DOOM VFR is one of the most highly anticipated virtual reality (VR) titles of 2017, which has been officially launched on PlayStation VR and HTC Vive today. Oculus Rift owners were hoping for a piece of the demon-hunting action as well, but faced issues that a patch has now resolved.
Publisher Bethesda were unable to confirm if the SteamVR version of the title would support the Oculus Rift. Most SteamVR titles will work with the Oculus Rift, even if not specifically designed for the headset. That Bethesda were being cagey about Oculus Rift support worried some users, particularly when taken in conjunction with the currently ongoing legal dispute between Oculus and ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda.
When DOOM VFR first became available on Steam, users of the Oculus Rift were disappointed to find out that the title would crash after launch. It is not currently clear if this was a deliberate action on Bethesda’s part, or a bug. Road To VR is currently awaiting a comment from the publisher regarding this issue.
Valve have now pushed out a patch that addresses this issue, enabling users of the SteamVR Beta branch to play DOOM VFR on the Oculus Rift. The patch notes offer no insight on if this was intentional, or the result of a bug, saying only that it was a workaround for DOOM VFR users who were experiencing launch issues.
As reported by Road to VR, the following steps are required to activate the SteamVR Beta branch to enable to workaround:
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Launch Steam
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Browse to Library > Tools
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Search for ‘SteamVR’
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Right-click ‘SteamVR’ > Properties
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Click ‘Betas’ Tab > Switch beta drop-down selection to ‘beta – SteamVR Beta Update’
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Close Properties window, SteamVR Beta will download automatically
Switching back to the main SteamVR branch is equally simple and can be done if and when the patch is incorporated into the main SteamVR branch.
VRFocus will bring you further news on DOOM VFR as it becomes available.
via Mint VR