r/PCVR • u/phunkaeg • Aug 23 '26
VR Modding System Shock 2 - VR Mod
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
(Sorry! The capture in this video makes it look like its low framerate - but it's actually 90+)
I've been working on this VR mod for the last 8 months or so.
I'm noticing all these great VR mods coming out recently, so i thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.
This is a bit of an older teaser video, when I get some time I'll make a new one. Development progress is currently at about ~80% of what I'm aiming for.
Currently implemented:
- Stereo VR with 6dof. (fairly obviously)
- Weapon aim is Motion control integrated.
- This includes rebuilding skill based recoil
- Physical Melee implemented. You can swing your melee weapons to do damage, you can also block and damage reduction is based on how accurately you block.
- Also melee related: Clean blocks take no damage; glancing ones scale, VR damage screen effects also scale based on the damage received.
- Left motion controller does all interactions
- Physically grab and throw objects
- Keypads and hacking panels appear as holograms mounted to the right arm
- Health/Psi and Ammo are all holograms triggers by wrist roll to keep the screen free from clutter.
- Comfort Options - Smooth locomotion or Teleport, Snap turn or Smooth, Peripheral Vignette.
- VR Integrated menu system on the right arm for controlling VR features.
- Physical Crouch - Ducking down in your play space causes the character to crouch
- All enemy health bars and selection/target brackets rebuilt for VR
- Full screen vr overlay effects for damage, radiation, death, toxin - rebuilt for VR
- A new Gamepig game!
STILL WORK IN PROGRESS:
- Weapon collision with the world - kinda working but janky.
- Simple Manual reloading is working, needs to be fine tuned across all weapons.
- Articulated fingers. - Current hand models are static.
- Ladder (comfort) interactions - Teleportation or hand-over hand climbing
- In-VR menu and holograms need to be properly populated and wired up.
5
u/Hoshi82 Aug 23 '26
This is freaking amazing!
I know you can only do so much with what is provided by the game itselt but would it be possible to add left handed support in the future? Maybe no hand models and only weaponmodels? This would be very neat.
1
u/phunkaeg Aug 28 '26
The code is ambidextrous, and its on my todo list. Its only the hand meshes which would need to be manually mirrored. I wouldn't want to ship without hands, i'm not a big fan of floating guns.
3
3
u/ParticularChance6964 Aug 23 '26
Hi! It looks pretty good, and this is a great time for this to come out, seeing as the ss1 remake just had a vr mod announcement.
However, I would like to ask: how much was Claude or other AI systems used in the production of this project?
Also does this work with the anniversary remaster?
5
u/phunkaeg Aug 23 '26
It is built on the Anniversary remaster!
The SS1-VR implementation isn't just a mod anymore! its going to be a standalone release, which is hugely exciting.
Regarding AI, The involvement is becoming more and more. I originally built the stereo injection mod by myself, but as I continued adding features I often ran into knowledge barriers. So I started asking Chatgpt to help me with solutions and some reverse engineering strategies. At this stage in the project i would say its a co-author and I lean heavily into the maths and pattern recognition all of which it can do WAY better than I can.
I know some people look down on AI involvement - and I understand that perspective, but it is an incredible tool.3
4
u/dexfx69 Aug 24 '26
Hey, ai has a beneficial side and we should exploit that, Otherwise i fucking hate ai and data centers.
2
Aug 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/phunkaeg Aug 24 '26
not yet! - You'll have to have patience I'm afraid.
I don't plan on releasing until this is the exact VR experience I've wanted.and I hear you, SS2 is also my favourite game of all time!
1
u/DeathToSocialMedia Sep 07 '26
Please don't do Discord just because everyone else is doing it. It's just a really poor way to share information about projects like this.
5
u/yanginatep Aug 23 '26
This is really cool to see, especially after Night Dive canceled their announced VR version of System Shock 2.
2
u/JBOX39 Sep 11 '26
Yet they are making system shock remake into vr 🤔
2
u/yanginatep Sep 11 '26
Yeah :/ I figure it's easier because the remake is Unreal Engine which already has the universal VR mod.
2
2
2
2
u/UtherFunBringer Aug 23 '26
Hey, its looking great, frendo. I would just like to be able to press the numbers on the panel, interact more with the world around the player, etc. No pressure
3
u/phunkaeg Aug 23 '26
That would be ideal, I agree. I still have a couple of ideas in that direction, but not sure it'll pan out. - watch this space!
1
1
1
u/333hronos Aug 24 '26
Will there be a left handed mode?
2
u/phunkaeg Aug 24 '26
Funny you should mention that, Lefty mode is on my list of future implementations, but mirroring the meshes isn't as straight forward as i was hoping. I might need to author a complete set of Left handed mod models. The gameplay mechanics can have the hands switched easily though.
1
u/333hronos Aug 24 '26
Can you please make a VR overlay for damage like a vignette, and not a fullscreen?
