framework supports, where the default camera would be too far from your character or too wild, or it would shoot up into the sky as soon as you engaged in combat, forcing you to crane your neck towards the floor to see anything, in DSDC the camera always feels like it's in the perfect spot to allow you to feel the emotions of close encounters or to take in the beautiful scenery during longer runs.
The only moments when I wish the camera behaved differently is when you're driving a vehicle. There is automatic recentering, called "Camera Assistance (While Driving)" in the settings menu, but it's way too sudden and unforgiving, even at minimum Camera Assistance Sensitivity, so I recommend leaving it Off and using the right stick to orient the camera manually while at the same time steering the vehicle with the left stick.
The HUD rescaling can be finely customized, so you won't miss any of the important information that appears at the sides like health, hints, ammo count and so on. If the default size I suggest doesn't work for you, you can tweak it using the "HUD scale X" and "HUD scale Y" sliders, which will have immediate effect while playing without any need to bump the resolution. Note that these sliders are found in the "DSDC" 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.
I also implemented a separate "World markers scale" adjustment since the game doesn't give you that option, and the default size for markers (1.0) looks distractingly huge.
Cutscenes are fully 3D and allow you to look anywhere without restrictions. There are some elements missing in areas you weren't supposed to see with a fixed camera, but mostly the environment is complete and the profound emotional impact of the cutscenes is preserved.
There are some 2D movies too, rendered in-engine but stored as full motion videos (as is often the case, one is shown right at the very beginning!).
Occasionally, some cutscene portions might display a wrong FOV, with the world slightly warping, but that only lasts for a few seconds.
Custom controls in the "DSDC" overlay tab
"Fix near clipping" will prevent the camera from clipping into close objects during cutscenes.
"Camera rotation compensation" is only relevant if you are using Legacy AER: it will get rid of the world judder that can be perceived when you use the thumbstick to rotate the camera.
You can change the world scale, from small adjustments to playing with dolls or giants, and even force the game to render to a 2D virtual screen in case you should find a section too hard to play in full VR.
The vast majority of users should not need to touch this setting, but if your system appears to display the 3D effect incorrectly (as though distant objects were actually in front of closer ones) try changing the "Frame delay compensation" value step by step until you get a perfectly stable world image, with proper depth everywhere.
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]