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Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/298110/Far_Cry_4/
Enabled technologies
Supported version(s)
The R.E.A.L. VR framework was tested with the Gold Edition, PC Patch 1.8.0, available from Ubisoft Connect with Ubisoft+. The same version of the game bought from other stores should also work, like for example the one found on 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.
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)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Far Cry 4\bin". 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 "FarCry4.exe" executable file.
Resolution and aspect ratio
I was able to interface directly with the engine in order to add the custom (square) resolutions needed for VR. You will be able to select them from the game VIDEO menu itself, without any hassle. Just make sure that "Aspect ratio" is set to "Auto" and that "Window Mode" is set to "WINDOWED".
FC4 will also remember the resolution you set across sessions, so once you find the right compromise between detail and fluidity you should be able to play the rest of the game without touching the resolution again.
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:
Aspect Ratio = Auto
Window Mode = WINDOWED
V-Sync = 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)
It's also recommended to avoid NVIDIA GameWorks-enabled settings because they tend to hurt performance. I play with Ambient Occlusion set to SSBC and Anti-Aliasing set to SMAA.
Post FX on High has been reported to be buggy, making shadows too dark at certain times of day.
Additional game-specific notes
You can bring up the R.E.A.L. overlay with the Pause key on the keyboard, or by pressing both thumbsticks on the gamepad (this latter gesture is recognized only when the title is paused, to avoid interfering with gameplay).
Input
You will definitely want to use a gamepad to play FC4. 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.
Don't worry about console-player syndrome: with R.E.A.L. VR, aiming is gaze-driven and extremely fast, intuitive and accurate, so even if you're used to playing FPS with your mouse, give your gamepad a chance ;-)
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.
When your weapon is not drawn, the HUD will float in space in front of you. However, in FC4 that is basically limited to cutscenes and driving, because in normal gameplay your character will almost never holster his weapon (erring on the side of caution maybe, hehe). To achieve proper gaze-based aiming and to always keep the crosshair correctly aligned, whenever you have a weapon drawn 6 DoF will be limited to 3 DoF, i.e., without positional tracking.
I implemented a special grappling hook management for FC4: gaze tracking will be supported and active even when climbing, so that you can just look toward the next grappling point to trigger the prompts instead of having to turn the camera manually using the right thumbstick. Climbing the Himalayas from the comfort of your armchair has never been so easy!
All kinds of vehicles (ground, sea, air) work very well, using a new camera control system that I implemented for FC5 and then ported to the other games in the series.
Binoculars work and will allow you to zoom in, but please be careful as the change of FOV can be a little intense! So, if you're not a VR veteran, try to move your head around slowly when using binoculars. All kinds of weapon scopes should work too.
FC4 offers co-op multiplayer, which took me some additional time and effort to fix but is now working properly. There might still be some jank when using the Ubisoft overlay (the chat for instance has a tendency to become headlocked and too big), but that can be worked around by temporarily switching to the 2D virtual screen. Chatting while playing co-op in VR is best done via mics anyway instead of textual input.
This time I disabled the cinematic black bars, because they didn't work correctly in VR. As usual you can look around freely during cutscenes, which occasionally can reveal missing portions of scenery in areas you were never supposed to see.
Some cutscenes (notably the rather long intro) were prerendered and stored as movies, so there's nothing I can do about them. Those will be projected on a virtual screen and look flat.
Custom controls in the "FC4" overlay tab
For accurate, intuitive ADS (Aiming Down Sights), don't forget to set your dominant eye. The default is right-eye dominant, which works for about 2 out of 3 people.
It's a rare occurrence, but sometimes the game may tilt the camera left and right, for example when you're lying on your side on the floor (it mostly happens in cutscenes). If the effect bothers you, uncheck the "Allow camera roll" box to keep it from happening in VR.
As usual 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.
Known issues
The hang glider controls almost as well as other vehicles, but it sort of forces the player to look in the forward direction. If you rotate your head too much to the sides, the camera will be forced to realign with the glider, which can have a disconcerting effect.
There might be frame rate drops when exiting buildings and/or immediately after cutscenes. I cannot reproduce them, so I don't think that I'll be able to fix them, but luckily there seems to be an easy workaround: entering the game menus for a moment will restore normal frame rate.
At least on my system, the Ubisoft launcher insists that it wants to install some VCredist every single time you try to run the game. The installer displays a UAC prompt, so you'll need to click on that before putting your headset on, otherwise the game will never start.
If the game seems to display with the wrong aspect ratio in your headset, try switching "Window Mode" from WINDOWED to BORDERLESS and then, after playing for a few seconds, going back again to WINDOWED.
Frame rate might be locked at 60 fps when navigating the game menus. That should not be a problem, because the 60 fps cap will not apply during gameplay.
[I'll post new information here as it becomes available.]