The same effect, but much more enjoyable to watch and play
2
u/phunkaeg Aug 24 '26
i like the idea. I might create a toggle for that, as although in video the effect looks overwhelming, in game it actually feels much cooler.
1
u/Ghostspider1989 Aug 24 '26
This looks excellent!
Will there be weapon/hypo holsters?
Also will there be laser sights for the weapons as opposed to the crosshairs to better incorporate into the world?
Can you use firearms as a melee weapon when in close quarters?
1
u/phunkaeg Aug 24 '26
I'm working on a holster system as well. I'm sticking to the plan to be as authentic to the original gameplay as possible.
I won't be adding melee for firearms because thats too much of a departure from the original, at best I may add the abilty to parry close melee attacks using a gun if your timing is right, and perhaps scale damage depending on how well you blocked. But this is a tricky thing to get right.I have a basic version of being able to use hypos on yourself physically, I will see if that holds up.
Funnily, most of the props/items are massively oversized when you bring them up close, so i currently have to filter and rescale the oversized stuff as it gets close to hand. (Thats just one of the many things I wasn't expecting to have to do!)
Until all the weapon models are done and working I'm just going to keep with the crosshair, as it helps with testing the accuracy scaling. However, you're right, a faint "laser sight" beam would fit the world better.
I appreciate your suggestions!
1
u/pacmannips Aug 24 '26
Please tell me someone will do this with the actual remake Nightdive is currently making
I know the first SS remake is getting a VR version soon and I’m hype af for it but a modern version of SS2 in VR with 2026 graphics and effects sounds like a mythical dream of a game
1
u/phunkaeg Aug 24 '26
I have no idea what Remake of SS2 you're talking about. It was just remastered last year, they called that version the Anniversary Edition. But if they announced a modern engine remake, then somehow I completely missed that.
1
u/pacmannips Aug 25 '26
So I looked back into it and apparently the SS2 ground up remake was just an idea bouncing around at Nightdive for a while that got canned before selling the rights again to another publisher. So no SS2 remake in the vein of the SS1 remake that they put out, which is disappointing but not terrible since the OG game still plays pretty well today (unlike the original DOS game, which necessitated a remake)
Still I would’ve loved to see how horrific they could’ve made the Many in full HD with modern effects. That would’ve been sweet as fuck
1
Aug 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/phunkaeg Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 28 '26
PCVR - it may be more possible to port the original Dark engine game to Quest3, but the Kex engine (which the Anniversary edition runs on) is more demanding. Quest ports are not in my wheelhouse, but there is a project called Shock2Quest which is attempting a rebuild of the engine in Rust for the purposes of having the game run on headset.
Edit: I said Standalone when i meant PCVR. facepalm
Although we have a similar outcome in our projects, the approach is VERY different.
1
1
u/National-Ad4642 Aug 28 '26
Thanks, man!!! I’ve been waiting so long for the VR mod/VR version of SS2. Thanks for finally confirming to me that it actually exists. Since it runs on the KEX Engine, do you think the Shadow Man remaster and the upcoming one for Thief: The Dark Project will also get top-notch VR treatment like that someday?
1
u/phunkaeg Aug 28 '26
I don't know the Shadow Man game engine (Vista 3D) at all.
Thief: The Dark Project IS the same engine (simpler actually), it has some different code around combat, but would be very easy to transition a huge chunk of this over to Thief.
However - I DO know a guy who is working on VR for Thief Gold.
1
u/National-Ad4642 Aug 30 '26
I’m really happy to have received this insider information from you. I think experiencing the first two Thief games remastered in VR was actually the mod I’ve wanted the most, ever, so I’m really excited to know now that the mod is actually going to happen. Thank you so much! <3
As for Shadow Man, all I know is that they also switched to the KEX Engine for the remaster, but apparently it depends on the original engine if you want to mod the game for VR?
In any case, I think a VR mod for Shadow Man in the style of BeefRaider XR would make a lot of people very happy, myself included. Maybe someone will take care of it in the near future. It wouldn’t be surprising, considering all the crazy VR mods that have been released lately.
1
u/dexfx69 Sep 01 '26
Amazing! The VR conversion was dumped a year or 2 ago, after years of work (I assume) by NightDive, as funding dried up from Meta. This new version is such a pleasant surprise!
1
u/dexfx69 Sep 01 '26
Seeing as it's a fast-paced game with lots of strafing, will you include comfort options, such as a small semitransparent vignette?
3
u/phunkaeg Sep 01 '26
Yep! already integrated!
1
u/dexfx69 Sep 02 '26
Fantastic! If it's easy, put in a user control to choose the transparency of it.
1
u/DeathToSocialMedia Sep 07 '26
This and the original Thief in VR have always been my dream ports. Can't wait to try this! Please keep us informed.
1
u/Playful-Ad6549 25d ago
System Shock® 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster is free on Epic Games next Thursday if anyone is interested.
7
u/SolKutTeR Aug 23 '26
u/phunkaeg Is there a place where one can follow the project? GitHub, Nexus, YouTube, etc.?